The crazy 32 hour day.

So at 3:00am on Saturday St. Petersburg time, we all left for the airport together.  After a slight baggage mishap in the St. Pete's airport (apparently we were only slotted for one checked bag each, but thankfully God knows these things so we still had our extra money to pay for the baggage), we thought we were on our way home.  We were late getting out of St. Pete's and late getting into Frankfurt. We missed our flight in Frankfurt and had to be rerouted.  Unfortunately, there was not space for all 13 of us to continue together.  Cameron, Jody, and I were put on a flight to Newark and then on to DFW, while Austin, Amelie, Riley, Aimee, Beth, Dusty, and Matt were put on a flight to Calgary Canada before going to Detroit and tomorrow to DFW.  Joshua, Shannon and Chuck were left in Germany and are supposed to be getting on a flight to DFW any time now.  I cannot speak for anyone else, but the adventure did not end there for my group.  We got into Newark with no time to spare and still had to go through customs and recheck our bags.  We meet an incredibly nice baggage checker who helped us retag our bags and pointed us towards our gate with a "RUN!" to emphasize our lack of time.  Thankfully our flight was delayed or we would have missed the last flight out of Newark to DFW tonight.  Unforunately our flight was delayed for over four hours.  Jody, Cameron, and I landed in DFW at 2 and are all safely home (as far as I know) almost exactly one day after we started.  However due to the fact that we followed the sun today with our time zone shifts, our day was 32 hours.

Please continue to pray for those who are still traveling.  They should all make it home by the end of Sunday.

Hopefully when our brains gets back together after sleeping, we will post about our time at the Harbor.

Starting home

Boarding plane in Russia. Frankfurt then Chicago then home! Our team will split into 2 groups in Chicago. One will arrive home at 5:30pm. The next will arrive at 8 pm.

tomorrow..

we will come back to America tomorrow. cant wait we wont go to sleep but i may sleep on the plane. I miss u all.

THE HARBOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i had fun at the harbor and made new friends. pray for a safe plane ride back home tomorrow.

This Sickness:(

My sister and others are sick so please pray for them.

Prayer Request (slightly urgent)

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

It is 9 am here and our last day is about to begin. We are going to the Harbor again today. At least 3 of us are sick.  When I left the dorm to use the computer everyone was not up yet, but there are at least 3 so far (myself included). It seems to be a cold like illness.  Please pray for us during the next 8 to 10 hours as we are out.  Pray that God would use our weakness for His glory and His purposes.  Pray for team unity as we do not feel well and are tired.  This is one time that squabbles and fights can easily begin among us.  Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Corinthians 1:25

Lisa

Recap of the last few days

We are not getting to update as often as we originally hoped, because our electronics are not connecting to the wifi at the university.  Tonight we have access to a computer all night long, so hopefully there will be plenty of updates for all of you. 

The missing bags were delivered on Sunday.  Only a few were clothing.  Most were supply bags that we could do without for a day or two.  Praise God for how quickly they did arrive. 

Sunday morning we were blessed to join a Russian/English congregation for worship.  The sermon was on Job, and to say the least all of us were impressed.  God definitely used this church to start our trip out right. 

After church, we spnet our first afternoon at the hospital.  The time there was spent getting to know the kids and seeing how many and what ages were there, as it changes often.  We used this information to prepare for VBS.  Most of the children at the hospital are young.  I think the oldest was 12.  The youngest was only a few months old. 

Yesterday (Monday) and today we spent mornings at the hospital and afternoons at the orphanage doing VBS.  It was my first experience working with a translator who has not planned with you, so I now appriecate how difficult this type of situation is on the teacher and the translator.  But despite our language barriers our time with the children was great.  Cameron taught the lesson on Monday over creation and it was quite theatrical at times to keep the young ones attention.  Chuck was privelaged to teach today.

For me there have been many aspects of the trip that weigh on my mind.  One, I see two little girls clearly.  Mesha, who has had someone close to her hurt haer greatly, and Lena, who i truthfully know nothing about.  Mesha smiles constantly and reaches out to any one who might show her affection despite her past. Lena is a little girl who sat in my lap and inmy arms while wild boys played all around and who said cheese every time I put a camera near her.  They weigh on my heart quite a bit.  They also remind me of a little boy from Guatemala who was my first experience with orphans and was who God used to ignite my passion wot work with orphans and others who are "undesired" by the world.  I pray that Lena and Mesha will impact me just as much as Danny first did and will be used to refuel me desire to work with children. I also pray that others on the trip will find their one child to fuel their care and prayers for orphans.

Other than this I have 2 prayer requests for you all.  First, the older boys at the orphanage.  During their lesson, they asked very hard questions.  They are obviously getting to an age where they need a "reasoned defense" of the faith.  In school they are taught so much that contridicts what we are telling them.  Please pray that they will continue to ask the questions they have.  Also pray that those who work with them consistantly will be prepared to answer them in a way that leads them closer to Christ.  Second, today the neeed to follw Christ was presented to the children today by Chuck.  Some of the children were very young, so the attentio span was not always there. Please pray that these children will take what they heard today and ponder it in their hearts.  Pray that they will ask question s if they do not understand and will grow in their love and understanding.    

Thanks so much for all your prayers.
Lisa

From Cameron

Hey guys, I miss you all. Thank you for all your prayer support as we've been here. If you could pray for one thing: today was our third and last day going to the hospital , where most of the younger children are. We all have developed relationships with at least one of the children, and it's been extremely difficult to say goodbye with full knowledge that we probably aren't ever going to see them again. So if you could just pray that we could remain strong and focused on the task at hand, and that we can remember how important the work we are doing is. Thank you all again and this is Cameron Buller saying goodbye from St. Petersburg (that was in my announcer voice). Love you all, God bless.
Cameron


P.S. Jamie I can't really think exactly what you said, but I remeber it being incredibly encouraging at the time. so thank you (we don't have Internet connection all the time).

Repost of Shannon's facebook note

We hit the ground softly as we landed in the country that holds half of my heart. I looked into the faces of the team that just flew halfway across the globe to share God's love with some children and fed off their excitement. I saw excitement, fear of the unknown, and a hope to see what God had instore for them. There was laughter seeing as the layover in london was a mad dash to get to our next flight (we were running late) and exhaustion written on all of us but the kids :) We got through passport control and I was excited to see all our bags piled onto a cart by some men. I didnt' have to worry about going through the customs I thought! Wow, then Icounted the bags... I noticed 8 bags were missing. Dread filled my heart. Olga met me inside by the bags and we went to the lost luggage counter together. It was so sweet to see my sister over here, our eyes shown with love. We hit the counter and the lady behind it was not going to be helpful. We had to bring all of us over to the counter to fill out countless, useless papers, and over an hour and a half later, after frustration and every other emotion, I looked at my team and saw the oh no face. I thought to myself, welcome to Russia, and welcome to God's business... Satan never fails to try to derail people who are going to do God's work. We left the airport and the snow was falling. I have never been here when it was snowing, so it was like seeing a new place. I bounced back and forth from looking at familiar land marks to the faces of those on the team. It was a joy. We unloaded our bags and the Christian University and I am happy to report we are overly blessed with good conditions. I have not heard one complaint...that is a miracle with 13 people! ;)
Our first day, I tried to prepare our team for what they were about to encounter, but you really can't prepare for this kind of situation. We were to go to church and then go to a children's hospital--where children were first placed whether they were found abandoned by a dumpster, or caught as a street kid, or parents have dropped them off. They stay here for a week or two with the nurses and doctors until they are cleared medically and then placed in the appropriate orphanage. These children are mostly non responsive, not easily trusting and far from disciplined. We didnt have material planned for a VBS so we just played. One of the very first children we saw was Mesha...she was handicapped and sitting on a bench. She had actually been there for a while and because of her disability she will probably never leave. She has no use of her legs... yet her face and heart where filled with joy and anticipation as she greeted us. She asked us many questions and we got to know her. We then played with all ages, from a four month old to a 15 year old. Some kids were precious and the two moms of the group got a sibiling group each to play with. Their faces shined with joy when they told me how responsive "their" kids were. They had a fun game going where the adult would point at a picture in the book and the child would say the russian word. They would repeat it. Yet in the other room, many noticed how untrusting they were. One of our men, who said in his own words "is great with kids" tried to get a little girl to eat her snack and she refused, he left with a realization that he was not in kansas anymore. These kids have it tough. For me a moment came when the four month old smiled as he grabbed my hand. This is the first baby I have seen in a russian orphanage and his smile was proof he came from a loving family. I found out later, his mom had just died and his father could not work and take care of him...therefore he was sent to an orphanage. They let me hold him, but silly superstitions about back structure made me have to hold him with his head down the whole time. The childs head already showed signs of being flattened by being left to long in the crip. The heartbreaker was found out when we all got back on the bus and I told Olga to tell  my team about Mesha. Mesha--the first girl we met, was thrown from a five story building by her mother and crippled for life in a moment.

Our devotion time has been precious and as we met with each other to discuss, many of our team loved and was deeply moved by our Russian church experience. The preacher was amazing and many gleaned a lifechanging truth from the Word of God. Many of our team talked about not realizing what we have in America and how blessed they were to have parents who loved and cared for them, and many talked about how Mesha could crawl through life with joy even though her most trusted relative threw her out of a building. I was in tears for many reasons that night and I am proud of our team.

The second and third day we did our VBS... I will let them blog about these things... they each have amazing stories. I am just very proud of both my family here in Russia and my team from home uniting. I can't wait for you to hear their stories!
For now, pray for us... we said goodbye to half of our journey and we will not be going back to two of the orphanages..many of the team are dealing with the grief in knowing they had to say goodbye.

We have not had internet or phone cards until yestersday so please forgive us for not blogging until now. We promise to have something on there :)

God is moving and it's exciting to be apart of this team

Love,
Shannon

I love the children!

This is Beth.

This experience is so rewarding. We have visited the hopital and orphange #2 for the past two days, and the children are so sweet. Even though we have three more days here in Russia, I am a little sad that we are not returning to see those children again. I have learned only a few words in Russian, that I pronounce poorly, and many of them were taught to me through the interaction with the children. I love to hear them talk to me, trying desperately to communicate. Unfortunately, to know what they are saying I have to get the attention of the very busy interpreter to know what they are saying. Today, I had the pleasure of playing with a little boy who is 3 years old. He was taking the doors off of a truck and trying to put them back on again. However, it was much more difficult to put them back on than to take them off. I offered to help him, but he was an independent little boy who wanted to figure it out on his own. He was very smart and did manage to get the doors back on after many tries. I clapped and praised him for his success, and of course he loved that so the doors came off again. Every time he would take the doors off and begin the struggle with putting them back on, I would tell him, "now fix it", and after a few times he bagan to repeat, "fix it". It was the cutest thing. These children are so precious. I could tell many stories of special moments I have had with them. I truly pray that God will touch their hearts and draw them close to him, and that those of us who already are blessed by a relationship with Christ will welcome these children into our lives.

Your sister in Christ,
Beth

Today and yesterday and the day before.

I had a fun this part of the week. This was our last day at the orphanages. cant wait to see everyone again. i will tell everyone about this week when i get home.

Mcdonalds. We r in a Russian mcdonalds. Yum!!!

We Have Arrived

We are in Russia and are settled at the Christian University.  We have some lost bags.  Pray that those are returned soon.  We will update more soon.  We have limited internet access tonight.

all ready to go. i cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cant wait. only a few hours

Preparing to go...

Thanks for visiting our blog.  Our team is leaving within the week for Russia.  We have seen God provide so much since October when we started this journey.  Thank you for those of you God has used to impart His grace to us through your giving and your prayers.  We have been truly blessed throughout this process.  We are truly excited to see how God will move as we work with and build relationships with orphans in St. Petersburg. 


Now that we are preparing physically to leave, please continue praying for us.  Pray that we continue to remember spiritual preparations and make them a priority within the stress of packing and planning.  Also pray for God to guide us and to use us for His glory.  Pray for the children, teenagers, and adults we will meet.  Pray that they will be open to Christ and us and will be prepared to receive the Gospel.  Pray for unity and flexibility among the team members.


Please check back here during our trip.  Members of our team will be posting what God is teaching them during this trip and will be posting more specific prayer needs.   


Below is our tentative schedule for our trip.  Please us it to guide your prayers.

March 11                  Depart DFW at 4:55pm

March 12                  Arrive in St. Petersburg at 4:00 pm

March 13                  Church and Hospital #15*.  

March 14 & 15         Morning at Hospital #15 and afternoon at Orphanage #2

March 16                  Visit to Hermitage & Catherine’s Palace

March 17 & 18         The Harbor** 

March 19                  Depart St. Petersburg at 6:05am. Arrive in DFW at 7:51pm. 


*Hospital 15 is where children and infants are placed before moving to an orphanage.
**The Harbor is a ministry that works with orphans who have graduated out of the orphanages.