Wynards in Russia (and elsewhere!): Chelyabinsk

Well, lots has happened and we still haven't shared stories from camp! So perhaps I'll start from the more recent events and work backwards in the next few posts.

This week has been both eventful and relaxing, in its own way. We are in the city of Chelyabinsk staying with Pr. Ilya and Anya Sluzin and their two children, Grisha and Alisa. They live in a two-room apartment, which means that in addition to the kitchen, toilet, bathroom and corridor they have two main rooms. One is the family bedroom (all four of them sleep in one room) and the other is the family room/guest room/office. It is relaxing to stay with them because they are such good friends and very easy-going. We have great conversations over breakfast and/or into the night after a late supper (as last night). They also have unlimited internet, which is a treat!

The last month or so for them has been very hectic, and unfortunately this week has not proven to be as restful as they had hoped. Ilya is the Pastor of Heaven's Open Church, a small evangelical congregation of about 100 or so. The church is a strong partner of the IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) movement here in Russia - CCX - and among other things they help CCX put on evangelistic student camps each year, providing both the campsite and volunteers who cook, keep the camp running, etc. Ilya spent a lot of time setting up camp, arranging transportation there and back (and there and back, and there and back... for the various groups coming and going at various times!), buying the food for various camps, etc. And then over the weekend he went back and forth (2-3 hours each way) to take everything down and put it back into storage. He had to be here in the city for church Sunday, but poor weather meant he had to go back to the campsite again to get everything taken care of. Anyone who has lived in Eurasia will understand the difficulties and time involved in doing all of this - in many ways it's a very different job for a pastor here in Russia than in the United States!

To add to the already exhuasting weekend & week, Anya discovered Saturday night - around 10pm - while bathing the kids that Grisha had a tick. Ilya had stayed behind at the camp and Alisa was running a low temperature because she's teething. With no car and it being late enough in the evening that public transport was slowing down (and filled with people who'd been drinking), and having confirmed that they wouldn't send an ambulance, Anya called a friend to take her and Grisha to the other side of town to the children's emergency clinic. Over the course of the week they've had to go back and forth to 4 different clinics/hospitals and have confirmed that Grisha has tick-borne encephalitis, but the doctors they need to see to get him on the right treatment all seem to be on vacation. They had to take him to another hospital this morning and now the plan is to actually start treatment tomorrow - we'll see! Thankfully, TBE is less dangerous in children than it is in adults and hopefully Grisha will be fine - but the time, worry, money & energy expended still take a toll. Dan and I being here has helped if for no other reason than they can leave Alisa with us if needed.

Meanwhile, Dan and I have tried to get in as much time with various people here in Chelyabinsk as possible. We have several friends who have gone through difficult things in the past year - divorces and illnesses and so forth. I am reminded again why training in pastoral counseling is such a good thing - and how good it is to offer just a litte of this while we're here. I'm also thankful for IFES and the Eurasia Institute for the opportunity for Eurasians to get this kind of training, which is so rare but so needed in this part of the world. Several of the leaders of Heaven's Open Church got to attend this training institute in Kiev this year, including Ilya. He has shared how much he learned in the theological courses he took there.

Tonight we will spent more time with a couple who became Christians through the camp ministry of Heaven's Open Church several years ago but have since left the church to become Russian Orthodox. They continue to maintain ties to the congregation and attended Family Camp this year (with their 10-month-old son, Daniel). Leonid teaches at one of the universities here and is finishing his PhD is theoretical mathematics (which makes no more sense to me in Russian than it does in English - but I do understand that he's a very smart, very logical person!). We have already had some fascinating conversations about Orthodoxy vs. Protestantism and their own faith journey. We have also tempted Leonid by describing the kinds of strategy games we like to play and he's eager to learn one tonight! Dan was sent on an errand to buy the food for dinner tonight and *somehow* found his way to a bookstore where he found Settlers of Catan (among other games) in Russian. Those of you who know him will not be shocked to learn that he succumbed and bought the game :) He's almost as excited about the tortillas he found to make a mexican meal tonight.

More stories to come - including stories from camp & the drama from Sunday, when Dan's sermon was interupted by an agitated drunk man. Over and over in the last few weeks I have been reminded of the spiritual darkness in Russia - and the Light which the Church here offers. They are small and weak, in many ways, but in so many ways they are like shining stars in a dark universe, holding out the word of life (Phil 2:15-16).

Those of you who have Facebook - I have posted lots of pictures from camp. If you are not on facebook and would like to see the pictures, send me or Dan an email and we can send you a link to the album. Here are a few more photos from the past week.

Thanks for reading & praying!

P.S. - I almost forgot! Our new apartment here in Chelyabinsk was broken into sometime in the last week and a few things broken or stolen. It's essentially an empty shell at the moment, but they still managed to do some damage. Ironically the same day we discovered this we'd been debating what quality of a front door to buy (yes, we have to buy a front door, among other things!) and this made the decision to spend more money on a higher quality steel door an easier one.

The playground outside Ilya & Anya's apartment

(the apartment building in the background is exactly like theirs).

Leonid & Daniel

Grisha working on his computer while I work on mine!

Pr. Ilya, proudly sporting a "Russia" t-shirt (Anya told us a story of when a mutual friend came over a few month ago & Ilya answered the door in this shirt. He exclaimed "Finally, a Russia shirt and not one of these terrible American Cubs or Sox shirts!" Then they went into the kitchen where a third friend was sitting - wearing a Cubs shirt! :) )

Anya & Alisa, headed out for a walk to the clinic to get Alisa's 5-month immunization shots. (Alisa is happy because she knows she's going to get to go outside, which she loves. Little does she know...)