December 30, 2002

Hello, everyone!
I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful holiday season and taking the time to be thankful for God's great gift of his Son.  We've certainly been busy.  I have often felt like I'm drowning in the busyness of this month, but it's also been very enjoyable.  Even though Christmas isn't celebrated in Russia until January 7, we've already had plenty of Christmas activities and preparations.

Just yesterday was the children's Christmas celebration at church.  I was amazed by how many kids were there!  In addition to the kids who are a part of the church, there were many from orphanages and other rough situations.  The youth put on a small play for them, and Will had one of the main roles in it.  It was about a family getting ready for the holidays.  The father dreams that Jesus is going to come visit them, and they start getting everything ready for their very important guest.  In all their busyness they turn away three very needy people.  At the end of the day, they can't understand why Jesus hasn't come, and a voice says, "I came to you today, but you turned me away."  After that, a beggar boy comes to their door, and they treat him as the very important guest that they were expecting.  Will played the son in the family.

We also continue to be involved in the Bible study in Razvilki, just outside Moscow.  This month Will led it again on his own, when the pastor wasn't able to be there.  Some weeks there are more people there, some weeks less.  Please keep praying for the ones who are able to come and for others to join the group.  Pray that these meetings will be times of good fellowship and spiritual growth.

I had a fun American Christmas.  It was a regular school day, but I made enough Christmas cookies for everyone and had a great time sharing them with everyone.  I read the real story of Christmas in one of my after-school lessons, and enjoyed seeing at least one of the boys really understand.  I was reading it in English and explaining in Russian.  When I got to the wise men giving their treasures to Jesus, Anton interrupted me and said, "I understand!  They gave him their treasures because he's the Son of God!"  And that's from a little boy who, as far as I know, has never had any exposure to the Bible.

One of the things that had been part of our busyness this month was getting ready for a small group from the American church that we worked with in the camps this summer.  They will be coming December 31 (tomorrow!), and we'll be traveling with and helping them for almost two weeks.  We'll be visiting the areas that took part in the camps, and hopefully seeing many of the kids again.  We would certainly appreciate your prayers as we travel.

We were also trying to help the camp director and his wife get visas for a visit to the States.  The same American church wanted to take them back for a short visit.  For some reason their visas were denied.  Their tickets were already paid for, and no one really knows what to do now.  It seems like it's too late to try again, but we'll see if we can do anything more.  Please pray that there would still be some miraculous way to get those visas!

Thank you to every one of you who sent us cards and letters.  We're looking forward to getting those when the group arrives.  We always love to hear from you! =)

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!
Love and prayers,
   Will and Phyllis Hunsucker