Ice, Ice, and More Ice

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on here and that’s because I’ve not had the internet in my apartment! However, I now have internet, and I’ve had it now for like two weeks but I’ve been busy catching up to facebook messages, and thanking everyone for their nice wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and also I’ve just been lazy!

I had a friend of mine who is American but studying in Tallinn, Estonia come stay with us for about two weeks during Christmas, and it was good to have her here , but we didn’t really get out and do much. I’ll bet your wondering “Why?”. Well, the answer is that it was freezing cold and when the wind blew it felt like it was cutting into our skin. It was cold when the wind wasn’t blowing, but then it got worse when the wind was! The wind chill was often in the negative teens with gusts about twenty miles per hour. On two various days, Shera and I got out of the apartment to venture into the cold to do a little sightseeing and we got no further than our bus stop and after waiting 15 minutes for a bus gave up and came inside. It was miserably cold and not typical days for a sightseeing trip. Now things are a little better outside, and we are not having such cold weather, but it’s still a lot colder than what this Texas girl is used to! I do not believe it has been over 32 degrees F for the past month. The other day it was around 27 degrees F and I thought it was a beautiful warm day. Crazy huh?

(This video is from one night when our friend Shera was in town and we were playing Zilch with some friends)

Русская Mузыка

Every Tuesday for our conversation class, we have the privilege of attending music class. It's really not that bad, and we get to learn a little about Russian history through the old folk songs that we are singing, oh and we get to watch tv as well! So, I guess it's good! :)

Well, today, Julie and I were faced with the task of singing an American song. Do you know how hard it is to find a song that has some great meaning and that's also considered old?? Yeah, there's not that many, especially ones that are easy to sing, but thankfully our teacher kept asking for spirituals, and these two girls, well we know a few spirituals. The song that came to both of our minds was Amazing Grace. So, before it was our turn to sing, I just asked God for guidance and for the knowledge of how to explain the song in Russian and that our classmates and teacher would get an understanding of the song and of its meaning.

So, when it came time to singing, I opened my mouth and out came the words of that beautiful song. I heard the Korean girl across from me, breathe in and say something in Korean and then she smiled. Also, I could see our teacher from the corner of my eye, and I saw that she too recognized the song. We only sang the two verses we could remember and then it was time for me to explain. All I could put together with my limited Russian, along with the help of my trusty dictionary, was that it was an old British and American song that's about when Jesus Christ died for us, He gave us grace. When we first believe in Him, we receive that grace.

After I finished explaining the song, our teacher told us that she had heard the song before when she visited America. Then she asked if we could give her the words.

Julie and I know for a fact that we were the only believers in the room and I pray that our song, along with it's very limited translation reached the hearts of our classmates and teacher. Here are the names of our classmates, Moto, Hyien, Yukari, Mien, Roma, Enjay, Hoozal, and Pak Segee. I'm not sure of our music teacher's name because we only have her once a week, and I forgot it!

Please be praying for our class, that Julie and I will seek to glorify the Father and that through us seeking Him that others will in turn start to desire and seek that themselves. Also, please pray that each of our classmates and teachers will have a believer in their lives that is able to communicate to them in their native language and speak the truth to their hearts.

Going on a Walk

Wow! God is good!! Today we went prayer walking around the center of the city, and even had some answered prayers before we were finished with the walk. Here’s what happened:
So this morning starts off overcast and cool. I wasn’t feeling too good, I’ve had like a cold or allergy thing going on, and so I wasn’t really up to walking all over the city and I was actually kind of dreading the walk, but I went anyway.

We arrived at the church a few of our Russian brothers and sisters were already there. After waiting around a few more minutes, Nadia, the prayer coordinator at church starts talking and holds up this bowl of rock salt. Then she has these little pieces of paper that are stapled on the sides passed out to each of us. I take one and notice that there’s nothing written on them. Then she holds up the bowl of salt and reminds us of the verse in Matthew where it talks about us being the salt of the earth. She then passes the bowl around, and each of us take a small handful and put it in our paper pouches. As we’re walking through the city, we are to spread it in the streets. I loved this idea!

So, Julie and I start off walking from the church and we head through the center of town making our way to the Vokzal, or train station. As we’re just getting started in our walk and crossing the central square, it starts to rain, and not just a little drizzle, I mean big drops of rain. Today was the celebration of the krai, which is like a state, and there was to be a concert later on in the day at the square, but if it rained, the event would have been postponed. So we prayed for the rain to stop and for God’s presence to fill the square. After turning the corner and walking down the road for a few minutes, we noticed that the rain had stopped. Then as we all gathered to have a final prayer over the city as a group, I looked up and saw the sun shining! God is good even in the little things He is good! Thank you for providing the sun and for making the rain to stop so that we could finish our walk and not be completely soaked, and thank you Father for making the rain go away, so that my friends could celebrate their history.

I'm glad that I went, and while we were walking, I didn't feel tired, or really remember all of my ailments, it wasn't until after the walk when we were heading home that I remembered my complaints. Sometimes I wonder how much the evil one has his hands in things, trying to make me miss out on one of God's blessings!

Please continue your prayers for my Russian friends. Pray that Father will bless me with new people that need to be a part of the family, and pray for the softening of their hearts. Also, please pray for my Russian brothers and sisters, that Father will show them how to reach their world for Him.

Waterfalls

You never know that to expect when you sign up for a trip to go see waterfalls, even in the states, one can’t be 100% sure of what to expect. Are we going to drive up a road that takes us to the water, and get out of the car and take photos? Are we going to have to walk a little bit to see the waterfalls? Or, are we going to be hiking up a mountain and follow the waterfall from the base up? You see, these are all good questions, and I kinda wished I would’ve asked the last two.

Living here in Russia, I’ve learned to go with the flow. Now, I was never one to need a plan and to need all the details lined up before doing something, that’s not me. I’m very laid back and relaxed, I’m a go with the flow kinda girl. Well, living here, I’ve gotten even more relaxed, and here’s why. I have no idea what anyone is saying! They could be telling me that they are fixing to feed me to a pack of starving lions, and as long as they did so with a smile on their face, I would do whatever they motioned for me to do. So, two weeks ago when my new friend, Yana, asked me to go to the waterfalls with her English Club, I said yes, and didn’t really ask for details. Thankfully, though, I did think to ask what she would be wearing, and when she said, “oh you know my trainers”, I’m just thankful I’ve watched British telly, so I knew what trainers were.

Let’s move ahead to this morning…
This morning we left our apartment with Yana and Kolya picking us up at 8am, in their van…well we thought we were going in their van. Julie and I walked outside to meet up with them, and see them standing in our parking lot without van. That’s when Yana informed us that they rode the bus, so we all hopped on the bus and headed to the northern part of town. About 40 minutes later, we get off the bus, and then proceed to walk a few blocks to another bus stop, where our waterfalls bus awaited us. We were told by Kolya, who speaks a little English, that the ride was about an hour away. We didn’t realize he meant an hour away from this town called Artyom that was about an hour away from our city.

Our tour guide talked the entire time on the ride there and Yana translated everything for us. I got to pass through the longest village in all of Russia (I’m not sure what that means) and I also got to learn all about the animals and flora and fauna of the Far East as well as other waterfalls around the world. We finally arrived at the waterfall around 12ish and we proceed to empty out of the bus. I looked around and saw people leave things on the bus, so I asked Yana what all I should take. She said, oh just take what you think you will need for this trip, because it’s in total five parts. So, I head on out with everyone else thinking I was going to see one of the five waterfalls. We start hiking up this hill, and it’s a little muddy but not too bad. Our guide stops us and points to this guy in our group, Yana informs me that his name is Ivan and he’s here to help us with our hike. I took a quick glance around the group and notice that half of our group is overweight smokers or they are senior citizens, so I turned to Yana and said, what do you mean by “help us”? I’m thinking he’s like a medic and we’re all about to die, and the guide expecting people to pass out. Yana just laughs and says, “he’s here to help us”. “Oh okay,” I say and follow them up the hill. Little did I know that this hill soon turned into a muddy mountain and this first trip, was actually the whole trip, and all five parts were being hiked to at once. We weren’t going to have the bus to drive us to the next part and the next part and the next. It was all us, hoofing it up the mountain, and yes, I mean mountain.

I soon found out why our helper was there. You see, parts of this hike were climbing up huge muddy rocks, and one cannot climb them without a rope to help pull yourself up, and then one also need someone else pulling you up at the top. I looked up at these spots and I immediately thought of the little old grannies that were with us and I wondered how are they going to get up that? Then I thought of the overweight smokers who had lit up a cigarette at least twice every hour…how were they going to get up those rocks? That’s when I looked up and one of the grannies was climbing the rock, and I noticed her footwear. She was wearing dress shoes with a heel!!!!! Yes, dress shoes!! I couldn’t believe, and I took pictures to prove it! I watched as our
helper pulled her up the mountain, and then I realized, oh that’s why he’s here. He’s our helper!

I’m not going to lie, it was a hike, but it was beautiful and I loved it and would do it again. After our hike, we then hiked down the mountain and walked down into the valley and riverbed for a picnic lunch. They had tables setup with tablecloths, and even another table set up to the side with herbal tea and canned caramel. We sit down to a soup of potatoes, carrots, noodles, onions, some type of purplish leafy things, and meat (it’s a don’t ask and don’t want to know type of thing). As I’m sitting there the girl across from me pulls out this bottle of fermented honey and water and offers it to me. I was being offered moonshine!! Wow! What’s a little Baptist girl like me supposed to do when offered homemade moonshine…well you turn it down, and I did, and I think she was okay with it. Then all of a sudden, her friend beside her pulls out this plastic container that has bread slices with butter and a little dish of these cute little orangish red things. She offers me some and I look at Yana and ask, “What is it?” “Oh it’s caviar,” was her reply. The lady offers it to me again, and I thought what the heck, I’ve never tried it before and I hate fish but why not try it, after all I’m in Russia, caviar is cheaper here than in the states and it’s a huge Russian tradition. I put some on my buttered bread and took and bite, and what do you know…I liked it!!! Then I even put a spoon full on my bread and ate it all (I have pictures to prove it Mom)! Caviar is much cheaper here than in the states, you can buy about 4 lbs for about $20-$30 USD. I’m glad I tried it.

Well, after eating caviar, we played a few Russian kids games on the riverbank. On the walk back to the bus, my caviar friend bought a huge basket of red berries from one of the villagers. I was offered some of them, I pulled one off and put it in my mouth and right about the time I bite down on it, Yana looks at me and says, “Oh they’re very bitter.” Heck yes they were bitter! I asked them why people would eat them and she said they are very good for your blood pressure. Also, she mentioned that usually people put them in tea or make a compote, which is a bunch of fruit boiled together, kinda like juice and a little sweet.

Anyway, my day didn’t quite turn out the way I had imagined it to be, it was long, but good! I got to spend time with some two of my students, as well as Yana and Kolya. I got tons of great photos of the waterfalls, the forest, and of me eating caviar, and I’m glad I went. Here’s what I learned…it’s okay to not know what you’re doing and have to depend on the nationals. It’s okay to trust them with your life, literally, and to follow their lead. Yeah, you may have to climb a few mountains, but you’re building relationships, which will hopefully lead to sharing about eternal things, which are way more important than my terminal earthy things.

A New Sister

Camp is such a different experience than back home. Here’s how it’s different. It’s about 10 days long, and the staff brings their families and babysitters along. They wake up each morning at 9 am to the sound of silly Russian folk music, then with people calling them to come to the morning workout session. Breakfast is at 10am, lunch at 2pm and dinner at 7pm. There is a lot of free time, but the staff uses that time to build relationships with the campers. They usually have two daily sessions that have about an hour of songs and skits and then at least an hour or more of preaching. Also, the rooms and bathrooms are quite different than what one would expect for camp. Well the rooms aren't bad, it's just a different setup than normal. The bathrooms are what's really not for the faint of heart! But, hey I survived and so did Julie! It was a learning experience! :)

But you know with all of the differences there were some amazing things I got to see. One of them I wouldn't trade the world for, and it has to do with my new friend and sister, Anya, when she was baptized. Anya has a pretty rough home life, her mother is mentally insane and verbally abusive and her father is strongly against Christianity. So, it was such an incredible thing to see when she was baptized, because it was a step of faith.

Baptisms are done a little different here. First of all, there isn’t a baptistery with man made lighting and manually heated water. The “baptistery” was the ocean with the sun lighting up the day and heating up the water.

Everyone walked out to the beach and started singing, while the Anya, the pastor, and the photographer and video guy made their way out into the ocean. The ocean is very shallow where we were, so it took them about five minutes to finally get deep enough. When they arrived, the pastor turned and faced the crowd on the beach and raised his hands toward the sky. A hush fell over the crowd. Even though they were pretty far out into the water, you could hear Pastor Eduard's voice. As he was praying with his hands lifted to the sky dedicating our new sister to God, I an image came to my mind of what it was like for Moses, when he parted the sea. I realized, that this was what it was like during Jesus' day when he would go out a little ways from the shore and preach to the crowd.

Pastor Eduard amen carried in the wind, and all was quiet as we watched. The second she was lifted from the water, the praise music started back up. Then Pastor Eduard raised his hands again to the sky and Anya did the same. You could see a huge smile on her face and as she prayed to God. I could feel the Holy Spirit there with us on that beach and chills covered my body. Wow, what a sight to behold. That was the sign of true freedom! Even though her father threatened all sorts of things if she was baptized, she trusted in her Heavenly Father, no matter the cost.

Welcome to the family, Anya!

And Finally....Russia!

So, tomorrow Julie and I board a plane that will take us to Russia. I am so excited! It will be exactly four months to the day that we were supposed to leave for Khabarovsk. Plans have changed, and now we're not going to Khabarovsk anymore, but I know that the Father had a reason for this change. Already we've seen reasons on why we were delayed and sent through Ukraine. We've been joking that we had a long layover...just a couple of months!

Ending language school was sad, yet good because it was another thing that we've accomplished while being on this journey. Yes, I do have more school that awaits me when we get to Russia, but I can't wait for just Russia in general! I've wanted to go to this country for so many years now, and tomorrow this dream becomes a reality.

The last day of language school, I found myself in an awkward situation. One of the janitors at the school is always saying hi to us. He's this older man, probably my grandparents age, and he's very nice and speaks just a little English. Well, he's always said hi to us, and so one day he didn't say hi, so I initated the greeting and said hi to him. Ever since then, he's acted strange to me.

The very last day of language school we took our break as normal. We had our snacks and was sitting outside on the bench when the janitor walked up. He was carrying a bucket full of water and cucumbers. He sat the bucket down a few feet in front of me and then stepped infront of it. He kept saying things to me, and I kept telling him in my little amount of Russian, I don't understand. Then he would take a step closer. Then he would say the same thing in Russian, and I would said again in Russian, I don't understand. Then he would take another step closer. Okay, but this time, I'm kind of getting nervous here. I look over at one of my friends and she's got this nervous look on her face and just kind of laughs and shrugs her shoulders. So the guy says something again to me, and I said again I don't understand. This time was he steps closer he reaches out and touches my nose. But it's not just a little touch, he like grabs the end of it. I'm kind of shocked that he's touching me, and I don't really know what to say so I just say, I don't understand. Then he releases my nose and repeats whatever he was saying, again and then he touches my nose, steps back and then picks up a cucumber from the bucket. I look at it and laugh a nervous laugh and say, oh cucumber. He repeats me. Then he picks up the bucket and walks over to this drain.

Right after that, I decide that I've had enough excitement for one day so my friend Jamie and I decide to head inside. Of course to get inside we had to walk past cucumber nose guy, and as we walk by, he pulls his hands out of the cucumber water and starts splashing us. We thankfully were able to run inside where his cucumber water couldn't reach us.

Wow what a way to end language school in Ukraine! I still have no idea what he was saying, and I'm not really sure that I want to know. I've seen and have been told that older men like to marry really, really younger women. For all I know that could have been the Ukrainian way of asking a girl to marry you! Ha! I'm just thankful I didn't say yes or no, and that I just stuck with my, "I don't understand".

So, I know that I will miss Kiev with all of it's experiences, but I am ready for what awaits me in Russia. I have a feeling that I will have more stories, oh how I wish each of you were able to experience them with me first hand!

Church, Champagne, and Blood

This week has been full of mini adventures and experiences! Sunday we decided to go to a new church, new meaning new to us. So we arrived about ten minutes early, and upon entering the sanctuary we could tell that this was a very traditional church. There weren’t any screens for the music or scripture, and all I could see was a piano. I looked around at the people sitting in the little wooden chairs, and I noticed that most women had scarves on their heads. Yes, very traditional indeed. We took our seats in the back and shortly after, the service started. The only things I gathered from the service, which was in Ukrainian and Russian, was Thank God and then a few words to some hymns that I know from home. The service lasted from 10-12ish and there were three sermons. Yes, I did say three sermons, about twenty minutes each. Very traditional.

After church we decided to eat out for lunch. We arrived and sat in one of the corner booths. As we were eating we noticed this man came and sit down in the booth beside us. He was drinking a beer and watching and listening to everything we said. After a few minutes the guy got up and went to the bar. He came back with the waitress who was carrying a tray with a bottle of champagne, three empty champagne glasses and another beer. The girl walked to our table. I look to our friend who speaks Russian and I think she was in too much shock, because as the waitress pours champagne into the three glasses, the only thing that was said audibly for everyone to hear, was “Lord help us”, which came out of my mouth, not hers.

We were speechless. None of us has ever had a guy buy us a drink, so we had no idea how to turn him down politely, and to do it in Russian. The man stood there insisting that we each take a glass and toast to who knows what. We tried to tell him that we do not drink thank you, but no. He didn’t take no for an answer. He started telling us how pretty we are and listing off the things he owns. Then, the man pulled his chair up to the end of our table, and blocked in me and Julie. We couldn’t escape! Our other friend looked at us and said let’s leave. So, I politely tell the guy in my little amount of Russian, excuse me please, and I tried to squeeze past him. Thankfully, he allowed us to pass and we got the heck out of that place! That was only Sunday!

Fast forward to Wednesday.

Well we learned that we needed another HIV test. I’d already had two and they expire in three months for the visa. Since it has taken so long for this whole visa process, I’ve got to have blood drawn again, for the third time.

It all started Wednesday morning. We’d called earlier in the week and found out that this place near our apartment would do the HIV test, but we weren’t sure how to get there, and the person on the phone wasn’t really sure what HIV was so we took a friend with us. Our friend, Luda, met us downtown and we were off. We arrived at the lab, a few bus rides later, and walked through the doors. Luda did all the talking and I could tell something was up when the girl behind the counter repeated HIV and said something about not understanding. After conversing for a few minutes Luda turns around and informed us that we couldn’t have it done there and we would have to go back across town to a hospital. We said okay, and after a few bus and metro rides later we get to the street.

“It’s just up this hill,” Luda says. Julie and I both look up at the “hill” and immediately I’m filled with dread. It wasn’t a hill, it was a MOUNTAIN! By this time its midday and Julie and I are pretty hungry. We weren’t allowed to eat or drink anything all morning, and we were feeling the effects. But, we needed the blood test, so we trek up the mountain, oh I’m sorry hill, and arrive at the hospital. Oh and it wasn’t a hospital, but more like a very small clinic, stuck in the 70s. We walk inside and it’s dark, and all we see are stairs leading up and down. We go down and arrive at the bottom to see a guy sitting outside a door, Luda asks him a question, then opens the door. We’d arrived at the clinic. We walk into the room and speak to a guy behind the desk. I’m tired, hot, and hungry so I sit down and pull out my little fan and fan myself. After some talking, we present our passports and twenty griven, which is like 3-4 American dollars. He wrote down my info and told me to go into the other room.

I walk in and this lady is standing there. She starts gesturing to me and pointing at the table and speaking very fast in Russian. I have no idea what she’s saying and Luda is helping Julie in the other room. I call out for Luda and thankfully she comes to the rescue translating the Russian for me. The nurse/doctor lady said, “Put your form on the table. Sit down. Put your arm here.” Then she held up a needle for me to see and spouts off something in Russian, I notice that Luda had stepped back into the other room to help Julie, so I had no idea what she was saying about the needle, I was just glad to see that it looked clean. Later on I found out that the lady was telling me something like, “I am a professional and this is a clean needle.” She found a vein after telling me to pump my arm repeatedly, and thankfully she found it on the first try. As we’re leaving she tells me to drop my cotton ball in a little bucket of clear liquid located by the door on the way out.

We were very thankful that Luda was there! After walking down the hill she pointed us in the direction of McDonalds and parted ways.

We get to go back either Friday or Monday for the results.