Flying Again

Thank you all for praying for Thomas’ preaching yesterday.  We believe the Lord blessed despite Thomas not feeling 100%.  But often that is the Lord’s way, isn’t it.  When we are weak, He is strong.

Wednesday we are all heading to the airport, though in different directions.  Isaiah and are heading to California to spend a few days with a couple of dear friends of mine from college.  We are so thankful to have this extra time with them!

Thomas is heading to Chicago for Moody Bible College’s missions conference.  He and a colleague from InterAct will have a table with materials from InterAct to give to students for recruitment.  Thomas will also be speaking in a workshop.  Please pray for recruits for Tribe 49, the summer mission trip to Russia, and for recruits for all of InterAct’s fields (Western Canada, Alaska, Russia).

Friday Thomas will be flying to Oregon to attend a fundraising banquet for InterAct.  One aspect of the banquet is really exciting!  Raisa Ivanovna, perhaps the first Tuvan Christian in the history of that region, will be speaking via Skype to the people in attendance.  Originally we were hoping that she could attend in person, but thanks to the wonders of technology we have the next best thing.  Please pray that all said technology will work properly!

Saturday Thomas will meet us in California where we will visit with Central Valley Presbyterian Church for the following week.

Please pray for smooth travels.  We have more equipment then ever before to carry for Isaiah, so please pray for easy connections, helpful airline personnel and patient passengers!

Lastly, thank you for the great response to the mass email that I sent for updated email addresses.  If you didn’t get such an email, that means I don’t have an address for you at all.  If you would like to receive email updates, please click on “email us” in the right sidebar and email us so that we have your address.  Thanks!

Already Two Months Gone

We have already been in the States for two months, and I think we are finally getting our “Statelegs”. Between traveling to some of our supporting churches, seeing family and spending lots of hours in Doctors’ and Therapists’ offices our minds have been swirling. Thank you for your patience with us and your faithful support despite our lack of communication.

So here’s what’s been going on:

Isaiah has made a remarkable recovery from his surgery that took place the end of August. He does have some scars, of course, but nothing has held him back or changed his loving, playful personality. He’s been working very hard in therapy and has even begun learning how to walk with a walker! (If you would like to see him in action the very first time that he walked, check out Cristy’s post here.) We thank God for the therapists and equipment specialists who have made it possible for Isaiah to do so much in such a short amount of time by rushing their requests and working weekends to make his equipment.

And now the rest of the family. I realize that you really want to know about Isaiah right away.

Thomas has been working hard on several projects. He has preached in several churches, and he is scheduled to preach this weekend. Please pray for his preparation and faithful communication of the Word of God. He has also been planning the annual conference for InterAct’s missionaries in Russia and InterAct’s summer mission trip to Russia. He’s doing a great job, but try planning an event some 3000-5000 miles away from where you are and in another language, and you can imagine some of the headaches that he has endured. But he continues to press on and has made some great progress!

The summer trip, Tribe 49, excites us! Thomas is in the process of designing a special website for Tribe 49, but I will give you a few details here to whet your appetite. The trip will last for 8 weeks. The team will leave Atlanta, arriving in Moscow or St. Petersburg. For the first 3-4 weeks team members will get to have a little taste of learning the Russian language through an official institution, thus enabling them to learn some basic communication skills and earn some college credit. From St. Petersburg they will head to Tuva, and from Tuva they will go to Yakutia.

Tons of details are between those lines, and if you have any questions or are interested in going on the trip, please let us know!

Thank you for asking how you can specifically pray for us. I am working on making a special section on our blog for prayer requests, thanks to the suggestion of one of you! But until that section is up and running, which might take me a while considering my skills (or lack thereof) on the computer, I will endeavor to put some requests and praises in a post at least once a week.

Praise God with us…

~Isaiah’s progress after surgery; We can’t describe the feelings we have when we see him trying to walk on his own.

~Safety through our travels; Even in the one mishap, we suffered no lasting effects, and we can still drive our car!

~Times of fellowship with believers in our own language

Pray with us…

~Isaiah needs to learn a lot in the next 6 weeks. Please pray that God will open his mind and strengthen his body.

~Rest. Living in another culture is just plain exhausting. Coming home and running from one appointment to another has taken it’s toll on us as well. Please pray that we would be able to have some times of rest before going back to Russia.

~Children. We would love to have more children.

~Support. We are thankful for the faithful support that we have been receiving the past 2 1/2 years. We could not have learned Russian and done the work that we have done without you! We are in need of more support for our family. Last year we had to be on student visas, which doubled our ministry expenses and dipped into our account at InterAct. We are currently in need of an additional $1000/month of support.

~Projects. Thomas is currently working on several projects. I will list them here, and Lord willing, I will tell you more about them as they progress: Tuvan Bible Project (www.biblesfortuva.com), Tribe 49, Vans for Pastors, Native Pastor Support, Ice Cream Stand (sounds yummy, huh?)

Again, thank you for your support for us so that we can do the work that God has called us to do. Please let us know what we can do for you as well!

Our Merciful God

We have returned from a very relaxing vacation to Chattanooga, TN.  I highly recommend that city for a family vacation.  There are plenty of attractions to see, which of course have a price, but one can also enjoy walking around the downtown area or crossing the river on a special pedestrian bridge.  Thank you for your prayers for relaxation and refreshment for us on our vacation.  However, in the future, I shall also be asking for prayers for safety at the close of the vacation!

Our plan was to return home Monday evening, not too late due to appointments for Isaiah and Thomas on Tuesday morning.  First I will say that we did get home Monday night, and overall we are doing quite well, especially Isaiah.  Now I will tell you another reason we have for praising God:

For those of you who might not know, in order to travel from Chattanooga, TN to Clinton, MS, you must drive through mountains.  And that’s what we were doing about 10:30 Monday morning in the beautiful state of Alabama, when we met one of said mountains.  The stretch of highway we were driving on was being prepared for construction, so we had only one lane.  Apparently a rain storm had finished about 5 minutes before we came through this area, which is most likely the reason for our tires skimming a section of road and then our car spinning around before being stopped by the mountain.

In His mercy God prevented us for hitting head on into the mountain.  The front of our car skimmed the mountain face as we spun around and our trunk took the brunt of the hit.  And even more mercifully, none of us were seriously injured.  Thomas scraped his elbow but didn’t even require stitches.  Isaiah has a very small bruise on his neck from his car seat strap (I LOVE his car seat!), but he has full range of motion in his neck with no sign of pain.  Thomas and I are both really sore and stiff, but we are already enjoying improvement.

And if that was not enough of God’s evidence of His love for us, He also protected our car in such a way that we were able to finish driving home in our own vehicle that very day!

We are thankful for His protection and mercy and love for us.  We still get a little nervous when we hear strange sounds on the road or when another vehicle feels really close to the passenger side of the car, but our greatest reaction is one of thankfulness and praise to God.  Please praise Him with us!

Post-Op and Beyond

Thank you for your continued prayers for Isaiah’s recovery since his tendon release.  He has made a great recovery!  We went to his post-op visit yesterday morning, and the doctor removed the soft casts.  The knee immobilizer stays on for 2 more weeks, until our next visit, but it can come off for baths and such.  Isaiah seems to feel a bit more free, though he never really let his casts hold him back in the slightest.

This week has been full of activity, which is seeming to be something of a pattern for us.  Isaiah returned to his physical and occupational therapy twice a week.  He has already shown improvement in both areas.  Thomas has been representing InterAct Ministries the past several days at Reformed Theological Seminary’s annual missions’ conference.  He enjoyed meeting some students and visiting with some of our old professors.

Tomorrow morning we are beginning a bit of a vacation.  We’ll be 3 nights in an undisclosed location seeking rest and relaxation and not checking email.  Please pray for a time of rest for us so that we can return refreshed and ready for the next things God has planned for us, which include lots of traveling hither, thither and yon.

How can we pray for you?  We will be checking email before we leave tomorrow and when we get back, of course, so please send us an email to let us know how we can pray for you.  Oh, and speaking of email, our mailing list has become quite a mess, and I am in the process of fixing it.  If you would like to receive email newsletters, please email us at theslawsons@gmail.com to make sure that I have your correct email address!

Where To Begin

Well dear friends so much has happened since our last posting, which was I realize far too long ago. But just think about how much you’ll get to know now.

As most of you know, we are in the good ol’ USofA these days. We landed August 4th in NC, and we spent 6 great days there before heading down to MS and opening the door to our new townhouse.

That’s right. God has amazingly provided a home for our family in MS. Now when we return to the States each time, we will have a “base” to come to, which is also very close to Isaiah’s doctors. And we even have a guest room, which we are hoping will get a good bit of use.

And speaking of doctors…you may or may not know that Isaiah had surgery on his legs a little over a week ago. Both legs needed what’s called a tendon release in order to give his legs the flexibility they will need for the full-leg braces that he will be fitted for in a little while. He has on soft casts right now for recoery, so we must wait for those to be removed before he can be fitted for his new braces. These new braces will give him the ability to stand and hopefully to walk with a walker. And there’s more! He has also been fitted for his very own wheelchair, which should arrive in a couple weeks. We are excited about what the Lord has provided in such a short time.

And now speaking of time…you have been faithfully praying for us regarding our visa situation. For the past year we have been living in Russia on student visas, which require us to take our language lessons through an authorized institution. This method is very expensive and very stressful. Thomas has been diligently searching for a better way for us to stay in Russia, and God has provided just such a way.

In November we will receive invitations for work visas. This type of visa will enable us to stay in Russia for up to 3 years, which is much more stable than our student visa. Thank you for your prayers for us regarding our visas!

Due to the timing of these new visas, we will be extending our stay in the States through December. This will provide more time for Thomas to fulfill some responsibilities for InterAct and for Isaiah to get lots of physical therapy to learn how to use his new equipment really well.

Thank you for your continued support for us. We are always overwhelmed with the love that we receive from so many people. We hope that while we are here we can show some love to all of you through some hospitality and face-to-face fellowship!

And to tell you how well Isaiah is doing, here he is just 4 days after surgery enjoying some MS Braves!

Today and the Days Ahead

After much diligent preparation Thomas will be preaching today.  Should you happen to read this before 7 am EST or 6 am CST or 8 pm Saturday PST (did that catch everyone? and correctly?), then please pray for him.  Having not preached in Russian myself, I don’t completely understand the difficulties that Thomas faces as he prepares a sermon, but I can imagine the limitations that he feels when trying to express the beautiful truths of God’s Word in his second language.  God has greatly helped him every time in the past, and we pray for His continued help today.

So that’s today, what about the days ahead?

Tuesday evening Thomas will begin a 2-week trip to Siberia.  He will be meeting our field director Jim Capaldo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia before they start treking all over the place, far east of here.  Please pray for his safety, health, Russian abilities, sleep, and whatever else you might think would be helpful.  And please also pray for Isaiah and me as we stay behind.  I’m sure that we’ll find plenty to do to keep us busy, but we will really miss Thomas!

A couple days after Thomas gets back, we will probably have a guest from Siberia with us for a few days.  She is the director of InterAct Russia (which is actually not part of InterAct Ministries, but its own entity).  She is planning a trip to the States this fall, therefore she must apply in person at an American consulate.  There’s not an American consulate in Tuva where she lives, so she will be traveling to St. Petersburg.  At least, that’s the plan for now.

July 13 we are anticipating a very special treat!  Thomas’ older brother and his family (all 6 of them!) are coming for a 9 day visit!  We could not be more excited!  It really isn’t possible.  Even now, as I think about their arrival, I feel all sorts of happy, fluttery feelings inside.

As I said, they’ll be with us for 9 nine days, during which time we’ll whisk them around the city to see all the beautiful sites and to experience what life is like for us.  But we won’t make them go to a Russian lesson…I think.

After they leave us we’ll begin getting things ready for our own trip back to planet America.  Sometime around August 4 (depending on plane ticket prices) we’ll be flying the friendly skies towards NC and our traveling time around the US.  Look for more details to come soon about that trip.

So that’s what’s going on with us.  How are y’all doing?

A Couple Weeks in Review

Well, I think that this is the best we’ve done in a while as far as updating posts! We’re determined to get better at updating here with more of our ministry opportunities, but we appreciate your patience.

We were able to enjoy some special family time before heading off to Novgorod together.  We spent one day in Pushkin visiting Katherine the Great’s Palace, which at one point had been all but destroyed by the Nazis.

The beginning of this month we had the chance to go to Novgorod in good weather. For pictures of our first trip there, read this post on Cristy’s blog. While the trip was sort of planned for us, as you might recall from the last post, we did start to look forward to it as the time drew nearer. Two young ladies from our church and our pastor joined us early on a Friday morning to take the bus to Novgorod, thankfully a much newer bus than one we had previously ridden. Isaiah had a great time playing with Oksana and Marta, who were sweet to let Thomas and me have a little respite in our tight quarters.

We were met at the bus station by a friend of Mikhail Mikhailovich Polubaryarenov’s, who is a pastor in Novgorod. The main point of our trip was to get to know this pastor and further develop relationships between our two churches. Our host Mikhail Gregorovich (I don’t remember his family name, unfortunately) and his family were wonderful to be around! Much to Isaiah’s delight, they have 2 little boys, 5 and 3, and a little girl, 5 months, and another little one on the way! The size of their family is a ministry and a testimony to other Russians!

We spent the day seeing some sites, which we had previously seen covered in snow and ice. The day was beautiful! If you would like to see pictures, again please visit Cristy’s blog, as putting pictures on WordPress has become a pain for some reason.

Unfortunately, Cristy started getting sick late in the afternoon on Friday, which meant she couldn’t attend the service that evening, and that we had to return early on Saturday. However, Thomas was able to go to the service on Friday, and felt very encouraged! He was able to tell about InterAct and the goals that we have for missions. One of those goals is to increase in Russians the desire to minister to people in other parts of Russia.

He was encouraged at this meeting to learn that this church has an active ministry to homeless people and people who are wanting to end their drug addictions. The pastor has started a program in which he helps people find a place to live and trains them to do a job. This is the first time that we have met someone involved in this work. We know that it takes place, but it is still rare in Russia.

We look forward to continued contact with this pastor, his family and his church.

The rest of the time until now has mainly been filled with sickness, I’m afraid. Thomas and Cristy have both had bad colds, though thankfully Isaiah has been spared! We’ve pressed on and continued with language lessons. Thankfully we improved sufficiently to celebrate День Победы or VE Day in the States. We really enjoyed this holiday last year, and we were not disappointed this year as we enjoyed a wonderful day together.

Ahem, We’re Still Here, I promise

Well, folks, we really are still in St. P and still working. If you follow Cristy’s blog, or receive our newsletter, then you probably believe this statement.

We have been remarkably busy since returning from the States in early February. Our business is in large part due to the fact that God is providing more and more opportunities for ministry as our language skills increase. For example, Thomas preached this past Sunday. For the first time, the majority of his sermon was NOT written out in manuscript form. He had an extensive outline, of course, but he was able to speak freely in Russian while preaching! We praise God for this progress, and we thank you for your prayers!

This week we are taking a semi-break. Neither of us have language lessons, which means no specific homework to complete this week, a nice break! We found out on Sunday, though that we are going to Novgorod on Friday morning and coming back Saturday night. I say “found out” because that’s pretty much the way it happened. Maybe 2 months ago at our small group, the idea was presented for our young people to take a trip and for us to go with them. Thomas and I forgot about the conversation because nothing further was said about it to us. Then Sunday our pastor told Thomas that “the plans are all set, and we’ll be leaving very early Friday morning.” Thomas then asked, “what are you talking about?”. Mikhail Mikhailovich reminded him of the trip to Novgorod, but then he still had to explain what in the world was going on. I heard about the trip during the announcements and looked with bewilderment to Thomas, who hadn’t had time to tell me about it before church started.

This is actually not unusual for Russia. You know the expression, “blessed are the flexible, for they shall not break”? Well, we’re learning that in new and exciting ways while living here. Sometimes we bend pretty well, but sometimes it hurts a little more. God is helping us to continue to learn how to live in this culture, and it is getting easier!

When we get back from our weekend, I’ll do my best to let you know as soon as possible how it went, but if a post isn’t up until next weekend, don’t panic, I’m sure everything is fine!

Oh, and here’s a bonus: Today is Thomas’ birthday! We’re going to attempt barbequed ribs in the the slow cooker with some homemade barbeque sauce! I’ll let you know how that turns out, too.

If you do not receive our newsletters via email or snail mail, and you would like to, please leave a comment or email us to let me know, and I’ll put you on whichever list you would like! Have a blessed day!

Just So You Know…

We are still alive. We survived our own hectic (but greatly enjoyable) Christmas activities and the crazy Russian New Year. On Sunday we’ll be heading out to the family camp that many of you have read about. Thomas will be teaching some lessons and I will be helping with some crafts and a special activity for the girls. We’re looking forward to the 2 days that we’ll be spending with families like us–families with kids who have disabilities. Please pray for us to be an encouragement to the other parents and especially that we will point to Christ.

Tuesday morning we’ll be going to the airport to begin our trek to the States. We’re thankful to have the ability to return again so soon in order for Isaiah to see his doctors. Please pray for safe travels and good reports!

We hope to post again soon, but we also hope that you understand that with our traveling, it might be a while before we have a great big, fill you in on everything going on post. Thanks for your patience! We did recently send out a newsletter (Christmas Day, maybe?). If you didn’t receive this email, and you would like to, please leave us a comment or email us to let us know that you’d like to read our latest.

Happy New Year!

Missionary Isaiah

Several weeks ago Thomas asked me to write about an interaction that I had, so here goes…

We’ve begun visiting some other churches in town in order to broaden our ministry a little bit. One of the churches actually has families with young children. We were really excited to meet some other kids!

For those of you who don’t know, we keep Isaiah in the service with us. This started out as a necessity because most churches here don’t have nurseries; but now it has become our preferred habit. We really like having him sit with us in church. Because we had been taught to sit still in church by our parents, we knew that we could teach Isaiah to do the same. We didn’t know how long it would take, but it has paid off, and he (usually) sits through our church services very well! Not to compare, of course, but the other children at the church that we attended were, well, crazy. They pretty much did whatever they wanted to do during the service. The pastor just kept on preaching, though; I think that the people were fairly accustomed to the way the children acted.

After our first visit there, we started attending a Bible study with this group of believers on a semi-regular basis. At one of the small gatherings, the dad of some of the kids at the church told me that after seeing how Isaiah sat and listened during church and folded his hands for prayer, he and his wife decided that their kids could do that, too. So they started to teach them.

The next time that we were at this church, we noticed a huge difference in their children! They really did sit quietly and obey very well; and the mom and dad were “on top” of their behavior. But don’t worry, they are very loving and affectionate parents.
We were encouraged that without even specifically trying, we had been able to show this family what we had been taught from the Bible by our parents (good job, Mom and Dad x 2!). In some ways, this means that our parents are missionaries, too, you know.

Please pray for the Christian families here, they are few.  They have not had the benefit of Christian parents to teach them for generations and generations as often has happened in America.  But they are teachable, and they want their children to know God.  Please pray that we will have opportunities to help them learn what we have learned.  Please pray for the body of Christ to grow through families.