Hold the Ropes, Sept 09 [Becker newsletter]

Greetings from Moscow!

-- and welcome to all our new friends and prayer partners receiving this newsletter for the first time. It was so good to be in your churches and homes, getting to know each other and forging our partnership in this work of spreading the Gospel. You may have noticed that our family e-mail update is called "Holding the Ropes." It recalls to our mind a dear friend of ours who went to be with the Lord. Kathi, dedicated herself to pray for us in 1994, when we were preparing for the mission field. I had preached a sermon, using as an illustration a missionary who told his congregation, "I feel as if we are descending into a pit. We are willing to take the risk and go, if you will promise to hold the ropes." From that day, in every bit of correspondence, Kathi would remind us that she was "still holding the ropes." We cherish that memory and the assurance that many of you faithfully lift us up in prayer, holding us steady in times of blessing and challenge.

We've been here for two months now and are thanking the Lord for His grace in getting us off to a good start. We have settled into the office apartment, quickly transitioned into the field director responsibilities, and the children have started school well. Looking back on the calendar we see meetings with national church leaders, trips to visit with our missionaries in various cities and guests in our own home. In all these interactions, God has been faithful to provide wisdom, direction, ability and trust in Him. We have been growing in our dependence on the Lord and in the joy of serving Him.

We are particularly grateful for our many families that have recently returned from home assignment, visas in hand, to get back to ministry here in Russia! Thank you for your tireless intercession regarding the visa situation! It continues to be an issue fraught with hoops and red tape and some of our folks currently have only 3 month visas, so KEEP ON PRAYIN'! Still, we are thankful for each one that is able to be here at all and blessed that in some cities the visa situation has improved greatly. For example, in Moscow we have been granted the right to request visas for 15 families nest year!.

Looking ahead in the calendar we see Field Leadership Team (FLT) meetings beginning Monday and more travels for Tom. We would particularly like to ask you to pray for these FLT meetings. The focus for the September meetings is discussing overall field strategy and the continuing visa struggles we have in some of our cities, and what implications those struggles have for the direction we take as a field. Please pray for wisdom in that.

You can also join us in praying for an office helper. The right person could really take a load off of Tom and free him up for things that don't get done. So we're asking God to bring us a bi-lingual, mission-minded, team-playing, initiative-taking, competent person to work beside us in the office. Someone who would count that kind of work a ministry.

Some of you may be wondering about Tom's health. He continues to feel quite healthy. He is still on surveillance after the tumor was removed but is now on a once every 6 month schedule instead of every 3 months. In conjunction with some of his upcoming travels, he will be checking in with his doctor at the end of this month. We're trusting the Lord for another "all clear".

The children seem to be doing well in school. Ross and Anna are at Black Forest Academy in Germany (Anna for the first time) and Carrie is here with us attending Hinkson Christian Academy. If you would like to join us in praying for them, we're asking the Lord for guidance for Ross (at 17, he's looking for direction in decisions about his future), faith and strength for Anna (she works hard in school and is feeling a bit overwhelmed by the load) and unexpected blessings for Carrie (suddenly an intermittent only child, a great opportunity to get closer to her parents and grow).

Once again, we're so grateful for your partnership with us through prayer. Its a sobering responsibility to lead our team here in Russia and we so want to be sensitive to the Lord's guidance.

In Christ's love,

Tom and Miriam Becker