Transition time is in full swing

The clock is ticking fast until we leave Russia. This is a very confusing time for us. We are caught up in planning three lives at once. Russians plan things at the last minute. Yesterday we told our land lady that we wanted to talk to her about our contract. There are two months left on it still, and in her mind that is still a long way away. When we asked her if we could talk about it on Friday, she said we should call her again on Friday to find out. So, it is often hard to get people to commit to things here more than 1 or 2 days in advance, let alone a couple months in advance.

We are also planning some parts of our trip to Canada now. In general though social engagements are made in Canada about a week in advance. Bigger things can be planned a month or two in advance. In Australia social engagements need to be planned 2-3 weeks or even a month in advance. Bigger things need to be planned 6 months in advance. For example we will put in our newsletter that we are looking for a place to house sit in Melbourne from about October 5th until the end of December. If you know of anything please let us know.

My trip to Kellog is a little over a week away, so I am beginning to get a little nervous. Please remember to pray for me, Yura, Mika and Samuli for traveling safety. I will write more about the trip in the coming days.



The view on my Monday walk, where I asked God some serious questions.


The transition period has been a bit of a catalyst to talk about issues on our team. Growth in a team takes time, and as we have only known most people on our team since October, iron sharpening iron has only started happening in the last few weeks. I was feeling quite disillusioned about the shape of some of the relationships on our team. On Monday I prayed and asked the question: "Why did you bring us to Krasnoyarsk Lord?" It wasn't a question of doubting God's wisdom but a question of wanting to understand why. On Tuesday I had a good three hour chat with one of our team mates and this helped a lot to improve relationships. I am encouraged again that we have a team that is valuable to relate to. This is an important thing for us to encourage us while we go away, that we have a team to return to.


The Tuesday view, where Tim and I had our three hour chat and I was greatly encouraged.