This fall has been a very encouraging one for us and the ministry here. Our children are doing well in school. Isaiah has progressed a ton in his writing in cursive in French. I am so proud of him. He writes better than I do! He is also doing judo now which he really loves. Thea is learning more and more how to follow instructions in French in her class. She is also doing a gymnastic class. She is so creative. For my birthday she helped make a happy birthday sign for me with Samantha. She colored and painted each piece of paper that spelled out Happy Birthday and it was so creative. She loves to paint. Her love language is definitely gifts and acts of service.
Speaking of my birthday, Samantha surprised me by inviting a lot of our friends here over to celebrate. It really touched me to see so many of the people we have developed relationships with here together wishing me a happy birthday. Samantha and I also celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary on October 14th. After 12 years it sometimes feels like it was just yesterday that we were getting married and heading off to Russia. In other ways, we have learned so much about each other that going to Russia as a newly married couple feels like ages ago. Samantha means so much to me and I continue to learn more and more about the woman that I love. We have grown so much in our relationship. What a gift she is to me.
Our team along with others in our community are participating in life transformation groups which are groups of two or three people who meet weekly to help one another live an authentic spiritual life. Because our goal here is to see Jesus Christ change lives and to be followers of Christ who make other followers of Christ, these groups are big part of what we are doing here. The "LTG'' groups consist of reading a steady diet of Scripture (30 chapters a week), confession of sin, and prayer for others who need Christ. Because lives change in the context of community this is a natural environment for growth to take place. One line that Jesus says in the book of John has really stuck with me recently. He says that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. This year I feel like God has revealed so much truth to me and to my teammates and it truly has set us free in so many different ways. Personally, I feel a joy, freedom, peace, etc at a level I have never felt before in terms of my relationship with Christ and with others. God's desire is to make each of us whole and to restore us into the men and women he created us to be. It's always encouraging when you can look back and see how God has been working in your life. There are so many areas where I need to grow, to be healed, etc but God is working!!
Well, this is getting wordy. Gotta wrap it up.
Justus
