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.

A surprise in the bag!

     Ella, Ike and I met a friend and her kids at the playground recently while Anneka was at school.  My friend was carrying a bag, and I didn't think much of it.  After awhile, she motioned to the kids to come over.  She opened up her bag and this little piglet was inside!!  What delight!  We all loved him, of course.  He and his sister were runts out of a big litter and weren't getting enough milk, so my friend brought the two of them back to the city to bottle feed them at home.  They live in the kitchen of her apartment!  

     We are excited to go to their village in a couple of weeks and see their piglets and calves.  We praise God for how He's formed friendships with this family, and pray that He'll show them His great love through us.

     Leif has been traveling a lot this spring.  I saw this picture on our teammate's blog and thought it was so funny.  Leif's in the blue sleeping bag in the front. (he doesn't get much sleep at these things, but thankfully he's used to that with having three small kids!) He went to Shabur for a meeting with regional pastors and leaders and enjoyed his time talking with different guys.  He's encouraged about the excitement that several pastors are having about holding a missions course here in Ulan Ude.  Leif has been working to get it up and started, and imagine his joy when this group decided that this would be an emphasis in the churches this upcoming year!  We desire to see people from here raised up to share the gospel all over the world!

     Our last weeks have been very busy, and I find it so hard to keep up with blogs.  I feel very grateful for the ways God has cared for our family as Leif has been gone.  The kids and I have met a few new families in our neighborhood and have enjoyed playing and talking with them. 

Easter

     We enjoyed some special times as a family this Easter season.  One evening,we washed each other's feet.

     Leif read from the Bible about how Jesus washed his disciples' feet and how he came to serve and to teach us to also serve.

 

     We also made unleavened bread one evening and learned more about the Passover and the significance behind the bread.  As the kids grow, they ask more and more good questions.  Ella has several times in her prayers these last couple of weeks thanked Jesus for dying on the cross for us.  I love hearing the different things that the kids pray about.  

     Something very encouraging and surprising happened the Friday before Easter.  We were in the grocery store, and there was music playing over the sound system.  The song (in Russian) had the words: "Jesus is risen from the dead. Hallelujah!  He was and is and is to come."  I loved this, and the truth of it seemed to ring out so loudly, as it is rare to hear anything like this in public.  We pray that this message will reach people's hearts.

     The Friday before Easter, all three of our kids spent the day with the Blakers.  They dyed eggs together and did other special things, and the girls even stayed overnight.  It was so nice for Leif and I to have a whole day date together!  Leif has and will be gone a lot this spring, so it's especially valuable to have these times together.  It's also really special

     We hid eggs around our living room Sunday morning.  They kids enjoyed hunting them down.

     Some of the eggs had candy inside, and 12 of them were resurrection eggs with special symbols (together with verses) that share the story of Christ's death and resurrection.

     At church, the kids put on a performance with a couple of songs.  Anneka and Ella shared a poem together.

    We're so thankful for the wonderful people who pour into our kids and teach them these songs!

     Anneka was in a play that used fun colorful scarves to show the story of Jesus taking away her sins.

I don't have any pictures from this, but the week after Easter, our church put on a play.  Several new people came, and many people were touched.  One husband seemed to make a decision to return to God and has been coming to church since then.  And one young Buryat mom prayed a prayer of repentance and has also been coming to church since then.  A cool little sidenote is that God crossed mine and Ella's paths with this lady when we were doing medical tests a couple of months ago.  Before that, I hadn't seen her for probably 5 years!  I love how God works and I love that He is drawing people to Himself!

Spring

The first buds of spring bring great excitement!

     Spring has taken on a whole new meaning for me since living in Siberia.  While it doesn't quite look the same as spring does in Washington, it is still glorious because it comes after a long and cold winter.

     Spring is a reminder of God's faithfulness.  He sets the sun, moon, and stars in motion.  He brings the sun each day, and he brings the seasons- spring, summer, winter, fall- every year.  We have hope each winter because we know that it won't be winter forever.  And we see the consistency of the seasons- it's a reminder that God keeps His promises.

     It is so fun to see our kids' excitement over spring.  Each day on the way to school, Anneka and I inspect the bushes to see if any green is pushing through.  The first day we saw buds was a truly exciting day!  Anneka broke out in praise to God, saying, "Thank you God for spring, for the birds twirting (yes, she said "twirting"), and for the green on the trees."  Ella also shows great excitement in seeing the green around us, and we even saw the very first flowers that pop up from under the snow (they look like crocuses) this past week.  In some moments, I feel a little sad when I see the kids' pure joy over these tiny buds when I know that in other places in the world, spring means bursts of color everywhere- vibrant green grass, daffodils, blossoms on trees... but at the same time, I can't help but share the joy because ANY life where there has been grey really is a beautiful thing.  And just as I know that this is just a tiny glimpse of spring in other places, it reminds me that heaven is so much more glorious than anything we can imagine!!

     Anneka has her own special tree.  We walk by it almost every day.  She likes to climb it and talk about it and dream up plans for what she'll do in her tree this summer.  It still has leftover leaves from last fall and basically looks dead.  But each day we inspect to see- is there any green yet?  Any hope of life.  And in faith, we trust that one of these days the green will come.  And this tree will burst forth in life and beauty.  Today she even prayed that God would bring green to her special tree.

     In the same way, we look at special people around us. People that we see frequently, that we spend time with and think about often.  We wonder, when will their hearts come to life?  When will they know the hope of Jesus and put their trust in Him?  Spring reminds me that there is hope.  Spring reminds me that God is the giver of life, even when everything looks dead and grey.

     I'm reminded of the first time I ever came to Ulan-Ude, in the summer of 1999.  I was here with a summer team, and a song that we sang went like this...

One Name under heaven whereby we must be saved,

One Name under heaven whereby we must be saved.

Forgiven of my sins, baptized in the water, filled with the Holy Spirit, washed by the by the blood of the Lamb,

 Forgiven of my sins, baptized in the water, filled with the Holy Spirit, washed by the by the blood of the Lamb.

Free, really free my friends, freed by the blood of the Lamb,

Free, really free my friends, freed by the blood of the Lamb.

God's gonna move in this place, God's gonna move in this place, God's gonna turn the whole world upside down,

God's gonna move in this place, God's gonna move in this place, God's gonna turn the whole world upside down.

     As we sang that song that summer, I knew that God was speaking.  He will do an amazing work here.  He will free people from darkness and despair.  He will bring life.  I feel blessed that He would use us as a part of this. And just as Anneka prayed for green to come to her special tree, we pray for eternal life to come to these special people.

  

Ella is Officially a Preschooler!

           A few weeks ago, we discovered that there was an opening for Ella to go to preschool two mornings a week at the same school as Anneka (in a different room).   We jumped on this opportunity, as Ella has been showing signs of readiness for school, and we've seen how it's helped with Anneka's Russian like nothing else.  We want to give Ella this chance, too.  This meant that we had to to a battery of medical tests.  (You can click here to see what all is entailed).  Ella doesn't love doctors like her sister, but she was very sweet about everything, and I discovered that she loves gum so much that if I bought gum and gave it to her each time we headed to the clinic (I had to stock up- there were MANY visits!), she was happy as a clam!!  I tried to make it into a special mother-daughter time (as much as trips waiting in lines and going to a bizillion doctors can be).  We always packed books, and while at first I wouldn't read if we were actually IN an office with a doctor, by the end, we just did whatever to make things fun and smooth!!

    One day Leif asked me how our doctor's visit went, and I said something like, "well, first we started on floor 2 and then they sent us up to floor 6, but they sent us to floor 3, but that doctor was in the hospital, so they said to call back next week.  And then we went to floor 5 and waited in a long line, but we didn't make it in time before we had to leave to pick up Anneka from kindergarten".  And after I said this outloud, I realized that I'd left out a couple of floors and it seemed completely nuts because we hadn't accomplished anything!  The first half of filling our our medical card, was pretty much like this for over a week.  I really felt that God wanted me/us to praise Him in the middle of it and to keep our eyes open for His goodness and His opportunities.  One day, as we were leaving the clinic with no stamps in our medical book because of time, we ran into our friend Masha outside.  She sweetly volunteered to take Ella for me and when I came back an hour later, she had seen TWO doctors!  Another time, we met a really nice mom and her son and had a good conversation with them.  God provided fun things like this slide (pictured above) in the hallway of floor 2.  And the second half of the medical card process went very quickly!  Once we got three stamps in one day!

     After we got our final stamp, Ella and I were so excited!  We asked a lady to take our picture outside, and we told her that we were celebrating because it was like a holiday to get our medical card filled out!  She gave a knowing smile, as it is not easy for people here either!  I had one friend say that the next time they buy an apartment, they will buy one next to the clinic because they have to go there so often.  And she was serious!

     The very next day, Ella had her first day of school!   Ella was excited, and Anneka was so excited for her, too!  Ella walked right into the classroom without even looking back.  And since she's begun I already hear her using more Russian with people.  

     I made a special lunch for Ella that day and we had a special "first day of school cake".  

     Ella's regular teacher has been sick, so she's had substitutes.  One day it was a mom that I've met on the playground and have talked with several times over the past couple of years. (her daugher is a friend of Anneka's)  She said that Ella had played really well with the kids and did great!
   
      I am also amazed that there's one teacher for sixteen 3-year-olds and they all get totally changed out of their clothes into outdoor clothes (this is very cultural- you wear different clothes outside than you do at home or at school) and into their coats, hats, and boots.

  By the second week when Ella's teacher returned, she got really sad as I was dropping her off and cried really hard.  Leif was out of town, and that morning I'd had to get all of the kids up and ready and out the door pretty early (and Ike dropped a glass on the tile floor right as we were leaving that I needed to clean up really fast so no one would get hurt).  When we got there, another kid's clothes were in Ella's cubby and her clothes had been moved.   I'm guessing that all of these things added to her feelings, but it was SO SAD leaving her.  Ike and I could hear her crying all the way outside.  She was okay when I came back to get her 3 hours later, so I'm praying that it was just one of those hard mornings because of all of the abnormal circumstances.  Ella is so brave.  I'm so proud of her!  I love her love of learning and watching her interact with both kids and adults.  She is a treasure.

      

Stuff Around Home

 

     Leif was gone for the last 5 days on a mountain climbing trip, and there were about 3 blogs I wanted to do while he was gone.  But I decided to preserve my energy and basically went to bed right after I got the kids to sleep each evening.  So now I will try and play catch up, as there's a lot to write about!  I thought today, I'd post some pictures from our daily life.  We like to watch Ike in action.  He always has a special project in mind and is very very busy.  Often his projects will involve pouring liquids (he always uses the word "dump" for both dumping and pouring).  We have to watch him!  And we love to watch him.

     I was making dinner the other evening, and I turned around to see Ike all bundled up in his sister's winter clothes.  The girls had bundled him and then plopped him down at the table and left him.  He's usually pretty good natured to their antics.  It's really hot in our apartment right now- it was up to 88F yesterday!

   

     We make cookies a few times a week for our home group, guests, and just for us to eat.  The kids like to be my helpers.  This year, I've given up sweets for Lent.  I actually didn't really think it would affect me too much- I just thought it would be a fun way to look forward to Easter and a reminder of Christ and His ultimate sacrifice for us.  I have to admit that I've really missed the sweets!  I'm totally eating more other food, too (I'm not on an official diet), but I can tell that I'm losing weight.  It's good to help me to be aware of what a sweet tooth I have and to hopefully tame it down a bit when I start eating sweets again.  =)

     This boy had a great time playing with our kids while his mom was with me at the women's outreach at our church a few weeks ago.  Here, they're playing doctor.  We went to his birthday party this past weekend and the kids all had a very fun time!

I missed catching a picture when they were even more inside Leif's shirt!!

     Anneka and her friend, Lina, had a blast recently coming out in every assortment of winter clothing and introducing themselves as guests with Russian names.  They were so funny to watch.  Lots of giggling.

     Almost every morning, we have a filling breakfast (such as pancakes, waffles, eggs, puffed oven pancakes or oatmeal), because the kids have a long morning at school without food or drink and we don't want them to be hungry.  Whenever we feed our kids cereal, they are hungry again within 30 minutes, so then we end up feeding them 2-3 breakfasts anyways.  When time allows in the morning, Anneka likes to make the pancakes, and she especially likes to make fun animals out of the batter.  She always wants to take pictures of her creations.

... and Anneka also likes to fix my hair.

     I had planned on doing an entire blog on this little stuffed tiger.  If you asked Anneka and Ella, she is not a tiger, she is Anneka's daughter (Ella's niece) and Leif and my granddaughter.  Her name is Lily Violet.  We have dozens of pictures of Lily Violet hanging with the family.  Here she is with her princess birthday cake (we just microwaved it in the mug).  There was a time when Lily Violet ate all of our meals with us, required babysitting if we were to be gone, etc.  She went to Thailand with us in November, and Irene had a great idea to tie her to Anneka so that we wouldn't lose her.  So we have lots of pictures of her being drug through the sand and the waves.  Well, one morning (on my watch), Anneka handed Lily Violet to Ike in the stroller and he dropped her somewhere along the way.  It was pretty traumatic for Anneka to lose her daughter in Thailand.  The Jordans were visiting in Russia soon after, so we ordered a new Lily Violet that they brought with them.  In the meantime, Lily Violet called us and wrote to us from different countries and told us of her adventures on land and sea.  She made it just in time for Christmas... Anneka awoke to her daughter nestled into her arms.  But the reason I'm not going to do a whole Lily Violet blog anymore is that it seems she's resumed her status to just being a stuffed tiger again.  

     Sometimes when Leif is gone, I'll sing the kids all to sleep in our bed and then move them later (usually I'll keep one with me because sleeping children are just so sweet!)  The kids like it when we let them sleep together, and often any two do sleep together in Ike's bed.  Lately the girls will wake each other up in the mornings,though, so we've had to make sure that they're separated. 

     This is a picture of a mug that has brought both joy and sorrow to our lives.  Anneka's class had the "mug man" come to school.  They each had their pictures taken and got to order a special mug.  The girls all chose the same design as one another.  Every day after her picture was taken, Anneka would ask if her mug had come yet.  She would jump and squeal with excitement, just thinking of her mug.  When it came, she was so incredibly happy about it!!  Well, it lasted about a week and then Ella (who was very sweetly clearing Anneka's plates for her) dropped it on the floor and her toe.  There was a lot of blood and a lot of tears.  But I was really happy to see that Anneka was more concerned about Ella than about her mug.  And sadly, the mug is now gone.  This picture on the mug is very funny to me.  Anneka has SUCH a cute mouth right now, with her top two teeth missing.  I just LOVE her smile.  But it's not really cultural here to smile a big smile with your mouth open.  Anneka smiled, and her teacher told her to "smile smaller" and to close her mouth.  And this is the picture we got.  =)  I just had to take a picture of the picture before we threw the mug away.

     We've had the Brubacher boys over a few times during English Club the last couple of months.  We've had fun both playing indoor games together and playing outside.

     Ella was delighted to get to fix Papa's hair!

     We also had little Diana over a couple of times while her parents were taking a course on inductive Bible study.  The last day of the course, she was so tired of being away from her parents.  She cried a lot, and I was gone part of the day with Ella, doing medical tests, so that made it extra sad for her.  I think she likes me because I always bring snacks for the toddlers at church.  =)

All of our kids have really been into drawing lately.  I love this picture that Ella did.  It just makes me smile.

     Lisa came over with Christina while the guys had a men's meeting. We had a tea party and then painted our nails.  She painted the little girls' nails.  It was a lot of fun!  It's special for the kids to have adults outside of our family invest in them.

     We also had guests from a closed country come and cast some vision for us on how to pray and mobilize believers here to hopefully go and be missionaries there.  It is our dream to send people out from here, and Leif is working on setting up a missions program similar to the Prospectives course here in Ulan-Ude to cast vision for the Great Commission and missions.

     And we had a pastor from a village stay with us during the regional meetings for pastors and leaders.

One day we made puppets and put on a puppet show.

     In Anneka's kindergarten, the kids are occasionally asked to do a bigger homework assignment over the weekend.  (as a side note, they are already writing sentences in Russian!  This is amazing to me.)  This particular assignment was to make a 3D model of something from our neighborhood.  It was impressive to see what all of the families came up with!!  Leif guided Anneka through making this monument.  He verbally directed her and helped her with cutting the plastic for the U-shape and screwing the airplane monument onto the board, but other than that, she basically did all of the work.  Sometimes it's stressful when we get these assignments (especially if we already have a lot of plans), but it's also rewarding to have the end result.  And it's really special for all of the kids to share what they accomplished with others at the school!  Everything is really stellar... nobody turns in junk.  They display their artwork as a little exhibit for a few weeks for all the school to see.

Spreading the Love!

     This winter, a kind lady from one of our supporting churches wrote to us, asking if they could send a big box of warm clothes for people here.   She had been talking with her daughters about sharing with those in need, and her 7-year-old wanted to give warm things to people who live in Siberia.  I was touched by their kindness, and it was such fun to watch people accept these items and even more people to see them using them for weeks afterwards!

     The kids were so happy and loved picking out gloves and hats!

I only took pictures of those that I knew wouldn't mind, but their humongous box blessed many, many people!

Anneka got her "dream coat" out of the box.  I can't tell you how happy she was about it!  And she's matching her friend with her new white coat.  

     I think it's so great when we can teach our kids the joy and value of giving to others.  I often think about what we can do here to reach out, as there are so many people with real, tangible needs.  Pray that God will give us wisdom in this and that our hearts will be generous and trusting in God's great goodness.  Pray that we won't become desensitized to the many who are hurting around us, but that we'll always be filled with care and love for them.  

We have a new teammate!

     We have a new teammate!  His name is Bruce, and we're so happy to have him here.  Our kids love him, and lucky for us, he lives right next door (for the next few weeks, anyways) so he's been able to join our family some for meals and evening games. Bruce grew up in a large family and is great with kids!

     I was really blessed by so many people coming to clean the apartment next door to prepare for Bruce.  Nettie and Renata cleared out major closet space and put contact paper on the shelves to line them.

Dave organized the office to make room for a space for Bruce.

     And Inka did a stellar job cleaning the kitchen!  Others (not pictured) fixed some broken things around the apartment and cleaned off the balcony.  

     Bruce is very artistic and is talented in helping others to bring out their talents.  Our hope is that he can be a learner of Buryat culture and help people within the church to worship God in many artistic ways that both celebrate who they are and bring glory to our Creator!  Welcome, Bruce!