Being all here

Beautiful Prague...I think this is from the Charles Bridge.

A church somewhere in Prague. What a gorgeous city!

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

Wherever you are, be all there. --Jim Elliot

I watched End of the Spear last night with Hannah, hence the Jim Elliot quote. If you're not familiar with the movie, it is the true story of the Auca Indians of Ecuador, a fierce tribe that came onto the world stage in 1956, when they slaughtered five missionaries who were making first contact with them. The story doesn't end there, of course--that isn't how God works. Instead, it continues to this day, with the son of one of the missionaries living with the Auca tribe, ministering to them and planting churches among them. I was thinking about Jim Elliot, one of the missionaries killed, last night after the movie, and looked up some of his famous quotes. The most famous, and the most popular among my fellow missionaries, is "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." I thought about that often as people who didn't understand what compelled us to leave everything we know to come to Russia told us again and again that we were making a crazy decision. Crazy? Maybe. Foolish? Nah.

But it's the quote above--wherever you are, be all there--that is the focus of my attention at the moment. We are, of course, in Moscow. Well, the kids and I are in Moscow. Marc is in Udmurtia again this weekend. But for this moment, we are stationed here. In a few months, we will be moving to Prague, where Marc will join the European Affinity media team, focusing on video production. The decision to move was much more difficult than you might imagine. Prague is one of our favorite cities on earth (it's a fairy tale--you should start saving your money to come visit us), and we have very close friends there already. It's Central, rather than Eastern Europe, making it the tiniest bit more westernized than Moscow. Many people speak English, and nearly everyone speaks Russian. And compared to Russians, Czechs are practically the friendliest people on earth. (Not really, but everything is relative.) What's the difficulty?

One of the first people we met when we began the IMB process to be sent here was a man who works in Bulgaria. Yeah, Bulgaria. I remember asking him if he liked Bulgaria. No. Bulgarians? No. But he loved being in the center of God's will, and for the moment, Bulgaria was God's will for him and his family. I didn't understand then, but I certainly do now. I do not love Russia. I do not particularly love Russians as a group, though I adore my Russian friends. But I absolutely love knowing I am exactly where God wants me to be. And for this time in my life, that has been Moscow. We have struggled to be here--struggled with the language, with being in a 2-bedroom apartment with three children, with school, with other missionaries, with Russians--but we have not been alone. Never in my life have I felt more clearly God's presence in my life. And that is sweet, my friends. Priceless. Worth the struggle. But now, after much prayer individually, as a couple, and with a team of prayer warriors praying daily on our behalf, we know that God is moving us to Prague. Why now? I don't have a clue. But I can tell you this--it won't be boring. It won't be dull. I am anxiously awaiting what God has just around the corner for us. But for right now, I am still here, and so I am trying to be all here. English club continues. Mission teams continue to come. Engage Russia forges ahead with a nearly blinding momentum. So I embrace what He has for me right here, right now, but I look forward to what He has for me next.

Well, I am contemplating walking to the grocery store in the snow, so I'd better get going. Nothing like a mile walk in the drifting snow to make your Saturday fun. We are focusing on cleaning the house for Marc's arrival on Monday (he's home for almost a whole week!) and doing some fun family things today. Please continue to pray for Marc as he travels this huge country. He and Tim and Jimmy and Sarah and Johann are working hard to Engage Russia, but it isn't easy work, and I know that my guy is pretty worn out. Wherever you are in the world, I challenge you to be all there, and I hope you have good snow boots like I do for your walk to the grocery! Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye