February 2009 Newsletter

Charles H. Spurgeon once stated, “O people of God, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your souls.”

Romans 10:17 so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Please continue to pray that God’s Word will be spread throughout Kamchatka and Russia so that those who have not heard might hear and believe and heaven brought to their souls. Pray for Ingram Baptist Church as they prepare to send two teams to Kamchatka this summer. Ask the Lord to guide their steps, to prepare them for their time overseas, for support and encouragement from their fellow church members, and for heaven to fill their souls. What we are full of will naturally flow from our lips and lives.

Featured question(s): This is a new section of our monthly newsletter where we would love to answer your questions. Please email your questions to us throughout the year at going.east@hotmail.com and each month we will feature a few questions in the newsletter.

Question submitted by Keith (Wheeler Baptist Church - Mississippi): How will the Roberts family continue to live in Kamchatka? What is the current visa situation?
Visa Update: We are currently in Kamchatka on a 90 day visa. We are officially registered in the city. That simply means that we have permission to live in Petropavlovsk – Kamchatka until April 28, 2009 and then we must leave again. We praise the Lord for this door that is opened for us to return. Please continue to pray that we fully understand God’s plan for long term living in Kamchatka. Pray for us as we continue to seek out a way to live in Kamchatka for longer than 90 days at a time.

To be very honest we have more questions about the current visa situation than we do answers. Until there is a change in the government in Kamchatka or until we discover another avenue to try we will continue to do 90 day visa renewals. We have attempted other avenues such as work permits and temporary residency permits. On both occasions we have been denied because we are in Russia on a religious work visa. In short, that simply means that every 90 days we must leave Russia. In our case the closest and most economical place for us to travel out of country is Seoul, South Korea. Of course this is very expensive and time consuming. At this time this is the only open door that we have and will continue to do this until change occurs. Pray that God would change the heart of the “powers that be” in Kamchatka so that we could re-apply for a temporary residency permit.

Remember our “Holding the Rope” check list? It is found in Colossians 4: 2-5 (2) Continue in Prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; (3) Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: (4) That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. (5) Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

•Join with us this month and pray through this passage with us and for us:
Pray that we would:
o Be diligent and purposeful in prayer
o Give thanks daily (that our attitudes are correct)
o God opens the door for us to speak of Jesus and His love
o We would make every decision with wisdom from above
o We would redeem the time

Question submitted by Sherry (Union Ridge Baptist Church - Missouri) What is the health care system like in Kamchatka?The health care system in Kamchatka is a social medical system. Basically if you are a Russian citizen you are assigned a doctor at birth. This person is your doctor and your first point of reference for medical needs. If you need to be refereed he or she must do that. Most Russians believe that their medical system is expensive. In comparison to the medical system in the states it is much cheaper. We recently had to have a chest x-ray for TB. This test was required in order for us to submit documents to live here. The x-rays for a family of 4 were about $30.00. However, in most areas their medical system is older and dated. For example: Suzanne and I had to have blood work done for some more document purposes. Praise the Lord the kids did not have to have this done. We went to the place called the lab and waited in a small room with several people in it. You just waited your turn and went after the one you followed came out. No appointments, no name calling, you just had to know that it was your turn. It was finally our turn. We stepped across several big holes in the buildings floor, and watched a dog and a cat trot up and down the hall. I sat down and looked into a metal bowl of clear liquid, alcohol I suspected; upon further inspection I notice several razor blades. The nurse entered without a smile, sat down and began to unwrap a long glass tube. I had flash backs of a trip to Dr. Moonies as a child. (You will have to talk to my Mom about Dr. Moonies. I have tried to forget!) She, the very focused, eye browed clinched Russian nurse, proceeded to get her razor blade so I went ahead and yelled before she ever cut me!!! She finally gave me a little smile….I closed my eyes and she drove that double edged razor into my finger and proceeded to take this 2 foot long glass tube with a black bulb on the end and squeeze my finger and suck the blood into this tube and then place it in another blood tube. The medical system in Kamchatka is very different from the states. We have only been to the Russian Social Government clinics when we needed medical work done to apply for Russian Documents. Any major medical stuff that can wait will be done in another place.

There is a place here that is a little more modern. It is independently run and we would use that clinic if we needed medical attention. However they can’t do the test needed for documents. The apteka ( Russian word for pharmacy) has basic meds that you can purchase over the counter. We are very grateful for Suzanne’s nursing abilities and her 15 years of service as a RN. She is now the Roberts’ family official medical provider. We are blessed to serve with the IMB because if we have major medical issues they have medical plans in place for us and we would be sent to places with up to date medical facilities.

Family: This month we had the joy of celebrating Suzanne’s second birthday (Feb. 19) in Kamchatka. Emma Grace’s birthday is soon approaching (March 11) and she reminds us each day on the official countdown of days until her birthday. It is great to have special days such as these to celebrate.

As long as we are talking about aging I guess I will confess. No, I did not have a birthday this month but I did have one day that I really began to feel old. I watched Lee as he shaved for the first time. What!!!? That’s Lee, could he really be shaving, almost 6 feet tall and 175 pounds. Yep, that explains my gray, thinning hair. I thank the Lord for my family and the lessons that He is teaching us together by living overseas.

We enjoyed one day on the ski slopes and invited our language teacher to tag along. She would not ski downhill but did some cross country skiing. Lee and Emma continue to improve on their snowboard abilities. We also were able to spend a few evenings cross country skiing.

The kids continue to good in their home school curriculum. Both Lee and Emma’s grades would make the honor role at Wheeler. We are very proud of both of them and their study habits.

Ministry Opportunities: We were very blessed this month to have several opportunities to share the Gospel with people. We were also able to give Bibles to several people who have never had a copy of God’s Word in their home. We were also able to host a Russian family in our home as dinner guest and discuss evangelism plans for Kamchatka. On February 8 we traveled to Yelizovo and Marty was invited to preach. Lee played the guitar and Suzanne sang a solo. The following Sunday Marty was invited to preach at the Central church in Petropavlovsk. Lee also played the guitar at that service and Suzanne and Emma sang a duet. Please continue to pray for us and our language abilities. Pray that our language would continue to increase and that we will be faithful to use what we know.

Language: We continue to strive to learn more and more of the Russian language. We have language class for 3 hours a day Monday – Friday plus homework. Lately our language classes have been a struggle. To say the least we are ready to take a break from formal language study. We have spent many hours, many days in full time language. We are ready to be considered part-time language students and full time language users. Pray that we stay focused and finish our language studies well. We are in our final book at this time. There could be light at the end of the tunnel.

Prayer Request:
-Pray for the Roberts family as we plan to travel to some of the northern villages in March. We plan to travel March 12-16. Most of this travel will be on snow and ice covered dirt roads. We will travel approximately 1100 - 1200 KM or 750 miles.
-Pray for the Putnam family as they continue the paperwork process to return to PK.
-Pray for Ingram Baptist Church (Baldwyn, MS) as they begin the paperwork process to send two mission teams to Kamchatka this summer.
- Pray for the many visa situations throughout Russia.
-Pray for Alexander and his family as God continues to use him in Kamchatka.
- Pray for the new believers in Kamchatka as they continue their walk with the Lord.
-Pray for the folks at Emmanuel as they take part in Street Evangelism Training and Application..
- Pray that we will be faithful to serve the Lord on a daily basis in the midst of __________ (just fill in the blanks).
- Pray for laborers. (We invite you to join us physically in the work – for more information about bringing a mission team to Kamchatka…..just ask!)Thank you for holding the rope!!! We would love to hear what is happening in your ministry.