This story begins back this summer in Germany where we had the blessing of time to hang out with Tobias and his wife for long nights to talk about whatever topic God brought up. On one such night I mentioned to Tobias that I had been an effective hypnotist once upon a time. His question…

As I posted before, I have been working on an exciting project to combine business and leadership development with a local Christian business owner. Now that CRM’s Enterprise International is interested in the project, it has slowed us down, but only for the good. They are really helping us make this a great project, and…

The card game Uno is fast becoming a favorite over at the orphanage down the street. After we tackle the English homework, we play cards. Lydia loves to help too, and she even has helped with the homework by listening to the kids read their texts. I (Diana) brought Uno because most Russians already know…

Three weeks ago I resumed my English tutoring at the orphanage down the street. Last school year’s experience held some beautiful moments with these teens, but there were as many difficult times managing the dynamics in the group as well. Even though my Russian is much improved, I knew that if I were to be…

One of my roles here is to serve as a sort of liaison for a US ministry that supports pastors from the St. Petersburg area. Russians Reaching Russians looks for promising leaders, particularly church planters from among the Russians, and invests in them, including financial support and advise. They also send periodic teams over to…

Barring any surprises, God appears to have given us wonderful resolution to our visa woes. As I reported recently, we had decided to taken an open mind to all possible options and allow God to do the choosing for us. After a process of elimination (indeed in one case heart-wrenching for Diana), God made it…

Let me through out an idea for a summer team project that some may want to consider for next year. This is from a ministry here that almost everyone who works with orphans works with. They organize a lot of projects and generally help facilitate ministry for other ministries.The following is from a note from…

Mom: Today was “Pervii zvonok” (First Bell). What was that all about?Kerith: I was going to 1st grade. It was fun. I saw all my friends, and I was relieved that I saw them again. This was because the celebration had started today. First graders go to second, and all the grades are changing. I…

Without the faithful support and prayers of a whole lot of people, not only would we not be here, but we would have not chance of thriving in the assignment God has for us. We send everyone on our mailing list news every month that includes prayer requests, and I send a small group of…

It was just a conversation with Pastor Igor during our weekly coaching session, but it seemed so packed full of juicy food for thought that I feel compelled to post a synopsis of it. We started out talking about the war with Georgia, as I was interested in his input on what is going on…