The Russians Have Landed!

Part of the purpose of our trip to Los Angeles was in order for us to meet our friends Pastor Dmitry Zaborski and Sveta Kuzmintseva. Dmitry and Sveta live in Nizhny Novgorod Russia. Dmitry is the pastor of Cornerstone Church, the church with which we work, and Sveta is our friend, teacher, and translator.

Dmitry and Sveta flew to Los Angeles from Houston. While in Houston they were the guests of our friends Leonard & Sally Hinzie who took them to visit churches and prisons both to speak and observe ministry practices in America.

Today we met them at Los Angeles International Airport, and brought them to Echo Park. We had a great day seeing a few sites including the outside of Angelus Temple and then a quick trip to the ocean.

Here are a few photos

Standing in Front of Angelus Temple

Sveta and Karen at the beach
A Southern California Sunset
Life is a Beach

Southern California

We are in Los Angeles visiting the offices of Foursquare Missions International. We have had a great time so far and have enjoyed meeting everyone who works in the office to support us as we serve in Russia.

Today was a free day for us so we took a drive up the coast along the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara about 2 1/2 hours north of Los Angeles. Santa Barbara is beautiful, filled with shops, restaurants and history. We wished we had had some more time to poke around and see the sites. As it was we walked around a bit, ate dinner on the wharf and then made the 2 1/2 hour drive back to Los Angeles.

Here are a few photos taken along the coast.

Views along the Coast

City of Santa Barbara, California
from the wharf

Los Angeles, California - Foursquare Missions International

On Tuesday the 13th we arrived at Los Angeles International after flying in from Boston MA. As we left New England that morning it was about 15 degrees and there was 2 feet of snow on the ground. The weather when we arrived in Los Angeles was delightful with temperatures in the high 70s and the sky was clear and sunny. Our destination was Foursquare Missions Furlough Home located in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles and just a short walk from the FMI offices.

The Foursquare Missions Furlough Home

We took an airport shuttle van across town and arrived in the Echo Park area at about 4:30 PM. When we arrived at our destination we were greeted by Phyllis and Gene Ulrich, our host at the Foursquare Missions Furlough Home. We have never been to the Furlough Home before. It is very nice! We love the place - we keep joking that we should get a job at headquarters and see if we can live here.

In the evening we went out to a local cafe and had some great Mexican food while sitting outside on the patio. While eating we notice 3 police helicopters hovering over the area. Sadly we learned later that there had been a drive-by shooting several blocks away. A four year old child was killed in the shooting! Such is life and death in L.A.

Today we had a relaxed day. We slept in, then had coffee together while we journaled. Afterwards we made a Skype phone call to Russia and talked with another missionary couple. Later we had lunch (Mexican again) and then walked to the "Heritage Center" which is the former parsonage of Angelus Temple and the former home of Aimee Semple McPherson. We had a great two hour tour! What fun that was.

Tomorrow is a business day. We have several meetings with the FMI staff in the office. We are looking forward to a productive and fun day.

Below are a few photos from our day.

Our Living room at the Furlough Home

Echo Park from Our Living Room
Echo Park
across the street from the home
An alligator was captured in this lake several years ago!
Echo Park - Looking toward Angelus Temple

California Dreaming

Tomorrow morning at 5:00AM we get picked up and head out to Logan airport for a 10 day visit to Los Angeles CA. We leave to cold and snow behind and are looking forward to the 75 degree weather that is forecast for the LA area.

The main focus of our trip will be to visit the headquarters of Foursquare Missions International. In addition to this we will visit Angelus Temple and the Los Angeles Dream Center. While in California we will meet up with Pastor Dmitry Zaborski and Sveta Kuzmentzeva freinds of ours from Nizhny Novgorod Russia.

On the 21st of January we will fly back to Boston together. Our friends will then spend a week with us in New Hampshire before they return to Russia. This is the first time in America for both of them.

Video of our ministry work in Russia

Here is a 4.5 minute video showing much of what we do as we live and minister in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Bedford NH Foursquare Church

Well it's almost the New Year and this will be the last post for 2008!

Last Sunday we spoke at the Bedford NH Foursquare Church. We had a great time meeting new friends and sharing about our work in Russia. Despite a few technical difficulties we trust that everyone understood how much we love working and ministering in Russia. We are looking forward to a long relationship with the folks at Bedford Foursquare Church. If you are looking for a church in that area we would highly recommend you visit them.

We are also looking forward to an exciting New year of ministry and service in Russia. Thank You to all our friends who have faithfully supported us over the last few years.

Michael & Karen