Monday, February 20, 2006

Hamm Prayer Points - 20|02|06

Deena & her Finnish SledOLYMPICS!

While Deena may not be quite ready to compete in the 2010 Vancouver games (is Finnish Sledding an Olympic sport yet?), we do have one Olympic medallist in the family already. Last week Sonia placed third in the city-wide English Olympiad!

It's been a much warmer week here in St. Petersburg, so we have been able to take the girls out more. The playground continues to get regular use, and we even got out to Central Park for some Finnish sledding and a visit to an ice castle! We really appreciate these opportunities to spend time together as a family. Work is getting busier after a brief lull, and I will soon have to travel to Finland for a new visa, then possibly Moscow for an Uzbek visa, followed by another trip to Uzbekistan and soon after that, Canada.

Thank you all for upholding our family & ministry in prayer!

– Kevin, Lena, Sonia, Maya & Deena


COMING TO CANADA

It was one year ago that we told you that were postponing our MBMSI-scheduled trip to Canada in order to prepare to sponsor Lena & Sonia for immigration to Canada. A year of prayer & preparation has past and we are excitedly making preparations. Thank you to all who have been helping us search for a home, a vehicle, kids' car seats, furnishings, and more! We still need more help, though, so please don't be shy about offering your suggestions!

Speaking of suggestions, they are coming in from last weeks' request for help for Lena. In order to help people see what has been suggested already, I've decided to post the helpful info on a new blog titled, Shopping Tips For Lena. Got any suggestions or tips for foreigners as they transition to shopping in the North American marketplace? Drop them off in the comments, or send an email to lenahamm -at- gmail -dot- com. Thanks for your help!


BLESSINGS

* Lena continues to have opportunities to cut hair for friends and neighbours. She has also resumed studying and travels three times a week to an advanced hairdressing course. We are very thankful for Nina's help with the girls during Lena's absence.

* We recently received a small care package from our family in Canada. As well, we suddenly received a batch of Christmas cards and letters (the post office was perhaps saving them for us?). It is always a blessing to hear from loved ones–thank you to all who took the time to send us expressions of your love!


PETITIONS

* From March 6-17 we will be conducting the second session of the Camp Directors' Institute. Four of our staff will travel to Moscow to take part, along with the rest of the 25 students. Please pray for Gary Fawver, Dean of the Institute, and the rest of the instructors and staff as they prepare.

* We are soon reaching a critical juncture in our plans to move to Canada. We need to hear from Immigration Canada on the state of my application in order to proceed. As well, we need to reach a decision very soon if we will sell our apartment in Russia in order to afford a home in Canada. Please remember our Canadian plans in your prayers.


DID YOU KNOW...

* ...that "Day of the Defenders of the Motherland" is now a federal holiday? This is the first year that February 23 is a day off, so most everyone is making it a long weekend (schools included). The price for her teacher's partying is that Sonia and her classmates will have to attend school on Sunday (!) through Saturday!!!


ESSENTIAL INFO

Kevin & Lena Hamm are missionaries with Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International, serving with Christian Camping International/Russia in St. Petersburg, Russia.

* A printable version in Adobe Acrobat format is always available for download.

* Visit www.krhamm.com/pray for links to print versions, archives and more.

* For more on our ministry in Russia, please visit www.krhamm.com.

* You can help! Please visit www.krhamm.com/support for ways you can help our family & ministry.

* Hundreds of our recent photos can be viewed at Flickr.com.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Hamm Prayer Points - 13|02|06

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY...

Cold Snack ...for those outside of Uzbekistan, anyway!

It's been wonderful having a bit more time to spend with family these post-conference days. This past week Sonia & paid a visit to the Palace Square (where the Hermitage is situated) to tour the amazing ice palace (see Did You Know... for more). Yesterday afternoon the entire family went to the St. Petersburg Circus (Deena's first visit) for a great family show. We're starting to feel the shortness of opportunities to enjoy our soon-to-be-former home, but are certainly thankful for the opportunity to serve in such a unique place!

We pray that you will be able to take advantage of all the opportunities you have to enjoy the loved ones in your life!

– Kevin, Lena, Sonia, Maya & Deena

P.S. Please view the Circus and Ice Palace pictures at our Flickr site!

COMING TO CANADA

Petmol, Nico, Pekar, Blend-a-Med, Fairy... familiar brands to us in Russia, but likely a bit hard to recognize in southern Manitoba! Lena will certainly need some help when it comes to shopping in Canada–not too many similarities on our grocery shelves! Would some of you avid shoppers mind jotting down some of your shopping wisdom during the next few months? It would be a great help to Lena if she had some kind written guide to shopping in a foreign land! (Perhaps a ladies groups would like to tackle such a "guide" together?)


BLESSINGS

* We recently received a very special blessing from relatives in Germany. My mother's cousins had been told of our work and had begun giving monthly towards our ministry. A partner mission in Germany collected the gifts and managed to pass them our way this past month. How wonderful it was to learn of such secret giving!

* We've been searching for affordable ways to travel to Canada, but found little by way of reasonable rates for our awkwardly-timed travel plans. Recently though we were blessed with not one, but two affordable possibilities. First a friend who is an Air Canada pilot offered to take our family back to Canada on his airline passes. Then we discovered that Siama could get a super (one-way, high season) rate for us. Praise God for such assistance!


PETITIONS

* It has been eight weeks since my application to sponsor Lena & Sonia for immigration to Canada reached Canada. Please continue to pray for a positive outcome to the process!

* A major post-conference project for us is the creation of several video montages for churches and camp sponsors. Please pray for Lena G. who will be heading up the project in our office.


DID YOU KNOW...

* ...that a replica of an ice palace that used to belong to Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna has been built in St. Petersburg? The replica also includes a sauna and an ice slide shaped like an elephant!

* ...that the Empress who commissioned the original ice palace once ordered her court jester and his new bride to spend the night in the ice palace? The next morning they were found unconscious, but the doctors managed to revive them. All ended happily: the jester family went on to have four kids!

* ...that the Hermitage has kindly announced that pensioners can tour the ice palace for free? The only catch: they must come between 9 and 10 in the morning!!!


ESSENTIAL INFO

Kevin & Lena Hamm are missionaries with Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International, serving with Christian Camping International/Russia in St. Petersburg, Russia.

* A printable version in Adobe Acrobat format is always available for download.

* Visit www.krhamm.com/pray for links to print versions, archives and more.

* For more on our ministry in Russia, please visit www.krhamm.com.

* You can help! Please visit www.krhamm.com/support for ways you can help our family & ministry.

* Hundreds of our recent photos can be viewed at Flickr.com.


Monday, February 06, 2006

Hamm Prayer Points - 06|02|06

The 2006 CCLC participantsBACK FROM THE CONFERENCE!

It was a wonderful, amazing and blessed time at the 2006 CCI/Russia Christian Camp Leaders' Conference. In total 315 participants, instructors and staff took part in the six day conference held near Zelenogorsk (one hour north of St. Petersburg). Attendees came from across Russia, Belarus, the Baltic States and even three Central Asian countries! Personally I had a very full plate–I ran the computer centre (servicing everyone's tech needs, producing over 200 conference CDs & more), handled the chief videotaping & photography duties and taught a four-day course on Information Technology at Camp. Thankfully I had great help in the form of one Lehv Panchikhin who dropped everything to come and help me on very short notice.

I've posted a few pictures from the conference at Flickr.com, with more to come. Thank you for your prayers–it was a great conference!

– Kevin, Lena, Sonia, Maya & Deena


COMING TO CANADA

Just four months to go, Lord willing! Now that the conference is over, we need to get serious about Canadian preparations. We would really appreciate some help in the real estate department. Please continue to spread the word about our need for housing. We would happily house-sit for the first few months practically anywhere in southern Manitoba. In addition we would love to have the assistance of a good real estate agent as we seek a more permanent residence. Any and all help is appreciated!


Kevin teaching with Lehv interpretingBLESSINGS

* Answered prayer from last time! The last-minute cancellation of my conference interpreter/ assistant was quite the setback, but God provided a very capable replacement. Thank God for His provision!

* Praise God for His care and protection for Lena and the girls during my absence.

* Thank God for His grace! I had a very heavy workload during the conference, yet was still able to serve until the end! There wasn't much sleep to be had in the final days of the conference, but God granted health and strength throughout.


PETITIONS

* Pray for the camp directors, pastors and other church leaders that took part in the conference. They now return home to encourage and energize their churches and begin the challenging process of raising funds, finding staff, promotion and for many, procuring a campsite. Please remember them in prayer as the summer camping season approaches.


DID YOU KNOW...

* ...that for the first time we had a representative from Tajikistan at CCLC? There are less than 0.01% of non-Orthodox Christians in Tajikistan!


ESSENTIAL INFO

Kevin & Lena Hamm are missionaries with Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International, serving with Christian Camping International/Russia in St. Petersburg, Russia.

* A printable version in Adobe Acrobat format is always available for download.

* Visit www.krhamm.com/pray for links to print versions, archives and more.

* For more on our ministry in Russia, please visit www.krhamm.com.

* You can help! Please visit www.krhamm.com/support for ways you can help our family & ministry.

* Hundreds of our recent photos can be viewed at Flickr.com.