Sometimes I describe our work in Russia as a dual thrust: developing leaders and serving the needs of orphans. Although this is a true picture, I see the two coming together over time. Here is my present understanding of how God is working to that end: We all know the story of the kid who…

Neither Diana nor I had ever done any work with orphans before moving to Russia. We had once, however, begun the process of adopting a child from the Ukraine after Lydia was born. But then when Kerith came along much sooner than expected, we abandoned that project (perhaps for another day?). We had both worked…

I woke up feeling quite normal that Friday recently in October, excited about the men’s retreat I was at in a quiet suburb of the city (Father School, which originally came out of Korea). Normal wouldn’t last long, though. Soon after I got to the morning prayer meeting the small of my back gave, and…

When the kids all trooped out the door with backpacks at 7:45 a.m. one day this September I was left on our inside stairs staring at the closed door with a strange feeling. What was it? Oh, yes, I was alone — with nobody to teach!! For the first time since the summer I was…

I had the joy of being able to start a “class” this summer for husbands, centered around a study I wrote a few years ago that I called, “On Becoming Mr. Ephesians.” 25 men from 5 different churches came to participate. We started with a viewing of “Fireproof,” which didn’t fail to move the men…

I (Diana) have gone from tutoring English one afternoon a week to two days this school year at the orphanage that is near our apartment. This year was about getting to know the kids and staff more and more. Building trust with anybody takes time, but Russians are wary by nature and slow to accept.…

The madness leading up to our being able to turn in the paperwork for our application for temporary residence was stressful and taxing. As I reported here in detail, the whole three month ordeal took 60 hours of my time. I considered our first year of life a learning curve equivalent to a masters degree.…

A former client sent me in the middle of letter a very kind testimony to how she was impacted by our time together several years ago: A marked difference for me since we last met [5 years ago] … it’s totally normal for me to feel in constant prayer. Is this normal? I feel it…

Nothing gets a person’s mission juices flowing like actually doing a mission project. In my correspondence with our supporting churches, I constantly remind them that we are ready to help them organize a short-term project that suits their desires and parameters. Meanwhile, I got to help with a team of high-school kids who came here…

I’ve been stuck in moving my prayer life to another level of intimacy with God. Recently, I started this spontaneous conversation with myself that I think gave me a few small breakthroughs. Someone needs to read this, I feel. Someone else may be bored. Maybe someone needs one part of the conversation I had with…