Cherishing Time With Family

Our first 3.5 days back in the States we got to be with Leif's Dad and his wife and his grandmother. It was so nice to get the time with them. Anneka warmed right up to everyone and pretty quickly has adjusted to the new time zone. Everywhere we go, she asks "What's that" to things that are normal for Americans to see- hamburgers, lush green lawns and gardens, fire hydrants, clothes dryers, etc, etc. Her learning curve is huge, but she likes the adventure. In the above picture, she enjoyed her "great Grancy" reading her a book.



Anneka also loved riding on "great Grancy's" walker.



Anneka got to see crabs on the beach, touch an eel in a puddle, and help her grandpa feed four little mice to four baby snakes (grandpa's snakes). She LOVES to be outside!



Here she discovered her grandpa's mustache, and thought it was great fun to play with! We went to a Mariner's game Sunday afternoon. Anneka got pretty tired in the middle, so I wheeled her around in the stroller so she could sleep. But she definitely got a taste of all-American culture!



Here's Leif's brother and his kids along with Leif's dad and his wife (and us) at the game. I couldn't help notice how much our culture revolves around food (not necessarily a bad thing). I also was stunned at the number of restrooms and garbage cans! In Russia, I'm often frustrated when I can't find a restroom and then if there is one it usually doesn't have toilet paper or soap. And often there's a long line to wait for the bathroom (especially in the airport!) But here, it's almost extreme the OTHER way: full restrooms with multiple stalls every few feet, complete with four large garbage cans that would each fit three of me inside (no joke) and tons of toilet paper, seat covers, kleenex, soap, paper towels, and hand dryers. It seemed like overkill. There seems to be a lot of paper waste that's not necessary. Just some thoughts.



"Great Grancy" bought a litle swimming frog for Anneka. She liked it when "Grandpapa" helped her to make it swim in the sink.

We're so blessed to have this time with family!

Traveling Back

Anneka was SUCH a good little traveler! It was almost 55 hours from door to door (Ulan Ude to Bellingham). We had a layover in Moscow where we could sleep, but it was still a LONG time for a little girl to sit! Leif and I hardly slept at all, but on the last two flights, Anneka slept most of the time. Here are Leif and Anneka waiting for our baggage at the Domodyedovo Airport after our 6 hour flight from Ulan Ude to Moscow.



Waiting for the shuttle to the hotel in Moscow. Sunshine! Warmth!




Before going to bed, we let Anneka run around outside on the grass. She LOVED it! She could've stayed out there for hours. There wasn't a bed for Anneka in our room, so we made her a little bed out of chair cushions. Here she is snuggling with her shoe (next to her head). We all were wide awake by 2:00am, as Moscow is already 5 time zones different than Ulan Ude. We came up with creative ways to pass the time until the cafe opened for breakfast at seven.




Watching a movie on the plane



Hello, Seattle! Hello Leif's parents and grandparents! Anneka warmed up to them right away and gave them hugs. It's good to be back!

Back in America!

After packing up our apartment for people to live there for 5 months, cleaning, packing our bags, and saying goodbyes, we left for the United States! I will post pics of our travels tomorrow (they're not on the computer yet). The day before we left, we took down the twin bed in Anneka's room and had a bunk bed put in. Anneka loves her new bed. I kind of freaked out when I put sheets on the top bunk... it's SO high. But great to have the storage space underneath.



Rebecca came and took Anneka outside to play while Lena helped me clean and Leif and I packed. It was SO nice to have their help! I'm so grateful for the people in our lives.



One last book with Inka while she was still our neighbor (how sad to say WAS and not IS).

We're adjusting to the new time and are enjoying time with family. More pics soon!!!

And the baby's name is...

Ella. It means "light" and is from Leif's family line. It also works in Russian because of the letter a on the end, although she may go by "Elya" here, which means "the Lord is my God".

The middle name is yet to be determined. =)

Trip To The Village

Today we went with Inka and our teammate, Charlene, to a village about an hour away (less if there aren't trains on the tracks) called Zaigraeva. For years now, Inka has been praying about going to live in a village and to be a part of a new church plant. In the last few months, the opportunity has opened up! Zaigraeva is a regional center in Buryatia and there are no Christian churches there yet. Inka will move there along with a Russian family to begin a new church.




Last month, Inka bought this house! It's just the frame, and there's SO much work to do! She'll be dividing it into two parts- one for her and one for the Russian family. Her house is just a block and a half away from the site of the new church. Right now it's just a plot of land. The plan is to work on the church building next summer and in the meantime to finish Inka's house so that they can live and begin working in Zaigraeva this summer. One of the rooms in the house is pretty big and will be great for beginning Bible studies.





This will be Inka's kitchen and entrance to her side of the house. She'll have one small room for living and sleeping, a small kitchen, and an area for a bathroom. It's such a blessing that she'll be able to have water and a toilet! This is not common for a village home.



While we were there, the guys were putting in insulation and floor boards. It was amazing to see the immediate difference it made!




We smoked sausages for lunch. Anneka loved to be outside! When she saw the sand, she immediately said, " I want to go to the Red Sea". But she was happy with backyard sand as well. Leif took her to the outhouse, and she asked if there were pigs in there. (The outhouse at our Ulan-Ude church has pigs on the other side of the wall, and she's used to hearing them squeal.) So funny.



It was pretty cold and windy, but the sun came out and up against the house it was nice. We're thankful it didn't snow!



As we were leaving, one of the men had built a fire under the house. Charlene and I asked him what he was doing. He said the ground is still frozen and it's really hard to dig, so he needs to warm it up first. This is where the septic tank will go.

We have such mixed feelings as Inka is preparing to move! We are SO excited how God is at work and we are thrilled to think of all that God will do in Zaigraeva as a result of her move there and this new church plant. But, of course, we're sad as Inka is our WONDERFUL neighbor and such a huge part of our lives. When we return from the States, she won't be across the hall anymore!

We love you, Inka, and pray God's blessings over you! Expect some visitors in your new home!!!

The Conference

We've now come to the end of a busy- yet successful week. We trust that God brought the people that he wanted to be at the conference on how to share Christ with Buryats (and in that, people with Buddhist and Shamanist backgrounds). Leif did a great job of planning all of the conference details and facilitating the conference.



A huge part of the week was seeking God, praising Him, asking Him to show us His heart for the Buryats and barriers that exist in reaching these people... and to show us sin that's in the church that's hindering us. I really felt God's presence in this time (we divided into small groups to pray) and saw how God led us.



We also had times of sharing and brainstorming within groups. I (Jami) got to be in a group with two women who are from Korea but work in Mongolia. I really felt that they added a unique perspective than what I normally hear, and it was refreshing.



All of the women on our team kindly made yummy treats for our morning and afternoon tea times. Men from the drug and alcohol rehab center made the lunches each day.

The main speaker of the conference brought powerful insights from is work and studies in many asian cultures. On Friday, he shared some apologetics for sharing Christ gently with Buryats. In the west, our questions about God and faith are largely "truth-based" questions. In the east, they are largely "life-based". It was helpful to find ways to communicate more clearly with one another.



This little boy was at the conference with his mom. He's just a couple of months older than Anneka. Anneka was blessed to be in the loving hands of our neighbor and Lena. I returned to be with her in the afternoons and to make dinner for our guests. I was happy that she did so well and enjoyed her mornings. It was even nice enough for her to play outside! (now, it's cold again and there was even a blizzard yesterday!)



Here's one more picture. It's hard to see, but Leif is on the screen. =) Last week, he had his friends Erdenei and Sasha film a skit to be shown at the conference. They did a really good job.

We are encouraged to see the local believers here more excited about sharing their faith and see them taking ownership for their city and region. We leave this week excited about the future!

We'll Miss You, Matthew!

This week we had a couple of going away parties for Matthew Wicker (with the youth Bible study group and our team), as he'll be leaving this week for college in Canada. We'll definitely miss Matthew, and it's sad to think of him not being a part of our lives on this side of the globe.


Matthew's life will be full of adjustments! He's lived in Russia since he was one, and it's his home. A lot of people just don't "get" the life of kids who have grown up overseas. We know he'll do great in Canada, but that doesn't mean we don't send him off without lots of prayers! It was nice to have a time of praying for him as a team this week.

Things are coming together for the conference this week. Mondays are our rest day, and we've been able to relax today without too much worry about everything else that's coming this week.

The weather has been above freezing for the last three days, too! This has been wonderful! We went outside with Anneka one evening, and she loved playing on the playground equipment. I really should've had a camera. It was a combination of mud and ice and slush and garbage and glass. And she was prancing and rolling in all of it... so happy. (thankfully her snowpants, puffy coat, and boots protected her) I'm very excited for green lawns and sprinklers this summer!!

Today Anneka has a cold. It hasn't slowed her down at all. She's happy and active... just sneezy and drippy. I'm praying that she'll get over it quickly and that Leif and I will stay well.

Mystery Package

We received a big envelope in the mail this week with cute clothes for Anneka... and we don't know who it's from! There was no return address or note, and the zip code is from Seattle. We want to THANK YOU!!! Anneka loves her new clothes (including the one pictured above), and we do, too!

Esther Study

This year the women on our team have been studying the book of Esther together. I've really enjoyed both the study and the time together with the other women. Yesterday we finished our study by watching the movie "One Night With The King" and eating yummy food that everyone prepared. It really is amazing a how a book with no mention of God has God written all over it.... and is so applicable to our lives today!

I started feeling overwhelmed this week after writing out a to-do list. Not only do we have the normal daily/weekly things but Leif has been preparing a lot for the conference that'll be next week- finding people to be on a panel, a translator, finding people to make lunch and to bring in morning and afternoon snacks, inviting people from all of the different churches, etc, etc. Plus filling out a bunch of forms that we need to for home service, making doctors appointments, getting documents notarized in case people need to do things in our names while we're gone, paying bills, running errands for people who want us to bring back items for them, etc, etc... plus thinking about packing up all of our stuff so that there is room in our apartment for our friends to live here (collecting boxes and bags, making lists, clearing out drawers). Anyways, I'm skimming the surface here and I can't even explain all of it. It also has felt that everything we've done lately has taken WAY longer than it should- multiple trips, long lines, etc.

I've woken up early this morning and it was nice to be in a quiet apartment and to have time to pray and read my Bible and just listen to God. I was reminded of how He's always given us just what we need in the past, just when we need it. And He will give us our "daily bread"... including time, energy, and strength. And today I really did have more strength. And I got so much done! And so did Leif! We made a little dent in the list. =) I can tell people are praying for us.

Today when Lena got here, Anneka asked her if she'd like tea or coffee (in Russian) all on her own! She's getting a little braver in speaking Russian. It's fun to see. Lena and I made two meals to freeze for next week for when we have guests (for the conference). Little things like that help me mentally.

Thankful For Our Apartment

This week we signed another year lease for our apartment. I'm so thankful. It's hard to find good landlords, and often they'll want their home back after a year or two (or less!) Our landlords are great. And they made it through the extra-cold winter in their little other home (that you have to haul water and chop wood for heating). Woo-hoo! So glad that didn't change their mind for this next year! Other good news about our apartment is that our friends are going to live here (and pay the bills!) while we're in the States for five months. They're building a house really close to our apartment and Vitya has an office within walking distance, so it's a great location for them for the summer. We had them over on Saturday to talk about details. We'll clear out most of our things to leave room for their stuff. Thankfully, we can leave the big stuff like furniture. We had the kids eat dinner before us, since our kitchen is so small. They were so cute eating together. They all played together really well, too. They were in Anneka's room most of the time.



And here's an updated pregnancy picture- 30 weeks! I bought fabric and our pastor's wife, Lena, sewed me this shirt along with two others. She does a really good job. I feel like I'm about to pop. It's hard to believe that I still have another two months to go. This morning I woke up at 5:00 because I just couldn't get comfortable. It's all worth it, though!

Beauty Treatment

This is what happens when Anneka tries to put Mama's mascara on. She likes to help me with my makeup by handing me things as I ask for them. After I finish, I pretend to put mascara on her when she asks me to. Yesterday I left her with the makeup bag while I left to make a quick phone call (30 seconds!) and came back to a self-decorated daughter.



It was evident that she wasn't trying to be naughty. She felt so sad about it afterwards. Poor sweet girl.

Little Baby Bogdan

Yesterday we took dinner over to Marius and Adriana's and got to meet their new little baby Bogdan- a boy after three girls! He's so cute. When we first got there, a nurse came to check on him. That's standard in Russia- the doctor or nurse comes to YOU. I think that's great. It's not exactly easy to get out with a newborn- especially having to bundle up and take public transportation. In the above picure Bogdan is sleeping on the bed, wrapped in the blanket. Christina and Anneka were so cute with him.



Anneka was THRILLED to get to hold the baby (the picture just doesn't capture her joy). When Adriana was in the hospital, they gave her an ultrasound after a few days and saw a spot in her lungs and thought it was tuberculosis. They took Bogdan away from her and told her she'd have to go to a different clinic the next day for more testing. We all prayed and PRAYED for her. I could hardly sleep that night, I just kept thinking about her and praying. The next day we heard the good news that there was no spot! We were all SO happy, and she got to reunite with her baby and take him home.



Here are the cute girls.

Right before we got to their apartment, I dropped the pizza ALL OVER the ground!! I didn't know what to do. We took it inside, and everyone was so gracious. They said they didn't mind eating it. Leif picked out the rocks while I cut up the fruit and then we put it back in the oven to cook off any germs. =) I'm so thankful for nice friends!

I keep thinking of things to blog about, but our computer hasn't been working and then I forget everything (pregnancy brain). We haven't been as good at taking pictures when we're out lately either. On Monday evening Matthew and Heidi hung out with us. Of course this made Anneka VERY happy. She's always talking about Matthew and Heidi and wanting to call them on the phone. Or wanting Mama and Papa to "go bye-bye" so that she can have Matthew or Heidi to herself. I'm so thankful for the many people Anneka has in her life- near and far- who love her.

Something I did want to write about was our evening on Saturday. Leif and I went to the English school to engage in a conversation night about April Fools Day. It was fun to interact with the students and to see how they are progressing in their English. For the last hour or so, we had tea and cookies and the students asked us questions. There were 12 students there and 11 of them were Buryats. They asked why we are here and Leif told them. He also told them how he's studying the Buryat language right now as a way to connect with Buryats and to show that their culture and language are valuable... and to show that these valuable things need not be lost to have a relationship with God. Anyways, one of the ladies started talking with Leif in Buryat. And he did really well! Leif has said that he has more book knowledge in Buryat but less practice conversationally. It's much easier for him to read (and even write) than to speak it right now. But it was fun to see him speak. And I could tell that the students were happy that he was learning Buryat, too. It just felt like a neat time of building bridges... and having fun in the process.

Pictures from Easter

Anneka and I made this cake for the Easter dinner following our church service. Irene (Leif's mom) sent us the pan last year. I think it's really fun.


And here are some pictures of Anneka finding her candy and eggs:







She was so excited to look at her stash afterwards. We're spreading them out as "potty treats".




And here are the eggs we dyed. Our pastor talked about the Christian symbolism behind them- new life, etc. You'll notice that Anneka is wearing a sleeveless dress. I took her to church in a sweater,but now that it's at the freezing point outside, it's SO much warmer everywhere inside. Everyone except for Anneka and me were dressed in warm sweaters, but I'm so thankful we were comfortable!




And here are pictures from the dinner following the service. It really is such a gift to have this church family to celebrate our risen LORD with. We always miss our family back home, but God is so faithful to provide sweet blessings for us here.



I love how on Easter, it's culturally appropriate to say "He Is Risen!" (in Russian, of course) to anyone on the street. Anneka and I tried it out with the store workers. And they replied, "He is risen indeed!" We pray that more and more will know our risen LORD.

Resurrection Eggs

For the past few years, we've had resurrection eggs on Easter as a tradition to remember what Jesus has done for us. Each egg has a symbol inside that represents a verse from the story of Christ's death and resurrection.

While Leif hid the eggs, Anneka watched a little video about Jesus's death and resurrection(in Russian). I don't how much she understands, but she is a girl who feels very deeply. When it came to the part where stone was rolled away, she had tears rolling down her cheeks and she said, "Oh boy! The stone is rolled away!" It truly is amazing. May we reflect with such awe and wonder!

He Is Risen!

We celebrate Easter the same day as in the States this year. On Friday, Inka and Lena came over and we dyed eggs together. Anneka found it intriguing and loved to help.



Today we'll take the dyed eggs to church for dinner after the service.


It's gotten up to 34 degrees a few times this week. I took this picture a few days ago when we went to celebrate the LORD's supper with our church family. We normally walk down by the "frozen lake" but now take the route by the road.

We have a lot of fun pictures from this morning that I'll post soon. I just wanted to say "Happy Easter". We are so thankful for our risen LORD, who has all power to conquer sin and death.