November - December 2015
Back in Russia
We started November with a trip from Illinois to Connecticut to spend our final month of furlough with our son Alan and his family. They have two boys, and another baby is coming next year. Grandkids are the best! We visited churches in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Vermont, telling them about our ministry in Russia.
Our daughter Cindy flew in from Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving with us in Connecticut. I cooked my famous onion turkey, and later we made s’mores around the campfire at Alan’s house. The next day, we put up a tree and celebrated an early Christmas.
On December 1, we flew nonstop from New York JFK to Moscow, Russia. Back home in Oryol, we had a great service on our first Sunday back. Everyone who was there when we left was still there when we returned. We are so grateful to the Ron Winkler family, who took five months away from their work in Estonia to take care of our ministry while we were gone.
We celebrated Christmas and New Year’s together with a Sunday dinner at church. Ruth went around to the stores where she shops and gave gifts and Gospel tracts to the workers. We have had a mild winter so far with just a little snow. Our shopping malls have expanded while we were gone. We now have 4 McDonald’s in our town!
The financial and political crises continue in Russia. The ruble/dollar exchange rate has gone from 30 to 73 in just two years. Russia is involved in conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. A Russian passenger plane was brought down by a terrorist bomb in Egypt, and a Russian fighter jet was shot down by Turkey, which is a member of NATO. Russia has formed an alliance with Iran to help them with nuclear technology. Students of Bible prophecy recognize the possible significance of these events. Please pray for Russia, and pray that we will continue to have an open door to minister here.
In the service of the King,
Don Ossewaarde