Hello dear friends and partners,

Our transitional period continues. We had to go to Russia to renew Norwegian visas for Masha and the kids and also fix some issues with our apartment. Only by God’s grace the issues with it were solved at the very last day, and we didn’t lose the apartment nor our registration (in Russia, everyone must be registered by the government at a physical address). While it was in process we had to wait because we couldn’t apply for new Norwegian visas without registration. Now everything is ready, both registrations and visas. And, we can even apply to privatize our apartment, i.e. it will become our property now, and we will be able to rent it or to sell it, if we decide.

So, we spent 45 days in Russia and arrived back in Vadsø on Friday, June 14. The church welcomed us warmly. It is so good to be here again. Even though church life is not very active in summer, there are a lot of plans. Tomorrow we are going to Lakselv to learn how they do a free cafe there for the people of the town. We want to start the same here. They are doing it once a week, and will have it tomorrow, so we will be able to see how it works, and also ask all kinds of questions. Next week I’m taking teenagers from the church to a youth conference 700 km west from here, near Tromsø. We see that we must focus on the youth here very seriously.

We plan to be here for two months this time, then we will go to Russia for a week or so, and when we return we will apply for temporary Norwegian residency.

Thank you for your prayers, friends. There are times when we are carried by them only. I see how the Lord is opening doors for us.

Please pray for the church. It seems that eventually most people will move from Vadsø, and we will have to start the church from zero. So many will move because they are immigrants and are looking for better life somewhere else. They came to Vadsø because this is the first city where the authorities brought them. Now they want to move to warmer places.

I believe this is where the Lord is guiding us – to serve to the local people, who seem to be asleep. They have everything, and they are content with it. They do need the Lord, but they are deceived and live in a deadly haze. We are sent here for them. Just praying for the keys from their hearts.

Yura, Masha

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