August 29, 2002
Dear friends and family near and far,
It's been a wonderful summer and now it's time to catch everyone up on where we've been and what we've been doing. This may be a bit repetitious for those we've seen. For those we that weren't able to visit (and we did very much regret that we couldn't see absolutely everyone in the space of four weeks!), I hope that this will fill you in sufficiently and allow you to pray more effectively.
It's been a wonderful summer and now it's time to catch everyone up on where we've been and what we've been doing. This may be a bit repetitious for those we've seen. For those we that weren't able to visit (and we did very much regret that we couldn't see absolutely everyone in the space of four weeks!), I hope that this will fill you in sufficiently and allow you to pray more effectively.
We've been going non-stop since the end of school; not much time to relax but many, many opportunities for ministry and fellowship. We left Moscow the second week of June and haven't really been back for more than a few days until now!
The first half of our summer was spent in working in children's camps with Russian and American churches. We were 6-8 hours away from Moscow, in the Vladimir region. These camps were mainly organized by pastors and churches in the Vladimir and Ivanova regions as an outreach to underprivileged, neglected children. For many of these kids, it was also their first prolonged exposure to Christianity. There were three camp sessions, with 70-90 kids at each camp, and most of them had never been in this kind of Christian environment.
Phyllis and I went to help as we could as interpreters. There is an American church from Minnesota that has taken part in, funded, supplied and helped organize these camps for the last 4 years. My friend Nathan Clausen I and were at the first camp they did in '99 . Nathan has helped organize and plan these camps for the last few years. He wasn't able to come this year and basically asked us to go in his place. We owe him greatly for his request. It was a great time of learning and ministry, challenge and growth for both of us.
There were two points of focus for the group during their time here, a little over two weeks. One was the main camp, in a small, former collective farm village. The other was in a special orphanage and boarding school for neglected and mentally or emotionally handicapped children.
The orphanage was in Kovrov, a city an hour and a half away from the main camp. More or less the same group stayed there the whole time. They conducted a day camp working with some youth from a local church. Phyllis and I were there together for ten days, and Phyllis stayed on for another few days after I went back to the main camp.
We were in charge of a lot, almost by default, simply because we spoke the language and the Americans we were with didn't! We had the children for about half of the day and packed in lots of individual attention into our Bible hour, crafts and sports. It was a wonderful and stretching experience for both of us. The folks we worked with were great, but the kids impacted us most of all.
We were in charge of a lot, almost by default, simply because we spoke the language and the Americans we were with didn't! We had the children for about half of the day and packed in lots of individual attention into our Bible hour, crafts and sports. It was a wonderful and stretching experience for both of us. The folks we worked with were great, but the kids impacted us most of all.
We had kids waiting outside our sleeping quarters early in the morning when we first got up, we ate breakfast and lunch with them, played or talked with those who came back in the evenings, and even had some that went with us as we traveled around the city. They were truly needy, and most of them had no one to care for them. They might have parents, but not parents who want them. Most of the kids had been affected to some extent by fetal alcohol syndrome and were several years behind where they should be educationally. Many were emotionally imbalanced as well, never really having had anything even resembling a stable home environment. They responded to any amount of attention we gave them, and there were some who would have loved to come home with us if possible. Whether or not Phyllis and I were present to translate, these children literally soaked up the words of affection, hugs, pantomimes, and any and all attention from our group.
Working with these children was definitely a blessing. For us, working with the local church there in Kovrov was also a great blessing. I had met their young pastor and his wife in '99, but hadn't seen them since that time. They have started a small church there, and it's been slowly growing. Much of the growth has been due to the youth we were working with in the orphanage. There are a few girls who had been saved and started actively witnessing to other young people. It was really neat being able to work with them...and to attend the wedding of one of the girls. As the first wedding in their church, it was a pretty big event!
It was also challenging and convicting to work and fellowship with Pavel, their pastor, and his wife, Tanya. He and his family are missionaries to Kovrov. They had our entire group (6-8 people) over to their house to feed us almost every night. (They also had Tanya's sister's family visiting while we were there.) I was able to talk a little one on one with Pavel now and then. (A rare opportunity for an interpreter!) My heart went out to him as he shared the challenges he's faced and still faces. He has seen the Lord bless his ministry there, but being on their own, with no partners has been hard. As he said, when it comes to settling problems or making decisions in the church he and Tanya are the pastor, elders, deacon board all in two people! They don't have anyone in the church yet who could really help them in leadership, or even be their peers with whom they could share their own difficulties. It was good to see the blessings and difficulties of that kind of work, especially as we are praying and considering where we should be longer term. We left feeling very close to Pavel and Tanya, with a real awareness of their ministry and a true burden to uplift them in our prayers.
It was also challenging and convicting to work and fellowship with Pavel, their pastor, and his wife, Tanya. He and his family are missionaries to Kovrov. They had our entire group (6-8 people) over to their house to feed us almost every night. (They also had Tanya's sister's family visiting while we were there.) I was able to talk a little one on one with Pavel now and then. (A rare opportunity for an interpreter!) My heart went out to him as he shared the challenges he's faced and still faces. He has seen the Lord bless his ministry there, but being on their own, with no partners has been hard. As he said, when it comes to settling problems or making decisions in the church he and Tanya are the pastor, elders, deacon board all in two people! They don't have anyone in the church yet who could really help them in leadership, or even be their peers with whom they could share their own difficulties. It was good to see the blessings and difficulties of that kind of work, especially as we are praying and considering where we should be longer term. We left feeling very close to Pavel and Tanya, with a real awareness of their ministry and a true burden to uplift them in our prayers.
The whole time at the camps was like that: needy children, wonderful people to work with, new challenges, and God's blessings apparent in and through it all. We stayed on at the main camp after the American group had to leave, finishing off the second camp session and working through the third. Phyllis was busy with the crafts, working with a lovely lady from the church in the nearest city. I spent a lot of my time at the main camp helping with the sports, and during the last camp worked as a counselor. Whenever we had any spare time, we were with the children, or at times, with old friends of mine that I hadn't seen in a couple of years.
Even the setting was a blessing for us city dwellers! We were out in the middle of forests and fields, in a village farming community. The people there were overall much more open than than average Muscovites, and the countryside was simply beautiful. It wasn't what you could call restful, but it was definitely a very good change of pace for us.
Then we were back in Moscow for a few days...and moving on even farther. As many of know, we were able to visit our parents and home churches in the States. We made a wonderful four weeks of it!
We had about two weeks with Phyllis' parents in the Orlando area. We were able to visit with an amazing amount of people, and had even had some time to rest as well! We presented an overview of our ministry during the last year at Circle Community Church and had time to fellowship with many good friends there. It's always a joy to have so many people interested in what we're doing and praying for us. We were even able to visit with close friends who we hadn't really counted on seeing (Marcel and Debbie Flint, friends from Bible school, who have helped and counseled us over the years and were instrumental in our getting married!).
Thanks to my parents and church, we had plane tickets to North Carolina. That was a direct answer to prayer! It seemed a bit strange to me to be back 'just visiting' in the house I grew up in. It was great to be home, though. Again, we visited many dear family and friends in the two weeks we had there. We were able to share a couple of times at Grace Bible Church, and had many opportunities for personal conversations as well, trying to answer all the questions that build up over a year. A special treat was having my faithful friend Nathan Clausen, fly down and visit us for a few days. With my family, and Nathan, and many, many others, it was a wonderful time of fellowship and refreshment for both of us.
Thanks to my parents and church, we had plane tickets to North Carolina. That was a direct answer to prayer! It seemed a bit strange to me to be back 'just visiting' in the house I grew up in. It was great to be home, though. Again, we visited many dear family and friends in the two weeks we had there. We were able to share a couple of times at Grace Bible Church, and had many opportunities for personal conversations as well, trying to answer all the questions that build up over a year. A special treat was having my faithful friend Nathan Clausen, fly down and visit us for a few days. With my family, and Nathan, and many, many others, it was a wonderful time of fellowship and refreshment for both of us.
Now we're back home in Moscow. School starts next week all over Russia! Phyllis will be in the same private school that we worked at last year, teaching English to the 1st-4th grades two days a week. I will be giving private English lessons. I want to have more time and flexibility to do as much as possible with our church as well as visiting other churches and friends outside of Moscow, to take part in their ministry, encourage them...and to seek direction for our own ministry.
Please continue praying for us as we begin this new year here. We want to use this year to further our study of Russian, to take advantage of as many ministry opportunities as possible, and to actively be seeking what the next step should be for us for long term ministry here. Lord willing, we'll be in Russia indefinitely. We would greatly appreciate you praying with us about the specific direction of our ministry.
Please continue praying for us as we begin this new year here. We want to use this year to further our study of Russian, to take advantage of as many ministry opportunities as possible, and to actively be seeking what the next step should be for us for long term ministry here. Lord willing, we'll be in Russia indefinitely. We would greatly appreciate you praying with us about the specific direction of our ministry.
With much love and many prayers,
Will and Phyllis Hunsucker