In America

After over 64 hours of travel, we made it back to the States! Everything went smoothly, and God provided wonderful people in both Irkutsk and Moscow who fed us and gave us a place to sleep for a few hours. It is good to be back in America. This past week we've been seeing family and friends on the west side of the state. This picture is taken from the train in Ulan Ude. It was so fun to have a group of people who saw us off!

So, this is what a garage key looks like. Elisabeth posed for us with her key. Garages here are actually little metal sheds. Oh, you can actually see some in the background of the picture of Leif and me. In this picture, we're standing right in front of our apartment building. There's a green and yellow sign to the left of Leif's head, and that's our local little store. It's soooo convenient! Well, it's often convenient. Sometimes they don't have normal things like sugar and bread and it's hard if you're counting on those items to have guests over. I guess it helps us to learn to be flexible. Our apartment is the third balcony up on the left of the building (two above Jami's head with clothes hanging on the balcony). The third picture is of our new chair. We looked and looked for a rocking chair, but the only ones we could find were $700 or more. We finally found this chair for much much less and it kind of bounces. We both love it. I made the little wall hanging from some Asian fabrics I found here.

We're getting ready to head back to the States pretty soon! We're preparing our apartment for a friend from church to live here. We're also getting last minute things ready for returning with a baby and are beginning to pack. The weight restrictions for flying within Russia are so small that our bags alone are almost 1/4 of the limit! (they allow 44 pounds per person, including all bags and carry-on) On Sunday we'll take an overnight train to Irkutsk. We'll get to spend Monday with Vanya and Larissa before our flight goes to Moscow Monday night. From the time we get on the train to the time we land in Seattle, it'll be 61 hours!! We appreciate your prayers!!

Sports Square

We just heard the good news that a "sports square" project has been approved by our organization to be put right in front of our apartment!! This is good for so many reasons. Here's a few, just to name them:

* a lot of people hang out and drink in that area because they have nothing to do

* several young men from our neighborhood have expressed great interest in a sports court and said they'd use it all the time

* the small children can have their play area back, since the youth normally break bottles all over the ground there and take over the area

* This will involve our church for the labor of building the sports court and will be a bridge-builder between the community and the church

* This will provide an avenue to meet people from our neighborhood and to invite them into our church, which is within walking distance.

* There isn't another sports court around within a reasonable walking distance

* Leif can get good exercise while he's connecting with the local guys.
* etc,etc, etc!

We've been trying to get good pictures of the guys outside drinking, but it always feels like they're looking right at us whenever we pull out the camera! We got these photos through our friend, Inka, who got them from a SEND representative. They were taken right outside our building, which is where the square will be.

I'm sure we'll have more to share with you regarding this in the weeks to come, but this is the latest update.

Interns, Pizza, and a Happy Kitty

This summer, our team has had the privilege of having four interns here to help with camps and following up with students and families in Ulan Ude. Steffen and Nicki (left of picture) are from Germany. They both speak English very well and have been so willing to help in any ways that they can. Steffen was a night guard at the camps, making sure that everyone was safe and sound in their cozy tents. Nicki helped in the kitchen, so I was able to spend time with here there. Both of them have magnetic personalities and even though they don't speak Russian, draw many people in with their love. Steffen is sleeping at our place while he's in Ulan Ude, but we see him more at other places than at home! Nat and Ashley are Americans, although Ashley has lived in Moscow for the past four years. The students at the English camp adore them, and they've spent a lot of time following up with them since then. We want all of them to stay!

Every week since the English camp, we've had a night to invite students to hang out, play games, sing songs, watch a movie, etc. Last Monday they guys had an American football night and the girls made pizza and sang songs. They're sweet girls.

We watched our friends' cat for a few days, and this lucky kitty gets half a fish at each meal. It's soooo funny watching her gnaw on the head of the fish. I don't know why it's funny because a fish is a much more natural thing to eat than processed food with preservatives... but it was still really funny.

"Vzglyad" from our weekend

I learned the word "vzglyad" in church today. It means "look" or "glance". I think it's a fun word to say... and interesting that it has 5 consonants all together. Speaking of church, today the guy who was supposed to give the sermon didn't come. Leif and I had prepared to sing a song (which we did) and Leif had thrown the written sermon he'd prepared last week in with the sheet music "just in case". As the men from church prayed together beforehand, Leif mentioned that he could share if there were no other options. I really like this about Leif. If it were me, I would not have even thrown in the typed sermon in the first place and then I don't think I ever would have freely volunteered something like that unless someone outright asked me first! But Leif is willing and I like that. He ended up giving it (without having read through it since last week). I get really nervous when he speaks... especially in Russian! It's such a hard thing to do. I admire his bravery.

Last night we got together with Vitya and Sveta, a couple from our church. They just had a baby girl the end of June. We like them a lot. We ate posie at a little cafe. Posie is a national Buryat food and is like a dumpling stuffed with meat that you slurp the juice out of after you bit a little hole in the side. Very yummy. They also bought something called "fish flakes" for us to share. I was afraid, but they weren't so bad. Just really salty. After dinner we walked and talked. I really like talking with Sveta because she talks to me like a normal person and it doesn't feel like she "dumbs down" language for me. It's really refreshing because, even though I don't understand every word, I understand most of what she says and I feel like I get to know her heart. Vitya and Leif schemed together about a great project that would involve our church, the neighborhood, and meeting lots of young men. They're really excited about it, and we pray it'll come to fruition. We need to run some things through the proper "channels" before we can say more, but it's pretty exciting.

The second picture is one that Mama Irene took when she was here... it's the entrance to our apartment. We have three doors and seven locks (one lock doesn't work). This is pretty normal here. Everyone has multiple doors and locks. And really big keys. Irene saw a man walking down the stairway with his keys and she thought he was holding a weapon! We'll have to post a picture sometime.

Good Bye Mama Irene, and Easy Sharing

We had a great time with Mama Irene. She left here yesterday morning on her way to Moscow and then back to the states. We only ran into one little problem with all of that. In Russia you must always be registered so that they can keep track of where you are and what your doing. Well, mom was registered with the rest of the Americans that she came in to the country with and it seems that whoever was doing the registering didn't register mom for a longer period (the others left July 16th). We, being at camp already at the time, never thought to check that. Well, at the airport we ran into the problem at the passport check. They brought us back into a security officer back room and told us that it was a problem. We wrote a little document that we signed and payed a roughly $120 fine. They said that everything would be okay from there, so we are waiting to hear that she has arrived safely in the states with no more fines.

On another note, we went to a camp follow-up for the church that meets at Shannon's. Some of the students from the English camp also went to this camp so we went to connect with them. One young man came over to me before the "program" started and asked if I came from a Christian family. We sat down together and I quickly shared about my family and then the program started (i.e. singing, slide show, and an invitation to come to the church that organized the camp). I was thankful for the short opportunity to share and hoped that we would have a chance to talk later. Well, that chance came quickly. Right after the program this young man started asking me all sorts of questions. He asked how I became a Christian, what differences are there between Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches, why are all of Adam's descendants sinful just because he sinned, why do Buddhist priests and Shamans have power, and others like this. In fact it seemed like he wanted to keep asking questions all night, but we both had to leave after an hour or so. It was great to be able to share, and such a gift that it was so easy. I was so happy to share about how God has shown me His love, and about how He loves everyone. I hope that this message that he heard at the two camps and from me tonight will sink into his heart. Please pray that He will decide to enjoy life with Christ for the rest of Eternity. Also pray that we will have more opportunities to talk and that he will connect with others in the church.

News from the Ultrasound

Okay, we thought we'd have a little fun with all of you. The picture above is the sign on the door of the bathrooms our child (no, it's not twins, but we thought it might be with how big Jami is) will enter in the future. Some will know right away, others may need to wait until the next blog or read through the comments to try to find out what this means and others may just want to give their best guess. It was an interesting process to get an ultrasound here in Russia. We had the privilege, though we felt a little guilty, of going with our midwife and being whisked to the front of a very long line of women waiting for their ultrasound, and had a doctor who is the best in the area and does a lot of teaching on ultrasound techniques. Also, she is good because she is known to not give false fears from her scans (unfortunately it is common for doctors to give a list of terrible or strange things that are wrong with your baby). The patients were signaled to enter the room by a light bulb flashing outside the door. Also, you need to bring your own blanket or towel for the table, I guess that cuts back on cleaning expenses. Then the process itself went pretty quickly. We saw different parts of the baby including the beating heart, and were given the dimensions. The baby is normal to slightly large, with an exceptionally large head. Actually, the doctor said something to the effect of, "that is a really big head." Then proceeded to look up at me and calmly said, "of course that could be because of the daddy." This is the part that may shock all of you in the U.S. medical system, we payed about $4.65 for the whole procedure.

The Heat Is On!

This past week has been hot, hot, hot. Every time I'm outside, I remember how cold it is in the winter and count my blessings. We went on a picnic with people from church on Thursday. We didn't realize that it was a "swimming event", so we didn't have our suits with us, but we brought a frisbee and waded in the river with our brothers and sisters. Our friends Vitya and Sveta have a van and took two loads of us to the river. We got to be in the second load, which meant that we got to meet and hold their new baby, Maria, while we waited.

We also had Leif's teacher, Alexandra, and her granddaugther, Olya, over for dinner this week. Irene met Olya at English camp, and they were able to converse, which was nice. I really like Alexandra. She is such a warm person and she likes to talk about interesting things and is very interested in Christianity.

Leif and I practiced a song in Russian to sing at church today, and Leif spend much of the week preparing for a sermon he was asked to give. When we got there, there were two people already scheduled to give sermons already... so Leif suggested that he could give his another week. It takes so long to prepare a message in Russian, that it makes sense for him to give it when he's really needed. And it's probably good because it was soooo hot in church today. We were all sweating. The leader of the service today forgot about our song, too, so we'll do it next week. Living here helps us to be more flexible! And our time preparing and studying was not in vain. God has reasons we don't even know!

Around the Apartment

We bought a crib and a high chair this week to prepare for baby Gustafson. The "free delivery" for these items was onto the road outside, even though we live on the third floor. I'm so glad I wasn't home alone when they came! Leif carried the crib up the first flight of stairs all by himself and then Irene helped. And now it's safely inside. Don't worry- we'll make sure something is done about the outlet and the heater next to the crib! Irene got us the colorful blanket in that's on display right now. We think a jungle theme would be cute for the nursery and will look for curtains and crib bedding in the States. Also, I made a wall hanging for our room that I've been wanting to do for awhile. It's basically just material over styrofoam, but I like it. It adds color. I really want to get some nice plants, but plants are sooo expensive here! The least expensive small ones are around $15 (and that doesn't include the pot). And big plants are astronomical. We're holding out, thinking that we'll come across just the right little stand that has great deals. It seems like plants would help to make the air cleaner... and they're just pretty.

Happy Birthday Jami!!!!!

Yes, it is that wonderful time of year where we celebrate God giving life to Jami our friend, wife, daughter, sister, grand-daughter, niece or whatever relationship you have with her. Yes, it is always fun to celebrate with Jami! Unfortunately we couldn't be with all of you to celebrate. We did have a good time though. We stareted our day with waffles on a newly purchased waffle iron, and then moved on to presents. Jami always is so good at recieving gifts, and she seemed to love everything that she got. After the morning activities we headed downtown and enjoyed lovely drinks in one of our favorite cafes. We then thought we would kill some time by walking down the walking street and that is were we stopped for the picture in front of the fountain. We decided to try a new restaurant where one of our friends works, and we've decided that it is a new favorite here. At the end everyone got a little restless and started to fold party hats and stuff like that out of the napkins! We then came home and enjoyed a chocolate cake that Mama Irene made for us. I am pretty sure that she had a great birthday, and I am so glad for that because I really love her a lot!!!

Lasagna

At the English camp, many students would ask us basic questions such as "What are your hobbies?", "How many brothers and sisters do you have?", etc. When the students in Irene's class asked Leif his favorite food, he said "lasagna". They'd never tried lasagna before, so we invited them over for dinner. There were five girls in the class, but only two were able to come today (hopefully the others can come later). They LOVED the lasagna and ate a lot of it.

Last night, we had Chingis, Ksusha, and baby Daniel over for dinner. Leif and Irene assembled a bouncer chair that Irene brought for our baby before they came, and Daniel was so fascinated by the chair. It was a great place for him to sit and entertain himself while we ate and talked. I'm also including an updated "pregnant" picture. I'm five and a half months now, and I don't feel like I look very pregnant. But others laugh at me. I want to be really big. haha. The funny thing is that our midwife thinks that we may be having twins. She wants to see me again in two weeks and will take me in for an ultrasound if it still seems like it. We just think it's probably a big baby, but it's crazy to think about!!

Mama Irene's in Town!

Mama Irene is here until the beginning of August, and it's been fun to show her where we live. It's neat, too, because she was also at the English camp, so she met the same students that we met and comes with us as we follow up with them. Yesterday, on the way to a game night with students, we showed Irene around the outdoor market. She tried on some shopkas (fur hats), and all the lady at the hat stand loved her. Then we bought some berries. Mmmmm! Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mini cherries and interesting green berries (maybe gooseberries). The green berries were really tart, so Irene made a yummy pie out of them this morning (mixed with the mini cherries). Also today, Leif and I put up ribbon as a border in our bedroom. The walls and ceiling here are really crooked, and the ribbon hides it a little (and gives a clean line). Later this afternoon, some girls took Irene and me to a museum with stuffed Siberian animals on display while Leif played volleyball with some guys. It's nice to connect with people in such natural ways.

Followup Meeting

Tonight we had a get-together for all the students who went to English Camp and their families. We didn't know how many would come, and there were at least 70 people there!! (all crammed into Shannon's living room). Most of them stayed for the church service afterwards. The sermon was a message about God's love based on the prodigal son. It was good to reconnect with students. We invited Irene's English class over for lasagne in a few days and there's a game night planned for whoever wants to come on Wednesday. It'll be neat to continue developing relationships with these students.

Summer Camps

We just returned from summer camps, and it was a truly great time. God's spirit was definitely at work- both in our hearts and the hearts of campers. We saw a couple of people make decisions to follow Jesus with their lives and saw many more soften to the LORD. And we had fun! Here are some pictures from our time. We slept in tents and had a covered area for eating and an outdoor area for meeting times, too. Drama was a big part of explaining spiritual truths (in both serious and funny ways). In this skit, Leif is in the middle as a pilot wanting to land at a location other than the runway.

The second week, a team from America came to teach English to students twice a day. Mama Irene came, too, and here she is with her small group of students. Her group only knew a little English, and Leif helped translate.

One of the Buryat students at the English camp REALLY wanted to do a skit with Elvis in it... guess who got to be Elvis?

Leif was one of the sports instructors at both camps. Here, a group plays water volleyball with plastic sacks filled with water.

I worked in the kitchen, which was wonderful for getting to know people from our church on a deeper level. Before camp, I memorized a list of questions to be able to talk on a deeper level with people. It was so encouraging hearing so many people's stories of what God has done in their lives. Here, I'm doing dishes with Aryuna and little Ioana. Ioana is four and LOVED to help me whenever she could!

In the afternoons, we had free time to spend on the beach of Lake Baikal. This was great for connecting with people and cooling off.

Heather Ann Wicker was baptised at the first camp, and her dad got to be the one to baptize her. Here is the whole Wicker family after the event.

Four people were baptized in all.

A group of 10 of the Russian workers will ride on this boat for TWO WEEKS after the camp! We enjoyed an hour riding on it... quite lovely. Our Romanian friends were on with us, and we traded off singing praise songs in Russian, Romanian and English as we enjoyed the wind and the waves.

This sweet girl was in Irene's tent. She's an orphan who is currently living with a believing family. At the beginning of camp, she seemed scared, but by mid-week, she was so affectionate, hugging many of the leaders. To the right is the kitchen crew (minus Inka, the head-chef!) For the first camp, we cooked for about 60 people and for the second, about 90. We peeled A LOT of potatoes!!!

Ron and Gretchen brought us marshmallows in May that we were able to share with the leadership team between the camps. Everyone loved s'mores, and it was fun to share a part of American culture with our Russian brothers and sisters.

We're Off To Camp!

I wanted to post this really cute picture of Leif dumping water over his head, but he didn't want that to be what everyone looked at for the next few weeks, so we settled for this other cute picture of Leif on a Siberian road. (I thought the water picture would be cute because we haven't had a real shower since June 7th, as they shut our hot water off for the summer. Well, they said it'll be back on July 15th, but our neighbor doesn't believe it. She said that last summer it was off for 4 months. We're hopeful, though.)
Tomorrow we leave for a couple of summer camps on Lake Baikal. We'll be riding on roads similar to this to get there. Thankfully, we get to ride with our friend Shannon instead of taking a bus. That'll be especially nice because it's important to me to pack a lot of water. And fruit.
We appreciate your prayers for us and for the people we meet at these camps. We'll tell you how it goes when we return!!

Muffy, Our Messy Neighbor Dog

We have the privelege of having "Muffy" as our neighbor dog. Muffy is my favorite dog in our whole neighborhood, and he always keeps us smiling. I think that Muffy is a boy and Leif thinks he's a girl. I asked Muffy's owner, and she said they didn't know if he was a boy or a girl! But she said that they call him Sophia. It's a nice name, but it's kind of feminine for a boy, I think. Many mornings, we open our door to messes like the picture above. Sometimes there are pieces of carcuses, sometimes large chunks of fur, and sometimes bones or other mystery items. Many times our question is "what IS that?" Often we never know. But Muffy's owner is very good about cleaning up after him. She loves him so much. He was lost once for a few days and she cried and cried. I like our neighbor. I like Muffy.

Many, Many Sleeping Bags

We've been washing sleeping bags for camp over the past few days. Our washing machine holds one at a time, and when the water drains into the bathtub, it is black and leaves behind streaks of dirt. It is a very good thing these bags are being washed!! Today the weather is nice, so the sleeping bags are drying pretty quickly. All of our clothes have to be hung to dry, as there are no machine dryers here. On Sunday night, I hung a bunch of sleeping bags outside and then it started to rain! So, on Monday, our house was filled with open wet sleeping bags strewn about everywhere (over doorways, chairs, clothes racks. etc.) Right now the last one is in the washer... hooray!!

Today I got together with a girl who is studing economics at the university. We walked around for a long time, talking. (It's such a beautiful day!!) At one point she came right out and asked me if I was a Christian. I said "yes" and asked her if she was. "Not yet", she replied. She then explained that she's caught between two different cultures and two different religions. She's trying to sort them out. I loved her answer "not yet" and look forward to talking with her more in the future.

On the crowded bus today, a man looked at my belly and got up to let me have his seat. I thought that was so nice. People are really respectful to moms here. Often moms with little kids get to cut in lines that normally people push and shove to be at the front of.

Later on, I bought some fruit (nectarines, plums, and apricots!!) and an older lady behind me wanted to know where I was from. She said that she'd read in books that Americans are fat and ugly... but then she looked at me and said that I'm okay. So funny.

We're a team!!!

We're a team was our rally cry, or whatever you want to call it, at the camp workers "conference". As Jami shared in the last blog, the time together was long. It stareted after church on Sunday and went until Wednesday morning and was from 8am to midnight. I actually came home early and did end up coming home each night. It was pretty tiring, but it was also really good to connect more with these brothers and sisters who will be working at the camp, and many of whom are members of the church we go to. Each day started with some time together in the Word, then we had a mix of team building exercises and planning/understanding our roles at the camp. I am actually one of a team of three sports instructors. Our job is to lead a time of morning calisthenics/warmups, organize thematic games for each day, lead a sports time each day, and generally be available to help out through the rest of the day. It is a challenge, and I am having to push into some areas of Russian vocabulary that I haven't learned in class. Despite the long days, I am really glad that I went. I think that we really did connect as a team. It will be exciting to see how God utilizes and grows us this summer.

Team Photo

Here's a picture of our team from the conference in Germany. It was neat to have everyone there (of course, it's sad not having Dwight and Joyce as a part of our team anymore). I like our team more and more all the time. Don't get me wrong, I liked them at the beginning, too... but I like them even more now that I'm getting to know them more. I find that my personality is "slow-to-warm-up" and it's hard for me to instantly feel close to people. I think I can even seem cold at first. It's not something I'm really proud of, but I guess the good part is that people have to like a less "likeable" me to begin with and then they're happily surprised later.

Right now, Leif's at a conference for 3 days to plan for summer camps. Our Russian pastor is the one heading it up. The meetings go from 8:oo in the morning until midnight!! No joke. I wasn't invited to this conference. I'm not really sure why (because my language isn't as good? because I'm pregnant?). But trust me, I'm not sad about this one! I'm praying that this will be a good time for Leif to connect deeper with people here and to grow in his language skills. I'm also praying that God will give him incredible energy. A conference like that sounds exhausting in English... how much more in Russian!!