We were eight; we skied about 25 km. There was one unbeliever. We had Communion right there Thursday night.The weather was mostly bad, windy and snowing. But anyway, we had great time together. We could serve each other and we could share our faith with the non-Christian.

Next week I’m starting small groups again – in Murmansk, Olenegorsk and Nickel.

“What we find in our heroes and martyrs is a living witness to the fact that the true life of faith can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if one takes it on bravely and gallantly, as something of a grand adventure in which we set out into an unknown country to face many a danger, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle.” — Alan Hirsch

He was not what I expected at all. He was humble, of average height, and had pretty long hair. The iconic images I had of Russian men, fashioned from far too many movies, would have given him well over 6 feet, a crew cut, and a steely resolved Communist jaw. He was none of those things. I wrestled for a few minutes with unbelief given the stories I had heard of this man.

And then he started to speak. Politely answering questions at first and then his masculine heart for leading other men started to rise. Hailing from northernmost Russia, he does similar men’s ministry to mine in the most inhospitable climate you could imagine; culturally, spiritually, and even meteorologically. He is a fierce lion among lambs who have lost their shepherd.

His target is generations of Russian men ravaged by fatherlessness and the hopelessness that Communism has wrought. You essentially exterminate a generation of fathers and then rob every other man of the ability to choose his future, his means, his way of life, and even what he believes…rob him of his ability to lead…and what you find is a country full of passive and discouraged men. That is the current state of Mother Russia.

In both Spring and Winter he leads groups of men toward the Arctic circle with the restoration of their masculine identity as their only quarry. He is a freedom fighter for hope, healing, and establishing an intimate relationship with the Wild One whose image we bear. He is tireless, impassioned, and startlingly humble.

If I hiked men toward the top of the world, drilled holes in ice, caught fresh salmon, and then ceremonially shared raw bites of the catch with men I had led there to introduce to Jesus, you couldn’t shut me up about it. If I sat on [a ship] in the exact chair of my chaplain father, chaplain for Communism by the way, and introduced men to life, I’d be working on the screenplay. Yura, however, seems almost embarrassed that God has chosen him for such a story.

Check out his story and images here.

http://www.stoneworksinternational.com/programs/far-northern-russia/

His life and story have been incredibly disruptive to mine through our brief engagement.

(. . . Me and my mates are endeavoring to bring he and his ministry partner back for a boot camp (men’s ministry) in the Fall and some of us are hoping to join him for one of his.)

In recent weeks we have seen a lot of work with documents, involved with two projects management. There was submission of the interim report of our first grant. I had to prepare and submit several additional materials and photos, to show that we are moving forward to work with children very soon.

Additional work was done with Ventilation system. Now it runs silently. This week new measurements will be done.

Construction work is going nicely – in front of the house is being built a strong and broad ramp, the interior spaces (offices and therapy rooms) will be ready at the end end of next week.

Until the ending of construction works, we will prepare for meetings with families and children. We will visit also with our caregivers, the Jõhvi rehabilitation hospital and the day care center for children with disabilities in Sillamäe.

We look forward to summer, when the days are filled with new activities, exciting meetings with new and old friends. Several cooperation plans are underway and a number of new born.

Some kindergarten kids are growing flowers that we will in June together plant in front of the Sunbeam building.

Linda Steed, Physical Therapist and Director of Global Outreach at the Little Light House in Tulsa, wants to help Sunbeam (with their team). The Little Light House is a Developmental Center for children with special needs.

They could help train or advise Sunbeam’s staff both formally or informally. They could help Identify the types of chairs or other seating support and good positions for the children. They can recommend simple adaptations of materials to make it Easier for Children to Participate in the class based materials are found locally. We are making partnership plans and arrangements. This option is very special and exiting for us, as highly experienced professionals are willing to share their experiences.

So for a week or two we had the paint fumes, and we tried to do as much airing out of the flat as possible, without freezing ourselves and/or David.

When they were finished, they painted the elevator. The elevator is a tiny space with one dim lightbulb, so dark brown seemed like a strange paint color, although it did cover up graffiti nicely.

I tried summoning the elevator the other day when I was leaving for a meeting. It didn’t come, and on my way home I found that it had been repainted a gray color, probably due to complaints about the dark brown. It smelled again, but there was hope that these projects were done.

The next afternoon, we came home from church and found the elevator stopped at the first floor, with the doors open. It struck me as strange that the doors were open, as they usually shut automatically. But we squeezed in anyway with the stroller, took a few minutes to count and figure out which button was ours (the numbers had been painted over), and pressed it carefully. The doors closed, and I was relieved that the elevator worked, as I was not in the mood to trudge up to the seventh floor. However, the doors closed, and we didn’t go anywhere, and they didn’t open again.

We were stuck in an elevator with a baby and paint fumes. We started pressing the “door open” button and the emergency “connect with dispatcher” button, or where we guessed they would be, sans labels.

When someone came in from outside and began to call the elevator, we shouted, “the elevator is broken! We’re trapped in here with a baby!” The man grumbled over the elevator being out of order, and decided to take the stairs.

We didn’t know a phone number to call, and the emergency numbers had all been painted over (they are usually marked in later with magic marker). The only people we know in our building live directly below us, and they were the realtors who sold us the flat for their friends, who were their neighbors (long story). That phone number was on Andrei’s cell phone…which he had forgotten at home when we’d left for church in the morning.

David was starting to wake up. Well, if he got really upset, I could nurse him, but that was going to be hard without having had anything to eat/drink myself. Would I pass out eventually from the paint fumes? How long was it going to take to get out? Minutes? Hours? Were we in actual danger?

We used my phone to call Andrei’s parents and ask them to call and get a tech over to our building.

Meanwhile, people kept coming into the building and seemed to not hear us calling for help. One woman heard us and we asked her to call the emergency services and she said “I don’t know the number” and walked away.

Finally, another woman realized we were stuck and walked away saying “Just a minute.” That sounded hopeful.

Apparently this woman found a phone number (or Andrei’s parents got through), and 5-10 minutes later someone was banging on the door and saying “You in there, which floor were you trying to get to?” Don’t ask me why that mattered, but he went up to another floor and called the elevator and the doors popped open. “He” being the technician.

Freedom! As soon as were were out of the elevator, into the building walked Vladimir the downstairs-realtor-neighbor and his wife. So they hadn’t been home after all. Hopefully they would have helped us out if they’d happened by five minutes earlier!

I don’t know who the woman was that called the tech, but I’m grateful to her!

Oh, and the elevator technician, chipping away at stuck pieces of paint and gum that were clogging the elevator shaft, asked why we hadn’t pressed the emergency button.

“But we DID.”

“Evidently you didn’t press hard enough.”

Home, sweet home: In the spring of 2012 we purchased a spacious (by Russian standards) apartment in a residential area of St. Petersburg. Our Bible study meets here every week. We even had our first house guest (my mother!) recently.

Last year, I taught Business English for several months. The Lord really softened my heart towards the students as He often does when I teach. But as usual there were restrictions on sharing my faith. Even though I had email addresses, I decided it wouldn’t really be appropriate to contact the students after my departure. However, I did leave some doors open for them to contact ME. One student eventually found me on Facebook, and out of the blue asked me, “I’ve read your blog and I want to know…do you have some sort of mission here in Russia?” I shared the Gospel with him and some of the story of how I came to be in Russia. He is not a Christian currently, but said he is sort of searching. I still think of those students often, but I leave it up to God as to whether or not we will ever meet again.

There are more interesting connections that have developed recently due to my blog. One was a missionary in Ukraine wanting to connect us with a new believer who lives here. There are kids in the U.S. that have been adopted from orphanages here and ask me to help them reconnect with their roots. Another was a Chinese woman who lives here and is trying to apply for residency. She was excited to find a foreigner who had experience with Russian bureaucracy. And, speaking of bureaucracy…

I passed my second yearly inspection at Immigration in November. The next step was to apply for permanent residency, as I only had until March. They have an appointment system now, which is an answer to prayer…but they didn’t have an appointment open for almost 2 months. To make a long story short, it came down to the wire once again, and once again the Lord was faithful and provided all the right open doors and wisdom and people to help. My application was accepted on Feb.28th, just a few days before my medical forms expired, and a few weeks before my overall eligibility would have expired.

In some ways I long to be just an ordinary U.S. citizen here on a visa…rather than a foreign resident who has to show up at Immigration and pay taxes on an improvised income, just to stay in the country. I’m trusting that God will show us what to do in the future. But at any rate, bureaucracy here is a constant struggle and one of the main avenues through which God refines my faith. It’s also something that Russians deal with from the moment they are born here, so it gives us a sort of common ground.

People often ask us, “Why don’t you just leave and go live in America where the conditions are better?” This question is especially asked of Andrei, now that he has “connections” via his American wife. And it is also asked more now that we have a child and it is assumed that we aim to find the safest, most nurturing environment in which to raise a family. We then are able to share our faith and desire to seek God’s will as to where we will live.

Andrei is teaching in two universities and holds extra-curricular round table discussions on various topics. They generally try to get Christian speakers who are experts in certain fields and can give a talk that inspires people to think about faith. Most of the meetings have been literary and have included the works of C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R.Tolkien, etc. One of the latest potential speakers was a local “Tolkienist,” involved with an Elvish translation of the New Testament! Sounds unusual, but it could reach a certain demographic. ☺ They also recently held a meeting centered around the book/film “Life of Pi,” which touches on interesting spiritual questions.

In addition to preaching in our church, Andrei sometimes accepts invitations to teach or preach in other local congregations. He recently taught a seminar on church history at another local church, where they have an outreach to immigrants from other former Soviet countries. The attendees at this particular seminar were from Tajikistan and needed a translator to listen to the lectures in Russian. These are people who live and work here full time, though obviously still struggle with things like language, so it’s great that churches like the one who invited Andrei seek to serve their spiritual needs.

I attend a Women’s Ministry event about once a month. Right now we are working through a book about Christian marriage together. I always feel refreshed after getting out of the house and spending a little time in the Word with my sisters. Recently, I’ve invited a non-believer whom I’ve known for years (perhaps 15). We have done book studies in the past, but she remains somewhat nominally tuned in to Christianity. She loves coming and getting some questions addressed. We didn’t even get through our agenda the first time she attended, but my friend was able to see that women can have good conversation and encourage each other without gossip or slander. For many people it may be hard to imagine that women can sit around thinking of ways to honor their husbands, instead of complaining about how they fall short.

You may remember my mentioning Andrei’s mother, Nina, in previous newsletters. This may have been before Andrei and I were married, or even dating! ☺ In the past I was able to invite kids at summer camp to sign up for Nina’s correspondence Bible school. In addition to faithfully sending out lessons, reviewing the work, and sending it back, she keeps up personal correspondence with the participants, even after they’ve “graduated” and become adults. She sends out holiday newsletters, recognizes kids’ birthdays and mails them Bibles or other presents, as funds allow.

Andrei and I pray regularly about our current and future ministry as a family. Right now I spend my days at home with David. Will Andrei and I have a home-based mission together? Will he maintain his current teaching posts, or look for something else? Will I resume visiting orphanages? How will David fit into all of this? And how will the Russian government play a role?

What’s clear is that we are committed to serving the Lord, through the church where we are currently members. We might be a little “out of the loop” at times when family responsibilities come up. But in general we support our church and approve of what the different members are doing. Though we can’t always participate physically, we are participants in the Spirit, and wait for wisdom as to which opportunities are appropriate and pleasing to God for us, as a family.

I’ll leave you with some prayer requests:

-for orphanage #8 (which I had visited for many years), recovering from a terrible traffic accident in which staff members were killed and children were injured

-for my family as we grieve the loss of my grandfather

-for my non-believing friend, Vika, attending women’s ministry meetings with me

-for Andrei’s students

-for David’s health and our growth as parents

-for God to reveal His general will for us as a family

-for our local church and the Body of Christ in St. Petersburg

-for ministries in St. Petersburg that have foreign connections, as the government is performing inspections

Thanks for tuning in,

Elizabeth (for Andrei)

I didn’t mention it in the video, but I want to express my heart-felt appreciation to Vestre Jacobselv Camping leaders, and especially to Oyvind Kjelling and Siren Jankila, the folks who helped us all the way through the retreat and were a great blessing for all of us.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Although God is compassionate and allows us to grieve, I also think of Psalm 139, verse 16: “…all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (NIV)

He knows exactly what we are going through, and He has perfect, albeit mysterious, reasons, for allowing our loved ones to suffer and even die. So even though I grieve, I still affirm the perfect sovereignty of God’s will.

The Accident

A lot of you know what happened to the orphanage recently, but I will do a quick recap.

The orphanage that I visited for something like 8 years in a row had sent a group to another city for an excursion, during school vacation week.

On the way back, the bus was in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer. I got the news that 6 people had been killed, but I didn’t know which ones. It felt like one of those school shootings where you don’t know at first who survived and who didn’t. And you don’t have any contact.

I got online, gathering information really quickly. A few of the orphans/staff already had posted about grieving. Everyone was in shock. I found a few news reports, including one with a list of all those injured/dead. But which were which? The next thing I found out was that all those who had been killed were adults: of the orphanage group, 2 drivers and 2 other chaperones. It wasn’t until a few days later that I saw some photos and matched the names with the faces. I recognized them all.

And the children, the precious children…relief that they are alive, but sadness that they experienced this. People have posted some GRUESOME photos of the wreckage, and I just cannot imagine the horrific scenes that the children witnessed. And what gut-wrenching fear was felt by the other members of the orphanage family, who were not with them at the time?

The counselor I am friends with was not on the bus. I spoke to her by phone and she was headed to the hospital to see the injured. I could hear the grief in her voice. Reach out to her, Lord.

A few weeks have now gone by and most of the injured are back in the orphanage, but the road to recovery, emotionally at least, may be long.

I walked to the bus stop with her once. (I know I shared this with someone, but I can’t remember if it was on my blog or not.)

I felt embraced by many people at the orphanage and largely ignored by others. But whenever I had the opportunity to actually talk to someone, it turned out that they were just misinformed about who I was and what I was doing there.

As we walked along, not ever having chatted before, Maria said to me, “Many volunteers come and go. But you…you KEEP coming.” We talked a little bit and she just couldn’t understand what would sustain me in this country, and I can’t remember if I shared my faith. I hope I did.

In this post I admired some art done by the kids at the orphanage. It turns out that Maria was the one behind the paper sculptures. I learned after the accident that she had been the in-house origami specialist, as well as math tutor. 

What a treasure! Clearly, she will be missed.

– from On Life in St. Petersburg

Anyway, I do want to give a shout out to a new blog, authored by my sister, where she writes about “balancing family life and art.” Lots of ideas for parenting toddlers. Check it out: Seeking to Create.

So, here are the questions from the blog award, with my answers.

1. I’m an introvert! Let this serve as a warning that I’m horrible at introducing myself.
2. In third grade, I was nominated “future novelist.” I lied and said I knew what the word meant, and then finally I had to ask the teacher. I haven’t written any novels, but in those days I suppose they couldn’t have predicted that I’d become a blogger!
3. I’m third oldest of seven children.
4. 2 of my sisters were adopted from Russia
5. One brother lives in Africa (currently Lesotho) and I traveled to Kinshasa, DRC for his wedding. So you can imagine that family reunions are difficult to pull off!
6. I had a crush on my husband for 6 years before he asked me out.
7. I’ve played the flute since I was 10.
8. I started visiting Russia when I was 14, that’s over half my life!
9. I grew up in Northampton, Massachusetts
10.   I’ve never had a driver’s license
11. I have a BA in Russian Studies and a minor in Studio Art.

And here are the new questions that Stephanie chose for me:

1. When did you start blogging, and why? I started in 2007. I wanted to record some snippets of daily life to keep family/friends informed.  It’s hard to continually explain to different people what life is like in another country. A lot of details of life are the same, and then there are differences. Regularly posting some observations on daily life feels more natural and is accompanied by less pressure than composing a fancy newsletter.

2. Describe yourself in one sentence. Can I use semi-colons? If people could know one thing about me, I would want them to know that I’m a follower of Jesus.

3. If money was no concern, what would your dream vacation be? I don’t have specific dreams, but lately I have been thinking about London.

4. What’s your ideal way of spending a Saturday? Mostly nesting, but maybe taking a short walk to get some fresh air if the weather is nice.

5. What’s your go-to lunch? Homemade soup and an open-faced sandwich, then tea.

6. Fiction or non-fiction? What do I actually read or what do I think I should read? In general I like biographical/historical topics. I look for interesting biographies, especially if tied to a specific historical period, but sometimes I end up reading fluffy historical fiction.

7. You have a pet lizard. What’s his name? Bo-bo. First thing that came to my mind. But in truth, Lizard is what people call ME.

8. When did you become a Christian? I was a conscious believer by age 5 or so and experienced genuine repentance.

9. What are you afraid of? I thought it would be silly to write that I’m afraid of the dark, but then I noticed that the person that nominated me admitted to it, so I will join her. Abandonment, being trapped, etc. Oh, and spiders.

10. Funny memory. Broad topic! Well, I probably have many from when I first moved to Russia and was making faux pas (what’s the plural?) all the time. For example, I got on a bus and bumped into Andrei, whom I had met twice before, and it turned out we were getting off at the same stop (and our buildings were even next to each other). The bus stopped and Andrei got off and I thought it was rude that he didn’t wait for me. Come to find out he had gone ahead to help me off! Oh, those Russian men! I didn’t even know what to do with his proffered hand.

11. What’s your favorite season, and why? Spring! New life, expectation of changes, long-awaited rewards, daylight, fresh air, picnics, and my birthday, at the tail-end.

Peace and grace to all who are involved in ministry Heart for Orphans.

Under our ministry we have celebrated birthdays of kids – special and fun time. We are happy to share pictures of this event!

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for eyes and hearts of the children will open for God’s truth;

• for kids to finish school year well;

• for better relations between caregivers and children, as there is misunderstanding;

• for Olya and her delivery …child is expected on April 12-14  read about Olya click HERE

I was blessed to listen to them. That’s what I did; I listened. I didn’t resent not being able to keep up, but I did wish the words would fly off my tongue like that. There are so many parts of Scripture imprinted in my memory from childhood: hymns and spiritual songs, psalms, memory verses I have purposefully set out to learn. The problem is, they’re in English.

On a few occasions I have set out to learn Russian memory verses. But they just don’t stick. You hear of missions organizations debating over what an “unreached people group” is. Do they need the Bible in their OWN language, or is it enough to translate it into the most accessible major language? (Why translate if they learn English/French in school, right?)

Well, there is something to be said for “heart language” translation, which focuses on more obscure languages, with the idea that reading the Bible in one’s NATIVE language will resonate the most. I have to admit, there is nothing like worshiping in my native language. It isn’t better, it’s just different. I can feel the words deep in my soul, and my eyes well up with tears.

But I want to learn the Bible better in Russian. They say that even in cases of bilingualism, certain topics will never really feel natural in one or the other of the languages. Maybe complicated literature will always feel foreign to me, in Russian.

However, there are reasons not to despair. When I first started attending my church here, I did not know as much Russian. And yet, whenever someone in the church opened his mouth to pray, it all made perfect sense to me. I didn’t know the words and I couldn’t tell you in words what he had said. I just understood. We must not underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit, nor the amazing tasks God equips our brains to carry out!

Read Liz’s blog: On Life in St. Petersburg