We have some important news to update all of you on: we are going to be staying in Russia for two more years beyond our current commitment. World Partners gave us the approval to do this a few weeks ago, but we have held off making an announcement on our blog until we had a chance to prepare a letter to inform our supporters. A few of you may have heard this already, but with our latest update letter going out this week we felt it was time to post something about it here and explain why we decided to take this step.
Ever since we began the process of coming to Russia all the way back in January of 2009, we were committed to being open to the possibility of staying longer. With neither of us having more than four months of experience living overseas at a time, we were concerned about trying to commit to a long-range term of service in Russia. Because of this, we agreed to serve for two years with IA. We didn't know what exactly we were getting ourselves into, but we were ready for an adventure and were excited to see what God was doing in Russia:-)
It didn't take long after arriving here before we began to seriously think about staying beyond our two year commitment. Looking back in the journal I sporadically keep, I found an entry I wrote at the end of last October wondering about whether we should stay longer. Staying longer would raise a host of new questions: would the school want us to stay? Would our agency agree to let us stay on in our current volunteer capacity? Would we able to raise the extra support? And of course, just how much longer should we stay?
With these questions in mind, Amanda and I began to pray about the possibility of staying longer. We knew that last fall would be far too early to make a decision about staying longer, since we were still in the "honeymoon" phase of living overseas where things still seem novel and exciting. We continued to pray but deliberately chose to not make any decision until after the first semester and after we had experienced winter and the seasonal darkness here.
By about mid-February, we both felt a strong desire to continue to serve at IA and believed that God was leading us in this direction. At this point we talked with IA, and the school was very happy to hear that we wanted to serve longer. Next, we talked and prayed with our World Partners team here. The others here were also very happy and supportive to hear that we were interested in staying longer. Lastly, we wrote to our agency to explain our desire and ask if we could extend our service while still being part of the volunteer program. We were prepared for possible questions and concerns, but we heard back extremely quickly and were told that World Partners would expect us for another two years:-)
We were excited and a bit scared all at once. In many ways, it felt like it did back in the spring of 2009 when IA formally accepted us to teach. We were so excited and at the same time had to face all sorts of logistical questions. Suddenly things like raising support, getting visas/airline tickets, and finding a place to live became major concerns. In every one of those areas, God worked and blessed us tremendously. We prayed that we would not be accepted if God was not calling us to this and if He was not going to provide the things that we needed. We were accepted and God worked. We prayed this again as we considered staying longer. We have been accepted to stay longer, and now we are waiting to see just how God will work this time. We are trusting in Him to guide and provide just as He has done throughout this past year in so many ways!
The question you may be wondering about now is what happens when the remaining three years of our commitment runs up. At the moment, neither Amanda or I have felt that we are being called to a permanent ministry in St. Petersburg, so at the moment we are planning to return to the United States after our time is up. However, one thing that we both have been learning is the need to always be open to God's leading and to never say never. So while we don't plan to stay more than four years, we don't know if God has different ideas. We shall see what the future has in store:-)
In closing this, I want to say thank you again to everyone who has done so much for us. For the words of encouragement, prayers, and financial support that have sustained us here, we are immeasurably grateful. It has been a privilege to be here and to be supported and trusted by so many of you.
With thanks and gratitude,
Matt
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