Our week did not begin well as we were unable to minister at the Deaf Orphanage (O20) on Monday. A team of health inspectors was there and one of the nurses had apparently had a bad experience with some Americans who were Jehovah's Witnesses and they took cross necklaces from some of the children. She called us unhealthy Americans and said we could not be trusted. Svieta (the sign language translator) talked with the director and the inspectors, but could not convince them of their error. The director did agree however to let me present my official documents from MIR (the charity organization that sponsors our trips here in St.P) and she would review the matter. MIR put the package together and Svieta will deliver it on Tuesday. Please pray that I will be able to go to O20 on Friday, April 3.
One good thing that came out of Monday was that one of the former students, Zhenya, was visiting and he spent part of the morning with us. As we left the orphanage about 12:30, he walked out with us. We got to Marina's car and she suggested we go to a German restaurant near by to eat lunch, and we agreed. When we arrived at the restaurant and
stepped out of the car, Zhenya was walking up the sidewalk. I asked Svieta to invite him to join us for lunch and he was thrilled. He is a sweet young man and a good friend of Losha (one of our boys at the Frunzenskaya apartment of Road of Life). He is pictured here with Zvieta.
Because we were not going to be allowed to go back to O20 on Tuesday, Anya called Child in Danger (CID) shelter and asked if we could come on Tue/Wed/Thur, adding a day to our ministry there. Masha, the assistant director was thrilled and said of course, please come. We arrived at 1:30 and began playing with the children around 2pm. We played games, did arts and crafts, did a "food" project with candies to make caterpillars, and then watched a movie together.
There are currently 15 children at CID and only two of them were kids that I had known from before. John and Karen Bull and their four children joined us for our day at CID. It was great fun as we met the new children and renewed friendships with the kids and counselors from previous trips.
On Wednesday we arrived at CID after lunch and went with 15 kids and 2 counselors to the circus. It was the "Birthday of the Clowns" and was wonderful! Only 2 of the children had ever been to a circus before and it was a big hit. I had brought glow-in-the-dark bracelets for each child and some candy for snack; and of course CID had sent apples for the kids to snack on during intermission. The only "low" point was the guy with the snacks, crocodiles, and other animals. I think Maxim, the CID counselor, thought I was going to crawl in his lap when one of the snakes started climbing up the ring wall. Luckily the crocs' mouths were taped shut and the one stalking the emu was unsuccessful in his "kill". As they say in Russia, "Oy!"
Unfortunately the circus ended at 5:30 - the middle of RUSH HOUR! When we entered the Nevsky Prospect metro line there must have been 10,000 people in there - ask Adam, I'm not exaggerating! We managed to stay together pretty well, until everyone got through and we realized we were missing Ura. Luckily he appeared at the front of the crowd after a few minutes and we were back on track. It was a jammed up, scary adventure for me, but it is their "normal" so they didn't seem to think anything of it.
Thursday was another adventure with the CID kids as we went to Ikea mall to go ice skating. It was not too terribly crowded and they had a great time. We had one little 5 year old, Karina, who was not allowed to
skate, but Ikea has a children's play room and Anya took her there to play for an hour and she was very excited. We ate lunch at McDonald's (the doctor at CID had told me no sodas or cold water - I don't understand the water thing - I think they believe that cold water does something bad for you - man, are those of us who live in the South in trouble!) and the kids were thrilled with their happy meals. We then exited by the carousel and let the little ones ride. (Pictured here are Adam and Nastya - she is 16 and attends art school.)
Friday and Saturday were touring and shopping days for Adam and I, followed by Road of Life (ROL) family activities each night. Friday night we met at the Frunzenskaya Boys' apartment with the current residents and counselors of ROL. I did a devotion on The Folded Napkin, about how Jesus folded the cloth covering his face in the tomb, which by Jewish tradition meant that the "master is coming back." Part of the devotion included Adam doing some decorative napkin folding - and then of course the tests began - all of the boys at the apartment tried to fold the napkins as Adam had shown, and then raced each other. It was great fun.
After the napkin devotion, Adam and Dustin Clark (from Alabama, who had gone to StP with me a year ago and was back for a week-long visit) shared about their lives, their faith, their goals. Adam is a sophomore at Ouachita Baptist Univ. in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and his girlfriend attends Samford University in Alabama. Dustin graduated from the Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham last summer, is currently employed as a civilian with the US Army as an engineer, and his girlfriend also attends Samford U. Adam and Dustin both lived at the ROL apartment this week and were pleasantly surprised to find that their two girlfriends not only lived close to each other, but had had a class together. It's still a small world!!
One good thing that came out of Monday was that one of the former students, Zhenya, was visiting and he spent part of the morning with us. As we left the orphanage about 12:30, he walked out with us. We got to Marina's car and she suggested we go to a German restaurant near by to eat lunch, and we agreed. When we arrived at the restaurant and
stepped out of the car, Zhenya was walking up the sidewalk. I asked Svieta to invite him to join us for lunch and he was thrilled. He is a sweet young man and a good friend of Losha (one of our boys at the Frunzenskaya apartment of Road of Life). He is pictured here with Zvieta.Because we were not going to be allowed to go back to O20 on Tuesday, Anya called Child in Danger (CID) shelter and asked if we could come on Tue/Wed/Thur, adding a day to our ministry there. Masha, the assistant director was thrilled and said of course, please come. We arrived at 1:30 and began playing with the children around 2pm. We played games, did arts and crafts, did a "food" project with candies to make caterpillars, and then watched a movie together.
There are currently 15 children at CID and only two of them were kids that I had known from before. John and Karen Bull and their four children joined us for our day at CID. It was great fun as we met the new children and renewed friendships with the kids and counselors from previous trips.
On Wednesday we arrived at CID after lunch and went with 15 kids and 2 counselors to the circus. It was the "Birthday of the Clowns" and was wonderful! Only 2 of the children had ever been to a circus before and it was a big hit. I had brought glow-in-the-dark bracelets for each child and some candy for snack; and of course CID had sent apples for the kids to snack on during intermission. The only "low" point was the guy with the snacks, crocodiles, and other animals. I think Maxim, the CID counselor, thought I was going to crawl in his lap when one of the snakes started climbing up the ring wall. Luckily the crocs' mouths were taped shut and the one stalking the emu was unsuccessful in his "kill". As they say in Russia, "Oy!"
Unfortunately the circus ended at 5:30 - the middle of RUSH HOUR! When we entered the Nevsky Prospect metro line there must have been 10,000 people in there - ask Adam, I'm not exaggerating! We managed to stay together pretty well, until everyone got through and we realized we were missing Ura. Luckily he appeared at the front of the crowd after a few minutes and we were back on track. It was a jammed up, scary adventure for me, but it is their "normal" so they didn't seem to think anything of it.
Thursday was another adventure with the CID kids as we went to Ikea mall to go ice skating. It was not too terribly crowded and they had a great time. We had one little 5 year old, Karina, who was not allowed to
skate, but Ikea has a children's play room and Anya took her there to play for an hour and she was very excited. We ate lunch at McDonald's (the doctor at CID had told me no sodas or cold water - I don't understand the water thing - I think they believe that cold water does something bad for you - man, are those of us who live in the South in trouble!) and the kids were thrilled with their happy meals. We then exited by the carousel and let the little ones ride. (Pictured here are Adam and Nastya - she is 16 and attends art school.)Friday and Saturday were touring and shopping days for Adam and I, followed by Road of Life (ROL) family activities each night. Friday night we met at the Frunzenskaya Boys' apartment with the current residents and counselors of ROL. I did a devotion on The Folded Napkin, about how Jesus folded the cloth covering his face in the tomb, which by Jewish tradition meant that the "master is coming back." Part of the devotion included Adam doing some decorative napkin folding - and then of course the tests began - all of the boys at the apartment tried to fold the napkins as Adam had shown, and then raced each other. It was great fun.
After the napkin devotion, Adam and Dustin Clark (from Alabama, who had gone to StP with me a year ago and was back for a week-long visit) shared about their lives, their faith, their goals. Adam is a sophomore at Ouachita Baptist Univ. in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and his girlfriend attends Samford University in Alabama. Dustin graduated from the Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham last summer, is currently employed as a civilian with the US Army as an engineer, and his girlfriend also attends Samford U. Adam and Dustin both lived at the ROL apartment this week and were pleasantly surprised to find that their two girlfriends not only lived close to each other, but had had a class together. It's still a small world!!
This is the group picture taken on Friday night - we now have to split the meetings to get everyone into the same place. That's why I met Friday night with current residents/counselors, and Saturday night with graduates.
Saturday night we had a bowling outing with the graduates of ROL followed by dinner at the food court. It was a great time, and all but two of the grads who live in StP were able to attend - Nelly and Liza are still in the US. Each of the grads shared what they are doing and their hopes and goals for the future. It was wonderful seeing them all again. Marina Topol (director of ROL) and I are talking about putting together an email newsletter to let all of you know how the kids are doing and how you can pray for them.
I stayed at the Frunzenskaya Boys' apartment on Saturday night to accompany Adam to the airport on Sunday morning. FYI - Russia changed to daylight savings time last night - so Adam and I have "survived" two of those this year thank you very much! It was a pretty emotional time for Adam because he had grown so close to the two boys who live at the apartment, as well as Meisha, a ROL grad who had come to help translate during the week. I was really proud of him though - he managed to get out of the apartment and even hug me at the airport with no tears. I'll be interested to here if his flight home was still "tearless"!
I will post Adam's thoughts and memories with you when he gets back and hopefully readjusts to "normal" life at OBU - and takes a week or so to get over the jet lag!
I have one more week here in StP and look forward to going to CID on Tuesday afternoon, Dormitory 70 on Tuesday night, the Road of Hope Friday. Also, a new adventure for me - Marina's church has opened a shelter for street kids and she is taking me there on Thursday - at last, a place where I can talk openly about God and His Son without worrying about someone asking me to leave!!!
From Russia with Love,
Nancy
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