Nov. 21, 2007

Dave and I are settling into a good routine these days, now that Shelter is back into full swing. Dave continues to work daily (minus our weekly rest day!) on studio construction and it's amazing to see how far they've come in there. He has hopes to be completed the construction by the time we leave for England on Dec. 8. (For those of you don't know, we're heading to England to spend Christmas with my brother Keith and his wife Tannis...we're really looking forward to it!) Another thing that keeps Dave busy is practicing with the band "Smak Soli" ("Taste of Salt", comprised of Shelter leaders) and also practicing for a monthly worship evening that Shelter will begin hosting in a couple of weeks. In both these groups Dave is playing electric guitar. He is especially excited about the worship event that is coming up soon and together with Sasha they are dreaming of how they can encourage the churches all over the city to come together to worship God together. As we have read and understand: "Worship...is the fuel and goal of missions...The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. "The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!" (Psalm 97:1) "Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!" (Psalm 67:3-4). (Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper, p. 17)

At Children's Shelter this year every week we have a short skit with characters from "Flower City". This theme has given me the opportunity to further develop my "gifts" in foam manipulation. My most recent assignment was to make props out of foam that would give our stage the appearance of a real Flower City, where the flowers are taller than the people living there. Again, with a lot of help with painting and with hanging the flowers on the stage, this goal has been achieved. I know that these props will continue to be used every week this year, and will probably find uses elsewhere also. It's just another neat way that I've been able to use my creative side here.

I mentioned in the last blog that we weren't sure how many kids would come for our first day of Children's Shelter after the big Ella's Backyard festival. Well, God knew exactly how many kids we could handle and sent just that many to us. We are grateful that we continue to have the resources we need to work with these many children from the neighborhood. I think about 60 come on a regular basis. This is great because we get to know these kids by name and build real friendships with them...right now "secret handshakes" are really big!

Flower City in action

One thing that has been really exciting for Dave and I to see is how two girls who last year only came to Shelter for English Club are now becoming very involved in other Shelter activities. They both grew in their understanding of the gospel and what we believe as Christians during their time in Crimea with the Shelter team. Now they are attending Shelter's weekly Bible studies and are getting involved in volunteering. One of them translates for me when I am teaching art and English to the 12-14 year olds on Tuesdays and Fridays. The other one is teaching English to the children who come on Saturdays to Children's Shelter. It is very rewarding for us to see how something like an interest in learning English has opened doors to their interest in learning about God. We eagerly anticipate seeing this continue to happen in other's lives as well. As these girls both have a good grasp on English I hope to be able to encourage them in this as well.English Club

On a completely different topic, just in case any of you are wondering about the status of our hot water and heat in our apartment: Both are on! We have already had heat in our apartment for a little over a month, and the hot water has been on for about two weeks. Hurrah! This was great news because some people were saying that we shouldn't expect hot water until January even. The weather has cooled down a lot in the last 4 weeks, but is still well above what we're used to in Winnipeg at this time of year. We've had a few days of snow about a week ago, but it's already melted away. I'm enjoying the fact that we don't have car windows to scrape or a sidewalk to shovel! (Sorry, not to rub it in or anything!)

Riding a "scary" contraption above the trees a couple months ago.

Well, it's probably time for me to make supper. Lots of love to each of you, and may God bless you as you enter the Advent Season in anticipation of the celebration of Christ's birth!

Bethany, for both