Overnight Trip to Baikal

We usually get a good April snowman each year.  This year I forgot my hat, so I look like a good babushka.  =)

     When my new friend Larisa invited me and Sveta (plus our kids) to Baikal for a couple of days, the first thing I thought (besides that it sounded like a nice time with friends) was "Ella can have her snowman!"  April on Lake Baikal usually means good snowman snow, and she's been wanting to make one all winter long.  Sadly, it was too cold and dry this winter for snowman snow.  Through this trip, her dream became a reality.


     In the middle of the night before we left, Sveta's son got sick and so she wasn't able to come.  Since she was both pregnant and has small kids, I'd originally thought that Sveta would kind of be my buffer from doing anything too adventurous or tiring with little ones.  The trip didn't turn out how I expected, but it was good all the same.  Larisa's friend, Artyom, is a guard of this resort in the off season (which is basically everything except for July and August).  He took us out on the ice and showed us how ice fishing is done.

     First you drill a hole in the ice and then have a special plastic "plug" that keeps the ice from closing over.

      Then you use a little live fish as bait and let it wiggle under the water to attract bigger fish.

    
 


 And if you don't catch a big fish, you can still have fun holding and watching the little one!

We all found this very interesting.  Well, the kids just plain loved being outside, no matter what we were doing!

     There were some places on the lake that had big chunks of ice on top.

And the kids adored Larisa's weiner dog.

     Larisa commented that Ike always had something in his hands, wherever we went.  I realized that it's true- a stick or a rock or a fish or a chunk of ice.  He's a busy guy!

     In some places the snow was really deep!

     I took this picture right as he threw this snowball.  I thought I might have caught it midair.

     Back at the cabin we had long spiritual discussions with Artyom.  He grew up on the streets and everyone close to him from childhood has since died from lives of crime or drugs.  A kind Christian man adopted him when he was 15 and introduced him to Jesus.  Since then, his life has been changed (I think he's about 30 now).  For the past 3 years, he's lived in isolation from other believers.  He studies his Bible hungrily and talks with other Christians on the phone, but it was evident he was really thankful for the conversation and fellowship with us.  I found it both really good and stretching as well as exhausting to have all of these deep spiritual discussions in Russian.  And then the owner's son came that night and entered into our conversation.  He's not a believer, and Artyom has been sharing with him over the past months.  He kept pulling vodka out of the freezer (did you know it doesn't freeze?!).  It all felt very Russian.  =)

     The next day Artyom took Larisa ice fishing, but Ella and Ike just wanted to play on shore in the snow.  So we hung out and had a great time exploring and playing.  They asked if we could stay there forever!

chunks of ice in the puddle

a dock warped from winter weather

Ike with an icicle.

 A quote from our friend Heidi:  "If a bike is a bicycle, is an Ike an icicle?"

Larisa with the kids (and dog, Toby)

     Toby was so sweet and patient with the kids.  It turns out that Ike is allergic to dachshunds!  He got red welts all over his face and arms from the dog.  We found that it was much safer to hold the dog when they were both bundled up.

The joys of plates of ice!

     We missed Leif and Anneka on our little excursion.  At the same time, it was nice to be out of the city and for the kids to run and play.  Our friend, Sveta (who was supposed to come) ended up having her baby 2.5 weeks before her due date, so it's probably for the best she was home!  And I pray for lasting fruit from our conversations with both Artyom and the owner's son.  Wherever we go, God is always at work!

Urban Visionaries

     Last Friday Anneka had her big graded performance of the year for her drama class.  It was called "Urban Visionaries" and involved all of the students from her school of arts.  Here is the poster that advertised the event.

     They only started rehearsing for this performance 2-3 weeks ahead of time, but boy, did they practice!  Anneka spent many hours a day after school in rehearsals and learned different roles, lines, and dances.  She often came home sore from the workout she got! 


     The students helped their teacher to write the play.  As the main theme, they took a time machine back to different eras. 

It was so fun to watch everyone coming together to make something great!

     Anneka had 5 different costumes for the play, and often had to change quickly.  I really liked these dresses made out of paper in the background.  And, of course, I thought Anneka looked super cute in her frilly red dress.  She's just to the right of the man in the middle.

     For this scene, Anneka didn't quite have time to get on her hat and scarf.  Her good friend didn't get dressed in time at all and wasn't able to come out on stage.  But I would have never known had she not told me!

     Tickets were sold out a few days in advance.  We were lucky to get seats at all, and even then, this was our view!  It made it a bit tricky for getting good pictures.  =)

      The grand finale was very festive with balloons coming down from the ceiling.  Anneka is sitting on the front edge of the center of the stage.

Great success!

Ella ran up onto stage after the performance to give flowers to her sister.

     Lots of people took family pictures on stage.  We're so proud of our little girl!

     Another day this past week, Anneka traveled to another part of the city to perform.  We found out the night before that she needed to be at the bus stop at 9:00 in the morning on a school day.  We're learning about flexibility and also learning more about which questions to ask ahead of time if we want to be "in the know".  Overall, this is a positive, growing experience for all of us!

More Catch-up

 

    I keep thinking I'll get caught up on our blog... and I don't think I ever REALLY will... but after this one, we'll be closer.  =)  For Men's Day this year 30-40 guys from the area traveled to the village of Zaigraevo.  Several men brought their sons, and they had time to sing, fellowship, study the Bible, eat, and play together!  They even took time for a game of soccer in the snow on the square that our team built a few years ago.

      These were most of the guys from the group (with some of the kids not pictured).  I love thinking of fathers building into their sons and for this next generation to be following Christ and leading by example.


 

Here was Leif's soccer team!  He got to be goalie. 

     On Saturdays Ella and I have been taking swimming lessons together.  It's the kind where parents get into the pool with their kids.  She loves it, and I love getting this time, just the two of us.  

      We took this team selfie when John and Sharon were here.  Right now we're working on setting up a "finish line" with our ministry goals so that we will know when we've done what we came to do and we will know when it's time to move on and celebrate all that God has done!  We will continue this process for the next few months and will hopefully have a concrete "finish line goal" by the end of the summer.  Nettie joined in on skype, as she's in the States on home service right now.

     We continue to have more and more new people coming to English Club, and those who are coming have been coming every week.  We're enjoying getting to know them more.  Leif has been having some good spiritual discussions in his group.

     In school, Anneka read the book Robinson Crusoe and made a whole display of the boat he wrecked on and the island he lived on.  She gave a presentation to our team and did a great job!  I love all of the creative things that she is doing at school.  She definitely thrives off of hands-on projects.

Our neighbor gave us this flower doll as a "bouquet" for our table. 

     Sometimes we act out stories from the Bible before bedtime.  This night Ike was Goliath.

     Ike was invited to his friend Bogdan's birthday party.  He felt so special to be invited and had a great time!

     Our Ella loves to collect treasures.  They are everywhere.  When I open her cubby at school each day, treasures are stuffed everywhere.  She has a special box for her treasures, and it's always filled to the brim.  I went it to kiss her one night, and she'd filled this crate with treasures and fell asleep with it.  I often need wisdom to know what to do about all of the treasures!

     Inka and I trade off teaching the little ones at church on Sundays.  On this week, I taught about how God's love never ends and we made necklaces with circle crackers.  Ike liked this craft and wants to keep his necklace forever.

     Leif still continues to study the Buryat language.  The classes are on Saturdays, so goes sporadically (as often there are other things going on on Saturdays), but it's still been a good experience.  The teacher not only teaches language but culture, too.  On this week, some musicians came and played some traditional music.

     The girls have been wanting new hairstyles lately, so I've looked up how to do different 'dos on YouTube. It's been fun to do this together . =)

     We've put up extra hooks recently, and it's so helpful for backpacks, bags, and clothes that aren't dirty but aren't totally clean.  It helps keeps things off of the floor!

     This week is a work week at our church.  The basement has only had three walls, so when it rains in the summer, the whole thing floods!  We keep camping and hiking equipment down there (among other things), so it's important to keep them protected and in good condition.  The guys built the fourth wall and are now working on a heating system in the floor to help keep things dry as well as to help make the rest of the church warmer.  Sometimes it can be pretty chilly in the building, which is embarrassing when our guests at English Club come and are cold!  It will be nice to have these new changes.

     I made lunch for the workers one day- a soup called salyanka, Greek salad, and pizza. 

     It was a gift to meet this couple this past week!  They are here from Canada, helping to do ministry with the Chinese population here in Ulan Ude.  I picked them up from their hotel to bring them to Leif and Dave for a meeting.  They discussed how we can better work together to help spread the message of the good news of Jesus!

Life Outside Again

     It's always such a wonderful time of year when the kids can play outside again!  When it snows now, it's just a little skiff, and it melts off pretty quickly.  It's always interesting how the dogs congregate around the manhole covers for warmth because of the hot water pipes beneath the ground.  =)

 

     I took this picture the day of the big melt.  There's mud everywhere, but all the same it's a glorious sight because it means that the harsh winter is gone!

Ella and Ike, on the playground with their cat friend

     The kids like to make friends with stray cats.  Anneka keeps food in her pockets that she is always happy to share with these furry creatures.



     Ella liked walking to school in the mornings where puddles from the day had froze in the night.  It was fun to stomp on them and make fun cracks.


     Ella also was happy to show me her birdhouse that has been up for the past few months.  This is a tradition for many school kids, to make birdhouses for the winter and bring them to school.



     Then as the days got warmer, the puddles got smaller and wetter.  I took this picture right before Ike fell through the top layer of ice into the cold water!

Ella, lounging with her friend Nathan

     Our kids are playing outside each week during English Club, now, which is also great.  They love running around and getting dirty and making "soup" out of mud and other such fun games.  They come in during the tea time with filthy faces and huge grins!
    

     Ella's class at school plays outside now, too.  I always enjoy watching Ella play with her friends.  They were doing something with this plant, but I'm not quite sure what!

      Last Monday, Leif arrived early Monday morning from his hiking trip to a blanket of snow everywhere, and we'd been invited to celebrate our friend, Alexei's birthday as an outdoor picnic.  We were all happy when the sun came out and dried up the snow that morning and early afternoon.  We had a lovely day with Alexei and his family- eating grilled meat and salad and other picnicky things.  The kids ran all through the bushes and trees and were in heaven.  It was a little chilly in moments, but so so nice to be outside!!

      It was fun to see Ike and Papa throwing a baseball back and forth.  Leif must have been so tired and sore after so much climbing and then driving through the night.  But he really enjoyed the day, too!

     And here's my little buddy.  I needed to go downtown the other day, and Ike was such a great traveling companion.  We came across a stand that sold hot chocolate and coffee.  This is very common in America, but not common at all here!  I bought him a warm cocoa and something like a muffin and he was so sweet and thankful. 

It's good to be outside again!