Hello, 
Soon I will work on a newsletter to update you about events since Christmas.

I returned from Crimea late Monday night. It was a 40 hour trip including an overnight near the airport. 

The ministry to residents at the House on the Hill continues well. I have a few stories for you to personalize what is happening. 

Since we have had our apartment on the market 17 months now and no buyer, and since the economy and general situation in Crimea still does not favor the real estate market, we finally decided to rent the apartment. It fetches much less than it would have two years ago, around $400 given the current ruble to dollar exchange rate. We still have it on the market for sale. 

The TMI Tabitha warehouse has not received any serious offers yet. Like everything else in the last few years, its value has been deteriorating. If it sold at the current market value ($110k tops), and then the government got its 30% tax, there would be just enough left to at repay the outstanding loan on the Center. 

I will not go into details in a general letter such as this one that goes to all our readers, but there were continuing problems with the old college building. Though it was raided and taken over August 2014, I cannot fully get rid of my history with the building. Let’s just say, I had visitors and some unsavory talks. For those familiar with the long history of our problems related to our ownership of the college building, you may write me for details. For others, the details have no context and can be a distraction to the focus of our ministry. 

I have had three medical appointments in the two days I have been back. Dentist, pulmonologist, and eye surgery pre-op. 

The pulmonologist is not ready to give a diagnosis based on my chest x-ray, CT scan, and breathing tests. Yes, something is reducing my lung capacity. Yes, it could be fibrosis. But is it scarring from exposure to chemicals, dust, etc in my early years, or is it a progressive disease? For a more sure diagnosis, I am to have a particular type of high resolution scan in three months. Maybe another breathing test. 

I still do not have an appointment with a vascular surgeon to assess the thoracic aneurysm that showed up on the CT (surprise, surprise), so I do not know if I will need surgery soon or at all. I have a full schedule this year and a few more dates to set, so I really need to get an appointment and assessment. They were to have gotten back to us by now. I will call tomorrow. 

If all goes as originally scheduled, in two weeks LaVerne should get her cast off and a walking boot to replace it! Ten weeks down! She has been doing well, but will be glad to give up her dependence on a wheelchair.

My pterygium surgery will keep me in town for March, and I need the time for preparation anyway. In April I preach in Kiev, teach a week-long intensive course in a seminary outside Kiev, preach in chapel, and present talks at a Prague library for three days, reaching out to Czechs — and maybe I will also give a lecture at a university on the influence of the Bible on English literature and language. 
 
In last May I will be back in Crimea. That’s the plan anyway. 

Meanwhile, I will work on the ministry update for you!

We count on your prayers!

Blessings on you,
Georges (and LaVerne)