Happenings

 Last Saturday, Kerry and I Philip went into Moscow to pick up the newest member of our GP Team, Katie!  Katie is from Indiana also, but is a student at Kingswood University in New Brunswick.  This year is her senior year, and as a Global Ministry major, she is required to spend 5 months overseas doing an internship.  Her internship has landed her here, in Russia, for 5 months!  We just found her an apartment on Monday and today she has moved in---she had been staying with us since her arrival on Friday.  Welcome to the team, Katie!

Thank you for your prayers for Vika!  We are seeing God answer so many prayers this summer!  Vika moved to Vermont for work and study program with the local university here in Vladimir.  When we were meeting with her this spring, we kept telling her that we were praying for her and really praying that she would have a good time in the States.---we were also praying she would meet some believers and get plugged in!  

My friend, Sarah, has a friend (who I slightly knew in college) that lives in the same city that Vika was going to be for the summer.  Sarah contacted her friend, Meredith and then I followed up via facebook with Meredith.  Well, we got Meredith and Vika connected!  They met up a few months ago after Vika arrived!  I got in contact with Meredith a few days ago and she said that Vika had been coming to her weekly Young Adult Bible Study and she had been asking great questions.  Meredith had been going to pick her up each week for this Bible Study!  Wow!  Meredith also said Vika mentioned how she was seeing how God was answering the prayers we had been saying for her during her stay in the States.  Praise Jesus!  He is at work!  Keep praying for Vika!  She returns in mid-September.  Please also pray for Meredith as she continues to ministry to Vika!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwenyvere

Lunch at a Hotel

2 weeks ago I was able to spend a wonderful lunch with Anya and Marina.  Both of these ladies own the language club that Philip helps out with each week.  I have been to the park with both ladies quite a few times.  They speak great English, but of course I try to practice my Russian with them.  This last time they told me that it was fun to speak Russian with me!  Are you wondering why my shoes are in the picture?  Well, Russian ladies are ALWAYS wearing heels and fancy shoes...I rarely wear these because I am not a fan of walking around with kids and heels.  To me that is just too much work!  But on this day I decided to put on my "Russian" heels!

For lunch we went to this hotel that overlooked a river.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We sat on the veranda for lunch with a wonderful view.  I didn't even feel like I was in Vladimir, let alone Russia!  We had some tasty food along with some really great conversation.  They both began to ask me about marriage and how to keep it a marriage these days.  I was able to share with them about how the God we serve really helps us in this area.  It was just a small window, but I feel like through talking about marriage I was able to point to the Lord in many areas.  I praise God for this because before I even went to this lunch, I prayed that the Lord would give me opportunity to point to Him sometime during our time together!  

Toward the end of our meal, they asked to read the book "The Five Love Languages" together.  They are really interested in how to learn more about marriage.  I thought this was a good book to start with, but I hope and pray to begin to share with them the truths that Scripture tells us about marriage.

Thank you for your prayers!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Normal Life...with Coffee

This is what we all need these days...COFFEE!

We are back into our normal routine of studying and working on our Modules for our internship.  Of course we still had Russian class and did some homework while Mom and Dad Gormong were here, but it was not as regular as before.  Now, we are back to studying numerous hours a week....with coffee or tea in hand!

Vika made it to the States safely!  She has written me a few times over facebook.  She seems to be doing alright, but I think she misses home.  She is working at a hotel cleaning.  Please continue to lift her up in your prayers.  Hopefully in the next week she will be able to get connect with our friend Meredith (from IWU), who lives in the same city.

Thanks for your prayers!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen