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.