Back in the States... for now

Hello, one and all.
The pictures are of the great city of Nizhniy Novgorod. Anya's hometown, and our home for the month of January. It was month packed full of fun, friends, family, and our future plans. It was good to be in Russia. We have been back now for almost two months and yes, it has taken that long to get settled in. We have moved to a new apartment. We are finishing up with a major project at work, and I have just finished another quarter of studies in seminary. So, life is full, tiring, and wonderful.
To start where I left off in my last correspondence, we met with a number of different missionaries, russian seminary students, and expatriate student christian leaders. We have learned a lot about ministry and life in Russia, and I don't know that we can ever fully process all that we have heard and seen. A few things that we did hear on a recurring basis: The evangelical church in Russia is in a "survival" mode. Evangelical Protestant Christians in Russia are represented in very small numbers and their churches have largely moved into a guarded position; uncomfortable in ministering to the culture surrounding them and resigned to catering only to the immediate needs of their small congregations. We heard of some exceptions, but very few. We also heard over and over again, that the primary problem facing evangelicals in Russia is the enormous gap between faith in Jesus Christ and the circumstances of every day life. Therefore, while the situation is complex, we have begun to think that an effective missionary in Russia should be involved in assisting the Russian Evangelical Church begin to minister to the "outside" culture and begin to demonstrate that life is in Christ, all of it (not just the Sunday stuff).
So we are very excited to pray about and inquire with a ministry that we have begun to communicate with called City Gate. City Gate is a type of Christian retreat center and Publishing House that is focused on long term solutions to the problems facing Eastern European Churches. Please pray with us and keep in contact as we plan ahead on perhaps entering into an internship with City Gate at some point in the next year or so. Please ask any questions that you may have and we would be glad to tell you more! So, I suppose that is it for now.. I will list just a few other news items below that might be of interest:
> My brothers are both starting out their families (Dalton is having his first baby soon and Davlin is on his second! Neat stuff).
> Anya is learning how to drive and will be taking her Drivers test within a month.
> We are able to walk to work now and everyday there is a really friendly black labrador who greets us on our way to the office; Ahhh, how cute.

What a Trip!

We apologize for not keeping in touch more often these last couple of weeks. Things have been pretty hectic! We knew beforehand that the first couple of weeks in Russia would be full of holiday celebrations and visiting friends and family. I wrote about that experience already. Now the last two weeks have been very different. Two weeks ago we helped Mike and Karen McDonald, Foursquare Missionaries who coordinate new church plants, present a ministry outreach concert in a nearby town. So for five or 6 days we assisted a team from a Los Angeles Foursquare Native American Church as they presented their culture and the Gospel in a variety of different venues. Anya was the real trooper! She translated and M.C.'d for a seminar, concerts, disscussion groups etc..., sometimes for over 4 straight hours! I basically took pictures and watched. Overall, the team was received very well and we hope that the event will have sparked enough interest to keep a small weekly bible study group going in the village where the concerts were held.
The other major event that has occurred was the loss of our apartment in Pasadena. Anya and I received an e-mail a couple of weeks ago that informed us that our apartment building had suffered a fire (7 days back from the e-mail!) and that all of our belongings would need to be cleared out of the building by the next day for the city had condemned the site. Well, needless to say this seemed to be a near impossible task seeing as how Anya and I are currently on the other side of the Atlantic. However, after a day full of frantic phone calls we received an overwhelming response of gracious help from our work and church community. So, we would like to say thanks to Jason Kerner for assisting us by coordinating all of the clean up efforts for our apartment. Thanks to Westside Christian Fellowship for providing a moving company to remove everything from our apartment and safely store it. Thanks to Karen Watney for ensuring that my wife and I have a temporary place to stay when we return to the States. And, thanks to Delisa Harris for making sure that our car was moved to a safe place. Finally, thanks to all of our family and friends who prayed for us in this difficult time. God has provided for us and we are very thankful.
Well, there is much more to write! Anya and I traveled to St. Petersburg to visit with various organizations that we might like to partner in ministry with. However, we are still processing through all of the wonderful visits we have had with various ministries and friends. We will write again, but until then God bless and take care,
Chris and Anya Gandy

Russian New Years!

Hello universe,
Well I am not sure that everyone in the universe reads our blog, but almost I'm sure. By the way, if you are one of the lucky people who has happened upon our blog try posting a comment. Let us know what you think.
Anya and I arrived in Russia Thursday December 28th 2006. We got to Anya's parents home in Nizhny Novgorod on Friday December 29th. Since arriving we have been partying non-stop! New Years in Russia is a big deal. Its kind of like Christmas, New Years Eve, the State of the Union Address and the Fourth of July wrapped up in one. Thats the best that I know how to describe it.
So, we have arrived safely and I think that we are just about recuperated from all of the partying and visiting of friends and family. I am starting up in my courses at Fuller. I am taking a full load of distance courses this quarter. It is a bit of an experiment trying to do school from Russia, but I think I will manage. We appreciate all of your prayers and support. May God bless you and keep you...