A Few Days of Family Vacation

     We took a few days of vacation time between the church camp and a village trip.  Even though it was August, the weather was still nice (usually it's cooler and rainy this time of year).  We stayed at our friends' hostel and enjoyed times playing on the beach together.  Ira told us about an amazing beach that had NO GARBAGE and no rocks!!  It was great.

      We prepared most of our meals, but went to this cafe two evenings.  I called it "my favorite restaurant in the world".  Everyone thought I was joking, but I wasn't.  We got to sit in outdoor seating, overlooking the town.  The weather was perfect.  The food was good and inexpensive.  AND because of the way the tables were, we could talk in normal voices in English without people staring at us.  Perfect.

 

I love this picture that Irene took of Ella and Leif.  I love these guys!

 

       One day we drove down the road about 10 minutes to "Turtle Rock".  We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed climbing different rocks and exploring.

     Irene and the kids enjoyed finding treasures on the beach like rocks and broken glass.  In the background you can see the famous turtle rock (with a tree sticking out of it's shell).

     Near our perfect no-garbage beach is a new development of fountains and gazebos.  Here, we were trying out the panorama setting on our camera... you can see 2 Anneka's.  =)

There were all sort of fun little walkways.

     Me and my little guy!  This place was such an interesting mix of really nice new things paired with totally undeveloped vast areas of dirt and weeds.

We all toured the lighthouse one day.  

Such a great view!

     It's common to see Buryat culture mixed into buildings and architecture.  I'm guessing this yurt will be a little cafe someday.

Irene snapped this great picture of the kids dogpiling me.

     The water was COLD, but we still enjoyed being here.

     On the last day, our friends took us to a smaller lake nearby and gave us their boat to use all day!  They are so gracious and kind!  I think this is Leif and Anneka in the background.

     There were a lot of bees on the shore (Ella got her first sting!), so we were happy to get out on the lake.  When we returned to shore, we set up our tent on the shore to protect from the bees.

 
     We fished along the way.  Ike caught this fish all by himself with a piece of corn.  He was the only person to catch anything.  He was so proud!  =)

     A highlight of this trip for me was at the very end.  I ran to the pharmacy for some hydrogen peroxide and ended up picking up a hitchhiker who was looking for a ride to the next town.  I told her that she'd need to come back to pick up my family with me first before we set off.  It turns out that she's a Buryat believer and had prayed for a ride.  It was very encouraging talking with her.  When I brought her back to our hostel she talked with our friend, at first not knowing that he's not a believer.  She asked him if he's a pastor.  He chuckled and said no.  (at that point, I had the thought- wouldn't it be wonderful if he became a pastor one day?)  Then she began to preach at him.  It was a little awkward, but I'd just prayed that morning for boldness in sharing Christ with him.  So I just prayed and trusted God knew what He was doing better than us!  And then when we got in the van she said that she believed the Lord told her that our friend would become a pastor one day... a very kind pastor.  I pray that this is true and love to think of it!

     It was nice to have this time together, and we thank God for His many blessings!

Camp

      Leif's mom, Irene, got to be here for our annual church camp this year!  She's such a trooper, sleeping in a tent, using an outhouse, eating new foods, etc.  We all enjoyed a great time.

Morning exercises before breakfast

      We did something new this year that I was a little nervous about, but turned out to be really cool... some of the kids who came to our day camp a few weeks ago won a free trip to our church's camp.  They came with their families (brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents)... and all of them interacted with the believers from two of our churches.  Out of the few families that came, one ended up leaving, but the rest stayed and had a good time.

Jami and Adriana, chopping vegetables in our makeshift "kitchen"

      Leif and I were in charge of meals on one of the days (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).  When we originally bought the food, we were told that there would be 87 people at camp.  We bought for 100, just in case.  But when it came to our day to cook, there were about 130 people!!  Our van was parked behind some tents that were aready set up, so there was no way for us to make a trip to the nearest village to buy more food.  We were at the mercy of others from the camp who went into the village.  This was a good lesson in control for me (Jami) and relying on the Lord to provide what we needed.  We prayed loaves and fishes over everything, and it was amazing how there was even food left over!  Before lunch, I was really concerned that there wouldn't be enough and was PRAYING (especially with these guests that came, it was quite important that there was food for everyone!).  A couple of hours before the meal, a man from a local village came with a car load of vegetables from his garden to donate to the camp.  I was soooo happy!  I told him how we had needed more food, and he said, "God really loves you".  =)  We used those vegetables to make the biggest salad ever.  I wish I'd gotten pictures of our big pots of stuff and cooking over the fire, but it was too busy that day to take pictures.  Thankfully Irene snapped this one of me and Adriana preparing together.  Leif was in charge of making sure the fire was hot and the water was ready for soup and tea.

    Some of the kids toasted bread over the fire for a  mid-afternoon snack.  This pot had hot water for tea.

     Leif was a part of a powerful skit showing the spiritual battle that rages for our souls.  He played the role of Satan (standing in the back with the black hoodie).

     Irene had a good time "talking" with many of the ladies at camp. They didn't speak English and she didn't speak Russian, but they motioned with their hands and prayed together.  Irene had pictures from her home on her camera to share with people.  Each week Irene prays with another lady, Diana (from Michigan), over the phone for the people of Buryatia.  Irene took careful notes of prayer requests and took pictures of people to pair with the requests. 

      "Ikie Bikie" and his beloved friend, Bogdan.  Bogdan is the only person in the world allowed to call him that.

 

     It's so special for our kids to get so much play time with other kids at camp.  This summer has been really good to get Ella ready for Russian kindergarten in the fall.

     I didn't get any pictures of Leif playing volleyball with the guys, but this picture is right by the net.  Leif and some of the other guys from our church had great spiritual conversations at this place with some of the neighboring campers.  One guy in particular had a lot of questions.  This was encouraging for Leif.

     In the mornings and evenings we gathered for times of sharing, singing, and learning.

     I kept finding articles of our kids' clothes in different tents.  It didn't even occur to me at the time, but all of the playing and sharing together led to lice....

(I had to throw this picture in of us treating it when we got home)

     It was nice having extra eyes and hands with the kids at camp, too.  The day that I was in the kitchen I didn't worry about about our kids between the kids' programs they had and Irene's great help.

     In the afternoons we enjoyed playing on the beach with others from the camp.

 

The weather was very pleasant. 

     Perhaps the most special part of the weekend was that four believers were baptized in Lake Baikal!  One of the men is the first person we've seen come to Christ in Zaigraevo, the village where Inka lives.  We are seeing more and more growth in that village, and it's so exciting!

     It brought tears to my eyes to see Naomi baptized by her Dad.  They are dear friends of ours, and it's so wonderful to see her making this decision to follow Christ with her life.

      And another exciting thing is that Misha (the guy who's getting his hair fixed by the little girls) came forward at church last Sunday to say that he wants to commit his life to Christ.  We continue to pray for more and more people to come to Him!