Day Camp

     Last week we got to help with a day camp in our neighborhood for 5 days.  Sixty kids came and loved the games, songs, skits, crafts, and messages about Jesus.  Anneka got to go, too, and she really enjoyed it.  Her friend, Maria, was there each day, and they were usually seen holding hands at any given moment.  The kids were given prizes for memorizing a Bible verse each day.  And the weather was great!

     In the evenings we reached out to high school and college-aged kids (not pictured).  Leif played soccer with them and had several really good spiritual conversations with some guys that were really interested.

   

     The team that put on the day camp came to our place for six meals, laundry, and showers.  I think I counted between 19 and 23 people at each meal.

     I was sooooo glad that Inka was here for those days.  She did most of the meal planning and cooking and it made it so that I could enjoy the time instead of feeling stressed! 

     She brought some fresh vegetables from her garden.  Here, Ella was helping her prepare the zucchini.

 

     The day after the day camp ended, the whole neighborhood was invited to a fire show that this same team put on.  Many people were there!  We invited a bunch of people and two came.  It was a bit disappointing because the show started late due to tecnical difficulties (people were getting very angry that it was starting so late), so they ended up cutting out a skit and small talk about God.  But hopefully the song that one girl sang was a testimony, and hopefully this show helped to build bridges with people for the future.  

     Overall, we're happy with how many people heard about Jesus throughout this week, and we pray the the seeds planted will grow on fertile soil.  Pray for a hiking trip this upcoming weekend with the teenage/college crowd (people who were interested in having more conversations about God)!

Ust-Barguzeen

     After our family time on Lake Baikal, we continued north up the lake to Ust-barguzeen.  We were pleasantly surprised, as the drive used to take 7+ hours but now just takes 4.5, as they have paved a lot of the road.  We were greeted by the Buikov family.  They were very warm and hospitable.  They have six kids, which is not common here (most families have one or two kids).

-v

     I've determined that 9-year-old girls are WONDERFUL!  We have been with several 9-year-old girls this summer, and they are so sweet and helpful with the little ones.  And responsible and fun.  This girl, "D", made dinner for us when we arrived, as her mom was working in the potato garden at church.  She was so competent.  And I think it was great for our kids to see their family all working together to do what needed to be done.  

     Our purpose of going was to encourage this family, bring them groceries, and for Leif to give the talk at the service on Sunday.  But a defnite benefit was that they also lived by the lake and the weather was warm.  Usually it's windy on the beach, but the evenings were pleasantly still.  "D" and Leif gave Anneka swimming lessons.  Even though the water was icy, she was soooo excited to try out the doggie paddle.

     And all of the kids liked jumping off of this little hill.

     Sergei is the pastor of the only Christian church in this village, and he also works as a car mechanic with a garage on his property.  He owns a couple of very fun motorcycles.  Here, his son is blowing bubbles with Ike on the bike.

     On the evening of my birthday, we went down to the beach.  There were these fisherman there, pulling in big nets.  There were only a few small fish in the net after all of that pulling!

     Something that always surprises me is how much food-prep people do here while camping or having time on the lake.  It seems like in the States we either make salads at home first or pick up a bucket of potato salad at Cosco or something.  But here, you bring your onions and potatoes and big soup pot and chop-chop-chopity chop!!  I actually enjoy the time preparing with others.  And as long as I can slip little snacks to my kids to keep them happy, then it doesn't matter if we don't eat dinner until 8 or 9.  Here, we were peeling hard-boiled eggs for a salad.  I had a bottle of water handy for when the kids dropped them on the dirty ground.  =)

     Waiting for the soup and fish to cook over the fire.  And if you'll notice, it's the 9-year-old girl, keeping close watch on Ike so he doesn't get into the fire.  I'll have to remember this when my girls are 9.  It may be reason enough to have another baby.  Ha!

    Enjoying my kids as the sun set at the end of a great birthday.

And I got my birthday wish- our whole family got to ride on the motorcycle together!

     The next day, after a nice church service, we all headed on a ferry across the river.  In the summer, the Buikov family tries to cross over the river to a little lake on Sundays for some family time.  We were thankful to get to come along!

Ella was SO excited to be on the ferry.  She kept saying, "I'm so excited!"

And once we got to the lake (which wasn't icy cold like Baikal!), Anneka enjoyed playing with several frogs.

... and floating on the surf board with Papa.

And Ella enjoyed eating this potato in the water.

... and sitting with Papa.  And of coure, Ike and I enjoyed the water and the family and the Buikovs, too.

 I didn't get any pictures of the Buikovs daily life or of their church... just mostly fun pictures outside.  But when summer just comes for a short blip every year, it's no surprise that this is the case!

The Kvas Lady

     Over the past few weeks, we've gotten to know this lady who sells kvas in our neighborhood.  She is going to college in the school year and working over the summer.  She has two small children who are in the village with her mom over the summer, and she misses them so much!  We visit her several times a week and really like her.  Anneka especially likes this lady because she gives Anneka free kvas.

     Kvas is very popular in the summer.  It's best explained as fermented bread water.  If you want to make some for yourself, put pieces of bread in a pan of water, add a little sugar, and place it on the windowsill for a few days- Whal-la!  You have kvas.

     This lady knows textbook English but wants to have some practice speaking it.  I've agreed to be a sort of language partner for her.  So far we've just spoken in Russian to one another, but she will come over to our place for practice in English.

     I'm excited about this relationship.  I love how God brings people into our lives when we least expect it!

Baikal Adventures

     We've been planning for a couple of months now to make a trip to Uzbarguzeen to visit a pastor and his family there and hopefully bring a little encouragement.  But when we were making the plans, we remembered how long it took to get there the last time we went (7+ hours) and with bumpy roads and carsick kids and kids who nap and kids who need to stop and go potty, we were anticipating even longer.  Needless to say, we decided to make a little family trip out of it and stop halfway there for a little family vacation on Lake Baikal.  We decided to just try to find a place along the way to stay.  Our tent isn't big enough anymore for our size of family and we knew to book through a tour guide would be expensive.  So we prayed and knocked on doors and found this grandma and grandpa who had a little cabin that they rent out to people.  Usually places here charge per person instead of per room, but they didn't even charge us for the kids!  It was perfect.  While Leif and I were unloading, Anneka invited herself and her siblings inside the couple's home.  We found them drinking fresh cow's milk on the veranda and eating homemade waffle cookies that the lady had made.  They all made themselves right at home.  In the picture above, you can barely see Ike under the chair, chasing the cat.

     There was no vacuum cleaner in sight, so Ike grabbed the next-best thing.

     And Anneka fell in love with the cat.  The kids also got to hold goslings and interact with bigger geese, pigs, and chickens.  

     Apparently the place we stayed isn't the favorite place, but we loved it, as the beach wasn't packed and we had a couple of sunny days.  These guys drove by in their boat and asked us if we wanted a ride.  I thought it would be fun for the kids to have a boat ride.  Leif guarded our stuff and Ike and us girls went for a spin... and it was a spin!  I hadn't noticed that they guys had been drinking.  I was happy Ike wasn't in the boat with us, because I had to really hold onto the girls so they didn't fly out!  They drove really close to the shore and even between two swimmers.  Craziness.

     Nettie brought us marshmallows from the States, so the second evening, we made a fire on the beach and had s'mores.  It was so fun.  This grass was up next to the beach, and I thought this picture was fun of Anneka.

     It was was rainy the next day, so we watched a movie in our little cabin.  Ike fell asleep, and Ella wanted to hold him.  He was SO out of it that he didn't stir with her kisses or tugs.

     There was a building down the road that said "Cultural Center" on it.  I thought it would be fun for our family to get some culture.  But it turned out to just be a little auditorium... not the museum I was thinking it would be.  But we had a nice walk in the rain.

     I read a fun novel that Leif bought me for my birthday on the kindle.  It was fun snuggling with little Ella and reading.

The kids just loved being at the beach and playing in the water!

     Because of the rain, the grandchildren of the couple who's house we were at came (their family had been camping in tents and got water-logged).  Our kids enjoyed playing with them.  This little couch was outside and was a fun place to sit.  Here, Anneka was teaching the kids how to play "Rat-a-Tat-Cat".  I'm not sure how she did that in Russian, but they all seemed to be playing it and having a good time.

     We left Friday morning for Uzbarguzeen and stopped again along the way to play on the beach.  Leif made this sand castle with the kids.  =)

Ike loves playing with water!

Such joy!

Our happy guy

Always busy

Leif and I both went out in deeper water with Anneka.  She loved that time with us!

The Great Outdoors

I am very privileged in that sometimes I get to do really fun things as a part of my job.  Just over a week ago I had one of those experiences.  Some of the guys in our church here have been using outdoor ministry activities like hiking and biking trips to do outreach and to challenge Christians to grow in their faith.  We have been talking for a while about trying to expand on that to possibly use activities like fishing, hunting and rafting as well.  So four of us from the church, and a friend of mine, headed out on a trial rafting/fishing/hunting trip, to see if this would be within our capabilities and to evaluate what, if anything, else might be needed.  

Directly after the church camp on Baikal we drove to a nearby village where one of the guys, Denis's, parents live.  We enjoyed a nice banya (Russian sauna) complete with a couple of 100 yard jogs down to the river to cool off in the middle, and the great hospitality of Denis's parents including some great fresh strawberries and vegetables from their garden.

The next morning we all piled into Denis's car and drove over 70 miles on dirt roads all stuffed in.  The car is small and we ended up taking out the back seat to have a little more room.  We were cramped and the roads were bumpy, but the weather was beautiful and we were all happy and excited about getting to the river to start our trip.

Here is a picture of the car.  The five of us and Denis's dad were piled in the car and all of our gear and the rafts were piled in the trailer.  Thankfully we stopped a few times to stretch our legs and get a break from the back of the car.

When we got to our launch site we cooked up a lunch and fed Denis's dad who graciously dropped us off and headed back for home with the car.  Please continue to pray for him as he has strong doubts that there is any life after death.  

After eating lunch, inflating the rafts, and arranging all our gear we gathered up and hit the river.  

The weather on that first day was ideal.  We did a little fishing on our way, but because we ended up starting further up river that we had originally planned (we ended up floating a total of over 50 miles) we decided to do more floating than fishing.  It was pretty fun too, as the first day we went through a number of rapids.  The only problem is that we didn't have our stuff packed the best and almost everything got wet.  Most of it wasn't a big deal, but the water did get into some of our food that we thought was sealed okay so we ended up throwing away some wet noodles and other things.  It also ended up being a bit expensive for me as I had my cell phone and car alarm in my pocket and they both got ruined.  I was worried that our new camera was ruined as the ziplock bag protecting it got a hole in it and some moisture got in, but thankfully it is working great after drying out.

We were in some beautiful areas of wilderness, and it was fun to get away from the city for a while.  There were a few logging camps and quite a bit of logging activity in the area which reminded me of growing up in Darrington.  

Here we are at a temporary bridge that was put up for a logging operation.  This was already the second day and the weather began to turn cooler and cloudy.  We pushed it hard this day, and didn't do a lot of fishing as we went because we had a goal of getting to a place down the river where Denis had fished before and where he knew of some old tree stands he hoped to use for hunting.  When we got there the fish weren't biting and the tree stands had fallen apart, but we had a great time floating the river anyhow.  

One of the best parts of this trip was having my friend Grisha along.  He and I shared a raft while all the others had their own.  I met him years ago when I was first in Ulan-Ude and we were both single.  Now we are both married and have children.  He has had connections to church over the years, but has never really dedicated himself to following Jesus.  We ended up having some great conversations about life and fatherhood and our childhoods and family and friends and I shared my testimony with him in a new way.  I hope that his heart will be ready to fully follow Jesus soon.

After the first 1 1/2 days of rushing down the river the plan was to take it slower and do more fishing for the next two days, but the weather turned on us and we had some pretty strong rain bursts that we went through, so we decided to cut the trip short and push our way down stream quickly again on the third day.  This was the best day for seeing wildlife though as we saw a small siberian roe deer before the rain started and a bunch of ducks with their ducklings too.  The crazy thing with seeing the deer was that I turned around and told Grisha that that was the first deer I'd seen in Russia, and he replied, "me too!"  There is a distinct lack of wildlife anywhere near civilization here in Siberia.

Here are the guys all ready to go on the third morning.  We feel like we learned a bit on this trip and are ready to do more with using these outdoor activities to develop relationships and create opportunities to share the good news of our Creator with guys here in Siberia.  In the midst of this wild land getting out into nature is so highly valued and enjoyed so we are happy to continue to see how we can use this draw to help people see the wonderful Designer of it all.

Ella's language

It's her own language... with some Russian words thrown in.  She cracks us up.