Dear Ones,
 Our Heavenly Father continues to lavish His grace, strength and joy on us as we love on His kids here. Mike is stronger, though still fighting a “bug”. Luda and I have it too but are pressing through. We look forward to Vasilli’s soon return with fish and ducks for our table. Luda’s daughter Vera (to whom we conferred our Vilyuisk home), just earned her law degree, and is the new assistant to the Federal Judge here in Vilyuisk. She’s helping us with all legal forms so we can be in Ügülatsi for a year. Luda’s brother, Kola, mayor of Ügülatsi, came Friday, via a miserably cold, wet 24-hour boat trip. He finished his business in town, and before he started back to Ügülatsi tonight to work on our forms, he gave us 2 fresh ducks for our dinner. We’re still praying concerning our plans & timing for the next few months.
All week we taught our 2nd year students at the Vilyuisk Teachers’ Training College. I taught my American History Through Song curriculum, with excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and Gettysburg Address. We discussed our first 3 presidents, then John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. focusing on freedom, equality and Biblical values like personal integrity. I challenged my students to think on what makes great men, and what is worth dieing for. Mike taught the story of 5 American missionaries martyred in Ecuador in 1956 by Waodoni warriors. The wives and children of those martyrs then moved into the tribe and successfully brought the gospel. On Sat., we showed that story in the film: “The End of the Spear”. We shared that it was particularly meaningful to us, as our daughter, Bonnie, is on staff with HCJB Radio which grew out of the work of those 5 martyrs.
 Thursday of this week, we were honored to participate in an early celebration by our teachers college of “Sykh”, the Sakha Summer Festival. The students, teachers, and administration all congregated in a 6-acre forest meadow for a picnic, traditional sports, contests, dances and ceremonies. Our English students made a special meal of traditional foods: miscellaneous parts of miscellaneous animals, and borsch in 3 big buckets hung over a fire. The students then spread themselves and the food on plastic ground cloths, where we devoured all the delicious foods. The fire building and festivities began at 10:30am, and we left at 7:15 pm, just as the skies opened in a very cold torrential rain. We took an hour of digital video and over 200 digital photos that we will archive on CDs for the students.
In our Saturday meeting with a growing group of believers, we sang for a ½ hour, and then Mike distributed our Sakhalyy worksheet; Jesus: God the Son. We discussed it for 3 hours starting with the parallel passages: John 1:1-14 & 1 John chapter 1. The Sakha N.T. translated “Word” in these passages as “tongue”, so Mike detailed all the definitions which the ancient Greeks attributed to “Logos”, so our Sakha family could know the many differentattributes of Jesus included in the term “Word”. With each attribute, he explained its practical application for real change in lives lived for Him. After 3 hours, we’d barely scratched the surface of who Jesus is. We then opened the floor for questions which took us to 6:30 pm. I prayed for a sister last week who was bitten by a big dog. She came so excited to show me that her wound healed so fast with no infection or complications. Her doctor was astounded.
 We were visited this week by the former head of the Sakha Parliament, now mayor of Verkniviluisk. He came quite a distance to see us, and stayed for a while. He is interested in bringing “our” technologies to his region and has invited us as his guests of honor for their “Sykh” Festival June 19, 20, and 21. A brother will take us from there to the baptisms in Suuntar--then we hope to spend more time in Verkniviluisk helping teachers and students. We’ll decide then if we go to Ügülatsi for 2 months and back to the US in Sept., or leave for the US in July after Suuntar. Pray for wisdom for us in these things.
Today we spent the afternoon at the college’s theater hall and began to share our DVD library of American films with many English students. We hope this is the start of an English Club for all interested students. We’ll teach 1st year students this week, and will likely use our curriculums from last week. Thank you all for your continued love and care…your prayers are much needed and appreciated.
We send you all our love in Him,
Diane & Michael Meagher
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