Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!
This is a time of year where many make New Year resolutions. There will be those who will commit to lose weight and never seem to get it done. There will be others who will make other commitments and somehow they lose focus in mid-stream. Please let me take this time to challenge you to continue with your commitment that you made to the Lord concerning missions in Far East Russia. Many of you committed to pray for us daily and many committed to pray for us regularly. Thank you so much for being a part of the Lord’s work in Far East Russia. Please continue to pray for us during 2008. God has so many great and awesome things that He wants to do in Far East Russia. Please pray that the Roberts’ family will be in the center of God’s will and will see all people with the eyes of Christ. Pray that many will come to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior during 2008.
New Year is when “Father Frost” visits all the Russian Children. They do not celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. We had a wonderful Christmas service celebrating the birth of Jesus. One lady accepted Christ. Praise God for salvation through Jesus Christ. Please pray that many others will hear and understand. The Apostle Paul made a great statement in Romans. Allow this verse to be on your heart when you pray for us this year. {Romans 15:20-21 (HCSB) so my aim is to evangelize where Christ has not been named, in order that I will not be building on someone else’s foundations, but , as it is written: Those who had no report of Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.}
Our children are enjoying the snow. They go sledding at least once a week. There is a great hill just across the road from our apartment. They have met some friends there and the Putnam’s usually meet there for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon. Lee has met some friends in our building. Emma has made some friends at school. Emma had a Christmas party at school this week. They all dress up in costumes, much like kids do in the states for Halloween but without the scary stuff. The ski slope has opened and Lee is looking forward to going snowboarding soon.
A special thanks to all who sent us cards, letters and boxes from the states. The kids really enjoy getting stuff from home…………well, maybe mom and dad also. If you have sent us something and we have not contacted you to say thanks…………please remember that it takes six weeks for stuff to get here from the states and we will let you know when we get your card, letter, or package.

Contact us at: 011-7-415-227-3716,
going.east@hotmail.com
http://robertsinrussia.blogspot.com
683049
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
P.O. Box 176
Russia
Roberts, Marty

Monthly Medication

{Расскази как марти получ он медикамент.} This is a story on how Marty received his medicine.

As many of you know I have taken daily medication for hypertension since my senior year of high school. When we arrived in PK we quickly found out that my medication was not available here. We were given information on how to order my meds from the states and have it shipped here while at FPO training. That is what we did. They shipped me a seven month supply. It took about 5 weeks for the medicine to arrive. No problem, I had enough meds on hand to wait that long thanks to Randy’s state side trip. He brought me back a month’s supply.

We received a letter that my meds had arrived at the down town central post office and attached to the notification was a customs form.( I remember one day waiting in line at the North Mississippi Medical Center Pharmacy for about 30 minutes and began to get impatient. ) For me to receive my meds in Russia from the states it took a little longer than 30minutes. Let me just give you a summary report.

1. Received notification that meds were at the post office.
2. Attempted to retrieve meds. We were given the customs notification.
3. Went to customs.
4. Next day sent back to customs.
5. Took a customs inspector with us to the post office to inspect the box.
6. Back at customs, box remains at Post office.
7. Get in a Russian jeep with “Dog the bounty hunters” twin.
8. Ride through the customs ship yard and to a secluded building.
9. Meet with more customs agents.
10. Finally 2 signatures, 2 stamps and back to the post office.
11. Summary (3 days, 24 custom agents, inspector, dog the bounty hunter, ride in Russian custom’s official jeep and we received 7 months worth of Meds).

The next time you are at the pharmacy and have someone in line in front of you. Just smile and remember that you will probably not have to talk to 24 custom officials. All in all Tracey and I laughed a lot and “Dog the bounty hunter” was a funny guy. He even spun some circles in the jeep on the ice.

Philippians 4:19 and my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Notice the picture of Emma Grace standing beside a life size photo of Lottie Moon. Take time this month and research a little about this young lady who devoted her life to missions. Please ask the Lord how you can support missions this month during the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. It is this offering that keeps us on field and helps provide things like monthly medications, even if it takes all the above to retrieve it.

Merry Christmas!!!

The Roberts Family (Marty, Suzanne, Lee & Emma)
Contact info: going.east@hotmail.com; http://robertsinrussia.blogspot.com
683049
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
P.O. Box 176
Russia
Roberts, Marty
Dear Prayer Warriors/prayer reps,
God is at work in Far East Russia. Each day He teaches us new things about the people and the area in which we live. Suzanne and I are learning new words and phrases each day. In just six short weeks of language school we have completed nine chapters of our book. We know around 700 words in the Russian language not counting the ability to count to 1,000 in Russian. We attempt to use the Russian language daily outside of class. We can know go down to the corner magazine and purchase many items and they actually understand what we are trying to say. We can introduce ourselves and our families in Russian. We can sing a couple of Russian songs in church. We have currently passed four spelling test in Russian. Praise the Lord. Please continue to pray for us as we learn one of the top five most difficult languages in the world. Pray that we will learn the language and have the ability to clearly communicate the Gospel.
The first Sunday of December Marty had the privilege of preaching at Immanuel Church. This is the new church plant that currently meets in the library. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to share the Gospel. During this service we were able to minister to a lady who is currently in the Bahia faith. Please pray that we clearly communicate the truth of Jesus Christ to her.
Marty also celebrated his first birth day in Russia. He turned (tretsat semb) on December 10. You can guess what those Russian numbers are. We also received our first package from home. If you love peanut butter like I do you will never know how good JIF creamy taste after doing without for eight weeks or so. We are grateful for all the stuff that was sent to us. Just a side note…sugar free kool-aid, which my kids love, is not available here.
Lee and Emma continue to do well in their studies. Lee has had 4 tests in the past couple of weeks. They are really enjoying having Rachel work with them in their studies. We did get to take a couple of days this month for recreation. We took one Saturday afternoon and went snow sledding and made a few snow angles. Also, one Friday evening we all went to the Blue Lagoon. This is an outdoor water park with water slides and pools that are heated by hot springs. Have you ever gone swimming outside when it was negative seven? We did!!!
Please remember that this month is when we as SB give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Please know that it is this money that keeps our family on field. Please pray and ask the Lord how you can support missions this year. God bless and Merry Christmas from the Roberts’.