Family Conference

Last Saturday, Leif and I went to a family conference put on by some of our friends with Family Life from the Netherlands and Irkutsk. They shared valuable information and it was good for Leif and I to talk about ways that we want to invest in Anneka and ways that we can help each other to do so. It was also encouraging to see the good turnout.

Here's a cool story: Years ago when Leif lived in Ulan Ude, he remembers walking in to a class for adults learning English after a long, cold, winter day filled with other activities and thinking, "What am I doing? It's been a long day, it's dark, it's cold, I'm really tired, and this club doesn't even tie in with the things I'm supposed to be doing". But he went. And he met a guy named Max there that he became friends with. They worked out together and Max started coming to church. Max's life began to change drastically and he began trusting Jesus. At this time, Max invited his friend, Valentina to come to church. Well, Leif went back to the States and heard that Max stopped walking with God did Valentina didn't keep going to church. Years later.... at this conference on Saturday, Valentina was there. She shared her story and she's returned to church (for a couple of years now). She's really excited about Jesus and has taken some Bible classes and is just hungry to learn, learn, learn. She's not married and doesn't have kids yet, but she wanted to come to this conference so that she could learn about godly marriages and families. It was really encouraging for Leif because he'd initially been so encouraged about Max and then he was really bummed when he heard that Max had fallen away from God. But Valentina is a reminder of lasting fruit and how God is always at work.

The picture above is of our friends who led the conference. Leif invited them over for dessert afterwards. I only had a few minutes to clean (our apartment often looks like a hurricane went through it because of a certain little someone). I tried to put Anneka's toys away 4 different times and then she scattered them all over. So, I desperately called our wonderful neighbors, Inka and Elisabeth and said, "Please! Can you watch Anneka for 15 minutes while I madly clean?" Not only did they watch her but Elisabeth gave me a cake she'd made to serve to our guests. Talk about dream neigbors!! It would've taken me 3 hours to do what I did in 15 minutes if it weren't for them. Thank you, I and E! It was so nice to have everyone over and to talk about what God's doing in our lives and how he's leading us.

I had to include a picture of Anneka with her Papa after bathtime. They're both so cute!!