Taking ispiration from Mayor Ed Koch, I thought I’d review my progress on attaining my 2008 goals, which I posted here last December. I do this as a matter of accountability to all of you who support us in prayer and financially. In this month’s newsletter, I mentioned my hopes for producing a multiplying deiscipleship…

For the first time in what seems like years, I am able to commit to the value of ongoing growth and self-feeding. Of course a man’s library is about a personal matter as they get, so no one will like everything I do. Nonetheless, I’ve got some great books I’d love to have you check…

I went to a wonderful conference on Nov. 14-15 by a group called “Light of Love” promoting a reversal of the unusually poor trend in Russians taking orphans into their own homes. This ministry focues on reaching Christians, by far the most capable (in general) of providing the kind of homes that orphans need without…

I wrote my August newsletter as an interview with my mother, who had visited here that month. Now that she has had time to reflect more on her time here, she has written a report that she gave me permission to post here. The Missions Committee asked me to give a brief sketch of what…

The boys and I had just started on our way home from school (11/7) and got out of the tram (the street car) to enter the Metro. I suddenly realized that Kerith’s backpack was not in its mandatory (on his back) location. The tram was just ahead of us, and we dashed to try to…

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…