Extreme Picnic

We have some pretty crazy people among the students that come to Compass, and that is where the idea of an "extreme picnic" came from. The youth club at our church thought this was a great idea and they joined in too. The centerpiece for this "extreme picnic" was the set up you see in the picture. Three good sized innertubes anchored to the back of Shannon's car. Actually Shannon was afraid she may drive too extreme and so Gardner and his son Andrew did the piloting for our little expedition. Things have been warming up so we were a little bit scared that things might melt and we would be sliding around in the mud instead of on the snow, but as you can see, our fears were unfounded. After everyone took a few rounds on the innertubes we cooked up hotdogs and everyone shared an extreme moment from their lives. Everyone enjoyed being whipped around behind the car, the conversations around the fire, and the giant soccer game we all played at the end. I can see this "extreme picnic" idea catching on.

Dancing the Yohor

Thanks Yulia for correcting me on the Yohor thing. I put the wrong thing, but I really did think that is sounded like people were saying yolka. Actually a yolka is a small pine tree like a Christmas tree and sometimes people do dance around those. For those who haven't read this blog yet, forget what you just read and enjoy what we share below.
The Yohor is a sort of Buryat national dance. We had another one of our meetings to learn about the Buryat culture today, and we learned the Yohor. It is a dance that traditionally the Buryats did often for fun and relaxation. You danced hand in hand with everyone in a circle, which worked well in the yurt which is the traditional housing for the Buryats. A yurt is a sort of large, round tent. Buryats will do this dance anywhere though, and so that's what we did. We danced the Yohor in a Russian Baptist church, which for those who are familiar with how traditionally conservative that church is, know that this is a good step of openness and effort to reach out to the Buryats here.
Also, just to let you know, the re-wallpapering project in our new apartment is almost done, so we should have some pictures coming soon.

We're Back!

It's been so good to have some time away from the daily routine and to be reminded of God's incredible love for the Buryats and Russians. God's been impressing on both of us to trust Him in praying for big things- expecting Him to work in powerful ways. It's exciting... we serve a great God!

We heard rumor that the winter will end soon, but we will believe it when we see it. The above picture depicts a common scene every day on almost every street: workers pick-pick-picking away at the ice. The mystifying thing is that the ice continues to build up... even when it doesn't snow! We can't figure out why, but I do have one theory. I think it's from spit. Everyone spits everywhere. That would make a lot of ice.

The above street has been newly done in the past few years. It's called "Arbot Street" (like the famous one in Moscow) and is a walking street designed to show off the best of Ulan Ude. In the summer, flowers and fountains line the street and people just "hang out" all around.

Our aparment could be ready as early as next week! After we finish our homework today, we're going to go bed shopping. We saw one yesterday that had a big cabinet for storage behind the headboard. We've come to really appreciate storage, living in tight quarters.

"White Month" has Begun

On Friday, we had a wonderful time with Buryat, Russian, and foreign believers. In lieu of the beginnig of the White Month (Buryat holiday of cleansing), we sang ate white foods such as posie (see women making it above) and other white foods such as apples, salamat (sour cream mixed with flour) and pancakes. We sang worship songs in Buryat, and a couple of men shared scriptures about the cleansing we can experience through the One True God. We pray that many people here will come to know the cleansing that comes through Jesus.

Also, this weekend, we met with our new landlords to sign official papers for our new apartment. We were there for a few hours, ate with them, sang with them, and declined a lot of alcohol... but we never signed the papers. They want to be sure that the bathroom is remodeled before we move in. Of course, we appreciate this sentiment, but we are also anxious to sign the papers!! All-in-all, it was nice to get to know our landlords more. They are very warm and hospitable. The above picture will be our new living room! (minus the furniture and curtains).

On Saturday we moved out of the apartment we were in and are now in an interim apartment. We are thankful to have a place to stay. Tomorrow we are leaving the country to renew our visas. We have to do this every six months. Because of this, we will probably be away from Internet access for awhile. We'll update you on more when we return!

The Singing Duo

Last night, Leif and I sang in a talent show at Compass. Leif translated the worship song "Before You" into Russian. Talent shows are very popular in Russian... and usually very long. There was singing, dancing, dribbling a soccer ball and basketball, the showing of a drawing, the tasting of different treats, and humorous antidotes. It's always fun to see people in a different light and to learn more of Russian and Buryat culture.

The White Month

Sunday marks the start of Sagalgan or "White Month" here in Buryatia. This holiday is deeply entwined with Buddhism (and originates from the Chinese New Year) and is very much a family holiday for Buryats here.

The picure above is me with my language partner, Ira. She is so sweet and so helpful in talking with me about life and culture... and correcting my grammar along the way. Yesterday she shared a bit about her thoughts with the White Month coming. It's always been such a part of her life growing up, but now she is a believer. She said she's thought a lot about what is right as far as celebrating this holiday. She wants to honor her family, but she doesn't want to dishonor God. She knows that the meat in the posie (Buryat dumplings) is sacrificed to idols, and she simply wants to do what is best. She must decide by Sunday, when the month-long holiday begins. I pray God gives her great wisdom and love in these next few days.

Please pray for Buryatia during this time. It is often a dark time when believers here feel discouraged and oppressed. We want to live as children of the light!

On The Train To China

SEND International has a ministry in Russia to the Chinese population here. Many of these people don't speak much Russian (or English!) so it is difficult to reach out to them. Last week, a group of Chinese Christians (who live in Russia) along with two westerners, took the train from Moscow to Ulan Ude to share Jesus (in Mandarin) with the Chinese passengers. They booked tickets all the way to Bejing (even though they got off before) so that they could be in the same train cars as those who were heading to Bejing. This was a strategic time, as the Chinese New Year begins next week, and many travel home to be with their families.

There were 50-60 Chinese passengers on board, and after 4 days and nights of traveling and sharing with them, 15 made decisions to follow Christ with their lives (many in the last hours of the trip). It is hard to follow-up with these people, as the nature of the ministry is while traveling, but the exciting thing is that many people who've made decisions for Christ from past train trips are still strong in their faith. In just a few years, a Chinese church in Krasniarsk grew from 5 to 70... plus many of the believers have since gone back to China.

And then, after they arrived in Ulan-Ude, this group met with some of the Chinese population here, and 4 more made decisions for Christ! Many Chinese people are hungry to hear the good news of Jesus and respond readily. It is neat to think of how they are being reached in Russia!

The picture is of three of these Chinese Chistians singing a song at church on Sunday. The picture behind them is one of the chalk drawings from the VTI team that was here a few weeks ago.

Leif's Birthday

Thank you to everyone who sent cards, emails, and gifts to Leif for his birthday!! We had fun bowling with our teammates and then came back to our apartment for German chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. John gave a big speech upon presenting Leif with his gift (a wonderful tool box). This speech followed Russian tradition and was very wordy and lengthy.

The first picture is of Leif blowing out his candles. Elisabeth (from Germany) had never heard of or tried German Chocolate cake before. And incidently, it's much sweeter than any cakes in Germany. The second picture is the applause after the speech, and the third pic is at the bowling alley. I think it's funny because only Leif knew I was taking the picture and gave a huge grin for the camera.

Thank you, Mama Irene and Papa Eric, for having such a delightful boy!! =)

Toilet Soap

We ran out of hand soap the other day, so Leif picked out a bar that had nice packaging and said "milky". Of course, he thought that sounded nice and so he purchased it. Well, when he got home, unwrapped the soap, and began to use it, he made a horrible face with a wrinkled nose. I asked him what was the matter and he said that the new soap was really stinky. We looked more closely at the packaging, and below the "milky" part, it says "toilet soap". What is toilet soap? This is a mystery to us.

We haven't been good about taking our camera with us places lately (hence, more pictures of "items" than "people" the last few blogs). Right now, Leif is cross country skiing with an old friend from when he lived here before. This guy is a Buryat and used to call himself a believer and went to church frequently. Sadly, in the last couple of years, he's fallen away. It's really neat because he continually pursues Leif and their friendship. I'm praying that God is giving Leif love and wisdom as they're together today.

The family whose apartment we're living in will return in 1 1/2 weeks, so this next week, we'll be packing, organizing, and cleaning. We've also been having different people over for dinner, seeking to develop closer relationships with the people here. We were both encouraged with language classes this week. God truly is our help.

Alcohol

This morning on the way to church we had an interesting interaction in the Marshrutka (those vans that run bus routes). There were a couple of guys that guessed pretty quickly that we were foreigners and started to talk with us. They asked what we were doing here in Ulan-Ude, and we shared a little bit with them. Then I asked them what they did, and they simply said, "We drink vodka." That was it! Of course then they tried to pass me the open beer they were drinking on the marshrutka so that I wouldn't be left out. I declined, as I've had to do often here, and then asked if they did anything else and they said, "no." I'm sure they actually do work because of how they were dressed, but it was another reminder of the stark reality of emptiness that consumes so many lives here. So many people live in a state of hopelessness and alcohol becomes their reprieve. Vodka helps them forget about anything else. And it's not just a physical hopelessness either. Alcholism is affecting all strata of society here from the richest to the poorest. It just reminds us that without the knowledge of a good and loving God, there is no option but hopelessness. The above picture, from the stairwell just outside our apartment, is a common sight and one of the least ugly reminders of alcoholism here.

XL-XXXXXL

It's a little hard to see what this picture is, but it's a tag for my ultra-thick tights that says XL-XXXXXL. Yes, that is seven X's total. And the worst part is that they don't pull up all the way. But they are warm!

Remember back to when I said I'd broken 4 chairs in 4 months? Well, today in the cafeteria, I broke #5. All I could do was laugh... what else is there to do?

On to more exciting news, we looked at an apartment today that is a dream come true!!! It's right across the hallway from Elisabeth, it's clean and in good shape, the owner said we can pick out our own wallpaper, she'll move out all of the gross furniture (no bed bugs!), and it's inexpensive! And it's in an area of the city where there's less pollution. And it's on the third floor (my floor of preference... not so low that it's easy to break into, but not so high that it's a burden to walk up and down all of the time). We have a verbal agreement with the owner, and need to sign papers next week, after she returns from a trip. So, basically we just need to make it "legally offical" and wait on them to finish up some remodeling with the place. If all goes well, it should be ready for us by March 10th.... Yippee!! We are praising God for His goodness to us. This really is a miracle to find this place.

Chocolate or Sour Cream?

When I first came to Russia, I was repulsed by all of the sour cream ("smetana") that Russians ate. I would stand in line at a cafeteria for soup and before I could move my bowl out of the way, a lady would plop a huge spoolful of sour cream into it. I then spent the rest of lunch time spooning around the blob, hoping it wouldn't rupture into the rest of my soup. Russians love their sour cream, and I think that I'm slowly becoming one... because I LOVE sour cream now!! We both love sour cream! The other night during dinner, Leif and I had a discussion over which food item we'd give up if we had to choose: chocolate or sour cream. And we both decided that we'd rather have sour cream than chocolate. Don't get me wrong, chocolate is wonderful. But sour cream can make an ordinary dish extraordinary, where as chocolate stands alone.

We buy these bags of sour cream and go through about one a week. Each bag holds about 2 cups. Notice how "20%" is written on the bag. This is the fat content. In Russia, people consider a food item to be better if it has more fat in it. This gives a person energy. So instead of labels like "nonfat" or "less than 1% fat", we see labels where the good yogurt is labeled 12% (Mmmmm.... the best!) and sour cream 20%. People think we're crazy because we buy the 1.8% milk (the lowest fat content in milk at our local store) when we can afford the 5% variety. Speaking of milk, it's packaged in boxes on shelves at room temperature. It must be safe because we are still alive. The yogurt is at room temperature, too. And eggs. And pig heads. And a lot of things.

Reaching the Buryats

Following our conference this fall about sharing Christ with Buddhists and Shamanists, the local churches have begun a monthly meeting of prayer, brainstorming, and planning how to reach the Buryats for Christ. It is so encouraging to see the beginnings of this. Churches in Ulan Ude are becoming more aware of the need to reach out to their own people and travel to villages throughout the region. Yesterday was the third meeting of it's type. One lady made CD's with Christian songs in the Buryat language for all of us to have.

Last Sunday, for the first time at our church, a group of 6 people sang a hymn in the Buryat language. This may seem like a small step, but we really think it is huge in terms of people developing a heart for their region. We are excited by how God is at work. The picture above is a few of the Buryat believers who were at the meeting.

May I Take Your Coat?

Okay, so a few days ago Jami wrote in a blog that she thinks I'm a cute driver. Well, I think that everyone will agree that she even cuter in her work as a coat checker! I know that some of you may be thinking that that is not exactly what we came here to do, and I can assure you it is not a part time job to supplement our salary. No, actually this is just Jami being her normal self and volunteering to do just about anything to help out. You see there was a concert being put on by a team from Canada at one of the large auditoriums in Ulan-Ude, and they needed someone to help with checking coats (that is a pretty regular thing with how much people have to wear in the cold winters here). It was so fun to see her working side by side with a lady who does this as her job. You can see in the picture that you have to deal with crowds in this line of work. I love that Jami felt comfortable doing this, and I think that is shows how well she is progressing in her language. It was great to be a part of this concert in this way. We did get to enjoy the show as well, and were particularly encouraged to see one young lady who works at a cafe we often go to near our school. Many of our relationships are still in their early stages, but it is encouraging to know that God is bringing different people into our lives, and that He will help to grow those relationships.

VTI Team

For three weeks, a Canadian group is here in Ulan Ude from Venture Teams International. There are four guys and three women (one is a translator) on the team. We get the privelege of hosting the women while they are here. This group uses music, drama, and chalk art to share the love of Jesus with people here. Yesterday and today they traveled to a couple of nearby villages to perform. Leif is one of the drivers. He's such a cute driver.

It's refreshing to be around this group and their energy. It's also always good to be reminded of the beauty of the gospel message. I love when the creativity in God's children reflects their Creator.

Grand Hospitality

While we were in Zakamensk (town six hours away) over New Years weekend, we stayed with a wonderful couple. They were an amazing example to us of hospitality and we had a great time getting to know them over the few days we were there. This couple just got married in September, but because of visa issues have already had to be apart for two months. The wife is a "German Russian". She lived in Kazakstan until she was about twelve, but has lived in Germany since then. After their marriage, she had to leave the country to get a visa.

This couple took us in (and another girl, Lena), gave us their bed, fed us, and kept us warm by continually stoking the fire. They had no running water and yet hauled water for us...not to mention the sheets they would have to wash after we left. We did get to help one day as you can see in the picture. Besides all of this, the wife had to leave the same day we did for Mongolia for another month to get a new visa. And yet she never complained about having us there as guests, taking time away that she could have had with her husband. This was truly a blessing to us and a lesson in hospitality... and a reminder of what a servant Jesus is. We have so much to learn!

We congratulate you with the new year!

In the Russian language, it is common to congratulate people for lots of things- including the new year. So we congratulate you for 2007! Leif and I spent the weekend in a town that's about a 6 hour ride away. It took more like 8 hours to get there because we were transporting a mattress on the roof and at first it didn't like to stay there. Thankfully, God protected us and other cars from accidents with the flying mattress.

We stayed with a Russian couple (more about that tomorrow) and met some of the people in the church there. We saw huge needs and felt oppression in this town but were also encouraged by how God is at work there. He loves them and wants them to know Him.

Leif was asked to preach again on Sunday... thankfully he was able to use his same sermon from the week before. And all day Sunday was a celebration at the church to bring in the New Year. We ate lots of Russian salads, potatoes, and bread with fish in it (it was on the dessert table, so we were both very surprised when we bit into a chunk of fish!) There were two men (see picture above) who really took a liking to Leif. It was really neat to see the three of them talking together and praying together throughout the weekend. I (Jami) felt like the weekend was really good for my language as well. Shannon's friend Emma is here for two weeks from Ohio and often I was the "translator" for her with Russians. I also felt like I got to know some of the Russians on a deeper level. I was thankful for this.

In Russia, the New Year's celebrating starts just before midnight, while in America it's the opposite. Many people stayed up all night and climbed a mountain at 6:30 in the morning! We, however, got a little sleep and went later on New Years day up a beautiful scenic mountain (see picture above). It was so beautiful. On the way back to town from the mountain, we saw Father Frost on the side of the road!!! We had to stop and get our picture with him... and discovered that he was a she... and very drunk at that. It was another reminder of the emptiness of so many people here. You'll notice that the man who joined into our photo is positioned in a traditional Russian squat. Many men will sit around outside chatting in this position. And, of course, he has his vodka bottle.

This town had many free range cows. The cow in the picture was in search of a little snack.

"My Dream-My Mom"

Happy New Year to you all! We had a wonderful trip to a small city in one of the southern regions of Buryatia. The trip was packed full of interesting stories, people to pray for and wonderful relationships, and we want to share with you about some of those in the next day or two, but right now we want to share about our time today. On the way home from this town we stopped in a village where there is an orphanage. There are about forty kids in this children's home. Some of these are true orphans who have lost their parents from tragic deaths while others have been brought here because their home situations are so terrible. The picture at the top was painted by one of the boys in the orphanage. Both Jami and I were drawn to it right away because of the beauty of the picture, but what cemented this image in our hearts was the title, "my dream-my mom". Thinking of this brought tears instantly to Jami's eyes, and we both just looked at each other and thought of these kids crying out for something, for someone to love them. I don't know how many of you have been in children's homes like this, but the kids always tug at your heart and you always feel like you can do so little because you just want to take each one of them home to love and raise as your own child. Our program was pretty simple. We shared with them about Christmas (and in that, shared the wonderful news about Jesus' life, love and salvation), played games, sang songs, did a craft and gave gifts for the workers to pass on to the kids. It was really impressed on our small group that the workers there are so important. We were plesantly suprised after some horror stories we had all heard of different orphanages here in Russia. The conditions were sparse, but nice, and you could tell that the workers care about the kids. We were talking afterwards about how we would like to see the church do more work with this children's home and to make sure we look to the workers to serve and love them as well. They are the only "parents" that so many of these kids know and how powerful would it be if there were believers bringing the love of God to these children every day. Orphans have been on our hearts a lot lately- and all the more as we left these beautiful children. We can't help but be reminded of James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." We pray that we can live a life that exemplifies this.

Ice Sculptures and Tea Time

Today was our last day of classes in 2006! We'll have a two week break until they resume. In the meantime, we'll be going to a village for a few days to encourage a young church there (Leif will be preaching again), and the following week a short-term missions team is coming to Ulan Ude.

Speaking of Ulan-Ude, the whole city is preparing for the New Years celebration. Huge, intricate ice sculptures are displayed downtown, depicting the year of the pig and three major religions: Buddhism, Islam, and the Russian Orthodox Church. (We find it interesting the the Orthodox Church made it into the sculptures but not Shamanism). There are also a few ice slides in the central square that the children LOVE to play on. It was so fun watching them today.

This evening I (Jami) went to a ladies Christmas tea. Christmas in Russian isn't celebrated until the 7th of January. At the tea we ate delicious soup, sipped tea and devoured Christmas cookies. We also talked about the miracle of Jesus coming to this earth and read the Christmas story aloud, taking turns in reading. I even read a couple of verses! I think I'm getting braver with just speaking out and not worrying about what I sound like.

We discovered today that we thought we were drinking filtered water since we've been here, but we weren't at all! (even the Russians don't drink unfiltered water) Ha! Thankfully, God is our great protector. And we're drinking filtered water now. Have a happy New Year and we'll write again when we return from the village!!

Sledding in 30 Below Weather

Today after class we went sledding with our teammates, the Wicker family. They call it "sliding", which is a fun Canadian term for it. They have the week off from school since the're on the North American class schedule. I (Jami) was terrible at staying on these sheets of plastic called "krazy karpets". We also attemped sliding on cardboard, but as you can see in the picture, it didn't work quite as well. We had a great time and didn't even get too cold... even though it was negative 30 degrees. Our eyelashes were white with ice.

After sledding, went back to the Wickers for some wonderful soup. While we were there, Sharon got a phone call saying that someone had found her purse! This was amazing because someone had stolen it a few days ago. Inside was a lot of money (she was out Christmas shopping and had just gone to the ATM), her passport, visa, credit cards, bank cards, driver's license, etc. Basically everything was in there that is a nightmare to replace. Well, someone found her purse on the street (minus the money) and called! We are all so happy that God provided in this way and returned these important documents. It's such a reminder that He takes good care of His children. Yippee!!