Dear friends and family,

Greetings from a wet and chilly Russia. As I write this update, we're anticipating the first snowfall of the year. The weather guys and gals forecasted snow for tomorrow and right now it seems cold and humid enough to happen. We have had a beautiful autumn this year and I'm not quite ready to see it go yet.

I had thought about sending out an update letter for August at the beginning of September, but I realized that only two and a half weeks had passed at that point since the previous update. So, I figured writing another two-month update was the way to go.

I want to thank all of you that were praying for the sports evangelism I mentioned in the last update. We went out to the school twice a week until the second to last week of September. Each time, the group from our church (consisting mostly of members of the youth group), met at the church and prayed before heading over to the school. We spent 2 or more hours each time playing basketball or volleyball and looking for opportunities to talk and share the Gospel. The kids we were ministering to were anywhere from 12 to 17 years old. God gave a few of us the opportunity to share the Gospel with a lot of kids. Some of them heard it two or three times. There were a few boys who showed up to play consistently and they became more comfortable talking to us over time. Unfortunately, they weren't too open to spiritual things, but it didn't stop them from coming back each time. The weather is too cold now for outside sports, but we are considering talking with a couple schools about the possibility of renting gymnasiums for basketball outreaches. We would appreciate your prayers for this next step as well as for the salvation of all the kids that heard the Gospel.

Olya started up with classes at the university again and says that she is enjoying teaching more this year. It doesn't take her as long to prepare and she makes fewer mistakes. One of the biggest challenges now is that she has the largest class size out of all the 1st year students. With their program, the time schedule is tight and having a couple extra students makes it more difficult to cover all the material on time. Still, she is doing well.

I'm pretty much settled into a regular routine again. I help out with youth group on Mondays, teach Science classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, lead our home group on Fridays, and take care of Sunday School activities on Wednesdays, Sundays, and any other days needed. Due to Pasha's absences on several Mondays due to illness or vacation, I also had the opportunity to lead and teach the youth group three times. However, the most challenging thing I have done over the past two months is to teach three different times for the Sunday School because of last second cancellations. It's funny, but even though I'm the director, I haven't ever had experience teaching in a Sunday School. They were good experiences, but I discovered that I enjoy teaching the Bible much more when I have an audience older than 11 years old. I have a hard time making things simple. I'm getting better at it with the science classes, but its more difficult for me to do with spiritual things.

The biggest news in the church right now is that our Pastor, Jeff, will be moving to Pocatello, Idaho on December 7th of this year to pastor the Calvary Chapel there. We found out during a Sunday service a few weeks ago when Jeff phoned from the US. He and his family were on furlough at the time (they returned to Russia yesterday). It was a pretty big shock for everyone as the Fadness family has been ministering here for 12 years. Then, last week we found out that another missionary family here, Ron and Pam Castro, felt like God was calling them to leave Russia as well. They however, are unsure of where God is leading them. Ron has been here as long as Jeff. Pam has been here about 7 years. Put these things together and it means a BIG season of change for the fellowship here. I think most people have a peace about the situation as we realize that God loves His church and He knows what He is doing. His will is always best. We have no idea who will replace Jeff or who will take over Ron's responsibilities. Our church family here would appreciate your prayers during this time of transition.

Finally, I will be visiting Washington State from October 26th to November 2nd (unfortunately without Olya). There are some exciting events with friends and family that I want to be a part of and I have some paperwork to take care of too. If any of you are interested in visiting during my short trip, I would love to try to find a time to meet. Please e-mail me and we can try to work something out.

One more thing, I recently added a few photos on our main website if you are interested in catching up on us. Also, please check our web blog regularly as it gets updated every three or four days with little tidbits of the happenings here. The web addresses are listed at the bottom of this e-mail.

That's it for this update. I will leave you with some prayer requests. Please pray:

· For more open doors to share with people
· For direction regarding our future location and activities (This is a big request right now)
· For a close-knit and God-centered marriage
· For a safe and fruitful visit to the US for Dave and a safe and productive time for Olya
· For wisdom for all involved in making decisions with the church transition and peace for the church body.

Shalom,

Dave & Olya

www.geocities.com/drerho (main website)
http://erhosinrussia.blogspot.com (blog web address)

Novo-Yamskoi Pereyulok 6-66
Vladimir, Russia 600015

Phone: 7-0922-38-04-39