Update from CBU Team!

Hello, family and friends!

The team is off to a great start and we love living in the city. It has taken us a while to adjust to the time difference, but I think we are finally on “Russian time,” as we call it. The weather is surprisingly warm, which would be a blessing if we had not packed our winter clothes, but we are thankful to have a little bit of California weather. We are cooking for ourselves, which has proven to be somewhat challenging, but we have officially mastered the art of cooking pasta with chicken, cheese, onions and tomatoes. We are being well-fed, to say the least. Tanya and Misha treated us to blini yesterday, a meal everyone was excited to try considering Courtney had bragged about how it is SO delicious. She is happy to report that everyone agreed with her and asked when we would eat there again. : )

We have spent the last few days touring the city, figuring out how to work the Metro (a foreign world to us Californians), and getting to know more about the culture and history of St. Petersburg and Russia. We visited Peter and Paul Fortress, the location where the city was formed, and attended a Russian church service at a local Christian church. It was amazing to recognize some of the worship songs and to hear the one true God being worshiped in two different languages at the same time.

Our team is so blessed by our fieldworkers and our wonderful translator, Art. We start our ministry at the orphanage tomorrow and everyone is excited to finally put into practice all we have been planning over the past six months. Here are a few things we would love to have lifted up in prayer:

–  Our ministry. Pray that we would be effective and bold in our conversations with the kids.

–  Health. Pray that God will continue to keep us healthy and energized.

–  Impact. Pray that we would be a blessing to our fieldworkers and translators and that God will show us how we can best help them and their ministry.

–  Team unity. Pray that God will bind us together as a team and that we would reflect Christ-like attitudes at all times.

We love and miss you all! Pray that we will live out Acts 20:24!

Courtney, Greg and the team.