Dear Prayer & Support Partners:

           Greetings once again. I apologize for the long delay in writing. I have been in Eastern Europe for going on 2 months, and the connections that I have had have been so bad. It has been very difficult to communicate. I will send along this update and try to give some details of the ministry over this time. I apologize before I begin for the length. This will be kind of a day-by-day running commentary of the trip. If my churches want to print this up for the people, you might want to do it in several parts. When I mention Tim or Stas, these are the 2 men that are living and working in Magadan. Tim is Bro. Tim Smith, a young single guy who is with BIEM serving in the Magadan region. Stas is the single national young man who works there with Bro. Tim, and will eventually be pastor of the works.

I left Phoenix on May 1 for Bucharest, Romania. Arriving there, we went up to Fetesti to be in the work there for a while and get a feel for what is going on there. It is exciting to see the foundations being dug for a new building that will house the church and Bible College. I had the privilege to preach at the church there. I also had the  pportunity to visit one of the village churches and preach there. Pastor Iosif Pop is having some very severe heath problems. Prayer for his needs are certainly in order. It was a privilege to meet the brothers and sisters in that location, and to see what the Lord is doing there. We also made a trip over to Constantia on the Black Sea. That southeastern part of Romania is very beautiful, but the needs are great. Pray for the works there.

From there we traveled by van over to Moldova. It was a long and tiring trip. What a blessed time we had with the believers there. I was privileged to preach in our work at Duralesti, and then to go up to our newest work at Teghina, Transnestria. What a blessing to see this new work begin to take root in that city. This will be the second work in Transnestria. Pray for the believers up there who have such a difficult time making a living and handling the oppression from the government.

We then had our classes at Chishinau. I taught a course in Bibliology. It was a great time of study and fellowship with the brothers there. Then on Saturday, May 10 we had our first graduation from that location. We had a total of 13 graduates. What a blessed time that was.

From there I traveled by train up to Kyiv, Ukraine. Once again, I was blessed with the opportunity to minister in the work at Fastiv. The afternoon was spent at the orphanage at Polavaska. That has become my favorite one, and all the children there are such a blessing to be with. We delivered a computer to our BIEM national children's worker, sister Lilia. What a joy to see the joy in her heart for this ministry tool.  The following week was spent in the classes in Kyiv. I taught a course on New Testament Survey, and Bro. Sam Harbin from Calvary Seminary taught Hermeneutics. It was a great time. Then on Saturday we had our 4^th graduation from the school at Kyiv. We had a total of 14 graduates there. Then that evening I left on the train for Moscow. I have a copy of the Kyiv newspaper with me. It looks like Ukraine may get into the EU after all. That would be good for us. No more visas. But I guess that we shall see. Today was the Day of Kyiv celebration. People were everywhere in the city. Traffic was a mess. I am glad to be on the train safely and on the way to Moscow.

We are here at the Institute. The trip on the train went well, and was airly  comfortable. I slept some. But I am really tired now. Pastor Mikhail met us at the train station, on time. We went straight to his home, dropped off the luggage, and then on to the church for the service. I cleaned up on the train as best I could, so I am now waiting and anxious to take a shower. We had a good service. Then met with the leadership of the church for a brief time of fellowship and a little food. Then we went over to the new building. It is great and coming along well. The funds that I gave them will enable them to get the gas connected for heat, so they will begin meeting in the building before next winter, although it will not be completed until later. Anyway, after that, back to Pastor Mikhail's for lunch. Then finally over here to the center with our luggage by about 3:45. Then at 4:30 they picked me up again for the graduation. I had just enough time to shave and get ready for that. We had a good graduation exercise for the first one here. Only 2 graduates, but that is a start. 

Pastor Peter and Pavel Rumachik just returned from Siberia. Peter had been wanting to go up there for some time and tour the prisons, etc. So, we paid for them to go. They were up there for about 2 weeks, and it only cost us a total of about $500. Anyway, Peter was able to get back to the prisons, and he even was able to preach in  some of them. We got video of all of this, so it is quite an incredible story. We are going to make up a video presentation of this, along with prisoners accepting the Lord from his preaching, etc., and circulate it among the churches in the US. Then we will schedule another preaching tour for him to come to the States and make the rounds of the churches once again who would like to have him tell this story. It is quite incredible.

Pastor Dan Davey; Prof. Mike Winsor; Prof. Tony Fox and another brother from Virginia Beach arrived today. They wanted to go into the city, so I took them by train/metro to Red Square. We ate some lunch, and they took a tour of the Kremlin. By the time that was done, it was too late for me to go with them out to Izmylava, but they wanted to go. So, I sent Vladimir with them, and I took the metro back to where my ride to the airport was to meet me. That all went without a hitch, made my plane, and headed for Magadan. The flight was overnight. About 8 hours all together. Tim & Stas were there to meet me. They have a full schedule arranged, so I will be busy each day. It is a typical Russian apt. Pretty bare.

Magadan is about what I expected. It is cold and dreary. Tim said it snowed yesterday. There is lots of snow on the mountains all around the area. I have a view of the sea, and it is still basically frozen in the bay. The city is old and run down and ragged. It is a lot like Kyiv and the other cities when I first started coming over here. We have seen significant improvements in other places, but they have not caught up here.

The flight over was not bad. When I first boarded I was really upset because my seat was a center seat among 3. However, I ended up with the whole row to myself, so it was not a problem. I was even able to sleep a little bit. Not much, but a little. I am really tired, but I don't want to go to bed until later so I can hopefully sleep all night. The mosquitoes will not be a problem here. They have not yet awakened from hibernation...it is still too cold. It is not bad, but is cold, especially compared to where I have been. In many ways it is a welcome relief.

We spent most of the day after my arrival registering my visa and getting my tickets for the flight from Magadan to Anchorage. It is only about a 5 hour flight, but it ended up costing me $775. They ripped me off here, but from here there are no other choices. I guess they know that and take advantage of the situation. It is the typical frustrating red tape with everything. We stopped at the "travel agency" on the way in from the airport. The airport is actually 45 kilometers outside of Magadan. It is ancient. Even at it's worst, I don't think the Kyiv or Moscow airports were this bad, even several years ago before all the improvements. Anyway, we got to the "travel agent" and she had a client with her. We waited for about 1/2 hour before that person was done. Then we went in and sat down, to arrange to get my ticket to Anchorage. After several minutes of minutiae, she said we had to go get this stamp on my visa that verified that I had permission to stay in the Magadan district for more than 3 days, since I will be here about 12 days. So, we went over to do that. We got there, and that office is only open between 3:00 pm and 6:30 pm. So, we went and got something to eat. Then we came on here to the apartment and carried my stuff up, and then I tried to connect to the Internet to send mail, but couldn't get it to work. By then it was 3:00, so we left and went back down to get the stamp that I need. We went to the office. Got there about 3:20, and glory be, they were open. We went through the normal lunacy there, and then had several rather lengthy forms that had to be filled out. We got that accomplished, and then we had to take them to another location, about a block away, and pay a fee of 20 rubles (about 60 cents). Then we had to go back to the first office and present that form and get the stamp. Finally, we got that done. Then we went back to the "travel agent." Again, there was another customer there, so we waited about another 20 minutes. Then we presented all the forms, and she began the laborious task of making out the ticket, etc. After we finally got a price from here, we had to go exchange money. She called the bank to find out the exchange rate so we would know how much we needed to change. It came to $732. We went over to the bank that she had just called, gave them the money to exchange, and were then told that they had no rubles! So, we had to find another bank that had rubles. I think word gets around when things like this happens, and the bank that has the rubles ups its exchange rate accordingly. I changed $765 instead of the $732. I had intended to do that anyway, because I didn't have too many rubles left from Moscow. Anyway, it is a good thing that I did, because with the difference in the exchange rates, it ended up costing $775 instead of the $732 she had told me. So it goes. Anyway, I have my ticket to Anchorage. Tim says there are never very many people on the plane, so I should have plenty of room on that one. So then after all that, we finally got back to the apartment about 5:30. Tim & Stas will be back shortly and we will get something to eat. Then hopefully I can have an early night, get some sleep, and be ready for tomorrow.

Magadan is supposed to be one of the richest cities in Russia. The fishing industry is prime, and they also have a lot of gold mining in the area. Tim was telling me that some lady was just arrested for embezzling 17 million US $ from the fishing industry over the last few years. Anyway, the Mafia is very strong here. The city itself is 150,000 instead of the 65,000 that I had been told. But my, it is in bad shape. However, it is obvious that there is money around from the cars and the way the people dress, etc. The apartment where I am staying is where the church meets and Stas normally lives. Then Tim has his own apartment. One of my students from Kyiv and his family are coming up about the middle of June to join them in the work here. They are looking for another apartment for him.

I am having to start over and try to rewrite several days worth of stuff. I had tried to send an e-mail to you just before we left on Wed., but could not get it to go through. Then we left, and I had been writing every day and just adding to it to send. Finally, today, I went to the video shop in the village here to try to send and  receive. I could not do it from my computer, so had to save to a disc. Then, I still couldn't get it to go, but I lost everything that I had written in the process. So, I am starting over. It is now Thursday afternoon, just after 6:00. Our service begins at 7:00, so I just have a few minutes to do this, and then I'll have to quite until later. I'll try to remember the things that I wrote before and add to them. I won't have the chance to send or receive again until we get back to the city on Saturday night late. You should have seen the crowd of young people around me at the computer place when I took out my laptop and fired it up. They had heard about them, but had never seen one before I reckon, so they were quite interested. Tried to be helpful when we couldn't get it to work, but it just wasn't to be.

We are in the village of Pulatka where the 2nd work is. We came over yesterday afternoon, had our first evangelistic service last night. We went from 7:00-almost 11. I preached for about 2 hours. Then there were lots of questions. We'll follow the same basic schedule tonight. Tim has been overseeing the work here as well as in Magadan. We are about 85 kilometers from Magadan. We had a good group last night, and they all said they'd be back and bring others. We shall see.

We drove out another 30-40 kilometers into the mountains today and did a little sightseeing. We found some HUGE bear tracks, but did not see any bear. We went to an area that used to be a women's prison camp under Stalin. The guards used to have sex with the women, and then when a baby was born, they would immediately kill it, because they would get in trouble otherwise. We went to a little valley that they call "the Valley of Dead Babies." They estimate that there are perhaps some 20,000 buried here. No markers or indications of any kind. The people here just know about it. The area is so desolate and rugged. They forced marched prisoners out here from Magadan, over 100 kilometers, in the dead of winter. Most of them died before they even got to the camps. The history here is extensive, but not very pleasant.

Conditions here at the apartment are rather spartan. There was a refrigerator and stove in the apt., but it was stolen. We have a little single burner gas cooker to use. The refrigerator consists of a space in the kitchen wall on the outside wall with a hole to the outside that lets in the cool air. It works okay in the winter, but I don't know about the summer. Certainly does not keep things cold; only cool. Anyway, I guess I can get along for 2 more days.

Privacy is certainly not a priority to these people. We always have people hanging around. At least they are not early risers. I was up at 8:00. I finally got to sleep some time last night after 1:00. It is a wonder that I slept at all. This "bed" that I am sleeping on is really pathetic. It took me a while to get settled. I am really tired right now. I'll be okay once the service starts. I am hoping to sleep better tonight. Tim & Stas are sharing the other room. They have a rather crude 3 decker bunk bed in there against the wall. I am not so sure that they are not more comfortable than this thing I am sleeping on. At least I have a mattress, of sorts. The sky was still bright outside when I did go to bed, but we have a covering for the window, so that helps. The sun has been out here today. Tim assures me that would not be the case in Magadan. Anyway, the first person came about 10:15 this morning, and there has been at least one person with us all day. We took 3 along on the excursion. I guess that's is just the way life is here.

There is a cafe in town. It is pretty bad. We had lunch there. It is cheap, at least. We just fried up some potatoes for supper, along with some meat and cheese and seaweed. It was okay. I'm hoping to lose a few pounds more before I come home.  The girl that is with us right now is from one of the Evian tribal groups. They look very oriental, as do a lot of the people from around this area. They have an Eskimo appearance to them. We are very close to Japan here, so perhaps there is an influence from that as well. This girl named Nastia (short for Anastasia). Her face is pretty wide and flat.  Some of them are quite lovely.

The service is over. I kept it a little shorter tonight, but they stayed around for quite a while after. It is after midnight again as I start to get ready for bed. We had several new ones show up. 3 men came in at the beginning. Then they talked with Tim about helping them get to the US, and when he told them he couldn't they left. There are always those kind. Anyway, the service went well. Our final evangelistic meeting is tomorrow night. Saturday will be the regular service and then we head back to Magadan, and hopefully I can hook up to e-mail and get and receive. I feel so cut off when I can't get through.

It's Friday morning, almost 11. I have been up since 8:00, but wanted to get everything else done that I needed to before I wrote. Had a couple of yogurts for breakfast. I would pay $10 for a COLD drink. It is impossible to find one out here, even their usual kind of COOL ones are not available. Guess that I'll have to wait until I get back to Magadan tomorrow night. At least there we have a working refrig. and freezer. 

We're planning another excursion today to look at an area for a summer camp. Sounds like it is quite nice where we are going. This area reminds me of what I understand of Alaska back in the 1900's. It is very primitive, but wild and beautiful. If I was here a little later, it would be gorgeous once things green up. It is rugged and very mountainous. Magadan does not get much nice weather, according to Tim. But it is certainly a needful area. This village of Pulatka is about 8,000. The church has been here for a number of years and seems to be pretty good, considering what they have gone through. I think Tim has helped a lot with the healing. There is another American down the road at a village called Sokal. He will have nothing to do with Tim or anyone else. He had taken some of the people from here over to his church, but most of them are fed up with him and have come back here. I just can't understand these guys. It is so isolated up here, you would think they would welcome some fellowship with other Americans. Tim is such a nice guy. I don't understand how anyone could not like him.

He is certainly well suited for this ministry. I think that his singleness is an asset in many ways. It is a liability at the same time.  He fits the pattern that the Apostle Paul talked about where for the sake of the ministry it is better for him to be single. He fits in with the people here in that he does not seem to need much privacy and dirt doesn't bother him. I guess that's why he is here. It is another sunny day here in Pulatka. Again, Tim assures me that it is not in Magadan. He says they are fortunate to get 10 sunny days a year. 

It is now 4:30 on Friday afternoon. We just got back from our excursion. We went West of Pulatka to Karumpkin. Tim said that it was a forbidden zone, but he thought we would be okay going over there this time of year. He was right. We really did not see any other people. We went up to the lake where he wanted to look at maybe having a camp. I don't think it will work. It is some really rugged country getting into there, but he has a jeep. However, it would take all day to move campers and gear in there a few at a time in the jeep, so I think he's going to stick with the place that he knows over closer to Magadan. We may go over and take a look at that next week. Anyway, the area out there is vast and rugged and deserted. We walked along little streams from the snow melt, and you can see all kinds of gold dust and little nuggets in the streams. It is still frozen into the water, but even if you could get it out, it would be impossible to get it out of Russia. The government owns it all and they are very restrictive.

No wildlife anywhere, although the country looks like prime country for deer and elk and moose, etc. Tim says you really have to go deep into the wilderness to find game anymore. Anything close to civilization has been killed off for food. Again, there are bear tracks, but we did not see any bear. I only saw one bird the whole time as well, a little sparrow.

I don't know what is going to be for supper. I've quit asking such questions. We went to another cafe in town that just recently opened up for lunch. It was about the same as the other one. It is cheap...and that is about all that can be said for them. It seems that if someone opened up a nice place with a good menu and good prices, they could do well. There are no health restrictions like what we have in the States, so it would not  be difficult to run a good restaurant and offer cheap prices since food and labor are so cheap here. I don't know how people over here would respond to things being kept clean and tidy. I doubt that they would really appreciate it all that much.

Again, there are a bunch of people hanging around. There is a very nice young boy, named Roma, who is here today. He has been in all the services with his mother. The last day of school for the kids was yesterday, so he was not able to be here before today. He went with us on our excursion. He got beat up pretty badly in school a couple of weeks ago because he is a Christian and tries to do what is right. Life is still pretty tough over here.

Well, it is after the service on Friday night. So, one more night to go out here in the village, and then tomorrow evening we will be heading back to civilization, such as it is. The service went well. We had a couple less than we have the other 2 nights, but Tim seems to be pleased with the overall attendance. I think things went pretty well as far as the teaching.

I have hardly eaten all day. I just ate some peanut butter and cheese on bread. I brought that last jar up here for Tim. Glad that I did. Along with that and the cheese crackers and peanuts, I have been able to get by. All that will be gone by tonight. At least I can get to fairly decent stores in Magadan to get what I want. I just hope I can make it through another week without getting sick.

Tim believes that all the problems he was having with his health earlier is due to the water he was drinking. He came back to the US and spent over $5000 at Mayo clinic trying to find out what his problem was. They never did find out anything for sure. He was having severe pains in his kidneys. Anyway, he had been buying some kind of bottled water off the street. They sold it everywhere around Magadan. He finally read the label and it said that you shouldn't drink more than 200 milligrams per day. He had been drinking it all the time. He said it had a kind of funny taste, but he had gotten used to it. Anyway, when he quit drinking that, he began to feel better. We stopped on the way over here and got some water from an artesian spring. It was good. Tim says it has lots of silver in it, so he's been told. Anyway, I reckon that I'll make it okay.

It is now Saturday morning. Another excursion today up the side of the mountain. Tim plans to wash his jeep in the river. It is filthy.

I imagine if we don't do something like that it will be a long day. But at least this is the last day out here in the village. The routine is going to be about the same. About 10:00 people start showing up. We go eat lunch at the cafe about noon and then take an excursion. Get back here around 4:00 and get ready for the service. The service tonight will be the regular weekly service, but it starts at 5:00 instead of 7:00.  Hopefully it will not be too long and we can get back to Magadan at a reasonable time. I expect it will be about 10:00 or so by the time we get back there. We shall see.

It is now after 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. We tried to go up a different mountain, but the road was closed. So, we came back and washed Tim's jeep in the river, and now we are "relaxing" at the apt. before the evening service. The service starts at 5:00, so I am really hoping that we will be out of here by about 7:00 or so and be back to the apt. in Magadan by about 8:30-9:00. Then I hope to be able to get connected and send and receive the e-mail. I imagine that after 3 days I'll have a few waiting for me.

This area of Pulatka is quite impoverished. I can't imagine the depression that living under these circumstances would produce. Just getting by each day is a full time proposition. Finding what you need for the day is a challenge. We stopped at 3 different stores before we found water without gas. I guess if you lived here you might have to learn to drink the water with gas, but right now, I despise it. It tastes salty to me, therefore, it makes me thirsty. Anyway, we finally found a bottle, so I can make it through the day. I brought 2 bottles with me from Magadan that I was planning to get me through, but other people got into them and drank most of them. That is the way it works here. Everything is definitely communal property. I asked Tim about what kind of jobs are available here in the area. There is not much. He says there are a few factories, but the products they make are terrible. One makes mayonnaise that he says is basically inedible. The other makes a type of cola that he calls nuclear. He says when you drink it you swear that it is doing tissue damage on the way down. They keep trying to give me what they call yogurt. Tim says that it is really cottage cheese. It is big lumps of stuff. One of the ladies brought it by yesterday, so it has been sitting around without refrigeration since then. They mix it with sour cream and eat it. I just told Tim that I didn't think I wanted to chance eating any of it, but Stas just came in and offered me some again. I hate to say no to things, but this one I am definitely refusing. Roma, the young boy who hangs around, just came in and offered me some katashki. It kind of tastes like croutons. They are in a bag like potato chips. I took a few, and they are at least edible. The bread over here is different than in the rest of Russia. It looks more like our loaves, unsliced, but seems to be coarser. The bread at Dyedovsk is hard to beat straight from the bakery. I try not to eat too much bread, but sometimes, that is about all there is. I have no idea if there will be anything to eat tonight, at least until I get back to the apartment in Magadan.

Well, the service is over. It was good. About the same crowd as each night. Tim says at one time there were over 70 people regularly attending here. The guy from over at Sokal, the American who will have nothing to do with Tim, or anyone else, was coming over here with his family back then. He kind of took over for about a year, but most of the people left. Then he told those that were left that they could come to his church over at Sokal if they wanted. A few did, for a while, but most have come back here. They have a nucleus of about 20 folks that are faithful, and they can't just abandon them. That is why they keep the work alive.

We are back at Magadan. There is not really too much to report from here this morning. It is a typical Magadan day. Gloomy and cold and wet. I have a view of McGyva Bay out the window. It looks very cold and desolate out there. Can't imagine what it is like to live here all the time. There is so much history in the area. Most of it is not very pleasant. I would not mind spending more time here, but it is expensive. There are so many areas, even close around the city, where you can not go without special permission. Tim was arrested for going up to a village about 15 kilometers away. He was thrown into jail for 8 hours, then released to house arrest for 3 days. He had to report into the jail each morning, spend the day, and then could go home in the evening. Then he had to pay a fine of about 500 rubles (about $15-18). There are some places I'd like to see, but don't know if it is worth the hassle. Guess that I'll get to see what I can see, and the rest I'll have to miss. I don't much want to spend time in a Russian jail.

The service begins at 12:30. Tim says the national past time here is sleeping. Their biggest challenge is to get people out of bed to come to church. Anyway, we have 2 service back-to-back, so we should be done by about 6:00 or so, and then the day is over.  I finally got something to eat late last night. That could be the reason that I did not sleep too well. It was so nice to have something cold to drink for a change, and even to eat my own cooking. I am going to have some yogurt again for breakfast. I don't know when I'll get to eat today, but at least I now have some choices for food.

It is Sunday evening at 8:30 pm here. I have been sitting here in one spot for the last 2 hours trying to get connected so I could pull up my e-mail. I don't mean checking every 5-10 minutes, I mean over and over and over for 2 hours trying to get connected. I had connections 2 different times. I can only hold a connection for about 30 seconds or so, so if my server in the US does not respond right away, then I lose the connection. It is totally frustrating. Nevertheless, I finally got through.

The services today went very well. Well attended and the people seemed to really appreciate the singing, fellowship and preaching. It was a blessing to me. The classes here will be Tues., Wed. & Thurs. So, I will be pretty tired by the time I leave. In looking at my ticket I see that I don't leave here until 5:30 in the afternoon on Friday, so that is kind of nice, except that I will have a very long day once I arrive in AK. Perhaps I can take a brief nap and then be back on track by Sat. morning, since I arrive in there at 5:30 in the am on Friday. It will be interesting to see how I adjust.

We went out after the services were over and bought shashlik (shisk-a-bob). I fried up a head of cabbage and we also had some more sea weed. It was pretty good. Then Tim, Stas and Sasha left about 6:30, and I have been sitting here ever since then trying to get through on e-mail. I did do some laundry in the dirty water. The water here is about the color of tea. It may be even worse here than it was in Moscow. However, the rivers and everything flow that color. Everything is snow run off now. The color comes from up in the mountains. Tim says that when the snow melts here, the streets are covered with tiny flecks of gold. There is no cost effective way to get it, but there is lots of it around. I would think there would be a way to collect it, but if there was, the government would take it all, so there is no incentive for the people to do it.

We have the day off tomorrow, so Tim plans to take me around Magadan and do some sightseeing. It should be an interesting day, I trust. We had several unsaved people in the service this afternoon. Several showed a real interest in salvation. One of the girls who was here for the service this am is a Psyc major at the university. She has been coming for the last 2 weeks. Her senior dissertation is about how people handle the concept of death, so that is why she came 2 weeks ago, and again today. She is interviewing people after the service about this subject. Tim talked with her and she said that she is scared spitless after studying this subject and getting people's opinions on death. She is very open to the Gospel. Tim is there dealing with her right now at the dorm. Anyway, it is an interesting mix of people in the church.

It is Monday morning about 10:00 or a little after here. I had my best night's sleep so far. I was exhausted, I think. I was up until 1:30 trying to send and receive  e-mail. It took over 3 hours to finally get connected enough to get that done. VERY frustrating. Then it took me about an hour this am to finally get the e-mail pulled up. Anyway, I slept until almost 9:00, so got almost 8 hours. I feel a bit better than I have.

It has been an interesting day, to say the least. The fog rolls in here like it does in SF, so most of the day here in Magadan it was foggy. We went up on the hill outside of the city where they have built a memorial to the prison camps. It was pretty interesting. I got some good pictures. They do not even try to estimate how many were interred. They simply say, "millions." They seem to recognize the injustice of it, but they don't really talk about it too much. I found out that there were Japanese and Koreans along with Christians, Catholics, Orthodox, Jews and Muslims that were interred. The ACLU would have been proud of the Communists. They did not discriminate. They just persecuted everyone! Anyway, that was interesting. I took some good shots of Magadan as well. I hope they come out, with all the fog.

After that we went to eat lunch. We went to a Korean restaurant. It was pretty good. A little more expensive than the places we've been eating. I don't know that I would say it was worth the added expense, but it was okay. Then we drove our to Visalia Bay to look around, since McGyva bay was all fogged in. Tim was taking us up this really torn up, muddy road to a rope bridge that goes across this raging river that comes into the bay. We came to a pretty bad spot. He said that 2 weeks ago that whole area was completely snowed and iced in. Anyway, he has 4-wheel drive, so he figured that he could make it through. Well, we didn't. He sunk the jeep in up to the door panels. We were able to get out and onto dry ground without too much trouble. Then we pulled the winch cable out and attached it to the only tree within reach. It was a pretty good sized pine tree. He began to winch the jeep out, and the tree pulled right out of the ground. We tried a few other things, but to no avail. Then Stas and I began walking back to town. We were about 5 miles out. We walked for about 2 miles before we finally got a ride. We got back here to the apt. and Stas made some phone calls. There is no tow truck in town, so I don't know what they are doing. It is now almost 8:00 and I have not heard anything from Tim yet. Sasha was with us, so he stayed out there with Tim. Stas left after he made a few phone calls, so I have heard nothing now for over an hour. I went ahead and fixed myself some supper and ate. I reckon that I'll either hear something tonight or in the morning. At least I am safely in the apt. for the night. Never a dull moment here in Magadan with Tim!

Tomorrow we have our classes, as well as Wed. and Thurs., and then, of course, I leave on Friday. We are not having classes until afternoons and evenings, so we will still have the mornings to do some stuff, if Tim salvages the jeep! Anyway, the time will probably go pretty quickly from now on, since I have more to occupy my time. I thought I just heard someone at the door, but it wasn't, so I still know nothing.

The area here kind of grows on you. I don't think I would want to live here, especially in the winter time, but it is not too bad. It was a lot colder today because of the fog keeping any sun out, I reckon. I mentioned the cold when I wrote this am. I later discovered that there were several windows open in the apt. I don't know if they did that on purpose; Tim is a bit of a joker. Of course I would never do something like that! And, of course, I never said anything to them about being cold. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction, if it was on purpose!  Tim will be here shortly and we will go for lunch and take care of a few things before classes begin.

It is cold and gloomy this Tuesday morning. Pretty typical. The cooler weather has been a respite from the heat and humidity in Romania, Moldova, Kyiv and Moscow, but I am ready for some warmth now. I don't know what it will be like in AK. I imagine that the mosquitoes will be bad there, but at least, I'll be in civilization again. It is amazing that this is one of the wealthiest areas over here, and yet things are such a mess. I can't understand the lack of motivation on the part of the people to make a better life for themselves. There certainly is the means to do so if they would just do it.

The roads over here are something else. Because of the extremes in the weather, they are pretty broken up. Tim's jeep takes a real beating. He has a van which was his first vehicle. It has pretty well been destroyed in about a year of use. He is trying to sale it. I don't know if he'll be able to get anything for it or not. Getting a phone over here is major. Tim has had his phone for a while now. It ended up costing him $400, and it is really bad. He said that they told him that he could get the phone for $200 and it would be the latest technology. He paid the $200, and was supposed to have the phone within 3 days. Well, after a week he went to check what was going on, and they said that for another $200 he could have a digital connection and that would be good. He said okay, paid the $200 and the next day they came out and installed what he has. He says that it is the worst kind of connection available. He basically has no recourse. He could take the company to court, but it would probably end up costing more and he would not get any satisfaction anyway. I guess that at least he has a phone, so that is good. That just seems to be life over here. The frustrations are many, and the options are few. It seems like if enough people got fed up and rose up in rebellion that things would change, but I guess not. Even with all the hassles that we face in the US, it is nothing like what it would be over here.

I am cold this morning. There is no heat in this apt. and it is chilled through and through. I am going to see if there are any options for heating the place up. I will probably have to turn on the kitchen stove and hopefully that will generate some heat. I just went and checked, and I guess the only option is the kitchen stove. I turned that on, so hopefully it will help. I looked in the closet hoping that Tim had a space heater in there, but no such luck. I guess that one of the reasons that people spend so much time in bed here is to keep warm. I guess now my only option is to take a hot shower, of sorts, and get dressed. 

It is now 5:30 pm here. I have crossed I don't know how many time zones, so slowly as I work my way east I am ending up west. If that makes any sense. 

It is now 9:00 Tues. evening here. We just finished our first session of the classes. We only had 8 students tonight, but it was good. Several who said they were coming backed out at the last minute. There is supposed to be some more here tomorrow. We shall see.

I am tired, but not too exhausted. It has been a rather long day. Longer for Tim, I am sure. He did not get in until well after midnight last night. It ended up taking that long to get the jeep extracted. They ended up having to get 2 different trucks out there, and finally pulling him out with both at the same time. He was really sunk into the mud hole.  By the time they got him out he was sunk down about half way up the doors, so it was inside as well. He had to take it in to have it all cleaned out this morning before he came over here. It did not cost him anything to get pulled out, but cost about $20 to get it all cleaned up. That is pretty cheap when you think about it. They did a good job from what I could tell. 

We went and had some pizza for lunch. It is a new place that recently opened and Tim had never been there before, but wanted to try it. It was actually quite good. Tim says it's the best pizza he's ever had in Russia. I had what they called an "American pizza." It had cheese, bacon, beef, tomatoes and eggs on it! I commented that I had never had an "American" pizza with egg on it before. It was pretty good, however. Today has been about the nicest day so far, weather wise here in Magadan. The sun was out most of the day and it was a little warmer than it has been. Not much, but enough to make a difference. There is no fog now. It is still very bright outside. I can see the bay very clearly and it is quite serene and beautiful. Still little ice floes here and there, but quite pretty and peaceful out there.  There is a guy in town who changes money from his truck. Tim calls him the "bandit," but usually changes with him because he gives a better rate than the banks. He does not pay taxes, so that is how he can do that.  Anyway, Tim went to change some money for me, and the guy would not change it because the US $ is dropping so rapidly. Guess I'll have to stick with the bank.

Well, I am out of peanuts and peanut butter and crackers and candy bars. I have been depending pretty heavily upon them since living by a schedule here with these guys does not happen. They are indeed bachelors. I should be able to make it for a few more days. It will be good to get back to civilization, however. Since I have a stove, sort of, and a refrigerator, that works pretty good. I can keep a few things here to get me by. There is a store up the road about 200 meters. I have been up there several times alone, and can get what I need there for the most part. I reckon that I will make it all right.  Well, the 2nd session of the classes is concluded. We had 3 new students tonight for a total of 9. I guess that is pretty good for the first time. They seem to be really enjoying what I am giving them. It is 10:00. We have been done for a little while, but one of them brought some dessert and they had to have chai to go along with that, so that just finished and there are still 4 here cleaning up in the kitchen a bit. I won't be able to do anything until they are gone. I have not had anything to eat since noon, so as soon as everyone leaves I will fix myself something to eat. I don't like to eat this late, but  I am hungry.  We made it out to see some of the Chukchi Indians today, so I have some good pictures of that. These are the people that Tim feels called to minister to, but it will still be a couple of years before he moves to the village to work with them.

The phone lines to the apt. were cut while we were gone today. That happens about every other week or so, they say, so Stas knows how to rewire everything. There is a neighbor who is responsible, but there is not much they can do. Anyway, we do have phone service again, so I should be able to get connected. We had a good lunch today. Went to this restaurant and ordered. We waited forever, but it was probably the best food I've had at a restaurant here. It was a piece of meat, kind of like schnitzel, smothered in onions and cheese and grilled, along with some fries. So I enjoyed that. Then we went to the Indian thing and got some pictures there and some others around Magadan.  Tomorrow we plan to go to the museum where they have about the only things about the prison camps that can be found. Tim says the display is pretty good, so we shall see.  It is now Thursday morning. Tim and I just got back from the University. I wish I could have taken some pictures, but they were a bit hesitant to have me do that. The rooms are incredibly small and very old and sparse. Our students in America cannot begin to imagine how good they have it with the latest equipment and comfortable class rooms, etc. Tim says the Uni here is a joke, but it is all they have. The teacher we met with seems like a nice guy. He teaches philosophy. We went to see him because when I taught the concept of God the other day, several of the students go to the Uni, and they said that this is what they were taught in their philosophy class; that there is no other logical explanation for creation than God. So, both Tim and I were surprised. We went and had a bit of a conversation with this professor, and he is supposed to come to the apt. in the morning for a longer visit. It should be interesting. I don't think that he is a believer, from what we could gather, but he is definitely a Deist, and he is at least intellectually honest. That is very rare in academia. Almost nonexistent in America.

Had a quiet morning today. Just kind of relaxed around the apt. Fixed lunch for everyone instead of going out today. I made french fries, omelets with ham and cheese and onions, seaweed and bread. They seemed to enjoy it. Sasha, the young man who is ALWAYS with us, is probably going to be the male leadership in the church here. Tim says he is the only one who has showed any promise. He seems quite dedicated to the Lord, but he is young and immature (22). Not much else to do if we don't go sightseeing, and I think we have seen pretty much everything that Magadan has to offer.  Several of our students are Chukchi. They are students at the Uni and come to the church here. They have only recently begun to attend although Tim has known them and worked with them for about 3 years now. It is an interesting culture. Like most Indian cultures, they follow Shamanism, but they have a very defined understanding of God and creation, even though their god may not be the God of the Bible. As a result, they are quite open to the Gospel. They have a celebration (what we went to yesterday) where they sacrifice a (white) reindeer each year. June is the beginning of the year for them. You can understand that when you realize how cold and bitter it is here the rest of the time. Anyway, the white reindeer represents a "pure" sacrifice, which they understand is necessary for cleansing of sin. Tim and I talked about Don Richardson's book, "Eternity In Their Hearts." He has read it, and plans to use this (the reindeer sacrifice) as his cultural touchpoint to give them the Gospel. He already has on several personal occasions, but when he finally moves up to the tribe that he will work with (probably about 2 years away yet), that is what he plans to use to establish a contact with them for the Gospel. They are very open and friendly people. The village where he wants to work is north of the Arctic Circle. It is several hours from here, so even more remote than Magadan. I guess it will be an adjustment, even for Tim. He seems well-suited to do that kind of a ministry, but I know that it will be difficult.

It is now Friday, my last day here. Today is back to the normal gloom of Magadan. Yesterday was the nicest day thus far. I expect that it is colder outside today, although I have not yet been outside to check. It just looks colder from the window here. The University professor will be here shortly. It will be an interesting time.

Indeed it was interesting. He brought his wife along, and we had a good conversation. I believe that they will visit the church. They seem very open to the Gospel. His wife speaks pretty good English. It was a great one-on-one (or two-on-two) opportunity to witness to them. I have to get ready now for my flight from here to Anchorage. It will be interesting as well.

We went out to look at a few buildings that could be bought, cheap, and used for a church building with remodeling. There is one in particular that looks good. Tim will begin negotiating with the owner next Monday. Pray that this will work out.

I am now in the air. The flight from Magadan to Kamchatka was only 1 hour & 20 minutes. There were only 12 people on the whole plane for that one, not counting the flight crew. Kamchatka is magnificent. I think I got some good photos here. We were on the ground for about 2 hours. They did not allow us to get off the plane, but we were able to move around and I could take some pictures out of the door of the plane. The city is completely surrounded by mountains and they are all snow covered. It is also a major military base, so coming in we saw a submarine in the bay, and then there was all kinds of MiGs and other military aircraft sitting around. It would have been nice to get off and walk around, but they would not permit it.

4 of the others on the plane are hunters. They came up here 2 weeks ago and hunted bears.  There is a husband and wife, and then 3 other hunters. We met them at the airport and have been together ever since. Tim actually knew the Russian outfitter and a couple of his guides that were with these guys. They helicoptered north about 1 1/2 hours from Magadan to hunt the BIG bears. They all got 2 each. The wife didn't hunt. The couple is from Idaho. They are sitting right across from me. We have talked quite a bit. I have had the opportunity to witness to them. He didn't say how much, but it cost a bundle. He got an 8 footer and one just over 10 feet. They are hauling the skins back with them and will have them tanned and mounted when they get home.

Well, Alaska is gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed the time with Pastor Bruce Hamilton and his folks up here in Fairbanks. It is a great church and ministry. I am thankful for the opportunity to have been here. It will be good to be back home, if only for a few days before we hit the road again. Camp in Chetek, WI, and several meetings along the way in WI, MN & OK. I am tired, but thankful to be able to serve in this ministry.

Thank you for your interest and your prayers. You are precious to us.      

In His Loving Grace,

Doc & Kathie Brewer