The Harvest Is Plentiful

      We got to go out to Inka's last week to visit her one last time before she heads to Germany.  The kids loved picking and eating the carrots that they'd helped to plant back in May.  There's nothing like fresh veggies from the garden!

Anneka got to stay overnight with Inka and just loved getting that special time with her!

     Mmmmm!

    Ike loved that we let him eat a raw carrot.  Usually we cook them for him, as they can be a choking hazard.   He has lots of teeth now, so we figured it was probably safe.

He also enjoyed feeding Papa!  

    We're in that time of year when our lives are filling up again with school and weekly ministries in addition to everything else.  It can all feel overwhelming at times.  One of our teammates reminded me that fall is a good time for re-evaluating the things we're a part of and asking God what He wants us to do- what to say yes to and what to say no to.  It occurred to me that the harvest is plentiful and we are so limited!  I am praying for God to raise up more people to harvest the fields here.  And for wisdom to know what part of the harvest He has for us!

God loves kids!

     We're so excited about the kids program that's up and running for the year!  Last week was the beginning with a special morning of games and songs and making yellow handprints to later decorate the room (made into little bees).  We're getting more and more kids at our church!  I think I counted 14 the last two weeks, and that was with several kids who normally come not there.  It's wonderful, as God loves kids, and a team of people in our church have worked really hard to plan out great lessons for them.

      The kids played a game outside where Yulia was a bee, guarding her honey, and the kids had to run and collect the honey without her catching them!  They sqealed with delight!

They all worked together to make a fruit salad.

It was so cute to watch Ella concentrating as she cut her banana. 

   

   Anneka was happy to get to cut harder fruits.

     I invited a lady that I met at the outdoor market and she came with her two kids.  They all had a lot of fun.  Her daughter liked it so much that she cried when it was time to go home!

     I couldn't resist taking a picture of me and my little buddy.  He was in a "mama mood", as he often is when we're around a lot of people.  Ike liked watching all of the other kids.

     Anneka has a little friend that she just loves.  In the weeks before the kids program started, the kids would run outside and shriek and laugh in the other room inside and often were NOISY.  And often our daughters were a part of the laughing and the noise.  Of course we still had them quiet down, but I was thinking about what a blessing it is that THIS is our problem at church- that the girls have friends and are giggling.  I didn't even imagine this day a couple of years ago.  Anneka and her friend decided that they wanted to buy matching shoes.  The girl's mom didn't want to buy them, and I thought it may be strange to buy them as a gift, so Anneka used her own money that she'd saved up- to the very last ruble!- to buy shoes for her friend.  She was SO happy to give them to her.

Fun friends in their fun shoes!

     Leif and I have been asked to be in charge of younger kids group starting in October.  This is a little challenging for me to do in Russian, but I'm thankful that everything is already planned out and made easy for us!  God loves kids so much, and it's so important that they learn about Him and know how much He loves them!

Growing In Flexibility, Growing in Patience

   So, the question is, how much do I want to test your patience by telling you everything?!  I will try to keep it as simple as possible.  Last week, the girls and I went to their school to make sure we had everything in order for the first day on Monday... and we found out that the school is CLOSED on weekdays now!   So, I/we then proceeded to visit a bizillion (well, probably more like ten) kindergartens, learning centers, and school preparatory centers over the next three days.  We were so disappointed because the school we wanted is practically next door and both girls could attend there in separate classes.  After much searching and prayer, we've decided for Anneka to go back to the school where she was last year (it's a great school but means a farther walk and they don't have a place for Ella).  And we're still searching for a good fit for Ella.  This also means that we need to update Anneka's medical card.  This should mean a simple stamp, as she already did the round of 13 doctors, tons of lab and medical tests, etc last year (you can click here, if interested in what we needed to do).  But already we've been to the clinic three times this week and need to go back at least 3 more times.  With long lines (like almost two hours wait.  with little kids).  I took the above picture today when we were waiting for what we thought was our last stamp from the pediatrician.  We brought books and found this nice free bench down the hall from the other people who were waiting.  Not pictured is the line we had to stand in to get some sort of paper.  It was just too crazy to pull out the camera!

     There are actually a bunch of really irritating things that I could share with you, but I've found that that's not usually the helpful thing (as entertaining as it may be) I just start to get grumpy (especially when I think of going back there 3 more times!)  I've found that it truly helps to reflect on what I'm thankful for, so I'll make a little list:
     * Yulia called me while we were there, and SHE was in the clinic, too, with her two kids!  Neither of us knew the other would be there.
     * The clinic is right next to where we live- no buses or driving necessary
     *  Our kids are healthy
     *  Wonderful people have sent us wonderful books in English that we can read while we wait
     * Ike did not destroy the papers on the bulletin board
     * I sneakily weighed Ike while we were there, and he's over 27 pounds!
     * After we'd waited to get the paper in that long line, we were told to get at the END of the other line (the one we'd already waited it).  I seriously couldn't believe it.  This nice lady told us to just cut.  She said it with authority in front of everyone, and everyone let us!!  If she hadn't done that, we would have been there 4 hours!  I wanted to kiss her.
     *  The pediatrician couldn't find Anneka's lab results after looking through a box of papers.  Somehow I spotted it in a pile on the table.  This was God, as it was written in messy cursive Russian, and I normally would not be able to do that.
     * There were open seats for us to sit on the whole time.
   
     It's good to remember that God is with us.  What matters is how we respond to situations- no matter how irritating.  He wants to show Himself through us and grow in us.  It's also good for me to remember that patience is a good thing for my kids to learn, too

     So after a morning at the clinic, we went to the playground with Yulia and her girls.  Ella and Anneka loved holding little baby Dasha!!

     She's so little!

     I bought a bag of oatmeal cookies and praised the kids for being so good in the doctor's office.  I let them have as many as they wanted (not a normal practice)!  Ike was pretty pleased with his two cookies.

     After about an hour and a half of playing outside, they came over for lunch.  Ike was very interested in Dasha.  He kept pointing and saying "baby!" and talked with her in his own little language.  I think he poked her or something when Yulia and I had to leave the room for a minute (potty accident) because she started crying.  I forget that you can't leave a baby alone with a bigger baby!!

    Speaking of that little Ike, I just looked over at him and he's wiping up the floor with a towel after spilling some milk.  What a good little boy!  Another blessing to count!

More about Khuzhir

     We have so many pictures and so many different aspects to share about from our trip to Khuzhir, that I (Jami) decided to write a few things, too.  It took 11 hours to get there on bumpy roads with a screaming Ike (our guy who usually loves being in the car suddenly decided that he hated it and screamed much of the time), 2 carsick girls (including Ella throwing up), and a van so stuffed with stuff that my legs were up to my chin much of the time.  By about halfway there, I wondered, "why, again, did we decide that this trip was a good idea?"  And while much of the week was challenging, I can see in hindsight why God wanted me and the kids there, too.  This man is one of many who came and interacted with our team while we lived and worked on this property.  Daniela had some good insight that by us bringing our kids into this village, we were showing trust in these people and opening ourselves up to them in ways that we couldn't without them.  

     Before this trip, I'd read a book about transforming prayer.  I was really excited to get to lead times of prayer with the team each morning.  A big theme of this book was that often in prayer we seek God's hand, but really we should be seeking His face.  We started out by reading a passage of scripture each morning and then using it as a guide to praise God for who He is and to remember all that He's done.  The majority of our time was spent in focusing on God and who He is and then from there we allowed God's Spirit and the scriptures to guide us into a time of confession, requests and thanksgiving.  We also spend some time in evenings singing praise songs.  There's a song "You're the God of this city" and we sung it as a prayer for the village of Khuzhir, acknowledging that God has great plans for these people.  We often say that prayer is the greatest thing that we can do, but we don't always follow this with our actions.  It was really good this trip to put this into practice and to be united as we sought God's face together.

     While the drive to get the Khuzhir was not something I'd want to repeat, and while it rained a few of the days and we had a small river in our tent, and while Ike was really needy and screamed tantrum-style any time I left him for a couple of minutes to go to the bathroom.....   the girls LOVED playing and playing outside.  Anneka and Lina were inseparable, and it was so fun to hear them chattering away in Russian.  They set up this little table where they ate most of their meals.  They spoke Russian except when they prayed, in which Anneka prayed in English and Lina in Swiss-German and then they translated what they prayed.

     In many ways I felt like I didn't help very much as far as the "project" as I had three little ones to run after, but it was good to be there, to be a part of the team, and to help in small ways when I was able to (food prep, dishes, weeding, cleaning the ceiling, etc.)  Here we were preparing potatoes.  I cannot imagine life here without potatoes!

     Ella loved her little friend, Anya.  Here they were, watching a little show during a rainy day.  They speak their own language (a made-up language) when they're together.  It's really funny and cute and entertaining to listen to them.  They seem to understand each other perfectly.

     These boys (among others) hung around us, both watching from the fence and coming onto the property, and talking with us.  In our prayer time, it really struck my heart to pray for them, that God would raise them up as a generation of men who would follow Him and lead many others to Him.  In this small village everyone knows everything about everyone.  There is no doubt that they saw something different by watching us.  There is hope for these boys to not follow after their parents' generation in alcoholism, poverty, and hopelessness.

     A few people from the church in Zakamensk (30 minutes away) came a couple of days to help out on the property.  Something cool that happened was that our team collected money before we went to Khuzhir to contribute to needs on this property to get the house and rehab center set up.  Well, right after we collected the money, the owner of a small house on the property offered to sell it for a low price ($1,300).  Originally the owner was going to totally move the house off of the property and Alexei was going to have to build a new home for his family to live in. Between the money that we collected and money they'd recently gotten from a collection among the area churches, they had enough to buy the house!  We were able to help out with general cleaning and painting to make the home nicer for living in.  

     On Sunday Leif and Kandid shared from the Word at the church service in Zakamensk.  Afterwards they had a lunch for everyone.  It was nice to get to know people from this church.  After the lunch, we divided and visited people who were too sick (or unable) to come to the church service.  The way that some people live is very sobering.  So many people have such troubled lives and horrible living situations.

     Ella had a second friend that she played with (another Anya!).  This is the little girl who's family will move to this village to share Jesus with the people there.

     I found them playing all sorts of interesting and funny games.  Anya's first language is Russian, so I figured this was probably good for Ella's Russian, too.  These kids are tough.  They got stung by nettles several times and still kept playing!

     I like this picture because Ella and Ike are so cutely washing the watermellon and Anneka is in the background, hugging Inka.

     One evening Lina and Anneka volunteered to do the dishes.  Ella joined in to help Renata with the drying.  It took them FOREVER, but they did a good job.

     I just had to post more pictures of the girls playing... hence, the need for two blog posts!  Anneka and Lina were never at a loss for things to do- chewing on wood chips, counting spiders in the outhouse, helping dig out the holes for the foundation with tin cans, playing with the chickens, etc.

       On the last evening they had us watch a circus that they'd prepared.  It included tricks with this dog, running chickens, and the property cat (but the cat was MIA during actual circus time.)  They had some stunts that they did on a makeshift teeter-totter.

     I walked this road a couple of times a day, trying to get Ike to sleep in the stroller.  He hardly slept all week!  I prayed for this place and these people.  This village has no running store.  No believers.  But when I think about all that God has in store for these people, I feel excited.  He loves them so much and has great plans for them!

Khuzhir

A couple of years ago our team decided to do a team project together as a way to build unity and physically serve the church and the community.  It was such a success that we decided to try to make this an annual event.  This year we decided to take on a project down in the small Buryat village of Khuzhir in the Zakaminsk region.  This village is an eight hour drive south and west from Ulan-Ude, and we have to get special permission to visit there because it is right on the Mongolian border.  Currently the larger project in Khuzhir is still in the dream, plan and preparation stages, but the idea is to take this couple acre property and turn it into a sort of half way house for people who have come through drug and alcohol rehabilitation or through prison, and to offer them a place where they can learn more about God and get job training at the same time.  This sort of work has helped bring many to Christ across Russia.  So our part was helping to put up a building that will be used as a woodworking shop.  After a very long trip there on Thursday (arriving 11 hours after we left our house) we spent Friday and Saturday working before taking Sunday off to participate in the local church service and then going back to work for Monday and Tuesday.

They had hoped to have the foundation in place before we got there, but weren't able to do that so our first task was to help dig holes to a certain depth (over 1 meter) to get past the frost line.  I certainly prefer digging trenches and pouring foundation in forms that way, but they had decided on a sort of pillar foundation.  We didn't have the best equipment so we used tin cans like this or garden hoes to dig out the bottom of the hole!

Anneka really liked to come out to help and really enjoyed getting down in the hole to help dig things out :).

I couldn't pass up showing this picture.  It was tough to hang our heads down in the holes to do this work, but we were happy to help serve the church in the area that is working on this project.

The first day was the hottest day as we were digging out the holes, and Art here is showing how we all felt at the end of the day :).

After digging the holes and putting some rebar and forms in place we began the process of mixing and pouring cement.  Anneka came out and helped with this for a little bit too.  When she was there I would shovel in the cement and sand.

And then Anneka would pour in the water until we had the right mix.

The first couple days we had beautiful weather, but then it began to rain on us.  We have fewer pictures of the rain, but this gives a little glimpse of how we were working out in the mud.  It reminded me a bit of working outside in the Pacific Northwest.

After getting the foundation to a certain point we were able to lay the square logs that became the bottom of the walls.  Actually typical construction here uses these logs to build log houses.  One reason the local church was happy to have us come was that some of us have experience doing framing which they call "Canadian Technology" here, and that was how they wanted to build this building.

Finally on our last day of work things were ready for us to start framing.  We set up an assembly line of moving boards, cutting them and then stacking them to be put together.

Ella and Ike liked playing with the blocks that we made in squaring and trimming the boards.

Then the moment finally came when we started putting up the walls.  It is amazing that you can spend days of work in preparation and then in just a few short hours put up four walls on a building.  Those last hours are very satisfying, and we were particularly encouraged to see the huge smile on the face of the pastor there who is in charge of the project.  

I got to "volunteer" to climb the wall as no one else was excited about getting up there.  This is a little test of faith in the work we had done up to this point.  Actually I have always liked the different perspective you get when you look around from a little bit higher up.

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Here is a picture of pastor Aleksei checking to see if things look level, and one of the neighbors looking on with interest.  Please pray for Aleksei and others who are living and serving in the area.  One reason they want to do this social outreach work in this Buryat village is to tangibly show love and to be a light that will draw people to Jesus.  Even as we were there for a week we saw how the believers who lived and worked there with us had opportunities to interact with and care for the neighbors, but also how the Buryats there do see people not from the village as outsiders.  This will be a difficult work, but we are trusting that God wants to do great things among these precious people.

Here is a picture of what we left them with when we were done.  Of course we would have loved to help put up a roof and sheet the walls, but we were all very satisfied and happy with what we were able to accomplish.  We are so thankful that we could bless and encourage the local believers and in some way be a light in this land with so little hope.  We trust that God is building something far more grand than this here.

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I just had to add this last little picture of Ike too.  He is always so curious and finds whatever he can to play with.  Here he found a couple of tools that were just "left laying about" and decided he needed to take care of them.