be careful, less the baptists eat you and MOSCOW: home of the real double hot chocolate

Last night i was greatly privileged to do a couple things.

(1) Apparently back in the communist days around the 50s and 60s there was a Russian horror movie put out that was about the Baptists, that was used to scare Russian children saying that they would come and get you and eat you. I find it fascinating and some what hilarious that you could scare children in Russia with the Baptists. Orthodox religion stands pretty predominant here.

(2) I learned how to water a dacha. There is only a period of like 2 hours, 3 days a week that the dacha gets its water turned on and because Phyllis and Will and the children are coming with me to Kiev, Will and I had to go and water like maniacs! We must have drowned everything in sight to make sure it would not die -lol- We also watered our grass, which is unheard of because people do not have or like grass. It is considered a week. So the fact that they have a lawn is like taboo. Go figure, lol!

(3) I got to share at the “youth night” at Will and Phyllis’ church, which was great because I did not expect it and it pulled me out of my comfort zone. I shared what it was like to grow up in a Christian family, which is pretty foreign to most of them, I shared about Betel, the organization I went to Russia with, and just about myself. It was awesome and God continues to show me that my testimony about the work he has done in my life, IS POWERFUL.

(4) I got more language practice. Will and I walked one of the girls home after study, because it was dark. She was kinda shy but I tried and managed to ask her some questions. It is hard to be confident in the little I know, but I guess i have to start somewhere .

A thought from my trip to Moscow that I forgot.

Have you ever thought what it would be like to drink a Double Hot Chocolate? While at Гум the huge mall in Moscow- Julie, Nathan, Elisabeth and I finally found somewhere to get coffee. Julie ordered a Double Hot Chocolate and we are thinking, “Ok so maybe its just gonna be a little stronger than normal.” The woman brings out a cup with what its basically a melted bar of chocolate in a cup. I went to try it and it slurped because it was so thick. I have never in my life ever been served a glass of melted chocolate or has chocolate dipping sauce served to me a in cup. It was quite humorous.

In a matter of about 5 or 6 hours we are getting ready to get on a train to head to Kiev.  I am quite excited for the real, actual Zoo tomorrow!

 

Ukraine: where the pot grows wild and the chickens die young.

Wow, so 5 more days to go.

That is really crazy, but by this time as much as I love being with Phyllis and Will and the kids, and having been in Russia and currently being in Ukraine, I am pretty ready to be home.

God has been working on teaching me so many things from this trip, that I am ready to have a break; stop; process them and try and figure out what He has for me. The first thing I have learned is how to rest. As crazy and insane and go, go, go this trip has been, it has de-stressed me and forced me to stop and relax to a point, which is what I need.

This morning as we walked from the dacha to the apartment.

I encountered another great thing about this side of the world. We were walking through one of the sections of forest we go through on the way, I stopped and Phyllis said look, I looked real quick and did not notice anything special and then took a good look at the plant she was pointing at and realized, holy crap, pot grows wild here. Yeah, I have no idea how but apparently they told me it just kind of grows everywhere in the forest. I found that quite hilarious.

Also, partly through the forest we will handed me a cigarette box, of which all in Ukraine have warnings that cover half of the box. This one is not as funny as the other ones they told me about. The other warnings because of the language difference between Ukraine and Russia, reads in Ukrainian, “Smokers die young”, but if read from a Russian perspective and language looks as if it says, “Chickens die quickly”.

Just something to smile about amongst the hot trek from dacha to house and house to dacha.

To give you an idea of the temperature here, its about 91˚F today. Yea, talk about leaving Florida to try and find cold weather. From all the “beach” trips and walking we have done, I believe I have got a better tan than in Florida. Oh what a surprising trip.

Lastly, I have received some encouragement while being here, after about a week ago I got an email with the specific house I will be living in through SSF in this fall. For those of you who do not know, I will be living right off campus at Southern Scholarship Foundation, which provides housing scholarships. I got an email telling me which house I will be living in and my head resident. God has been so faithful in showing me what He is doing with me in the fall, at least to a point- all of which I look forward to because I know it will be something big. Needless to say, every bit of information that God grants is much appreciated because it gives me more stability, although I have been learning to trust and rely confidently on Him in these specific types of situations.

That’s about all for now!

See some of you in less than a week! I quite look forward to hearing all that God has done in your lives. God bless!

 

power companies don’t like water companies here.

So, the last couple photos I posted yesterday probably did not make sense, especially the snake one. While at the beach, yesterday, Phyllis found a snake of which Sarah one of the girls currently staying at their apartment was not to fond of. But needless to say, Phyllis caught it. While holding it, it fell into Рая’s hand which surprised her as much as anyone else. That picture was her holding it right after it fell into her hand. Ася was quite distressed because Ян took away her ляля (baby in russian of which most children refer to their doll, but Ася calls most bugs or snakes of which this case meant the water snake). Let me tell you, it was quite an ordeal.

Last night the family staying at Phyllis and Will’s apartment came over to the Dacha and cook шашлик (а Russian kebob dish with chicken and molasses and all sorts of yummy things!)

Right before we ate Will was playing his guitar and we were all just waiting of which Will was unaware, so Ян informed Will it was time to pray by putting his hand on the neck of the guitar which cuts off the sound and saying молиться (which is the verb for “to pray”). It was quite hilarious at that time. His demeanor was quite comical.

This morning we woke up to to a butterfly hatching. Apparently, the chrysalis that had been there for a couple weeks was finally opening up. The kids had a ton of fun playing with it right after breakfast.

Today was a day at the beach again. It better be to because its 88 degrees outside. I find it quite hilarious that I come here to get away from heat and its just as hot hear, yet I brought a coat with me and prepared for cold, mind you I only brought one pair of shorts with me . I do feel quite weird at the beach though because strung among the tons of kids running around in their underwear is me wearing basketball shorts, talk about definitely standing out as American. But if I am going to stand out I might as well proudly, with not only basketball shorts but FSU Basketball shorts at that! What can I say, my blood runs thick!

While at the beach, Ян and I built a make shift lake. We took tons of stones and put them together hoping to keep little miniature shrimp of which the “ocean” is filled with but every time there was a leak. Ok, so maybe we are not engineer potential after all. Well, I knew that about my self all along.

I also discovered, with the help of Phyllis, that the glass from the bottles that everyone leaves at the beach can get sort of crystalized and the edges soften up from the waves and makes beautiful pieces of glass. Ask me when I get back, I have some!

Right before we left to go back for nap time for the children, I made sure to completely rinse off because apparently the city here likes to turn the water off. The best part about it is their reasoning and for a city of 16,000 there doesn’t have to be much, but here goes. Because people do not pay their water bills, their water company can’t pay the power company money to keep their power going and so subsequently the power company shuts the power to the water company off. Talk about community development and working together -lol-. So there was a warning posted on the apartment saying it was going to turn off at 11. Go figure! .

 

check out Ukraine, and they have a beach?!

So, boarding the train for a 20 hour ride was not the highlight of the trip, but the experience was definitely one for the books. Could not find my seat/”bunk” at first so I went up and down the aisles with my mamoth of a suitcase. Then all the people sitting around me (a older woman with her probably 30 odd old son, a young mother with a very energetic 4 year old son, an older woman and I) proceeded to talk to me in Russian and still after I told them I did not know much, continued to talk Russia to me. Who knows. After starting to get the hang of things, instead of talking they just took care of everything for me, like I was handicapped-lol- but I did not complain, I guess they just assumed, oh the poor american boy needs everything done for him. They were incredibly nice about it though, gave me food, made my bed, and overall made me feel very welcome.

I give Moscow a half a thumbs up on friendliness. That train ride helped your score

Once again, I forgot to give my receiving party adequate information: Phyllis did not know which car of the train I was coming off of. Ahh, one day I will get the hang of this. Maybe by next year, who knows.

We then proceeded to walk in weather I never knew could exist in such a beautiful part of the world. It was like Satan wrath manifested in heat, which was glorified by the fact I had the mammoth(suitcase) with me and a backpack. We made it just in time to catch the bus that took us an hour out of the city my train arrived in.

After three flights of stairs we got the apartment, unloaded and headed to Lena’s house where I continued to experience amazing RUSSIAN food. After which I have apparently missed out on a crucial Russia pastime, eating cloves of garlic. Apparently the belief is that you won’t realize how bad your breath is, if everyone’s is that way. Hmmm, that one was hard for me to believe .

We had church at night again and then we went to the Dacha. Here is another first of my experience in Russia. Living at a Dacha. We walked about 15 minutes from church through literally a forest to get to the little garden house. Its like a Dacha community. The gardens were beautiful they had planted full of vegetables. We had tea outside, I peed in a whole in the ground, I met a hedgehog, figured out that hedgehogs purr, blew up an air mattress, went to bed, heard cats fighting under our window, and then woke up. Oh Dachas!

We had a great day at the “beach” today which is really a huge body of water blocked off by a damn from a huge river going through Ukraine. It had sand though, so it was a beach. I also learned that everyone goes swimming in their underwear, at least most people. Me on the other hand, I stuck to basketball shorts. Makes me feel safe -lol-. Definitely a great, interesting experience . The kids have also found so many bugs and creatures and such. And you know me, how I love all those things . At the beach they found a snake they were quite proud of. I took pictures, that’s about all.

That’s about all for the last couple days: full and fun and more to come .

 

I have conquered Moscow…subways, at least!

so, where to start. I opened a whole new world today as I braved the Moscovian air and climbed down into the world know as Метро, by myself.

Ok, so I have to take Orange to Brown, Brown to Red, Red to Университет(the stop for МГУ also known as Moscow State University). I got there, and was like, SNAP! I could do that in my sleep-dang-. The day reassured me of my life in a city someday soon.

So getting off I climbed up into the city. Keep my Russia face on (no smile, no eye-contact, slightly pissed expression). I walk down a long sidewalk of trees and beautiful old fencing till I find a way in and come to find out I am entering through the back of Moscow State which is surrounded by sidewalks covered in canopies. Beautiful campus, does not do it justice. I walked for forever through the old buildings and such until I got to the main building which is what МГУ is known for. It is a breathtaking beautiful structure of a building that puts Ruby Diamond to complete shame -lol- I sat down to the side of it near the student entrance across the street and pulled my camera out. I tried to wait till no one was around to take a picture, because I hate sticking out, but that did not go very well, needed a picture either way -haha-

I really wanted to go in so I watched where all the students walked in, a little room thingy in the gate to see if they needed IDs or something, as I did one of those “casual walk-byes” I saw that you did so I just kept on goin! I love trying to be discrete in other countries. sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t!

So then I walked around the front and did the same exact thing except I walked up the massive stairs and went in and then realized there was a student check point….CRAP! lol, turned around real quick, passed a guy I had just seen and realized how awkward that must have seemed!

Then I walked down the fairway which is really long with a reflection pond and all the way to Moscow river which from one way looks into a beautiful view of МГУ and the other side a great panoramic of Moscow, one of the best you will.

This picture does not do it justice. Wish I had a wide-angle.

So, to get back in time to the apartment I had to get to the Metro station on the bridge over the water so I took a short cut through a park to get down to the river and almost fell flat on my face.

One of the paths was sort of steep starting out but became increasingly more until I was running down the path almost out of control. Many times going through that “park” I was thinking how easy it would be to be mugged, robbed and left for dead. –call me a pessimist if you will, maybe a realist is better –

After I got back, we went to Julie’s language lesson which is a nice 30 min walk –we walk a lot– and I was grilled thanks to another student *cough* telling the language instructor I knew some Russian, needless to say, I felt embarrassed and my brain taxed lol. Then I realized I could relax a little bit because Julie and the other girl had been studying for two years, I’m doing alrighty!

We then had a great southern dinner complete with homemade fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, biscuits and iced tea (real iced tea!). We finished it off with Blackberry cobbler and ice cream (i tell you, Russia does know how to do ice cream- never been disappointed!). I love southern food!

So after a couple more days in the city i have made another couple astonishing observations.

(1) Men wear purses. Not man bags, not murses -I do that- but actual purses. We are talking thin strapped, 80s type leather, metal latched purses! I do not understand. But they are a fashion capital so they must sort of know what they are doing!

(2) I understand the mullet obsession in guys. If you ever travel to Russia recently or are going to, you will be apart of the phenomenon that I call “Mullet Vision”. A large majority of the guys have mullets and I never understood why until Julie told me there is a famous singer that has a mullet here and all these guys want to be like him.

But would you shave your eyebrows if Chris Brown decided to shave his? My point exactly.

(3) Girls link arms, everywhere! In Saint Pete we first noticed it and were baffled, not just some- almost all. Young, old, students, babushkas, ALL. They link arms at the elbow and just walk down the street, usually best friends or relatives. It is a sign of affection apparently. But just down “hold hands” that means something else.

I am going to finish enjoying the rest of a great, windy, Moscow night!

 

Moscow (the city of crazy mass transit)

Written: June 3, 2009 – 23:40 (Russia Time)

So right before leaving I asked Vasily, out of curiously how many train stations there were in Moscow, he said, “Probably about 10″, and I panicked. I hadn’t told Julie which train station I was arriving at. So, I had devised a plan in my head if she was not there at 20:55 to pick me up.

(1) Hope to find an internet cafe, that was open
(2) Pay, try to find her cell phone number on facebook
(3) Skype it)
(3b) If she did not answer, I am screwed.

Thank goodness she was there, and i met Nathan a new guy who has come to Russia to work with Julie and her roommate Elizabeth.

So then I have to lug this huge suitcase(another reason I need to learn how to pack better) up and down and through the subway and then 15 from the subway to the apartment.

Oh, russia!

The next day we decided to hit the city around 9:45 and got to Арбот Street around 1030 or so after all the subways and stuff. We hit up Starbucks. (Старбокс) I was quite pleased. Iced Carmel Macchiato sounded great right about now. Then we visited the little gift shop next door which had Чеберашка shirts, which is the little hamster/squirrel animal in Russia cartoons, like a Winnie the Pooh of sorts. After we walked down the street and saw on of the Seven Sisters, a group of seven buildings erected around the city by an architect who masterfully designed gothic style sky scrapers. Then we hit the Red Square.

The Kremlin, a huge stretch of land that encompasses the a lot of buildings and territory was beautiful. Here is a picture of me throwing a coin behind my shoulder as a signal of good luck. The place you throw it from is the exact place where all milage measurements in Russia are measured from. And then after you throw it there is a little Babushka that walks around picking up everyones coins—she is gonna get some sort of back luck I think– it’s called karma. We walked up and down the square quite a bit and got pictures. Then we walked to St. Basils. To tell you the truth. It seems bigger in pictures. I thought it was gonna be bigger, lol.

We had lunch in Гум which for you shopaholics is like Mecca. It is a huge shopping mall with some of the most expensive stores located inside. Some of the stores do not even have price tags.

If you have to ask, you can’t afford it! People shop by desire there. If you want it, you buy it- doesn’t really matter how much.

We ate a little Блины place inside Гум which was quite tasty. It was another crepe place in Russia and was much better than the last place we were at called, “The Teaspoon”.

Then Elizabeth, Julie’s roommate, and Nathan, other “roommate” and I went inside St. Basil’s.

I will let you in on a little secret. If you don’t buy a photo “permit” for taking pictures inside the different places, most of the time you can still take them , just gotta be stealthy!

Then we walked back through the park near the Kremlin, which let me tell you- Russians definitely have some of the nicest, best kept park I have ever seen.

After ice cream and Квас (russian sweet, non-alcoholic hops drink) we went back through the god-forsaken Moscow subway route (15 or so different lines, I think) and then got back to the apartment, right before it rained! Great timing, huh?!

So tonight we went to some friends’ house and had hamburgers. So, how I have missed you. We had a lot of fun with this family and it was such a blessing to just eat and laugh with English speaking people!

Then we played a card game called Scum and i almost peed my pants the amount of laughing we all did. love this city, even though there are freakin 15 subway lines!

 

Catching up….(St. Petersburg)

Written: June 3, 2009 – 15:30 (Russia Time)

So here is a recap of the last couple crazy days.

Saturday night, Vasily and I left the others at the bus stop, sadly, as they left to go back to Finland to fly out and we went on a bus from Betel to the city apartment. We got there and were warmly welcomed by about 8 guys and Demas, who is there leader. I was so excited to see Жин a guy I met last year whose nickname was Picasso, he’s a painter and he draws as well. I also met Victor whose wife was at the center in Kolosok. Their stories continue to touch me and I can not explain the passion in their hearts. That night we finished watching, Wall-E, in Russian-tons of fun.

The next day, Vasily and I wake up and we hit St. Pete. We take about 2 hours just trying to find a stupid internet cafe, you would think in Europe/Asia it should be easy to find. Who would have thought. After that we went to the Russian Museum which housed huge and small famous Russian paintings, drawings and clothing. IT was quite impressive and beautiful. They had a painting that was probably my height x4. It was crazy. It was so funny because Vasily is Russian but studied Russia at Northern Iowa University so has absolutely no Russian accent when he speaks English but does have a midwest accent, hilarious, is the word for it. In between the museum and the internet cafe we once again ate at a restaurant we ate at during our trip and last year called, Фрикаделки, which when translated is pronounced (Freak-a-del-kie) meaning meatball.

Don’t ask, I have no idea either why the restaurant is called that!

After that it was pretty late so we once again took a crazy subway ride home. Caught the wrong bus, walked for forever, having already walked tons of miles that day lol- we really had no idea where we were going- and then arrived back at the very soviet looking apartment building. They all have 2 doors and everything looks like they are watching out for the KGB. We had soup, again, for probably the 30 time this trip.

Pretty much all we eat on the trip at the farm and wherever we go is soup. Gotta love Russian cuisine!

That night we watched the sketchiest version of Bourne Ultimatium I have ever seen. So movie piracy takes on a different perspective abroad! We turned it one and you see the text “Universal Studios” on the top part and the time code from production on the bottom part of it. It was the film before it went to post-production, and you could tell because the who movie had a weird feel to it, from a film perspective. Also, since they were selling it to a Russia audience they had lowered the english audio, as to where it was still audible, and had a translator speak over it, one that was very bad at voices too. But the cherry on top of that sundae was that about 30 mins into the movie, the translator decided to take a break, so there was no Russia for a period of about 10 mins. .

The next day, we once again wake up at 9, because after working on the farm and waking up at 7 every morning during the trip, you body won’t let you sleep longer. argh. Oh and also, I forgot to mention that the beds are like half the size of twin size beds, I could barely roll around, and I’m not that huge either, it was like for little people.

We decided we needed to do a couple things today, so this time we caught the right bus and went and bought train tickets to Moscow for me. only 34 dollars, with a meal! So we went to exchange money and found out that most banks only accept your U.S. money if they are crisp and unfolded, yes because all of use walk around making sure our dollars do not get a creese in them, because we all know that it means it’s not worth anything when it has a fold in the middle

Then we were going to go to the Hermitage, of which i have been once last year, but came to realized it was closed- that one day . I remember Vasily had told me about a zoo so I was quite excited to go the zoo. We get to the place and it doesn’t look like a zoo.

I ask Vasily and he said,

“No, i said a Zoological Museum”

Ok so animals still, just dead and stuffed not alive and moving, lol! As we were going into the museum I was rudely forced off the sidewalk by a sidewalk washing, its a machine that sprays water everywhere getting it all over bystanders and drives down the sidewalk. Weirdest, most clever thing I have ever seen!

My day was made by the fact that I got a picture with a llama in the museum, yes it was dead, but needless to say, a llama nonetheless. After we walked around some more, went by the market, bartered some souvenir type stuff and walked over a cool bridge. I have learned one thing about bartering, if you look disappointed in their price they will save, “I make special sale for you” “I give you discount” or “Business has been bad today, so…”.

On our way back to the apartment we stopped by the store and picked up stuff for me to make them dinner as a thank you for letting me stay there. No soup. Pasta. Italian meal!

“Magnificent” one of the guys tried to tell me in English. I was glad that I could show a small thank you to them for their incredible hospitality.

It was Monday night which is the night that all Betel’s around the world pray so we got to pray together as a group which was really neat. I could not understand what they were saying but I could feel their hearts. After, Sergei, the leader of the two centers in St. Petersburg came over and was asking me about myself and if there was anything they could do to minister to me. I was like, “To me?” I am staying at your house, eating your food-I should be ministering to you’ll! The people in Betel have some of the biggest hearts I have every experienced. God is doing great things through this ministry.

The next day, June 2nd, after a cup of coffee matched with a farewell, Vasily walked me to the platform and helped me onto the train where I prayed that my huge suitcase would fit (yes I admit I am high maintaince, and pack very badly) lol. It was really sad to leave, he is a great guy, but I was also excited about this 8 hour train ride and finally getting to Moscow.

On the train, I sat down and to my surprise saw two women with their barking dog sitting across the aisle from me and thought (1) they let dogs on the train and let them just run around? (2) this is gonna be a long train ride.

The scenery was incredible and getting to ride across the Russian countryside was irreplaceable. The country is really gorgeous and so rich with culture, beauty and people. More to come about arriving at the train station, the apartment, and my first day in Moscow.

 

Early days of the mission trip…

Written: May 19, 2009 – 10:43 P.M. (Russia Time)

20 hours, 3,000 sky miles points, 2 meals, and 2 extremely quiet airports later, we arrive in Helsinki– and are picked up by our driver, holding a “Betel” sign in his hand, with about 5 words of English to his name. I absolutely love traveling and Eastern European countries-let’s just saw that I would move to Europe just for the extremely friendly and pretty flight workers.

As soon as we arrived, I instantly felt as if I had never left. Although I have never been to this center before, Betel Helsinki, as it is newly established, the feeling of welcomeness and happiness filled the air. The landscape is incredible. Very similar to what you would expect in easter europe, but here goes: cloudy overcast the whole day with a light that gives everything a soft glow, bright spring green trees with white bark that cover most all of everywhere you go, wood floors, and a hint of trendiness in every direction you look. There are two guys from Estonia there, one who had been there 2 months and the other 1 week, both with the same name and sweet genuine attitudes and personalities. We met the man in charge of that center, an italian man with a great cooking. We enjoyed a great chicken dish with barley for lunch and bologna and salami sandwiches with either butter or hamburger dressing (dead serious-almost like Big Mac sauces ). Quite tasty. We ran into Lena and Joshua for a little bit and their beagle, Kiara. It was so great to see them again, even if she does only speak Spanish and a little bit of Russia. Joshua on the other hand, their probably 10 year old boy, speaks Russian, Spanish, learning Finish and I think English. Mario was not there because he is currently in Russia and we will run into him later.

I hit it off really well with one of the two guys with the same names there and the whole day we tried to exchange stories, learn the other language from the other (he has only started learning english a week ago) and just have fun and laugh . Oh how I miss the genuiness of people that you can so often find over here.

We finished the day off in a sauna, I guess fairly typical of homes over here. Let’s just say: sauna with Chris and Jacob = a fun interesting experience. But so relaxing. Hope you find this update well. I sit here, about to fall asleep, from the close to 48 hour day including 20 hours of traveling. The house is quiet. The landscape is gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking. I look outside the window, and oh, how white nights are going to keep me awake. It does not start getting dark till about 10 at least, and that’s just the beginning.

Written: May 20, 2009 – 8:30 A.M. (Russia Time)

Wake up call comes early at 6:30 as once again the tune of, “Mighty to Save” fills the air from my cell phone. I woke to a text message sound as well and I surprise that I have service, apparently called, “Elisa” which I found out later is the same as Paulo’s service, a man in the center. Weird, I thought to myself. Quickly we packed up, went down to eat a breakfast of a sweet bread, jelly and bread, apples and a yogurt that tasted like peach–all topped off with coffee. Alex, the guy I had connected best with continued to exchange some language lessons and taught me, I am hungry Я галодный and I smell coffee, which I can not remember the translation for. As breakfast finished up, we said our good-byes, at least I had to because my visa is single entry therefore making it impossible for me to go back and take my trip afterwards. That fact was hard due to the fact that I did not expected to get as connected to them as I did, but that happens to me all the time. We took a picture before we left PICTURE BELOW and they gave me a book in Russia about the history of Betel, saying that it should be a goal of mine to be eventually be able to read it. Soon after, Paulo and I jumped in the car to drive to the train station while everyone followed on foot so we could get the tickets in time. I am the only person who has a debit/credit card that would work and not be shut down when used in the station–I called Bank of America, before i left. We drove through the city, beautiful little town and got to the station. Walked around as he joked that we better hurry otherwise we will come back and our car will be empty of the luggage. Apparently there are a lot of thieves these days. I just laughed. We walked by a huge planter of really big tulips-told him they were Mom’s favorite flower- right before we entered the ticket office. We came to find out the ticket lady spoke great English. I was glad because Paulo does not speak Finish. Paulo is originally from Portugal and has been in the Spain, Portugal, Australian and now Finish centers (where he is now second leader of the house). We came back and waited in the car, had a great conversation and then spotted the rest of the team walking toward us. “I can spot the team” Paulo said. I agreed and said that it was easy because they are American and all where red and pink. I likened it to just walking around waving an American flag. He laughed. We unloaded the luggage, jumped on the train, of which is a double decker and came to find out that you do not load you luggage underneath the train. We climbed up the narrow stairs and plop our huge luggage down in the walkways with lots of by standing Finish people curious as to probably our issue and why we have so much luggage .

I sit here, next to a Finish man, all of them-men and women- quite well dressed (of which of course i notice), while writing this segment. We sit on a beautiful train that is quite comfortable, complete with cell phone and computer plugs. The landscape races by. I love this part of the world. Old and new buildings line the spring laced trees. Everything is bright, hopeful and positive. Everything is new, trendy and on top of what is most desired in the world of design. It is so unlike when we travel by bus in Russia-while beautiful in a completely different way, the energy is different. The feel is unique, one of more need and recovery. It is not laced as much by the brightness of the day.

Getting off the train was an ordeal as we all stand in the narrow stairway and wait to depart off the train. We travel through the station like a mouse through a den of lions-very obvious and while trying to blend in. We took a van through the city a little bit to the train station and chill here after arriving at 10:00 A.M., till 12 when our bus to Vyborg departs.

So we wander around and get some coffee at a coffee shop called Cafe Rouge and are helped by let me say that woman who convinced me I need to move to Finland and marry a Finish woman. After which we headed to the bathrooms– where of course we enjoy a pay-per-use toilet .

So now comes 11:30 A.M. and our bus is here. We board the bus and I try to manage to speak with the train driver about what time we arrive in Vyborg and how much are the tickets–thankfully an english speaking Russian woman helped me out. That was a little embarrassing that I could not just communicate that. I realized I better brush up. I later found out all I needed to know was, Сколько стоит билет? Of course! Well the highlight though was the fact that we got a 30% student discount! Score! Finally we board, immigration cards and passports in hand and set-off. Now just a 6 hour bus ride, oh joy!

 

6 days-stressed yet…?

So, I am 6 days away, and lets just say its been the most insane week to get to only being 6 days away!

Like I said before, we received all of our money.  So now in the meantime I have purchase a ticket from Kiev to Helsinki-my way out of being stuck in Ukraine for forever.  I have also compiled hopefully all the things I need for the second portion of my journey *fingers crossed*.  Now all I have to do is take the punches as they come.  I am learning to be flexible because until I buy each of those train tickets, timing is off to the wind.  I am slowly, yet at an excellerated pace(don’t ask, it works in my mind) learning to be relaxed and enjoy it as it comes.

Anyway, that is all great because I am super excited about it.  I will be in St. Petersburg(Lord willing with Vasley), then Moscow with Julie, then Zaporozhya with Phyllis and Will, and then Kiev with Phyllis and the kids , and then finally back to Helsinki to fly out and come home.  

So if I thought last week was crazy, between now and when we fly out is gonna be even more.  Tomorrow I leave to go home (of which I still have not packed), then Matthew’s graduation is on Friday night, I come back up to Tally with Mike and Laura on Saturday, my team and I check all of our bags, we drive up to Atlanta on Sunday, we fly out to Helsinki Monday.  Packing insanity, is all I can say!

So for all of two of you reading this who have no idea what it looks like, where we are going, I am going to upload a couple pictures.  I am super excited and can’t begin to imagine what God is going to do.  I will hopefully be able to update this sometime before I leave or maybe even in transit in one of the airports .

 

3 weeks away….

So it is officially setting in how close we are to the trip.  Literally 3 weeks away and God continues to be faithful.  He amazes me as he shows his faithfulness and amazing power through the events that have led up in the last couple weeks and through the preparation for our trip.

I am less than $350 away from what I need and our team is less than $1000 from our goal.  So cool to see  God continue to bring in the money.  It has been hard to get excited about God when money is so much of an issue, more than any of the past trips I have been on.  

But it is here.  It is coming.  It will come.  All of it.

Secondly we had one of our last meetings on Wednesday and were just discussing different details for coming and going.  We are all bringing peanut butter and black beans for the missionaries because they are so expensive in Russia.  A hot commodity, apparently.  Who would know.

Also, I have been continually seeking God peace in the situation of after the trip, while extremely excited, a little nervous at the same time.  I have no real solid dates set and so it is somewhat very on the fling.  Which for my personality, is good for me, but scares me half to death.  As of now, heres how its gonna go .

After the trip I will be in St Petersburg till about the 2nd of June with Vasley.  Then head to Moscow till about the 7th and leave to go down to see Phyllis that day.  Stay with Phyllis and the fam in their city till around the 11th and head to Kiev on the 11th with Phyllis and the kids, as far as I know .  Then stay in Kiev-visit Hillsong Kiev on the 14th and then take a train early on the 15th fro Kiev, Ukraine to Tallinn, Estonia.  At night on the 15th I will take a ferry over the Baltic Sea to a port in Helsinki, Finland. Then early on the 16th I will fly out of Helsinki, finally get home .  Please be praying for smoothness of travel and just peace about this whole, crazy exciting adventure.  God is awesome in giving me the opportunity to do this.

Needless to say God is amazing and He is going to work mightily in this trip.  Pray that we will trust in the realization that none of this  could happen by us, and its only by God.

Lastly, please pray for the traveling I am doing after because I quite nervous about being in all these places, mainly transportation to and from, by myself and just be praying I get everywhere on time .  Thanks, God bless!