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.
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.
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