Shortly after arriving in Dallas, Benjamin had a meeting with part of the team of Russian speakers that he’ll be working with for the next few years. Based on that meeting, everything looks like a go for us to move to Ukraine as soon as all the logistics get worked out.
UPDATE Feb 17: Obviously we are waiting for things to settle down before going.
There we will be partnering with Roma churches eagerly working on translating the Bible into their own language. We told you a little about these churches in our newsletter The Gift that Remains. One contact was particularly excited that Benjamin works in Biblical Hebrew and wants him to join them the next time they’re checking in the Old Testament.
We have some specific prayer needs for this:
- We need a sponsor for visas (90 days) and then temporary residence (annual), as well as favor from all parties. It’s possible this could come through a church we’re partnering with, it may also be possible that another translation organization has a platform we can piggy-back on. Please pray for all the details and paperwork to come together for this, as it is really the thing we’re waiting for to move.
- Pray for wisdom and coordination regarding Benjamin potentially taking a short trip ahead of the family move to meet the parties involved and perhaps even find a place to live. (Maybe this would happen in context of checking something in the Old Testament, etc.)
- Continue to pray for our family as we make this transition. We think this will be particularly difficult for Peregrine given his age. Unlike Mira, he’s not able to look forward to a return to something vaguely familiar.
- Pray for the right timing. It looks like the end of February is a good target for all parties and a reasonable amount of time to make everything happen, so we’re aiming for that.
- Pray for us to remember and improve in our Russian language skill!