Dear family, friends, and church family,
We are safe in Moscow with dear and long-time friends Yuri and Sveta. This last week has been another overwhelming testimony of our loving Father’s mercy, goodness, and watch-care. We arrived from Ügülatsi to Vilyuisk in our small boat on Friday evening. We had a rare sunny day for the river trip back to Vilyuisk. The NEXT day, was cold and rainy again! Vasili had to leave to Yakutsk to get Ludmila Sunday afternoon, so we scrambled to get ready for our US journey in just 26 hours. We are bringing MINIMAL clothing and little else for our short US stay, and trust God to oversee every need in the States.
At the last minute before leaving Vilyuisk, we had to forfeit all our ticket money (Yakutsk to Moscow) to pay a debit not due until November—to provide for an emergency “today”. We left for Yakutsk by faith (becoming a habit), not knowing how we’d replace that $2000. Arriving in Yakutsk we were told that a large presidential delegation was going to Moscow; so no more tickets were available until our purchased flight to the US had left. We made 2 immediate appointments—1st with our Father on our knees (Psalm 34:4-10), and 2nd with our good friend, the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs in his office. Before we finished speaking our dilemma, he picked up his phone to get tickets for us (knowing we had no funds). Mike prayed and was on Internet CHAT with our daughters Jeanne and Bonnie through the night. The girls were in prayer too and poised to help facilitate. Within 1 hour of our deadline to purchase phantom seats with no funds—God providedboth! With no time to spare, 2 seats to Moscow suddenly became available, and gifts from churches in Buffalo & San Diego arrived at a Yakutsk Western Union office. We got the tickets and flew the next day. Oddly, our fares were discounted at the ticket counter, and we had 2 tickets and an “extra” 10,000 rubles ($375). We left the ticket counter rejoicing, on our way to visit Ludmila in the nearby hospital. She had been released to return to Vilyuisk to await a 3rd surgery. As Vasili prepared to check Ludmila from the hospital, they had no money for a new wheelchair. God immediately told Mike to buy the wheelchair; not knowing the cost. As he thumbed-out the rubles for this last-minute need before their flight to Vilyuisk--it was 7000 rubles! (Psalm 41:1)
We flew to Moscow, but were unable to make contact with Yuri and Sveta for transportation to their home. Our flight was late and due to a “technical problem” the baggage was late coming out. Then we didn’t know how to use the new Russian phone card system at the airport. God sent a very kind young Russian man who helped us call Sveta. She said, “Come quickly as no one would be home after 8:30pm”. The official taxi service was out of taxis, and savvy foreigners never use the infamous “private” taxis unless they have a death-wish or money to burn. Mike is a trained people observer, and he began “watching” roaming taxi drivers solicit customers in the packed terminal. He zeroed-in on a kindly older gentleman humbly soliciting, and we found him to be God’s 2nd guardian angel in the terminal. He quoted a very reasonable $100 (our remaining “discount” funds) to take us 50 miles to Yuri & Sveta’s home in the suburbs, on a rainy day during rush-hour through a city of 10 million. It took 6 hours to cross 6 time-zones, Yakutsk to Moscow, and 4 hours to crawl 50 miles from the airport to our friends’ home! The taxi driver couldn’t find the apartment and we arrived AFTER Sveta had left. We tried the door code anyway and a young man answered; Sveta had a friend stay at the apartment to wait for us! We were able to get in and take our first shower in 5 months, and when Sveta came at 12:30 a.m., I let her in. Mike said that God was never fearful or concerned from the time we left Ügülatsi—so why should we be fearful or concerned? AARRGG! (Phil. 4:6).
It is wonderful in the middle of all our “troubles” to see God marvelously work, watch, and care for us who are only conduits of His love here. He dispatches His special guardian angels: unseen in the spirit realm, and seen through His faithful Russian & US servants. Watching God orchestrate our lives literally a step at a time is terrifying to our flesh—but is an awesome paradigm of how He works all things for the glory, honor, and praise of His name as we yield in trust. For Mike it was another fun adventure in His sovereign hands. But I’m still learning that when things dissolve into apparent failure; our God delights in waiting for us to give Him everything, sort of like Hebrews 11:1-6. By the way, for my fellow “Type A” personalities—WE DO PLAN—but it doesn’t work so well here and our sovereign God has it all covered (Psalm 46:10-11)!
We hope to arrive at NY’s JFK on the night of August 8th, and then drive with a cheap motel stop to Buffalo, NY where our supporting church there has donated a ’97 Chrysler minivan to us. We’ll “crash” for a few days, and Mike is scheduled to deliver the Sunday message there. We then meander to Florida where my dentist will fix my bridge. I have a toothless grin, since my bridge came out in early July. We hope to see many of you, as we cross the US sharing what God is doing among His beloved Sakha, and we gather tools and supplies to minister to their spiritual and corporal needs in November.
Thank you all for praying for us. We are so glad for our Lord’s love and care as He makes our way clear…
Our sincerest Christian love and blessings from Moscow,
Diane & Michael
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