Havertape weekly update

Another week has passed. We have now been back in Russia for four weeks. Time has flown by! We have been very busy- but a good kind of busy. I hope that you are enjoying our updates and you feel more apart of our lives and the ministry here in Russia. Well, we have a lot to update you on this week.

On Tuesday we went to Vladimir and had all of our testing done. We started at 8am and we finished with the last hospital at 4pm. It was a very long day with lots of travel, but the testing is finished! We went to four different hospitals and had many tests done. Thank you for your prayers. It is an interesting system here and not the friendliest so we encountered many challenges but of course our God is faithful. For one of our tests we had to go to the hospital for people with tuberculosis. We spent our time there praying for the Lord’s protection for our family. We all needed to be tested and so we all had to enter the hospital. This is where the people with tuberculosis come to be treated so we were surrounded by the disease. We appreciated your prayers and we can see the Lord’s hand in all.

We have turned in all of our English documents (birth certificates, marriage certificate and FBI report) to an interpreter. The documents are being translated to Russian and being sent to a notary. We are also working on the document for the Landlord, that we have permission to live here for three years.

Once all this is complete on the 23^rd of March we will turning all of our documents and apply for the residency. All of this has been a very costly process for us. Please be praying over the next few weeks that all will work out in His way!

Another update has to do with our ministry in the hospitals. Vika goes to the hospitals several days a week to minister to the women who are waiting to have an abortion. She has been having some issues with the Orthodox Church coming in and trying to overtake this from her. She was confronted by some women a few weeks back telling her she has no right to be in the hospitals if the Priest does not grant her permission. She has been praying and asking the Lord for wisdom. This last week another woman from the Orthodox Church came also to minister to the women who are waiting to have an abortion. Vika said that she was a good woman with a large family and her order in the family was correct, but what she shared with the other women had all to do with condemnation and law and nothing was done in love. She asks for prayer as to how to work with these women that are coming and that she will continue to stand strong in her faith and not compromise that in any way. Please join us in this prayer. On an exciting note, the director of the hospital came to Vika this week and asked her for her telephone number. She said that the director of a school here in the city came to the hospital and asked specifically about Vika and wants her to come in the school and do a seminar for the teens. We have been praying about this for two years and we see the possibility of the Lord opening that door right now. Thank you for all your prayers for this very difficult ministry.

On a lighter note this week we enjoyed Joshua’s sixth birthday. We cannot believe that we now have a six year old. He is getting so big! Please continue to pray for us as parents and for him that he will grow to be a Godly man who chooses to walk in righteousness.

Prayer Points:

1.) Prayer for the ministry in the hospital.

2.) Continue to pray for the process with our documents and the temporary residency.

3.) Please pray for Us as we go to teach a marriage seminar in Vladimir this upcoming Monday the 9^th.

4.) Please pray for our family to raise more financial support.

Praise Reports:

1.) We completed all of our blood work for the residency

2.) Joshua had his sixth birthday!

3.) It is warming up here!

4.) We received our first paycheck from Shepherd’s Staff in March. We are so blessed that we have joined this ministry and we thank you for those who have prayed fro it the last couple years with us.

God Bless,

Britny Havertape and family