Yes, it has been way too long since I put a post on this blog. Shameful : / So, now, since five months have passed, there is soooo much to update all of you on.
Tyler and I flew back to California in mid December when our visas for Russia expired. It was a good time to return home. We had the opportunity to spend Christmas with our families.
It was our intention to stay in California until February or March, get refreshed, get our finances situated, and then head back to Russia with new visas. As it turns out, the Lord had a different plan for us.
After Christmas, Tyler and I found out that the Lord was blessing our family with a precious little one. I am a little more than six months pregnant, and expecting our son to arrive September 4th. We are both ecstatic about having a new member added to our family and can hardly wait for his arrival.
With this new adventure before us, we are planning on remaining in California for the length of my pregnancy and sometime beyond. Tyler and I still have a strong desire to serve the Lord in Russia, but will have to leave the timing of return up to God's direction.
In the meantime, we both know that it is our responsibility as christians to use our gifts and abilities to serve God and His church whereever He has us. So, we have been keeping ourselves open for ministry opportunities in the High Desert and allowing the Lord to grow us and prepare us for our future ministries in Russia.
Shortly after we returned home, Tyler was asked to share his testimony and give a brief sermon at a local church we attend with our Slavic brothers and sisters. This was exciting and such an honor for him to share with the congregation what the Lord had done in our lives and particularly in our ministry in Russia.
At the turn of the new year, we both got regularly involved at the Victorville Rescue Mission. We gave our time in the kitchen to serve dinner meals to homeless and needy members of our community during the week.
Recently, the two of us have been involved in an organization called Christians In Action (CIA). We were invited to participate in this group by a good christian brother of ours, Anthony Bravo. The purpose of CIA is to find out the needs of our local community and come together as a group of Christians and meet those needs. Once a month, a group of about 15-20 people get together, eat breakfast, fellowship, and work hard from morning to afternoon doing whatever is needed from us. The last few events involved moving a shed from one location to another, landscaping, painting, putting in ramps for an elderly gentleman, and patching holes in walls. Of course, the best part of all of this is the time we get to spend talking with those we are serving and ministering to them in a social and spiritual level. I am blessed with the opportunities to do that the most, since most of the work being done, isn't exactly cut out for a pregnant woman.
A couple months back, Tyler got to help out with some of our friends and leaders of Christ Muscle Ministries. A new project they took on was helping out the sports teams at Victor Valley Christian School. They converted an old storage room into a beautiful and fully functioning gym for the high school students. It was a great work and was all done out of love for the kids there. Tyler was pleased to be asked to help out.
Another ministry we have been involved in lately involves a young woman suffering from liver cancer and her 19 month old daughter. Since the mother is on chemotherapy and just exhausted from the treatments, she has needed some help taking care of her toddler. Tyler and I got involved to help pick up her daughter from her house at 8am, take her to HeadStart, pick her up from the program and return her home to her mom at 4pm. This gives the little girl some time to interact with other children, play during the day, and it also gives her mother a chance to rest. Thankfully, at this time, the mom is responding to treatment and her faith in the Lord is keeping her strong. Working with them has been a huge blessing for Tyler and I and we are grateful to be involved with the work the Lord is doing in their lives.
Tyler has had a desire to attend the seminary program at Calvary Chapel Bible College for some time now. Our church, Calvary Chapel Victorville, offered a satellite course teaching 1 Corinthians 1 night a week during the Spring semester. Tyler jumped on the opportunity to get started with his bible college education and just finished his last class about a week ago. He intends on continuing courses through our church program as well as attending online courses offered through the Calvary Chapel Merrieta Bible College. God has really provided a great way for Tyler to earn his degree in Theology. It is our hope that the Lord will bless his endevors and use this education to better prepare him to minister to those in Russia when we return.
I myself, have been working on a new avenue in furthering my education. Through careful prayer and consideration I have come to a decision to obtain my teaching credentials before we return to Russia. With the limited availability of work for dental hygienists in Moscow, Tyler and I have concluded that it may be beneficial for me to have options to teach at an English school when we return to the foreign mission field. So far, I have only taken the C-Best to help get me into a credentialling program, but am slowly working on piecing together everything else to get me started in the right direction.
The Lord has been keeping us very busy and is always seeming to put opportunities to serve at our feet. We are thankful that He is keeping us close to Him and dependent on Him as we face each day we are blessed to live out.
Prayer Requests:
1. For the Lord to continue to bless us with a healthy pregnancy and keep our baby safe.
2. That we would be filled with passion to serve people around us and always willing to put others needs before our own.
3. For a complete healing of the mother with cancer.
4. For blessing and direction regarding our endevors to further our education.
5. For CIA and Christ Muscle Ministries to flourish and grow in their service to our community's spiritual needs.
6. For our Russian church in Sokol and particularly Pastor Dean, that the church would feel God's presence and blessings upon their efforts there.
Thank you and God bless!
Melissa & Tyler Goodell
