Coats and Coats

Today started out very tough - (prepare yourself for some weather whining) I went to church early to do a baptismal interview. When I left home it was -24F but with wind chill it was -42F. I missed the first bus so had to walk a mile to where the next bus would be. I then waited 15 mins for that bus. That does not sound too long ... and it is not except in this cold. I thought I would lose my face and my toes!!! After church we invited a young man, Yuri, to come home with us and have lunch and visit. Yuri has had one lesson with the missionaries and has come to our English class a few times. He is of Korean decent and his ancestors went to Russia in the mid-1800s from Northern Korea and then to Kazakhstan in the 1930s. He is a very serious young man getting a Master's degree in agriculture. He saw a jar of peanut butter and asked to try some. He had never had peanut butter. He loved it ... I was worried that he would eat my whole jar! Peanut butter is difficult to find here. Near the end of our visit he looked at me and said "May I ask your advice?". He then asked "How do I develop faith in God?". He was raised as an atheist and has no concept of how to relate to or recognize the need for a God. We had a nice discussion about the points in his life where God had given him invitations to learn of Him. As I described how to do that he started to recognize such events and to describe them to us. After about 10 minutes of this he said "I now understand the process." We are hoping that he will continue to walk down this path.

This week we spent our time with families and giving out the coats for the handicapped children. Here are pictures of some of the events. We were authorized enough money to buy coats for 50 children but were able to use the skills of our partner to get great deals at the Central Bazaar (outdoors in -15 F) and ended up with coats for 113 children and a few boots and leggings. What a joy it was to be with these families, experience their gratitude, share a message of love for them from God!














Checking out the girls' coats and then at the outdoor bazaar getting some boys' coats.















We met with some of the parents who did not have their child with them. Here is a happy Mom and a happy Dad.















At the kindergarten for handicapped children we were able to get right down with the kids and have some fun with them. Viviane was asked to sing some songs for them. Our little friend Roma decided that he would turn it into a duet. He 'sang' along with Viviane and then would turn to everyone and clap very vigorously.

This young fella was so full of joy. Not just for himself, but for all of the kids who got a coat. He would go to them and give his version of congratulations. This is a mother and handicapped daughter. The mother volunteers at the center where her daughter is taught life skills.

This is another mother and daughter and you can see how please the young girl is with her new winter coat. The second picture is the group of teenagers we celebrated with as they got new coats. The young boy in front in the wheelchair is Omar. He is 16 yrs old. When he was 14 he was playing with some others around a train and one of the cars rolled over his legs amputating them.

This last picture is another mother and daughter that I added just because they are soooo cute! The daughter's name is Medina!