We were able to squeeze a lot into the 2 weeks that the team from Idaho/Montana was here! Very soon after they arrived, they were awake enough to check out part of downtown while Leif registered them. Anneka, Andrew, and Eric enjoyed showing them around and having them experience parts of the culture. Here, they are trying kvas (fermented bread water).
The fountain by the Opera Theatre is one of the beautiful sights of Ulan-Ude.
Our local partners, Yulia and Sasha, were headed to Kirgistan the morning after our team arrived, so we all went over to their place that first evening. Yulia makes homemade soap that many people bought to take back to the States as gifts for loved ones. It was so nice for everyone to meet each other. Yulia has a beautiful garden. We enjoyed a garden tour. =)
It is always a great encouragement to those in the church here to have people come from other places and participate in the service. Kathlene led us in a song that we sang together.
Shawn read a letter of love and greeting from their paster, Todd. This means so much to people here and is a hugely valued part of the culture.
Robyn shared a story about a dying boy and a changed life from her time in Uganda. This was also very powerful and touched many hearts, including ours!!!
After the service, everyone enjoyed mingling.
Robyn, Kathlene, and Elianna got their picture with Baba Ira, a real Russian Grandma. =)
We all drank tea and ate lunch together.
After the church service, we assembled the lesson packets for English Club on Baikal while the guys started loading up the van.
You can read about English Club on Baikal in our last blog post. The day after camp, we were sad, as we said goodbye to Gramma Irene, Eric and Andrew. Some of us went for a walk in the fields to talk and be sad together. It was nice still having six wonderful people with us!
We used that day as a rest day. Everyone kind of did their own thing. A few of us went to our local pond to swim. There aren't too many days in the summer that are both hot enough to swim and that we're able to go, so we had to jump at the chance!
While the team was here, we were able to start harvesting some of the vegetables from our garden. Each of the kids had their own little garden plot, and Ike had cucumbers as a part of his. He proudly picked them and then sold them to people who would buy them. The members of the team were very sweet to accommodate his cucumber farming dreams.
We also took the team to see the central market, souvenir shopping, inside of an Orthodox church and to a Buddhist temple.
Jean very graciously taught Anneka and I how to crochet!
We invited everyone that was at English Club at Baikal to come to an evening of sharing memories together, watching a slideshow that Stuart had put together, singing songs, playing games, and just hanging out. The pictured (above) game is so funny! Our friend, Laurie, sent it to us. Each member of the little team has to figure out which letters are in their hands and then spell a word with them. They have to do this completely blindfolded! It made for a lot of laughs!!
Much of our time was spent just hanging out and drinking tea and eating snacks. Some of the spiritual conversations from the week before continued.
The team also spent a day helping us with big projects around the house, like preparing our foundation to be insulated for winter!
And weeding our garden! What a blessing they all were (are!) to us!!
On the last evening the team was here we invited some neighborhood kids for an impromptu gathering of playing some games. The team had brought in very fun kid prizes that we handed out at the end.
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| A Game of Red Light/Green Light |
Then we gathered for a last time of sharing and singing songs together. Several friends came in from the city to spend these last hours with their new friends from America.
Hanging out, talking
The team flew out in the middle of the night, so I didn't get any pictures of them at the airport, as I stayed home with the kids. But there were people from English Club at Baikal who came all the way to the airport to send them off! So special. The last picture I got on my camera with the team was from a late-night, last trip to a local store. Robyn had felt pity for a little stray dog who stayed around our house and bought her food and dishes. I told her to pray we'd find a home for the sweet dog.
Here's the puppy. We've named her Nettie! She's been hanging around for many weeks, and we finally found a family who is preparing to take her in. God answered our prayers for her to have a home. Hooray! We love her and have liked taking care of her until she's with her new family.
Once again, we feel SO BLESSED by these wonderful people who came all this way, giving of their time, energy, finances, etc,etc.... to help us, pray for us and the people here, serve wholeheartedly, and bring great encouragement!!! THANK YOU!
