Joe Ragan

Car shopping is fun but is never really easy.  Having to read and understand mechanical things in another language can be a challenge as well.
Saturday I looked at several types of cars and hope to see even more on Monday.  I need a practical car for the long hard winters and has as much clearance [...]

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This is the last full week of ministry opps for our friends from the west. West could be any country since this is the most eastern I have ever been. We are seeing God do some incredible things in their lives. PTL!
Today I traveled to two churches. I preached in one [...]

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Thank you for praying so diligently. I received my passport yesterday and my visa for one year had been approved. I must say that I was pleasantly shocked! One caveat is that I only have one exit/entry on the visa. However, I have been told that if I need to [...]

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Nearby the apartment I currently am living is a mosque.  Every evening (several times) I hear the call to Muslim prayer echoing from there.  While it unnerved me at first I don’t let it get to me as much now.
Actually, it has spurred me to pray to the Father every time I hear it.  That [...]

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My friend, Brenda, wrote me an email stating that it sounded like I was/am busy.  I really haven’t had many moments to myself since June 21 (very few indeed, except for the 10 hour train ride from Almaty to Karaganda).  I have 3 people staying in my apartment right now, plus there are those who [...]

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I purchased “Facing the Giants” while I was visiting my relatives in Ohio. I never had time to watch the movie until last night. The story is an incredible story of trials that come our way and our response. I must admit that I found several principles from “Experiencing God” in the [...]

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There are times when I am moved to tears. Seeing the photo on the left is one of those times. The young man, Christian, is receiving a US flag that draped his father’s casket. Marc, his father, served in Iraq and was finishing up his second tour when he [...]

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As I prepared to move to Kazakhstan last month I had an interesting conversation with one of my neighbors. When she heard that I was moving to Kstan, she remarked about how hard live would be here. She thought that the food might be scarce and that the standard of living would [...]

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Many of you will remember that I lived in Karaganda from January to June 2005. It was a growing time for me for sure. I remember not speaking a word of English the first month I was here. There were only a couple of small grocery stores and one of the best [...]

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It has been very rainy here in Karaganda since I arrived 3 weeks ago. There have only been a few days where it hasn’t rained. It reminds me of last summer. However, it hasn’t been a cool this summer as last.
The main street in town floods frequently when there is rain and [...]

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