A Few Days of Family Vacation

     We took a few days of vacation time between the church camp and a village trip.  Even though it was August, the weather was still nice (usually it's cooler and rainy this time of year).  We stayed at our friends' hostel and enjoyed times playing on the beach together.  Ira told us about an amazing beach that had NO GARBAGE and no rocks!!  It was great.

      We prepared most of our meals, but went to this cafe two evenings.  I called it "my favorite restaurant in the world".  Everyone thought I was joking, but I wasn't.  We got to sit in outdoor seating, overlooking the town.  The weather was perfect.  The food was good and inexpensive.  AND because of the way the tables were, we could talk in normal voices in English without people staring at us.  Perfect.

 

I love this picture that Irene took of Ella and Leif.  I love these guys!

 

       One day we drove down the road about 10 minutes to "Turtle Rock".  We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed climbing different rocks and exploring.

     Irene and the kids enjoyed finding treasures on the beach like rocks and broken glass.  In the background you can see the famous turtle rock (with a tree sticking out of it's shell).

     Near our perfect no-garbage beach is a new development of fountains and gazebos.  Here, we were trying out the panorama setting on our camera... you can see 2 Anneka's.  =)

There were all sort of fun little walkways.

     Me and my little guy!  This place was such an interesting mix of really nice new things paired with totally undeveloped vast areas of dirt and weeds.

We all toured the lighthouse one day.  

Such a great view!

     It's common to see Buryat culture mixed into buildings and architecture.  I'm guessing this yurt will be a little cafe someday.

Irene snapped this great picture of the kids dogpiling me.

     The water was COLD, but we still enjoyed being here.

     On the last day, our friends took us to a smaller lake nearby and gave us their boat to use all day!  They are so gracious and kind!  I think this is Leif and Anneka in the background.

     There were a lot of bees on the shore (Ella got her first sting!), so we were happy to get out on the lake.  When we returned to shore, we set up our tent on the shore to protect from the bees.

 
     We fished along the way.  Ike caught this fish all by himself with a piece of corn.  He was the only person to catch anything.  He was so proud!  =)

     A highlight of this trip for me was at the very end.  I ran to the pharmacy for some hydrogen peroxide and ended up picking up a hitchhiker who was looking for a ride to the next town.  I told her that she'd need to come back to pick up my family with me first before we set off.  It turns out that she's a Buryat believer and had prayed for a ride.  It was very encouraging talking with her.  When I brought her back to our hostel she talked with our friend, at first not knowing that he's not a believer.  She asked him if he's a pastor.  He chuckled and said no.  (at that point, I had the thought- wouldn't it be wonderful if he became a pastor one day?)  Then she began to preach at him.  It was a little awkward, but I'd just prayed that morning for boldness in sharing Christ with him.  So I just prayed and trusted God knew what He was doing better than us!  And then when we got in the van she said that she believed the Lord told her that our friend would become a pastor one day... a very kind pastor.  I pray that this is true and love to think of it!

     It was nice to have this time together, and we thank God for His many blessings!

Camp

      Leif's mom, Irene, got to be here for our annual church camp this year!  She's such a trooper, sleeping in a tent, using an outhouse, eating new foods, etc.  We all enjoyed a great time.

Morning exercises before breakfast

      We did something new this year that I was a little nervous about, but turned out to be really cool... some of the kids who came to our day camp a few weeks ago won a free trip to our church's camp.  They came with their families (brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents)... and all of them interacted with the believers from two of our churches.  Out of the few families that came, one ended up leaving, but the rest stayed and had a good time.

Jami and Adriana, chopping vegetables in our makeshift "kitchen"

      Leif and I were in charge of meals on one of the days (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).  When we originally bought the food, we were told that there would be 87 people at camp.  We bought for 100, just in case.  But when it came to our day to cook, there were about 130 people!!  Our van was parked behind some tents that were aready set up, so there was no way for us to make a trip to the nearest village to buy more food.  We were at the mercy of others from the camp who went into the village.  This was a good lesson in control for me (Jami) and relying on the Lord to provide what we needed.  We prayed loaves and fishes over everything, and it was amazing how there was even food left over!  Before lunch, I was really concerned that there wouldn't be enough and was PRAYING (especially with these guests that came, it was quite important that there was food for everyone!).  A couple of hours before the meal, a man from a local village came with a car load of vegetables from his garden to donate to the camp.  I was soooo happy!  I told him how we had needed more food, and he said, "God really loves you".  =)  We used those vegetables to make the biggest salad ever.  I wish I'd gotten pictures of our big pots of stuff and cooking over the fire, but it was too busy that day to take pictures.  Thankfully Irene snapped this one of me and Adriana preparing together.  Leif was in charge of making sure the fire was hot and the water was ready for soup and tea.

    Some of the kids toasted bread over the fire for a  mid-afternoon snack.  This pot had hot water for tea.

     Leif was a part of a powerful skit showing the spiritual battle that rages for our souls.  He played the role of Satan (standing in the back with the black hoodie).

     Irene had a good time "talking" with many of the ladies at camp. They didn't speak English and she didn't speak Russian, but they motioned with their hands and prayed together.  Irene had pictures from her home on her camera to share with people.  Each week Irene prays with another lady, Diana (from Michigan), over the phone for the people of Buryatia.  Irene took careful notes of prayer requests and took pictures of people to pair with the requests. 

      "Ikie Bikie" and his beloved friend, Bogdan.  Bogdan is the only person in the world allowed to call him that.

 

     It's so special for our kids to get so much play time with other kids at camp.  This summer has been really good to get Ella ready for Russian kindergarten in the fall.

     I didn't get any pictures of Leif playing volleyball with the guys, but this picture is right by the net.  Leif and some of the other guys from our church had great spiritual conversations at this place with some of the neighboring campers.  One guy in particular had a lot of questions.  This was encouraging for Leif.

     In the mornings and evenings we gathered for times of sharing, singing, and learning.

     I kept finding articles of our kids' clothes in different tents.  It didn't even occur to me at the time, but all of the playing and sharing together led to lice....

(I had to throw this picture in of us treating it when we got home)

     It was nice having extra eyes and hands with the kids at camp, too.  The day that I was in the kitchen I didn't worry about about our kids between the kids' programs they had and Irene's great help.

     In the afternoons we enjoyed playing on the beach with others from the camp.

 

The weather was very pleasant. 

     Perhaps the most special part of the weekend was that four believers were baptized in Lake Baikal!  One of the men is the first person we've seen come to Christ in Zaigraevo, the village where Inka lives.  We are seeing more and more growth in that village, and it's so exciting!

     It brought tears to my eyes to see Naomi baptized by her Dad.  They are dear friends of ours, and it's so wonderful to see her making this decision to follow Christ with her life.

      And another exciting thing is that Misha (the guy who's getting his hair fixed by the little girls) came forward at church last Sunday to say that he wants to commit his life to Christ.  We continue to pray for more and more people to come to Him!

Beekeepers, Ministering through Sports, and Village Joys

       Last weekend we visited Pastor Oleg in the village of Shabur.  His wife and daughters were out of town, and we enjoyed a very full and interesting weekend together!  Oleg made us a cold soup out of kvas (fermented bread water), greens from the garden, boiled eggs, rice, and meat.  Leif's mom, Irene, is visiting, so it was special for her to eat such interesting foods and see our kids' love of farm life.

 

     Ike loved climbing on Oleg's motorcycle and pretending to ride.

      Anneka just loves farm life in general.  She worked so hard, continually asking Oleg what she could do next to help.  She said that one day she wants to own a farm...and we believe her!





     At 10:00pm the first night, Anneka was found out milking the goats.  It was dark and stinky, but she was in her element!

     Sunday Leif gave the talk at church.  The church family was very warm and inviting.  They were so glad to have us, and different people gave us fresh eggs, cows milk, and cottage cheese as a thank you for coming.  It was encouraging for Irene to see how welcoming they were and how happy everyone was to see us. 




     After the church service, we got to visit a beekeeper.  We went to buy honey, but the lady was so sweet and gave us a whole tour of the bees and showed us how the honey is made.  We got to wear these fun covers to protect our faces from the bees. 



     The kids stood very still and didn't seem fearful at all of the bees flying all around.

      She let us try honeycomb with pollen and honeycomb with honey.  Then she showed us the spinning process for getting the honey out.  She also let us all try it right out of the big pot with a spoon.  Often I don't like honey very much here, but this honey was SO good and pure.  Mmmmm!  This woman and her brother had such fascinating stories to tell of persecution their family faced in past years for their faith in Christ. 


 
     We all went back to Oleg's for another interesting lunch, and I made some zucchini cake out of some zucchini from his garden.  Then Leif and Oleg went to do some shooting with some of the youth.  Oleg has a real ministry with many of the young people of this village and really cares for them and pours into them.  He often will teach them archery.  On this day they shot pellet guns.

     I stopped in for a few minutes and they convince me to shoot one of the pellet guns.  I got it on the target!  =)

     All of the kids enjoyed eating different leaves and vegetables from the garden.  These leaves had a very tangy flavor- almost like lemon.  I couldn't find what they're called in English.

     Then in the evening, we all headed to the soccer field to connect with more of the youth for a soccer game.  Several of the boys there we knew from previous hiking trips that we've taken.  The guys were happy to have Leif visiting!  Quite a few people came!  (I didn't get any pictures of the whole group).

     Each of our kids joined in the game at one  point or another.  Ike was so cute and happy running around.

     And then for part of the game, Irene and I took the kids to a nearby playground.  All of the kids surrounded us and had lots of questions for us.  They all knew Oleg, too.  I don't think anyone in this village doesn't know him and his family!  We pray for this next generation, that they will grow up to know and love Jesus!

We passed the test!

Leif and I, posing in front of the university with our certificates.

     There's a new law in Russia now that all foreigners who live and work here have to pass a test in order to get/renew residency or work permits.   There are different tests depending on how long the person will be in the country, but the ones we had to take were Russian language, history, and law... and we had to pass with 80% or more in order to renew our residency.  I've been studying Russian history the past few months with my language teacher, and it's been really interesting.  I've learned a lot that I didn't know before, and I'm thankful for all that I know now that I wouldn't have ever probably learned if it weren't for this test!

     We took the test on the early side in case we had to re-take it.  After taking the test, I wasn't confident that I'd gotten 80% on the law portion.  There were a lot of big words that we normally don't use in our day-to-day conversations.   Imagine our delight and surprise when the university called to say that we both passed all portions!  When we went to pick up our certificates, we saw that we'd both gotten over 90% (Leif was in the high 90's) for our combined grade!  We thank you for your prayers for us.  We know that it was the Lord guiding our minds and giving us peace as we took these tests.  Praise to Him!

Day Camp

      Last week we helped put on a day camp for 5 days in our neighborhood.  We saw God's hand in so many details and are praising Him!  The day/evening before the camp we had wanted to invite people who we usually play outside with and there was a big storm (rain and crazy wind)!  We went through our address book and found the addresses of some of Anneka's friends from kindergarten and went to invite them.  Not everyone was home, but one girl ended up coming with her mom and really enjoying it.  If it hadn't been for the bad weather, we probably wouldn't have gone to her apartment.  Throughout the week Anneka found other friends outside and invited them.  The weather was nice each day for the camp- another answer to prayer!

      The camp was really well planned out.   There were different themes each day to share different attributes of Christ and how that applies to our lives.  The team put on many powerful skits to display these truths.  Each day our pastor gave a short message that went together with the theme, and everyone sang praise and worship songs.

    Each of the leaders had a red shirt, which on the front said, "I'm alive, and that means...." And then on the backs there were different answers that helped to stir up conversations.  Some examples are: "there is One who gives order", "there's someone that gave life", "there's a great purpose", "that means I'm responsible for what I choose", etc.  People walking by the camp all week would stop and ask questions.

     Leif was in many of the skits (sorry we don't have any pictures!)  They practiced really hard and there was a lot of positive feedback.  He was also the sports/games instructor.  The kids, of course, loved this time and really got into the games.  Over 100 kids ended up coming, with different ages.  You can imagine this was often a bit challenging to put everyone into even teams and to create games (and explain them well) for everyone!

     Each day there was a creative craft time, where each team of kids made something special like  animals out of newspaper and colored tape, flowers, houses out of boxes, etc.  This is Ella's team from the first day with their bunny. She enjoyed it, but it was also geared toward older kids, so she chose to stay home with me the next 4 days. 

  

     This was a house that one of the teams made.  It was neat how they worked together for a goal.

     Anneka loved the day they made clothes out of garbage bags.  She proudly displayed her shirt and shirt the second she came home!

     One of the requirements of us having the camp was that kids had to have written permission from their parents to come.  We prayed that this wouldn't hinder anyone.  Thankfully, kids came with notes, and several parents came and watched, too!

     The kids giggled as Leif caught them in one of the games.  Part of Leif's role was to help train up a young man to be able to lead in something like this in the future by himself.  Leif would patiently go  through the rules of the games with this guy each day for the following day and gave him chances to lead.

     Pastor Sasha's messages were also clear and well-thought-out.  He used big pieces of poster board with pictures to show Biblical truths and wrote the main message into the pictures.  It kept the kids' attention.

     The kids had a great time.  We hope to continue to connect with many of these kids in the weeks to come.  Several of them "won" (through a raffle we had at the camp) a trip to Baikal with our church next week.  We're praying that families will come and that we can interact with them all together.  In the past, we've seen kids's lives changed in the months following the camp as they've entered into our lives and our church.  We pray that God will do this again!

 
     I (Jami) got to be a part of the day camp by cooking for the team (and a few of the leaders' kids) each day.  We made up a little kids' table in the kitchen.  Lunch is the big meal in Russia, so I always made a big pot of soup along with a second course and some sort of drink or dessert.  I experimented with new Russian foods that I'd never made before.  I had planned on just using seasoning packets from the store, but my plans were foiled when I found out that one girl is allergic to red peppers, and red pepper is in EVERY seasoning packet!  It was a good way for me to be stretched and have to use my brain a little bit. Thankfully, I had someone to come and help me each day, and everything went smoothly!

     One day 5 extra people came (so there were 28 of us), but thankfully we scrounged up enough chairs and we had plenty of food.  The team hung around after lunch each day to go over the next days' plans before practicing their skits.  I was glad to be a part of the team in a small way.