STRATEGIC ANGEL CARE

Ministry in the Czech Republic

2010-05-11T06:36:00.002+04:00

On Monday, May 3, I flew to Prague, Czech Republic to visit Pastor Slava and to explore opportunities for SAC to do ministry work in this part of the former Soviet Union. My plan was to fly there Monday evening, explore on Tuesday, and then fly back to the USA on Wednesday.

It was a two-hour flight from St. Petersburg to Prague. Pastor Slava was there to meet me in the airport and we drove 2 hours to his home in the northwest part of the country in Teplice. This town grew up around a women’s Benedictine monastery in the mid-twelfth century. It’s known as a famous spa town and for its hot springs. The district surrounding the town has a population of 128 thousand. The hills to the north mark the German border. The lush greenery, plant life and rolling hills remind me of northwest Oregon. Yet Slava told me that the Czech Republic is very atheistic and that this district was the most atheistic in the country. With all the beauty around them, I guess they don’t see a need for God.

Slava had made arrangements with a lady from his church that had a large apartment and would allow me to stay there. When we arrived, Irina had dinner ready for us. Irina is a healthy 78-year-old widow who had the energy of a 50 year old! She spoke Czech and some Russian. Slava translated from Czech until he left. Then she and I had to speak in Russian! Before Slava left, we took a walk around the city square at twilight. It was comfortable and beautiful to walk around this old well-kept city.

The next morning Slava arrived at 10:15am while Irina and I were having a nice conversation. Slava said, are you ready to go? You are speaking at a school in 15 minutes! This was my opportunity to “flex” and be ready for anything! I grabbed a few things I thought I might need and we raced to the school.

This High School was an Economic Business Academy with 330 students age 15-19 years old. I would be speaking to two classes of third year students at this four-year school. Most of the students had a couple of years of English and they wanted me to speak in English with them and to get them to ask me questions about America, culture, Texas, and hopefully religion.

No one had told the kids I was coming, so when I came into the class it was a complete surprise. Many were shy and didn’t know what to say. But I tried to break the ice and went around the room and introduced myself to each student. They all told me their name in English. I told them where I was from and how to say “Hi” in Texas. They all learned a new English word… “Howdy”!

Questions started to come and I would “pick” students to ask me a question. They would form their questions and ask things like, “What kind of car do you drive?”, “What do you think of Obama?”, or “How long was the flight?”. One girl who had little English training asked me after being whispered to by a friend asked, “How are you?” I replied, “I’m fine”! :-)

I would look for an opportunity to share about God and what they believed in the Bible. None of them had read any part of the Bible, yet they were open to what I had to say about it. When I asked one 18-year-old boy about the need for God he just said he didn’t need Him. Slava had said they were very atheistic, but that even if they didn’t agree with you, they wanted to hear and learn more about your perspective.

Between the two classes, the principal took me to the school tower. From there we could see the whole town and walk around on the outside-railed ledge. It was a spectacular view!

After speaking to the second class, we departed and had lunch at a Russian café. After visiting down town to exchange money and going by the Chamber of Commerce we went to Slava’s apartment to have afternoon tea. There we rested and shared about what could be done in Teplice. At around 7pm we went back to Irina’s home and had dinner. I was stuffed! Slava left at about 9pm and would return at 1:30am to take me to the airport. The flight left at 6am and I had to be at the airport at 3am.

We had a great conversation in the middle of the night on the way to the airport. We even stopped at a newly opened McDonalds to get coffee for the ride into Prague. We prayed together, talked about examples of prayer, and answers to prayer. We also talked about disappointments and how church groups would come in with grand strategies, when what was really needed was simple lasting and ongoing relationships. In the military vernacular we would say they needed, “Boots on the ground”.

I’m convinced that SAC can minister effectively in the Czech Republic and it can start with this school. The principal is very open to us and knows we would come in and share the Gospel. I don’t have a grand strategy, but just to invite people to come and join with us to build relationship for Christ in the community of Teplice, Czech Republic this fall. Look for upcoming mission trip dates to the Czech Republic to minister to young people with open minds!

Helping a Broken Church

2010-05-11T04:49:00.008+04:00

When I arrived in Sosnovo, I began hearing about the problems of the local Baptist Church and it’s decline over the last several months. It was sad to hear the various situations and the decisions that had been made that lead to a disintegration of what had been a great Christian fellowship and a point of light in this community. SAC has always tried to work through and with the local church as a further outreach to lift up the local church. However, relations and support of the Day Center by the Sosnovo church has declined since the departure of Pastor Slava three years ago.

For a couple of years I had heard how the church needed another pastor like Slava. He lived there and knew and witnessed to the people. Currently, they have a student preacher come from St. Petersburg every Sunday to deliver a message, but he is not there to “Sheppard” the flock of believers. As a result, the flock has dispersed and the “wolves” in the community have consumed some.

Some of the problems include:

- The church paid for meals for the kids at the Day Center through a local café who gave yesterday’s leftovers, but this support has stopped.

- The building occupied by the church and the Day Center had been available for sale, but the church didn’t take advantage of this and now the sanctuary room where the church met has been closed by the mayor, unoccupied, and subsequently had flooding due to recently installed city supplied heaters. The church must meet in apartments.

- A self-appointed church council has made decisions without a church vote.

- Three members are specifically causing dissention among other church members.

- Youth Sunday School has been recently closed as leadership didn’t see the need.

- Complaints against Nadezhda about her teaching occurred without observation.

- Accusations have occurred against members without investigation.

- The church has disassociated themselves with the Day Center ministry.

As a result:

- Membership has declined from 26 members to 18 members

- One member returned to drinking

- Some members refuse to go to church anymore, and opt for a Wednesday evening Bible study held at the Day Center.

- No outreach program, no Sunday School, and the church is not working with the Day Center.

- No church building due to in attention.

Normally, I would stay out of the local church politics and problems. However, the closing of Sunday School disturbed me and the lack working together with the Day Center was a deep concern. So, on Wednesday, April 28, I set up a meeting with the “Bishop” of the Central Baptist Church in St. Petersburg. In Russia, the Bishop is the leader of all churches and pastors of the 38 Baptist churches in the Leningrad Region surrounding St. Petersburg. Sometimes as an “outsider”, I can serve as a catalyst to get conversations going and problems out in the open. Several in Sosnovo were afraid to approach the Bishop with their concerns. Much of that is due to Russian culture and their authoritarian environment.

We all met at St. Petersburg Christian University. Victor Sipko, the Bishop of Central Baptist Church, was very friendly and responsive to our concerns. I emphasized with him that I wasn’t there to place blame, but only to give the facts that I knew and let him resolve the issues. He listened very carefully and asked Nadezhda, the director of the Day Center, several questions. He called Shamil, the current Sosnovo preacher to verify some information. The meeting lasted about 50 minutes.

As we all left the building and walked toward the metro station, Nadezhda kept proclaiming… “Praise God”! She was happy all these things were now out in the open. A follow-up meeting is planned in Sosnovo on Tuesday, May 11, with Victor Sipko, Nadezhda, and Shamil. Later that day they will meet with the mayor to discuss use of the building.

My hope and prayer is that the Sosnovo Baptist Church will be on the road to recovery and again become a place of warm Christian fellowship and that they will join together with the Day Center in outreach to connect the youth of Sosnovo with God’s Kingdom.

Sosnovo Day Center

2010-05-02T11:36:00.003+04:00

This is our 5th year working at the Sosnovo Day Center. It’s seen a lot of trials and obstacles these past 5 years and it seems even more so during the last 2 years. Despite these issues, the Day Center continues to be a light of hop to these at-risk children in the Sosnovo community.

This year we had again invited Pastor Slava from the Czech Republic to join us on this mission trip. Pastor Slava used to be the pastor of the church in Sosnovo and was and still is greatly loved and missed by the community. Unfortunately, the Icelandic Volcano prevented him from flying and coming to be with us. For me, it felt like someone was missing the whole week.

We stayed at the small hotel that we had stayed at in the past. It was under new management and they were working to renovate a section of the hotel into a store that had previously been a gathering room for our team to enjoy tea and prepare our ministry things for the next day. As it turned out, the rooms were not being renovated, but the rest of the hotel was! When we got there, there were no working heaters in the room. They had to go get the previously installed electric heaters and set them up on a block of wood in front of the new heaters. I guess the new heaters hadn’t been fully connected up yet. The most precarious thing was getting to our rooms. New outside steps were under construction and then there was no floor between the entrance and the hall to the rooms! That first night we had to straddle the support beams balancing our suitcases to make it there! It was quite a circus!

My son Sergey had made arrangements with Andre, a long time volunteer with the Day Center, to have the team eat at his home. Lunch and sometimes breakfast was at his home. Ladies from the church would come to Andre’s home to cook our lunch in the morning. Breakfast items were usually brought in the morning (meat, cheese, bread) while other things had been bought by Sergey at a large store called “Lenta” (much like Wal-Mart) in St. Petersburg. Thanks to Sergey, Andre, and all the ladies who helped cook for our team!

Lenoid and Galina last year cooked for our entire team and would bring us out to their dacha for lunch and dinner. Our team, that included several volunteers, was lager this time and so meals were held at Andre’s home. Nevertheless, one evening we were all invited out to Lenoid’s home for dinner. It’s always a great fellowship and he always fires up the “Samovar”, the big Russian tea pot where the water is heated with pine cones and coals. Lenoid and Galina have been tremendous hosts!

Early in the week, I stood at a bus stop waiting with Sergey for our bus to come to go to the other side of town. A young teenager walked past me starring at me and I recognized him. He was one of the kids I knew at the Sosnovo Orphanage. Since I had no team members last year and I know the orphanage was going through a transition, SAC hasn’t visited the orphanage in a couple of years. I went to greet him. He’s now 14 years old, but he remembered me. He was a little shy and he didn’t seem to have that joyful smile I remembered when I had seen him last at the orphanage two years ago. I reminded him that God loved him and he nodded slightly in agreement.

One morning, we went to visit the Sosnovo Orphanage. It had moved from its location in the town of Sosnovo to a new location about 20 minutes away. I wanted to visit Rayisa the Director to reconnect and to see the new location. About 3 weeks ago, the kindergarten that was occupying the building traded locations with the building in Sosnovo. The building we had worked at in Sosnovo is now a kindergarten. The new location for the orphanage is one train stop south at stop #69 of Sosnovo. It is very hard to get there. The roads are not paved for the 3 kilometers drive from the main road. It is very hard for the staff to even get to work. Taxi to this location from Sosnovo is 300p, or about $10 each way. With salaries less than 15,000p a month, I’m surprised that people continue to work there. Conditions there are worse than at their other location. There is no sports hall and no general hall to have activities for the kids like dance and other extra-curricular activities. Rayisa told me that even though the kids helped with the move, the kids are depressed and “don’t care about their lives anymore”. One boy that I know and remember tried to commit suicide by jumping from the roof. It was the same boy I saw at the bus stop. Please pray for these kids at the Sosnovo Orphanage.

In the Day Center, the kids had been waiting with anticipation for us come for a long time. They knew us and we’ve seen several of the kids grow up as they continue to come to the Day Center. They also know that I’m there to bring crafts, play games, and lead them in a Bible Lesson. Each day I brought a lesson that had us doing a game and then a short study in God’s word that related to the game. Kids like it when I do a game and bring a short Bible lesson. More of Biblical truth is absorbed with kids if they hear one truth and then have the rest of the day to think about it. Kids here are very resistant to “preaching” and usually tune out or don’t attend at all unless there are activities that are geared to their age and interest.

One new activity that really interested the older kids was building clocks. I had bought the quartz movements, hands, and numbers for the kids to build wall clocks. Sergey and I went to the store and bought some wood for them to design their own wall clock and then I would help them install the mechanism. Many kids had never used a saber saw before. It was good experience for them to use a power saw and drill (with my supervision) and to be able to create their own clocks!

On this trip I found out that Andre has kids over to his home each Saturday evening for a time of fellowship, singing, and Bible study. This weekly youth club meeting was something SAC has wanted to see happen as a further way to promote the church and have the Day Center and the church work together. Out of his own pocket, Andre spends about 200 rubles a week (~$7) for food to encourage these kids to come. Recently, the Sosnovo church had stopped having Sunday School (another problem) for children and this has become another way to reach the kids.

Andre is also busy beginning a drug rehab program. He invites drug users who want to quit to his home. He talks about addiction and leads them in a devotional that addresses the issue of drug addiction. We were there one morning after breakfast and Andre had a meeting of these men. While we were there we encouraged them and fellowshipped with them. One of the men there had retired from the military after 20 years of service. He was a former Major in the Russian Army. I told him I too had been in the military and had served for 7 years. He stretched out his hand immediately to shake the hand of a fellow soldier. He shared his struggles and seemed to find a sense of hope in our meeting.

On the last day, I was able to share the Gospel with them again. I was glad to see almost all the hands raise when I asked if they had asked Jesus into their lives. I’m convinced that if the Day Center was not there, these kids would go through life without hope and without knowing the saving grace of Jesus. With the Day Center, despite all the tribulations they continue to go through, it’s an effort well worth the cost. Thanks to Nadezhda’s dedication to work there every day to bring this love of Christ to these children in this community. Please pray that the obstacles, daily problems, and forces of evil working against her will not overpower the hope that is brought to these kids through her leadership of the Day Center in Sosnovo.

Icelandic Volcano!

2010-04-28T22:56:00.001+04:00

When I left for Russia, I could have never imagined that a volcano in Iceland would affect our mission trip! There was no way to plan for that!

On Wednesday, I was doing e-mail in the Kohtla-Nomme orphanage that evening and read a Skype message from a friend that told me about the volcano eruption. I went to news websites to read about it and the current status with the airline. I told our team that evening and then wrote the team in St. Petersburg.

News reports said that 40,000 Americans were stranded by the volcano. The airline industry said it was the worst airline disruption since 9/11. Tony & Martha Leone were to return to the states on April 18. They didn’t get to return until Friday, April 23. Jonathan Furr was also due to return from St. Petersburg to the USA on April 17th. He didn’t return until Friday, April 23 as well.

Tony and Martha stayed in a home owned by some Americans that were not there. One of our volunteers going with us everyday knew of this lady watching the home and we connected up. It was later I found out she also knew Mike Cantrell, president of MIR, our partner in St. Petersburg and he had stayed there before. That was a God thing as we were provided the connections to ensure the Leones had a place to safely stay while they waited out the volcano.

Jonathan Furr continued his stay at the Transition Home in St. Petersburg. He was able to log-on and do some work remotely from Russia since his job is in computers and he can connect from anywhere with an internet connection.

I realized a little later that for our team, we were allowed to make it to Russia and Estonia BEFORE the volcano erupted. It allowed us to do our ministry and continue to work for the Kingdom. Had the volcano erupted a week earlier, it would have prevented us from starting our new work in Estonia, prevented the St. Petersburg team from going, and likely would have cancelled our entire trip! Nevertheless, God was in control and we completed our mission and our teams returned home safely… a few of us later than expected! It’s amazing what something like this can do to affect a mission trip!

Sillamae, Estonia Orphanage

2010-04-28T22:10:00.000+04:00

This is a sweet little orphanage east of Johvi, Estonia about 45 minutes from the Kohtla-Nomme orphanage that we were staying at. The director of the Kohtla-Nomme orphanage made arrangements with the director of the Sillamae orphanage to coordinate our teams’ time that we could be with the kids. Are arrangement was that we would work with the orphans at Sillamae from 5-6pm. As the week went on, our time gradually was extended after the counselors saw what we were doing!

There were about 15 school-age kids that would be waiting for us each day. After the first day, they were waiting outside for our arrival the second day. At the end of each day, they could ask what we were doing tomorrow! They thoroughly enjoyed all the games, crafts, and activities we had planned for them. We had to move fast as I had planned to be there two hours and not one hour!

On Friday we were all set to share the Gospel. I set the stage with an active game. After the game I sat the kids down and talked about what we played which was a lead-in to our Bible study. Today was a short comparison as we talked about God, and the moment was right to invite Tony Leone to share the EvangeCube. It’s amazing that when folks pray, moments like this just seem to work perfectly. We usually had a two year old that would come with the group. Sometime he would be a distraction. Today he didn’t arrive until right after Tony had finished presenting the Gospel! We had no interruptions! The kids were able to hear the Gospel clearly along with a couple of counselors!

We gave the orphans some parting gifts and then I passed out the book of Luke to each child. The book was provided by the church in Johvi, Estonia we were working with. Of course, the kids asked what we were doing tomorrow. It’s was hard to tell them that this was our last day. But I know great relationships were built and we will be able to come again!

The Kohtla-Nomme Orphanage

2010-04-28T19:12:00.008+04:00

When we arrived late on Sunday evening, most of the kids were already in bed. We were shown our rooms and then several of the counselors wanted to know more about us. They had only been told that some “English” people will be staying with them for a week. We told them about ourselves and what we would be doing. Everyone was friendly and hospitable.

The next morning we waited until the kids departed for school so we wouldn’t interfere with their morning routine and then we spent the morning planning our day and having another meeting with the head counselor. She called the orphanage director in Sillamae to coordinate our times with the kids. It was arranged that we would work with the orphans in Sillamae from 5pm – 6pm, travel the 45 minutes back to Khotla-Nomme, eat at 7pm and then at 7:30pm begin our work with the orphans there. All orphanages have fairly rigid schedules with kids in school, homework time, and special activities or clubs like dance, music, and other interest classes that we have to compete with. So scheduling work at two separate orphanages is often difficult.

The first two days in Kohtla-Nomme was difficult as the kids had never had anyone stay with them. Many didn’t want to have anything to do with us. They had had groups in there before that would “preach” to them for an hour, pass out some small gifts, and then leave. The kids didn’t want to be preached to. However, our approach has always been to do games and activities with the kids relating to the Bible truth we were wanting to share. It took a couple of days, but by Wednesday we had a group of core kids that would participate in what we were doing and would listen to our story after an interesting game.

Thursday was an interesting day. When it was time to be with the kids, most of them were out walking, sitting on a picnic table out front smoking and listening to music on a cell phone, or poking the fire where they were burning brush. There was only a handful in the room to begin our activities. So, I had the others start the craft activity and I went out to stand with them to see if I could encourage them to join us. The head counselor and her sister who lived nearby was there along with some fo the kids. The translators were upstairs, so I used my limited Russian skills to tell about my family, where I was from and to ask them about their lives. After about 20 minutes I told the head counselor that I was discouraged that more kids didn’t want to be with us. She seemed to understand and I left to return back to our group. She must have rounded up the kids and strongly encouraged them to come be with us. So, another 8-10 kids came in and I told a Bible story. It led to some questions and we had a heavy discussion about faith in God.

One girl named Karina was a believer and several older boys in our meeting were atheist. She passionately defended her faith and this led to our lively discussion! With the help of our translators, I let the discussion go on so that questions could be answered. Several conversations were going on at once and even the translators were having difficulty giving me bits and pieces of the general subject of discussion. We were amazed when Karina went to her room and came back with her Bible. She read the chapter we were discussing in the Estonian language! This all set the stage for our final day.

On Friday evening, I wasn’t sure what would happen. It seemed that on Thursday the lines were drawn as to who believed in God and who did not. I’m sure the discussion of religion had never been brought up before in a group setting. But now it was Friday and the moment was set to share the gospel. We played a game, and then I sat them down to talk about it and how the game related to faith in God. They listened as I made the short comparison. The moment was right and created a perfect lead-in to share the Gospel. Tony Leone was ready with his EvangeCube. It was amazing to see how they listened quietly and were intrigued by the cube. It was also amazing that there were no interruptions!

The seeds of Gospel truth were planted that week and I’m sure there will be more lively discussions as they think about their relationship with God. That evening we gave them some small gifts bags that we had prepared for them. We also gave them Bibles of their own that were donated by the local church we were working with. I encouraged them to discover the truth inside that book, but that it was their choice and decision. Knowing how youth keep things private, I told them that if they prayed to God and asked Him into their lives… even while lying alone in bed at night… He will hear their prayers. I may never know if those words encouraged them to choose Christ, but I do know that there are orphans at Kohtla-Nomme that now know how to have eternal life.

Estonia Arrival!

2010-04-14T16:04:00.010+04:00

We all arrived on Saturday evening in Estonia. The Tallinn airport is nice and has only 14 gates! It was a quiet modern airport and easy to get around. We had all our bags and were in a van heading to Johvi within 40 minutes. The trip from Tallinn to the Kohtla-Nomme orphanage near Johvi is was about 2 hours. We stopped half-way to eat some shish-kabob called “Shalik” on our way. We didn’t arrive at the orphanage until nearly 10pm. We were settled in rooms and briefly met the director who was leaving on vacation and needed to be in the airport at 3am. All of us as the staff that were there met around a table for tea to introduce ourselves and allow them to ask questions. All they knew was that some “English” people were coming for a visit! So we explained that we would be here a week and that we were Americans from Texas. We built relationships that evening, but I had really planned to have a meeting like this on Sunday afternoon, not the night we got in! But they had questions and wanted to know more about us. It was about 12am before we got to bed after being up about 30 hours!

Sunday we went to church and worshiped together for about 2.5 hours that morning with a group of about 40 members. Our new friends prepared lunch for us at the church that afternoon. We met with Pastor Artur Pold that afternoon. He was leaving to go to the USA on Wednesday so that would be the only time we got to see him. Later that afternoon they took us around Johvi and we visited some waterfalls pouring into the Gulf of Finland. It was a nice day to do this and with some snow still on the ground in piles, it created a temptation to throw a few snowballs!

On Sunday evening we met with the head counselor and the schedule told to us on Saturday evening was changed. She coordinated with the Sillamae orphanage on the timing on when we would come. For most orphanages, it is better for them for a group of visitors to come in the evening. So, there were competing time slots. Nevertheless, we worked it out and we travel to Sillamae 1 hour to work with those kids from that orphanage from 5-6pm. Then travel to Kokla-Nomee from 6-7pm. Eat a quick dinner and then begin our program with Kokla-Nomee orphanage from 7:30-about 9pm. Then we sometimes get to have some social time with the older kids in the orphanage who are not interested in the crafts that the younger kids would do. It’s a great way to reach them.

Sunday was a great day, but also a day of rest from the long trip. We were excited to begin our activities the next day!

The Grog and The Light

2009-10-21T23:40:00.007+04:00

A game we played at Child in Danger was called “The Grog”. A blindfolded “Grog” would try to freeze tag kids coming into a room with a hidden flashlight. The flashlight was in 3 pieces. They had to find the pieces, put them together to make the flashlight work, and shine it on the “Grog” to make him melt away. The kids loved being chased and it reinforced our Bible lesson about how light can make a dramatic effect on a dark place.

This week, we are making a dramatic effect in a dark place. We have experienced some unusual hardships, changes, and disruptions. Our newly formed SAC Prayer Team is activity praying for us while we are on mission. Many that receive the SAC Prayers Request e-mail update are also praying for us. These prayers are making a difference!

On Friday, October 16, we made plans for a tea for the older children at Child in Danger. It gave them an opportunity to be more grown-up with and activity that interested them. After an hour of talking I asked them if they wanted to know why we had come. They all responded yes. I told them about our missionary work and then I asked if they would like to know the simple story of how to have eternal life. Again, they all responded yes. I gave a simple presentation of the Gospel. I asked them if they would like to pray and receive Christ and have eternal life. They all responded yes! Four kids were saved that evening at Child in Danger! The light of Christ made a difference in a dark place.

At Lomonosov Children’s Hospital on Wednesday, October 21, when doing crafts with the kids. I shared the Gospel beginning with a flashlight. I asked them what it was. “A flashlight”, they all said. I then tried to turn it on and it didn’t work. I asked them why it didn’t work. After some investigation, they discovered it didn’t have batteries. I picked up a pencil and asked if I put that in the flashlight would that make it work? They responded noooo! I picked up some coins and dramatically tried to put them in the back and I asked would that make it work? They responded noooo! So I reached in my pocket and put in the batteries. It worked! The flashlight needed the right thing inside to make it shine its light. I then explained in the same way you need Jesus to allow God to shine His light in the world. I explained how they could receive Jesus and carefully explained that a prayer would be the start of a relationship with him. I prayed and 3 of the 6 kids said they prayed to receive Jesus. Again, the light made a difference in a dark place!

At the Boys Home in Petrohof, the week has been an attempt to tame the wild. Probably it’s better to say it’s something like herding a school of fish with a couple of little nets! These at-risk boys at this school have never been visited by a foreign team. Nothing went right on the first day. There was more cooperation in the comedy classroom classic TV drama called, “Welcome Back Kotter”! Our approach on Tuesday had to be changed radically. The Bible Study lessons I had written were dismissed. We had Pastor Andre explain the Gospel directly to the kids using bead bracelets. A grab of bracelets lead to some older kids have 4 or 5 bracelets on their wrists. Other kids had none, but the message was shared despite a very disruptive environment. Wednesday was a bit better. I had made up a schedule of rotation between Games, Crafts, and Bible Lessons. I split the older kids from the younger kids, but some still floated in and out and with other groups. In the Bible class, I had brought on of the guys from the Drug Rehab Center to give his personal testimony. The kids were surprised. In the younger group, I had about 16 kids listen intently as he shared his testimony of drug use, prison, and a messed up life until he found Jesus. His testimony was in Russian, but you could hear a pin drop as he shared. The boys sat quietly for 20 minutes! After he finished, several of the kids surrounded him and shook his hand or gave him a hug thanking him for coming to visit them. It made an impact. Most of the older boys didn’t show up, but one boy did and Victor shared. This one boy was amazed listened and asked many questions. Slowly, the light of Christ is beginning to make a difference in this dark place!

At the same time, the peace of God has come upon me and I feel that things are going well and we are doing what God has set before us.

More Changes!

2009-10-12T23:31:00.008+04:00

Our first day of ministry in St. Petersburg brought more changes. Why should I be surprised? It’s a mission trip and you are supposed to be flexible!

We all went to Children’s Hospital #15 this morning ready to meet kids and do ministry. After several delays, we were finally in the activity room to begin a craft at 11:45am, however we would only be given until 12pm and then we would need to leave. Our team was able to minister to 8 kids with a craft project that took most of the time. However, as we were making plans for the next day, we were told that Americans need to have a ten day quarantine! They were afraid that some of us would be carriers of the swine flu and they wanted to make sure their children didn’t catch it. It seems that the hospital had a bad experience a couple of weeks ago that caused them to make this new rule in the past few days. So, since none of us have been here for 10 days yet, we are ineligible to come back. Again, it seemed that we were knocked out of our planned morning activity. Two weeks ago the Crimson Sail Shelter canceled due to government activities with the kids, and now our back-up plan to minister at the Children’s Hospital has been thwarted. Change and flexibility… that’s the essence of a mission trip!

Later that afternoon, we all ended up at Child in Danger. There were 13 children waiting on us to do activities. They were a great group! We were able to do a craft together, play some games, and lead an age appropriate Bible Story with the kids. We attempted to get them to memorize the focus Bible verse, but only one child was able to memorize the Russian verse from a small poster. Of course, more kids became much more attentive once I gave two Dum Dum pops to the one boy! We explained that we would be there all week and ended our time together in prayer.

During our craft, I was able to talk to the director and found out that 7 of the younger kids are at an age where they don’t go to school. So, with that we decided to come to the Child in Danger Shelter in the morning, play with the younger kids, go to lunch, and then go back and minister to all the kids with crafts, stories, and Bible Stories. So, now all is well and we will be spending all our time with the kids from Child In Danger. That a change I can do!

The other major change is the weather. Today it began snowing as we arrived at the Children’s Hospital. As we came in the snow came down harder and harder. By the time we had to leave, the snow was almost blowing sideways and was beginning to stick on the grassy areas. The sidewalks were full of slush and our coats were getting wet. It snowed for more than 5 hours! It was the big thick flakes that are great for making snowballs. Of course, you know what happened next!

Certainly there are lots of changes here. I’m sure there are more to come!

Last Day in Sosnovo

2009-05-04T04:43:00.002+04:00

Time goes quickly and the last day was upon us too soon! We started off with our Bible Story, but today it was going to be a Gospel Presentation. Lots of kids in Russia have seen the Gospel Bead Bracelets as a way of presenting the Gospel, but only a few from the Day Center knew the meaning behind the colored beads on bracelets they would make later in the hour. I’ve done this presentation before know that I have to be simple and quick as there are always distractions. This was no different, but the kids were attentive and listened as I spoke and Pastor Slava translated for me.

As I was explaining all the beads, I was praying that the Lord would give me the right words to say that would be translated in a way they could understand so that they could know Jesus. I also tried to determine if it was right to lead them in a prayer at the end for those that wanted to be saved. Sometimes I don’t as I don’t feel the attention of the group is right or if the hearts don’t seem to be open. However, this time the stage seemed to be set just right and I sensed the kids having an open heart to hear the message. I prayed a simple prayer and then asked if any of them had prayed that prayer for the first time. I was glad to see six hands go up! I felt these were honest confessions and that they had wanted a relationship with Christ! I was so pleased!

After our presentation, the kids made Friendship Bracelets with the color beads as a reminder of the meaning behind the beads. The kids also memorized the verse from John 3:16 and were awarded prizes for memorizing the daily verse. Then we added up the number of stars each kid received during the week and who would win prizes. Winners were selected and presented at the closing.

We were treated to a short show of songs, dance, and a cute skit! Then it was time to award the winners of the week of competition. Five winners were selected and the kids got more that a piece of candy for their accomplishment! Four of the winner received a framed picture and the winner of the memory verse competition won a soccer ball! That soccer ball was very treasured and he had all the SAC Team members sign it as a memory of the event!

After this the kids were presented with t-shirts that I was able to round up. They were leftover from a previous mission trip and there was enough to give to the kids at the Day Center as I had no room in my bags to bring t-shirts like I normally do. In each bag I placed a copy of the ‘Book of John’ in Russian that Pastor Slava had on hand in the storage room. The kids seemed pleased, although it was not as much as what we had given before. But no one complained… even when the t-shirt wasn’t their size. Nadezhda, the Day Center director also presented us with hand-made gifts from the church.

A few days later after we had left, Pastor Slava had stayed in Sosnovo to attend Sunday services. He told me that 4 of those 6 had come to church that morning! They were seeking! The young preacher who had come to Sosnovo to preach was surprised by the number of youth that had come to the service. Pastor Slava told me that he adjusted his message to address these youth that had come! They are now talking about starting a youth ministry at the church!

The long term work of a dedicated Day Center director, noticeable building improvements, the happiness they felt participating in the events of the week caused hearts to change and the fruits of Christian labor to be manifested! “Slava Bogum” (Praise God!)

Sosnovo Improvements

2009-05-04T03:53:00.002+04:00

In the four years we have been coming to the Day Center, it has always been cold inside. Often the kids and all of us would keep our coats on because the electric heaters could not keep the drafty old building warm enough. It was also very costly to run these electric heaters. Well, that all changed this week!

Recently the city of Sosnovo had been given money from the central government for the region that was used to make improvements to the city infrastructure. This included remodeling several city building, making street improvements, and connecting building to a central heating system operated by the city. In Russia, it’s more normal for public buildings to be connected to hot water pipes that run throuogh radiators in the buildings. This is how they heat most of the buildings. In Sosnovo, the public building had not been connected to the city hot water system and therefore had none of this heat. The week we were doing ministry there, city workers were installing hot water radiators in each of the rooms in the Day Center! Now the kids can truly come to a safe AND warm place and not have to keep their coats on! This will also allow Nadezhda to open up other connecting rooms that has a ping pong table (that SAC purchased a couple of years ago) and she can monitor all rooms with doors open. They couldn’t keep the doors open before as they couldn’t afford to heat those rooms. In addition, this will save the Day Center in electrical costs and reduce some of their expenses in a troubled economy. The new heaters should be turned on this week!

Another problem was the huge mud puddle around the entrance to the Day Center. The small area in front has always had poor drainage and when the snow melted or it rained, it would always pool up in front of the Day Center. Pastor Slava said that a couple cubic meters or gravel would be a big help and cost only about 1000 rubles ($30) per meter. Lenoid, the deacon at the church, ordered the gravel and it was dumped just about the time we needed to start the Bible Study… of course! But the kids once they saw the gravel they all jumped in and began to help spreading it. We only had four shovels and a couple of buckets, but somehow everyone got involved and helped. One boy named Igor had a shovel was asked by another boy for his turn to help. Igor said, “Not on your life!” He wanted to keep that shovel and help!

Two other boys in school uniforms (as some public school require) were asked to join in, and they said they had just finished working hard at school on some cleanup. Nevertheless, after putting their backpacks inside, they quickly joined in the spreading of the gravel. Within about 15 minutes all the kids had spread the gravel and there was now a path to walk on without getting your shoes wet!

The kids take great pride in “their” Day Center and were encouraged by the improvements!

Sosnovo Games!

2009-05-04T03:39:00.001+04:00

I was a little worried about this trip regarding games. Usually on a mission trip I can bring some supplies and things to play with and leave with the Day Center, but on this trip I only had one bag that I could pack and take with me overseas and this would need to hold all the crafts, Bible Study material, and anything else I could fit in. I didn’t have room for a lot of games, so I was concerned things wouldn’t work out… but I was wrong!

There are many games that can be played without supplies! One game we played had all the kids sit at a table in a circle and place their hands on the table. But their hands had to crossover the person next to them. Then they had to slap their hand in order around the circle. Sounds simple enough, but visually the order is confused when you have the hands crossed. I think the kids could have played this game for hours! They loved it and there was no supplies needed.

Then we had them in a room and we had them mill about. We would call out a number (in Russian) and they would have to make a group according to that number. Well, that game got pleasantly violent as kids grappled for one another to create a group. You will see on the pictures the kids in a clump on the floor having the best of time!

One of my favorites is a game I call “Head Plant” although that’s not the real name… its just the name I gave it! The kids are in two groups of five or more. We would call out, “5 hands, 4 feet, and 2 heads” and the kids in each group would have to configure themselves so that their group had only 5 hands, 4 feet, and 2 heads touching the floor. It’s a crazy game and again no supplies were needed!

Lastly, Tina and the translators worked on a game for several days that we would do on Thursday. We had two teams and each team would roll a dice to see what number they would get. The kids in each group would run to find a paper pinned on the wall that matched that number. We placed 50 of these numbered games around the outside of the building in various order. On each numbered paper was an activity that the team needed to complete before they could go on to the next numbered game. Each of the 50 games were things like, “count backwards from 50 (in Russian of course), wrap a group member in toilet paper head to toe, or take a bite from an apple hanging from the basketball hoop.

Again, this took little supplies and required only a big imagination! A BIG thanks to Tina who led the games and created a lot of fun for all of us!

Sosnovo Memory Verse

2009-05-04T03:01:00.002+04:00

At the beginning of the week, we told the kids that they would have an opportunity to memorize the Bible verse that we would be discussing that day to be eligible for a prize. Surprisingly, most ALL the kids joined in this competition. All of them had a great memory and they all would do this each day with eagerness! Of course, the treasure box full of candy like M&M’s, Twix, and other Russian candy that was available was certainly an enticement for all ages.

After the Bible Lesson, the kids would see the Memory Verse that Nadezhda would put on a poster so they could memorize. Pastor Slava and Sergey would manage this and get the kids to say and memorize the verse. The first day was easy… they only had to memorize Monday’s verse, but on Tuesday they had to memorize both Monday and Tuesday’s verse! It seems I had t make a couple of trips to the store to buy more candy!

At the end of the week, we had a competition for those that memorized all five verses and would be the first to recite them. We also had prizes for those who helped the most, showed the best servant attitude, and several other prizes. I was pleasantly surprised that the kids would participate in this so well and show so much enthusiasm!

Bible Stories at the Day Center!

2009-04-26T23:25:00.002+04:00

After a couple worship songs in Russian led by Pastor Slava, we would start with a short Bible lesson that involved a game or some devise to make them think. Sentence by sentence I would read the story and Pastor Slava would translate. The first day we talked about the Napkin Story and the resurrection of Christ. Then the rest of the week we studied the book of Samuel with topics of “Fear and Courage”, “Trusting God”, “Vengeance and Mercy”, and then the Gospel presentation using the Friendship / Bead bracelets.

There are always a lot of distractions when teaching a Bible Lesson. A small game to drive home the point of a Bible truth always helps. Despite the long-winded minister (me!), the kids listened. They knew that I would play games with them, help them with crafts, and that I was the one responsible for bringing this week of activity together. If I could get them to see one Bible truth through our lesson, then I felt that they were getting the message.

On Monday, I used a purple ribbon and two paperclips as a devise to show them how God wants a relationship with them. I had the kids write Jesus in Russian in the center of this ribbon. I held up one paperclip and said this represents God, and the other paperclip saying this represented each of them. Then I placed the paperclip over the ribbon in a certain way that when the ends were pulled, the paperclips would be joined together. The ribbon, representing Jesus would join the paperclips representing God and each of them together. It was a way to introduce Jesus as the key that tied us together with God. The kids thought the little trick was interesting and I hope held their attention as I talked about what we were doing there that week.

One day, we were talking about Trusting God and I remembered a story I heard from the Director last April 2008 when we were there. Two boys broke their neighbor’s door at their apartment. The boys (about 10 years old) were worried that the police would be called and they would go to jail. They went and talked to Nadezhda, the director of the Day Center, and they all prayed together. They were depending on God and trusting in Him to help them. As I retold this story, it probably embarrassed the two boys there, but they remembered the incident and remembered that they sought after God in their hour of need and trusted in them. I told the boys and the group listening that I was impressed that they went to God with their problem and trusted in Jesus first!

On Friday, I shared the Gospel and explained the meaning of salvation. The kids listened intently. I went through each of the beads as a devise for explaining that God wanted a relationship with us. I did my best to keep it simple and short so I wouldn’t lose their attention. In the end, I asked them if I could pray a prayer and then if they wanted to, they could pray a prayer too to ask Christ into their lives. After the prayer, I asked if this was the first time any of them had prayed a prayer like that. Five kids raised their hands. I was so pleased. I’m careful not to just pray a prayer and take names and numbers for some ministry statistics. Sometimes Russian kids will pray the prayer just to please the American. I felt the moment was right and the attention was there. They might not understand all things, but I thought that the hands that were raised were honest confessions. I told them all welcome to the family of God and that one day we will all spend eternity together, along with Pastor Slava and members of my team in heaven together and remember this day!

Crafts at the Day Center!

2009-04-26T23:06:00.003+04:00

On Monday our time together with the kids from the Day Center started at about 3pm. They would come from school to the center and Nadezhda would have sandwiches made of a piece of French bread, a slice of cheese, and maybe a slice of pork. They would also have tea or juice if it was available. A few months ago the Day Center lost their funding to feed the kids. Pastor Slava had set up an arrangement for the kids to eat a meal at local café that would feed them yesterday’s leftovers. Now, Nadezhda the director goes and buys about 300p of food (about $9) and feed about 18 kids when they came. I’ve been told for some of these at-risk kids, it is their only meal of the day.

After some songs, prayer, and a Bible Study, we would lead them in several crafts that we had planned throughout the week.

Our craft on Monday directly related to the Bible Lesson I taught that day. Since it had been Easter in Russia the day before, I talked about the resurrection of Jesus and the burial cloths… specifically the napkin that was placed over the face of Jesus. According to John 20:7, “…(Peter) saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.” In Jewish tradition and in current table manners etiquette, the napkin that is folded means that “I’m coming back”! I talked to the kids about the subtle message regarding the folded napkin and then we decorated cloth napkins as a reminder of the resurrection of Jesus. In the pictures you will notice that many of the napkins show the initials “XB”. In the Russian alphabet, these letters translate to the phrase “Christ has Risen!”

On another day, we had the kids make denim bookmarks. The kids attached foam pieces of cutouts in a western theme to create their own bookmark. The kids seem to really enjoy some of the crafts that we brought. Thanks to Linda Howell for putting this craft and many others together!

One of the more complicated crafts was the foam Log Cabin. This kit had 25-30 small pieces that had to be placed on the project in a certain order. Tina, our volunteer that is living in St. Petersburg for a year from Sweden, is an experienced children’s’ minister. She took them through step by step to construct this cabin. The kids seemed to love the project as they just don’t have crafts like that here. By the end of our time, we had a whole town of log cabins!
Another hit was the friendship bracelets that they tied using the color beads. IN the Bible Story time before that on Friday, I explained the meaning of the beads and then they made their own bracelet as a reminder of their relationship with Christ. The teens seemed to enjoy knowing how to make these and this is something they can make after we leave. We left extra supplies so the kids could make their own. For the smaller kids, we gave the Gospel Bead kits with the leather string as this was easier to construct than the friendship bracelets.

The crafts are great relationship builders. It’s an opportunity to work together, to create something new, learn a new skill, help each other, and have fun together. That feeling of fun will stick with them as they learn more about the Christian faith as they grow older. It doesn’t have to be perfect, they just have to try. It’s like the Christian faith… you don’t have to be perfect or successful… just obedient.

Sosnovo Meals Provided!

2009-04-26T22:30:00.004+04:00

At dinner on Sunday night, Lenoid (the deacon), told us that all our meals would be provided for us this week. We were stunned! We had planned to feed everyone at the local café, but they offered this as a ministry of their church. So, each day during the week, Lenoid would pick us all up and talke us to his “Dacha”. A Dacha is an individual home usually outside the city. Usually it’s anything that is not an apartment and is individually heated. The pictures of the home and the table inside are of Lenoid & Galina’s dacha about 10 minutes from the center of town.

On Monday, they asked us if we liked BBQ. Being from Texas, the answer is a simple YES! They cooked outside on a little BBQ using birch wood as starter and then coal (not charcoal) for fuel. In addition, we heated tea using a “Samovar”. This is a Russian Tea kettle that is stuffed in the center with hot coals to heat the water. As the water is heating, a stove pipe is placed on top. This is a very traditional way of making tea in Russia. You can’t tell it from the picture, but the temperature was in the 20’s and it was cold!

Russian hospitality is wonderful and special. We were guests and we were treated with honor. Despite the economic hardships, Lenoid and Galina sacrificed their time and money to feed us. I think Pastor Slava told me that Lenoid said something to the effect of serving in Christ requires a degree of sacrifice. Each meal was a three course serving. It always started with a large bowl of soup, then a dinner plate of potatoes and some kind of meat, then tea or “comport”. Comport is a drink that is made from either berries or fruit added to a large jar with water to make a fruit flavored drink. When I’ve had it before, it wasn’t very good, but Galina’s was excellent! I preferred that over tea most evenings!

Lenoid teased us one evening by saying that we needed to chop some wood before we could eat! So, I think we surprised them when Pastor Slava, Andre, and I all went down to chop some wood. It was a birch wood and it split easy without a wedge. Of course, it was a photo opportunity!

Afterwards, we went in to wash up for the meal. In the kitchen was a yellow sink with a device I hadn’t seen before. The small bucket above the sink contained water. The metal rod coming below the bucket was lifted up to allow the water to flow like a faucet. The Russians all laughed when I couldn’t figure out how to use it. They laughed more when I took a picture! Our meals during the week were a highlight. It was a great time of rest, fellowship, and sometimes singing some Russian hymns if Pastor Slava brought his guitar. Before each meal we would all stand and pray. Several languages were spoken at the table. That week we prayed in English, Russian, Czech, Norwegian, and Swedish. It was great to pray together with Christian friends around the world and come together as old friends. After the meal and just before Lenoid would take us home, we stood in honor of Lord and prayed again. Certainly it was a special time for all of us.

Trip to Sosnovo, April 19

2009-04-26T22:11:00.002+04:00

On Sunday afternoon, April 19, we all met at the train station to take the hour and forty minute trip to the town of Sosnovo, just north of St. Petersburg. The train trip is interesting and it makes several stops along the way. Vendors are going through each car as it travels selling everything from crab flavored potato chips to ice cream. I opted for the ice cream bars!
When we arrived in Sosnovo, Lenoid, a deacon of the Sosnovo Baptist Church, picked us and our luggage up and took us to our hotel. Shortly after we settled in, we walked to the Day Center which was close by. This Day Center is run by Youth for Christ and the director is Nadezhda, one that we’ve worked with for the past 4 years.

Dinner was waiting for us at the Day Center and we had a great time of fellowship that evening when we arrived. Pastor Slava, who used to be the pastor there, had arrived earlier that morning.

The hotel is basic, but comfortable. Even though we had made reservations several months ago and they knew we were coming, the heat wasn’t working in the large room, the hot water faucet was broken in one room, the vertical blinds were missing about half of their blinds, and we were told to keep the doors closed so the four cats that also resided there wouldn’t enter our rooms! Once there we were asked to pray for Andre’s mom. Andre is the assistant to Nadezhda for the Day Center. Due to the global financial crisis and a reduction of funding for Youth for Christ, his position was eliminated. In addition, his wife and he had recently separated. But far worse than that, his mom disappeared two weeks ago without a trace. The police are involved and haven’t found any clues. Unfortunately, Baptists are looked upon here as a “sect”. Rumors in this small town have flourished as they had heard that Andre’s mom recently joined the Baptist Church here in Sosnovo. Some have even speculated of the Baptist “sacrificing” her. Pastor Slava said that it’s sometimes hard to believe that we live in the 21st Century and people are thinking in ways that they did in the 1600’s! Please pray for Andre and that his mom would be found safe and sound.

Camp Gideon, Estonia - April 17

2009-04-18T22:47:00.002+04:00

This camp is on about 75 acres on the coast of the Gulf of Finland about 20 minutes north of the town of Johvi. The camp used to be a Pioneer Camp in Soviet times where kids learned about communism and atheism. Currently the camp is under major reconstruction, yet they still have summer camps out there each summer attracting more that 200 youth at a time!

The Guest House can hold 30 members of a mission team in a private area with 2-3 per room. There is a big church that they are renovating on the inside and their large worship center overlooks the Gulf of Finland. It has a beach, a wooden basketball court, a soccer field, an outside stage, and a swimming pool that they hope one day that they will be able to repair.

Near the rest of the camp buildings they have an area set aside for Scouts. The multicolored “A” framed buildings in the pictures is that Scout Camp.

This property is owned by the church in Johvi and is a great location for a camp. Folks are in the USA now to raise support for the reconstruction of this camp. Pastor Artur told me that this camp is the only one of its kind in Estonia. There is a lot of potential for ministry at this camp for any mission teams!

The Orphanage at Kohtia-Jarva - April 17

2009-04-18T22:13:00.005+04:00

This orphanage is also about a 20 minute drive from the town of Johvi. It’s in the center of town with about 50 kids living in this orphanage ages 6-20. There are 5 family groups in this orphanage with about 9-10 kids per group. About 50% are teens with about two-thirds being boys.

I spoke with a lady named Svetlana Kritena that was very happy to take us around, although she was not the director. The director was unavailable at the time, so we took a quick tour and I asked her some quick questions to get a feel for their receptiveness to groups coming. They do have a large stage and can set up a large screen and a laptop projector so the entire orphanage could attend an event or movie. They have received other groups in the past from Sweden, Finland, and Holland.

The kids’ normal schedule is to come home from school and then do homework in their family groups. Many assignments are sent via computers as the kids in this orphanage have 3 or more computers per family group. This homework goes on until 6pm. Svetlana said that it would be better for groups to visit after that time.

The orphanage is set up for family groups and for each child to have a room of their own as well. In a way, it seemed like a college dorm. Many of the kids are social orphans, meaning they have parents but there is some problem at home. The church in Johvi visits them occasionally and they seemed to get visits from the three other countries on a regular basis. My initial impression is that they are better taken care of than some orphanages, but they seem to be very open to a group coming.

The Orphanage at Kohtla-Nomme - April 17

2009-04-18T16:33:00.002+04:00

This orphanage is about a 20 minute drive from the town of Johvi and where we were staying at Pastor Artur’s church. His daughter Liana and church volunteer Andre escorted us for the day to these places we needed to see.

After driving through a row of cottage homes, we turned and there nested in a forest of tall pine trees was this small orphanage for about 36 kids. Although the building is older the orphanage itself was begun in 2002. All the kids are Russian’s and range in age from 6-20 years old. Older children are allowed to stay longer if they continue their education. Like all other orphanages I’ve seen in Estonia, this one was based on a family setting as well. There are 4 family groups in this orphanage, each with about 7-8 kids in each group. Each group has 4 staff members that rotate on duty every 24 hours.

We saw a very large pile of cut wood near the orphanage and we were told they used the wood for heating the whole orphanage. I’m sure there is a lot of wood chopping that goes on there! They are also in walking distance of a small hill that they use for downhill skiing. There is no lift, so I’m sure one would walk up the small incline and then ski down. There was still snow on this slope!

I met with the second director of the orphanage, whose name was Mait (pronounced “Mite”) as the first director was on vacation. They were very open to us coming and sharing the Gospel and doing activities with the kids. They would be willing to do a cultural performance as they have a dance instructor. They even offered for us to stay at the orphanage for the week with our team. They even have wireless internet access that would allow us to connect.
I was very impressed by this orphanage. I could see a team of 4 making a great impact here during a week of ministry.

Pastor Artur's Church in Johvi, Estonia - April 16

2009-04-18T16:10:00.004+04:00

After visiting the Narva Orphanage and driving by a Shelter in Narva that we didn’t have time to see, we drove westward to Sillamae, about a 25 minute drive from Narva. There, Milan and I were going to be passed off to Pastor Artur who would drive us back to Johnvi (pronounced “Ickvey”). There was a Children’s home in Sillamae we were hoping to see, but Pastor Artur needed to get back to town as he had a meeting. Pastor Artur is very influential in Johvi with his outreach to the community. He is a member of the City Council and that was the meeting he had to attend.

Artur took us to his church and gave us a brief tour. Then he showed us where we were staying. It was a very comfortable room that has a separate bathroom and even internet access. That gave us some time to rest from the trip as both of us had to wake up at 5am to get to the bus that left for Estonia at 7:15am. So, the two hours did us some good.

Artur returned at about 6pm and members had fixed us dinner. We spoke for a while and then went to a service that begun at 7pm. Artur asked me to share a little about the SAC ministry and what we were doing. In his sermon, Pastor Artur talked about seed planting. I spoke about the same things with regards to our seed planting among the orphans we minster to.

After the service we made plans to visit several places in the surrounding area of places that their church was directly involved in or where they visited often. On the schedule for Friday was to visit two orphanages, a camp, and a Day Center for Disabled Children that is due to open in September. All this was planned before heading back to St. Petersburg on Friday afternoon!

The Orphanage in Narva, Estonia - April 16

2009-04-18T15:57:00.004+04:00

We arrived at the Narva Orphanage within about 10 minutes from being picked up at the bus station. Daniel, our driver and escort who knew the director of this orphanage, introduced us to the director and we talked about the orphanage and the challenges they have.

These orphanages are a little different that the ones in Russia. The first thing I noticed is that all the orphanages are arranged in a family setting. So, one wing or portion of a floor is set up more like an apartment with a room as a family dining room and kitchen, a living room, and each child has a room of their own. Depending on the orphanage and their capacity, they may share a room, but I didn’t see that happen too often. About 50% of the 31 kids in this orphanage are teens. About 80% of them have parents, but have been turned over to the orphanage due to alcoholism or drug addicted parents.

Narva, Estonia is about 80% Russian and the rest Estonian. 96% of the city speaks Russian, but more of the city government is employed by Estonians. The officials want them to speak Estonian as there is political tension between Russia and Estonia. The orphans in the facility are all Russian and there is additional stigma attached to these kids as they are living in Estonia where the preference is given to Estonian speakers. They are trying to integrate by trying to get funding for Estonian language teachers, but the motivation for speaking Estonian among Russians is low.

The current economic crisis and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s have made living in Narva difficult. Main industries have dried up and funding for orphanages is minimal. The orphanage only gets about $110-$120 per child per year for their needs beyond food and shelter. Nevertheless, they are all friendly, and open to us coming and sharing the Gospel freely.

Trip to Estonia, April 16-17

2009-04-18T15:42:00.003+04:00

On Thursday, April 16, I had made plans to make an exploratory trip to Estonia to investigate the possibility of SAC doing mission trips to this country. It’s been on my heart for about a year that SAC needs to expand to other areas and other areas within the former Soviet Union. A few months ago I looked into going to the Ukraine. However, the doors to possible contacts never seemed to materialize. In contrast, the doors seemed to be wide open for possibilities in Estonia. This trip seemed to come together easily and we were able to visit 7 different possible ministry sites in several cities, easily arranged transportation, translation, and people to connect with. We were also offered a place to stay at a church in Johvi, Estonia (pronounced “Ickvey”).

Milan, a long time friend and translator for SAC, and I took a bus from St. Petersburg to Estonia. It was a couple of hours before we began the process of crossing the border. Our passports and visas were checked on the Russian side before we passed to the Estonian side where our documents were checked again. The whole process for our bus took about an hour or more. The border crossing is right at a river where there are two opposing medieval castles on each side of the river. I would have loved to tour those castles, but it indicated to me that this has been a border for a long time.

Once we were across the border, it was a short drive to the town of Narva, Estonia. At the bus station, we were met by Salvation Army Captain Daniel Henderson. Daniel was happy to pick us up despite his busy schedule. We were fast friends and he took us to the first orphanage who was expecting us.

The Crimson Sail Shelter, April 15

2009-04-18T15:25:00.008+04:00

On Wednesday, Anya and I went to shelter that she and Nancy Durrett visited when Nancy was here in March. Anya had made connections with this place and it was right around the corner from one of the Road of Life Transition Homes. It’s a small shelter called “The Crimson Sail”. They are a part of the ministry started in 1971 called “Mission Possible” begun out of Denton, Texas!

Quickly we found the place and began our visit. Vadim is the director and he and his wife are the house parents for this shelter that looks more like a family home than anything else. They have a capacity for 8 kids, but at that time had just 5 school-aged children. We visited a while and then we all sat at the table for a snack and some tea while Vadim and I continued to talk about the ministry. Since our time was short, I could see that the kids quickly finished their snack and were listening to the English being spoken at the table. I used that opportunity to engage the kids in some quick crafts.

In my satchel I had planned a few crafts depending on how the time went. I introduced them to a little eye opener and little trick with a ribbon and a couple of paper clips. Then we did some scratch art crosses and I gave them some Gospel Bead bracelets and explained the meaning of each bead as I shared the Gospel. The kids seemed to really enjoy the visit and they were happy to see Anya return. I will return to this shelter hopefully one more time before I go back to the USA. This was a great shelter with a sweet group of kids and staff that I look forward to doing ministry with in the future!

Pastor Andre’s Drug Rehab Center

2009-04-11T11:57:00.004+04:00

On our visit to the Lomonosov Baby Home, Pastor Andre of the Lomonosov Baptist Church was there to greet us and had lunch prepared for us when we arrived. While there, we discussed his plans for the summer which include a family camp, a children’s camp, and a camp for the Drug Rehab Center residents. We also discussed plans for our team that will come in October. We will continue to work at the Baby Home, the Children’s Hospital, and the Drug Rehab Center. In addition, Pastor Andre told me that the director of the Orphanage in Petrohof that we visited briefly last fall are waiting for our arrival. So we are looking forward to a great trip this coming October.

Pastor Andre has continued to work on the renovations inside the church. We noticed that he had put new walls up in the staircase area and had finished the staircase. He was just finishing installing some new flooring when we arrived. The biggest news is that the wall heaters in the kitchen and the rest of the building are now working! They had fought with the city for over 3 years on getting the proper documents before the heaters could be connected. Now there is heat in the building!

I visited the ladies from the Drug Rehab Center that we had worked with for the first time this last fall. They were anxious for us to come again! They had been using the leftover craft materials to make gifts for friends and continue to create things from what we taught them last fall. Several of the residents had graduated from the program and a few that we knew from this last trip are still there. Two of the girls who were residents last year, will become the directors this next year beginning in June. I could tell that they were encouraged by our visit on Friday and even the new girls seemed to know about our planned visit in the fall.

Lomonosov Baby Home to Stay Open!

2009-04-11T11:41:00.003+04:00

On Friday, April 10th, Vica and I went to the Lomonosov Baby Home. Currently there are no children at the Baby Home. They have a staff of 10 of the 100 people they had before. Most of these 10 are financial personal. The Baby Home is currently under renovation to comply with the fire code issues identified by the local fire department. There are a lot of worker doing construction, replacing ceilings, linoleum floors, and many other things. All things are due to be mostly complete by June 1.

Due to the media reports, TV interviews, and the outcry pleas of support, local businesses have volunteered materials, workers, and money to make the needed repairs for the home. Private and Commercial support was given and they are fully funded to make these renovations. The staff has been notified that they will return. This 90 day period to comply with the fire inspector will be their “vacation”. Antonia reported that in the meantime, these same staff members have “volunteered their time to help with the Baby Home remodeling. Some of their workers and their husbands helped pull down the old ceiling so a new one could be installed. Five volunteers also spend the night each night so looters do not take things from the building. The Baby Home plans to open with a celebration on June 1st.

Antonia said that none of the children that have been moved will return back to this orphanage. She said that until June 1, children are being held in local Children’s hospitals and cared for there until the Baby Home is complete. So, the hospitals and some orphanages are full and are awaiting the opening of the Baby Home.

Later this fall, the Lomonosov Baby Home will celebrate their 60 years as a Baby Home officially on October 29. The celebration will occur on Friday, October 30, 2009.

Front Page News on Baby Home

2009-04-11T11:10:00.005+04:00

The following article was reported in the St. Petersburg Times, on March 27, 2009. It give a good background as to what the Lomonosov Baby Home has been going through these past few weeks. The post following this will give an update from our meeting on April 10, 2009.

Lomonosov Orphanage Appeals for Aid to Prevent Closure
St. Petersburg Times, on March 27, 2009

The staff of the Lomonosov orphanage in the St. Petersburg suburb of Lomonosov are calling for help to save it from closure.

“If we meet the demands of the fire inspectorate by June 1 of this year we’ll be able to save our children’s home,” said Antonia Petrova, head doctor of the orphanage.”

“In order to do that we need to raise about 2.5 million rubles ($75,000) or for someone to donate the necessary construction materials to us,” Petrova told The St. Petersburg Times on Thursday.

If we don’t manage that, we won’t be able to look after children here anymore, and we’ll have to lay off 100 staff from our orphanage,“ she said.

The work of the orphanage has been temporally stopped for a period of 90 days by a court ruling made on the basis of a report of the Petrodvrets District Fire Inspectorate.

The inspections found numerous safety violations in the wooden building, which was built in 1892. The majority of those violations can be resolved within the time period set by the court and the Fire Inspectorate has said that it is ready to assist in eradicating the violations in order to prevent the orphange’s closure.

Earlier the Leningrad Oblast Health Committee ruled that the orphanage be closed and that its children be distributed among other orphanages, the decision being made in the belief that the Fire Inspectorate was certain to close the institution down.

As a result, all 95 children under four years of age were moved to various other orphanages in the Leningrad Oblast. They include 22 HIV-positive children who were receiving special care at the Lomonosov Orphanage.

In interviews on Thursday, the orphanage staff and volunteers said that the removal of the children would have a negative impact, especially upon those who have been diagnosed HIV-positive. Lomonosov Orphanage is the only specialized establishment in Leningrad Oblast tailored to meet the needs of children suffering from such illnesses.

“If we remove the fire violations we won’t be able to return all of the children that we had to transfer to the other orphanages, but we’ll be able to get our HIV-positive children back, received new children and keep 100 staff at the orphanage,” Petrova said.

Petrova explained that in view of the current economic crisis it would be “a tragedy” to lose the orphanage’s staff and leave such qualified individuals without jobs.

In order to conform with the fire safety regulations, the orphanage needs to replace it’s linoleum flooring with a more fire resistant material and fit its kitchens with fire-proof windows and ceilings, among other works.

The staff at the orphanage are appealing for money, building materials and labor fromk those who are willing to help.

They hope that construction and repairs companies will respond to their appeal.

If you would like to provide assistance the orphanage’s phone number is (7-812)-422-3759.

Arrival at St. Petersburg Apartment

2009-04-11T10:57:00.005+04:00

My flight was great and it was not crowded which makes flying overseas a lot more comfortable. I arrived in St. Petersburg on Tuesday evening with all my bags and no problems with customs. As a matter of fact, I was off the plane, through passport control, and had my bags in the lobby within about 15 minutes! That’s a new record!

In the last 45 minutes of the flight, a snack lunch was served that included a small chocolate bunny. I thought, should I dare ask… but I did. I asked the stewardess if I could have any extras or if anyone on the plane was not going to eat them, I could give these as gifts to the kids at the orphanage and day center in Sosnovo and use it as a lead-in to explain the real meaning of Easter. When I got off the plane, more were given by the Lufthansa stewardesses. I was thinking… “how am I going to explain this to customs if I’m stopped!“

My son Sergey and his brother-in-law Misha were there at the airport to take me to the apartment/office I usually stay at. Misha has a car and uses it as a taxi. When we arrived, Vica, the Program Manager for SAC was there to open the door and give me a key.

After getting my bags to the room, we all went to dinner at a little café around the corner. The pictures are of the building and street I live on. By 10:30pm I was in bed after being up for 30 hours! I was awake at 3:30am due to jetlag. So, finally at 4:30am I decide to get up and work on my computer and check e-mail.

When I checked e-mail, I learned from a letter that a friend of mine had passed away on the previous Sunday. Homer Reynolds was an attorney in Plano for the last 20 plus years and he helped me develop the legal documents to make SAC an official non-profit and tax-exempt organization. He did all of this free of charge as a way of helping out the SAC ministry. Homer wasn’t that much older than I was. I was shocked and sad to hear of his passing. I’ve know his wife, Sandra for many more years. Sandra went with Hunters’ Glen on our first mission trip to Russia in July of 1999. She saw the seedlings of what would later become SAC starting on that trip. Both Homer and Sandra have been dear friends and supporters of the SAC Ministry. It made my first day in Russia sad and difficult. Please remember to pray for Sandra and her loss of her husband Homer.

"24"

2008-11-05T22:07:00.011+03:00

Like the popular TV show called “24”, I thought I’d share with all of you a typical 24 hours on a mission trip in Russia. This day also includes the evening that the second mission trip team arrives from the USA to do ministry in the town of Lomonosov at the Baby Home, Children’s Hospital, and with a special group of young ladies taken in by the Lomonosov Baptist Church. Here is my version of “24”.

10:20pm: On Friday, October 24th at 10:20pm I am leaving a movie theater with my kids. I had promised Tanya, Dima, and Masha that I would take them to a movie after we ate dinner. We had gone to see the Russian made movie called “Admiral” which is a true dramatized story about the famous Russian General named Aleksandr Kolchak around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. It was an interesting movie, even though I didn’t understand all the dialogue. As we were leaving around the metro, a drunk man about 40 made a pass at Tanya and Masha. They giggled, but I gently moved between them and gave a serious stare that even a drunk could recognize. I escorted them to the tramway (rail car that travels to areas beyond metro stations) to ensure they were safely on the way home. I travelled by metro back to the apartment I was staying at.

10:50pm: I arrive at MIR, an apartment that is run by our partner organization. I do a little packing for the next day as I will transfer to the hotel when the second mission team arrives at the airport on Saturday evening. I’m fortunate to have internet access at this apartment and spend some time checking and answering e-mail.

12:30am: As I crawl into the bottom bunk of a bunk bed that tends to roll slightly to one side, I turn out the lights and go to sleep. The building is on a quiet street allowing me to quickly nod off.

8:30am: A small amount of light drifted into the windows on this cloudy day as I wake up and begin to get ready for the day’s events. Again I check e-mail and eat a banana that I had bought at the local grocery store called “Dixie” the day before.

9:30am: I lock and leave the apartment, press the button to disengage the magnetic lock on the outside door and being my 10 minute walk to the metro station. I get have way there and discover I’ve forgotten my cell phone. I turn around and go back to the apartment and retrieve my phone. That’s going to make me a few minutes late for my appointment at 10am. I hate when that happens!

10:00am: A few minutes after 10am, I arrive at the top of the escalator where I’ve planned to meet an American who was living in St. Petersburg with another ministry. They had invited me to have breakfast with them so we could share about our ministries and what we are doing. I hadn’t met them before, but it’s usually easy to recognize a fellow Christian at the top of the escalator. He would be the only one with a smile. We walk to his apartment and I get to spend a relaxing morning with their family over breakfast as we shared testimonies and about our ministries. Their three young kids were anxious to have the attention of their parents’ new friend.

12:30pm: I travelled back to the MIR apartment and while walking made a cell phone call to a friend who owns a taxi. It’s not really an official taxi, it’s his personal car (a small Russian made car called a Lada) that he uses to supplement his income. It’s a common practice to do this in St. Petersburg. He’s a nice Serbian guy who speaks English that I met through another friend.

1:10pm: At MIR I have just a few minutes before I’m to leave again to meet my daughter Masha to do some shopping for her. I heated some leftover soup Dima had made a few evenings ago, sliced some Russian cheese, and drink some tea. I packed a little too as I knew I wouldn’t have very much time when I arrived back at the apartment. I called Masha and said I would be 15 minutes late.

1:45pm: Finally, I depart the apartment again and head back to the metro. This time, I’m heading two metro stops north to the last metro stop in the northwest part of the city. The metro station is called Komandanski. It’s near where my kids apartment is.

2:15pm: As agreed, I would meet Masha in the metro at the top of the escalator. I made a few cell phone calls as I waited. I knew that Masha would be “fashionably late”. I made my calls without speaking too loud and having my English identify me as an American.

2:20pm: Masha shows up and Tanya has come along as well. We all go shopping as Masha needed to buy a winter coat and some winter shoes. The shoes are those black boots that go up to the knee with a high heal. We find a coat that she is pleased with, but not the shoes. I’m not surprised as I have gone shopping for shoes for Masha before. The last time I think we went to 23 stores before giving up for the day! Though my daughters, God has taught me to walk slowly, walk behind or to the side, and have a lot of patience as they look. It takes a concerted effort on my part!

3:30pm: We go through all the coat and shoe shops in this one mini mall near their home. I’m glad she got the coat, but they are hungry and want to eat. We take a take tramway to a McDonalds near the metro station that’s crowded on this Saturday afternoon.

4:00pm: I had only 30 minutes left with them as I needed to head back to the MIR apartment to gather my bags and await my taxi to the hotel. I leave Tanya and Masha finishing their meal as I head back to the metro. I arrive back at the apartment at 4:25pm

4:30pm: Igor, the taxi driver arrives and we depart MIR for the hotel. As we arrive at the hotel, I see that it is NOT next door to train station as I had been told. It was more like a 15 minute walk! To Russians, a 15 minute walk is “right next door”. I check in and argue with the receptionist and their manager about the need to do the in country registration again since I had already registered. I lost that battle. It seems new rules require the hotel to register ALL international travelers regardless if they had already registered. As they said, it was a stupid rule, but the rule drains my pocket of a few more rubles to perform this required service. I drop the bags in my room and get back to the taxi to head to the Balticskaya Metro. This is also next to the train station that will take us to Lomonosov each morning and evening. As I was dropped off, I had a quick lecture with Igor about being on time to pick me up. He was late last year when I was waiting to depart to go to the airport last August and I almost missed my flight! I negotiate the price of the taxi ride, pay for picking up Tanya at the train station when she arrived from Rostov the week before, and the police payoff I had to pay last August when Igor went down a one-way road in front of the apartment. I hand him some rubles, grab my bag, and head to the metro.

5:20pm: By the time I’m dropped off, it’s 5:20pm and I travel to the south end of the city to the Moscowskaya Metro station. I had agreed to meet Vica, the SAC Program Manager, there to catch a Marchucka to the airport to meet the arriving team.

6:10pm: I arrive at McDonalds about 20 minutes early, get a quick sandwich as I wasn’t sure the team would want dinner. In this crowded McDonalds I was able to find a quick seat. After a few minutes, a couple of ladies sit down with me. It’s a European tradition and custom for strangers to share the same table in a restaurant. They use their broken English to ask me where I am from and what I was doing there. I told them I was here doing charity work in orphanages. They thank me for coming to Russia to do this kind of work with their people. Then, when they find out I’m from America, they ask who I will vote for!

6:30pm: Vica arrives at McDonalds. Vica translates for me so I could say goodbye to the ladies and answer some last questions before we depart for the Airport by Marchucka.

6:45pm: Vica and I arrive at airport. The flight had just landed so we will have a few minutes to wait for them to get their luggage and pass through customs. A few minutes later, the team arrives with all their luggage, but tired from the trip.

7:00pm: The van arrives and we are off to hotel. On the way I welcome them to Russia and explain some sights and what we will do over the next few minutes to get to the hotel and get settled. On the way, we eat some pumpkin bread provided by one of Holly McGee’s friends, talk with driver, and stop to exchange money. While there, Shawn McGee makes a request to get 200 Russian coins for a project after he returns home. The lady at the exchange counter was a little surprised at the request, and laughed with us about the bag of coins we put in a shopping bag!

7:30pm: We all arrive at the hotel and move all the luggage inside. I pay the driver 1800 rubles for van taxi ride and I began the process of checking in them all into the hotel and providing their passports so they could all be registered in the country.

8:20pm: When I go to the rooms, I see that the McGee suite for their family of four only has two beds. I call the front desk and they assure me that two other roll-away beds will be delivered soon. The next day we discovered one of the ministry bags missing from the room. I suspected it was taken while we were at dinner, but I can’t prove it. I spent the entire week working with the hotel to find the missing bag. Security tapes, electronic room key logs, and other things were reviewed. We counted 10 large bags making it all the way to their room. Unfortunately, there were only 9 bags in the room when we returned from dinner. It’s unknown what happened to this bag filled with activities for the Children’s Hospital and Bibles to give away. God must have had other plans for it.

8:45pm: After they all got settled, we went downstairs to see if we could order dinner from the menu. They have a buffet, but they want to charge 500p per person. That’s about $20 each. That was WAY too much to spend on any meal and I told them so. After Vica explained to them that we would go elsewhere, the price suddenly dropped to 250p per person. To me, it was an obvious attempt to gouge the “rich” Americans into paying a higher price. The meal was good, but was only worth the $10 we paid for it. We went back to them the following evening and they refused to honor the 250p per person rate. So, that time we DID go elsewhere and their restaurant sat empty that evening.

9:20pm: It was a good meal, but the dinner caused everyone to feel even more tired. I could see the trip participants were fading, after all… they had only been up and travelling for the last 32 hours! We all went back to the rooms. I checked the train schedule for the next day and told them when to be downstairs for breakfast and when we would go to Lomonosov for church.

9:35pm: I went back to the rooms to confirm that roll-away beds had been delivered. I explained to the McGee girls how a duvet for bed cover works. Then I went back to my room to get Susan Bollinger a converter plug extension for her hair dryer. All in a day’s work for the mission trip leader!

9:55pm: I get to my room and settle in. I set up my computer and ensure the free WI-FI works in the room. That was a great benefit.

10:10pm: I begin to check e-mail, do some trip administration, and then notice in St. Petersburg Times paper that Russia is moving back the clock one hour tonight for daylight savings time. I called the front desk to confirm and then call the trip participants to sleep in one hour extra, but to still come downstairs at 7:30am for breakfast.

10:30pm: The hotel also made a mistake and had us staying only 7 nights instead of the 8 nights I had paid for. I called the Russian contact I have in St. Petersburg to arrange to make that change. They are usually still up at this hour to conduct business like this.

10:35pm: As I get ready for bed, I listen to fireworks being shot off near the hotel – it must be a wedding. It’s a tradition here that fireworks are launched for weddings. They can be launched anywhere in the city and at ANY time. So, we often hear them in the middle of the night.

As I try to drift off to sleep while watching some Russian TV, I think about all the things that had happened over the last 24 hours.

Debbie’s Group at Orphanage #24

2008-11-01T00:01:00.008+03:00

People keep asking if I'm glad to be home and my reply is always yes but a part of my heart is in St. Petersburg. Let me tell you what happened on the last two days of our time with the kids in my small group.

On Thursday, my co-group leader John Bull was gone so I gave the Easter story. After the story I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask my group why should we care that Christ had died, had risen, and was now alive. When they didn't answer I went into the plan of salvation, and then I gave my personal testimony of accepting Christ and how He had changed and worked in my life.

On Friday I asked the group if they would like to hear what God had done in Anya's life and they said yes. Anya was my translator and had lived the life of an orphan. Anya gave her testimony and told them that they may be feeling God was knocking on the door of their hearts and if so they should let Him in. Then one of the girls, Luba, said that she went to church and did some other things. I became concerned that she had a works mindset so I read Ephesians 2:8-9 which says;

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because of works, lest any man should boast."

I told her and explained that we can't do enough good things to have a relationship with God. The only way to have a true relationship with God is by believing that His Son Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalties for our sin and to ask Him to be the leader of our lives. Then out of our love for Him would come the good works. After explaining this, I asked if there were any questions and Luba said "How can we have questions when it's so clear?" Even though no one made a profession of faith God reminded me of His promise in Isaiah 55:11;

“…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

His word will not return void but will accomplish what He sent it out to do. I know God is doing a work at Orphanage 24 and I can't wait to see the fruits of that.
– Debbie Stewart, Eastern Hills Baptist Church

Tina’s Group at Orphanage #24

2008-10-31T23:25:00.009+03:00

The teachers reading this will understand what I am about to say. You know that one class at school that you hope you don’t get because it is the difficult class? Well, that was my group this week. My girls were wonderful but my boys were disrespectful to not only me, but my God. They were disinterested and mocked me and my translator, Vusala. God gave me the perfect translator. She was the most experienced and was such an encourager. She told me they were testing me. I was very disheartened after the first day because all the other classes were loving and accepting. Then I remembered the study in James which I am doing and the passage I memorized just before I left for Russia. James 1 says;

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

These scriptures were what I held on to throughout the week and I saw God at work. He transformed my kids into an accepting and kind group by the end of the week, not as loving as the other groups but a drastic improvement. I grew from four children to all twelve (plus the teacher, Leza) attending and they heard the word of God. Miraculously, they would sit quietly while I gave my testimony, my call to Russia, the resurrection story and during my translator’s testimony, who came from a strong Muslim background. By the last day they allowed me to pray for them. The boys also allowed me to take a picture with them and they gave me a newspaper as a gift which I will cherish always. One boy even gave me a hug.

God gave me a love for them that wasn’t my own and the wisdom needed to know what to say and not to say and how to say it. Our God is an awesome and powerful God and He is so faithful!

– Tina Gore, Eastern Hills Baptist Church

The Pickpocket

2008-10-31T23:10:00.005+03:00

Unfortunately, there are people in this city that will take your things. They will look for an opportunity to take something of yours even if it’s zipped in your backpack, in your front pocket, or something left on the table while you are looking away. They are not dangerous criminals. They don’t want a scene or to be noticed. They will deny they even tried. Who can prove it that it was their intention?

It’s more typical that pickpockets work inside the metro system. They look for opportunities to take something by pushing in a crowded subway or getting on and off. Sometimes they work in teams and other times just alone. You can usually spot a pickpocket. They are the ones that are not carrying anything in their hands and try to look unnoticed. Of course, a group of Americans on the subway stands out. We had one follow us the other day.

Our team had just come down the escalator and we lined up beside one of the metro doors to get ready to enter when the subway came and the doors opened. When we stopped and lined up, I noticed a man that was not carrying anything casually move from one metro door to our door and get behind some of us. I did a stare down to let him know I was aware what he was trying to do. I instructed the team to move to one side when we got on the metro. My eyes were on the location of his hands the whole time. He knew I was there, nevertheless he was looking for an opportunity. He stayed with us until our stop and got off with us. He attempted to casually go through the middle of our group, again looking for an opportunity. I told the team to halt and they all stopped. He continued, as he didn’t want to be noticed. Stopping helped. As I stood with my team, I watched as he went down some stairs and out of site. Nothing was taken, but that’s not always the case.

One evening we took the kids from the Child in Danger Shelter for an excursion to go bowling and to eat at McDonalds. I met the group with my kids Tanya and Masha at the bowling alley. We had a great time and the kids really enjoyed the outing. We had to check our jackets, but I took out all my valuables to put on me before checking. After bowling, we got our jackets and went to McDonalds in a food court in that mall. We all sat together and I usually sit in a place when I can watch my back and keep an eye on the team. After eating my meal, I went to another table and sat to talk to some other adults from another ministry that came with us. My satchel was in my lap, but I put my jacket over my chair while I talked. My pocket computer was in my left front pocket and my camera in my right front pocket. At one point, we took at group picture. I continued to sit in my chair while the picture was taken. After a few minutes we began to get ready to leave. As I put on my jacket, I checked for my valuable s in my jacket. My camera was missing. It was not where it was supposed to be. Although I’m not sure, recounting my steps and where I had my camera last, I believe that while the group photo was being taken, the four young people sitting behind me used that as an opportunity for one of them to slip a hand into my jacket and steal my camera.

What was surprising to me is that most of the local people just look at that incident as “normal”. They say, “It happens here”. For them it is life here. Even as careful as I am and knowing what to look for, a moments distraction can lead to a loss of personal belongings.

As missionaries, we are sheep in the mists of wolves. Although I’m personally angry, it does not deter me from doing what God has commanded of me to go and share… and bring others with me. I’ve been told that some short-term missionaries who have something stolen, never come back. God willing, I will come back and I won’t be afraid. I’ll just be more careful where I put my jacket!

Sharing the Gospel

2008-10-27T23:39:00.005+03:00

Some Americans who live in St. Petersburg are amazed that we can go into orphanages with a team and do the kind of ministry that we do. Some are a little surprised that we can share the Gospel. Many other individuals can’t and can only do crafts with the kids and not much else.

I explain to these Americans that SAC has spent a great deal of time building relationships with each of the directors of these ministry sites. Some I’ve known for years while others I’ve spent a year building that relationship before I even bring a team. Building relationships is how Jesus did it! Our approach is to follow the relationships as I’m introduced to other directors of orphanages and other ministry sites. Then, once there I explain what we will be doing each time I go and carefully ask permission and submit to their authority when I’m there. I also invite the directors and counselors to participate with us during our small group activities. Through our cultural exchange and charity work, we are able to bring up discussions about the Gospel and answer questions that the kids ask us. We don’t push anything, but let the Holy Spirit work in their lives of those that have their hearts softened by our visits. Directors seem to appreciate our servant approach and gentle spirit.

In my opinion, this is how to share the Gospel. God doesn’t need us. He just needs us to be obedient. He will do the rest and move the hearts of those that are open. It happened that way with one girl at Orphanage #24 during the week were there. One of our volunteers who helped to lead a small group of older teens asked her if she could have a Bible! She expressed a desire to hear more stories, but had only heard the one that we had told that particular day. So, a children’s Bible was purchased along with a regular Bible and delivery will occur soon. We’ve also received permission for this volunteer to call the director, go and take the Bible, and visit in a few weeks after their exams. By being a servant and complying with the director’s needs and schedules, we can reach orphans for Christ.

I'm Sad

2008-10-27T22:09:00.004+03:00

We visited Children’s Hospital #15 on Wednesday, October 15th. Several young kids were there and anxious to participate with us as we did crafts together. One girl, age 12 was sitting and doing the craft. I could tell by her face that she was sad. I could only imagine. I know that this hospital is for kids who are off the streets, abandoned, or brought her by the authorities after being found. I was sure that she had a life story that begun and ended in sadness. We could only help by spending time with her to give her a since of hope.

Vica, the SAC Program Manager here in St. Petersburg was with us to help guide our team and help with translation. I saw her sit next to the girl who sat all alone from the rest of the group. Vica talked to her for a while as she worked on the craft we had that day. Vica asked her how she was and she replied, “I’m sad”. It was a good sign that Vica was able to listen to her talk and tell Vica her problems. The two sat there for a long time and shared. I think it was good for the little girl to talk to someone about it. It’s difficult, but the staff there knows about these problems, but don’t always have time to sit and just listen. Vica did this and I’m sure it helped.

Later the next week, Nancy Durrett had taken a group from Child in Danger on an outing to go bowling. I met Nancy at the bowling alley to be with her and the kid’s from this shelter. As we were getting to our lanes to bowl, I saw a girl I immediately recognized. It was the girl from Children’s Hospital #15 that we had seen the week before. She had been transferred to the Child in Danger Shelter. I went to her and told her I remembered her from the hospital. I asked her how she was. She replied, “I’m sad”. I patted her shoulder and nodded that I understood her, although I could never fully know how she was feeling. Nevertheless, she participated and this was her first bowling experience. She seemed somewhat happy to participate with us. At least I know that for a short time, she enjoyed something that took her mind off of feeling sad and not knowing her future. In a few months, she will likely go to an orphanage. When she leaves Child in Danger, I’m sure she will feel sadness. Please pray for this sad young girl and her uncertain future as she looks for the hope through the eyes of Christians that, for a short time, listened and brought the love of Christ into her life.

Detained

2008-10-21T16:53:00.003+04:00

Mission trips are often filled with difficulties, but Monday night was a little intimating for one of our members. Nancy Durrett, a long time SAC trip participant and trip leader, has been working with the Road of Life (ROL) Transition Homes for graduate orphans and most recently a couple of orphan dormitories where kids are assigned after leaving an orphanage. On Monday evening, October 14, Nancy had gone to one of these dorms to host a birthday party for kids whose birthdays were in September to November time frame. At the same time, government inspectors and the police came to this dorm investigating some recent problems that had come to their attention. When the inspectors began arriving at the dorm, they began going floor to floor and room to room, asking, "Who lives here? Where is this person?" Several events converged on this night causing this investigation on the same evening that Nancy had planned this social for the kids at one of the dorms. Nancy and several others from the dorm were interviewed by the police and the government inspectors for 45 minutes that Monday. Let me try to explain how several different events converged on this one evening.

One problem caused an investigation when it was discovered that Sasha (not his real name), a deaf boy living at the ROL Transition Home, had no official documents with the government. His papers had been lost or misplaced and he had never been officially designated as an orphan. He was abandoned as a child. The orphanage had not done their proper job. After he left the orphanage he became a resident of this dorm. The dorm had ignored the fact that he had no papers and failed to check. He had been without paperwork for years. ROL had taken him in as one of their residents. Nancy met him at the ROL Transition Home. ROL was doing the right thing by trying to put together the information needed to get the right documents so he can live on his own. Sasha’s deaf translator wrote eight different agencies to get the correct documents. These eight agencies began calling each other, and suddenly they all converged, unexpectedly on the dorm that evening.

A second problem involved one of the residents of this dorm. This past summer, this boy had been revived from a drowning accident after being underwater for 30 minutes. He was legally dead, but though the prayer of his church friends, he was miraculously healed and was not left as a vegetable as the doctors predicted. He regained consciousness and is now recovering, though slowly. In his current condition, this boy needs help. The director of the ROL Transition Home has spoken to this boy’s nurse and found out that he had not been given the medicine that was prescribed. The director had also previously found out that he was being left in his room and was being fed only one meal a day. That Monday, the ROL Director went to get his medicine, buy some water, and went back to the dorm to explain to this boy about the medicine and how to take it. While she is doing this, the inspectors who came to visit Monday evening asked the director, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" The ROL director explained about providing the needs for this boy’s medicine. The inspectors tell her that she has no authority to be there, and she must leave. ROL had no official letter or paperwork established with the dorm allowing visits.

A third problem involved a girl named Tatiana (not her real name). When the inspectors arrived at Tatiana’s room, they are told that the ROL director took her to live at their apartment. The inspectors asked, "Where are her papers transferring her residence?" The answer was that there are no papers and there was no official transfer. Tatiana had two residences which are against government laws. The police called ROL and ask if Tatiana was living there. ROL confirmed this and the police said they were checking into the matter. Having a resident of at the ROL Transition home without having proper transfer paperwork is against the law in Russia.

Further investigation into ROL found that one of their counselors had not been registered in the country for over a year. Russian law requires that a person register in the city after arrival within 3 days. It’s a commonly known law. Although the registration had recently been obtained before this event on Monday, it has further soured the perception of the ROL by the authorities. The counselor who brought Tatiana (willingly) to the ROL Transition Home was not registered at the time of the transfer and had not completed any official transfer paperwork.

The ROL Director complies with the inspectors and comes downstairs to find that Nancy has arrived. Shortly after the ROL Director arrives, a female police officer and the head counselor of the dorm enter the room where the birthday party is planned. After exiting for a short time, the female officer returned and asked Nancy to come with her. The ROL Director and the head counselor went with Nancy and they walked into a room filled with several people. Over the next 45 minutes Nancy is asked, "Who are you? Why are you here? Who gave you authority to be here? What church do you represent? Do you know that people are using your name and abusing children from this dorm in your name when you are not here?" Everyone talking at once (in Russian) with half-truths, lies and finger pointing was filling the room. No one was taking responsibility for their own inaction. Nancy was sitting waiting for the head counselor to translate. Nancy said later that she never felt ill at ease and was perfectly calm. She was praying the whole time for God to give her that sense of calm and to give her the words to say and God did!

Near the end of this ordeal all the ladies were talking and arguing at once and the male police officer screamed for everyone to "Stop"! He then told Nancy, "Madam please excuse us that we have involved you in this. I can see from your answers and from your face that you are an honest woman who loves children, and who wants only the best for the children. May I ask that you bring documents showing that SAC is registered to do ministry in St. Petersburg?" Nancy respond, "Of course, I will be happy to." He then states that Nancy is welcome to finish her work at the dorm and come back any time, but must first have a contact who will schedule the event, and she must submit to that contact in writing what she will be doing and who will be coming with her. Nancy agreed. Then the officer asks, "Who will be your contact, and you must understand it cannot be the ROL Director or any of her staff"? Nancy looked around the room and one of the dorm counselors’ steps forward and says, in English, "I will be honored to be Nancy's contact". She then says, laughing, "I need to practice my English and this will be a good chance to do that." Nancy laughed and told her she can practice her English on her, but she doesn't guarantee that she will practice any Russian on her. Everyone laughs, and nods. The counselor then writes out her contact information and at the bottom of a paper and writes in big letters in English, "You are welcome!!!" Then the General Director of the dorms leans across the table and says to Nancy, "Would you like to go now and have the party you had planned?" Nancy responded yes, and they all smiled and agreed that she could go.

As Nancy starts to go, the male police officer tells her, "You must understand that this woman (pointing to the ROL Director and one of her staff), will NEVER be allowed back at this dorm. If either of them comes here or attempts to take any of the people from here, they will be arrested. Do you understand?" Nancy said "Yes, sir." and he replied, "Then please go, and enjoy your time with the residents."

It was pretty intense meeting. Although God has closed the door for the ROL Transition Home to have a ministry at this dorm, He has left that door open for Nancy. In complying with the wishes of the authorities, Nancy went to SAC’s ministry partner and legal entity MIR (the organization that officially allows us to do ministry in St. Petersburg) and gathered all of the documents the dorm had required, including copies of her teaching certificates that can be given to the head counselor of this dorm on Friday.

Unfortunately, one of the causalities of this encounter is the young girl Tatiana who had moved from the dorm to the ROL Transition Home. She had just begun adjusting and had recently became a Christian before being ordered by the authorities to return to the dorm by noon the next day from the home setting she had come to know at ROL. If she did not move back, all in the home would be arrested. She moved back on Tuesday, amid tears and great disappointment. Please pray for her as she adjusts from this trauma of being removed from the ROL transition home.

What does God have planned for the ROL Transition Home and its ministry? Only God knows. Through these “pruning” events, it has caused ROL to be seen as an organization not abiding by the laws of Russia. The Christians at the ROL Transition Home are great people, called by God, to do a great work in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately they have let some things slide and have allowed friendships and personalities to get in the way of their original calling into the ministry. The ROL ministry will recover in time after doing some house cleaning and working to make sure every “i” is dotted and every “t” is crossed so they can abide by the law and continue their good work.

Meanwhile, Nancy and the SAC Ministry are very thankful that God is allowing Nancy to continue to love and be with these hurting children in the dormitories. We know that God knows what is going to happen before it does and we know that He has a plan greater than anything we could ever understand. Mostly we are happy to report that Nancy didn’t write the details of these events from the prison library in Siberia! At this writing, she is well on her way home to Louisiana.

God Bless you as you pray for the SAC Ministry team as we continue this month to work in Russia for the orphans and hurting children we are allowed to come in contact with.

Why Are You Here?

2008-10-14T23:05:00.008+04:00

After recovering from Jet Lag on Sunday, the team was ready to go! We started the morning by visiting a Russian Cathedral called Savior of the Spilt Blood. It is the place where the Czar Alexander II was assassinated. It is filled with mosaic tile pictures of the life of Christ and many other Bible stories. It was a 19th century way of sharing the Bible through pictures to many who were illiterate at that time.

After lunch, we took the metro to a station near Orphanage #24. From there it is about a one mile walk that takes us on a bridge over the Neva River that runs through St. Petersburg. Once we were there we were given a room to meet in and store our supplies. We prepared all our things for our first meeting in the small groups for the kids that were there.

Our first meeting started with a performance by the kids in the auditorium. In addition, I had invited a Russian Christian man who has a Clown Ministry. “Pompa” entertained the kids and helped me “introduce” our team! He certainly brought laughter and excitement to our first day.

After the performance and our introductions, each group was called forward and instructed to lead their American leaders and their translators to their classrooms where they will meet. Each small group was different, but they all got to know one another, play some introduction games, and maybe even a hand of UNO! Some even had some deep questions!

During one of those first sessions as the kids were getting to know us, one of the boys in Debbie’s group asked, “Why are you here?” Debbie responded by saying that God had called her to go to Russia and visit them. He then asked, “Is it true that only 28% of Americans are believer?” Debbie responded by saying that she wasn’t sure of the statistic, but not everyone that says they are a believer IS a believer." She continued by saying, “I know I am a believer because I have asked Jesus Christ to be the ruler of my life.” The boy responded and said he had heard something like that before. Distractions came and the conversation was over, but Debbie had no idea that she would get to share even this much on the first day! Its little conversations like this that helps orphans understand the truth and guide them towards a life with Christ.

Thanks for praying for us. We are hoping for many more conversations in the coming days.

October Arrival

2008-10-14T22:56:00.005+04:00

Our team departed Dallas on Friday afternoon and arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia Saturday evening with no problems. All the luggage came through and there were no issues at the border with customs. After exchanging money and checking into the hotel we went to a nearby café for a light dinner. Sleepy heads prevailed and the normal lively group was pooped! All went to bed about 9pm (local time here) only to awake at 2am feeling like it was time to get up. Don’t worry… they didn’t!

On Sunday we attended the church services of our IMB Missionaries in St. Petersburg. Clint and Janet Stewart and their family have been terrific hosts! The team member got to ride the metro system for the first time which is always an experience! After the three hour service we had lunch in a food court in a mall near the center of the city with the Stewart family.

At 5pm Sunday we all squeezed into one room along with our newly hired translators so we all could meet and get to know each other before the first day of ministry in the orphanage. With all the American trip participants, translators, family members of Clint & Janet Stewart and another family of volunteers, John & Karen Bull and their four kids, we had about 27 people in the room for a meeting!

As I had warned everyone in training, there would be changes and trip participants would have to be “flexible”. During that meeting I announced some recently passed on news from the Orphanage that half the kids would be at a dental appointment on Monday and would not be with us. That meant that the four oldest groups would not be there. We also had one translator show up and she determined that she couldn’t get to the orphanage in time on the days we needed her. Fortunately, her friend Olya who had just tagged along, volunteered to be the replacement translator! God was in control!

We were all excited and ready to go, although we knew that Monday would bring its own surprises!

Bright Lights In Russia

2008-08-11T00:26:00.008+04:00

Towards the second week at Camp Green Town, we had built relationships with the kids in the camp north of Saint Petersburg. I started seeing bright lights in the eyes around me. Not just in the kids but also in the adults. It was clear that the Holy Spirit was at work.

In Russia, they shoot a lot of fireworks. At the end of a lot of events, they set them off. It sounds and looks like the fourth of July every time you turn around. On the evening of our departure from the camp, a sudden thunderstorm came up while we were loading the bus. Hard rain was coming down so we waited for it to slow down. I'm from Texas and have been around thunderstorms all my life, but this one was impressive. A loud clap of thunder shook everything around us and lit the sky for what seemed ten seconds. No one was hurt, a little rattled maybe, but everyone was fine. It was like Heaven gave the team one big firework show.

While walking to our hotel the last evening in Russia, the sun was setting and a shadow concealed all but the steeple of a church. A gold cross was reflecting the sun so bright it was blinding. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

It was magnificent to see the bright light of the Holy Spirit in this wonderful country. To be a witness to God’s glory and splendor was wonderful.

“Fan into flame the gift of God, which is you" – 2 Timothy 1:6

God Bless,
Glenn Estes
Mission Trip Participant FBC Gainesville, Texas

Military Day, Thu, July 31

2008-08-11T00:07:00.012+04:00

Our last full day at camp was going to occur on Military Day. This themed day took about 3 days of preparation by several of the older kids at camp. They would have military type games like capture the flag, and competition between three large groups. The event took place in the forest about a 25 minute walk from the camp. Army Cadets that also participated in the camp were leading much of these activities. One of the counselors was a 3rd year student and he had been put in charge of the whole event. One of the cadets named Alex spoke excellent English and was assigned to help out our team prepare for the games the camp staff wanted our team to participate in.

The camp in the woods was set up much like a Boy Scout camp. The cadet leaders had used fallen logs, ferns, and anything else they could find to make a camp entrance, a seating area, a cooking area, and banners to define their camp. They had also prepared a Bonfire for lighting at the end of the evening.

I was asked by the head counselor to come up with 10 games of a military nature to play with kids who were not part of the major competition. This was a tall order since we didn’t know what supplies or resources we could use for these games. A couple of days before this event I started working on games that could be played using resources I had seen around camp and in the forest. By the time Thursday came around, we had gathered or made the things we needed to entertain 80 kids with 10 games over a 3 hour period. Of course, things change by the moment and these guidelines quickly changed at the hour of the event.

We had 3 sets of 3 games per station that they would rotate between every hour for the 3 hours we were to have them. The games included things like grenade toss (using plastic balls we had to toss through a target), prison escape using string as “barbwire” and interlocking their arms back-to-back simulating being restrained. We had medical stretcher relays, tug-of-war, obstacle courses, and even a target range where they shot rubber band guns to knock down empty drink boxes. I had glued two large crafts sticks together in the shape of a pistol that a rubber band could be shot from.

One of their favorite games was what I called Air Traffic Control (ATC). We used a megaphone as the air traffic controller and a blindfolded camper with a board over their shoulders as the pilot. We made a small “runway” and the ATC would have to “talk” the pilot in for a landing. The other kids could be the distraction for the pilot as he attempted to land. We’ve done a similar game in Sunday School with the lesson of hearing God’s voice for direction in your life.

After we did about an hour of the three hours we had planned, it was time to eat. Each of the three major groups had prepared a meal. The group we were assigned to had prepared soup, a rice-based main dish, and bread cooked over an open fire if you wanted. There was a competition between the three groups where the General Director of the camp would compare all the groups with her entourage of staff inspectors. All the three groups tied according to the General Director.

After the meal, the staff wanted us to play more games with the kids. So, we sparked some of the games we had already played that were popular and then brought out some beach balls for the kids to play with. It’s amazing what a dollar toy brought as a back-up resource can do for an event. The staff and the kids were happy.

The event ended with a performance by various groups, lighting of the bonfire, and some fireworks. The campers began their trek back to the main camp after that.

On the way back, Jenya and Natasha saw the lake and wanted to take a dip! So the rest of us watched and waited as they made their way through the bog and out to the lake to go swimming. They came back soaking wet and laughing all the way. It had been a great day!

Cotton Eyed Joe!

2008-08-10T23:59:00.006+04:00

You just won’t believe this! Toward the end of that first week, we were asked to participate in their International Day. This theme day had several activities including a show that would be put on. We were asked to put on a show of American Dance! We were asked at the counselors’ meeting that morning and the event would occur the next day! Oh Boy! How am I going to come up with a dance routine for our group in less than a day!

Well, I didn’t know the first thing about dancing let alone choreographing a group that included us Americans, three translators, and six kids they “loaned” us to be part of the American delegation! I knew I was way out of my league and comfort zone… so I asked for advice! I went to the counselor of the group that was the professional dancers that had come to camp. I asked her if she could teach us how to dance “American”. After she finished laughing, she agreed and we met later that afternoon with everyone to be led.

During that first practice, she showed us several moves and routines that we could put together and use. She only had 20 minutes with us before she had to leave. This gave us enough ideas to put together a routine to the dance music I heard girls perform to earlier in the week. It was the Cotton-Eyed Joe! On the morning of the performance we had another hour to practice before “try outs”. I didn’t fully understand until that morning that our team had to try out for this performance and get approval before the actual performance later that afternoon.

Sometimes I don’t see the ministry purpose of our team getting out and performing a dance, but that routine quickly broke down any barriers and wove a relationship that broke any ice that might have prevented us from sharing. The head counselor was so excited at our routine during the try-out that she wanted to dance with us! She also put us last on the show so we could end on a great note. That was such a compliment!

All I can say is that you need to see the video of this. I don’t believe it myself that we were able to put a dance routine together so quickly and be enjoyed by all. It really broke down any barriers and made a lasting great impression on the camp staff that we were willing to fully dive into the life of Camp Greentown. This one thing probably more than anything else we did, paved the way for a long lasting good relationship with the staff that will allows our teams to return in the future!

Angel Day, Mon, July 28

2008-08-09T12:45:00.009+04:00

Most of the days at camp had a theme attached to the day. A Carnival occurred on one day, Olympics on another, Family Day, and Parents Day to mention a few. As I mentioned earlier, we were asked not to share the Gospel until after Parents’ Day. I think it was by God’s design for our team to be there and to have the Monday following Parents’ Day to be “Angel Day”! On this day we were free to share our Bible Stories and tell about Christ!

On this themed day, the head counselor told us in the counselors’ meeting that all the groups could make special greetings over the Camp PA system, put messages of blessings to campers on an Angel Tree near the canteen, and become angels to one another. I came up with an idea…!

Glenn Estes had brought a book that contained one minute Bible Stories. I had also seen counselors a few days earlier dressed in togas for the Olympic competition day. My idea was to dress as angels and visit the groups in the evening just before they go to bed and have Natasha sing a soft song and then I would read a one minute Bible story. The whole program would be 5-7 minutes long.

I got approval and told the team about my idea. We fashioned some wire coat hangers I had brought into halos and secured some bed sheets from the camp staff. At the counselor’s meeting, we had several groups sign up for this “Angelic Visit”!

On Monday evening, we went from group to group around the camp dressed in Angel costumes with halos and sometimes a cowboy hat! We entered the room where the kids had been gathered. They ooo’ed and ahh’ed when they saw us dressed as angels. I would say to them, “We are Angels from afar that have come to visit you and share the love of Christ! Listen to the Word of God through song!” Then Natasha played a Christian song that was so soft and angelic that the campers would request her to sing it again days later! Then I would tell them a one minute Bible Story. They were attentive and listened as I told the story! Then we would bid them “spoo-ko-ney nochi” (good night in Russian) and gracefully depart. They would applaud and tell us in English “Good Night”! This simple act reached the kids at this camp for Christ!

As some of the other groups saw what we were doing, they asked us to come to them too! That first evening we visited nine different groups from about 9pm until 11:30pm that night. The Angel Visits continued throughout the week even though Angel Day had past. The kids seemed to really enjoy the visit. I wish you could have seen the faces of the kids as they listened to Natasha play. God was with us as Natasha played and our team as we portrayed Angels and showed the love of Christ! I’m sure the memory of Americans from Texas dressed as Angels and singing praises to God will be a memory they will soon not forget!

Teaching English

2008-08-09T11:57:00.006+04:00

We had prepared 10 English lessons all with about 20 words for each lesson using pictures and fun activities weaving the Word of God and Bible stories into the hour we were there. Our team put a lot of time and effort into these lessons… but things always change on a Russian Mission Trip that I had told the team to be prepared to “flex” or be flexible. Our ESL had to have a LOT of “flexing”!

Most of the 430 kids at this camp apparently had several years of English lessons from school. They knew most of the basic words we had brought to teach. Even the Bible Stories we taught were well known by the kids!

On staff at the camp were two guys attached to an organization that would pay English speakers to come and teach English at the camp. Camper’s parents paid extra for their child to attend these classes. John and Teddy are great guys and we all made fast friends. This helped us to understand the level of English the kids had at the camp. Their ability was higher than we anticipated and they wanted more conversational English, especially with the older kids.

We had to make some major revisions in the lessons that we taught. We also only got to teach one or two of the 10 lessons we had prepared. Our first meeting with any of the 17 groups we did lesson one. A few days later maybe the same group would sign up for a class and we would move to the second lesson. But much of the lessons had to be revamped while we were there to accommodate the level of English that was known.

Toward the end of camp we led some of the older groups in a game show that required them to use some conversational English. We created the “Dating Game” where we pre-wrote questions in English that the kids would have to answer. The game was a hit once they understood the concept and it spurred conversational English. However, it wasn’t meeting the ministry goals I had intended. It was only on the Monday after Parents Day that I saw an opportunity! Read the next blog entry about “Angel Day” and what we did to incorporate the Word of God!

Camp Life

2008-08-09T11:17:00.011+04:00

The camp is beautiful! It was begun in the 1950’s a few years after the war between Russian and Finland in 1939 just prior to World War II. This area used to be part of Finland until a treaty was signed with Russia giving this slice of land to the Russian’s.

The history is interesting. While exploring the camp, we were shown an old mansion owned by a former Russian General who escaped from Russian as Stalin was coming into power during the great purge of the Red Army in 1937. During that time up to 50% of the Army officers were executed including the vast majority of those with the highest rank. This General escaped this purge and built this huge home in what was then Finland. He was living a good life until the war between Russia and Finland. His home became part of Russia after the treaty and he was discovered and executed. The home was grand and it was a shame that it was in ruins 80 years later. However, it was interesting to explore!

The camp is near a couple of lakes, but it takes about 20 minutes to walk to them, so daily swimming was not part of the camp activities. The lakes are part of the national park system here and the camp property borders these public access areas. Other citizens from the community would come out on the weekends and build a campfire, cooks some “shasleek” (Shis-Kabob), and eat some watermelon that had been placed in the lake to cool.

The buildings around camp are mostly from the 1950’s and appear to have the architecture and styling from that era. We were housed in the main Administration Building on the second floor across from the infirmary. So we got to see many of the kids during the two sick calls every day. Other “cabins” that would hold two groups of kids composing of about 60 campers, were clapboard one story buildings with rooms that would hold 4-6 kids in bunk beds. They had bathrooms, but showers were in another building. This other building was a four story building that resembled some of the orphanage buildings I’ve been in before. Each floor has a sitting area in the middle and this is where we would meet groups and do our activities for the groups of kids in this building. The camp is surrounded by tall pine trees and sandy soil that would wick away any overnight rains.

The camp has a major athletic field with bleachers and areas for Volleyball and other games. It also has a smaller dirt soccer field near the center of camp with a wooden basketball court on one end that often would be used as a stage. Most of the camp could be accessed by one paved walkway that went from one end of camp to the other.

The cafeteria was in the middle of camp and we were schedule for when to show up for meals. Breakfast was at 9:30am, lunch at 2:30pm, and dinner at 7:30pm. We also had a snack time at 4:30pm. The meals were good, but by the end of camp we all were tired of eating buckwheat and rice! It was more of a pleasure follow the lead of the kids and pick berries in the forest and eat these! These berries red and black berries about the size of peas were sweet to eat!

The camp would also put on a Disco every other night at a pavilion near the main athletic field. They had a small stage, a portable sound system, and lively dancing every night. The kids have a LOT of energy! We watched the kids at the disco, but most of our trip participants and translators liked to play a card game called “Phase 10”. So, after a long day of activities, some still had the stamina to play cards until the sun went down. Of course, the sun doesn’t go down here until after midnight!

Getting to Know Them, Tue, July 22

2008-08-08T12:44:00.005+04:00

Within the hour our team arrived, I met with the General Director of the camp. Tamara, is a pleasant woman who has a great deal of experience and is well known in international camping circles. She told us that Parent’s Day would be held on Sunday and asked us to hold off sharing the gospel until after Parent’s Day. I understood her position and we agreed that we would use this first week to build relationships with the kids through our activities.

Our primary reason that brought us to this camp was to teach English. This was a good publicity for this international camp to be able to say they have native English speakers teaching English. Probably they were not prepared for the first word we taught them. The kids were always ready to great us and repeat the lessons they learned in their school on how to greet someone in English. “Hello! How are you? I am fine, thanks! How are you? I am good! See you later!” We began teaching the way to greet a person from Texas is to say “Howdy!” Well, we began teaching that and soon the whole camp was saying “Howdy” to us every time we passed their group! It was a great way to connect with the kids! They would see us walking together as a group and they would go out of their way to say “Howdy” in unison and give us a big wave! We would respond with a Howdy back. I’m sure there will be some confused English teachers in St. Petersburg this fall!

During our first ESL classes, each of us had prepared a small display board of pictures about our lives and families. All kids in Russia seem very interested in what life is like in America and pictures are a great tool for sharing stories, culture, and life in America. It generates questions and the kids begin to know us. As we began to know the kids, we were surprised at how much English many of them knew.

We would offer hour time slots to teach English, do crafts, and play sports and games. For English and Crafts, we would start off our time with a song. Natasha, one of our translators that have worked with SAC many times before is a talented musician. She would play Christian children’s songs in Russian for the group. The kids would recognize the songs and loved to sing along and do the motions. Most of us Americans would do the motions and smile like we understood the words!

Then at some point I would do a crazy game with them. I would get them all hold hands in a circle and have them take one shoe off and toss it in the center of the circle. Then I would mix up the shoes, have them walk, and then tell them at the count of three to find and put on their shoes… without letting go of their hands! They all laughed and it’s a great ice-breaker!

Playing new “American” games with the kids was also a great way to build relationships. We brought Frisbees and plastic balls and bats to play baseball. The kids really enjoyed the Frisbees and Glenn Estes came up with some great ideas for games that the kids really enjoyed. We set up a Frisbee Golf Course among the trees during the first week. We taught the kids American baseball, however most kids just wanted to bat while the rest of us American played the outfield and chased balls all over the field! Glenn also introduced them to Frisbee Football which was a big hit with the kids, especially the older kids.

The camp also had lots of “shows” where different groups would put on a performance. The kids here are very talented, specially the two Dance groups that had come to camp. I think the kids practiced their dance routines several times a day. We enjoyed watching them and praising them each time they performed. It was another way to connect with the kids and build relationships.

Arrival at Camp - Mon, July 21

2008-08-08T11:59:00.006+04:00

Our team departed Dallas on Friday afternoon with no problems other than Jenya having a little problem with liquids and makeup in her carry-on luggage! She thought she was allowed a gallon bag, not the quart size bag that the TSA actually allows! She had to make some “adjustments”! It was a good flight and all the bags arrived with no problems. The “Agora Hotel” we were taken to was a small hotel near the center of town. It’s run by a Christian Ministry and they converted an attic into a five room hotel that includes breakfast. However, it was a work-out to get all the luggage to the fourth floor and navigate all the stairs, but well worth the stay once we were there.

On Sunday we attended the church services of the Logos Baptist Church that were being held at St. Petersburg Christian University in the south part of town. The team member got to ride the metro system for the first time which is always an experience! After the two hour service we did some touring on Neveski Prospect before having dinner at Carl’s Junior. We thought it might be our last hamburger for a while!

While everyone was asleep, on Monday morning I travelled across town to retrieve a bag of mine at our partner organization and to borrow a guitar. I arrived back at 8:30am tired and ready for breakfast. After our meal we packed our gear and headed for camp. It was about a two hour drive to the camp located north of St. Petersburg among the trees and lakes. The temperature was in the low 70’s and very comfortable!

We immediately noticed when we arrived that several of the kids were wearing Gospel Bead bracelets. It seems that a team from Australia had been there the previous session witnessing to the kids. So, the kids were prepared for our visit!

There are 430 kids at this camp and placed into 17 different groups. Some are placed by ages while others are placed by a certain specialty like a dance group, or a group from another country like France. I was asked to attend a counselors meeting at 8:45 each morning to find out the plans for the day. About every day the camp had a theme day that included days like Carnival, Olympics, Angel Day, Parents Day, Family Day, and Military Day to mention a few.

Our group was quickly assimilated into the camp life. Our first request from the camp was for us to perform a skit during the counselor’s performance night. We did a skit that needed no translation called “The Mosquito”. It was enjoyed and the kids were now introduced to us!

We all ready to teach ESL, do crafts, or sports with the kids. I saw that the counselors had various schedules that I could never learn so we could insert our team. So I started passing around a sign-up spreadsheet at the counselors meeting and they began to sign up for our team to come and meet with their group. This started our real engagement with the kids and staff on a daily basis.

Gifts - Fri, Apr 25th

2008-05-08T21:04:00.007+04:00

This was our third year of ministering to Sosnovo in partnership with the Sosnovo Baptist Church. On the last day, our team gives then kids some gifts that include a t-shirt and things in a gift bag prepared especially for them. It never fails… we always seem to have more kids in attendance on the last day than we do during the week! It’s amazing how a few small gifts will suddenly bring the kids to the room on the last day! Kids are the same no matter on what side of the world you are.

SAC usually brings the kids t-shirts and this is usually the favorite items. This year I choose a t-shirt that looked more like a soccer shirt. Soccer is important in Russia and the kids there keep up with their team just as American kids keep up with American football. The local team for St. Petersburg is called “Zenit”. Their team colors are blue and white. So, the shirts I got for them were the same colors of their favorite team. They seem to appreciate my choice and thinking about that when choosing! We gave them to the kids and the adult counselors so they all could be a team!

We also gave them some other small gifts that included a “world” ball, pens, pencils, toothbrushes, Bennie babies, small gloves, and some small puzzles. It was interesting to watch as the gifts were given out. The kids excitedly opened their gift bag and explored each item. They don’t usually receive gifts like this, so this occasion was special for them. However, for things like the pencils, pens, and other school supplies, we watched as the counselor asked the kids to bring it to her so she could collectively keep them for future use by the kids. Part of me wants the kids to have an “individual” gift for them to have and own. Then part of me begins to understand the perspective of the counselor. They don’t get supplies often and then kids will loose things quickly or they will steal from one another and the use of the item will be lost. Many Russian counselors here and at other places we visit will take many of the items we give to the kids individually and save them collectively for future use. My heart wants the kids to have something individually, but the reality of life as an orphan in an institution means that individuality lost. I’m thankful that God does not look at us collectively, but individually and loves us so much as if we were the only person in the room! I pray that these kids will find that love of Christ when they get older and will remember the individual gifts given to them by the Christians who came from America to care for them!

The Russian Coin

2008-05-08T20:14:00.007+04:00

Two of our trip participants to Sosnovo were Greg and Susan Furr. As we were walking through the streets and paths of Sosnovo, Russia, Susan noticed discarded coins along the way and would pick them up. These discarded coins are called “Kopeks”. These are the “cents” or the fractions of the Russian ruble. The one is this picture is the lowest value of them all. It is 1/100’s of a ruble. You would need 2,300 of these coins to make up one US dollar at the current exchange rate. Russians see many of these coins as not valuable enough to make the effort to bend over and pick it up. It seems it’s the same way with the Russian orphan.

On the plane heading back home to the USA, Greg and Susan wrote these words to put on a prayer card with one of the coins found on the streets of Sosnovo as a prayer reminder for the orphans living there.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Russian Coin

I lay here on the street forgotten and unused, people walking over me, with mud and dirt encasing me so that I am scarcely recognizable as something of value. I was made to be appreciated but someone decided I was of little worth so I have been tossed aside onto a path well trodden to be crushed into the muck and grime of my surroundings.

Now by God’s grace, someone has found me and picked me up. I am no longer a monetary means to purchase goods but now serve the greater purpose as a reminder to PRAY.

I have been transformed into this reminder that all over this world, orphaned children of all ages are cast aside and labeled as having little or no value.

The Father in heaven, though, has not forgotten them.

Each time you look at this coin remember to mentally 'pick-up' the orphans of Russian and pray that God will send His light into their live and for God’s love to be revealed to them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“…whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water… will by no means lose his reward.” - Mathew 10:42

The Broken Door - Thu, Apr 24

2008-05-08T19:35:00.001+04:00

I was sitting with Nadezhda, director of the Day Center, and she told me the story that had recently happened with a couple of the young boys attending the Day Center activities. Nadezhda was cleaning up one evening and went into a closet in the Day Center to put away a few things. There she found these two boys praying. The boys were startled and Nadezhda asked what they were praying about. They said they were playing and had accidentally broken the door of their neighbor’s apartment. They were terrified that the police were going to come after them and they would be in terrible trouble. They were praying for God to help them.

Nadezhda talked with them and prayed with them about the matter. She called the neighbor and she agreed for the boys to come and do the repairs on the door. Whatever they did to break the door, these 10 and 11 year old boys went and made the proper repairs to the satisfaction of the their neighbor. They were relieved and the matter had gone away.

About the time Nadezhda had finished her story, the same two boys came into the room where we were having tea. Nadezhda told them that she had just told the story to me. The boys smiled shyly and I saw an opportunity… I asked them, “I heard about your prayer. Did God answer your prayer?” They nodded and smiled in agreement. I wanted them to connect the forgiveness they had received from their neighbor directly with their prayer and coming to God. I wanted them to remember this occasion and imprint that upon their lives. I think it did!

The Soccer Match - Wed, Apr 23

2008-05-08T19:23:00.006+04:00

We were told all week that Andre had made arrangements for the Orphanage and the Day Center to have a soccer match on Wednesday afternoon. Andre is a new young worker that is helping Nadezhda at the Day Center build relationships with the boys in the community. They wanted all the Americans and the translators to play! I thought that would be a great way to build some relationships as the boys in Russia like soccer better than anything else!

We changed our schedule to finish up that day much earlier at 4:30pm so the boys from the Orphanage could go with us to the soccer match. Most of the school-aged kids are boys and I was excited to be able to do an “outing” with the kids off the Orphanage grounds. There were two 17 year old youth’s that had come to escort the kids to the soccer field on the other side of town. These guys patiently waited as we finished our Bible storey, crafts, and other activities with the school-aged kids at the Orphanage. We had to be at the field at 5pm for the start of the game so we made our way to the bus stop. Following behind me was the two youth and a couple of boys from the Orphanage. I was waiting to see the other kids follow, but apparently it was only going to be two boys going! I was disappointed as I thought that most if not ALL of the boys from the Orphanage would be participating. It didn’t turn out to be the event I thought it was going to be, but it was important to those Day Center youth that Andre was building relationships with. So, I, Greg Furr, and Jonathan Furr all agreed to play soccer with them!

I rotated in to relieve Greg. If I remember the positions from playing soccer as an 8 year old, I think I was generally playing the half-back position. Basically, I helped guard the goal. The game was tied when I went in, but on the other side were about three 17 year old youth that could run circles around me with a soccer ball. Near the goal on one play, the ball came in too fast and I used my left face to deflect the ball. No, I didn’t do that intentionally, but it did leave a nice round dirt impression on the side of my face! I’m just glad it didn’t break my glasses! Oh, the things we do to help build relationships!

That evening, I was glad to sit down at dinner after washing my face. It was a tiring day. Nevertheless, tonight after dinner we had to organize the gift bags to give to the kids on Thursday and Friday. One of the ladies that worked in the hotel had worked in the Day Center in the past years that we have been there. She wanted to help us organize things! It’s neat how God puts people in places to help or to see what we do in the background. I’m sure she will share her experience with the adults in the church about what we do behind the scenes! I felt that her participation with us was an encouragement to her as we all worked together that evening.

We’re Off to Sosnovo - Sun, Apr 20th

2008-05-08T18:52:00.010+04:00

Leaving to go to Sosnovo was hectic! In the past we have rented a 14 passenger van to take us the hour and a half drive up there, but transportation costs had gotten so high it was unaffordable. One company wanted 6000 rubles ($257) for one trip! So, we decided in favor of an “adventure”. Several of the experienced trip participants had never experienced the train. It’s an electric train that travels north and stops about every 1-3 miles to pick up passengers. It costs only 106 rubles ($4.55) a person! There are no bathrooms, no heat, and the seats are wooden, making the almost two hour ride a little uncomfortable. However there are interesting things that happen on the train! Vendors come through and sell everything from socks to crab-flavored Lays potato chips!

So, while the team took off towards the train station, my son Sergey and I contracted a van to take all the luggage and supplies. That van was almost $100 to rent and the three of us sat in the front as the driver dogged pot holes and Sergey translated. We made it before the team and had time for tea with the director of the Day Center! Nadezhda had made arrangements with her son and a deacon of the church to pick up the team at the train station.

Our original plan was to have the ladies stay in one of the members home while the four guys to stay in a hotel nearby. We were told before that there was no hotel in Sosnovo, but this one had rooms available supposedly only for the four of us. However, we got there and all the rooms were available. There were 9 of us and 9 beds! It’s funny how God works out those things! We all ended up staying there which allowed us to be together, translators and team members alike! There was also a large room we could use to have tea, make our own breakfast, and organize our supplies for each day. It was also only a 2 minute walk from the Day Center!

That evening we had dinner in a new café run by the owner who had served our team before in a different café across the street. She remembered us and served us a very filling meal!

I spent the next couple of days trying to convince her that we didn’t need a full three course meal every time we sat down! It was breaking my budget and our waistlines! We agreed on serving meals “family style” and this seemed to make everyone happy and keep costs low!

Monday we started our ministry first in the Orphanage. We spent the morning playing with the pre-school children outside. The temperature was about 62 degrees and the Orphanage counselors wanted the kids outside on a nice warm day like this. We did our stories, crafts, and games all outside. After lunch, our team split and half went to the Orphanage and half went to the Day Center to work with school-aged children after school.

Again, the Orphanage counselors wanted the school-aged kids outside. The pre-school kids were outside too, so this made it hard to do one thing with one group and not the other. Our attempt to tell Bible stories, do crafts, and other organized activities was difficult. There were LOTS of distractions. It has been that way before. The kids seem to have a low attention span as a group. The Orphanage labels these kids as “slow”. Even the sign on next to the door of the Orphanage says, “This Orphanage is for Mentally Slow Children”! Can you imagine living under that label growing up with a constant reminder that you were slow and no one expected much from you! It’s stigma like this that lead us to tell these kids that God loves them, no matter what!

Patty Adams working that afternoon at the Day Center ran into similar problems. She had been looking forward to returning to the Center after her wonderful experience last year. There were four teenage girls who were very active, led others, danced, and brought life to the Day Center. I was told when we arrived that these girls were not attending much anymore and falling to peer-pressure with other non-Christian activities. However, they had heard that Patty had come and they were there on Monday. Additionally, more boys were now coming to the Day Center since Andre, a new worker had begun. The dynamic had changed.

After doing activities, crafts and building relationships with the kids, Patty began to share her testimony toward the end of her time there. The kids laughed. Patty abruptly left and departed as her testimony was dear and very personal to her. The next day, there were two of the four girls waiting for Patty and they immediately apologized for their insensitivity. Things went better that day and the boys even wanted to make the paper flowers they were making!

Tuesday morning we all traveled to the Orphanage to spend time with the pre-school kids, but the director told us they were having a government inspection today and that we needed to leave. She had warned me that this might occur. So, we quickly left within 3 minutes of our arrival. We called that afternoon and we were allowed to return that afternoon to spend time with the school-aged kids.

At the orphanage on Tuesday, we got agreement to take the kids inside for an hour after some time of play to do the craft activities and story. I talked to them about respect and listening and things seemed to go better. We were falling into a routine as we worked through all the problems and issues in those first few days.

48 Hours... Fri, 4/19 - Sat, 4/20

2008-04-20T11:57:00.007+04:00

Behind the scenes of stories of orphans and the lives of hurting children are a lot of preparations to get folks in place at a location so that the love of Christ can be shown to these kids. Within 48 hours there can be a lot of changes as things don’t go as planned or as anticipated and a lot of experiences that one sees maybe if there hadn’t been these changes. But as servants we become available to Him to serve wherever He needs and ready to be flexible to prepare a way for His ministry to unfold. These last 48 hours are detailed below in a chronological story of 48 hours in the life of a mission trip director.

On Friday morning, I crawled out of bed knowing that today I would travel to Lomonosov, Russia for some meetings with Pastor Andre of the Lomonosov Baptist Church and the director of the Baby Home that we continue to minister to AND meet to travel by bus later that evening to a retreat an hour outside of town for Transition Home kids that Nancy Durrett had planned. I had my full backpack packed for the overnight trip. In the morning I check e-mail to see if I’ve received any letters from home! I did receive an e-mail from the husband of one of our participants. Kent Adams had written saying Patty Adams was on her way and should arrive Friday afternoon at 1:45pm! Oh my, I had anticipated her arriving on Saturday! I have meetings in Lomonosov! I’ve got to prepare transportation, a place to stay a day earlier, and ensure she gets settled. He also said she was bringing 4 large bags instead of the usual 2. I had to ensure the taxi had enough room as a Lada (Russian car) wouldn’t have room for all that luggage. Oh boy, this is going to be a day! I need to leave in 30 minutes at 9:30am for the metro to meet folks going with me to Lomonosov.

I first called the Transition Home that we had scheduled for her to stay at Saturday. No, all of them would be out of town at a retreat that Nancy Durrett had planned months ago. There was no room at the “Inn”(the MIR apartment) due to the construction here, so it looked like a hotel was the best option. I made calls on my cell phone waling to the metro to a contact I had that made hotel reservation locally. After several phone calls to find the best place close to the transition home and within our budget, we found a hotel. I got this confirmed as I was riding in a Marchucka (16 passenger public transportation bus) on the way to Lomonosov at about 10:45am.

I had met my translator Vica and an employee from MIR named Katya that was going with us on the 40 minute Marchucka ride to the town of Lomonosov, about 50km West of St. Petersburg. We were dropped off in the rain near a large Orthodox Church. Pastor Andre had come to meet us and take us to his church.

At his church we went upstairs to a small kitchen to have some tea and coffee. The room was cold, although heaters were installed. It was a government regulation thing that prevented them from hooking them up. They had been fighting this for two years to go through all the legal paperwork to arrange the hookup, but the rules kept changing and they’ve had to start over with the process several times. Long story, but we kept our coats on a drank some tea and discussed Pastor Andre’s upcoming summer camp program, our planned mission trip to Lomonosov this coming October, and discussions about if it was possible to stay in the a hotel in Lomonosov. It was also brought up that we could possibly stay in the homes of church members. We all agreed that it would be an encouragement to his church if that could happen! Katya heard our plans about the summer camp and asked me if I thought her two nephews could attend as well. I asked Pastor Andre for Katya and he agreed!

It was a quick meeting and then we were off to the Baby Home. The Lomonosov Baby Home had had a number of interior renovations. The director proudly showed us some of the rooms as we walked and talked about our upcoming trip in October. She took us outside to another building connected to the Baby Home. This newly renovated building houses children with AIDS and HIV. There were 8 babies’ upstairs and another 8 babies downstairs. About 4 of the kids were of toddler age. We waved and blew kisses to a child who hadn’t gone to sleep during their nap time. It was about 12:45pm and they had just gone down for a nap after being fed. It’s sad to see these kids and know their condition, but I was happy to see them in renovated rooms and well cared for. Natalia, the director of the Baby Home agreed that our team could come visit them this next October.

Back to the office we went and sat down for a few minutes so Katya to complete some diaper paperwork (no pun intended). SAC had received a donation to purchase all the diapers at this Baby Home for calendar year 2008 and official paperwork from MIR had to be accomplished for accountability. Katya explained to me what was bought, the different sizes, wipes, and lotion for each month. I know it has helped them a lot. She told me she was also looking for a donation of food as well as the price of food has gone up and the government set their budgets more than a year ago and it didn’t include prices increases. Private donations are the only thing that sometimes keeps these kids fed and taken care of.

Our time was up and we were going to be late to get back to St. Petersburg to pick up Patty Adams at the airport. We said our goodbyes and left Katya still accounting for the diaper paperwork and all the official stamps that were needed.

Pastor Andre took us back to the bus station so we could take a Marchucka back to St. Petersburg. We caught he bus just in time and had to say quick goodbyes to Pastor Andre. It was raining as we departed back to the city. On the way back, I needed to talk to Vica. Vica had worked with us to help make trip preparations for the spring mission trips. The employee I had hired in 2007 decided to work in another position at MIR and left SAC in November. I have needed another person to represent SAC to fill this position. Vica is a university student majoring in International Business and Control. She is in her third year and will graduate in 2009. I made her a job offer while I was squished in the back of a Marchucka with my knees to my chest and my backpack in my lap! It wasn’t the best place to make a formal job offer, but it was how things were going! She accepted and will start in mid-May, 20 hours a week to accommodate her university attendance. Immediately she will begin helping with the SAC summer mission trip!

We are now arriving back in St. Petersburg. I had called the taxi driver on the way back to meet us where the bus stops at a nearby Metro station. We quickly found him and we were off to the Airport. It was about 2:30pm. Both Vica and I were hungry as there wasn’t time for lunch! I was looking for a kiosk that I could jump out of the car to get a snicker bar. I didn’t see one! Oh well!

When we got to the airport Patty was there with 4 large bags in tow. She told us that it was good that we were NOT there on time as it was a fiasco at customs with 4 bags. Again two bags are normal, but customs became suspicious with four bags and had patty unpack all four bags in front of her. They wanted to see a “list” of items. Patty doesn’t speak Russian and rather than work hard the rest of the afternoon to figure out all of this, Patty just got a stern look and told her, “Make a list the next time”. IF we were there with a translator, it might have taken several more hours or extra “fees”.

Well, we overloaded the Russian Lada that our English speaking Taxi driver owned and operated. The trunk could not be closed and Patty and Vica were sharing the backseat with a couple of pieces of luggage. Our overloaded car was stopped by the police just outside the airport. They don’t stop you for running a red light, but having an overloaded car seems to be a violation or at least a reason to have you pull over and for them to come up with a “fee”. We paid the “fee” to line their pockets and we were off. If we hadn’t, the driver would have lost his license… at least that is what he was told.

We moved all of Patty’s bags to a single room on the 9th floor. It was about the size of a walk-in closet in some houses. She was settled for the night and she probably needed some rest after the long flight.

Now I had to take Patty’s passport to get her Registered in the city. It’s a Russian Law about all visitors to the city, but it had to be done today. I needed to take the passport to the MIR office so registration can occur. I had the taxi drive me there, but it was Friday and rush hour. He also needed to pick up his son at 5pm at the day school he was attending. It was OK as it was on the way. But, I still had to make it to the meeting place by 5:30pm to travel to the retreat.

Things took too much time and traffic was horrible. I called from the taxi at 5:30pm and told them I was stuck in traffic and couldn’t make it to the meeting point. I had to abort my attempt to make it to the retreat. I didn’t want the other transition home young adults waiting on me and missing their bus.

We took our time now and pick up the taxi drivers son at his day school. I was told to take my backpack with me and not leave it in the car as if someone saw it, they would bust a window and take it just to see what was inside. On our way back, near where we parked, we saw a car that had just been broken into with a busted car window. God was looking out for us!

The taxi driver is a friend of my friend Milan Bankovich, who has worked with SAC for some time. He had recommended us to Igor who was also Serbian like Milan. Igor was telling me about his time in the military and serving in the Kosovo war. Now having some time, we all went to McDonalds for dinner. His 7 year old son was excited! I sat with him while his dad got our meal and taught him some English words. His dad had been working with him to teach him some English. He also wanted to see my illusion of me pulling off my finger again!

He dropped me back to the MIR office and I was glad to unload the backpack I had been carrying all day. Somewhere around 11pm I went to bed after checking e-mail. Of course, I didn’t sleep too long… at about 3:30am my son Sergey calls me to tell me that he is at the airport in Rostov, Russia awaiting his flight to St. Petersburg and the airline charged him 900p (~$43) for his bags being overweight. He was only allowed 10kg instead of the 15 that he had anticipated. He only had 1000p with him! He wanted me to know… or at least being to think about reimbursing him! I tried to go back to sleep…

At 4:30am, Sergey send me an SMS (written text message) to my cell phone asking me to put money on HIS cell phone. You have to do this a cell phone Kiosks in Russia. There is no “monthly bill” here. Again, I tried to go back to sleep…

I get up that morning after “some” sleep, and know that I will go to meet Sergey at the airport with a different Taxi driver that is his brother-in-law. Sergey wanted me to direct some of my taxi needs to his business! Misha is a tall guy and has been very supportive. He’s a good drive and he had just got a new car for his taxi business.

At about 10:30am, Sergey calls me from Moscow to tell me the flight has been delayed. So, I readjust my plans and have the Misha pick me up near a metro station at 12pm. I needed to move Patty from the hotel to the Transition Home apartment. Oh, and I needed to meet the counselors of the transition home at the same metro close to their apartment to get the key. I met them at 11:40am as they were going to be gone that afternoon and wouldn’t be there to let Patty in. It all seemed to work out despite plans changing by the hour.

We went to the hotel to pick up Patty. She was anticipating 2pm like I had told her yesterday, but plans change quickly. I was there at about 12:15pm. We got her checked out and then onto the Transition Home to move her stuff up to the 5th floor. I’m glad they had an elevator! Some apartments don’t!

Sergey send another SMS at 12:30am, “Dad, I’m so hungry, please go by McDonalds and pick up some chicken McNuggets for me. Love Sergey”. They don’t feed you on this airline like they do other airlines, and food is outlandishly expensive in Moscow at the airport! He also only had 100 rubles on him.

We were actually ahead of schedule. Sergey wasn’t coming in until 3pm and it was 1:30pm by the time we finished moving Patty’s stuff to the apartment. So we all went into the crowded McDonalds and had a quick lunch. Yes, we also got Sergey’s Chicken McNuggets!

At 3pm we were there at the airport. Sergey came in and was glad to see Patty was there too. She gave him some rubber bracelets that were the colors of the Gospel Beads bracelets and then asked if Sergey remembered what they stood for. He did!

With Sergey’s bags and all of us, we went to Lenta, a “Sam’s Club” of a store to get food items for the Sosnovo Orphanage and Day Center for snacks. We piled this into the car now overloaded and made the short trip to the transition home apartment. After moving all that stuff there to stage it for Sunday’s trip to Sosnovo, we left Patty there and showed her how to work the locks and the “Dom Phone”, the telephone like unit that rings when someone is asking to be let in to the apartment building.

I had planned to meet my kids and cook them dinner that night at 5pm, but it was already 4:30pm by the time we left so that wasn’t gong to work. Masha wanted to be home by 7pm so she could watch her favorite weekly TV show called “Hero’s”, so, Sergey in the car suggested McDonalds near his home. My thought was, “McDonalds again! Yuck!” But we were running out of time. I called Masha, and McDonalds was OK. Dima wanted to meet at another place, so I asked him to ask Masha to get agreement. I didn’t think he would. McDonalds was the choice.

I was dropped off at McDonalds to meet Masha, who was already there. Sergey went with Misha to take his stuff home and would be there shortly. When I got there, Masha and her sister Tanya, who I thought had to work today, was there tool So, I fed both of my daughters a quick meal as we waited for Sergey. We had a 20 minute conversation, then they started to leave about 6:55pm to go watch their TV show. Sergey shows just before they leave and they hugged each other as they haven’t seen each other for 5 months since Sergey lives in Rostov as he attends school there. Dima shows up too, so now I feed my sons! I have a 30 minute conversation with them before we leave.

Sergey wanted to just look at a photo printer. So, we went to three stores “looking”. During the three store visits as we were walking, I coordinated the meeting times and places for the team, the translators and for the van driver that would take our baggage to Sosnovo the following day. Sergey wanted me to buy this printer right then, but I wasn’t up to buying a printer for the Sosnovo trip on the spot.

We left and on the way to the metro, we stopped to put money on our cell phone and to get a few things fro breakfast at a nearby food store. It was about 9pm. I hugged Sergey good bye and told him to get some rest since he hadn’t slept the night before (neither had I with all the messages from him!). I traveled the three stops on the Metro and arrived back at the MIR apartment I’ve been staying in.

I made a few more coordination phone calls, checked and responded to e-mails, wrote an outline for this journal entry and went to bed. I think it was about 11pm, a little over 48 hours since I began my odyssey.

A Mission Trip is not a vacation, its work with a lot of “flex” and patience, and coordination. In the end, people are in place to perform ministry and love on children in the name of Christ! It’s not easy to get all the players and resources in place for this to occur, but the blessings the kids receive from this effort are well worth the difficulties we endure to make it happen.

Today, we have a plan and all people and recourses staged for a trip to Sosnovo. I pray there won’t be changes, but I know there will be! Pray for us this next week as we minister to Sosnovo and the kids there. Updates on our week there will come after we return as internet connections don’t work well there. Thanks for your continued prayers!

Ministry in Rostov - Wed, Apr 9

2008-04-12T14:12:00.005+04:00

On Wednesday morning of the day I was to leave Rostov to fly back to St. Petersburg, I had arranged to meet with a friend of Brad Horne. Brad’s parents are members of Hunters’ Glen Baptist Church and currently Brad is serving with the IMB in Perm, Russia. Brad used to live and work in Rostov and he had a Russian friend in Rostov who was actively involved in ministry.
Jon Borisvich has lived a long time in Rostov and became active in church several years ago. He currently serves as a deacon in the Central Baptist Church in Rostov and their church currently works with orphanages, shelters, and a children’s hospital. Jon came to Sergey’s apartment for the meeting so we could all learn from one another and discover if there was a possibility of doing ministry together with SAC as an outreach of his church to the community.

There are 11 Baptist churches in Rostov with 6 being officially registered. Jon’s church has 21 members and they visit an orphanage or shelter once a month. I wanted to have the meeting to see how we could work together in the future and what things needed to be worked out if a SAC team were to travel to Rostov. Jon only speaks Russian, but I told him that Sergey would be my contact and translator to help coordinate logistics if we were ever able to bring a team to Rostov. Currently, they have no foreign help from any American teams traveling to Rostov.

We had a good meeting and he even suggested visiting an orphanage in Chechnya or a trip to Beslan, where the Beslan school hostage crisis occurred in September of 2004 when Chechen terrorist took the school children and teacher hostage killing 334 including 186 children. That would be a 9-15 hour drive, depending on check points and traffic from Rostov. That may be a little out of reach right now for a SAC team.

There are many more questions to answer, but we ended the meeting in prayer and in hopes that one day SAC might be able to arrange for a mission trip to Rostov. Please pray with us as SAC considers extending our mission to another city.

Rest in Rostov - Apr 7-8

2008-04-12T13:57:00.006+04:00

After the events of my first day in Rostov, I was ready to see this city that Sergey had come to call home and have some rest!

Rostov-On-Don is a city of 1,012,300 people on the river Don through the center of the city. Rostov-on-Don was established in 1749. The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since ancient times. It was the site of the ancient Greek colony Tanais occupied around 700 BC. More recently, in WWII much of the city was reduced to rubble by the German forces who occupied it three times in 1941, 1942 and 1943. I was impressed with this city as it seemed to have a quiet peaceful spirit. It’s also a major summer tourist spot for “Peterburgers” (folks from St. Petersburg) who want to rest in the sun on the beaches of the Black Sea.

Sergey and I travelled to his University that he is attending. This is a major private university called the Institute of Management, Business and Law. Sergey is majoring in Management along with his girlfriend Tanya. He is concurrently enrolled in the 11th grade (the senior year for the Russian school system) and this university that he attends three days a week (Thursday – Saturday).

Later that afternoon we went bowling, had dinner, and then made it back near his apartment to have tea with the great-grandparents of his girlfriend Tanya. Tea in Russia is a special occasion and something that is often done for social gatherings. The great-grandparents wanted to meet me. I found them to be humble and “down to earth”. They were both in their eighties. The great-grandfather told the story how he was captured by the Germans when he was 14 years old and spent the next 4 years in a German prison camp. He even tried to escape once, and could have been shot, but was spared and he was used for labor later on.

The next evening we had tea together with the grandparents who also lived close by. I found them to be equally pleasant and hospitable. We told stories, laughed and I teased Tanya and Sergey and had fun getting to know them all. Both the grandparents and great-grandparents have taken in Sergey as one of their own and they have helped out each other. I thanked them for their support and encouragement of my son as he studied there in Rostov.

Each of these evening after tea, we went home and had a late dinner. Sergey cooked one night and fixed “Rok”, which appear to be a large species of a crab or crawdad. He loves them and they were good!

The second evening as we were shopping for groceries he told me I was cooking him something tonight. So I ended up making meatloaf with baked potatoes and corn. Sergey didn’t eat the corn, but he liked the meatloaf. It was something easy, although I had to figure out what ingredients would work with what was available in the store. The spices were the hard part, but it worked out just fine!

Repair in Rostov - Sun, Apr 6

2008-04-12T13:39:00.009+04:00

The next morning was interesting. I almost burned down his apartment! Yes, sometimes living in Russia can be complicated. Let me explain!

In this apartment there is an old water heater (white box on the wall in this picture). Sergey showed me that you have to first turn this lever to turn on the water to the heater, then you turn on the water to the sink so water is flowing through the system, then you turn another lever to turn on the gas, then you light the gas heater with a match. Once the hot water is running, I can turn the hot water on in the shower. Of course, I need to turn off the hot water in the kitchen sink so I have enough water pressure to take a shower! Are you still with me on all of this? The one thing I didn’t quite understand was that I was supposed to NOT turn off the hot water in the shower when I was done.

Well, I did the typical thing I did when I finished showering. I turned off the water. A couple of minutes later I heard Sergey in the kitchen exclaiming, “What did you do!” I went out to the smoke filled kitchen and the water heater was overheating. There was no water running through the system, so there was nowhere for the heat to go except to the heater itself. It melted the plastic timer that was magnetically held to the metal outside of the heater cabinet. What used to be white was now brown from overheated metal. Once I understood how the system worked, I told Sergey to turn the hot water back on to help dissipate the heat from the unit. Steam and puffs of boiling hot water came out where hot water once flowed. Despite all this, the heater cooled down and still worked later on. That was a relief, but we still had a brown heater that needed to be cleaned up.

Scrubbing didn’t have any effect. Sandpaper didn’t effectively take it off. So, Sergey and I took a walk to the store to buy some paint and something to remove the brown before we painted it. We found some rotary wire brushes that fit on the end of a drill he had. We bought those and walked the 20 minutes back to the apartment.

When we returned and unlocked the front door, the lock broke. Sergey took it apart and discovered one of the wires that had been used as a spring had broken. It couldn’t be fixed. We had to buy a new lock! That meant that I had to stay and watch the apartment as Sergey walked the 20 minutes back to the store to buy a new lock. He kept saying… “This is a bad day, we don’t will have rest”!

I spent about 2 hours with the wire brush cleaning up the heater to remove the brown char from the heater. Sergey returned with the lock and worked on the front door. Later, he painted the heater and I banged around on the door jam with a hammer to help the lock fit and lock. Somewhere around 6pm we were finished. A day that started with a simple shower ended up being a work day of repair projects. It could have been a very bad day, but it really was a blessing to work together as father and son to accomplish a mission.

That day reminded me of the verses in Joshua 1:2-16. Joshua was given a mission by God (verse 2), a promise (verse 3), God only asked for obedience (verse 7) and God would be with them (verse 9). Certainly, our mission together that day was small, but the principles of obedience and that God would be with us was always present. Who can imagine what can be accomplished when God is with us and we are obedient!

Arrival in St. Petersburg! - Fri, Apr 4

2008-04-12T13:29:00.004+04:00

I arrived in St. Petersburg and had a nice flight. All the connections were good and my bags made it through just fine. It’s always a praise when the bags (and I) make it! I had Vica, a young lady I hired that was a graduate of a transition home, meet me and make arrangements for a taxi. The driver was a young man named Igor who brought his six year old son with him. I showed him how I could pull off my finger! He was entertained! In English he asked, “Please do this one more time” at his dad’s encouragement!

The first night I stayed at a transition home and slept on the couch. It was closer to the airport as I had to leave the next morning for a flight to Rostov-On-Don. The “On-Don” means “on the river named Don”. There is another Rostov in Russia and this phrase is used to distinguish between the two cities.

My flight the next morning was my first domestic flight in Russia. I flew an airline named S7 Airlines. The “S” stands for Siberian. I was worried that I would be able to make the connection in Moscow without a translator. I had a two-hour layover there so this was plenty of time. I found the airport easy to navigate as signs were in Russian and English. It was a nice flight on a Boeing aircraft; however there were no video screens to play the safety briefing. The stewardess would stand in the aisle and show you how to fasten your seatbelt, put on your oxygen mask, and did their hand jive motions to show where the exits were. It’s how I remember airlines doing these safety briefings 25 years ago.

On the afternoon of April 5th I arrive in Rostov, again with all my bags in tow! My son Sergey and his girlfriend Tanya met me at the airport. His girlfriend also speaks English, but I probably talked too fast at times for her to completely understand me. Sergey had made arrangement s for a taxi for the 15 minute ride to his apartment. I got settled and we visited a bit. I had been worried about getting from Dallas all the way to Rostov-On-Don, near the northern part of the Black Sea on a Journey that started for me on Thursday and ended on Saturday afternoon. God had made all things work out!

Departure – Sat-Tue, Oct 20-23

2007-10-31T17:42:00.000+03:00

On Saturday, our last full day in Russia, we took a little time to go touring and shopping. Our bus took us to see several sites including St. Isaacs Cathedral, Kaczynski Cathedral (a working Russian Orthodox Church), pictures on the outside of the Hermitage (Winter Palace), and of course the Savoir on the Spilt Blood Cathedral.

That’s a long name, but this is the famous cathedral that looks like the one on Red Square in Moscow called Basil’s cathedral. This one in St. Petersburg is built on the site of the assassination of Czar Alexander II in March of 1881. A group of revolutionaries threw a bomb at his royal carriage on this site. The church was built between 1883 and 1907 and was officially called the Resurrection of Christ Church (a.k.a. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood). The church was closed for services in the 1930s, when the Bolsheviks went on an offensive against religion and destroyed churches all over the country. It remained closed and under restoration for over 30 years and was finally re-opened in 1997 in all its dazzling former glory. This church has a great number of mosaics covering the walls depicting the life of Christ and his disciples. One can enter the church and see many of the stories of the Bible!

Touring was great as there is a lot to see in St. Petersburg! We only had an afternoon to cover the main sites! We ended the day by touring this famous cathedral and shopping at the flee market for souvenir trinkets across the street. This outdoor market is famous and has a lot of variety, but the weather had turned cold and we needed to go inside!

Down the street was a café called the Liama Café. It’s a place I frequently take teams as there is plenty of room and the cashiers speak a little English. Milan, one of our former translators to the Orphanage, joined us with his wife Anya and baby Phillip. It was a nice meal, but it was time to get back to the hotel and pack for the trip home. I also needed to pack as I would be moving to the MIR apartment for the next couple of days.

The team departed early on Sunday. We all had to be loaded on the bus at 4:15am in the morning to make it to the airport for a flight departure of 6:20am. It’s always rough getting up so early! But soon the tem was on their way home and I went back to the MIR apartment to rest a little and meet my kids for dinner that night.

On Monday I had one more appointment with Nadezhda at Child in Danger and needed to go by the Orthodontist to see about my Masha’s braces. She will get the braces off in a couple of weeks!

My appointments ended and I got about 4 hours sleep before the taxi came (earlier than expected of course) and I was off to the airport. The trip home was uneventful as I sat in my small seat in the back of the plane.

On the flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Dallas, Texas I watched a movie I hadn’t seen. It was called “Evan Almighty”. It was about a regular guy living in modern suburban America who was asked by God to build an Ark! Few believed in him. His wife and three boys abandoned him and later returned. His neighbors laughed at him. At first he was resistant but then he became obedient. I would laugh as the movie showed him attempting to build the Ark by himself without help. He would hit his thumb on a nail, get angry, get frustrated, and make all sorts of errors all in his attempt to be obedient. He wasn’t perfect. He was just a regular guy called by God to do a specific task.

God asked me to build an Ark called SAC to encourage orphans and hurting children in Russia to come on board through salvation in Christ Jesus before the coming flood of Judgment. I could relate to “Evan”, his ridicule, his frustration, his imperfections, and his commitment to be obedient. I felt my chin quiver as the movie ended and God’s plan was revealed.

Last Day of Ministry – Fri, Oct19th

2007-10-31T17:40:00.000+03:00

It was our last day at the ministry sites! The week seemed to fly by fast as we worked through all the problems and working to bless a few kids with the touch of Christ! It was a great week, but it was about to be over!

It was tough to say goodbye to the toddlers we had come to know and play with during the week. We knew it was going to be difficult for them the next few days as they look for us when they come into the activity room looking for something to do or someone to hold them. They will cry and be unhappy, but we’ll know that at least for a week these kids had felt the love of Christ as He worked through us to minister to those kids. They may forget the activities, but I know they will long and strive for that same comfort again now that the seeds of Christian Love have been planted.

Upstairs at the Lomonosov Baptist Church we had our last lunch. It wasn’t a last supper although the table was long and the fellowship was loving! It was however, our last lunch with Pastor Andre and the ladies who had prepared our lunch all week. One of the ladies the day before had made a little cloth handkerchief for Ansley, age 7. Later that afternoon, Ansley made one of those cross mosaic trivets and wanted to give hers to this lady. She was touched and in tears when Ansley gave it to her. I think that special gift will take its place in a special place in her home somewhere. She seemed to treasure the gift of the cross from a little girl.

At the hospital we told our last Bible story, did our last craft and then gave the kids backpacks that we had prepared for each of them. I think the kids and the staff were surprised to receive gifts. At the end and closing to our hour of time I showed the kids how to play some of the table games that we left for them. The kids had nothing to do during the day and I knew they would enjoy these gifts long after we had departed as a memory of our time together. We hoped that they would remember that this team and these gifts came from the Lomonosov Baptist Church!

Our trip back to the hotel was long. Since I had access to the bus, I needed to deliver the remaining backpacks to the other ministry sites. We had loaded them in the bus the night before and they took up most of the backseat. We had to go to the Fuydor shelter, the hotel to drop off the ministry suitcases, to the Road of Life Transition Home to drop off backpacks, and then uptown for pizza at Patio Pizza, a popular place for SAC mission trip participants. I thought this wouldn’t take too long, but I failed to consider St. Petersburg traffic on a Friday evening. Our trip normally took about 50 minutes, but with all these errands, it took 4 hours! It was a long ride, but I think God had a purpose in that ride. You can see that special article in the next SAC printed newsletter that will come out in a couple of weeks!

The Kids Can Weave!? – Thu, Oct 18th

2007-10-31T17:39:00.000+03:00

Today, we brought out the weaving cards so that the 1-2 year old children in the Baby Home could begin this activity. The speech therapist who had been with us and all our activities the whole week began to explain to the translators that this wouldn’t work and the kids couldn’t do that. Susan Bollinger was persistent that we should try and the therapist agreed. The kids immediately took to this activity and the kids were weaving away! One little girl would raise her hand and exclaim “Yeah” each time she finished threading a hole! She was enthusiastic! The speech therapist was… speechless! At the end of the day, she asked for us to leave the weaving boards so that she could practice that with the children! We knew then we had a hit and had won over the confidence of the speech therapist in what we were doing to try to teach the kids. It was a huge success for us and should lead to developmentally better children for years to come!

At the hospital, we had won over the staff with the tea earlier in the week. Now today there were 12 kids that came in! Wow, we were excited, but hoped we had enough supplies and crafts for everyone to do! In addition, we had three young girls from the Lomonosov Baptist Church join us to help. Two of the girls were the niece’s of Pastor Andre! Of course, we wanted them to do the crafts too! As we counted we had enough! It’s amazing after all the planning we do months ahead; God already knows who will be there when it’s time to do a craft!

I was looking forward to today’s craft with the kids. Months ago I had found these wooded cross trivets that the kids would put mortar into and then decorate with mosaic tile and different colored beads. It took up a lot of volume and weight in the ministry suitcases, but I thought it would be worth the effort. Fortunately, Mike Nevil was there and mixed the mortar for the trivets. It was the mortar that made the project look great! Of course, the kids had something to do with it too!

Today, I had Tall Anya, one of the former residents of the Road of Life Family Home; share her personal testimony with the kids at the Hospital. I thought that hearing a young lady not much older that they were would have an impact. She shared in Russian of course and I hope it planted some seeds for these kids that were there. God had already ordained this meeting and had these kids there who needed to hear those words.

I told our team before that we may not be able to measure the success of our mission trip with statistics or a count of the folks led to salvation. Sometimes we don’t know what impact we will have. It’s like what Mother Teresa said to a reporter who asked her about how she would measure the success of the orphanage she was opening that day in India. Mother Teresa responded and said, “The Bible doesn’t talk about success, only obedience”.

McDonalds Outing for Orphanage #14 – Wed, Oct17th

2007-10-31T17:37:00.000+03:00

Wednesday was planned with a little different schedule. In the morning we worked with the kids in the Baby Home. Today we had them making tissue paper rainbows with different colored tissue paper. The speech therapist really seemed to like having the kids do this activity as it helped them teach colors.

At the end of our time with them, we were able to spend some time talking with the director. The first two days had been too busy, but we wanted to present her with some of the humanitarian aid and gifts we had brought. One of the gifts was a suitcase full of handmade baby blankets. Mary Arrant, a member of Hunters’ Glen, had worked on these all summer. The director was happy to receive them and they immediately put them on some of the beds for the children. These soft blankets would be warmly enjoyed by the children this winter in this 130 year old mansion converted to a Baby Home.

After a wonderful lunch in the Lomonosov Church we headed back to St. Petersburg to take the kids of Group 2 in Orphanage #14 to McDonalds. Susan Bollinger, one of our trip participants, had worked with us each fall for the past 5 years in this Orphanage and worked specifically with this group of kids. SAC always tries to put trip participants with the same group of kids on return visits so that relationships can continue to be built. Sasha, one little girl in this group, hugged Susan so hard and nearly took her breath away! Sasha (in red coat) loved being with Susan!

It was raining as our group began to walk to a place we could catch a Tramway. This Tramway is an electric railcar that travels’s tracks on the street. They are much like street cars in San Francisco except these have a more industrial feel rather than quaint wooden streetcars. Our Tramway took us over a bridge and stopped near another Metro station near a McDonalds.

The crowds were overwhelming and people in line had their backs against the wall! I thought, “Oh Boy”, this is going to be interesting trying to seat and feed 11 kids and our team and translators! I sent the kids upstairs in this McDonald to try to find seats. Orders were taken and three translators worked to get everything right. It didn’t go as planned, but nothing seems to go that way anyway! It was a nice outing and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. I could tell as four of the boys sitting at a table, who had just finished a McFlurry shake, shook my hand and gave a sincere “Thank You” in English!

The kids headed back to the Orphanage with their group counselor and we headed to the Metro to ride back to the hotel. As we came closer to the metro I could see problems. I hadn’t seen a Metro station that busy in about 4 years and that meant crowds of pushing people. We still needed to buy tokens for the trip. Some of us were swept away in the crowd like a swift flowing river carrying us downstream. Nevertheless, we all stayed together and made it down the escalator. It was still busy downstairs and the subway cars were crowded, but again we all made it on board and several stops later we were back at the hotel. It’s a metro experience I don’t enjoy, especially when you have a team with you!

An Interesting and Busy Day – Tue, Oct 16th

2007-10-31T17:33:00.000+03:00

I knew this was going to be a busy day when we started. At the Baby Home our team would be there along with another team from Buckner now called Orphan Outreach with a team of 15 people. In addition, there was one couple that our team members met on the plane that would be coming to see their adoptive child on their first trip to Russia. We were going to be busy and the director would be very busy as well!

Our time this morning with the kids involved paint! It’s going to be messy when you combine two year olds, fabric paint, and active little hands! As you can see by the picture we were having the kids make t-shirts with their hand prints. The activity was a fine with the staff as I was worried that they might decide it was too messy for them to deal with.

That day, they also brought into our group some special kids. About 8 kids they brought in that day had HIV. They needed attention too. HIV is a huge problem in Russia and it is growing. Even little babies at a Baby Home are infected due usually to drug use by their moms. It’s sad and unfortunate, but hopefully we made their day brighter with a little love from caring Christians!

At lunch at the church, we had Natasha play guitar and sing some Russian Christian songs. Natasha is a music major and can play the piano, guitar, and Domra, a traditional Russian string instrument with a rounded back about the size of half a watermelon. The songs resonated the spirit of Russia and were a perfect lead-in to the sharing of testimonies. We had invited the ladies who had been cooking for us to share their testimonies. They did and shed tears along the way. We were blessed again and encouraged one another as we hugged prior to our leaving.

At the hospital, we had our tea planned. We set the table and prepared the tea. Chairs were arranged around the same table we used to do crafts with the kids. We spent an hour talking about our ministry, why we do this, and that we were an outreach of the Lomonosov Church. At the end of the hour I could tell through the laughs and questions, that the staff felt more comfortable with us. The tea was a big success and it allowed us to fellowship and build relationships so they could see Christ working through each of us!

The kids came in a few minutes later and we had a great time of fellowship, bible study, and crafts. We still only had an hour, but I think the staff was better connected with us now that we had the tea.

One of our craft activities was painting bucket hats. These were older kids and it wasn’t as much as a mess, until one of the young girls squeezed too hard on the plastic bottle and the top came off and exploded fabric paint over her t-shirt and freshly painted hat. It didn’t seem to bother her as she kept on working as we attempted to clean up the mess. It also ruined her shirt despite efforts to wash it out. They did like the hats!

One little girl had just come to the hospital that day. She wasn’t in our activity room, but was around the corner in another room. She was homesick for her mom. We made it a point to bring a bucket hat to her and some paint so she could work alone on this without having to come to the group crying in front of others. I never did see her, but I think that painting the hat at least took her mind off her homesickness for a while.

Our day ended and we traveled back to the hotel for dinner. On our mission trips, I plan dinner in the hotel where the hotel prepares the same dinner for all of us. It’s a nice sit-down dinner and is easier than trying to order from a Russian menu! Sunday and Monday nights had been a nice quiet dinner. However on Tuesday, they have a band that comes in to play. It was loud and we could barely hear each other talk! We complained, but they said there was a wedding party coming in to the room and they would need to play for them.

Well, it was too late to change and we tried to make the best of it. We were disappointed as I had invited Maria Grinfeld to come and eat with us to see some of our returning team members. I had also invited Masha Oshkina so I could have a conversation with my kids, Tanya and Dima. We wanted the evening to be a time of conversation.

Soon the wedding party came in and there was more loud music. To our surprise, the groom came to our table and took the hand of Holly McGee inviting her to dance! I think Holly was out of her comfort zone, but she agreed! Several of us stood and began to take pictures. One of the photographers was Mike Nevil. The bride then approached Mike and invited him to dance! He was surprised too! According to the translation of the announcements made by the Best Man after these dances, our flash camera’s made it appear like a CNN news event!

It was an interesting and busy day and what started out as lemons later became lemonade! I guess we learned a lesson and ended up being blessed!

No Colored Butter – Mon, Oct 15th

2007-10-31T17:25:00.000+03:00

We were all excited when we got up to experience our first day in the Baby Home in Lomonosov. After breakfast we had a short devotion time and prayer before heading out. Our small bus arrived at the hotel at 9am to take us to Lomonosov. Everyone was ready and on the bus as we headed out. It was about an hour drive this morning due to more traffic today.

A little after 10am we arrived. The director was in another part of the building and met us in her office. She was warm and pleasant and seemed excited to see a 7 year old as part of our mission team! We brought in all our ministry suitcases and shed our coats before taking a tour of the building and the groups. In one of the rooms upstairs we were able to observe the speech therapist working with a couple of children on their language skills and recognition of colors. The therapist was anxious for us to see what she was teaching the children although the kids were a little shy with a bunch of people in the room watching!

Already, our time was running short and that morning we only had about 50 minutes with the kids as time was taken up in the tour. Actually, as we toured, we picked up a few kids along the way as we were told that these kids would be with us this morning. We brought out a few activities, but didn’t get to complete what we had planned for that first day. The kids were taken from the activity room at noon so they could have lunch and a nap. Our team left to go to the church to have lunch as well. Unfortunately, the nap wasn’t included!

Pastor Andre went all out in working to serve us and accommodate us at his church. Three ladies in the kitchen worked to fix us a three course meal which included soup, a main dish, and tea and cookies. It was great, but for most of us it was more than we were used to eating. It was a lovely lunch prepared by loving hands. We were blessed!

After lunch we took our bus to the Children’s Hospital which was just a few blocks away from the church. We made our way into the room and started preparing our activities. Soon there were five kids that entered and a little shy of us. These kids had to stay in the hospital for various reasons, but most had energy and were ready to do something fun! Dasha started off by telling the Bible Study she had prepared from the material we had given her. She did it all from memory without looking at notes and all in Russian of course. The kids listened as small seeds of faith were being planted. Our story theme was about Joseph and the multicolored coat given to him by his father. During the week we planned to tell different portions of the story of Joseph and his brothers.

After this, we began some crafts that the kids seem to enjoy doing. One of the crafts was an activity that served as a snack and a craft activity at the same time. Our craft related to the Bible Study. Making the connection with the multi-colored coat we had planned to have juice along with bread and butter colored with various colors of food coloring. We showed what we planned to do to the head nurse and our colored butter idea was not approved. Haley Nevil, a trip participant who had nursing experience, told us that sometimes food coloring will affect medical tests as this coloring is passed through. We hadn’t realized that. So, there was no colored butter for the bread to be given to the kids. A few of us ate some colored butter so at least they would get the idea.

At the end of our time, we were told by the head nurse that the next day, we should plan on only an hour. Of course, we had planned to spend two or more hours with he kids, but that seemed too much for her and I don’t think she was too sure about what we were doing. She kept coming in and observing. So, maybe we needed to rethink some of our plans.
On the bus one of our volunteers form the Transition Home, Tall Anya, suggested that we have a tea with them tomorrow so we could sit down and discuss why were there and what we planned to do during the week. It was a great idea so we made plans and arrangements on the way home with Pastor Andre via cell phone. After checking with the staff at the hospital, they were in agreement. We were looking forward to a new beginning the next day!

Mission Lomonosov! - Sat-Sun, Oct 13-14

2007-10-31T17:12:00.000+03:00

Our team arrived on time on Saturday evening and with all their luggage! Praise the Lord! Everyone was in good health and ready and excited to see the sites of St. Petersburg. As our tradition, after checking into the hotel we all strolled down to the Mouse Café to eat before going to sleep after being up and traveling for 30 hours.

Sunday began with a breakfast buffet in the hotel and then a bus ride to the Lomonosov Baptist Church for services that began at 11am. Pastor Andre and his church of about 30 members have done a lot to the facility since our last visit. Their sanctuary is complete, brightly lit and they have fully remolded this structure built in 1892. Other parts of the building are at different stages including the heaters on the wall in the kitchen. They have been there for 3 years, but it will take 38 pages of documents to get approval to hook them up! The rules keep changing, so they have just continued to use the portable electric heaters.

The service was beautiful with the choir singing familiar tunes, but of course in Russian. I could see all of us trying to remember the words as we would recognize the song. I was invited to share a little about why we were there and how we wanted to be an extension of their church as we serve in the local community. After the 2 hour service, we were greeted warmly by the members as we graciously tried to understand each other. You could tell Christ was in our midst.

They invited us for tea upstairs. They have a small room that has a small kitchen at the end and a long table with benches on either side. The room was about 64 degrees as the electric heater hadn’t been turned on. However, it was a warm fellowship and the hot tea felt good on a cool Sunday afternoon. I can see why the Russians like hot tea so much!

We had a short team meeting and discussed the things that we would do the following week. We were excited about the possibilities of what God could do!

Are the Doors Closing at Orphanage #14?

2007-10-13T00:21:00.000+04:00

I’ve said it for a long time, that the doors seem to be closing in Russia and time is short. This week is proving those predictions to be true for Orphanage #14.

This past Wednesday Dasha (SAC Program Director) called Rayisa and Orphanage #14 to confirm our meeting on Thursday at 3pm. In that phone call she told Dasha that she spoke with the group counselors and children and asked them about our coming and they refused to participate. Rayisa said SAC shouldn’t come and that we should cancel the meeting on Thursday. Dasha insisted that we meet and Rayisa agreed.

After hearing that I prayed for God’s guidance and asked, “Was this the end of our 5 years at this orphanage? “ We met the next day. Rayisa was warm and greeted us kindly. We have a great relationship with the staff, but Rayisa told us about the feelings of the group counselors and the kids. They have become tired of the Bible Study and our activities. It sounded like our activities that are VBS based are not interesting to the teens that need more teen activities. Prior to this the kids were positive about our visits, activities, and the gifts we would bring. However, teens change and grow and interests change.

We discussed options for us to change and they suggested movies that could be discussed, outings to McDonalds or other sites in the city, and sports activities outside. Right now these are being considered, but SAC volunteers I’ve contacted fail to see the “ministry” value in much of this. The nature of these activities doesn’t allow much relationship building and opportunities to share the gospel. So, we are praying about what to do next and what to do for the ministry team that has already planned to visit this Orphanage in November.

Over the years, Orphanage #14 has seemed to lean toward the “humanitarian” gain of American teams while only allowing the “ministry” aspects of visits as a means to an end. We’ve watched as efforts to minister to their spiritual needs have taken a backseat to improvements to the Orphanage facilities made by the government and other foreign donors. Physical help is needed and it’s Biblical to provide, however SAC’s philosophy in ministry is to take care of their physical needs so we can then minister to their spiritual needs, while striking a balance between the two. Physical needs are being met at Orphanage #14, but the spiritual aspects are softly being rejected.

Please pray with us as SAC volunteers discern what to do. I also would like to hear from any of you reading this about what you think about this situation. You can e-mail me at jneese@SACorphans.org.

The doors at Orphanage #14 appear to be closing. Several of the kids we have watched grow up have now moved to “The Harbor” and are ministered to there. We may need to move on to another ministry site to expose others to our ministry to orphans. Nevertheless, I’m sad that this door is closing, but I know of others that are opening. I know that is God’s hand is at work. One door closes and another door of opportunity opens. May God bless SAC as we move forward in His name to whatever open door He leads us through!

Weekend at Sosnovo

2007-10-10T15:11:00.000+04:00

A train trip to Sosnovo is always interesting. Sergey and I had made plans to go to Sosnovo again to meet with the director of the Day Center. It took me about an hour by metro to reach the train station. It was cold and when I arrived we had about 30 minutes before the train departed. On one of these trains called an “Elechka” which means it goes to a suburban area and is not for long distances. That is good as these trains have no heat, no bathroom, and wooden benches to sit on!

These trains stop every 3-4 miles to pick up passengers at stops along the way. I timed how long the train stayed at several of these stops. Passengers waiting to get on have 10-15 seconds to enter the door before the doors close and the train moves on. I saw some that didn’t make it as sometimes the doors are crowded with people and there isn’t enough time to get on. I guess the folks who don’t make it will have to wait 2-3 hours for the next train to come by!

After several stops, there was standing room only. Sergey and I were lucky to get seats for this hour and 20 minute ride. At one stop a man and wife came on board. They were standing near the f=door. We began to notice that the older man was sick and pale. Sergey offered his seat so he could sit down. His wife, a passenger sitting across from me, and I helped him off with his jacket. He looked like he barely had a pulse or was overheated. We tried to cool him down and fan him. All I could do is pray silently and ask God to help him. Soon I saw more movement and he slowly began to talk a little, but he was still week. Several stops before we got off he and his wife departed the train with the help of the man sitting across from me. Sometimes in situations like this I wish there was more I could do practically for a person, however sometimes the best thing we can do is pray, even though we are sitting right next to them.

Sergey and I arrived and went to a small store to buy some cookies and tea. It’s tradition here to bring something like this when you are invited as a guest to a home. We went to the home of Valentina. She had hosted us last April for a week and again the weekend before this when we visited the Sosnovo Orphanage. She had a big lunch prepared for us. Truly, we have been blessed by her and her hospitality. After lunch we all left to go to the Day Center for a meeting.

I had wanted to find out specific needs of the Day Center, the Church, and their program there. I was asking a lot of questions about how much things cost and to help with estimates on certain things. However, I had to be careful to set expectations. I had to explain that just because I was asking these questions, didn’t mean I was going to get all these things in the next month or two. Sometimes Russians that work in social institutions have the expectation that the American will buy these things for them just because they are asking about it. I had to explain that I needed a list of things and how much they cost, and then maybe Americans will see this need and the cost and want to participate. It’s a difference of perspective and it has to be carefully managed.

Our meeting lasted about three and a half hours. We shared ideas about woodworking to engage the older boys and ceramics to expand what they are already doing with plaster. All these ideas were to help bring light into this community where 80% of the youth are involved in drugs due to lack of positive activities and positive male role models. Sergey translated all the way and did a good job. By the end, everyone was tired of all my questions, but it was an excellent meeting and I learned a lot about the needs of this church and Day Center.

After the meeting we got on a Marchucka bus to go across town to Valentina’s home where we were staying. By coincidence, we ran into Rayisa, the director of the Sosnovo Orphanage. She was on her way to a second job. I had been asked earlier in the week to ask a couple of questions about the boy being adopted from there by an American couple that found our website on the internet seeing we worked in Sosnovo. I had been talking to them over the last several months. I only had moments to ask my questions, but she responded quickly and then got off at her stop. She had told me that the couple’s court date to finalize the adoption was at the end of the month. When I wrote them and e-mail when I got back to St. Petersburg, they told me that just hours later after getting my e-mail, the adoption agency called and told them the court date! I should add here that I don’t believe in coincidence. I think coincidence for believers is where God chooses to be anonymous. In this case, I think God chose the timing precisely and the concerns for future adoptive parents were relieved.

That evening we spent time back at Valentina’s home. Her son Stass had a lot of questions about religion and denomination differences. We agreed to meet later in the week when I could get a translator and someone to help explain those difference is his own language. I hope to meet with him Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

The next morning we went to church that started at noon and ended at about 2pm, which is typical for a Russian church. We also had communion. Bread that looked about the size of a pancake was broken and the pieces passed around by the pastor. We all drank from one cup with real wine, not grape juice as we do in the states. No, the pastor didn’t have to go back to the alter and refill the cup after handing it to me!

Our train left at 3pm. We had enough time after church to make a few greetings, drink some tea and head off to the train station. This time, the train started in Sosnovo, so Sergey and I had our choice of seats. However, it quickly filled up as the train made more stops. Soon it was crowded again and people standing in the aisles. We arrived back in St. Petersburg a little before 5pm where in time to have dinner with three of my four kids. Tanya was working and couldn’t join us that evening.

Yes, a train trip to Sosnovo is always interesting. You don’t know who you will meet, who you will help, or what seeds of Christian faith and deeds will be planted along the way. Certainly, I think in time we will find that our trip was not a coincidence in God’s plan.

It's Russia!

2007-10-08T22:39:00.000+04:00

I hear it time and time again from the folks that live here… “It’s Russia” every time something doesn’t work out right or there is a degree of inconvenience. This past Friday, our last day of ministry at Child in Danger, this phrase was said more often than I would have liked to hear. Friday was a tough day in Russia.

That morning began by calling to see when the rest of the backpack we requested would be delivered. I wanted to give away 25 of them to the kids at Child in Danger on our last day. We had teddy bears and little flashlights to put inside as our “memory gift” as they call it here. That call started a serious of calls, call backs, and threats of me cancelling the order. They wanted to deliver the whole order at 4pm on Friday to the MIR office. Well, I was going to be at Child in Danger (across town) and would have no backpacks to hand out. After threats to cancel and them whining that they couldn’t do it, the business agreed to deliver all 140 backpacks to Child in Danger. Well, at least I could hand them out, but then we had to transport them out of Child in Danger and back to the MIR office. Then I heard those words… “It’s Russia!”

We didn’t get the invoice until 1:15pm. I needed to be at the metro at 1:45pm to meet a guest that would be helping that day. I didn’t have time for lunch and needed to exchange money now that I knew the final price. I also need to go to the hardware store to pick up some caulk for their craft project and batteries for their little flashlight gifts. I was supposed to do that the day before, but you know “It’s Russia” and things didn’t work out that day.

I made it to Child in Danger in time to briefly meet with Dasha and Sergey to review our plans for the day, the main part which was to share the Gospel! We were ready to begin at our appointed time at 3pm. Just as we are getting ready to start, the backpacks arrive. I’ve got to delay and unload the car holding 6 large boxes and pay the driver the amount of the invoice. We didn’t get started until 3:30pm. Oh, and then I heard those words again, “It’s Russia!”

It was Friday and the kids were used to us by now. That’s a good thing, but it also relaxed their discipline and chaos was about to begin. We started off with our Bible Study and an activity that has worked wonderfully with elementary kids in Sunday School before, but it didn’t work here. It was the “Index Card Walk Through”. The idea was to cut up an index card in a certain way so that it could be opened up and they could walk through. It was a visual way to demonstrate how what seemed impossible before is possible with God. Well, the kids were anxious to get on with the activity and would think they knew what to cut next. They didn’t and didn’t wait for the instructions. Half of the kids quit out of frustration and began throwing the leftover paper. Then I was told, “It’s Friday and It’s Russia!”

The crafts didn’t go much better and the caulk I had bought to use in place of the grout for miniature tiles arranged on a wooded cross trivet, didn’t turn out as planned. I know… don’t say it… I’ve heard it all day! However the kids loved the spin art project and would line up just to do that. Some did two or three of these, but claiming not to have done one at all! I thought the cross trivets would be their best and favorite craft activity. But of course, “It’s Russia” I’m told!

The day was over and the kids scattered. I now needed to get the rest of the backpacks to MIR. We had requested a Taxi and it arrived at the appointed time, but the driver refused to take the boxes in his car, even though the dispatch was told that we needed to transport boxes. The driver left and we scrambled to find another taxi. About 45 minutes later another taxi arrives and agrees to take the boxes. Sergey rode with the driver as there is no room for me and one ministry bag that also needed to return to MIR. I left 10 minutes later to take the metro to MIR and drag the ministry suitcase through the subway. I arrived at the MIR apartment and called Sergey. They were stuck in traffic. I had given him the key as normally he would have arrived earlier. I waited on the steps for about 30 minutes as the words echoed in my mind, “It’s Russia”!

I was exhausted, hungry, and felt defeated. Satan had His way that day and I never did get to share the Gospel, which in my mind is the whole point in being there. Most of the kids had never heard about God or Jesus before and so they needed a lot more basic information. Seeds were planted, the truth was shared, and God and Christ were introduced. We were “Jesus with skin on” and we loved on the kids and they were anxious to be around us and play. Certainly, we “…visited the orphans in their distress…“, but I didn’t get to share. I was disappointed, but I know I was following what God had wanted me to do… but it still feels like I failed. I’d like to paint a rosy picture of life on a SAC mission trip, but the reality of it is that it can be hard and difficult. After all, “It’s Russia”!

Child in Danger Kids

2007-10-05T12:04:00.000+04:00

You know the kids at Child in Danger are comfortable with you when you sit down and have one in your lap and two on each side snuggled close to you. Sometimes fights even break out for that prime sitting position! It’s a sign that the kids see the love of Christ shining through us as we minister to their needs.

We’ve been successful in having the Bible Study at the beginning of our activities. The kids are anxious to sit and hear what we will share. Dasha, our newly hired SAC Program Director in St. Petersburg has been sharing the Bible story directly in their native language. Today Dasha brought a “sheep” puppet as we told about sheep and the Sheppard and how God is our Sheppard. It’s all basic for kids who never have heard of God and Christ. Some haven’t ever seen anyone pray before.

While Dasha is leading the Bible study, Sergey is setting up the crafts for the next activity. Once Bible Study is done, the kids run to the craft table to see what we have brought. Today the kids worked on a scratch art project that turned into a sun catcher. It was a little more interesting that the standard scratch art project. At the same time, Sergey choose a child one at a time to come to a separate table and do a spin art project. That’s where you use a machine that spins the paper and you drop small drops of paint on the paper while it’s spinning. They all seemed to enjoy that.

Soon the kids were restless and ready for another activity. The kids loved playing Duck-Duck-Goose. It’s a run and chase game that’s fairly controlled. Afterwards, the kids were back at the craft tables painting with water colors pictures of sheep in pastures with their Sheppard.

After everyone was done, we were able to take the older kids on an outing to go bowling. These seven kids really seemed to enjoy getting away for a couple of hours even though most had never bowled a game in their life. They wanted to stay all evening as they were having a great time teasing and taunting each other as they threw gutter balls awkwardly down the lane.

Friday will be our last day and our chance to share the Gospel with them. Many of these children are young and won’t understand the concept of a relationship with Christ, but several of the older ones will understand and so we hope seeds will be planted and God will open some hearts as we share.

No Inspection Yet at Child in Danger

2007-10-03T00:51:00.001+04:00

We checked again on Monday morning before we left to see if the government inspection that they had anticipated (and would have prevented us from coming) had been scheduled. No inspection was scheduled so we were free to come and minister as planned! Thanks for your prayers for that as I had been concerned over the last few weeks of being able to even come to this ministry site.

Monday was great as we got to meet the kids! At about 3:30pm we began by having a snack time with the kids. We had purchased juice, small rolled torts, and traditional layered cakes. Meta, one of the long time workers at Child in Danger whispered to me with a smile and said, “Banquet?” which inferred that this was much more than they usually had as their afternoon meal. The kids were please and were anxious to dig in. After we introduced ourselves and prayed, the kids dove in and I began to go around the room and get the kids to introduce themselves. They laughed at my Russian and some of them did their best to introduce themselves in English! It was fun getting to know them.

The kids enjoyed getting to paint with watercolor set that we had brought. Our theme for painting was obeying the rules and working together. Of course, that didn’t set-in too much when it was time to play one of our balloon games! We’ll keep working on it!

Dasha is leading the Bible Study and Sergey is leading the craft activities. I help get their attention as they know I’m an American and they are anxious to please me at times. I even showed them a silly puzzle to figure out through the game called “Chinese Numbers”. It drives them nuts trying to figure out what I’m doing and laugh at the simplicity of it all when I reveal the secret! It’s fun for them and helps get the kids focused for Bible Study.

On Tuesday, we had three new kids that had been brought to Child in Danger the night before. So we have an active group! All the kids began by begging for us to give them balloons. Even simple gifts like balloons are entertaining to all the kids. We began today with Bible Study on how light pushes away darkness as comparing the light of Jesus to the darkness of a life without Him. Dasha is leading this directly in Russian so that there is no delay in translation from me. Dasha has done this with group before and I can see her experience as she leads. While Dasha was leading the Bible Study, Sergey is quietly setting up the craft activity. As you can see in the pictures, they are coloring velvet crosses. Sergey explained to them about how the colored parts of the cross represents a likeness of a stained glass window where the light of Jesus passes through the cross. These are all simple messages to introduce them to Christianity and a relationship with Christ.

After a wild game of “BloB” ( a tag type game), the kids sat down to paint bucket hats with fabric paint! With this many kids and two crowded tables, this is a recipe for a mess and arguments. I explained the rules to this and attempted to keep paint on the hats and on the table instead of each other. Mostly that occurred, but I was ready with a roll of paper towels just in case!

We ended with the kids quietly sitting in a circle as we ended in prayer. Now you ask, how does John get the kids to sit quietly in a circle? Well, all you have to do is tell them that they will all get a balloon if they sit quietly! In Russia, we call that a bribe! OK, I know, we do that in America too! But it works with kids. The kids respond and they have been great! I’m looking forward to tomorrow!

Backpacks Delivered!

2007-09-30T23:18:00.000+04:00

On Saturday we had made arrangements to travel to Sosnovo, a small town about an hour north of St. Petersburg, where our teams have worked at an Orphanage and church Day Center for at-risk kids in the past. Traffic was congested as it took nearly three hours for us to arrive. The van that took us was usually used as a Marchucka (a small metro bus) and the driver had spent the last month driving his family over 7000km on vacation to the Black Sea.

When we arrived at the Orphanage the kids recognized us as we approached. They called out Da Da John (Uncle John) as they have called me before. Our visit was unannounced and the director was to arrive shortly. She was not happy that we had come without calling first, but I had lost her phone number. However, she quickly saw an opportunity as two guys who could help her move some heavy furniture. So, we moved three shelves from one room to another in amongst the renovation of several rooms. She was very pleased afterwards and our protocol misstep was forgiven!

We gathered the school-aged kids in a small recreation room to hand out backpacks. The kids had already seen us carry in the three big boxes and were anxious to know what was inside. I had them sit on the floor around me so I could talk to them. There were about five new kids, but the other ones remembered us talking about God in April along with some of the crafts that we had done together. I told them the ones sitting quietly would get to select their choice of backpack. As they selected they seemed happy to try out the zippers and parade around with the backpack on their back. One boy even collected all the tags on the backpacks for his personal collection!

In the hall I had a short discussion with the director. I had heard rumored through some other friends that the Orphanage would be closing soon and I wanted to hear from the director what was really happening. She told us that the Orphanage was not closing and instead will be adding a group after the first of the year. The building is undergoing extensive renovation in anticipation of this growth. They have also begun a foster parent program. Currently there are 21 school-age kids, 9 pre-school and toddlers, and 10 children in foster care.

I had the brief opportunity to see one child who will be adopted soon. Karill was in the youngest group and we spent a few minutes with them today. They had just woken up from their afternoon nap and he was still asleep when we arrived. We gave these kids backpacks even though they are not in school; the director said they could use them for trips to the hospital when the kids had to go for a few days. Karill was a little groggy from just waking up, but he soon perked up and was willing to have his picture taken.

After our short time at the Orphanage, we returned back to the apartment we had been invited to stay the night. Valentina had prepared us a big lunch and tea. It was good to be there and being just a five minute walk from the Orphanage. Later that evening, her son Alex came to visit us. I hadn’t seen Alex in over a year and half since we first worked at the Day Center in Sosnovo. Alex had just become a Christian and was anxious to be around other believers and help out.

Alex, who is now 21, lives in the area and had previously, had a job in cabinetry. Knowing he had woodworking skills, I wanted to get his advice on an idea for the Day Center I had come up with a few months ago. My idea was to find some project that the older male youth in the area would find interesting and would encourage them to become active in the Day Center and the church. As I explained my idea of making wood pens and what tools could be used he seemed interested and said it would be something that would be of interest to other guys in Sosnovo. He volunteered his time for a couple of hours twice a week to be involved in this project. He was anxious to get started!

Alex had to leave after a two hour visit, but later his older brother Stass came by for a visit. Stass, 25, is a first year medical student looking toward a career in pediatrics. He had many questions on religion and the different denominations and knowing which one is the “correct” belief. We discussed many issues and probably could have stayed up all night. We agreed to meet next weekend to discuss more of his questions. Please be in prayer as I share more about the foundations of faith!

Mission: Backpacks!

2007-09-28T23:26:00.000+04:00

You wouldn’t think that buying children’s backpacks would look like an episode out of Mission Impossible, but my effort to get 200 of these gifts for the kids at the ministry sites proved to be a little bit of an “adventure”.

Dasha, our SAC program director in St. Petersburg had made arrangements with a commercial seller over the last few weeks for us to purchase some backpacks at a significant discount to give to the kids at the various ministry sites we serve. We made our appointment with this seller at 3pm on Thursday.

It took about an hour to get there. I had to exchange money first to pay for these and then we were off to make our selections and pay for the backpacks. When we got to this building after walking from a metro station for about 15 minutes, there was a delay in getting in. Apparently, this building used to be a high security government building. Even though there was no high security work being done there anymore, the building retained the security rating and only authorized personnel were granted entrance. Usually they need about 2-3 hours to work up paperwork to arrange for a foreigner to come inside the building, but the seller had not prepared this. I was just a customer of this one company that occupied part of the building that sold bags, including the backpacks that I wanted. Of course, the seller wanted us to come in as we were ready to make a purchase. So, as is common in Russia, you can always find a way…

Since entrance had not been prearranged, the seller spent several minutes making “other” arrangements to sneak me into the building. Ahh… the adventure begins! Remember, all I want to do is buy backpacks for some orphans in our ministry sites, but it’s not always so easy!

My translator was escorted into the building through one entrance. She was not a problem since she was a Russian citizen. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but I knew in situations like this from before that I just needed to be patient and wait to see what they were able to arrange. I waited outside the building for 10-15 minutes listening to a car alarm that evidently was too sensitive. Soon, the seller came out and told me (in Russian) that a car was coming to pick us up and take us in. The car came around and picked us up. I was told to sit in the front seat. The seller sat behind me. No one spoke English. As we got on our way, the driver handed me a brown document about the size of a passport without a picture. It appeared to be some document with stamps and official signatures. It was probably the driver’s or someone else’s security ID. He motioned and explained in Russian that I was supposed to open it and hold it up to the window when we drove past the guard at the gate! Oh boy, I thought… this will be interesting!

We rounded the corner and sped past security. They waved us on through and I didn’t have to hold the pass up to the window. So, I was in! I just kept quiet so others around me wouldn’t question why I was there. Of course, I was only a customer buying children’s backpacks, but the building security situation made for an interesting visit!

Inside the seller was very friendly and showed us a number of high quality backpacks to choose from. I was challenged to finds backpacks that would appeal to girls and boys along with young children and teenagers. After several minutes of calculating what would be best, I made the selections and received deep discounts as they knew the backpacks were going to be given to official Russian social institutions.

Then there was a little problem with the payment. I expected to pay in cash, but since it was a commercial purchase, they usually do purchase by bank transfer. Since I wanted to take several of the backpacks to Sosnovo this weekend, they quickly made arrangements so that I could pay for these in cash. We waited probably 30 minutes for them to prepare the paperwork to do this. At one point I saw a man carrying a cash register past us and I thought that maybe this was part of what they were trying to prepare! However, I think it was for something else. Within short order, the transaction was complete and they would deliver the backpack to us the next day. Now that the transaction was complete, they needed to be seek me out of the building again!

Again, my translator was taken out another exit. I was told to get in the backseat of another car that had darkened windows on the side with yet another driver. This driver spoke a little English and seemed pleased to get to practice it. I sat among other boxes in the back of his car. Again, we rounded the corner and the driver sped toward the gate. I sat quietly and watched as we got closer. The female gate guard appeared to stoop as if she was trying to see through the front window if anyone was in the back. Maybe she saw me and maybe she didn’t, but she made no motion to stop the car. We drove on through and rounded another corner and picked up my translator who was waiting for us. The driver then drove us onto the metro station where our little adventure came to an end!

Now it really wasn’t a big deal as the others at this place of business seemed to have had to do this before. It wasn’t illegal, but probably just a broach of procedural protocol. It just seemed to be a part of normal business in Russia to get around rules that don’t make sense to the business. Even though all of this, God knows my good intentions and my desire to help orphan kids. Passage was made for me with His protection all the way. With faith and prayer, God can provide for your needs too even when procedures and customs seems a little strange. He can even provide a little life adventure for the willing soul!

I've Arrived!

2007-09-28T23:23:00.000+04:00

In the days before I left, there was a lot of scrambling to pack and get my bags so that they were under the required weight. I left Tuesday, worried that my bags would get through. As it turned out, I had no problem at the airport and no problem going through customs in St. Petersburg! Praise God! Thanks for all your prayers for this!

I arrived a little early in St. Petersburg on Wednesday evening. It took almost a couple of hours to reach the place I will be staying for the next couple of weeks. My son Sergey met me at the airport and as soon as we dropped off my stuff, we headed to McDonalds so I could have a late night dinner with all four of my kids. We had a great time and I enjoyed seeing the kids smile, laugh, and tease each other. I don’t think they had all gotten together like this since my last visit in April. It was good for all of us to be together.

I got back to the apartment I’m staying at about 11:30pm that night, after being up for about 30 hours. I was tired and went straight to bed. However, the St. Petersburg mosquitoes didn’t want to let me sleep! It felt I was up every 20 minutes or so turning on the light to swat another mosquito that was buzzing around my ears and making too much noise! I think I killed 6-7, but I didn’t get much sleep! So, I was up the next morning at 7:30am to do some unpacking and get ready for the day.

Sergey wanted me to meet him at McDonalds at 9:30am for breakfast. He likes to meet so we can talk and discuss things. It was good to sit there and visit with him, but it’s a 30 minute compute by metro to get to the nearest McDonalds close to his home in the Northwest part of the city. We had a great visit and there were several things he was anxious to show me and discuss. There were several serious subjects that he wanted to have a private conversation on including Masha’s situation. Please be in prayer as I continue to discern about what to do and how to best help her.

Woodworking at “The Harbor”

2007-05-08T09:54:00.000+04:00

I’m sure you are looking at this photo and wondering what contraption is this! Well, this is a shoe rack. In many Russian apartments you have a shoe rack near the door. It’s a custom here when entering a home to take off your street shoes and put on some slippers. Often, homes have extra slippers for guests. The shoe rack helps organize the shoes and slippers so they are not all over the floor.

Projects like these are done in “The Harbor” to teach life skills to these graduate orphans that live there. Briefly, “The Harbor” is a privately funded organization in St. Petersburg that takes youth who have “graduated” from the orphanage and puts them in this two year residential program. During these two years, boys and girls learn life skills like how to cook for themselves, budget their time, money, and keep up an apartment. They go to school or work depending on their individual situation. They have mentors that live with them to give structure. SAC works with them on our short term trips to teach some of these life skills. Woodworking seems to be a popular project when I come.

For this trip we built this shoe rack as something practical that could be used. I went to their home in early April to begin the project. We had purchased some of the wood, but after about 3 hours of looking, we couldn’t find the rest. That first night we began cutting the pieces needed with the lumbar we had. They had all the tools, but the saw blade on the jig saw was a dull as a butter knife! I could have turned the blade around in the saw and cut with the back side of the blade and it would have been just as successful. So, that first night we didn’t get much accomplished.

I came a couple weeks later with some members of our first mission team. However, they didn’t have a new blade by that evening yet, but at least they had found the wood! Again, we didn’t get much done that evening. I did tell them what they needed to cut and gave them some “homework” to do.

This past Saturday when I arrived, I had brought some new saw blades. However, the boys had cut the wood anyway! Everything was cut and ready for assembly. I’m not sure if they cut the wood with a new blade or not, but everything was ready to go at long last! In Russia, things take a lot longer to get done. I just can’t hop in the car and run down to Home Depot and put up the things I need. The store may be out of the items, we have no car to transport them, and it takes a lot of time to find the items we need.

Nevertheless, I showed the guys how to assemble the project. After they got going, it was all assembled with glue and nails in under an hour!

The project was taken from a picture I saw in a magazine. I like it as the plan could be modified easily either in height, width, or depth. Thanks to Kevin Kelly and his son who helped come up with drawings and measurements for this project along with a prototype they built on a Sunday afternoon. The guys modified Kevin’s design from the original measurements to make it fit into a certain space in the girl’s apartment of “The Harbor”. They also decided to make it a 3 shelf version than the 2 shelf design our prototype had been designed from.

This was a great project for them as it was practical, easy to build, and easy to modify to specific apartments. The guys had a lot of fun building it. They waited for me to arrive on Saturday afternoon. We assembled the project and then had dinner together. The mentor who speaks English had to go, but I hung around with some of them for a couple of hours. It was interesting as I tried to use my limited Russian skills to have a conversation. It worked and I understood about 80% of what they were talking about if we took time to explain it to each other.

Thanks for your prayers for this mission trip. Saturday was my last project that I needed to complete before going back to the states. I have some meetings and visits to make Monday and Tuesday before heading back on Wednesday, but the completion of this shoe rack gave a sense of accomplishment. It also serves as a reminder of the simple carpenter, who came to earth, assembled a plan of salvation, and from a wooden cross proclaimed, ”It is finished”.

Left Behind

2007-05-07T14:12:00.000+04:00

On Friday as we were gathering our things to leave the Orphanage, we were told that the Director was handling another situation across the hall. A mom had brought her 4 year old boy to the orphanage to be left there. The father was waiting in the car outside the Orphanage. I could see the looks on the face of Rayisa, the Director. It was somber, but a look of acceptance as this is how life is here. The little boy just kept saying, “I want my mom and I want to go home”!

I don’t have any other details on this child than that. I do know that typically 80% of children living in an Orphanage have parents, but they can’t take care of them due to economic reasons or substance abuse problems in the home. It almost seems too easy. If life gets too tough, it’s just easier to leave your child with the government and let them take care of them. Maybe this boy will have future contact with his family and maybe not. It’s a poor choice for parents to choose to let their child grow up in an Orphanage.

It was sad to leave the Orphanage today and even sadder to see this child being added among the number of kids at this institution. Pray with me that this child will adjust, make friends, and that we will be able to impact his life during our visits in the future. I know it will be hard to do, but pray for his parents as well. I don’t know their situation, but God does and He is in control.

Sharing Christ

2007-05-07T13:22:00.000+04:00

The kids seem to be really connecting with us! It helps that we have a more normal schedule and the kids are anxious to be with us when they come back from school. This is what I had hoped for as I shared Christ with them.

After a craft, I was able to sit them down and talk quietly to them about salvation in Christ in simple terms. I related the caterpillar and the butterfly in its transformation as we are transformed through Christ. It’s hard to tell what they understood and if the translation of this analogy helped them understand. I sensed a little bit of confusion, but I continued to share and led them in prayer. If I went too long I would have bored them, so I chose to continue this discussion tomorrow to let them think about it.

On Thursday I shared again as this was the day we made “Edible Butterflies”. The kids really enjoyed this activity and loved the cheese wiz! We gave each of them a paper plate and gave them one straight pretzel and two curly pretzels. The curly pretzels were the wings and the straight one was the body of this edible butterfly. We topped it with Cheese Wiz to act as a mortar to cement the pieces together. Then we used Swizzlers for antenna and mini chocolate chips for eyes! When I said go, the kids ate!

This was a fun activity and the kids were anxious to listen as we sat in a circle. I explained the butterfly as it related to our transformation in Christ. However I still sensed confusion and had some interruptions.

Later that evening we were all invited to Valentina’s home for dinner. This was the apartment Sergey and I were staying in. It was a great and relaxing meal. It gave me time to think on how I could share better the next day.

Friday was our last day with the kids. It is the day we give out gifts for each child, take our last pictures and tell them goodbye. It was also my last opportunity to help them understand a relationship with Jesus.

We gave out gifts to the first group of toddlers in the morning. They were excited to receive the gifts. To keep control we had them close their eyes, but Patty had collected sleeping masks on the plane and we gave those to each of the kids to help hide their eyes! It was cute seeing them all in masks and seeing how many couldn’t resist lifting up the bottom to take a peek as to what we had sat in their laps! After the gift giving, I briefly shared with them about Jesus and His gift to us, but most were too young to really understand.

Later that afternoon we gave out gifts to the school-aged kids. This was more difficult and disruptive as we struggled to get the right size of t-shirts to the kids. It seems I can never predict the sizes of the kids and we are always too big or too small. So, some kids got t-shirts that didn’t fit which I hated, but one boy smiled at me and held up his Adult X-Large t-shirt and had a big smile! He wanted me to take his picture! I did, and realized that everything worked out as God wanted it to!

I sat them down in a circle as they squeezed to get close to me and talked about our week together and the free gifts they received as a reminder of the free gift God gives us of eternal life. You could have heard a pin drop. They were very attentive and open. I went through a complete Gospel presentation using the beads of the cross necklaces they had just made. The meaning of the colors of the beads will serve as a reminder to them. I led in prayer and told them I would pray, Masha would translate, and I would pause to let them repeat the portion of the prayer that had been translated as a prayer between them and God. It was quiet and as I paused, I could hear little whispers in Russian talking to God! As we finished I asked who had prayed a prayer like this before. Several did as they told me they did this with Pastor Slava, pastor of the Sosnovo Baptist Church who was there last year. I was happy to know that seven other kids who didn’t know Pastor Slava accepted the Lord that day! Praise God!

God worked all things out and in the end seven souls were added to the Book of Life this week! Thanks for your prayers for this because your prayers made this all come together! Thank you!