following His path...

I took this photo at the Botanical Garden not far from our apartment!











Not long ago we were at the wedding of a young couple... talking with someone we had not seen in a long time. He was asking us about what our plans are when Spencer leaves home. He mentioned that at this point in our marriage we now have room in our lives for the "spiritual" children that God would send our way.

One week later we were invited out by a young Russian couple. We are enjoying getting to know them better. And it is interesting to note that he was born in the same year that Tom and I got married!

We thought we came here just to work with addicts, alcoholics and their families however, just through following His path we are able to do that and more!

Thought for Today

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

Nelson Mandela


When I read this quote this morning it brought tears to my eyes. I know that God is speaking very clearly to me about the importance of further study. Tom and I talked about me being his translator many years ago... I will continue working towards that goal. I will keep on trusting that God will honor my efforts so that Tom and I can work together to bring Healing and Recovery to the hearts of those caught up in addictions and life dominating hurts.

Sunday's news...

Yesterday was our second Christian Recovery meeting!

We had a completely different turnout than we did last week. This time the men from the recovery house were working in another city and were not there. However, there were people in attendance from AA along with a few leaders from our church.

Tom did a magnificent job teaching on the topic of powerlessness from his series "Spiritual Kindergarten". We had a time for sharing personal experiences and/or impressions, a short break for tea followed by a time for prayer requests, and then prayer as a group.

A few of people who attended are not church goers, and at least one of them is not a believer… couple of them believe in God but, don’t know much about Jesus. We are grateful that they chose to come and take part in this meeting. One of the new guys asked if he could bring his wife next week!

We are excited about the growth and development of this group!

December Newsletter

Saturday, January 5, 2007

Technical difficulties prevented us from sending this out from our website so Tom wanted to post our December newsletter here.


SHARPS4RUSSIANRECOVERY.COM
BlackPurlsKnitPickings.blogspot.com
DECEMBER 2007 Christmas greetings!















Dear family & friends,
We wish to extend to you the warmest & richest greetings during this Christmas holiday! We pray that you are warm & healthy & can count many intangible gifts from God as among your Christmas presents. We thank you for your prayers, packages & financial support this past year. Together, with your partnership, we are making a difference in people’s lives & strengthening the people in Russia. Thanx!

Looking back at 2007: We passed a few milestones this past year…mainly a change to East-West Ministries International as our sending agency; getting Nathan situated in America with his Grandparents; & successful gall-bladder surgery for Tom. Alida, Spencer & Tom have all progressed in their Russian language abilities & comprehension, & Alida & Spencer are on target to complete Language School in late spring 2008. Tom, well, he considers it a miracle he can speak ANY Russian!

Visa challenge possibly resolved: Every year we’ve been in Russia has seen some kind of change in the law & Visa requirements for foreigners. This year was no exception. However we are in the process of changing to a Work Visa which would eliminate the previous law requiring us to leave Russia every 6 months for registration, plus it would enable us to bypass the new law that only allows foreigners to live in Russia for 180 days of the year. All of the necessary government medical testing has been completed for Tom to apply for a Work Visa in 2008. (There are quotas in each region regarding the number of foreigners who can receive Work Visas.) Under the new Work Visa, we should be allowed to stay in Russia for up to 3 years before we need to leave for visa renewal. We think we have successfully maneuvered every hurdle at this point, however this is Russia & things can & do change quickly. We will keep you posted.

More about Spencer’s plans: At press time, this is Spencer’s plan: finishing the Russian Language course in June 2008, then starting a 6 month Discipleship Training Course at Youth With A Mission’s Kiev, Ukraine school next September. His plan after YWAM’s DTS is to return to Krasnodar & start classes at Kuban State University, focusing on Russian language studies in order to become a translator.

Tom’s teaching series winding down: Tom will complete his 8 week teaching series at ‘Church of the Open Door’ in Krasnodar on Sat, Dec 29. He has been teaching on consecutive Saturdays with themes along the lines of ‘Shame,’ ‘Forgiveness,’ & ‘Character Development.’ The teachings have been well received & very beneficial for the people who have attended. (It’s been great to teach again – as we are ‘living the dream’ that we moved to Russia to fulfill!) The attendees have been a combination of Russians & Americans, people from the local community & from the church, & area professionals like social workers & psychologists. It has been a huge job translating the weekly PowerPoint presentations into Russian, & ‘Russify-ing’ examples so they make sense culturally, but we’ve had good translators for the PowerPoint & for the teaching sessions. We will be planning Tom’s 2008 teaching schedule after Christmas, & are considering the needs of the community & church. It’s possible that Tom will provide parenting classes, marriage & relationship workshops, and communication sessions at ‘Church of the Open Door’ & also the Biblical Leadership Training Coalition. The BLTC is changing from being a seminary to being a resource center for Russian churches & pastors.

East-West Conference in Cyprus: January 2008 brings a conference on the Greek island of Cyprus for all personnel. We will miss the Russian Orthodox Christmas celebration which is Jan 7th, but will be landing during the Greek Orthodox Christmas. We look forward to visiting this historic place & enjoying some time of relaxation. This trip will also serve as our 6 month registration trip as we are still under the old Visa law.

1st Anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at Krasnodar’s ‘Church of the Open Door!’ It was this time last year that our ministry partner Alexei P pioneered a new A.A. meeting at our church. There is a strong core group at this meeting with lots of long-term sobriety. Among three principle group members, there are 20, 15 & 9 years of sobriety, a combined 44 years! This is very rare in Russia. The meeting continues today with plans of starting an Al-Anon meeting soon. (Al-Anon is for family & friends of alcoholics.)

Russian New Years is a big holiday… Since Christmas in Russia is traditionally celebrated in January, the biggest bashes are New Years celebrations. This holiday combines the gift-giving of western Christmas, the costumes & masks of Halloween & Mardi Gras, plus the fireworks of the 4th of July! What a celebration!! Most Russians gather with family or friends late in the evening on New Years Eve to eat together, donning costumes & fantasy masks. Then, there is a traditional Russian comedy film that many people watch. President Vladimir Putin is on national tv at midnight, & once his annual address is completed - the fireworks begin! We typically have fireworks in our courtyard, on the soccer field, even out of apartment windows & balconies & off the top of buildings! It’s very wild! The fireworks will continue for several hours. Russian tradition also calls for family or friends to stroll the streets outside, taking in the fresh, brisk air & chatting - with many people arrive back home around 5 or 6 am!

Many businesses & organizations are closed from New Years until after Russian Orthodox Christmas in early January. Some will remain closed for up to 2 weeks as ‘Old’ New Years (following another calendar) is celebrated the week after Russian Orthodox Christmas! Some use this time as a reason to excessively drink & party the entire two week period. As the years go by, more & more businesses are remaining open during this two week stretch.

Thanx for your support: In spite of a weak US dollar combined with the annual inflation rate in Russia we are holding on financially. A weak dollar means a lower amount of support once the exchange rate has been factored into the equation. We thank you who have provided one-time monetary gifts & extra support. And we also thank our regular donor partners as well. We couldn’t be here without you!

If you who would like to send a care package, here’s our Christmas wish list & address:
Chocolate chips
Chocolate Kisses
Blank CD-R’s
Pure Vanilla
Spices: Cream of Tartar, Fennel Seeds, Anise, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Sage, Taco Bell Taco Seasoning, etc.
Cake Mixes,
prepared frosting
Instant Pudding
Scented Candles
Thank you notes, note cards, stationary (anything like this)
Gift bags or wrapping paper
Assorted color copy paper or card stock
Computer software with PowerPoint templates
Reality TV like The Amazing Race!
Women’s socks white
Men’s socks black
English language magazines (sports, politics, current events…most anything English!)
HP black inkjets #131
Laker or NBA pro basketball games on dvd
Popcorn (not for microwave)
We are also needing to replace our desktop computer soon. It’s a dinasoar at 4+ years old already!

Care packages take 2 to 6 weeks via mail (depending on size & weight) & can be sent to:

Sharp Family
Kraznix Partizan D.75, kb. 8
Krasnodar 350012
Russia

We wish you a great, peaceful & wonderful holiday season! May you experience God’s Christmas presence all year round!

Tom, Alida & Spencer Sharp

Tom's 1st Seminar @ Open Door Church

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Today was the final day of Tom's 1st seminar at our church. He taught every Saturday for 8 weeks without a break!

Here he is with Dima, an excellent translator!



















Tom is planning to do more teaching times at our church and at the BLTC. We need to sit down and make out a schedule for 2008. This seminar went very well and was well received by all who attended.

The themes Tom focused on were:
The Family as a System
Understanding Shame
Overcoming Shame
Forgiveness
4 weeks on Character Development
Stage one: Bonding and Attachment
Stage two: Boundaries and Autonomy
Stage three: Accepting both Good and Bad in Myself and Other People
Stage four: Resolving the Parent/Child Position (Becoming a Responsible Adult)


Tom has discovered the need for teaching parenting skills, communication skills and personal boundaries are universal topics and these topics are all on tap for 2008!!

EastWest Day of Prayer

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Our team is getting together to pray this afternoon. The day that Tom and I interviewed with EastWest was also a day of prayer for the staff. We were able to pray with them before having our interview. We both felt that was a great way to begin our relationship with EastWest!

Please take some time today to remember EastWest employees world wide, their families and their work.

If you have questions about EastWest just click here:
http://www.eastwest.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage

New to us!

On Sunday after one of the services at Hope, Tom was speaking with Mel who was asking if we had gotten a laptop yet. Tom was telling Mel that we had not gotten the funds yet. Jeff overheard and stepped up to say that he had a laptop that was not being used and that if we could use it he would clean his information off of it and bring it over.

True to his word, on Monday night Jeff brought over a Hewlett Packard laptop and we are so excited. This donation provides us with a computer that we can travel with. Tom often uses power point when he speaks. As I type this, using Paul and Cathy's PC, Tom is sitting with our new laptop typing up a summary of book he read.

What a blessing... the kindness of people within the body of believers never ceases to amaze me!

new stuff

don't take a family picture with the sun beating down on your faces!















Move to the backyard where the shade is!








This is the photo that will grace our new prayer cards. No, it is not centered and that is on purpose... now there is room for text. Tom is working on the prayer cards and we will give those out during our travels!

Our current prayer concerns:
raising support to career level to provide for long term needs
not to lose any of our language skills while in the States
safety as we travel

If you would like a copy of our newsletter please email us at: Sharps4RussianRecovery@juno.com


Please click here for the new information on where to send gifts and monthly support.

on the road again!

We are leaving for Dallas this morning. This will be our first trip without Nathan. It seems strange to leave him behind.

Stops in Texas include Tom Bean, Sherman and Dallas. It will be great to see old friends and meet new ones. I remember seeing an old ad about getting to Tucumcari by nightfall. I asked Tom if we would make it that far. He says that since it is only a few hours away it won't be a problem. Actually, I think the goal is Amarillo so that we make it to Tom Bean the next day!


I hope that we find internet access along the way... if not, Spencer and I will start going through withdrawal.

New contact

Tom had a meeting with the head psychologist over at the Physical Fitness, Tourism and Culture Institute today. Her name is Svetlana and she happens to be a friend of Natasha's (the head prison psychologist) they attended graduate school together.

Tom was introduced to Svetlana by V. V is the other AA member in town who has the most sobriety other than Tom and he recently started a new AA meeting in Svetlana's building. V gave Tom a call and told him it was important for him to meet this woman because of the work that she does.

Tom found out that she has received a federal grant that is funding a rehabilitation center for children who are alcoholics and addicts. She showed Tom a photo of the center it is in an old two story house here in Krasnodar. Svetlana speaks four languages, Russian, English, Armenian and Georgian. Tom said it was a pleasure to speak with her. She told him she felt relieved that other colleagues were "coming to the rescue". She says that there are not many psychologists here and not all of them know and/or understand the 12 steps.

Svetlana has invited our family to have dinner with her. Her children know Spencer. Her daughter, Raizana was one of the girls who helped us load our boxes onto the truck when we moved out of the house on Gagarina to the BLTC before our remodel. Raizana just became a Russian citizen yesterday. The family is Georgian and they worked for three years to get her documents taken care of.

We are excited about where this contact may lead. Only God knows what ground work is being laid here. It may be possible for Spencer and I to do our social project at this rehab center for kids!

How can you be a blessing?

I recently was told by someone that information on "how to donate" should be posted on the blog. I resisted doing this for many reasons. But, all of them seem silly in comparison to standing in the way of someone who wants to help further the work with alcoholics/addicts and their families and may not know how.

One time gifts & regular monthly support can be sent to:

EastWest Ministries
PO BOX 701560
Dallas, TX 75370
Account # 9231

To donate online click here and fill in the information. You can choose to donate monthly using your credit card!

Thanks to those of you who have sent gifts and support us regularly.
Thanks to those of you who have asked how you can help.