Woodworking at “The Harbor”

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

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

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!

Sunny Day – Tue, May 1

After all the snow yesterday, it was sunny today and cold! The kids were still on a holiday and had been inside for the past several days. We continued to play inside in a small play room on the first floor. The kids enjoyed the obstacle course I set up and ran them through! They started with doing situps!

When we arrived at the Orphanage this morning, there was a young couple there from America to adopt a two year old. This was their second trip and they were there to pick up the child! It was an exciting thing for them. It was also interesting as when one of our main translators, Natasha walked in the room, they knew each other from the first trip! They also knew Sasha from the Transition Home!

Later that morning there were 11 Russian volunteers that had come to the Orphanage from St. Petersburg to spend the day with the school-age kids. They were making cards for people in pensioner’s homes (nursing home) to remember them on May 9th, Victory Day in Russia. This is a major holiday where Russians remember their victory over the Nazi’s in WWII. The kids were drawing planes, tanks, and showing the defeat of the Nazi’s. So, the kids were tied up with them until about 4pm when we could begin our activities. It is typical that there are a host of other things that go on in an Orphanage during our week that we just need to adjust to as servants of Christ.

It was a busy day and the kids had a lot of people to play with. However, life in an Orphanage is still rough. Today I ran upstairs to get something and one of the girls named “Ksusia” came out of a room with a bloody nose and crying. I took her and held her head back as I walked her quickly to the bathroom. Several other kids were around helping me and helping her. We got the bloody nose stopped and the house mom took her to clean her shirt and have her lay down for a little while. Later I found out that one of the boys had hit her for some reason and this caused the bloody nose. Life in an Orphanage is hard.

After all the other volunteers left, we began the craft activity called “Caterpillar Pencils”. This week as a theme we will talk to the kids about the transformation of Caterpillars into Butterflies” as Christ transforms us into new creatures once we believe in Him! The nametags we had them make also had caterpillars and butterflies on them along with the word in Russian which is “Transformation” as a reminder to them throughout the week.

When we were leaving today, there was still a lot of snow on the ground. The kids were outside as the house mom’s wanted them to get some fresh air. Of course the kids could not resist to making a snow ball and hitting the big target in the green coat! I couldn’t resist either and just had to pick up my own snow balls as well! There were “several” against one and the kids loved it! My hands were cold as I didn’t have any gloves! I don’t think the kids did either! Again, they enjoyed the play and loving contact!

That evening we went and ate at a small café near the Day Center. Sergey and I took a Marchucka (small city bus) back to our apartment after doing some grocery shopping for the next day. As we were standing at the bus stop, Sergey overheard two older women discussing the Bible and which book of the Bible that should be read first. Sergey translated a little of the conversation while we were standing. I silently prayed for that lady who was sharing with the other lady. I didn’t want to interrupt the conversation or join in. It probably would have been a disruption to her as she was trying to share. However, I wanted to encourage her. When we got on the bus and I passed her where she had just sat down, I simply touched her shoulder and said, “Bog Em”, which is Russian for “God Bless You”. She looked up in surprise and then went on with her conversation.

My hope is that more conversations like this will occur in Sosnovo that will lead to knowing the Lord better there.

Snow in Sosnovo! - Mon, April 30

I couldn’t believe it! We woke up to six inches of snow in Sosnovo this morning! It has snowed all day! It’s so different from last year when we had beautiful weather and played outside. Today, we played inside!

Saturday evening I was still wondering how things were going to come together. Then we added two people at the last minute. I interviewed a translator on my cell phone while getting some shopping done before going to Sosnovo. Then Sasha, one of the Transition Home former residents asked if she could come for three days. Sasha is a tiny girl for 26 years old, but she was a BIG help to us at the Orphanage! She always has a big smile and this is contagious with the kids!

We travelled by a small passenger bus to Sosnovo on Sunday evening to get settled. Again, Saturday evening I was wondering where I was going to sleep all these people now that we had two more additions. After a few phone calls, another home volunteered to host us from the Sosnovo Baptist church! Again, God provided for all our needs!

The ladies, Patty, Becky, Masha, Natasha, and Sasha all stayed in the home of a young newly married couple. They had only been married four months and the wife was only 20 years old and probably never had met an American! She had that “deer in headlights” look when we arrived! They were very gracious!

Sergey and I stayed in another apartment that was a two minute walk from the orphanage. I had no idea where I or any of us were going to lay down that night. Jesus must have been the same way; on the road… no home… a band of followers… staying with friends that would bless them with a place to stay for a few days. Many apartments are fairly rough by American standards. Some have not been renovated since the 1930’s or don’t have hot water consistently. However, Valentina’s apartment was truly a blessing! We were VERY comfortable there and she was a great host! She gave us the key and she went and stayed with her mom for the week! What a blessing! She also served our entire team dinner on Monday night. Again, a tremendous blessing! God provided once again!!!

Monday morning we started out with our devotional at this apartment close to the Orphanage. Our team would work there in the morning and then after lunch, the folks working with the Day Center across town would begin their work there.

Monday and Tuesday were National holiday’s here in Russia and the kids were out of school! Although we had coordinated with the staff at the orphanage, the kids had not been told that we were coming. When I entered the Orphaange the kids who saw me first immediately recognized me and called me by the name given to me last year. They would all call me “Da Da John”! It’s pronounced “Daya Daya” which is an endearing name in Russian that best translates into “Uncle John”.

We had a wonderful day with them mostly playing and rebuilding relationships with them! Usually I would have one kid on my right and left, one on each knee, and one always trying to crawl on my back for a shoulder ride! The kids loved the contact and having someone to play with! They never get the chance to do this with their house moms in the orphanage!

We got home to our apartments a little before 10pm as we needed to do shopping for lunch the next day. I wanted to call my dad at home in the USA, as today was his birthday. However, the phone cards I had didn’t work here and we were not able to find another one that worked in Sosnovo. Outside phone and internet access were difficult and there didn’t seem to be access while we were in Sosnovo.

Thanks for your prayers this week as we continue to build relationships with these kids and become “Jesus with skin on”!