Sergey’s Dilemma

My son Sergey has been working with SAC the entire time I’ve been here either as a translator or helping us to arrange different things I need throughout the trip. It’s something he has always done for the last several years. It’s been a great help to me and this ministry.

During my time here I am leading the mission trips and also spending time with my kids and helping them with their life issues. It’s very demanding on my time and I get reminders that they only see me once every 6 months and want to spend time with me. I do my best, but I’m stretched.

Sergey has decided to move to a city called Rostov. I’ve been helping him for the last couple of months to make those arrangements, move his things down there, and help him start a new life there where he will finish his last year of high school and begin to take university level courses. I’m encouraged by his plan and excited for him to complete his education to include graduating from a university.

The university evidently needs documentation showing registry with the Army. Here in Russia the Army is compulsory. Once he turns 18, the Army requires him to serve for 1-2 years unless he is in school. It’s something that Russian males here avoid like the plague, but university attendance is usually out of financial reach of the majority of Russians.

This Army registration process starts when he is about 16 years old with medical exams and various appointments with the Army in the registration process. Some of this was taken care of but other parts were not because of his legal status where the shelter Child in Danger had guardianship.

I’ve learned that during the time he left home and Child in Danger held guardianship, Army paperwork was mailed to his home address and his Mom probably didn’t get these important papers forwarded to him. As a result, his paperwork was not processed correctly and he doesn’t have the proper document that the university needs for his official enrollment.

The document was legally and easily generated prior to his 18th birthday, but now that he is 18, he is required to enter the Army if he is not in school. He can’t get in school without the other document. So it’s a quagmire of conflicting regulations that sometimes contradict each other and common sense.

I’ve met with a Christian attorney here to discuss the issue. The documents needed to get him properly registered so he can register this fall in school can be produced in a couple of months but will cost me about $1600 in attorney fees. It doesn’t make sense in my mind that I have to pay an attorney to right a wrong in Russian law, but this is the system here.

It’s a dilemma for me and I covet your prayers. This is just one example of the problems I have here. There are many others I encounter while trying to raise 4 kids, support them as their dad, all from 8000 miles away. Please pray for me to handle this problem and all the other problems with wisdom, grace, and endurance.

Patty Adams Arrives!

As I've said and others have repeated all through this mission trip, God has a plan and He goes before us. Let me tell you the latest story...

In the weeks prior to our mission trip we had a number of cancellations. Originally we had 4 people coming on this mission trip and the 3 had to cancel. Patty Adams was the only participant. This meant that we had only one "ministry suitcase" to to pack all the things needed for the Sosnovo Orphanage and the Sosnovo Day Center. It's hard to serve over 60 kids with this about of small space. We had ordered and preparred enough supplies to fill 4 suitcases.

Patty had atempted to ship 3 large boxes to Russia, but that didn't work out. So, 2 days prior to her leaving, we decided to let God take control and work out the details. Patty came went to the airport and took 5 bags! Yes, 5 bags when we knew we were only allowed 2 per passanger! The airline charged us $310, to take them on the flight, but at least they were on the plane! Arrival in Russia is another problem with customs and everything else. They only allow 50kg per person (110 lbs.), and she prpbably had over 275 lbs of ministry supplies! I thougth, Oh Lord, how are you going to do this! It will cost 1 Euro for every pound we are over. Lord, give us grace!

Patty arrived at the airport and I was there along with Dasha (the new SAC hire) and my son Sergey. We saw Patty waiting to go through customs and she signaled that 1 bag did not come through. Dasha and Sergey made there way past the entry point to help Patty. I deceided to stay back as it is sometimes better to let the Russians talk to the Russians and keep the "American" out of it. I watched from the lobby. Patty was being brought to the weighing scale by one customs agent. I thought, "Oh no, here it comes". Another customs agent directed Patty to fill out the forms for the missing bag! All of the sudden I saw the agent weighing wave his hand and motion, go ahead. In the next moment I saw Sergey following the portor carrying the bags out into the lobby towards the bus! Amazing! They didn't stop us or make us pay a fine! The missing bag that came on a later flight the next day was the deversion to allow the other bags to pass! So easy, but only God could have done it!

I had also saved back things leftover from our ministry week at Orphanage #24. With that and all the stuff that made it, we have more than what we need!

I think I shared with you how this situation was going to be like the the story of 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread. God multiplied it and provided for our needs abundantly! Just last night, the day before we leave for Sosnovo, we added the last translator and a volunteer. So now, we have 7 going to Sosnovo to make up our team! God provided for this too!

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the logistics that it's easy for us to forget that God can provide all our needs if we ask. Thanks for praying for us and asking Him to provide for our needs! Your answered prayers were demonstrated this week!

Prayer Request for Sasha

During the interview yesterday, Dasha asked me to pray for a dear freind of her's that was recently injured. Here is her prayer request:

Please, pray for Sasha Chernyshov, employee of a Christian publishing company called “Agape” and a member of ССХ (Fellowship of Christian students in Russia — a member of an international student movement), wonderful musician, he plays the piano in Christian group “The Jesters of the King” and just a great person. On April 22, he was hospitalized in critical condition. A metal soccer goal fell on his head. He has a crack at the base of the skull, in the front near his eyes; he also has broken eye sockets, broken nose and jaw. His face must be completely reconstructed. A serious operation must take place.

He might lose his eyes. For now, it is not a life threatening situation but no one knows for sure. The treatment is going to be very expensive and time-demanding. There is no accurate diagnosis yet, because at the hospital the facilities needed to make a diagnosis are not working. The doctors cannot say anything exactly about his eyes, but we hope, that God will answer our prayers.

Sasha now is in the hospital # 39 in Nizhnii Nivgorod, in the 2 neuro-surgical department. Sasha is not married, he will turn 31 in two weeks.

Meet Dasha!

Many of you know of my plans to hire a representative of SAC here in St. Petersburg to continue the follow-up at the ministry sites, help with trip planning, an to build ongoing relationships with orphans and orphanage directors. Yestersday evening I met with Miss Dasha Efimova, who had applied for this position and had help us with the pre-trip planning for the spring trips.

Dasha is 24 years old and was born in Kazakhstan. She grew up in Kostroma, a city about 1000km SE of St. Petersburg and NE of Moscow. At the age of 16 she became a Christian and started serving in orphanage camps, church, and with a US organization called Hope Chest. She attended the International Bible Academy from 2000-2003 and specialized in the teaching of the Bible and the History of Christianity. Dasha is a university graduate with a degree in Philology from Kostroma State University in 2005. This qualifies her to teach Latin, Russian, Russian Literature, and History of Languages at the University level. She has also studied ancient Greek. Curently she is a post graduate student at Herzen State Pedagogical University (2005 - present) specializing in Foreign Literature. She has a servants heart and a heart for orphans. Currently she is employed at the International Christian School here in St. Petersburg.

One interesting fact that I learned during her interview. Her father was in the military and served for about 25 years retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He served in the Russian military as a missile launch officer, just like I did when I was in the military! We both entered the service about the same year during the height of the Cold War. In the early eighties I had my hands on the "keys"to US nuclear weapons and he had his hands on the "red button" for the Soviet nuclear weapons! I'm sure neither of us would have never imangined our connection 25 years later!

Dasha will begin working for SAC beginning mid-summer. She will have a transitional period as she trains a new worker at the Internationl Christian School.

Please pray fo Dasha as she makes this transition and begins working for SAC to develop those Godly relationships with Orphans, Graduates, and Ministry Directors here in St. Petersburg.

Our Last Day at Orphanage #24

Our last day at Orphanage #24 began with a clown! Becky, one of our small group volunteers that runs Dawn Ministries, knew of a Russian Christian Clown that did performances. Immediately, he engauged the kids in his antics and had them on stage and laughing. It was particularly fun to see Harvey invited up on stage and used in his show. The kids enjoyed seeing him up there and so did the rest of us!

Dawn Ministries, a singing group formed out of youth from the Logos Chruch here in St. Petersburg, performed for the kids. Four of these youth were some of the translators that we had used this past week. i think some of the kids were surprised that they were part of a singing group.

When Dawn began singing their first song a small mouse appeared out of a hole and crossed the stage just below them! The Clown acted scared and craweled up on his chair! The kids were standing and streatching their necks to see the mouse who stole the show! Nevertheless, Dawn kept their concentration and didn't miss a beat! Certainly it will be a performance to remember!

After the performance, the Clown had me say a few words to the group. I thanked them for the week and the clown translated... or so I thought! When he was translating, he was saying the Russian equivalent of Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah! I knew what he was doing, but did my own acting to say a few words with great annimation! The kids enjoyed that "act" too!

When they returned to their small groups, they were able to finish crafts, talk a little about the week, and then pass out gifts. We had preparred gift bags for each of the kids that included a t-shirt in the color of the St. Petersburg Soccer Team (Blue), a nice pen, and a Bennie Baby. All seemed to enjoy the gifts and appreciated them.

When we left there were lots of hugs handed out from the kids to the trip participants, translators, and the volunteers we had brought. The translators had indicated that this one one of their best expereinces with our ministry especially with this being the first time at a new ministry site.

Sara Beth told me later that there were 4 kids in her group of 19 that wanted to invite Christ into their lives! Other groups had many seeds planted and relationships built as we concluded our week. The Children's Director seemed pleased and even participated in making some of the crafts that we had brought! I'll visit her later this week to get her perspective on how things went during our visit.

It's amazing! We seemed to have enough supplies, translators worked out, the kids received us well, and all things worked out together in the end! God is in control and He's wonderful on how He puts everything in place to work towards his will! Amen!

Harvey "The Great!"

I'll admit this now, but I was a little concerned about having my first African American on a SAC Mission Trip. There are hate groups here that roam freely without much determination from the state to remove them. As a result, I wasn't sure how Harvey was going to be taken when we got to the orphanage.

On that first day at the orphanage, I was announcing the leaders of the small groups. I heard some screaming from giggly teenagers when Harvey was introduced. I first interpurted that some of these kids didn't want to be with Harvey. When I asked a translator what was going on, it was the exact opposite! EVERYONE wanted to be with Harvey! Harvey hadn't said a thing or even cracked a smile, but he was Mr. Popular on Monday afternoon!

We found out later why he was so popular. In the eyes of the orphans there white Americans look just like most Russians. So when an African American appears, they know that he is a TRUE American!

Harvey has a strong, quiet sence about him. He stands about 6 foot 2, the size of Peter the Great (founder of St. Petersburg) and looks like that actor on the TV program, "The Unit". He also has a quiet sence of humor. When we were attempting to embarrass my son Sergey, Harvey commented that he was blushing too! Later that week when we boarded our 9 passanger bus, Harvey sat behind the driver and said, "I just can't sit in the back of the bus!"

On Saturday, we were touring the Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress and Harvey decided to sit on an available chair. While he sat their a couple of kids approached. Their class was on a field trip from way outside of St. Petersburg on the other side of the Eral mountains. These kids started asking Harvey questions like; Where are you from? How old are you? Why are you here? Come to find out, they had never seen an African American or even met an American before. Soon, there were many kids surrounding him as they were more interested in him than the inside of the catherdal they were visiting!

The teacher appologized and brought the attention of the kids back to the tour, but as they walked around, I could see heads turning and following the movements of a true American! Harvey has been received well here! Our team nicknamed him from there on out as "Harvey The Great"!

Andre is OK!

Late on Friday after we completed our program and week of ministry, we found out from a close freind of Andre that he had some stiches in his head and bruises, but there was no concussion. He will be in the hospital for the next 8-10 days recovering. Andre doesn't remember a thing about the falling or what happened.

The class that afternoon was less somber and you could see relief on their faces. The girl who was crying for her freind the day before showed the sence of hope in her eyes and on her face. I asked several questions and then thanked the group for praying for Andre the day before.

Walter did have them all make cards and write letters to him. They were taken to the hospital, but they hadn't been read yet. Andre was evidently too tired from his recovery. When he does recover fully, he'll have a renewed sence of hope by knowing how concerned his peers were along with the American's he had just met that week.

It will be interesting to know how this incident and their reaction with letters of cocern willl change all of their lives in the coming months. Thanks for your prayers as this healed a boy and softened some teenage hearts.

Tragedy in Walter's Group in Orphanage #24

On Thursday, we arrived at the Orpahange at about 2pm. We all went to our activity room to gather our things. We had prayer and I dismissed the participants to their small groups. Soon after that I waled around checking on each of the groups. I went to Walter's group and saw a circle of chairs, one translator, and no kids.

They had just found out that one of the kids in thier small group got into an argurment with a teacher about weather he could leave that day. The teacher said no and the 18 year old boy decided to crawl through a window and jump fro the 2nd floor. I'm sure he thought he could make it, but he didn't. he landed, hit his head, and from what I understood, had a concusion. An ambulense came to pick him up.

As I sat there learning of this story, several of the kids began to come back to the classroom. the teacher/counselor came in briefly and asked us to stay with the kids until 5pm. One girl was crying as she was a close freind of this boy. It was a somber time.

I sat with the kids and talked to them about this. I did my best to comfort them and ask questions about Andre, the boy who jumped and was taken to the hospital. They said nothing like that had ocurred before. I'm glad we were there to comfort them. I asked the kids if they would join me in praying for Andre. They all joined in and prayed as I led. After prayer, I encouraged them to listen to Walter as he led the rest of their activities and for each of them to make a card for Andre expressing their concern for him. They all did this and they got through the next couple of hours.

It was difficult for the kids and for us since we were new friends. they knew we were concerned and I think it helped them to know that we cared. I'll be anxious to hear how Andre is doing when we return today. Please pray for his recovery.

Orphanage #24

Its been a good week of relationship building at Orphaange #24. Most of the kids are enjoying the activities and are already asking if we will come again! That's always a good sign! Things did come together for this orphanage and we somehow seemed to have enough supplies for everyone. I still haven't figured out that one nor have I figured out how a boy with 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread helped Jesus to feed 5000! :-)

Monday thay put on a wonderful performace for us with one of the girls featured who won 2nd place in the city among orphanages. Afte the performance, I introduced our team, the translators, and encouraged the kids to come to me if they had questions any time during the week. On Thursday, one little girl reminded me of that and asked for a nightlight for her room! Somewhere, I need to find a nightlight! :-)

Tuesday the kids began more structured activities with Bible studies, games, and crafts all woven in together to share the Gospel. Each group reacted differently and had their various challenges these last few days.

Marsha Harris had trouble with a group of roving older boys coming into her room to bum cirgrattees. Stan Harris had a rough first couple of days, but it all come together with relationships on Wednesday and Thursday! We combined Harvey's and Terri Briggs group into one older teen group. When we made introductions on Monday, everyone wanted to be with Harvey!

Verda has had a tough time with her group. Only one girl wants to listen. One older boy is very distruptive and claims atheism. On Thursday as I sat with her group, one boy cut the hair of a girl sitting in front of him. The translator prombtly threw him out of the class. Nevertheless, with all the distruptions, Verda was able to answer a lot of questions with this one girl.

Sara Beth has had 19 kids in the 1st - 3rd grade combined group. They are a sweet bunch of kids and I enjoy hanging around their group. Sara Beth is an American who works here and wanted to be part of our mission team this week.

Sarah Parish also lives and works here and has done a great job with her small group of teens. She too wanted to work with us and even bring a couple of volunteers from the English class she teaches to get them involved in dojng ministry to orphans in St. Petersburg.

Becky, who is the director of Dawn Ministries, lives in Colorado Springs and visits here often. The kids in her music group also serve as our translators from Logos Church. It's another woven intertwined relationship weaving that is occuring here. It leads to them inviting some of the kids in their small group to church!

Today, Friday, the kids from Dawn will sing for the orphanage in a performance. I think it will be a treat since these kids have served as some of the small group translators this week. Becky has also asked a Christian Clown to come and perform for the kids this afternoon. It should be exciting!

Children's Hospital #15

This week we have been going to Children's Hospital #15 in the mornings and Orphanage #24 in the afternoons. On Tuesday the weather was great and unusually warm. The nurses and kids all wanted to go outside and play when we arrived. There were more kids than we have had before witho about 19 participating.

There were three older boys and of course they wanted to play soccer. Sunday, Mike and Amy had purchased a globe ball for play along with some construction paper, glue sticks, crayons, and coloring books since we had no ministry bag of supplies for the Hospital. Soon a soccer game started and the kids quickly wore us out! They are good players and they really enjoyed the time and it helped build a relationship.

The younger kids really enjoyed this group swing where 8-10 kids could sit in a rope bed and the whole they could swing. They kept yelling "more, more!" By the end of our time there we had wore them and us out, but had made those relationships we needed!

On Wednesday, the weather was cooler and it had rained the night before. We did activitiews inside by taking the construction paper and making crosses then tearing little pieces of paper to glue mosic style on top. The kids enjoyed that, although others were running around the room.

After that project I put all the chairs in a semi-circle and talked a little about God and how He loves them. One girl had several questions and was quiet and attentive. 3 or 4 other kids next to her were listening, but the others were distruptive and probably too young at this point. I focused on these 4 kids. The other trip participants ran interference for me and took the others kids to another room so I could have some quiet to share the Gospel with them. We still had intruputions, but I was able to present the plan of salvation to them and lead them in prayer! I believe four souls were saved Wednesday! Their names are Luda, 11; Katya 9; Tanya 12; and Igor, 8. Tanya was the one who asked a lot of questions.

When we came on thursday, I didn't see Luda. Later she showed up on the playground outside, but had to go. the nurse explained to me that her mother was dying and she had to go be with her before she passed away.

Please pray for these four kids, the other children and their situations, and for comfort of Luda as she deals with the coming loss of her mother.

Our Work Begins!

The team arrived on time with all luggage on Saturday evening. There were no problems with customs or having bags arrive late. Together we checked in the hotel and went out to get a quick dinner at the "Mouse Cafe".

On Sunday the team headed to the Logos church worship service starting at 10am. The service on this Sunday is called "Thomas Sunday" as it was a week later that Thomas believed in the reserection of Jesus! After church we met with some of the new translators for our group as we ate lunch. We also spent some time shopping in this mall/grocery store. Mike and Amy had some great ideas for crafts for the kids at Hospital #15 since we had no supplies, due to one member not being able to make the flight. He was carrying the ministry bag for that site.

On Monday our team started with a devotional and then headed out. We started with touring of the Savior on the Split Blood Cathederal, which is the famous "onion top" church in downtownn St. Petersburg. There is also a flea market next to this site that has many Russian gifts to buy and take home.

After lunch, we all travelled to the southeast part of town to Orphanage #24. All the translators were to meet us at the top of the esculator. Soon we had 9 translators along with our team of 6 trip participants, and 3 American volunteers I was able to recruit to be part of our minsitry this week at the Orphanage. I wasn't sure how all this was going to come together but somehow by the grace of God it did! God did have a plan and it all worked out despite my worry and planning! Of course I knew this would happen, but I still wanted to know that all things were coming together. I think God just wanted to see if I could trust Him to make it all work. It did and praise God!

The kids in the Orphanage are sweet and polite. They put on a show for us and had some wonderful singing. After their performace I interduced the team and the translators to all the kids. As I called the groups forward, the kids led the American and thier translator to the room were they would have activities. All groups seem to have a good time getting to knowo one another the first day.

On Tuesday, we spent the morning at Children's Hospital #15. It was a beatuiful day and warm so we spent the entire monring outside. There were 3 or 4 older kids and they wanted to play soccer. The younger kids enjoyed a swing were they could all get on and we would push. The kids really enjoyed the time together and of course being outside in the spring.

That afternoon we started our first day of structured activities with the kids. Our theme is "transformation" so today the activities surrounded making a catapillar pencil and an edible cataplillar. It was peanut butter, dried milk and honey mixed together that can be formed like playdough. All the groups seemed to enjoy this, although some would not want to eat the peanutbutter after they had formed it into a catilillar! All the groups seemed to love to play UNO and the ESL Bingo that we had brought.

I can say that the team is tired. We are doing a lot of walking. Verda said her legs were about to fall off! :-) Nevertheless, the team is pressing on for the mission at hand.

Tomorrow we will do both Children's Hospital #15 and Orphanage #24 in the afternoon before going to "The Harbor" in the evening. The ladies will have tea and the guys will be buoding a shoe rack! In a few days I hope to update you on the progress of our week. For the moment, things are going well and the kids are asking some hard questions! Please pray for our energy and our efforts as we work to share Christ with all these kids!

Another Cancellation

The emergency room doctor that was planning to go with us wasn't able to find a replacement for him at the emergency room so he had to cancel.

Moments ago in e-mail I received a letter from one of our trip participants in Monroe, Lousiana. He was flying out of Monroe to Atlanta to Frankfurt then onto St. Petersburg. However, his flight out of Monroe had engine trouble and was delayed. They eventually cancelled the flight which preventing him from catching his overseas flight in Atlanta. The only other option was to fly out on Monday and arrive on Tuesday, almost half-way into the trip. he wouldn't have been able to work at the Orphanage until Wednesday. So, he cancelled as well.

He couldn't help it and I agree with his decision, but it creates more problems here. His ministry bag carried all the supplies needed for Children's Hospital #15. The bag the doctor was due to take carried all the gifts for the Child in Danger shelter. Certainly Satan is attacking thi trip in a big way. In the last 3 weeks, I now have had 5 of 12 planned participants cancel.

Over the next couple of days, I need to scramble and find supplies for the Children's Hospital and another Group Leader for Orphanage 24. If you all would, please pray these changes that God would provide! My son Sergey and many others keep reminding me, God has a plan... I just don't know it yet!

We will see how this is revealed! Please continue to pray and I'll do my best to keep you updated!

Robison's Arrive!

The Robison's arrive safely this evening at St. Petersburg! They are here on their first trip to Russia to go through the adoption process on their first of two required trips. Their flight was about 10 minutes early and all the luggage arrived as well. My son Sergey and I met them at the airport to greet them. After exchanging money and checking in the hotel we all took an evening walk to go eat some dinner. Two places we had walked to were full. It was a Friday evening and just like the USA, people are eating out on a Friday evening! We ended up at a Chineese Food restrurant near the hotel. We had a great meal together, although they were tired from the trip. Walking back at about 10pm on a clear night, it was still twlight here! The Robison's were ready to sleep after being up nearly 30 hours.

They have no appointments until Monday, so Sergey and I will show them around the city tomorow afternoon. Tomorrow evening I'll go to the airport again to pick up the SAC team that is flying in on Saturday evening. On Sunday, they will join our team as we go to church on Sunday morning at the Logos church.

We are all staying in the same hotel in the south part of the city. This will certainly make it a memorable exprience for them and our SAC team as well! Please pray for them specifically this week as they meet with officials and go through the adoption process.

Look Who I Found!

This afternoon I spent at "The Harbor", a transition home for graduate orphans. SAC has been working with them for about 4 years now. They have two apartments. One for girls and one for boys. There are 9 guys and about 8 girls in their respective apartments. When I come to St. Petersburg, I have been in the practice of coming to the boys apartment to teach some life skills. Their biggest interst has been in woodworking, although I've taught Self Defense at times too.

This evening I had hoped to start our project of building a shoe rack to be used in the entryway. Sasha, one of the mentors at the boys apartment, and I went to a coule of different stores just to find the wood we needed for the project. After a couple of hours, we were only able to find the posts for this project. The boys will go later to find the rest of the wood. In the meantime, we went back to the apartment where Gosha was preparring a meal for the home. We all sat together and ate a cold soup and then for the second course, a mixture of red cooked cabbage and some meat. I'm not sure what the Russian name for this is, but it was good!

After dinner I was getting ready to leave and a boy came into the kitchen where Sasha and I were talking. The boy's name was Sasha as well, but I've known hom for years as "Tall Sasha", one fo the boys from Nancy Durrett's group in Orphanage #14! I was excited to see him and pleased to see him at The Harbor! Vanya, another boy I knew from Orphanage #14 is also there and was there this past October. I've seen both of these guys grow up over the years at #14 and now at The Harbor. This picture was taken today. It's been a tradition for "Tall Sasha and I to take our pictures back-to-back for several years now. When we first started this, he was a little taller than my shoulder. But now look! He's several inches taller than me!

What a blessing it is to watch these guys grow up and become fine young men working hard to prepare a life for themselves! And through "The Harbor" transition home they are growing "Tall" in the Lord!

Meeting at Orphanage #24

This is my 4th full day in Russia and some things are working out and other things are yet to be worked out.

This evening I had a great meeting with the Children's Director at Orphanage #24. We discussed several things, but I was most worried about having enough supplies for the kids activities. She recongized that I was a very detailed person and identified herself as a very happy-go-lucky person! She was very open and very assuring that everything will be OK. She's fairly sure we will have enough as some will be in the hospital and some will be away. We are also going to combine the first three groups into one as she said they are used to going around with one another anyway. It will be a group of 19, ages 10-12. So, that means I'm back to 9 groups! Ahh... God knew this and He had a plan!

Victoria, the Children's Director, felt more comfortable with me during this visit that she spoke to me in English! She was a little bit shy the first time to talk as she hasn't had much practice. She was very open for us to do anything we wanted. I sensed she trusted us and understood what we were doing. I knew things would go well after we were saying goodbye to one another in the hallway. I told her I had one more VERY important question to ask her. She looked into my eyes and immeditely knew I was a teasing soul! "Ahh yes", she said, "the toliet is this way!" :-)

The doors are open here and next Monday we will step through them.

Those are the things that are going well. Thanks for your prayers!

On the other side is problems that my kids are facing. I've found out some things that are affecting them and there are a lot of bridges to cross.

Sergey has made a lot of requests lately, but there are two important and serious issues facing him right now. First, he has an ear infection. He showed me what appears to be a CATSCAN and the infection in growing into his sinus cavity. He needs an operation soon to take care of this. It's been lingering for a year now. He will have the operation in May in the town of Rostov. Please pray for him regarding this operation.

He has also requested help with getting an attorney to write a document that says he is exempt from Army service. Although an attoney can write a document llike this, my understanding is that it is illegal for an attoney to provide this document. Although they do if one can pay the right price. There is a spiritural battle here with regards to law and rule of law. Pirated software exists, and it is sold easily in Kiosks, but it is illegal. Pirated movies can be purchased for $5 each and they are sold in Kiosks, but that is illegal too. If you have enough money, attoney's can write a document too. Nevertheless, it's illegal.

I don't want him to enter the Army, but it's required here. You can't get a good job, or many other things without a record of Army service. I'd rather have him go to the university like he wants, but they evidently are requiring proof of Army serivice. This is a huge dillima. Please pray for this situation. Maybe there is another way that will keep our intergrity and allow him to go to the university this fall. Please pray for this.

All the kids have financial requests where the total is beyond what I can do. Education, food, getting set-up in an apartment, an operation and various other needs are typical of teenagers, but are coming at me to fast to handle. Please pray that I will have wisdom and discernment to know how to handle these requests and that they will have understanding of what I can do.

Thanks for your prayers! I'll update you in a few days!

Blessings!
John

Easter in Sosnovo!

Hi Everyone!

Well, if I look cold, I am - it's about 26 degrees and it had recently snowed! Now, if I look a little unhappy, it's because my son Sergey wasn't paying attention and we missed our stop. This train station is one stop north of where we are supposed to be! About an hour and 15 minutes later, we did arrive in Sosnovo, but only after a long hike, waiting for a Marchucka Bus that never came, and then finally getting a ride from a guy that felt we shouldn't have to work so hard to get someplace on Easter! He was a Christian, spoke some English, and had been to the United States! God provided a way for us! As we were walking, Sergey knew I was a little unhappy and really cold, so he tried to cheer me up by playing Russian Christian songs on his cell phone! I couldn't help but smile at his efforts. However, I felt like Mr. Bean on Holiday in Russia. How did we get stuck out here?! If you have seen the recently released Mr. Bean movie, go see it! I took my kids on Saturday and they all loved it!

We had a wonderful service in Sosnovo. I was able to meet the new pastor and talk with the day center director. At this point, it looks like we have two homes willing to put us up for a week, but now to get some more voluneteers.

After the service they had some food, tea, and fellowship. We met several people and some of the kids were there that will be part of the ministry in 3 weeks when our team arrivs. It's still coming together, but God's plans are revealing theselves.

The pastor wanted us to go with him to meet a couple of brothers that live on a pension and can't make it to church very easliy. They have had Muscular Dystrophy since childhood. We visited for a while and they seemed to realy enjoy the time together. After that the Pastor agreed to take us back to St. Petersburg by car.

Once we approached St. Petersburg, the snow really began coming down! It was like large sleet balls the size of peas! It stopped long enough for us to exit and head to the metro.

Tonight I received an e-mail from the Robison's, the couple who are adopting from St. Petersburg, and they will arrive on Friday and are staying in the same hotel! Our SAC team will get first-hand updates on their adoption progress of two brothers under 4 years old! We will likly see each other at breakfast and several dinners at the hotel! It will be exciting for all of us, but of course very exciting for Mike and Amy!

Well, it's almost midnight here on Easter Sunday. I hope everyone is having a great Sunday afternoon! Blessings to all of you and thanks SO much for your prayers while our SAC teams are out here in Russia!

In His Service,
John

John Arrives in Russia!

It's 11:30am on Saturday here in Russia. I arrived safely last night along with all my bags! There were no problems with this. Thanks for your prayers!

When we touched down, the snow fluries started falling. It came down more intense later that evening!

After arriving, I was met in the airport by Dasha, the lady helping SAC to make in-country arrangements, Basil, my friend who was my translator with the Josh McDowell Ministry in 2001 (whe he was 15 years old!), and Sergey, my son! We all crowded in the car and headed to the Family Home (trasition home) apartment.

Nancy's team was there along with 20 or so kids from the Family Home! See the picture, but I'm not in it! I was standing on a table taking it! We had a great fellowship and Bible Study with them on Friday evening. Two of the girls had been baptized this past Wednesday and we were excited to celebrate with them!

Nancy and the others quickly shared some of their expreinces during the week and how blessed they were for getting to live in these Transiton Homes. One of the boys named Misha, who I met last October, remembered that I was going to ask him to show me how to make Beef Stronganof (sp?). He is studying to be a chef. So, at some point I will go over there again and have him teach me how to make this Russian dish!

We were at the Family Home apartment until midnight. I had called for a taxi an hour and a half earlier, but they were delayed. It was 1am before I arrived at the MIR apartment I'm staying at. I went stright to bed after being up some 32 hours without sleep.

This morning, I connected my laptop to the apartment internet to catch up on e-mails. I learned that Mike and Amy Robinson from Hutners' Glen have been given a refferal to adopt 2 small brother (under 4 years old) and will be travelling to Russia this Thursday! THe surprise is that they will be staying in the same hotel as my Mission team! We will all be able to have breakfast together before striking off to our differetn schedules. You can read about their adoption expereince by going to their blog at:

http://www.robisonsinrussia.blogspot.com/

This is going to be an exciting trip with different and unexpected things happening! Having the Robison’s here at the same time on their adoption experience is a blessing! I’ll be excited to hear of their stories and get a daily update!

Well, my son Sergey just called me to tell me he is coming over to MIR. It’s near lunch time and I think my children want some time with Dad at a food court and near a bowling alley! I see this has been well planned! I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of my kids this afternoon and catching up with them. I’ll write more as I get time.

Happy Easter everyone!

Nancy's Update from Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Dear John,

Email your Orphanage 24 group and tell them to bring slippers for Hospital 15. Tall Anya (one of the Transition Home residents and volunteers at the hospital asked us to be sure to bring slippers to the hospital because the staff has complained about Americans who track through the hospital in outside shoes. They also have over-shoe paper covers there if your group wants to get them, but they need to remove their shoes.

Had a great time bowling yesterday. Your Masha refused to come, but we had three boys who joined us. I have some great photos.

Two of the Road of Life girls were baptized Wed. night
by Cecil (former Transition Home parent). It was a wonderful service and was worth our having to rush off and leave the bowling group eating at McDonalds and our going without dinner to be there. It was also wonderful to see Ira come up out of the Baptismal waters wearing an LSU Baseball t-shirt my daughter had sent with the t-shirts she and her friends had collected - a double blessing for Ira. I told her that when I show that picture in my church they will all stand up and cheer!! I'll have a LARGE one made for you - I know you're a big Tiger fan!!@!

THE SNOW WAS WONDERFUL!! I finally figured out the problem with my prior trips - you were here!!! You must be a snow blocker!! We leave you at home and we get snow. This is a sign!!!

Have a safe trip and we'll see you Friday night.

Nancy

Update from Nancy Durrett leading a SAC Team in Russia as of April 3, 2007

Had a great morning at Hospital #15. Two older boys are really rough with the smaller kids, so we had to separate to play games. They are street kids and were a little hard to handle. But the children enjoyed the activities. The doctor said no to the peanut butter caterpillars (a Bible Study activity talking about conversion into a new creature). We will check with her before doing pretzels tomorrow (Butterfly pretzels, another Bible Study activity as we talk about conversion).

Great group at CID (Child in Danger shelter). The doctor okayed both activities there, and they loved both. Masha (Nadezhda, the director of Child in Danger's, daughter, ) did not like the pretzels - too salty. She will be going with us to go bowling tomorrow night. She has never been and is so excited! She had been with us both afternoons, and she is such a joy to be with. She can have fun, but be firm with the children also. She's a great teacher example.

John Bull led the devotion at Hosp. 15 this morning and led games at CID. Susan Furr led the devotion at CID. Of course the kids are loving the songs with Lucya (Transition Hoome asst. Director). We will do Hosp. 15 tomorrow - Susan Furr will meet Olga (translator) tomorrow afternoon to take girls from Orphanage #14 shopping - and bowling tomorrow night. Also, Katya (from Lucya's Family Home) and Natasha (from Bull's family home - where Nelly is) will be baptized Wednesday night. Cecil (former house parents) will do the service. We will
leave bowling in time to go there for that. Masha (from CID) said she will take the kids back to CID so we can go to the baptism. We are excited to get to attend - it's so hard to do everything for everyone, but God has provided a way.

Keep us in your prayers.
Nancy

PS: oh- Sergey (John's son) called today and will be with us at CID on
Friday and will come to the Frunzenskaya Family Home apartment on Friday night to meet you. I was excited to hear from him.