On this date...

May 17th, 2006. That's the day that we arrived to live in Russia. We were so full of nerves as we embarked upon our new life. As we hit the ground I remember thinking "Oh no, what have I done, I've really left my family behind." That was quite a hard thing to go through. Settling in was a slow process as we had to set up our home from scratch, it was completely empty when we moved in.
Over the last year we have made many friends, but this is still a slow process. We settled in to a place of fellowship, but this still has its weaknesses. We have shared the truth with many Tuvans, but they still have many ideas in their world view that need to be challenged. We have progressed a long way in our Russian language, but we still have such a long way to go. (How uncanny is it that I am sitting my Russian exams exactly 12 months after arriving in the country?)
Long term ministry is no flash in the pan. We desire to assimilate into Russian society and impact people's lives at a deep level. This is the kind of thing that influences permanent change. Please continue the journey with us. There are many exciting things in store. We greatly value your support and patronage. We'd love to hear from you and hope you haven't forgotten about us. We certainly haven't forgotten about you.

Some scenes from 12 months ago: