Pinky on the Backspace...

I never realized how entertaining Bryce is to watch when he’s typing on the computer. He uses that backspace a lot.... and I think he's one of the few people I know of who spell checks everything... It's a good habit I suppose, that way you won't have as many speeling mistakse... ^_^ Heh, good times on long sunny afternoons. For all those wondering what we’ve been doing or how I’ve been doing, fear not. I’m about to answer your questions.
What:
We’ve been having this missions conference thing where a bunch of mission groups and Bible schools come here to try to recruit us. It’s been really encouraging.
How:
I’ve been sleeping very poorly. As such I’ve been tired and very sore most of the time. I think I’m now on the upswing now… at least I hope so. I’ll find out tonight. In any case, God has his reasons. He knows why everything happens when it happens and He’ll look after everything.


It’s good to be back.
Talk to you soon!

Is there Anybody OuT there¿

It's one of those kind of surreal universes when you get back to VTI after a mere ten days at home. It's so short being on a break that you're sure it's only been a couple of days; and yet so long that anything you experienced so far on this year seems like some distant dream that only exists inside a faded memory. Truly it's an interesting experience.
For all those wondering, Germany was great. I recall having the grandest Easter Egg hunt I've ever had and it reminded me of being at home. That was real nice. Groundstaff was great to hang out with, and in fact I'd go as far as to say they've made up for all the other crazy problems we've had with the groundstaff at troubled airports around the world.
German airports were no problem for us this time around, though in Heathrow, London, we had some issues. This was just because we were allowed <----> that much luggage whilst we realized we had more like <------> that much... It did work out though. I apologize that it seems like it didn't phase us much. I was quite frantic for a while. But I knew that people were praying and I knew that God had been my only hope since ever when everything else dies. As such we trusted God and He didn't let us down. It's not to say He took away all our problems... God doesn't do that... He gives us the strength to get through them. As such, I would love prayer for my year after this one with VTI. Karina and I realized that God wanted us to pospone our wedding for a while, and as such I'm hoping to get more training and experience. Please pray that God guides me, because I feel like I'm quite at odds with myself sometimes when I'm working through things like this. Isn't it strange how things are always so much more impossible when it happens to you? I mean, if it happens to your friend, solutions seem so easy... it never seems that way from the person caught within these conflicting ideas.
With that in mind, look out more this week for people who need to know God loves them. How many people live near your house that have never heard the name of Jesus used in a context of love?


Love your neighbour....
And even more important, don't set up anything in the way of our loving God...
Nothing else will fulfill us.
It's fused as a necessity deeper than DNA could ever show.
Grace and Peace from the training camp near Calgary!
Brother J

That Lantern is never out of 'in'....

Chinese lanterns are great because they never go out of style...

Nor does music. And that is good because we've been able to do a lot of music with Groundstaff the last 2 days. One outreach I know some of you heard about because it was in the Chec Republic. That was exciting. God worked it all out really awesome. We got through the border no problem at all, and then we were able to set up. Before the program started however, we went for a walk to hand out flyers to the youth and kids in the area. We found some down around some the large uncreative buildings that a government at one time used to cram all of their citizens into. We had been taught a few basic words in Chec that basically equated to: Hello (ahoy) Here's a flyer!
Yeah, it was fun not being able to communicate again. As I walked towards these unsuspecting kids watching two older kids play some soccer, I practiced saying Hello...here's a flyer. There were 3 kids I spent the next few minutes with. They wanted to know if it cost anything, and we had fun writing symbols and numbers in the gravelish sand. What we got across was that it was free... But then they asked where it was...and I couldn't explain it for the life of me... Luckily, there were some German girls with us and so one came to help me... And although it did wonders for my moral support, she couldn't explain anything else either. Luckily again, there was another girl that seemed to know a good deal more about this communicating in Chec, and therefore was able to explain that we were in a theatre, 'that way'...
Oh, the joys of finger pointing... ^_^

So, we did the program, and there were only a few people who came who were not associated with the church there though there was about 60 people. What is awesome though is that there were 3 kids who came early at the start of the program and soaked in everything that night...music...art...drama...and the gospel. What they will do with it I don't know, but they each took materials about Christ, including the Jesus movie in their own language. That and they had a chat with the Pastor. Pray that God keeps his hand with them. This city is called Asch, and just like how it sounds in the back of the throat, it's a pretty rough town.
Being on the border of Germany, it's been a center for oppression, prostitution, and all kinds of crime and chaos. In fact it was known a short time ago as being the most rundown city in all of the USSR that had recently dissolved. To be able to bring a little bit of light goes a long way the darker the enviroment is. I hope God will be able to work there in a mighty way in the near future. Pray that God will keep working there.

That brings us to today. We were in a town an hour from Hoff. I believe it's called Saalfeld. Anyways, we had a good time there. We did a youth time and more music worship than I have done in a long while. It was really refreshing and then in the middle of the evening Groundstaff did a concert outreach thing. It was great. We finished it off by doing a good deal more music worship...in total that day it was like 7 hours of programs and music. We even slept there so we stayed up until about um... 1:30ish...and then us guys stayed awake until about 3:00ish...Some of voluntarily and some not voluntarily...It was good though and we apparently made some kind of an impact with the youth we hung out with cause when one of the girls was saying goodbye this morning, she came up to me and said, 'Goodbye funny freak!'...

Then we came home...
for any other pics of the adventure, check out the pics on my multiply site: http://encaitar777.multiply.com
Grace and Peace

Who in the world says, 'Deophobic'?

Apparently, Deophobic is a word that was made up by John Cooper of Skillet. Basically it means to have a twisted misplaced view of God and to be afraid of Him. This word is in a song that we've been working a drama to for use here in Germany. It's been a while since I've been able to tell any of you what is up. We have just started doing programs here in Germany, mainly in schools. It's strange in that it feels a lot like the schools in Russia, but there's a splash of England into the mix.
We've had a bit of time here and there to relax and to reflect on the last while travelling overseas. I should be writing more than I am. Songs that is. There is so much inspiration and I seem to miss out on it most of the time lyrically. It's been fun to expand myself in music. I've been practicing drumming once in a while, and just two days ago I was able to try to play a 5 string bass. It's a lot of fun having a lower string to fiddle with. O.o
It's been a great time here...
We've been staying in a church here and it's packed full of instruments, chairs, tables and chairs... But one thing that I've enjoyed specifically is the interactive prayer room. By interactive I mean that there are stations with visual aids to remind us to pray for specific things. For example, there's a place with Israel's flag, to remind us to pray for the Jewish nation. Things like that. It's been really great to be able to consciencely spend more time in prayer. That's been really good.
Well, I'm going to head out for now... Some of the others are needing the computer. Feel free to check out AJ's webpage as it has the most recent everything on it...(How he aquires time to do this emailing blog stuff I'll never know...)

O.o

Have a great one! May God's grace and peace be with you!
Romans 6:15-23

Vas?

ThaT means 'what?' In German. We're all safe here and doing well. Though I should have gotten more sleep. We went to a youth event last night with a german leader who spent a year in Winnipeg, MB. So now she has this native german accent, and it's so fun to hear her talk. Wow... Anyways, it's all good. We have to go for breakfast now. Thank you for your prayers! Grace and Peace...
J

Implied Meanings

Well, here we are in the last days of the United Kingdom. Wales has been good... :D We went to the ocean yesterday, and that's where these pics are mainly from. Thanks to everyone for your prayers. It's been a trying time here. Always, always busy. And I know it'll be busy in Germany as well. I sure hope God gives us the strength to keep on going. I know He will. ^_*


I'm going to miss all the RE classes. That was one of my favorite things to do here. There are so many misconceptions about Christianity that I am glad to have the classes simply to correct some of the strange things that I've heard. At the same time, it's been interesting to learn more about other kids' beliefs. Everything from Atheism to Muslim. All along the line, the talks have been interesting. It's something I really will miss.

I hope that us as the Church of North America will be able to catch the same passion as the Church here in England and Wales that we've been involved with. They have been hard out for Jesus everywhere we've gone, and it's been so refreshing despite our busy schedules.
Anyways, again, thank you to everyone, and alas, I must be off again. Hope you enjoy the pics. Wow... God is awesome... I have never experienced such a powerful wind...


:D

You can check out more pics at my photobucket link...(the same one with my London pics)

Grace and Peace

P.S.
Happy Birthday Grandpa Witherow! And for anyone wondering, I now have a sister website up for this one. http://encaitar777.multiply.com
check it out! :D

The Attempt to kill Jaimal

http://lastchancetobreathe.multiply.com/

Yeah...check out this link here! AJ, from my team has posted up literally hundreds of our pics! :D

Mock-Tees On March 7

I’m alive.
The sun is shining and the air smells like spring. Roadwork is in full swing, and people are complaining about it. We’re definitely back in England! This is our 2nd last week here in the UK. We just finished our time in Chepstow and now we’re in a town just north of Birmingham called, Walsall. It sounds very close to Warsaw because of the accent. It’s interesting to say! Give it a go if you want… Wool-sool. Interesting. Anyways, we did some open ministry yesterday. We were out in the town square and we did some music to have people stop for a moment and listen and then there were a good number of people out there giving out tracts. It was good, but wow, it can be hard. For those who regularly do that kind of thing. I salute you. It’s hard work. It’s been interesting to think about our time in Russia and the UK so far… I’ve been trying to think of what it will be that I remember most importantly. I think that will be prayer. Prayer has been so important. And we never ever spend enough time with God. I don’t anyways, and that’s something I need to work on disciplining all the more. Keeping my eyes on Christ is one of those extremely simple and extremely difficult things to do. But I’ll keep trying, and I’ll just have to trust that Jesus will give me the patience and discipline that I need… and the passion to spend the time with Him that I should.
We will be doing a few different things here in Walsall, such as ‘improv drama’…making stuff up on the spot. But we’ve never really done that kind of thing. I think it’s because they think we’re like a group that has been here called, Life Force. So we’re either going to have to get better at our improv drama, or, we need to let them know we might be doing things a little different. We’ll see how that goes.
It’s been an interesting time here today. We visited with a good deal of elderly folk. It was really a good time. One lady told how she had very bad memory. Therefore I let her name me something more memorable. Fred. Yup and get this! She remembered James because she was calling me Fred! Weird. That is how my mind works sometimes. I was able to play one of my songs for them, but I played it in two parts. Halfway through the song I got a real bad nosebleed. lol, that was interesting. I was able to fix up my nose before I got blood on anything so that was good. Unfortunately it was rather nasty at slowing down and therefore it made doing any songs we had left and one drama a little more interesting for me. That and I suddenly couldn’t pronounce certain words. Words like time, came out as timeb. Or habby instead of happy. Rhys made sure to remind me of this fact or factb every couple minutes. It was all in good fun ^_^.
But yeah. For anyone who is wondering what we would love prayer for, we need prayer for energy. We’re very tired. But until we completely burn out we’re going to go hard out for Christ! And so long as we are relying on Him for our strength we shouldn’t burn out. For his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He will carry us through the hard times and stay with us through the long stretches. It’s all good. :)
Anyways, take care everyone. May God grant to you His Grace and Peace to you today.
Brother J.

***THE NEXT DAY***MARCH 8***
Today was long and trying. But God was good. We did some drama things with the kids in the school, and they all enjoyed it very much. Coralie was able to catch up on her rest and so we're going to be going at this again tommorrow... with I might add, an extra hour of sleep. :D That will be nice.
We are still as a whole very tired. Fatigued... But we're hoping to be renewed. We'll see how that goes. Keep praying! God is working.
Grace and Peace
P.S. We had a good bible study tonight... I now have many things to ponder as I await the JWs who we are hoping will stop by tommorrow night. (Rhys met them when he was sick here at the house and they wanted to come back with an Elder to talk about some of the things that Rhys asked them about... it should prove interesting. I really hope they come!) O.o

Eclipse

Behold the lunar eclipse. We had a great time watching this thing overtop of Wales here. We had seen a full moon heading out to our last program while we are here in Chepstow, and on the way into the house when we got home, Vicki pulled me back outside to see the moon half gone, and then it kept on disappearing. Soon enough, it had turned to an amazing shade of red. It was something else. Just like the rest of this week. We've been doing RE classes the whole time basically and we've had a couple programs. Last night we were all very overwhelmed and very tired. But God gave us the unity and strength to finish strong. And he did work! I had a good but short talk with a couple of the guys, and everyone there I think was touched by God in different ways. Thank you to all who have been praying. This was one of those time that I got into a lot more detail in my testimony. It was amazing to see how simply telling people where I've come from can help others around the world. I hope God keeps on working as he has been. Please pray that our team can soon be refreshed and be able to get more energy into everything we have been doing. We're all running kind of low right now. Thanks so much for your prayers!
Grace and Peace
¬James

New Pics New Places

http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p174/encaitar777/London%20Area/
check it out! The other link to get there is over here on the left and it says, OTHER PICS. That will take you to the same place ... yeah.
Off to Wales we go. It's been great staying here with Patrick & Claudette (I hope i spelled that right) and their son, Craig. Take care everyone!
Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's off to Wales to we go...

Behold the Morning

Here I am on our last full day here in Plumstead. It's been a good time here. Yesterday I was able to go with Bryce and Rhys to visit the Prime Meridian. lol, it was interesting to think about who it was who decided to establish the beginning of time here. There were some museums there and many many clocks. We spent the whole day almost wandering around that area. It's a large park with a bunch of museums. Museums I might add, that are free! FREE! That was awesome.
Yesterday evening, I went to the church's yearly talent show night that was raising money for Uganda I believe. I went because there were some kewl guys that we met there the day before that. So, I went and I had heard that they all left, but lol, they were just up in the balcony. Anyways, we all had a great time there and it was kewl to see all the different people from the church there.
I need to go have some breakfast, so have fun and take care.
Grace and Peace

Stars

Maybe I've been the problem

Maybe I'm the one to blame

But even when I turn it off and blame myself

The outcome feels the same
I've been thinking maybe I've been partly cloudy

Maybe I'm the chance of rain And maybe I'm overcast And maybe all my luck's washed down the drain

I've been thinking 'bout everyone, Everyone you look so lonely

But when I look at the stars

When I look at the stars

When I look at the stars, I see someone else

When I look at the stars

The stars, I feel like myself

Stars looking at a planet

Watching entropy and pain

And maybe to start to wonder

How the chaos in our lives could pass as sane

I've been thinking 'bout the meaning of resistance

Of a hope beyond my own

And suddenly the infinite and penitent

Begin to look like home

But when I look at the stars
When I look at the stars
When I look at the stars, I see someone...

***This is a Switchfoot song... When you look up at the stars...heaven...you see someone else, and it is only then you begin to feel like yourself...the way you were meant to be...

It's been quite a ride here lately. We were in Welwyn Garden City last week, and that's about an hour north of London I believe... Now we're technically in London itself. I don't remember the name of the city here or anything. It at one time was a village and it got larger like the other ones nearby, and then suddenly London engulfed them. That's like on this little green Island... O.o

The church here that we are working with is called the Slade Evangelical, I believe. They are very Evangelistic in their approach, and as such, they have a diverse and strong group of believers here that want to see the gospel preached. It's been a real blessing to be here so far. I'm staying with Patrick & Claudia. They've really blessed us in letting us stay here.

I've been struggling in trying to find time. There seems to be no time ...which isn't true... But it all gets soaked up all around us by all the things we have to do in a day. But they have been good things! We've been able to get into a few schools here already, with two more coming up today. We've mainly done short programs within an assembly, but we've had a good number afterward of hour long chances with a smaller group afterward... Part of their Religous Education Class kind of thing. Yesterday for example we did a pure RE class. As such, we flat out presented the Bible and Jesus to them. We had some good questions, but they were typical questions like, 'Will I recognize my friends in heaven if they die at a different time?' or 'So you mean that we have to be born again to go to heaven?'... I enjoyed questions like that... :D Anyways, that was really good for our team and we've been doing better... though, lol, we had a harder time with some of the program items at the Kids Club last night....

We had one of those moments where we were all like, 'What's happening next?!' I asked two people because I couldn't see the board...They didn't know, either. So, I, in a dire effort to kill time gave a wonderful example of what to not do when on a stage. I walked up to the mike and made a popping sound. 'That sounds cool!', said I. lol, it was just one of those nights I guess. When we actually realized what we had all done or not done after the program we had a good laugh... It was even funnier when I retold the story to my billets.

The time here has been good... We'll have to see what will happen in the next while. Keep praying that we will have strength and boldness to make the gospel known... I'm also preaching this Sunday evening... I haven't tried since we were in North America 4 months ago... so I need to get 'back into shape'. May God's grace and peace be with you all!

Grace and Peace

<---One side to the Other--->

This has been a different time here in England... Welcome to English... Welcome to the real world... the one where people can understand you and you can understand them. WOw.

It was a brisk day out when we started up this morning. We're along the coast here in southern England, in a town called Worthing. They've been hovering near -1 degree temperatures and there are many worried that it could snow. Snow here throws life into absolute chaos. This morning, all the vehicles had a layer of ice on the windshield...and it seems Andrew(the youth leader I'm staying with) that he will use anti-freeze in the windshield wipers, pour water onto the windshield, or use other kinds of sprays... But it's not a scraper that he thinks about. I did it after the water and sprays he put on began to freeze... :P

Anyways, today was the first day here in Worthing that we did a program. We were in two schools. Worthing High...and Davisions. Worthing High was interesting. The class of 40 came into the auditorium to find us still frantic and rushing to finish setting up for everything. We started off with some simple questions and some of them began to answer. But then all of a sudden, the dam broke. Out from the gaping hole in the wall, difficult questions began to pour out... wow. On the far side to the left there was a boy who seemed to be a Christian...even if he wasn't...He knew a fair bit, and he was talking positively about Christians and Jesus. On the right side, extreme right, last chair...sat a young man with red hair. I do believe he had some freckles...This boy asked the most difficult questions. Everything from, how do you prove God exists?, to Carbon 14 dating (Evolutionary methods of telling people how old fossils are), to the Gnositc Gospels and why the Israelites killed everyone in Canaan. Oi... They were very polite, but wow... it was harsh. Most of our team just sat out and watched me go at it with the rest of the students...so therefore when it was over, I was worn out... wow...

But we didn't have long, because after that we were off to Davisions, an all girls school. I must say that when we drove in I was already nervous... Girls in small groups can be really intimidating sometimes... I had no idea what it would be like with 300 in one room (which there were)... But it all went well, other than the janitor had no idea that we were coming. It was all good. :)

But then this evening, I had the opposite extreme. After a rushed busy time of watching the family here get both supper ready, and their house ready for home groups, people finally began to arrive. We had a devotional video, then discussed things for a while, and then we prayed. After that we began to chat. I met a few of the ladies and men from the Worthing Tabernacle, where we've been having our base of operations, as it were. Anyways, afterwards, Brother Andrew, an elder in the church here was having quite a debate with a lady named Brenda. The short of it was that since Andrew wasn't a Pastor, but was being paid for doing, 'the job God gave him'...He must ask God for another job because that one doesn't count... He needed another job...
Needless to say, that spurred a good deal of discussion and debate...wow...
On the one side, having a boy who hated the Church, and on the other finding out that we are amoung the 99% of Christians who are wasting our lives because we haven't asked God for a job. It was such a mind thrash I had to sit down. O.o

Anyways, if nothing else, I hope to talk much more with Brother Andrew. He's a very faithful servant and is extremely sold out on loving people. I want to know more about him, so we'll see what happens.

In the meantime, please pray that we boldly declare God's truth... Most of this week will be spent doing evangelism, discipleship and going into schools. We need all the prayer we can get. And may God bless you for your diligence.
Keep your eyes on Christ...
Everything else will follow...
~Brother J

PreEnglandPhotos

Jesus is my Superhero

We're alive and well...for the most part...in England, just east of Wales. AJ has been a little sick lately, and I've been struggling a bit with an occasional cough. We had a crazy bit of time in the Moscow area for those who have been wondering what all happened...

We were 3 hours late getting to Moscow because of a snowstorm... and so we arrived, it was the same reason that our contact who came, 3 hours late, broke to us the news that we had no vehicle anymore... the one we had asked to be there took off to make more money. That's life.... sigh... so we were there in the airport for about 4.5 hours before we left... and we had to pay him 4000 rub. to take us halfway across town... (that's 150 american)... and then when we arrived to pick up our freight, they REcharged the same price we had paid to ship it... it was a 'holding fee'...sigh... then we were dropped off in a dark winter alley with three big german shepherds that were spying us out...The door of the building was frozen, so we couldn't get in... it was midnight...the buildings all around were abandoned... and we to simply hope this other driver would show up so we could pay him 3000 rub....But it worked out and we arrived at the airport...

We were told that at most at the airport in Moscow that it might cost us 1500 American... When we got into line we found out that they had upped the price of overweight luggage (anything over 20kg per person) and that meant if we were to leave with anything it would cost us 6000 american.

Needless to say, we didn't do that. God worked it out so that an offical from the airport came to talk with us when the way was shut. We combined what money we had (because we couldn't take any more money out on the team card that day...due to other issues...) So we delved into our debit funds and came up with enough...2000. But we're here now and safe.

God definately has been watching over the team... all the details. The little ones and the ones of huge proportions. He truly is everything we need.


But wow... I was almost a nervous wreck for a while... I was all trippy for a while... God was so good. In our desperation he got us through... We had no other way we could have come here with our equipment... but God worked it all out...wow...It was like watching a mountain disappear...crazy...!!!!
Praise God... and thank you all so much for your prayers... we had only had 2 hours of sleep in 2.5 days ... but God helped us hang in there... Hopefully I'll be fully recovered soon. :)

We did our first English program today. Two of them for children in a school. It was a lot fun. heh... I'm really looking forward to the rest of the time we're here... it's just too bad that I'm still so tired... I hope all the sleep I can get will last longer in the long run and be worth it in the end.
There is always something going on and so it's too bad that I've not been able to update things here so much.

Keep praying that God will be at work here... I'm eager to see what He wants to do here. Take care!
¬Brother J

the sunset is a sunset...
the archer is an archer... it has something to do with Genghis Khan
and the MIG is a MIG...I think it may be a MIG 19 but I'm not sure... that's all I know.. :)

A Contrasted life...

January 20, 2007
Well, we’re still alive and kicking over here in UlanUde. It’s been very interesting being here. We recently came back from a two day trip to some villages nearby. We had a couple programs, one at an orphanage and one at a ‘house of culture’ in a village of 2000 people. There we saw a strange contrast…those who had a future and a hope… and those who didn’t.
John, right when we arrived at the orphanage to set up began to speak with a little boy who was smiling away…He rolled up his pant leg to show John that his leg had been scarred. ‘My mother did this to me.’ He said. ‘And when my father got home he killed my mother for it. Now my father is in prison… But he was RIGHT for doing that, wasn’t he?’ John didn’t really have a response to that…
On the other hand, you have completely different responses to the same kind of thing. We stayed with a grandmother (bAHbushka) in the village for two nights. It was a nice size for a home there. It overlooked a beautiful little valley that had a fresh spring, and large trees and hills. Oh, it was beautiful. Her husband had built that house, but he was only able to live in it for 6 years. A day came where he went hunting with some other men. Her husband told them where it was safe to shoot, and where it wasn’t. One of the men ignored his warning and when he came to find the animal he had shot, to his horror, it was her husband. He was 38 at the time. It’s strange. When people were telling her to press charges and to make him pay for what this man had done, she refused. She told them, that putting him in prison to pay for the mistake would hurt his family that much more… And he needs to be there to care for them.
When one of her sons was 28, he shot himself.
Her life has been full of hardships and grief and pain… Yet she found strength to go on. She found her strength in Jesus…though she may not have completely understood it at the time.
You see, her father, when she was growing up, was a Christian. But they didn’t have a bible or anything. But he was a God fearing man, and he taught his family the Lord’s prayer and other simple little ditties. She had to put her hope in God… He was all she had for sure.
But she is very very thankful for everything she has. She doesn’t have much… but to her, she is very well off. God has blessed her with a home, he has given her comfort. She has grandchildren now… And she is more than glad to know that Jesus is her Saviour.
For all these people here in Russia. It is so very hard. Life is rough. And especially in this area that is very Buddhist, it’s just part of your accumulated sins from previous lives…You have to pay your debt.
It’s frustrating… Jesus is here…right in front of them when they need him, but so many walk the other way. However…there are a few who see the light. And once they are set in their decision to follow him, nothing…not even death has any power over them anymore. People full of Christ truly are full of his power to accomplish whatever God has set out for them. I want to be like that…I want to have that much of Jesus.

Wowzers Trousers

Well, look at that! Here we are, over halfway through January and into our last little bit here in Russia. It's amazing that the time has gone by so fast. It's too bad, and then again, it's great to know that it's less time to see everyone back home again.
We just had a big outreach program tonight... over 300 came out and I suppose it was the biggest crowd we've had so far. It was really encouraging... But more so, I was glad we were able to share the gospel with them. Here it usually is a long time before a Buryat becomes a Christian simply because the whole worldview of the Bible is very different from the worldview that people here have grown up with and it takes time for them to learn to believe only one or the other. Most may think you can be both a Buddhist and a Christian... it's different. As it is, friendship, love and trust go a long way... but everything takes time.
Thank you all for your prayers.
It's been exciting here... lol, and cold. Yesterday we were out at a village that it was cold enough in the hall we were in that when I was singing, whifts of fog would brush along my glasses' lenses. That was interesting. lol.
Alas... this is Siberia... and now that we're further south, it's sunnier and colder. Weird.
Have a great day everyone!
Take care!

New Land

Monday, January 8, 2007

It’s a bit of a shock to the system today… we have a day off… A day where the only thing really that we’re supposed to be doing is having some orientation from the head missionary here in Ulan Ude, John Wicker. They met us on the train when we arrived a couple days ago. John, Sharron, his wife and his children, Heather-Ann, Matthew and Heidi. Another couple in this area is Leif and Jamie Gustafson. They have been getting us to where we need to be and filling us in on the quirks of this area. Here the population is half Buryat.(boor-ee-at) They remind me so much of the Native People of Canada. Lol, and some even laugh exactly the same! They have fun games and jokes, love to walk and to hike. It’s really great being here. Yesterday we did a program for the local church here. It’s very small, but we sure filled it!

We did a full program set up in an area about 8’x6’… wow… that was a squeeze. That morning I was very sick… blah… But as the day went on I felt a lot better. After the service I met another Sasha who played guitar and Bryce went on to teach him some new chords. This was when we met Elizabeth . She’s a SEND missionary from Germany . She’s doing our registration stuff today if she can. Apparently she’s a master at getting out of problems. John said that she can get off with a warning from police if they catch her going the wrong way down a one way street, and run into a police car when she doesn’t have her license… she says, ‘I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again…’ and they let her off…(I doubt that ever really happened…but I do hear that most things that she gets off with, John always gets in trouble for…but that’s how the law works here sometimes)

Last night after the church meeting, we went to a service in the home of Shannon . She’s the equivalent of Olga if she had been born in the US . But now that I’ve met her…she reminds me a little more of someone else… hmm… Anyways, she was very excited to have us there and so we did little bits of program material and I helped play background guitar for their Christmas songs in Russian… That was fun. ^_^ Apparently we’ll see more of those youth in the next little while. Almost all of them were Buryat. Come to think of it, even the lady who comes in here to cook for lunch and supper is Buryat.

It’s different here. There’s more Chinese influence here. In fact, there’s even a Chinese restaurant on the end of our block… that was surprising.

I’m still very uncertain of what we will all be doing here in the next little while despite our schedule. What I mean is, it’s a little different trying to think of what to expect here. Elsewhere we’ve been in Russia , people have not been very ‘spiritual’…but here, it seems there’s a lot influence from Buddhism and other religions. Pray that God would break down the strongholds and that these people who are truly searching… the ones who are tired of life will hear about the Creator. Jesus.

We’ll see what happens.

Thank you to everyone who is praying…we had a problem free time getting here and God has kept us safe.

We played a couple games last night that were a lot of fun… electricity (you have two lines of people who hold hands behind their backs… on one end is a bottle… on the other a guy with a coin. When he flips the coin and it was heads, the person standing there watching would squeeze the hand of the person next to them… eventually the hand squeezing gets to the end and the person at the very end grabs the bottle. If they get it, then the team rotates one member to the other side. To win, you have to get back to where you started….) That was fun… other was this hand tapping game where you sit in a circle and have you hand on the knees of the people on you left and right. When someone taps their hand, you have to keep tapping and go around the circle. The trick is that if you double tap, then the direction changes… and if you flinch to move your hand, then that hand is out. Eventually you get down to two people… I actually won that game with both my hands still good… that plain shocked me… lol. While I was there I figured out a way to say something is really great….’Superr Ochin Herrisho’…which means (Very, Very Well) As far as Russian goes… it’s being very redundant… like if you were to ask someone if they would like butter for buttering your buttered toast…same kind of deal… Anyways, it’s truly a treat to add some Crazy Canadian to the Russians here who for many of them haven’t felt free in nearly ever. It really is something else to see them laugh. It’s fresh…and it’s new to many of them… I think it’s because it’s fueled by a deeper joy…

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers!

Keep your focus on Jesus!

Grace and Peace

~James

January 1, 2007

Snovem Godem! Happy New Year! We were up until 5am this morning bringing in the new year with the Church here in Lesisebirsk. We wouldn’t have survived at all except that we were able to have a nap yesterday afternoon for a few hours. That and I slept for 2.5 hours in the van. Apparently Janelle and I were conversing in our sleep. And she was having a very strange dream about me drawing a beard on her face.

The team is all starting to recover from all the stress of travel lately. It was a good time here despite some of the difficult times. We’re starting already to mentally prepare ourselves for going to Ulan Ude. Bruce, who has been with us the whole time will be staying in Krasnoyarsk. We’ll on the train for near 27 hours. To think of traveling still fills my heart with a little dread. There’ll be 6 of us and a whole lot of equipment. *sigh*

Oh, and for everyone who has been praying for our health, my wrist is still a ‘thorn in the side’ sometimes. It is getting better, but it’s slow recovering. It’s not hindering my work here in the slightest… but it is annoying. ^_^ Coralie who had been feeling a little ill the last while is doing much better. Otherwise, we’re all doing very well!

It’s hard trying to sum up all the things you’ve seen and heard and experienced all in short blog entries. There is a good deal of overload that occurs when you’re trying to take in all of Russia at once!

Last night for New Years we arrived and visited for a while until they started a drama. It was a cross between the story of the little match girl who was having a hard time selling matches, Father Frost (Santa Claus at New Years) and the Christmas story. Very strange and abstract. As such it was very enjoyable as I often enjoy things a little out of the ordinary sometimes. Right in the middle of the drama, they broke things up and got us to all go and eat. I remember eating a lot of orange slices and trying some raw red fish. As far as fish goes, it was pretty good fish! Unfortunately, I still have a very difficult time appreciating the flavor of fish…therefore I didn’t a whole lot of it. Never the less, it was a great meal. This was followed by people handing out sparklers… Those metal sticks that you might see on birthday cakes sometimes? We all had one of those and we went from person to person, sparkler to sparkler lighting the room up here and there until the countdown was over. Then we went as a big crowd outside and started to shoot off fireworks. We saw some going off to our left, and some off to our right, and our folks were sending them right overhead. It was quite extraordinary to watch…to think we were watching fireworks all over town, in Russia. In the snow. Weird.

We did some music and drama in pieces for the rest of the ‘morning’ after that until about 4. We were able to go to bed by about 5:30. Now it is morning, and you’re all caught up for this moment. I wish I had time to tell you about all the other strange things that happened.

I will leave one with you…When we returned from that big trip, us guys went and slept for a few hours. When we woke up, no longer than 5 min later, a couple ladies came into our flat and started to tell us things in Russian. They thought they had the wrong flat… they were looking for Igor…We told them that he was out and then they started talking in Russian again. They didn’t understand much of anything we told them and vice versa…Even though we used gestures… I don’t they were the gesture type. What one of them did say was that she lived in that flat, and then she turned and said, ‘Go!’… I started to grab my bags and move them out of my room into the living room. Soon she understood that she had said that incorrectly. She came back and with a chuckle said, ‘I go.’… that made more sense. I had figured they came there to see Igor and to change or get something for New Years. Later that night, I found out that I was right. She had left some of her things there and had come to get them. Never the less, us guys were so confused for a morning. There is nothing stranger than waking up and finding a couple ladies walk into your apartment who try to tell you things that you don’t understand… or then again… being a couple ladies and walking into a flat you are familiar with and finding 4 guys who can’t speak staying there. Truly life is strange sometimes. But it’s the strangeness that lets us enjoy the things that are a little more normal… *_^
Go with God! Spogum!


December 30, 2006


Today was one of those stupid awesome days. Or awesome stupid days…. Whatever you want to call it. We had a rough start with the team… it was a long trip to a small town Yenesisk… It reminded me of Northern Saskatchewan as far as the people went… but it was a lot like the Yukon from 29 years ago. Crazy.

We did a program at an orphanage and we gave everything we had, and wow… it wasn’t pretty… That really discouraged me… But today went well over all. God is working… But as a reminder for myself, PRAY FOR VAELERA!!! He gets discouraged over the lack of fruit…spiritual fruit… But wow… it was great to hear both his and Alexi’s testimonies… that was all we needed for God to snap us out of our tired frustration.
Don’t worry… We’re still giving all we have… God will be all we need.


December 29, 2006


We’re heading to a ferry right now. We got to Lessisabirsk safely despite the crazy roads and we were able to push another guy out of the snow… that was fun! The time here with Pastor Roma, Igor and Leanna has been great. All us guys stayed with Igor and his roomy in a rented flat. But even though we’d be getting back at 10 or later, he’d run over to the ladies’ drug rehab center and grab Leanna who was from Moscow. She understood a bit of English, and what she did know, she knew very well. Apparently she hadn’t had to use her English in 6 years so she had forgotten some words. We had a great time talking with them and we’ll see them again on New Years.

The spiritual battles here again have been fierce. Pastor Roma, for our first program had asked a army guy… I don’t remember his rank, but I know he’s in charge of a large amount of the military training in the area. Anyways, it was his responsibility to let people know about our first program, and only 15 showed up in a auditorium in City Hall made for 200. God still worked though, because now Pastor Roma has a chance to lead this army guy to Christ. Pray that that will go well.
In the afternoon we headed out to do a program in the school. Unfortunately, the psychologist of the school caught wind of our program and went into a fury about how we shouldn’t be allowed to be there. She called for the school security to come keep an eye on us, and so there was this big guy watching us. We never had a clue at the time, but he had a hard time with us because we walked on in, 4 of us bigger guys. I for instance walked up to this guy who was supposed to be looking real big and tough to watch for anything fishy was eying me so I walked up to him and gave him a big ‘Zrast-vutye!’ (hello) to wish he was caught a bit off guard and replied with a weak hello of his own. Anyways, when we started bringing in stuff that psychologist met us on the stairs and wouldn’t let us pass and we were sure we were going to be kicked out. But then someone else came to our rescue. Another teacher I think, and then the way was open. So we went in and did our program and then had a second one. It went really well. But meanwhile there was a lot going on. The lady throwing this fit went to her office and began to write out a letter of complaint to give to the city Judge. When Roma asked what she was doing she told him and then added, ‘When he gets this letter you’ll never be allowed in here again to spread your religious propaganda!’ He told her, ‘You don’t even know if we are. Come see for yourself. Then you can write your letter.’ So, for the second program, she sat at the back and began to write her letter of complaint. Our program was anything but preachy, and I’m sure she had a hard time finding things we were doing wrong. In any case, afterwards, she left in a huff and went to argue with the other teachers and James L.

The short of it was that God gave James L. the right words to say that completely destroyed the arguments that she had. She had complained that our program had no knowledge in it. But James argued that there were many things they could get out of it… despite that she wouldn’t let us speak freely about God. We were teaching that love is powerful and we should by love, and with love for each other. When we live for ourself, we ruin our lives. Sometimes we need help from others. She argued that we should have talked more about the trees that Canada has…James argued that there was time for questions, and they didn’t want to know about the trees. They wanted to know about why we had come all the way to this town, way out in the middle of nowhere. We wanted to teach them things that could help their life long after we had left.

Anyways, in the middle of this, the teachers showed up and were wondering why she was trying to ruin this great program that was put on… and then the kids came out and asked her why she was trying to stop the program that they had enjoyed. So she said, well, then I’ll do a seminar about how to get a man for you girls. Then they cut her off and said, ‘We don’t care about that… how come you think your programs are so much better. You have to try and ruin ours?!’ Anyways, soon she couldn’t take it and went off to finish writing her letter.

It was then that the vice-principal came out. She had been watching our whole program. She was very blunt. ‘So what if you taught about turning to God when nothing else works…if our psychologist tries to send that letter, I’ll fire her. I really liked your program.’

God rules!

That was a taste of what God is doing. Pray that God continues to have his way!


December 26, 2006


Well, we’re heading for Lesosebirsk…I’m not sure if that’s how you’d spell it, but it’s about 5 hours north of Krasnoyarsk. I don’t know what to expect up there except that I’m sure it’ll still cold. That’s life here…and we just hit a big pothole…This van we borrowed from Chad is taking quite a beating. Hence, ‘Sorry Chad’ has become one of our primary sayings here on the road. *BANG* ‘Sorry Chad’…You get the idea.
Well, we’ll see what the north brings… that and New Years. Apparently, they stay up all night… and all next morning