What a wonderful opportunity we have here to put the word of God into action.

What a wonderful opportunity!! This was a catch phrase of retreat weekend I worked several years ago. Each time something challenged us that weekend the Pastor would say "What a wonderful opportunity we have here to put the word of God into action."

I began to look for the wonderful opportunities in life. And see they can become awesome adventures.

Today I am excited to be sending you news of our adventures in Ufa. This week we made a final journey (for a while) to the bakery a wonderful opportunity place before us several months ago. On Tuesday we laid and grouted the final of nearly 500 floor tiles. Amidst hugs and shouts of joy, Phase One is done. Walls, ceiling, and floors and everything needed along the way. Love has been shared and lives have been blessed. Praise the Lord! Phase two will follow next month.

Tonight (about the time you wake up) we leave via train on another wonderful opportunity. We are heading towards the Russian Far East. Our adventure will begin by traveling without a translator for two nights to Novosibirsk in Siberia. There we will spend time with our friend Karen. Our original plan was to stay two days and then fly to Khabarovsk for a month. Well, now we have another wonderful opportunity before us. Karen went on Monday to buy our tickets for next Monday evenings planned trip. They informed her no seats were available. And none on any of the daily flights for over a week. She then checked the train schedule and found this would be a four night trip. The pluses being the cost is less and we would see the countryside. The other option is to fly to Vladivostok which is south of Khabarovsk and then take the overnight train back. This will require people to help us get from the airport to the train. But the Lord has provided friends there too so we could spend a day visiting while we wait for the train. Ah life in Russia and the wonderful opportunities.

After praying about it Dale and I have decided that since we have the train ticket to Novo in hand we will proceed to that point. Karen will today make a trip to the airport office to see what she can learn about possible cancellations. She will check on the trains to see if any compartments are available. (This is sounding appealing) And I will try to make contact with friends in Vlad to see what is possible there.

We have decided the Lord is preparing some wonderful opportunities along the way for us. Since we are not on a timeline we will just enjoy the adventure.

We know many of you are praying for us and so now we ask you to be a part of this wonderful opportunity. We ask that you especially remember us these next few days. Pray for favor in traveling, for our open eyes and ears to grasp the opportunities and just for a great trip. This will be a trip of both ministry and fun as we visit both friends and orphanages. It will be a time of watching and learning of the wonderful opportunities that are there for future projects.

Speaking of future projects we would like to share a few with you. As you know here in Ufa we are working with the Charitable Children's fund. We help with physical, spiritual, and financial needs of the fund. In Khabarovsk we work with a few local people and pastors to help meet the needs of the orphans there.

The projects left on our plate here are.

1. Finish the bakery fixtures and cabinets
2. Deliver shoes to those who have not received them
3. A greeting party for the orphans entering college here in the city. And possibly tile a shower in one of the homes.
4. Helping the Fund with a Christmas project of delivering gifts to many of the 2500 orphans in the area. Possibly socks and underwear. The cost to do this will be about $3-$5 per child. Your help last year put a smile on many faces of the fatherless.

In Khabarovsk we plan to deliver school needs to the children. And assist in whatever way we can while there and leave funds for projects in our absence.

We, along with Rev. David Behling at our Airo Ministries office, are beginning to look at the possiblity of a medical project for next year. Perhaps two, one in Ufa and one in Khabarovsk.

So we continue to offer you several wonderful opportunities to be a part of this work. We covet your prayers and trust God will do the rest. Like Mother Teresa said "Just do something wonderful for God." Hey, it is a wonderful opportunity.

We will have our email with us so drop us a note we love to hear from you. And Remember God loves you and so do we
Jan and Dale

To support the ministry of Dale and Janice Spurgeon-Marcum Send checks to (mark general or orphans):

Airo Ministries Acct #270 PO Box 842 Petoskey, MI 49770 E-mail: Jmspurge@aol.com.