Team Project in Zaigraevo

Each year our team likes to do a special project to bless a local community (and Russian pastor's family) and to grow in our relationships with one another.  This year we helped the Ratinkov family in buiding their house in a village about an hour away.

     This family moved here as a huge step of faith and dream of starting a church here.  One man has already come to know Jesus through their witness.  It's neat to see this man as he grows and changes.  The Ratinkovs are expecting a baby boy in September.  My friend, Tara, is helping us to collect baby clothes to send to them soon.  Let me know if you'd like to contribute to the cost of shipping!

   We put up insulation in the floors and walls and built enclosures for water tanks.  Everyone had a job, and a group of Russian friends joined us for one day to help, too.  

     Ike simply LOVES going to Zaigraevo, which is where Inka lives.  Several times a day he asks me, "Mama, go see Inka, go Zaigraevo, right, Mama?"  And every evening before bed, he prays, "Pray, God- go see Inka, Amen."  Every night.   Only once did he expand his prayer to pray, "Papa come home" after Leif had already been gone 8 days (good thing he came home the next day!).

     Leif and Dave sawed these boards to make the ceilings (I'm sure there's some better way of saying that, but I only know it in my limited building lingo).

     Valera organized a neighborhood cleanup on one day while we were there, with the hopes of making a positive impact on the community and making new connections with people.  Nobody besides our group came, but people saw us cleaning up the garbage, and it DID make a huge difference!  It's always shocking to me how much trash and litter is all over.  I don't talk about it a lot, but it really bothers my kids.  They are always asking why people throw garbage on the ground.  The other day I picked off a tiny piece of my fingernail that had broken and dropped it.  Anneka got on her hands and knees and FOUND it so that I could put it in the garbage.  A little overboard!  But this shows how much the garbage bothers them.

     One night a few of us stayed up to play a fun game called UDog.  It was my first time to play, and Nettie was very gracious with me when I ruined all chances of us winning!

     The weather was really nice most of the time, with just a little rain one of the evenings (the first rain of the year!)

     Another evening, some people played a game called Kubb.  This was done in the sports square that our team built a couple of years ago.

     We had times reading and reflecting on Romans each day together, praying, and singing praise songs.  One evening, Nettie led us in a discussion about evangelism.  She's been taking an online evangelism course, and has been learning some really great stuff.  It was great to talk about different ideas of starting up conversations about Jesus and how we can make this culturally relevant to where we are living.  It was also good to hear the insights of some of the Russians who were with us.

Some of the guys poured a foundation for a garage.

     The food was great!  Inka was so gracious to open up her home to all of us tromping through, sleeping, and eating everywhere.  

     One day we found out that a family with 5 kids was coming.  The people cooking were flexible to stretch things, and the kids all enjoyed playing with one another outside.

     Unfortunately, Ella was sick, and I had to come back to Ulan Ude with her and Ike halfway through the team project.  Here she is, watching Tinkerbell with Olga, a wonderful intern who is here from Germany.  A lot of people have been really sick this spring with a yucky flu bug.

     Another help to the Ratinkovs was repairing the fence around their property.

I'm so glad that our team has these projects, and it's so fun to see how God uses it to encourage others as well.