October, 2008 Russia Update

Hello friends and family,

I hope this update finds you all well. Wow, I can't believe it's been 6 months since my last update. I would've written earlier, but there wasn't much to update you on. The last 6 months can only be described as an exercise in patience and trust. In early April I had accepted an offer on my house (miraculously, the house was only on the market for a few days) and set a closing date of May 31. I then moved into an apartment with a friend of mine in Seattle. May 31 came and went, the lender had approved my buyers but was being a little slow in transferring the money to escrow. We extended the closing date by 2 weeks and I was assured that the money would be transferred to escrow by then. Another 2 weeks, still no transfer. We extended the closing date another 2 weeks... After 13 weeks and 3 other lenders the house finally closed. It was a difficult time for me. I was impatient to move on and get to Russia, and I was now paying apartment rent as well as a mortgage. Money was very tight for a while, since I had also increased the contributions to my retirement plan at work under the assumption that I wouldn't be making house payments anymore. After a month and a half the buyers started covering some of my expenses (they didn't want me to drop them) and I had just enough to meet my expenses. It was a trying time, but God carried me through and I daresay I learned a little more about perseverance, prayer, and budgeting. I am very thankful to God that I was able to sell the house and to keep the original sale price from April. In this housing market I realize that many people are not able to sell at all, let alone get their asking price, so I am very grateful.

The house closed 4 weeks ago and I have now have a departure date for Russia: December 29. I will be returning with a small group from my church, Crossroads Bible Church, to hold another English camp with the church in Anapa, southern Russia. Anapa is a large, summer resort city and Novorossiysk (where the camp will be held) is a large port. English is commonly spoken in Europe and abroad and Russia is Russia taking a larger part on the world stage. The church believes that English teaching is an excellent way to reach out to Russian people who are involved in tourism and commerce. When the Crossroads team returns to America, I will most likely remain in Russia. I've talked more with Pastor Victor in Anapa and they're still happy to have me. I am very much looking forward to living in Russia and working for God. It'll be very challenging, I'm sure, but I was starting to get a little bored working 9-5 (or 9-midnight, as it sometimes is at Microsoft) and playing with some of the worlds leading software.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and support. There are still many details to be worked out, I’d appreciate you continued prayer support. I'm going to be very busy the next 2 and half months. That's all I've got time for now, I'll send out more info as it comes in.

Some specific things to pray for:
1) That many people would come to the English camp in January and that God would use us to reach out to them.
2) Wisdom and guidance around my living/working arrangements in Russia.
3) Visa issues- Unless I can get a work permit (which requires a Russian company to hire me and pay me a salary), I'll be in Russia on 90 day visas. Every 90 days I'll have to come back to America and reapply for another 90 days. Flying back and forth every 90 days is a little pricey, I'd prefer a work permit which would allow me to stay in Russia for 1 year, continuously.
4) Guidance/discernment around supporting organizations- I've contacted 4 different missions organizations, now, and for various reasons none of them will be able to support/send me to Anapa to do English teaching. As it stands, currently, I am not a part of a missions organization and I will be working in very close partnership with the church in Anapa. I believe this is do-able, but I will have to work out a lot of issues (accountability, support raising, medical insurance, ...) that a sending organization would normally help with on my own.
5) Russian lessons- I'm learning, slowly...

In Him,Ryan