We Fall in Love with Colorado

It’s official: we have moved in. Well, by that I mean we have all the boxes inside the house and are slowly unpacking each box at a time. It’s a slow process, plus we need to buy EVERYTHING, from salt to our dining room table. (We’re currently eating on the floor. We like to keep things casual at our place.) For those of you who have moved a million times, I don’t understand how you do it. Moving is a heck of a job in itself. Nevertheless, we’re excited to have our own place – our first home sweet home together.

This past week was great. We had a mission team from First Baptist Church of Durant, Oklahoma, come and help us put on our first Elevation event: Kids Camp. We invited families from the community for a free sports camp for kids aged Kindergarten through 5^th grade. We held the camp at two different sites in Loveland. The team from Oklahoma was incredible, full of high school guys and girls who love Jesus. The parents who brought the kids for camp were awesome, too, and we were able to connect with several families. The early work of creating a missional community has started. WE ACTUALLY KNOW SOMEONE IN COLORADO NOW!!! (That has been a joke between Sarah and me about meeting new people in this new place … we never know how to start. We’ve come pretty close to asking the people at the check-out counter in Target if they want to grab dinner sometime.) We had about 20 kids come to camp during the week at Seven Lakes Park, and just a few less at the other site. The camp lasted from 8:30 to 11:30 every morning, with games and sports, snack and Bible story time. On Thursday, we had a grand finale for the whole family, where we served hamburgers and snow cones and set up a Jump House for the kids. Sarah and I had some great conversations with families, and we believe we’ve made a start to some wonderful friendships with people who, like us, are longing for community. Church work has started, and it’s fun and tiring. I’m super excited to see what God has for the city of Loveland.

The weekend before the kid’s camp, Andrei and Elena decided to take us on a few adventures in the beautiful state of Colorado. If I was not in love with Colorado before this, I am now fully in love with God’s beauty. We have a few pictures at the end of the blog for you guys to enjoy. Friday night we drove to a 12,000-foot elevation to view the Milky Way. It was AMAZING!!! We finished the night with some LIGHT PAINTING with Andrei’s camera and a flashlight (see the pictures). The next morning, we went on an adventure to the mountains near Poudre Canyon to see some other amazing views. After a long day winding through forested mountains, we came upon a view of a green valley with snow-capped hills beyond. Rose Valley (we think it was called) contained some of the most stunning views and pristine lakes we have seen yet. (I’m running out of words to tell you guys how amazingly beautiful it was.)  WE LOVE COLORADO.

Here are few prayer requests:

Sarah is looking for a job. Please cover her in your prayers that she will find a place where she will shine for the Lord and enjoy doing whatever it is that she will be doing.

This is kind of a funny request, but pray for all my registrations to go through. I have run into trouble trying to get my license and registration for the car. Pray that God will smooth everything out.

We are still trying to raise a few more hundred dollars a month. Pray for God to provide.

Pray for God to provide people of peace. This is the only way for our work to progress.

To God be the glory.

Daz Bog Coffeshop

I (Sergei) have traveled to many places in America but I have not been to a Russian coffee shop. Out of all the places on earth, in the city of Loveland there is a Russian coffee shop. The place itself is not so much Russian, but the name Daz Bog is Russian and Russian writing is all around the store. Maybe this is the first sign of feeling like Loveland is home for me and my beautiful wife. Yes, we are officially in Loveland, Colorado. It has been about a week since we arrived and we have already found a place to live (signed the lease and moving in 1^st of August). So far we have been staying at my sister’s lovely house ten minutes from Loveland. She is a wonderful hostess.

One of the ways we decided to share what is happening in our lives is through a blog. We will try to update this page regularly and keep you informed of what God has been doing in our lives.

For those of you who are not aware of our move and why, here is a little info:

We got married a little over a month ago and decided to live as missionaries in the city of Loveland. We joined a great team of people committed to follow God’s lead and to head out West. We are going to start a church by the name of Elevation Church (elevationlife.org). The city of Loveland has about 66,000 people, and 9 out of 10 do not know their Savior. That is close to 60,000 people who live without knowing what Jesus did for them. Our journey started about 3 months ago when we committed to raise our own support and help the church plant with anything and everything. We are very close in meeting our support-raising goal, but still short $300/month. We believe God will provide as he has been providing. (If you want to be an answer to our prayer, please contact us at syepishin@gmail.com) My lifetime verse has been Proverbs 3:5-6, which states, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understand. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Keep us in your prayers as we start our journey. Pray for an open door to the gospel here. Pray for opportunities to build relationships with people here and to share the good news. Pray for us, that we will be bold to take those opportunities. Pray that God will raise up 10 individuals/families who are able to commit $30/month to help us continue our work here; pray for Sarah as she searches for a job in the area to meet the rest of our financial needs. Pray for our encouragement in the Spirit every day. You are an encouragement to us! Each prayer means a lot!!!!

“Daz Bog” translated into English means “God gives.” He has already given us above and beyond all that we could ask or imagine; we know him now more than ever as our Provider. We know that, as surely as he has called us here, he will give us all that we need to do his work and share his love.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”James 1:17

Sergei and Sarah