Home for the Holidays

Tyler and I made our return to California on December 11th. We are grateful to be back home for some time. The Lord has blessed us with the gift of being around family for the holidays. Tyler hasn't had a Christmas or birthday (01-09) celebration here in three years. So, it really is nice to have some time in the States to renew our visas and get recharged for our next trip to Russia.

At this time, we are looking at February as our goal month to return to Moscow. We are praying and leaving ourselves open to God's direction regarding this.

While we are in California, we want to keep our focus on ministry. The Lord has already provided great opportunities for us.

Last week, Tyler and I were introduced to the Rescue Mission in Victorville, located at the First Southern Baptist Church. This is a ministry that provides daily meals to the homeless and needy Monday through Friday. They also distribute clothes once a week, on Wednesdays. The Wednesday before Christmas, they held a huge festival, which I was priviledged to partake in. They had live Worship and Christmas music, a place for kids to see Santa, great snacks, prize giveaways, and tons of toys for the kids too. At least a couple thousand people showed up. It was an amazing day.

We want to become more involved in this ministry. From our experiences with the Rescue Mission food services, there are always at least 20-30 people who show up for a meal. They stay for about 30-45 minutes. It is a wonderful service that satisfies the physical hunger of these wanting people. However, they are not being given the "Bread of Life". Tyler and I have discussed the need for these people to have the Word served them during their meals also. We spoke with the director of the Mission and he was excited about the idea to have Christians give a brief message during the meals. He said they have wanted to do this for some time, but do to short staff it has been too difficult. Tyler is willing to step in and give messages throughout the week. However, we are hoping to share this opportunity to be a blessing and a strong witness for Christ with others. We know there are many good, strong believers who could offer so much to these people who don't know the Lord. If you are interested in helping us organize this please call or email us about it. 760-955-2400 tylergoodell@yahoo.com



Pray Requests:

• That Calvary Chapel Sokol will be blessed and continue to grow in Moscow.


• That Pastor Dean will be encouraged and edified in the work he is doing for the Lord and for the Russian people.


• That Tyler and I will use our time in the States to serve God and draw closer to Him.


• That the Lord provides people to help give messages to the homeless at the Rescue Mission.

Our Place

Well, Tyler and I have been living in our first apartment here in Moscow. It is a one room, tiny flat on the seventh floor in a building made in 1970. It is not bad, a little small, but it works for us. It is keeping us close to say the least : )

However, the place was in a pretty sad shape when we moved in. So, we made it our project to do some fixing up. We wanted to leave it looking better than it was when we got it.

Anyways, here are some cool pics that can help you understand the changes we made to our home.

Tyler unlocking our door for the first time.

We thought it would be wise to make changing the lock the first thing we did when we arrived.

This is our room. We are so thankful our friend Jimmy from chruch provided a clean rug and a new sofa.

Our bathroom started off this way, but thanks to Tyler's talent with a paintbrush and a great deal of help from our friend Dale this bathroom has had a nice facelift. It is no longer blue, but a nice clean white.

The water stains on the wall were the hardest to deal with. No matter how many coats of paint went over it, the stain kept coming through. Fortunately, we found out about this great stuff that keeps stain from showing, that fixed our problem pretty quickly.

Here is a good shot of how the kitchen looked when we got there. We got rid of that cabinet sitting on the floor. I was happy to see it in the dumpster. Doing this provided some walking room.

We started our kitchen project by cleaning the floor. It was especially a good thing we moved the fridge, 'cause there was a family of cockroaches living here.

We started to clean the dirt off of wallpaper and thought it just might be easier to tear it all down and paint. We never thought that we would find newspaper underneath. Crazy! Apparently, newspaper is commonly used in Russia to even out the wall before laying down the wall paper.

Here Tyler is just scraping away at the wall paper. It didn't come off as easily as expected.

We were not happy to see what kind of ads were in the paper. It is a sad thing, but this page in the paper was all for abortion advertisements. Russia has the highest number of abortions per woman of child-bearing age in the world according to UN data. Please pray for Russia!

Our awesome friend, Dale. He was really helpful in remodeling the kitchen. He mudded all the walls and gave the kitchen its new foundation. Thanks Dale!!

This is a look at the final product. Pastor Dean put in a new faucet and a "tumba" or sink cabinet. Dale and Tyler moved the cabinet to hang over the sink and painted the walls a pristine white. Looks so good now!

Oh, and we put down a fresh new carpet from IKEA-a great finishing touch : )

We want to thank God for our friends Jimmy & Svyeta who rented this apartment to us. We also are so thankful to the Lord for His graciousness in providing financially for us through Tyler's work which has allowed us to make all the changes here.

God really blessed us with the warm autumn weather. Everyone here said it was an unusual thing to have such warmth still in October. We counted it amongst our blessings : )
We were able to help Natasha, our good friend from church, with hosting a group of guys and girls from the Bible college in Germany. They stayed in Moscow for two days. We had the honor of hosting the four guys at Dean's apartment while he was away and Natasha hosted the two ladies. They came to Russia to serve for a few days in St. Petersburg and in Vladimir. Moscow was their recovery stop between the two. It was a real joy to fellowship with them all.

Here is a better group shot of some of them. This was a dinner the night before they all left Moscow. Natasha was gracious enough to host it at her place.

Tyler and the guys in the center of Moscow.

November Update

Okay, I know it has been awhile since our last posting. No excuses really, with the exception that Tyler and I haven’t had great access to the internet for the last month or so. I find that I am really missing having an easy connection to the web and beginning to appreciate the luxury that the internet afforded me in the past more than ever.



Anyways, to say the least, we have been up to quite a bit here. Since there is soooo much I could write about, instead of boring all of you with pages worth of our lives’ most recent and exciting events, I posted a bunch of cool pictures to tell the story for me. Like we all know, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, and way more entertaining I might add : )


PS-Make sure you read the captions for bonus details.

Beautiful autumn woods at the Moscow River near Pastor Dean's apartment (where we were staying for the first couple months).

Tyler and Champ enjoying the woods : )

Tyler found this awesome leaf for me. They actually weren't uncommon. We would see kids walking around carrying several like a bouquet of flowers. Pretty cool.

My Brother Brian

In America a lot of people ask me if Russia is getting more difficult to evangelize. It is a very interesting question because I myself have never had any major trouble with evangelizing in Russia (other than the cost of getting a Visa every three months). But the real answer to this question is yes. I would say that the most difficult thing in evangelism in Russia is the peoples' hearts. Specifically, discipling men.

In chapter 16 of the book of Acts the Bible speaks about Paul and Silas being imprisoned. While they where in prison singing songs to the Lord the doors opened and their chains fell off. The jailer who realised that he would be put to death for allowing this, grabbed a sword to kill himself. But, Paul waiting patiently called out to the jailer,"Do yourself no harm for we are all here." After there was a call for a light the jailer trembling fell at Paul and Silas' feet, brought them out and said,"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So Paul and Silas exclaimed, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."

Now we know that God requires a person's heart to be turned towards Him for salvation, but Paul and Silas did say that the jailer's household would be saved. Majority of the time, when the male figure allows his heart to be moved toward repentance by God and turns his life to the Lord, his family or household will follow. In fact, Tom Mercer from High Desert Church spoke about the statistics of this before and it was amazing how important the male role in the home is.

Growing up I was truly blessed to be able to have men in my life that loved and served our Lord Jesus Christ. One of those men was an amazing man that truly helped mold my life. I would go to him with questions about God, the Bible and many other topics concerning our Lord. In fact just recently we discussed end times, Revelations and Calvinism of all things. He was my brother-in-law, Brian Patrick Wilberding. His title didn't serve him. He was really my brother. I knew him for more than half of my life. He was so easy to talk to and I knew if I had questions about God I could go to him and he would be studied up. He was the kind of guy that would listen to books on CD in his car so that he could witness to people at his work. He had such a love for the scripture that he even studied books that did not make it into the Bible canon. Being as lazy as I am with reading, I would ask him all kinds of questions about these books. Maybe this is why God saw it fit to have Brian do our scripture reading in our wedding. Sometimes in my life I might have a friend or even a family member that I am close to, but something is missing because it is hard to talk with them about the most important thing in my life (God). I know it shouldn't be like this, but for my brother Brian and I, it was kind of the opposite. I knew that when I saw Brian, we were going to talk about "our first love." I loved our talks and I loved Brian with all my heart. That is why it pains me to say that last night I lost my brother Brian to cancer. Brian just turned 36 and has two boys-Zach 7 and Nate 4. Please pray for my sister Jennifer also. I thank and praise God for all the strength that He has given my sister through this time.

I thank those of you who have been so encouraging, uplifting and supportive. Thank all of you for praying for us too (we need it). With getting married, my brother going home to be with the Lord and moving to Russia, we have had so much opposition from the Enemy. However, God is so good to us and we are overwhelmed with His spiritual blessings.

I would like to encourage all of you to continue to live for the Lord. Although Russia needs men that WANT to lead, I fear that America will have men increasingly not CHOOSING to lead. If there is anything I can do to help any of you, please contact me through email. Also, our Visas are up in December so we should be back early December. I am leaving you with one of my favorite verses, a post from my sister Jennifer and a post from one of Brian's closest friends. Thank you,
Tyler

1Peter 3:7
Husbands, likewise , dwell with them(your wife) with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being HEIRS TOGETHER of the grace of life, that YOUR PRAYERS MAY NOT BE HINDERED.
This is the NKJV. In the Amplified version it uses the word intelligent instead of understanding. It's as if Peter is saying the smart husbands give honor to their wives. So that their prayers aren't hindered.

Posted by Jenn:

Last night October 18th, my amazing husband Brian went to play guitar for Jesus. Brian's cousin, Julie, said that B is now in the Almighty's Praise Band.
Prior to kidney surgery, some family visited with Brian at City of Hope. On one of these visits, Brian told my sister-in-law "Whether cancer beats me or I beat it, either way, I win." My sis-in-law looked at him quizzically. B continued "Why have faith if you don't believe?"Brian has won!! He always did like to be successful!
God's Promise
Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." NKJV
Romans 8:28 & 29a "That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. God knew what He was doing from the very beginning." The Msg.
My God Rocks! and now He's rockin' with B!!!Jenn

Posted by Jeremy:
"Whether cancer beats me or I beat it, either way, I win." -Brian WilberdingLast night at 11:19pm, Brian Wilberding earned the victory of all victories as he made the incredible, yet mysterious transition into eternal life in the presence of Jesus Christ. As his wife, Jennifer, declared upon his final breath, "He is perfect now." I thank God for the assurance of hope and peace Brian had in Jesus.Thank you to all of you who expressed your love for Brian, Jennifer, Zac, and Nate. For the past several weeks they have been surrounded by those who love them and will continue to be as Jennifer and the boys move forward from here. Please continue to pray for them as they adjust to the next chapter of their lives. It may be difficult to find at the moment, but God's word promises in Romans 8:28, "...we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." It is an honor to have known Brian and be considered a friend. He will be missed by many. He fought the good fight. Now rest, my friend, and bask in the glory that is the love and presence of God through Jesus Christ. Until we meet again, my utmost congratulations on your incredible victory!!! I love you Brother.God is good...Jeremy

October Blessings

So, it is October 12th. Tyler and I have been here for 3 weeks now, and it has been about 2 weeks since our last posting. The days we are experiencing lately are continuing to remind us of how much the Lord is truly with us. We are ever learning not to be dependent on ourselves or in our own power to direct our lives, but on the truth that God is holding us in His hands, and that each moment presents some valuable opportunity given to us to love one another and to love Him.

The Autumn season is dominating Moscow. The city is becoming more and more dressed up in shades of orange and brown as the days pass. The weather has been beautiful, yet unpredictable. The sun still shines at some points throughout the day, but it seems like you can never tell when it is going to rain here or for how long. Because of this, I have learned that it is best just to carry a scarf or a sturdy piece of paper with you when traveling so that you can convieniently cover your head for a moment or two when the clouds decide to leak a little. Since I have been so use to perpetual sunshine-despite the season-I am really enjoying the change. Back home in California, I use to get really excited on the rare occasions when the clouds would come in and I had a chance to appreciate the rain for a time. So, to say the least, I am taking in the clouds and cold here with much love : )

Tyler and I have still not found a place to move to. We are still living at our pastor Dean's apartment. Thanks be to God-we have a safe place to stay right now. Dean is waiting for his 1 year visa to come through, so he is being detained in the States until the end of this month-as far as we know.

We have spent much of our time looking at different apartments. However, circumstances and finances have kept us from making any decision to move into another place. Tyler and I want to be sure that we know the Lord is directing our steps and blessing our decisions in everything we do here. So, we are still in suspension regarding finding a suitable place.

Also, I am still on my venture to find a job working as a dental hygienist. I have personally handed in about 5 or 6 resumes and have sent out approximately 37 email applications for jobs around Moscow. I was blessed to receive an invitation for an interview with one office last week. This was such encouraging news. The dentist I spoke with graduated from a dental school in Boston and has been practicing in Moscow for several years. She has a beautiful establishment. From what I observed, much of the practice is run very similar to American style dentistry-which is an added assurance for me! She said that she has no full time to offer right now, only in 6 months. However, she was going to try to get me at least 1 day a week working at the clinic in order to keep me around. We will have to pray about this for sure! I am hoping to hear from her sometime soon so I can find out if she will be able to provide patients for me. Tomorrow Tyler and I will go with our dear friend, and secretary of the church, Natasha, to apply to more local dental clinics.

Due to the absence of our pastor, Tyler was asked by him to direct the service last Sunday at church . It was such a blessing to have Tyler step up and lead the congregation. He gave such a beautiful and uplifting sermon. It was obvious that the Holy Spirit had blessed and guided his words. I want to share a few highlights from his message:

1. Love and Relationships

(John 15:13, Matthew 6:21)

• All of our relationships demand some sacrifice on our part if we want them to grow. If nothing is invested in our relationships, nothing will be gained.
• Each of us has a relationship with God, whether it be a good one or a poor one. Whether we acknowledge Him in our lives or not. Our reflections on the Lord and our attitude toward Him in our hearts is what can reveal our level of connection and relationship with Him.
• Our hearts belong to God, our Creator and Savior. Our relationship with Him should reflect the qualities of a true and valued relationship. Time and energy(pieces of ourselves) must be put into this for us to have or feel any closeness to the Lord.
• Consider how you can build a closer and deeper connection with God. Consider what personal sacrifice could be offered on your part-a sort of gift of love-given back to Him simply because you love and appreciate who He is.
• Investing our time in learning about God, and thinking often of Him, will move us to fall in love with Him, which in turn will move us to want to serve Him.

2. Why Are We Christians?

( Prov. 22:6, Luke 9:62, 1 John 4:18, Isaiah 1:10-17, Psalms 51:16-17, Job 35:5-8)

• Think about why you came to Christ. What was your motive?
• There are countless reasons people come to God. Among the most common are fear of going to Hell, convenience-grew up in the church, culture, desire to achieve a self-righteous feeling, wanting eternal paradise in Heaven, acknowledging that there is not other Truth, and understanding one's own insufficiency before God.
• Think about why you come to church. For religion? For the pastor? For the congregation?
• Nothing outside of Christ's salvation through His death on the cross will ever be able to provide a growing spiritual life within you.
• God desires our hearts, not empty rituals. Rituals do nothing to please the Lord if they stand alone. Worship is not from the body, in an external form, but has its source in the heart of everyman.
• The Lord does not need glory from us. He only desires worship from us in order to give us the chance to have a relationship with Him, to acknowledge Him, and to fall in love with Him.
• We are the ones who gain something when we surrender ourselves totally to the Lord. We receive the chance to grow spiritually and to experience God's best in our lives.

3. Israel and Us

(Isaiah 30:15)

• God is unchanging.
• His love for Israel is seen throughout the Holy Scripture.
• The book of Isaiah truly depicts God's heart for His people.
• Despite the unfaithfulness of Israel, God remained faithful and demonstrated His desire to have them return to Him.
• God loves us to no end and waits for us to respond to Him so that we might be blessed.

* If you are struggling with feeling empty or far from God, now is the time to consider what you are doing in your relationship with the Almighty. How much of yourself have you been investing? If you are seeing no fruit, find ways to devote yourself to spending time with the Lord. Now is the time for deep and enriching spiritual growth. Be encouraged! The Lord is always there to meet you.

" Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." (James 4:8)

...okay, I think I spent enough time on this blogspot for today. More to come some other day : )

Week One: Adjusting to Russian living

Well, Tyler and I finally made it to Moscow! We have been very busy already. Mostly just looking for an apartment and work here. The Lord has been so good to us and has blessed us with many friends who are helping us get situated. We have had such a great week, and are looking forward with eager expectation of what else the Lord has planned for us to do.

Last Wednesday, I went with Tyler to a voice recording for a Russian cartoon company. They hired Tyler to do a children’s nursery rhyme video last year. This year the company wants to produce a cartoon for children to learn English. Tyler got to play a friendly monster and a little boy. He was quite good at the latter-it seemed to come to him pretty naturally : )

On Friday, we traveled together to a town outside of Moscow where we had the opportunity to teach English to four different groups of children. We spent the whole afternoon and evening doing this. It was such a great experience. We got to work with students from preschool age to teen-age. Each class was divided by its age group. The lessons comprised of singing and dancing and reading stories. I was so glad to be able to finally experience a little bit of what Tyler has been doing for so long here. I am sure we will have more time to do the same again soon.

Today, Monday, the two of us volunteered our time to help a friend paint her office. Actually, it is the same lady who hired us to teach the classes last week. I tried to get pictures of this, but oddly my camera decided to not cooperate with me. We only worked on one room and there was another guy helping us. It didn't end up taking long at all. I think we only worked for about 3-4hrs.

Considering the drastic changes that we have made in our lives recently, we have been fortunate enough to not have run into too many complicated situations here at all yet. We are learning new ways not only to adapt to Russian living, but also to living as newlyweds. Tyler and I are loving the process we are going through to meld our lives together. The Lord is really teaching us how to fulfill our new roles as husband and wife. We both have been learning how to grow with each other. It truly is a blessing to be here together with God beside us! Working as a team-the three of us- the Lord being our Leader, we are off to a solid beginning. I have full confidence in that.

I can say that I have definitely been learning something new every day. For instance, being comfortable in your shoes is way better than looking pretty when you are walking for 12 hours, when it is appropriate to use an adapter verses a converter for electrical appliances, rolled up clothes makes for great pillows, sometimes you can’t be picky about what you eat (ie: McDonalds : / ), having separate rooms for the toilet and the shower can actually be a good thing, handsoap is not easy to come by, and bread is really, really cheap.

There are a few things that I am truly enjoying so far. Like, the 7:30 am sunrises, all the genuine Russian food anytime you want, flowers on every corner, and really good coffee! I am taking in as much of the Russian language as I can, getting acquainted with the bus and metro systems, and am adjusting to wearing winter clothes in September-it feels like Christmas should come early this year : )

Anyways, our days in Moscow have been beautiful, blessed, and new. I can hardly wait to see what we get to experience this week.