Permanent Impact February 2008

. . . a newsletter to keep you up-to-date with Sculley family adventures in Russia and beyond

We’re willing to go . . . are you willing to send us?

What’s the latest?
We’re in Russia!

We arrived here on the 1st of February – apologies for not writing sooner. I intended to send this newsletter as soon as we turned in our long-term visa applications, which took a bit longer than we’d anticipated – we had a lot of little glitches along the way. But we are happy to report that we’ve submitted those now, before the quota ran out!! It is not an exaggeration to say that this is a miracle! God continues to amaze us in the ways He leads and blesses us. We’ve begun the many transitions involved with a move of this magnitude . . . some things that we expected to have more difficulty with haven’t turned out to be as much of a challenge as we thought they would be and have turned out in many ways to be blessings in disguise (e.g. winter weather, smaller living environment, no car). Other things are difficult as we knew they would be – being away from loved ones is definitely the hardest part! But God is faithful and we are depending on Him and His strength to get us through. Your emails are such a source of encouragement to each of us! We’re enjoying the journey – hope you enjoy the photos below, which give you a tiny glimpse into our lives here.

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Here’s our physical address, if you’d like to send any flat items – we don’t recommend mailing anything larger. You can print this page out and paste this on the envelope:
Paul and Karen Sculley
Нижний Новгород г
Родионова ул, 180, #23
RUSSIA

Support:
We are inviting all our friends & family to be our partners in ministry through prayer, financial, and moral support. We need you! We invite you to join us in this mission. We can go much further together—it’s teamwork! Our sending church provides some financial support; however, we are responsible to raise most of what our budget will require. Our current support level is 49% of our 2008 financial needs – praise God!

We trust God to provide everything we need to do all that He wants us to do in and through us. If you would like to invest what God has given you in Kingdom activity, through financial partnership, here are some options (all financial contributions are processed through the Atlanta Vineyard, our sending church, and are 100% tax deductible in the U.S.A.):
* automated giving (automatic monthly deductions from your checking or savings account – click here for the form – be sure to write “Sculley – Russia” in the space under “recommended giving”). Once you print out and fill in the form, please mail it to the address indicated at the bottom of the form.
* billpay using your bank’s system – just mention “Sculley – Russia” on the comment line
* snail-mail (please make checks payable to the “Atlanta Vineyard”, leave the comment line blank, and mail them to our address – please ask us for it, to simplify the process of applying donations to the correct account). Our personal finance team will handle the processing of all donations mailed to our U.S. address.
* online giving via PayPal

We are committed to integrity, and the Atlanta Vineyard missions and financial departments hold us accountable in financial matters. We are living simply and debt-free in Russia, as we always have, and have prepared a budget which we’d be happy to share with anyone who’s interested. Thanks for your support!

Praise Reports:
* Praise God for His presence in our lives! We are very aware of His grace and blessing in myriads of ways. It truly is an exciting adventure we’re on, and we’re enjoying the journey. Of course there are ups and downs, but God has given us His joy and peace throughout.
* Thank God for clearing the pathway ahead of us for all our paperwork! We are so thankful for the huge help that our friends Dave, Kathy, and Misha have been in the many hours this has required.
* Our friend Valya is going to tutor Paul & Karen, and P & J, in our Russian studies. We’ve all been using the Russian we have, and look forward to learning more!
* We’ve really enjoyed connecting at the Nizhny Novgorod Vinogradnik (Vineyard), building relationships, youth group, children’s ministry, student ministry, prayer and leadership groups, and serving the church.
* God has given us many opportunities to pray with and for others, and to frequently prayerwalk around the city (often in buses and malls where it’s warm!).
* In response to our prayers for unity, God continues to connect us with others from various nationalities and streams in the body of Christ. P and J are connecting with young adults from all over the world who are studying in Nizhny at the medical institute. Karen enjoys praying on a weekly basis with people from churches all over the city. We were delighted that a week after we arrived, the first edition of a brand new newspaper was published, the purpose of which is to connect churches in Nizhny Novgorod.
* The Lord has given us creative ways to encourage leaders including sharing a daily devotional guide during the season of Lent that our family is also using.
* We’ve started building relationships with neighbors in our community. People are generally very friendly and helpful in our crowded yet quiet neighborhood.

Please pray for us:
* Pray that God will continue to open doors for us to do all that He has for us to do in Russia. We trust God for His timing, plans, and provision.
* Pray for God’s protection from illnesses and accidents.
* Pray for each one of us to make special friends here, and to stay connected with our friends elsewhere. We’re also seeking ways for our children to plug into groups, classes, sports, and other opportunities.
* Pray for our ongoing Russian language studies, and for fluency in conversational Russian.
We pray for you, too – please let us know your specific prayer requests. It’s such a joy to pray for one another! We have each of your names written on our prayer wall in the kitchen.

Our vision:
*mobilize prayer
*promote unity in the body of Christ
*raise up leaders

We appreciate your prayers so much! Thank you!

“The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” (1 Samuel 30:24)

In Russia with love,
Paul, Karen, P, J, M, C, E, & K Sculley

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” (Ephesians 3:20 – 21, The Message)

“May God bless you and keep you, smile on you and gift you, look you full in the face and prosper you!” (Numbers 6)