It is Finished

It always seems that the time for my flight to St. Petersburg will never arrive, and then suddenly it does, and I get here, and before I can turn around good it’s over. I was so excited to get to spend two weeks this trip and thought that I would have lots of time to enjoy everything and everyone. But of course, that was not the case.

The second week was full of evening Bible studies and visits with friends, and it seems to speed by quicker than I could ever catch up. But what a blessing to get to sit down to a relaxing meal, or attend a birthday party, or go shopping (on the coldest, windiest day!) and have tea.

Monday and Tuesday afternoons were spent at Orphanage 14, and though it seems that this will complete our work at this orphanage, we pray God’s blessings for them. We have made some dear friends and I got to spend time with two of the kids that were in my group from previous trips – Tolya and Anya. I was especially pleased to see Anya and get to visit with her for a few minutes. She also sang a solo at the performance they did for us on Tuesday afternoon. What a beautiful, young, Christian woman – I know God has big plans for her. My prayer is that she will be able to reside at one of the transitional homes, and would love to see her placed at Road of Life.

On Thursday night I visited Dormitory 70 and had a chance to do a Christmas arts and craft project with eight of those girls. They had a great time and practiced their English during the project. We then had tea and two other residents came by. This dormitory is full of graduate orphans ranging in ages from 17-23 – there are 500 residents there – and the only Christian ministry that is meeting with these kids is Road of Life. They are using English as a second language lessons to get their foot in the door and the counselors are very receptive; the director even had her assistant come and take our picture last night, and she plans to visit all three of the ROL homes in the next few weeks. Please pray that God will open doors for us to reach more of these kids – I truly felt my heart beat faster at the possibilities for ministry here.

Marina Topol (director of ROL) and Vera (house mom for ROL) have been visiting the deaf orphanage here in St. Petersburg and are planning a birthday party for one of the children. Marina says that these children are desperate for someone to love them, and she and Vera love the time they spend there. Please pray that God will send Christians with a heart for deaf ministry to help them.

Speaking of deaf ministry – Lotia is one of the boys at the Frunzenskaya family home and he is totally deaf. Dave Handley, one of our team members for this trip, did some research on-line and found a Christian mime organization that is excited about sending materials for Lotia to get involved in a mime group here in St. Petersburg. Pray that he will get involved with this ministry and use his talents for God – and a special thanks to Dave for taking the time to research this for him.

Well, the partiers are arriving and it’s time to get ready to say goodbye. There will be no sleep at this house tonight, and our van pulls out at 4AM for the airport, so no sleep. Pray for our journey home and lots of sleep time once we arrive!

Das vee danya (goodbye) and see bogum (go with God).

Nancy