It's February above the Arctic Circle...

...and it's a positively balmy -15 C outside right now. Who knew they had high-speed internet here? Louis and I are staying with Sergei Plushkin and his family, and are having a great time. I just lost a chess match to a nice young Russian man named Vonya. Thanks for your prayers - I'll be back in a week, and want to win a chess match before I leave...

Fun couple of weekends...

...and off to Russia on Tuesday.

Last weekend, my four best buddies from college - Eric, Jeff, Chris (with wife Eileen in tow) and Ryan (sans wife) - moseyed into town for booze and other sundry trouble. We went to Esther's Follies, played a little golf, and went to the basketball game. After enduring the five of us for most of a day, poor Eileen insisted that we all start dating so she would have someone whose conversation didn't revolve around "guy stuff". We'll get around to it...

Last night, I went out to celebrate my friend David Fry's birthday with David, his wife Shelley, his sisters Anna and Erica, and a lot of other people. The Frys are probably the funnest family I know, and last night we had a great time.

I take off for Russia on Tuesday, and arrive on Wednesday. Here are some prayer requests:

1) Pray that God heals me of this cold I've been fighting all week.

2) Pray that God gives us favour with those we meet, safety in our travels, and a vision for how to continue in our ministry there.

That's all I've got for now. Godspeed.

-Nate

Tarmo and Teo

As of last Saturday, I have the distinct pleasure of hosting Tarmo and Teo Ruitta, a Finnish father and son. Tarmo is here to study jazz violin with a doctoral candidate at Texas, and brought Teo along because, well, how often can you take your son to visit the birthplace of everything that is, was, or ever will be cool?

Yesterday, I took Tarmo and Teo on a tour of Austin and the University. We ate at Whataburger (they were impressed), walked by the music school and the stadium (again, impressed), and finally to Toy Joy (Actally, Teo wasn't impressed - he was looking for Yugi-Oh cards). They like Wolfy, and Wolfy seems to enjoy having them around - he's biting them suprisingly little. When I came in tonight, they were sitting in front of the TV watching my Beavis and Butthead DVD's. Some things translate in every culture. Jesus. The Golden Rule. Beavis and Butthead...