Colorado Rocky Mountain High - with apologies to John Denver

As I write this Karen and I are in Lakewood, Colorado. We will be here through the middle of March and we are enjoying a long visit with our oldest daughter, Jessica and her family. While in the Denver area we will be connecting with several area Foursquare churches.

Today we spoke at Hope Boulder, the Foursquare church in Boulder CO.
Hope Boulder is pastored by Dan Scheller

This was our first visit to this congregation. We really had a good morning getting to know the people of this church and telling them about our passion for Russia and the work that we do there. After the service we shared a wonderful meal at a local restaurant. This was a lot of fun because it gave us a chance to spend more personal time getting to know people. This church was real blessing to us today in every way and we are looking forward to a long relationship together as we all seek to expand the work of the Kingdom both in Russia and in America.

It's Been Too Long

Its has been more than 3 weeks since I have updated our blog. This post should catch you up on our adventures during this extended time in America.

Karen and I spent 8 days in Los Angeles last month. It was great time and we really enjoyed the sunshine and relaxation. On the 22nd of January we flew back to Boston and then traveled to our home in Nashua, NH along with our Russian friends Sveta Kuzmentseva and Pastor Dmitry Zaborski. We spent a few days relaxing, help Dmitry and Sveta shop for their families, and visited with friends and family. We had a lot of fun, but being with Sveta and Dmitry made Karen and I realize how much we miss Russia and all of our friends there.

On Sunday January 25 Pastor Dmitry preached at our home church, Hope Chapel of Nashua. It was a great morning and Dmitry was happy and excited. He preached a strong message of encouragement and challenged people to grow up in the Lord.

Dimitry & Sveta
at Hope Chapel Nashua New Hampshire

Afterwards we all went to our daughter, Erin's home and had pizza for lunch and spent the afternoon with family and friends.
On the 27th of January we took Dmitry and Sveta to Logan International airport in Boston and bid them goodbye as they set off on the return trip to Russia. We really enjoyed their visit and are anxious to see them again when we return to Russia in April.

The following Sunday, February 1 we were in Gardiner ME where we spoke at Calvary Foursquare Church, which is led by Pastor Terri Orewiler. We had great time at the church sharing with the congregation about our work in Russia. We really enjoyed getting to know people better and look forward to a long relationship with this great congregation.

Pastor Terri Orewiler

On Sunday February 8 we spoke at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Jaffrey, NH. This congregation has been supporting us since 2004. We love visiting the church and speaking there. We had the good fortune on this visit to spend time after church at the home of Rob and Stephanie Kectic who are pastors of the church. We love these guys and feel a real kinship with them.

Rob and Stephanie Kectic

This week our car has had problems. We are looking at a $1700.00 repair bill. Life is challenging and exciting. We need a car to itinerate and we bought this car used just for this season in America so that we would not have to beg and borrow a car every week. We love the car but are not too happy about the repair bill. Such is life.


Over the last two weeks Karen and I have made the decision to become vegetarians. This was not an easy decision, but it is one we are glad we have made. It certainly has caused some interesting discussions. We would actually like to be vegan (at least in our eating habits) but it seems a bit impractical in Russia where food choices are much more limited.

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