In America

After over 64 hours of travel, we made it back to the States! Everything went smoothly, and God provided wonderful people in both Irkutsk and Moscow who fed us and gave us a place to sleep for a few hours. It is good to be back in America. This past week we've been seeing family and friends on the west side of the state. This picture is taken from the train in Ulan Ude. It was so fun to have a group of people who saw us off!

So, this is what a garage key looks like. Elisabeth posed for us with her key. Garages here are actually little metal sheds. Oh, you can actually see some in the background of the picture of Leif and me. In this picture, we're standing right in front of our apartment building. There's a green and yellow sign to the left of Leif's head, and that's our local little store. It's soooo convenient! Well, it's often convenient. Sometimes they don't have normal things like sugar and bread and it's hard if you're counting on those items to have guests over. I guess it helps us to learn to be flexible. Our apartment is the third balcony up on the left of the building (two above Jami's head with clothes hanging on the balcony). The third picture is of our new chair. We looked and looked for a rocking chair, but the only ones we could find were $700 or more. We finally found this chair for much much less and it kind of bounces. We both love it. I made the little wall hanging from some Asian fabrics I found here.

We're getting ready to head back to the States pretty soon! We're preparing our apartment for a friend from church to live here. We're also getting last minute things ready for returning with a baby and are beginning to pack. The weight restrictions for flying within Russia are so small that our bags alone are almost 1/4 of the limit! (they allow 44 pounds per person, including all bags and carry-on) On Sunday we'll take an overnight train to Irkutsk. We'll get to spend Monday with Vanya and Larissa before our flight goes to Moscow Monday night. From the time we get on the train to the time we land in Seattle, it'll be 61 hours!! We appreciate your prayers!!

Sports Square

We just heard the good news that a "sports square" project has been approved by our organization to be put right in front of our apartment!! This is good for so many reasons. Here's a few, just to name them:

* a lot of people hang out and drink in that area because they have nothing to do

* several young men from our neighborhood have expressed great interest in a sports court and said they'd use it all the time

* the small children can have their play area back, since the youth normally break bottles all over the ground there and take over the area

* This will involve our church for the labor of building the sports court and will be a bridge-builder between the community and the church

* This will provide an avenue to meet people from our neighborhood and to invite them into our church, which is within walking distance.

* There isn't another sports court around within a reasonable walking distance

* Leif can get good exercise while he's connecting with the local guys.
* etc,etc, etc!

We've been trying to get good pictures of the guys outside drinking, but it always feels like they're looking right at us whenever we pull out the camera! We got these photos through our friend, Inka, who got them from a SEND representative. They were taken right outside our building, which is where the square will be.

I'm sure we'll have more to share with you regarding this in the weeks to come, but this is the latest update.

Interns, Pizza, and a Happy Kitty

This summer, our team has had the privilege of having four interns here to help with camps and following up with students and families in Ulan Ude. Steffen and Nicki (left of picture) are from Germany. They both speak English very well and have been so willing to help in any ways that they can. Steffen was a night guard at the camps, making sure that everyone was safe and sound in their cozy tents. Nicki helped in the kitchen, so I was able to spend time with here there. Both of them have magnetic personalities and even though they don't speak Russian, draw many people in with their love. Steffen is sleeping at our place while he's in Ulan Ude, but we see him more at other places than at home! Nat and Ashley are Americans, although Ashley has lived in Moscow for the past four years. The students at the English camp adore them, and they've spent a lot of time following up with them since then. We want all of them to stay!

Every week since the English camp, we've had a night to invite students to hang out, play games, sing songs, watch a movie, etc. Last Monday they guys had an American football night and the girls made pizza and sang songs. They're sweet girls.

We watched our friends' cat for a few days, and this lucky kitty gets half a fish at each meal. It's soooo funny watching her gnaw on the head of the fish. I don't know why it's funny because a fish is a much more natural thing to eat than processed food with preservatives... but it was still really funny.

"Vzglyad" from our weekend

I learned the word "vzglyad" in church today. It means "look" or "glance". I think it's a fun word to say... and interesting that it has 5 consonants all together. Speaking of church, today the guy who was supposed to give the sermon didn't come. Leif and I had prepared to sing a song (which we did) and Leif had thrown the written sermon he'd prepared last week in with the sheet music "just in case". As the men from church prayed together beforehand, Leif mentioned that he could share if there were no other options. I really like this about Leif. If it were me, I would not have even thrown in the typed sermon in the first place and then I don't think I ever would have freely volunteered something like that unless someone outright asked me first! But Leif is willing and I like that. He ended up giving it (without having read through it since last week). I get really nervous when he speaks... especially in Russian! It's such a hard thing to do. I admire his bravery.

Last night we got together with Vitya and Sveta, a couple from our church. They just had a baby girl the end of June. We like them a lot. We ate posie at a little cafe. Posie is a national Buryat food and is like a dumpling stuffed with meat that you slurp the juice out of after you bit a little hole in the side. Very yummy. They also bought something called "fish flakes" for us to share. I was afraid, but they weren't so bad. Just really salty. After dinner we walked and talked. I really like talking with Sveta because she talks to me like a normal person and it doesn't feel like she "dumbs down" language for me. It's really refreshing because, even though I don't understand every word, I understand most of what she says and I feel like I get to know her heart. Vitya and Leif schemed together about a great project that would involve our church, the neighborhood, and meeting lots of young men. They're really excited about it, and we pray it'll come to fruition. We need to run some things through the proper "channels" before we can say more, but it's pretty exciting.

The second picture is one that Mama Irene took when she was here... it's the entrance to our apartment. We have three doors and seven locks (one lock doesn't work). This is pretty normal here. Everyone has multiple doors and locks. And really big keys. Irene saw a man walking down the stairway with his keys and she thought he was holding a weapon! We'll have to post a picture sometime.

Good Bye Mama Irene, and Easy Sharing

We had a great time with Mama Irene. She left here yesterday morning on her way to Moscow and then back to the states. We only ran into one little problem with all of that. In Russia you must always be registered so that they can keep track of where you are and what your doing. Well, mom was registered with the rest of the Americans that she came in to the country with and it seems that whoever was doing the registering didn't register mom for a longer period (the others left July 16th). We, being at camp already at the time, never thought to check that. Well, at the airport we ran into the problem at the passport check. They brought us back into a security officer back room and told us that it was a problem. We wrote a little document that we signed and payed a roughly $120 fine. They said that everything would be okay from there, so we are waiting to hear that she has arrived safely in the states with no more fines.

On another note, we went to a camp follow-up for the church that meets at Shannon's. Some of the students from the English camp also went to this camp so we went to connect with them. One young man came over to me before the "program" started and asked if I came from a Christian family. We sat down together and I quickly shared about my family and then the program started (i.e. singing, slide show, and an invitation to come to the church that organized the camp). I was thankful for the short opportunity to share and hoped that we would have a chance to talk later. Well, that chance came quickly. Right after the program this young man started asking me all sorts of questions. He asked how I became a Christian, what differences are there between Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches, why are all of Adam's descendants sinful just because he sinned, why do Buddhist priests and Shamans have power, and others like this. In fact it seemed like he wanted to keep asking questions all night, but we both had to leave after an hour or so. It was great to be able to share, and such a gift that it was so easy. I was so happy to share about how God has shown me His love, and about how He loves everyone. I hope that this message that he heard at the two camps and from me tonight will sink into his heart. Please pray that He will decide to enjoy life with Christ for the rest of Eternity. Also pray that we will have more opportunities to talk and that he will connect with others in the church.