Why Do You Go To Russia?

“Why do you go to Russia?” I get asked this a lot. It is a good question, one I enjoy answering. The quick answer is “Because God told me to.” This is rarely enough of an answer to satisfy someone. Often their immediate response is “but… but.. how do you know that?” The “knowing” part of what God wants you to do can come to a person in several different ways. Sometimes it is like intuition, you just feel it. Sometimes it is a firmly established desire or certainty that is built over years of making faithful choices. It can even be a confidence that is built over years of putting ourselves in position to be used by God, then watching God go to work (via us). In my case it began back in the summer of 1989. On faith, I had decide to offer up my summer to God. I had been challenged by someone to give God a summer of your life, and watch what God can do. So I found myself traveling to Austria to work in a refugee ministry. That summer I met many Russians who were living in a camp, without their families, home or careers. I listened to them describe lives that were lived without hope. It is the countless life stories that I have heard over the years and how God continually uses me to bring truth, grace, forgiveness, and hope into them, that has fueled my desire to minister in Russia.

One such story comes from a conversation I had a few years back. I had met with an old friend to catch up on life etc.... After a while the conversation took an unexpected turn. My friend began to talk about how guilt has shaped him as a person. “I feel weighed down by guilt. Sometimes it feels as if all my life I have had this incredible burden that presses down on me.” When I asked how this effected his life he responded. “It makes me doubt myself in all kinds of situations. My culture, my parents, my in-laws, everyone seems to criticize me on a regular basis. I don’t know what to do about it. It is not just me by the way, many of my friends feel the same way. It feels as if guilt is a big chain weighing everyone down.” This man had been a Christian for well over 10 years, so I was surprised to hear this. I inquired about forgiveness from God and the freedom from guilt that Jesus brings into our lives, but he just looked at me dejectedly and said “forgiveness and freedom those are just words to me.” Based on this conversation I incorporated some teachings on guilt and freedom in Christ into one of my sermons the next week, repeating some of what my friend had said. Afterwards several other people come up to me and said that they could easily identify with those feelings ­ they feel the same way. One thing I have learned is that I can never assume just because someone goes to church, reads their Bible, and prays along side of me, that they have experienced the freedom that comes with knowing Jesus. My friend also happens to be a key leader in his church. One of the main ministries that I have in Russia (apart from preaching) is to help guide and mentor Christian leaders. Sitting with them, listening, encouraging, and counseling them is what I treasure most about the time that I am able to spend in Russia.

This September I am excited to have the opportunity to travel to Russia and reconnect with many of these leaders throughout the Urals region in Russia. I will be leaving around Sept 21st, returning about two weeks later. Please pray for this trip. I will need help, guidance, funding, strength, and wisdom from God’s community to help make this mission trip a success.

If you would like to support this mission, donations can be made through Alpine Lutheran Church 5001 Forest View Ave. Rockford IL. 61108 (Make checks to Alpine Lutheran Church). Designate your gifts for “Russia Mission.” Thank you so much for all your prayers, encouragement and support - Dan

Russia in Spring!

I just returned from a 2 week trip to Chelyabinsk, Russia. I am on the board of trustees for a group of churches, so we just concluded our board and advisory meetings. The trip itself was great for several reasons:

• I got to see many friends.
• The board consists of 5 Christians who each have over 20 years of Missions and Church ministry experience. We were able to provide advice, ideas, accountability, care and guidance to the church pastors and leaders.
• Everywhere I went, people went out of their way to encourage and comfort me as I struggle with my own ministry changes and life difficulties. I was ministered to more than I ministered while I was there.
• I got to worship in Russian!!!
• I preached and led a seminar in Russian. (God's miracles never stop amazing me.)
• Great conversations. One of the biggest traditions in Russia is sitting in someones kitchen, drinking tea and talking about life. I averaged about 5-6 cups of tea a day as I listened and shard about God's faithfulness in our life journeys.

Please pray for:

1. The Chelyabinsk Church of God who hope to open their new building this fall and begin a new church worship location. Pray that God will gather the resources (both monetary and people) in order to accomplish this.
2. The Living Word Church in Yekaterinburg, that they might hold steadfast to their mission as they encounter troubles and difficulties from people outside of the church.
3. For Lucy and I as we seek guidance from God. We are looking for jobs, new ministry, and a church to worship and serve in.
4. Our next planned trip to Russia in July of 2011. Pray that God will make this happen.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support.

Dan

An Unusual Sunday

If you've read much on the blog or heard us talk about Russia often then you know that flexibility is the name of the game here.  This past Sunday we got up and got ready for church only to get a phone call shortly before we were set to leave telling us the service had been cancelled.  Like many Protestant churches in Russia, Chelyabinsk Church of God rents a room to have their services in.  The floor of their normal meeting place had been painted that week and though they'd been assured it would dry in plenty of time for their Sunday service, low and behold Sunday morning the senior pastor arrived to set up for the service only to be told the floor wouldn't be dry until Wednesday and they couldn't meet there.  With no time to come up with an alternative location he started to call around and tell everyone the service was cancelled.

But shortly after we got that initial phone call our friend called back to say that they were going to meet anyway and find a place in the park to have the service!  So, Dan changed into slightly more comfortable clothes and we set off to see what would happen.  We met with a group of about 30-40 outside the usual meeting place and walked to a nearby park.  There we eventually convinced some ladies staffing a chess club (which was poorly attended that morning!) to let us meet under their tent.  While I prayed that Dan wouldn't be arrested for preaching on the street (a suspicious and perhaps illegal activity for a foreigner) we got on with the Sunday service, an hour or so late.  Pr. Sergei, the senior pastor, reminded us as we started the service that 25 years ago every Sunday morning started for Protestant believers with a phone call telling them which bus stop to gather at that week.  Then small groups of Christians would secretely slip away to a hidden place to have their weekly service.  What would have been unbelievable for them was such an open meeting in the middle of a public space!  It was a sober and joyful reminder of the freedom these Christian friends now have compared to the generation before them. 

In front of our impromptu meeting spot - the sign says "Chess Club", though it also serves as a reading room.  I believe it's run by the local library.

Senior Pastor Sergei Alexandervich and Alexei.

After church we went with a group of friends to a friend's dacha for picnic lunch and a long, relaxing afternoon under a pear tree.

Photos!

Since Dan and I married we've generally divided our time in Russia between two cities: Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.  Both are in the southern Urals and have populations of over a million.  Since we're only here for 2 weeks this year that means a week in each city - not a lot of time at all!  We spent our first several days in Ekaterinburg and on Tuesday drove down to Chelyabinsk; our friend Edik made a round trip to pick us up so we wouldn't have to take the bus - something we're very grateful for as bus journeys can be hot and sweaty even without record heat & wildfires in the region!  Since then we've seen different friends here, all of them from the church formerly known as Heaven's Open Church (it's now merged with another evangelical church in the city, Chelyabinsk Church of God).  Here are a few pictures to tell the story of our last few days: 

Smoke hangs over the city of Ekaterinburg from the wildfires in the region.  

An Orthodox church near our friends house.

Some of you may remember our friend Alexei Shilin from his visit to the US last November.  He is the General Secretary of the Russian Christian student movement, which is really struggling right now with both vision and resources - they appreciate your prayers!  

(Also, if you're not on the prayer letter list for CCX Russia and would like to be, please let me know & I'll make sure you get added.)

Our friends Katya & Dennis just had their second child, Mark, 3 weeks ago.  We enjoyed visiting with them a couple of nights ago.  Dennis is a worship leader at the church and both are great lay leaders.  Katya has also started scrapbooking & cardmaking this year, so she and I had a great time comparing our creations!

Misha, Katya & Dennis's older son, and his new favorite toy - an old gas mask.  A new obsession for him is to scuba dive with an oxygen tank.  He's 5, but he knows what he wants ;)

Having lunch at McDonald's with our friend Slava.  Slava is an amateur independent film maker who films commercials and other shorts as a way of making money.  He's had a lot of sucess lately - he recently filmed a short piece for the governor of the region, for example.  His wife Masha is a photographer who does weddings and personal photo shoots.  He and Dan have a shared love of technology - here they're discussing iPhones :o)

Some of you will remember that last year we finalized the sale of our apartment in Ekaterinburg and purchased an apartment in Chelyabinsk.  The new apartment needed a lot of renovations!  Our friends Pr. Ilya, who is one of 3 pastors in the newly merged Chelyabinsk Church of God, and Anya & their two children, Grisha & Alica, live in the apartment and did all the work of renovating and decorating it this year.  It's nice to be here and see what they've done with the place :)  Here are some "after" photos:

Living room:

Bedroom:

Toilet "closet" (it's tiny!) & bathroom:

Kitchen:

Outside:

When Russians describe an apartment they talk about how many rooms it has - a 1-room apartment or a 3-room apartment, for example.  The kitchen and bathroom don't count as rooms (since every apartment presumably has those) - and other rooms often serve multiple purposes (e.g. living/dining/bedroom.)  Ours is a 2-room apartment, as you can maybe tell from the photos above. 

Thanks for following along on our blog & praying for our time here.  Continue to pray for rain - the effects of the drought, from wildfires to a record low harvest, are still big concerns here.  Pray for our weekend - Dan preaches on Sunday and we still have a number of friends we want to make sure we have time with, including Pr. Ilya & Anya who have been away at a couple's retreat camp for the last week.  Our goals, as always, are to encourage and be encouraged in our conversations with those who are seeking to faithfully follow Christ on this side of the world.  We feel passionately that our friendships with them can help both us, them and YOU to know God better and live more faithful lives.

With love,
Lucy

Great Conversations

One of the things I always look forward to when I (Dan) visit Russia is the chance to sit down and talk about life, issues of faith, God, and everything in between.  On Sunday after I church I got the chance to talk with Anton, a young student who is studying to be a pastor.  The conversation began with his question “How do I know what my calling from God is?”  He was struggling with the Idea of what made him so special?  Why should he think that God would want to use him, a person who had totally messed up his life so far, to build his kingdom?  Why not pick someone else who was more responsible, more talented, and more qualified? Although the answers are ones many of us have heard before – it’s because of God’s deep love for us and the potential of what we can be with his help- they are words that we all need to hear from time to time.  Many of us struggle with finding significance and value in our lives.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own agendas and forget the part about how much God loves us and wants to bring value into our lives.  Significance not from what we accomplish, but by what he does despite the weakness that we bring to the partnership.  It was great to say these words to Anton and to find encouragement and confidence for myself as we discussed the implications of these simple truths.

On Sunday I (Dan) was able to preach in the Living Word Church in Yekaterinburg. Thank you for all your prayers.  This is a church that I first visited way back in 1993.  I always love the opportunity to worship with them and am humbled by their faithfulness and openness.  I spoke on how we create barriers that prevent us from encountering God.

Today (Tuesday) we travelled to the city of Chelyabinsk.  It was amazing to see the dense smoke and fog that covered the landscape.  The next several days will be spent making appointments and visiting with friends.  Please pray for God’s continues blessing upon our conversations.  Tomorrow we will meet up with Alexi Shillin, the General Secretary of the Russian Student movement that I (Dan) used to work with.  Many of you might remember Alexi from his visit to America last fall.  We are excited to hear about what God has been doing among students here in Russia.

Take Care

Dan

A hot summer

It's Monday morning here in Ekaterinburg and Dan and I are taking stock of the weekend behind us and the week & a half ahead of us.

We are living with our friends Kostya & Luda while we're here in Ekaterinburg. Kostya owns a small Christian book store (that's housed in their church, though Christians from all over the region shop there since it's the only Christian bookstore around) and Luda stays home with their 2 small children, breeding and selling rabbits to earn some extra money for the family. Together with them we hosted a bbq get-together on Saturday for good friends from their church, Living Word Church. It was a great time to catch up on people's lives (and catch them up on ours).

One thing that has become clear in the short time we've been here is what a difficult year it has been for our friends here. Last winter was a very, very cold one and now, as some of you have heard, the summer is scorching hot. Russia is experiencing a terrible drought and fighting forest fires in several regions. While the worst fires are closer to Moscow (2 times zones to the west of us), yesterday and today a hazy smog and the smell of smoke have been hanging in the air here. One of our close friends, Masha, suffered a family tragedy a month ago when her childhood home burned to the ground (unrelated to the forest fires - the fire started in the neighbor's house). She is an architect without much work at the moment and so she has drawn up plans for a small house to be built in place of the home that burned. She is anxious to get it built before the winter so that her mother can have a safe, warm place to live. She will have to take out credit to pay for it and doesn't know where the money will come from to pay back the debt - she's trusting God will take care of them. Please pray for Masha and for many others who are affected by fires this summer.

The drought is also causing people to worry about the possibility of food shortages in the near future. Russia has recently banned exports of certain grains to guard against this but people are anticipating rising costs of food in an already expensive economy. A few friends here are buying up things like rice, flour and sugar in bulk to prepare for the winter ahead. Pray especially for those who don't have the resources to buy ahead and would be most hurt by food shortages - people like the couple who run the Family Rehabilitation Center we bought a refrigerator for last year. They feed dozens of street children on a small budget and any increase in cost would be difficult for their ministry.

Dan's sermon and our time with people at Living Word Church went well yesterday. Dan will write an update in the next day or two. We head south to the city of Chelyabinsk tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for reading and praying!

Lucy & Dan

We've arrived!

After a few delays and setbacks, Lucy and I have arrived safely in Russia. Immediately it feels like returning home; our brains have switched to Russian (I am always amazed how quickly I can begin to remember and understand what people are saying to me) and we have begun meeting up with old friends. This trip will be a shorter one than usual - only 14 days in Russia. I am sure it will feel rushed at the end, but for now Lucy and I are just enjoying the good feelings connected with having returned to our second home.

I (Dan) learned today that I will be preaching this Sunday in church. Please pray for the service, that God will inspire me and speak clearly through me, jet lag and language differences notwithstanding. Pray too for God's blessing on all the interactions we have with peple over the next two weeks. We want to make the most of our time here, especially investing in maintaining the strong friendships and ministry partnerships we have. Those are our two biggest requests at the moment.

Thank you once again to everyone who encouraged us to go and to all who remain faithful in supporting this ministry. We feel so privileged to get to be the "goers" and don't take for granted that you have made that possible by being "senders" - thank you!

God Bless

Dan & Lucy

Summer 2010

Welcome (back)! For those of you who are new to our blog, this is where we record our experiences, post pictures and give prayer updates while we are in Russia each summer. While you're here feel free to look back, check out the photos and read some stories from the last couple of years. The names and places we mention will become familiar if you drop by enough!

We hope you'll follow us this year and pray for us and our friends in Russia. We leave June 27th, arriving in Ekaterinburg, Russia on June 29th. While we're there we'll spend time with friends at Living Word Church in Ekaterinburg and Heaven's Open/Church of God in Chelyabinsk (the two churches have unified this year - more on that in a future post!). Our summers always involve camping, preaching, teaching, and lots of food and fun with our Russian friends.

Before we go, please pray:

• For generous gifts to come in (the money we raise not only pays our way but enables the churches we partner with to do a number of summer ministries they otherwise couldn't afford)
• For Dan and I as we prepare for the preaching/teaching we'll be doing
• For safe travels - and for me to be calm and unafraid (I *really* hate flying!)
• For wisdom as we decide how to spend our time and energy while we're there
• And thank God for giving us these wonderful, mutually encouraging relationships!
  

Photos!

A couple of large photo albums - complete with captions - from our time in Russia:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168314&id=1315254&l=048c69ea76

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2166262&id=1315254&l=17526c7bac

We'll each post in the next week with our biggest impression / favorite moments of the summer. Thanks for following along & praying for us!

Blessings,
Lucy

Back Home!

We are back in America, adjusting to the time difference and trying to get caught up on life. Lucy and I will both be posting later with thoughts on how the summer went. A couple of quick updates in the meantime:

• On our last day in Russia, we got the final documents for our new apartment in the city of Chelyabinsk. Ilya and Anna Sluzin (the pastor and his wife who will be living in this apartment) are now busy putting in carpeting, floors, wallpaper, and new room doors. We are very thankful for God's help in moving this process along
• Lucy and I both spoke in Church last Sunday. It went well. I got to preach in the morning service, Lucy preached in the afternoon youth lead service.
• The last few days were spent packing, saying goodbyes, and praying with friends. Our last nights in both Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg were spent having "shashlik" (Russian barbeque) with old friends.
  
• Lucy and I both have lots to catch upon back home. Lucy with here studies, Dan with new ministries at church. Please pray that God will help us to get over bad colds and adjust to the change in time zones.

Tomorrow's plans

Dan and I are both still recovering from pretty bad colds. We're both sniffling less and coughing more now. Tomorrow is a long day at church - Dan will preach in the morning service (10am-noon) and then I will speak at the afternoon youth service (2-4pm). Services here tend to run longer and involve quite a bit more standing than services in America, which added to the fact that everything is in a second language makes for a tiring day when you're feeling under the weather. It's also our last Sunday in Russia this year, which is always a very bittersweet feeling.

As always, time has flown by. We have found that while we really missed having our own apartment to live in, it was also a gift to spend so much time with both Kostya & Luda, here in Ekaterinburg, and Ilya & Anya and their children in Chelyabinsk. Living for several weeks with people leads either to bonding or a severe case of getting on one another's nerves - or both. I hope - and trust - we had more of the former than the latter. Living with people also means you learn a lot more about the ins and outs of daily life in a different culture. I know much more about how Russians handle babies than I did before, for example, after living with Ilya & Anya last month. Or, perhaps I just know more about how Ilya & Anya handle their baby... which is, of course, the problem - distinguishing cultural norms from individual idiosyncrecies. Which should make you wonder... what do people here think is "normal" for Americans after spending so much time with Dan & Lucy!

I digress, though. Please pray that tomorrow goes well, our voices hold out, our translators understand us, and that we have enough energy to say our goodbyes well.

As an update - our documents for the new apartment should be in on Monday morning, according to our lawyer in Chelyabinsk. We pray there are no more mistakes! Ilya plans to travel to Ekaterinburg on Tuesday so that he and Dan can go to the notary and get a formal power of attorney for him. We leave very, very early Wednesday morning. As always, we're cutting it close!

Pictures are harder here in Ekaterinburg because our internet connection is slower. But many more will be posted on Facebook and here when we get home, if not before.

Thanks for praying!

Sunday at Heaven's Open Church

Praying for us as we head back to America.

The congregation praying for us.

With Blana after the service. When we first met Blana 2 years ago she was a non-believer with lots and lots of questions. Now not only has she become a Christian, several of her friends are now investigating God.


Pasha, Masha, Nadia & Edik man the "book store".

Pastors - Dan & Ilya

Edik's younger sister and a non-Christian friend who came to camp with us and was at church Sunday - her first ever church service, I believe.

Please pray...

Long story short - somewhere, someone has made another mistake and the documents we need to finalize our purchase of the apartment in Chelyabinsk are not yet finished. This is bad news because we need these documents before we can go to a notary and do a power of attorney for Ilya to take care of anything official relating to the apartment - which would include the electical work that needs to be done after the vandalism of the last couple of weeks and getting the building company to pay for some of the damage that was done while the apartment was still under their care. We are supposed to be headed back to Ekaterinburg any day now and then back to the States on the 12th (a week from Wednesday). Imagine if you will how much more of a headache it would be to try and do all of this from America - if even possible. So please pray that the documents would be completed in record time and with no more mistakes! Our current plan is to go back to Ekaterinburg and once Ilya has picked up the documents - hopefully Friday or Monday - he will come to us there.

More pictures tomorrow - there are plenty to share!

Some Stories From Russia

Weighed down by guilt……

Recently I (Dan) sat down with an old friend to catch up on life etc.... After a while the conversation took an unexpected turn. My friend began to talk about how guilt has shaped him as a person.

“I feel weighed down by Guilt. Sometimes it feels as if all my life I have had this incredible burden that presses down on me,” he said.

When I asked how this effected his life he responded. “It makes me doubt myself in all kinds of situations. My culture, my parents, my in-laws, everyone seems to criticize me on a regular basis. I don’t know what to do about it. It is not just me by the way, many of my friends feel the same way. It feels as if guilt is a big chain weighing everyone down.”

This man had been a Christian for well over 10 years, so I was surprised to hear this. I inquired about forgiveness from God and the freedom from guilt that Jesus brings into our lives, but he just looked at me dejectedly and said “forgiveness and freedom- those are just words to me.”

Based on this conversation I incorporated some teachings on guilt and freedom in Christ into one of my sermons this past week, repeating some of what my friend had said. Afterwards several other people come up to me and said that they could easily identify with those feelings - they feel the same way.

Talking to people about guilt and its influence is something that seems to keep popping up in my conversations. One thing I have learned is that I can never assume just because someone goes to church, reads their Bible, and prays along side of me, that they have experienced the freedom that comes with knowing Jesus. My friend is a mature Christian, yet he feels trapped. The Biblical truths that I shared with him had no magical effect, they did not free him immediately from the trappings of guilt. I am not sure exactly why. I am sure that the reasons are complex. One thing that he did emphasize is that these feelings began as a child, and have been reinforced over and over again all throughout his life, via most of the key relationships he has ever had.

Drunken Interruptions…

As Lucy mentioned earlier, last week I was preaching in church on spiritual warfare when a drunk man started to interrupt me by shouting out various questions. When, after being politely asked to stop he kept shouting out his questions, he was forcefully removed from the sanctuary. To be honest, I am not used to being heckled during one of my sermons. I was rattled by the scene and had a difficult time concentrating further as my thought kept going back to the man. This proved to be a good object lesson as to the creative ways that the devil wants to distract us from what God calls us to do. This was not a random person that wandered into the congregation. This is a man whose wife and children are church members and who were present. I felt for her and the shame that she endured throughout the rest of the service. The church was well aware of her situation, many had confronted this man in the past on how he treated/abused his family. At the end of the service the Pastor Ilya got up and said “I am not sure that we handled this the right way today. But I want you to know (and he turned to the wife) that we are your family, that we want to support you. We also want to love [this man] as Christ loves him. I do not know how we do that, but part of it has to do with what Dan spoke about today when he said that our battle is not against flesh and blood.” This was an example to us about how a congregation faces the struggles and pain that confront them, not sure how to go forward, but acknowledging that they must do it together rather than as individuals. It was also a vivid reminder that alcoholism is a real force for evil and destruction in this country.

Remaining hopeful…..

Lucy and I recently had a long conversation with Ilya and Anya over dinner that stretched into the evening. After discussing for quite awhile about the mistakes the church makes, Lucy asked us “So how do we remain hopeful about the church?” My first response was “Our hope is not in ourselves or the church, it is in Christ. He has a plan and we need to trust that it (his plan) is moving forward. Even if the Christian institutions that we help to form fail or disappear, that will never change the fact that lives were changed, people were saved by what Christ has already done through us.” This lead Ilya to comment on how recently he has noticed and felt deeply the brokenness and suffering around him; he has prayed “God why have you shown me all this brokenness if I can’t seem to do anything about it?” He felt the response he got from God was this: “I have called you to be a Pastor; to teach, equip, and train people to be Christian doctors, artists, musicians, school teachers, factory workers and business managers. So that my light can shine through them and I can heal the brokenness in the world.” Ilya went onto comment how God had helped to deepen his love for his congregation, these particular people who are the people God has chosen for him to shepherd and lead (regardless of whether he would have chosen them!).

Here are some ways you can join in on these conversations and pray:

• Pray that our friends will experience the freedom from guilt that Christ offers. Pray that God’s truth will overcome all of the false ideas that have been ingrained in their identities.
  
• Pray for the man who interrupted the sermon and for his family. Pray that God will invade this man’s life and free him from his addiction. Pray that his actions will not isolate this women and her children from the congregation but rather they would find the help and encouragement they need in this community. Pray that God will help the whole church understand how they can be a family for this women and her kids. Pray for healing and protection for this family - and for Russia - from the effects of alcoholism.
  
• Pray that God will strengthen Ilya and Anya to be shepherd’s for the people God has given them. Pray that God will use this small group of believers to have a huge healing effect on the city of Chelyabinsk.

Dan

Chelyabinsk - "When it rains, it pours"

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...)

Blessings to all!

Lucy (for us both)

Pictures from camp

We're heading out the door to church soon and I need to get ready! But I thought I'd post some pictures from Family Camp to tide you over until we can post some of our stories from the last week. Hopefully these will whet your appetites! (FYI: I believe if you click on the photos you can see the larger version.)