An Interesting and Busy Day – Tue, Oct 16th

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!