November, 30, 2006    Visa Registration finished !!!!

I, Chris,  was able to go today with the Baptist liaison for government affairs to the visa registration office today.  We initially thought we had everything in order (paperwork), and then found at the visa office the registration forms had changed.  So, we spent a little time re-filling out forms, paid the registration fees, turned everything in during mid-afternoon, and about an hour later I had all of our passports back in my hands, with visas fully registered for an entire year!  Thanks be to God for this wonderful occurrence.  The folks at the visa office were very cordial and pleasant with us.  I can’t go into lots of details, but suffice to say that the Lord moved through several different people (both believers, and not-yet believers) on the ground here in Ufa to make this happen.  We are very thankful for many people along the way who contributed to this good news.  And we are most thankful to all of you who have been praying…this has been a process 5 months in the making.    

Blessings!

Chris

 November 28, 2006   BETTER NEWS!!!!!!!

Wanted you all you to know we made it back safely to Ufa this evening with all our luggage…we had an uneventful trip on the train ride from Kiev-Moscow, kids slept great but Eileen and I didn’t L   No problems with transfers in Moscow, were even able to negotiate a lower amount for being overweight on our luggage at the airport.    

Have several inches of snow on the ground, it’s -13 here right now.  What a difference between Kiev and Moscow…in both places it’s in 40’s during daytime.  Good to be back here where it’s frigid J

 Please pass the word on to all who know us that we are back in Ufa.  We will probably go and try to get visas registered on Thurs or Fri.   We have a lot to do with lots of time-sensitive needs in coming weeks.  

 Love and blessings,

Chris

November 25, 2006      GOOD NEWS!!!!

Wanted to let you all know that I received our new visas yesterday and everything appears to be correct on them (one-year, multi-entry, religious work visas).  With the gracious help of our IMB office here in Kiev, I was also able to buy train tickets for our return.  We will head out of Kiev about 9:15pm on Monday Nov 27 (Kiev is 8 hours ahead of Central time in USA).  We will arrive in Moscow about 11am the next morning.  Our IMB office in Moscow is arranging airplane tickets for a flight out of Moscow at 2pm that same day (Nov 28), and we will arrive back in Ufa at 6:15pm that evening.  Ufa is 11 hours ahead of Central time.

 Thanks for interceding on our behalf during these last few months.  The time in Kiev has not been wasted.  We’ve learned many things about ourselves and the Lord.  We see parts of scripture in a whole new light, especially the book of Acts.  We’ve made new friends and met new colleagues here.  We’ve been able to continue our kids’ homeschooling and spend some good time playing with them, taking walks, etc.  Chris was able to write a major doctoral paper.  So, the time has not been in vain.  Additionally, every time we’ve been in contact with the believers in Ufa, they’ve been very forthright in telling us over and over how much they want us back in Ufa.  It’s good to be wanted and know that your presence is contributing something to the growth of God’s kingdom and influence.   We are also rejoicing that a new church was born in Ufa in early November and a new bible study has also been started. And we especially rejoice that our new team members Victor and Susan Bauer arrived safely in Moscow on Nov 15, albeit short of two pieces of luggage.  Pray for Susan as she has been sick some this past week.  Pray for the Bauers as they start language study this next week.  Pray for Grace Church in Ufa, as the members there have about a month to know the Lord’s will about where to meet, as they are facing an imminent move because of the landlord’s desire to significantly raise the rent amount to an unrealistic and unreasonable amount. I personally am hoping they meet in an apartment (possibly ours) in a return to a more reproducible model of church planting.

 Once we are back in Ufa, we’ll be sending out an email to let you know we are back in pocket.

 Blessings!

 Chris Carr

Kiev, Ukraine

November 4, 2006

Greetings from Kiev, Ukraine, where we were greeted this morning with the first snow of early winter!  We received about 3 inches and is absolutely beautiful here…we have more snow forecast for tonight.  

 We want to give you a brief prayer update.  We are still waiting for news out of Ufa regarding our visa invitations.  We have been told by our friends there that the earliest that news will come will be next Friday or Saturday.  Right now, the visa invitation paperwork is being processed.  Pray that no issues arise with the security service in Ufa, which has to sign off on the invitations.  

 We ask you to continue praying for our family.  Saturday was a difficult for our family as we all had cabin fever here in the apartment but couldn’t get the kids outside on the playground because of rain.  Hopefully we can head out within two weeks and get back to our apartment and the kids can regain a sense of normalcy in their lives.  

 We ask you to also pray for some friends of ours in Ufa.  Zhenya and Elsa Bragin became the proud parents of daughter Julia over a year ago.  However, Julia early on developed different health problems with her heart, and now struggles with epilepsy and serious food allergies to almost everything.  She has not grown in length or weight as other babies. She is on some specialized formula which is expensive.  Our family has twice helped Zhenya with some funds to help pay for the formula and medical expenses, and will do again as possible.  The Bragins have been trying to get Julia certified with invalid status so that she can have access to cheaper medical care and possibly get some gov’t aid.  Zhenya has a powerful testimony of delivery from drug addiction and has been preaching at Grace Church in Ufa this past year.  He and Elsa are a young couple with much happiness in their lives, but also are confronted with financial and emotional struggles over the health of Julia.  They are trying to get Julia to a specialist in a neighboring republic who might be of help.  We hope to get news this week if they’ve been successful.  Our family knelt last night in our apartment here in Kiev and asked the Lord to heal little Julia and give her mom and dad assurance and reliance on the Holy Spirit during these difficult days as she is in bad condition.  Would you please join us in praying for this wonderful family of believers who attend Grace Church in Ufa where we attend? We really want the Bragin family to experience God’s power & healing and sense the body of Christ embracing them right now. As parents of our own five children, the Bragin’s situation is especially close to our hearts.  

 Please pray for Chris as he continues doctoral work.  He received word that so far his studies have yielded “A” grades which is a great comfort and encouragement.  He will be starting a directed study (largely self-designed) early in January, and possibly participate in a European Study Tour in May involving street evangelism, visiting historic mission and church-starting sites in multiple cities, the writing of a large post-seminar research paper, and the reading of a 2000 page book (hey, someone has to do it J ).  

 Please also pray for the multiple volunteer teams scheduled to come to Ufa next year, as some of them start their team meetings and preparation within a couple of months.  Pray for Chris as he continually writes volunteer requests, that God would raise up the exact volunteer partners we need to accomplish His will in Ufa for gospel-sowing, intentional church planting, leadership training, and development of global prayer strategy to focus upon and impact lostness in the great city of Ufa.

 Please pray for Andrei Dzuba and Sergei Interesov as they work with our team to start a new church in downtown Ufa. Pray for them as they seek a place to rent for initial meetings.

 Pray for Grace Church as they may face moving out of their current facility by year’s end because of a potential rent increase which can not be wisely sustained even with outside funding.  Pray that either the landlord keep the rent amount the same, or that Grace Church can soon find another storefront facility at a decent rent price, or else (our personal desire) that the fellowship move back to our apartment or another apartment to encourage the church to a better and more reproducible model of church planting.

 Pray for Sergei Datlik and Alexei Markevich as they lead an evangelistic Bible study in the Sipailovo region of Ufa.   Pray that God birth a new church soon as a result of this bible study.

 Pray especially for new team members Victor and Susan Bauer.  They finished missionary orientation in Virginia in early October and are now actively packing and saying goodbyes, toward an arrival date of Nov. 15 in Moscow.  Pray that their final days with family and friends and their church family (Hoffmantown in Albuquerque) would indeed be sweet and a reminder of the great heritage from which God is launching them.  

We plan to send out an update next weekend pending visa news out of Ufa.

 Thanks for praying with us, and periodically continue to check our website (www.hope4ufa.com) for other news and updates.

 Blessings!

Chris