MOSCOW TRIP NOTES FOR JANUARY OF 2003

click here for MOSCOW TRIP PRESENTATION FOR JANUARY OF 2003

2 January 2003, Thursday.

Well, my trip to Moscow has begun, I am at JFK International Airport on a Delta 767-300 ER in Row 33AB. It is 6:44 p.m. in New York. My seat assignment was for 33B but the owner of "A" never showed up. Thank you Lord! The flight is going to be about eight and a half hours, but because the arrival of the flight into JFK (of this jet) was late, the pilot indicated they are going to make up the 45-minute delay, making the flight seven hours and forty-five minutes. Every little bit helps!

The day started out well. I got to O'Hare this morning very early to attempt to claim a better seat. No such luck. I checked all my bags of which there were three. I had one more than allowed so I ended up having to pay for the 3rd bag. You don't want to know how much.

After check-in, I went through security, it was rather painless for a change. I wandered down to gate L10, where I would meet my gang of travelers and the Comair/Delta RJ70 jet to JFK.

I stopped at a restaurant just down the terminal from the gate and had a leisurely breakfast of a ham and cheese omelet, which was quite tasty. I sat there until almost noon working on my Seattle to Chicago trip report and talked to a special friend on the telephone.

I met up with Aleksander Zhdan and the rest of our group at the gate, made introductions and got on our jet. The flight was delayed due to ice on the wings, so we waited for a de-icing truck for almost an hour. We were concerned about the delay causing us to miss our connection in JFK.

After spending a little time talking to the flight attendant about the conditions at Comair and Delta ( I will always have an Airline Industry interest ). I also learned she had just gotten married a month before.

We landed at JFK got into the terminal and bolted for gate 12, only to be told the flight was at gate 10. We zipped over to gate 10 and found the aircraft was delayed for twenty minutes. Murphy strikes again !!! We were finally able to board the jet after a twenty-five minute delay.

Tonight's menu, salad with Italian dressing, beef du jour and a lemon creme desert. At 6:50 p.m., the pilot announced that we were 12th in line for take-off, it is 7:05 and we are about 3rd, now.

We are next up at 7:11 p.m., next stop, Moscow!

It is 9:07 p.m. NY time. Dinner is done; the food was very good. Six hours to go.

I am just contemplating the start of this new assignment. I was thinking about the dream I had about traveling to Moscow eight years ago. I suddenly realized that I was about to live that dream !! I also thought how strange all of this can feel, in that it was just a year ago that I had no clue where the Lord would take me, now I am going to be in Russia in a matter of hours. As the song goes, " How Bizarre ... "!

I have been told that my life will never be the same after this trip. I am looking forward to the teaching, guidance and understanding that the Lord will send my way over the next three weeks.

12:20 a.m. NY time, crossing the Irish coast over Shannon. We are much further South than I thought we would have flown. Another hour and we should be over the mainland. I am surprised to see very little in the way of lights on the ground. It has to be around 4:30 a.m. local time, no sign of sun yet.

12:40 a.m., I am listening to one of my all time favorite CD's, "Ishtar, the Voice of Alabina". It is an extraordinary mix of Arabic, French and English. Song four, "Et Qu'un Ange Passe" is the best on this CD. Try it you'll like it !!!

Not much to see until landing at 10:00 a.m. today, due to clouds. Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport was covered with snow. As we taxied around to the gate, I noticed parked Aeroflot Russian Airlines Jets everywhere. I saw new IL 96's and Tu-204's, plus many older jets. I also saw a number of IL-76 cargo jets sitting idle. What a show!

We exited the Jet and got through customs and immigration with only one problem. One of the tour group members has either lost or had somebody take his bag by mistake. He has only the clothes he is wearing.

We waited at the airport for an hour, but no bag showed up. We all piled into three vans and made our way straight to a shopping center in Moscow. We browsed this mall for a while and looked through an Art Gallery display, did some window shopping and then we left to go for the Christian Center where many Christian mission offices are located, including PDRM and MAF, are located. The address is on Nametkina skaya in the south of Moscow. We stopped in and got prepared to go to dinner and on to the train station for the ride to Saint Petersburg.

We ate at a Russian fast food place and had shish kabob that was fairly edible. At least it wasn't McDonald's. After the meal, we did a driving tour of the city and stopped in a park called Vorobyoviye Gory, where Muscovites can ski or sled in the winter. The Park overlooks downtown Moscow, Lenin Central Stadium, Moscow State University, the Kremlin and Red Square and is right on the Moscow River. It also has a small ski ramp in the park. We went from Vorobyoviye Gory to Red Square. I saw the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum, Gym (goom) Department Store and Saint Basils Cathedral. The Red Square area is the upscale shopping area of Moscow.

It is also the location of the May Day parades of the Soviets that used to run between Gym and the Kremlin in Red Square. I was pretty awed by the whole thing as I have dreamed for years of being able to see and experience this country. It struck me tonight that the Lord had done it. I am HERE!

The Kremlin area has shops, restaurants, and I even saw an Orthodox Santa Claus. Lights, Christmas trees and other decorations are all over Moscow, it was very pretty and festive.

The "Russia" Hotel is across Ordynka Bolshaya skaya from the Kremlin. It is the largest Hotel in Eurasia and possibly the world, with 5000 units.

After our quick tour of Red Square we got back in the vans to go to the train station for our trip to Saint Petersburg. The van we were in kept getting stuck in the snow, I figured it was time for new tires. We got stuck getting out of Red Square and getting into the train station.

Leningradski Vokzal is the station we had to get to, to go to Saint Petersburg. After the 1917 Revolution, St. Petersburg was named after Lenin, Leningrad, in an attempt to remove the memory of the Tsars. After the Collapse of the Soviet Union, the name of the city was changed back to Saint Petersburg, but they have not changed the name of the train station.

Our train was electric with overhead wires. Each car had seven sleeping berths for four people and one room for the cabin attendant. Each car has a uniformed attendant that set up the berths, delivered our box lunch and stayed in their own berth for the trip to Saint Petersburg. Ours was about 20; very nice yet barely understood English. I tried to get a bottle of water from her, but it took forever for us to understand what it was I was asking, then it took forever for her to explain that another attendant would be bringing bottles to purchase, it was actually fun trying to communicate.

I had three guys from the tour in my berth. Tyler (18), Joshua (15) and Jordan (13). Since I was the leader, I made 3 rules for our berth: NO drinking, NO smoking, NO snoring!

The train left the station at 11 p.m. By 11:30 our box lunch was delivered and we started to eat it. We had a can of liversausage spread that smelled just like cat food, I took 2 small scoops of it and that was enough for me. The others didn't even try. I ate about half of my lunch and saved the rest for morning.

We sat up talking until about 12:30 and then we all crashed. Our day was over, 36 hours long by that time.

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4 January, Friday.

I slept until almost 4:00 a.m. when I woke up sweating. We had all been joking earlier about how cold it was on the train when we first boarded and now we were joking how hot it was. Even so, I slept off and on until about 6:30am when the attendant started banging on everybody's doors. We were close to the station. Between the heat, an inch-thick mattress and the bed being exactly 6'4" long between walls, it was not the most comfortable sleeping experience I have ever had. I finished off the box lunch, most of which was quite good.

Everyone got off the train in Saint Petersburg and we immediately noticed how much colder it was here. We were guessing the temperature to be around -20 degrees F, with a brutal wind-chill. Compared to Saint Petersburg, Mockba was balmy at 32 degrees F.

We made our way to the front of the station where we met up with our driver. We managed to cram all of our luggage into his van and drove to our hotel. All we talked about was having our first hot shower in 2 days.

The next hour was almost a series of comic events for us. We turned down a street that had a lake of water in it to find a car and a truck stuck in the road blocking our route. So, our driver pulled off the road and started driving down the sidewalk. We assumed he was just going around the stuck vehicles. Wrong !!! Event #1. The driver could not make the turn into the driveway from the sidewalk because of a very narrow gate. We would have to walk across ace sheet to the building with all of our luggage. We saw a dilapidated building from the street that was our "Hotel". Our expectations for this place took a nosedive. Event #2. We had to haul our luggage across ice and snow to the building. We got to the solid wood doors and when we opened them, we thought we had entered a time machine. The place reminded me of a 1930's stairwell and it looked and smelled as if it had not been cleaned since then. The "foyer" was unheated and both the outer and inner doors were covered with frost. We all started laughing and joking about the place we were getting into. Event #3. We got in, went to the second floor and opened the door. It was warm and hospitable, had hot water for showers and good long beds. We were so much happier !!!

It was about 7:30 a.m. when we arrived at the Hotel and no sun yet. All the guys, 10 of 13 people took showers right away, the last 3 had no hot water. As I was getting ready to shower, they called us in for breakfast. So I went and ate breakfast figuring on a shower afterwards. Smart move on my part !!

Breakfast was very good. We had a more typical European breakfast of bread, cold cuts, cheese, cookies, sweet breads, milk, orange juice, tea and fruits. It was very tasty, though the kitchen temperature was uncomfortably cold.

The Russian Ministries director for Saint Petersburg joined us for the meal. He talked of his personal testimony and how he came to know Christ and what happened to him in Communist Society when it was found out about his faith. Once it became public knowledge, he was kicked out of the Submarine service as a result. Vassiely Timofaevich is his name. He described, through Aleks, the spiritual history of Russia, the current situation and the needs of the people and the church.

He described the Russian churches as needing prayer for:

" spiritual revival through outreach

" that there are so few Christians in Russia ( 86,000 or so )

" Church planting efforts in Russia.

" Financial resources that are limited.

" Prayer resources that are limited.

The need to overcome 70 years of official Communist Atheism and a thousand years of state sanctioned Orthodox religion. It was very interesting to hear Vassielly talk about his experiences. In the United States, it is hard for us to relate to those experiences, because we have never experienced anything like it.

We finished breakfast, I ran up to take my shower and found I had very HOT water, I was SO happy! I also noted that it was finally getting to full daylight here at 9 a.m.

We had to run our passports through a certain office here in Saint Petersburg to register our VISA with the Russian government. Afterwards, we went to do a bit of shopping. Many of us wanted to get the "Zimniya Shapka", winter hats, that are seen everywhere here. I wanted to get one too, so we went to an open-air market. These are the large fur hats that Russian men wear. The market had the hats but none of the ones I wanted fit, they were all too small. I knew I had a big head, but had no idea it was THAT big!

After the market we did a short driving tour of Saint Petersburg. We stopped to exchange some dollars for roubles, then went on to the Hermitage. The Hermitage was the primary residence of the Tsar's built in the 1700's. The building has 3 floors and is enormous. Each floor is 15 feet tall. Today, the Hermitage is an Art Museum. Starting with Catherine the Great, in the mid-1700's, many of the TSAR's spent a tremendous amount of the Russian Treasury purchasing art from countries around the world. Subsequent TSAR's, to get money for the nearly broke treasury, sold many of these paintings.

What amazed me was that so little damage had been done to any of these buildings in Saint Petersburg during the October Revolution. By contrast, the Palace of Versailles, near Paris, was severely damaged during the French Revolution, so much so, that the French have restored very little of that Palace. The Hermitage probably escaped the ensuing chaos because the Bolsheviks under V.I. Lenin used this building as their headquarters for a time. With the outside temperature well below zero, the Hermitage was also very cold inside; many rooms were uncomfortably cool. This is a place to be in late spring when it is not so cold.

We left the Hermitage and headed for a Russian fast food restaurant. They had an English version of the menu and I saw Beef Stroganoff, so I ordered it. It was excellent! Aleks had a run-in with the people behind the counter tonight. After ordering food for 17 people, they only delivered 13 meals. When Aleks told them about it, they got very angry with him and told him to pay for the meals or he would not get any. Poor Aleks, he was very upset. I was more upset about the fact that the restaurant was very cold. We were guessing between 45 and 50 degrees F at the tables where we were trying to eat.

We went to a kiddie circus after eating. It was cute, but of course, in Russian, so a lot of the clown acts went over my head. After the circus, we came back to the rooms and turned into vegetables the rest of the evening. It felt good to sit around and do nothing for a few hours.

I am in a room with nine beds; it is large with tall ceilings, about 20x30x15 feet. Aleks is in the corner bed and Tyler in the bed next to mine under the windows. The heat in these rooms is working well. The rooms stay very warm, almost too warm. Yet, the hallway and the bathrooms are cool. I decided to take a quick shower tonight, it was scalding hot. It felt so great!!

Aleks and I have developed a pretty close friendship. He is a Muscovite by birth and lives in the western suburbs of Chicago. He is studying to be a Pastor and is being sponsored by Russian Ministries. He has lived in the U.S. for six years and is married with three kids and his wife is expecting their fourth child in June.

We sat up talking until about 11:00 p.m. and then went to sleep. We had only had about four or five hours sleep since we left Chicago over 56 hours before !!!

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5 January, Sunday

Slept good last night. I woke up at about 7 a.m. I showered, or should I say, stuck my head in to wash my hair. By the time I got there, there was little hot water left. It was just warm enough to wash my hair and shave.

I dressed and found Aleks to be out of the room. I found him in a room set up for classes. He was preparing for today's sermon. He had been asked to preach at the Russian Baptist Church today. I sat down to work on this journal, but Aleks seemed to be in a mood to talk. He asked me a question about my impressions of our trip so far. I had to think about that one as I usually try to reserve judgement until I have seen more.

I was able to say for sure, that Moscow had exceeded my expectations and Saint Petersburg has so far been near expectations. This statement sparked a very interesting conversation for the next 30 minutes. It turned out that Aleks was concerned about our impressions of his country. With all of the little negative things that have happened and some of the major items that I have recounted here, he was wondering how we would take a positive impression have with us. During our conversation, I realized that he had lost perspective on his own society. He had been in the U.S. long enough to get used to our level of service and had forgotten, to some extent, where he had come from. We talked about remembering that we are from a society of a different level and we must come to Russia and live at the same level as they do to enable them to learn how to lift themselves up by our demonstrating a higher level of service to them.

I also realized something that had occurred when we arrived at our "Hotel" on the first day. We expected a true hotel, but when we arrived, we were taken aback by the appearance of our hotel. When we came in the front door, because of appearance and smell, our expectations really dropped. But, when we got to the rooms, our expectations went way up again and we were quite pleased, after all. The lesson for me was this; had we not had the experience at the entrance when our expectations might have been higher, would we have been as happy with our rooms as we were ?

Shortly after, we had breakfast, got dressed up and left for Krasnoe Syeloe, southwest of Saint Petersburg. The Russian Baptist organization has a church here that we would attend and Aleks would preach to their congregation, too.

The drive took an hour and we found ourselves in the little town of Krasnoe Syeloe (Beautiful Village) which is pretty small compared to Saint Petersburg. I am continuously amazed at how cold every building has been in Saint Petersburg, with the exception of our Hotel rooms. The church was no exception. I spent the day wearing my jacket. It was -10 degrees F, outside. The church meets in an office building that has a kitchen attached. As we entered the church, we were caught by the smell of something wonderful cooking. Suddenly I felt very hungry and wished for some of whatever they were cooking.

An interesting event took place just after we entered the church. A fellow came in behind us and just stood at the door looking very cold and uncomfortable. I had noticed him standing there but didn't think much about it for several minutes, I just thought he was a church member. But, he just stood there as if he did not know what to do. After several minutes, I went over to Aleks, who was talking to another Russian and pointed the guy out to him. Aleks went over and started talking to him. They spent some time together and the guy finally walked out the door he came in. I asked Aleks about the conversation and he told me that the guy lived near the church and he walked past it often. He just decided to stop in today. Aleks talked to him about his interest in the church, his salvation and coming back for a service. Aleks also told me that he was drunk, as well, but he promised Aleks he would come back sober, the following Sunday. I would be very interested to find out if he actually did.

The service opened w/Pastor Vassielly Timofaevich praying. He preached from Isaiah 9 in Russian and then Aleks got up and preached in Russian. All of us got up and sang several hymns in English, then we all sang "Silent Night, Holy Night" in both English and Russian together. It was a rather profound moment for all of us.

After the songs, one of our group members, Brian Stull, a Pastor from Ohio, who joined us with his wife and four kids, gave a sermon in English, which Aleks translated into Russian. This turned out to be a great service, as most of the congregation had never met an American before. There were about 30-35 people in the congregation.

The church pianist was noticed by everyone in our group. She was a tall, well-dressed Lady about 28. She played the piano very well and sung a solo for us. Her voice was fabulous. It has always amazed me how a beautiful voice can make any language beautiful.

After the service, I found out that the food I had smelled was for us. They sat us down at a long table and served soup, mashed potatoes and gravy, a ground beef meatball, plus a cabbage salad, with little cakes and breads to go along. This was the first, truly Russian meal that we had had since arriving. It was delicious and must have cost the church a lot of money to fix for us. After supper, we were invited to see the new facility that the church was renovating. It was going to be a bit of a hike from where we were, but we dressed as warmly as we could and hit the sidewalks.

The church is in an office building on the outskirts of Krasnoe Syeloe (Beautiful Village). We crossed an area that had lots of trees before we arrived at the church and the trees were covered with a very thick layer of frost called "Hoarfrost". It made everything white, all the trees looked as if they had been spray-painted. It was very pretty.

We walked about eight blocks into the city and arrived pretty well frozen at the church building. The building is right in the middle of several apartment blocks. It is four stories high. The church had been negotiating to purchase the building but did not have the money, about 23,000 dollars was needed. A visiting American heard of the need and donated the entire amount, so the church now owns the building. They need to upgrade the electrical system, add running water and put in a heating system.

As we were shown around the building and saw the condition of it, it was apparent that it had been abandoned for a long time and considerable damage has been done. They are using wood-burning stoves to heat two rooms on the first floor and they need several thousand dollars to completely refurbish the heating system.

The first floor will have the Chapel and some meeting rooms. The upper floors will have rooms for people to live in and for bible studies and offices. The church has been working at the renovations, as the money becomes available.

I want to make a quick note here about how the Russian Christians perceive American Christians. Most of the donations they receive come from American churches or individuals; some donations come from Russians and very little from other countries. They view Americans as the most generous, understanding and giving people in the world. If it were not for the donations of a very small number of Americans, Christian work in Russia would almost completely stop.

We left the new church to go back and it felt even colder outside. I had left my snow pants behind, not knowing we were going to be walking anywhere. I had realized by this time that my wardrobe was completely inadequate. Not so much for being outside, but for inside. These buildings are so drafty that it felt almost as cold inside as it was outside. I was not prepared for that.

We arrived back at the old church building to find the Christmas celebration about to begin. They had a hand puppet skit set-up for local gypsy children that would have been very good had I any clue what they were saying. Plus, we had little gift packages for them as well. One of the gypsy mothers got up and gave a short testimony that was translated for us. I was not able to write down any of the details.

Gypsies throughout Europe have been historically persecuted. Hitler and the Nazis sent many thousands to the gas chambers and Stalin under communism executed thousands, as well. Today, especially in Eastern Europe, gypsies remain on the fringes of society.

All the kids in our group participated in handing out gifts to the kids. Even seven year old Sarah, an adorable little girl, never looked scared or intimidated by any of the kids. The gifts we gave out came from various contributors. Some from Russian Ministries, some from an organization called "Samaritan's Purse" the rest from the churches of my travel group. All of the gifts originated in the U.S. They consisted of candies of various kinds, chocolate bars, pens, pencils, toothbrushes and paste, soap, stuffed animals, little toys, caps, mittens, wool socks, booklets, etc. I saw several kids swapping stuffed animals and the hats and mittens for ones they liked better. It was neat to see their faces, but sad to be told that this would be all that many of them would receive for Christmas.

The celebration ended at 8 p.m. and we drove back to the hotel in a fairly quiet vehicle. Little Sarah was asleep in minutes of our leaving the church.

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6 January, Monday

Today we had breakfast in our hotel again, but we moved the food from the refrigerator they called a kitchen to the meeting room on our floor, it was so nice to eat w/o shivering!

We had a new tour guide today, her name is Tatiana. Tatiana is in her mid 60's and has several children and grandchildren. She speaks very little English and was a journalist in Saint Petersburg. She is retired today.

We started our city tour at 9 a.m. Tatiana began by telling us all about how Sankt Peterburg (Russian for Saint Petersburg) got its start. I am sure you will appreciate that I am going to spare you the details, but a little history is necessary to understand this city.

In 1703 Tsar Pioter decided Russia needed a seaport that would connect Russia to the rest of the world. He picked a swamp at the Delta of the Neva River (HEBA in Russian) and the Baltic Sea.

Despite mosquitos, disease, mud, floods, rain and harsh winters, he forcefully carried out the beginnings of a cultural Renaissance in Russia. Subsequent TSARS built palaces and homes, government offices and art museums.

During the communist years, Saint Petersburg was largely neglected by Stalin as a reminder of the "bad old days" under the TSARS. Stalin had the city's name changed to Leningrad before the outbreak of war in Europe.

In World War II, the Germans arrived in the outskirts of Saint Petersburg just before the winter set in and laid siege to the town. Very little food could get through and rations became 125 grams of bread, per person, per day. To make a long story short, over a million people died in Saint Petersburg during the 930 days of the siege.

In the winter, the dead were piled up on the ice in the river and the canals and in the summer they were put in a mass grave. The spring thaw would let the bodies float out to sea. There is also a mass grave called Peskaryevskoye Cemetery in Saint Petersburg where many hundreds of thousands are buried. Unfortunately, we did not get to see this site.

After the war and the death of Stalin, SP began to rebuild. To be fair, the Germans played a large part in funding and fixing a lot of the damage done by the Nazi's. Saint Petersburg is preparing to begin a 3-month celebration of its 300th Anniversary in May of 2003.

As we talked of WWII, Tatiana decided we would drive to the SP war Memorial. The Memorial is on the southeast outskirts of the city and lies on the spot that divided the Russian and German lines. There is a concrete ring set up but the ring has an opening on the Russian side. The symbiology is that the Germans never closed the siege ring around the city and eventually the Russians broke the siege by resupplying through that small opening mainly across the ice of Lake Ladoga in the Winter and by boat during the summer.

We walked out to the memorial and took pictures of the obelisk showing the dates and numerous statues. We also tried not to freeze in the process because it was so cold! We then went into the underground museum and viewed pictures and a newsreel from 1942. It was pretty grim. The lights fixtures lining the walls were shaped like tank shells with a flickering orange light where the bullet itself would be, they were spaced about a foot apart and covered all the walls, There had to be about 500 of these lights, but the effect could not be missed.

Tatiana showed us around and Aleks translated for us. I kept hearing this very slow ticking coming from the PA system. At first I thought it was a clock, but the timing was too slow for seconds. Tatiana told us that it was the recreation of the ticking noise put out by the radio station in SP to let people know that the station was still operational. So that in between broadcasts, the people would know that the Germans had not taken over the city. It came to be known as the "heartbeat" of Saint Petersburg.

We left the memorial and drove through downtown Saint Petersburg. We Passed the Hermitage again and continued up the Neva River towards the Peter and Paul Fortress on the opposite (North) bank of the river. The fortress was the first major building completed by Peter the Great and it dominates the river. We crossed a bridge onto the north bank of the Neva and drove past the gunboat "Aurora". The Aurora is permanently moored here as a museum. It played a role in Russo-Japanese naval battles in 1905, plus, the crew was instrumental in helping the Bolsheviks during the revolution of 1917. Tatiana drove us past the statue of Peter the Great on our way towards our next destination. I had read last summer that the sculptor that designed the monument wanted a huge stone to set him on. So, they found an enormous piece of granite 15 miles away. Estimates range from 1 to 1.25 million pounds of rock were dragged from a swamp, into the city and placed in its spot. Men died of injuries and malaria to get it where it is. The sculptor then cut away two thirds of the stone to make the pedestal as it is today!

Our next destination was the "Rainbow of Hope" orphanage in southern SP. We arrived at the facility by 1:30 p.m. and the program started at 2:00pm.

This facility has only 2 floors to house everything, including staff necessary to take care of 40 kids from about 7 to 15. It is very small. We were given a quick briefing by the Director before the program started. The kids here are mostly kids taken out of abusive homes. The orphanage tries to counsel the parents and bring them all back together, but they have little success. Some of these children are brought in off the streets. We were told of one boy about 12 years old who had been sniffing glue for so long he has severe brain damage.

We went to the room and began the presentation with prayer and one of the staff members played the guitar while the children sang Christmas songs in Russian. Several staff members are missionaries from France, I found out later.

Each one of us got up in front of the group and introduced ourselves and told the group why we were in Russia while one of the staff members translated. After I was finished and going back to my place at the side of the room, a little girl about nine years old, wearing black stretch pants and a white and black striped shirt said hello as I passed by her. I said "hello" in return and gave her a little touch on her head. For the rest of the celebration she kept turning, looking and smiling. Her and 4 of her friends kept looking at me standing about five feet away and giggling. They must have been thinking about my height, I know I'm not funny looking!

The celebration ended after the presents were handed out. We all walked around and took pictures with the kids and this little girl and I are in several pictures. Another girl about thirteen who was on crutches with a handicapped knee wanted to get in on the pictures too, so I picked her up and put her on a bench and she came close to my height. She was so happy to be there with us !!

I saw my little friend in the black outfit several times and each time she would say hello or smile and wave, she was so cute and she was beginning to get to my heart. The orphanage had us to their kitchen for lunch. It was not a great meal, though it reminded me that they have so little money to work with here. The manager had a question and answer session w/us and we found out they have a backlog of children waiting to get in. They need more rooms, staff and bedding, but there is not enough money to do what needs to be done. I picked up a large number of their brochures and will be handing them out to churches that I speak in, hopefully leading to some donations.

As we were getting ready to leave, my cute little friend came up to me with her big, brown and sorrowful eyes and she said with great emotion "Good-bye" in English. It was all I could stand. I wanted to pick her up and carry her out under my coat.

We left this orphanage with one boy waving to us. I found out that he was the boy who had been severely brain damaged from sniffing glue on the streets. He stood outside in the freezing temperature to wave to us until we were out of sight. It is so sad to see the needs here and know that there is no quick fix. "Rainbows of Hope" is forecasting that the number of orphans in SP will go from 40,000 today to 120,000 within 2 to 3 years. The vast majority of them will end up on the streets.

We drove from one side of SP to the other to get to the Russian Baptist church. This facility is in what used to be an Orthodox Church. The church was having a Christmas celebration for a group of kids off the street. There was about 30 to 35 kids, boys and girls ranging in age from about 8 to 16 years old. They sat in a group across from us and some paid attention to the puppet show but most did not. The show ended and the kids were herded out to a little room to be fed and given their gifts afterwards.

As I watched them eat and interact, I could pick out those that were group leaders. One boy about 15 seemed to be the leader of the entire group. He wore a ragged white turtleneck sweater and a black trench coat. He was rather quiet and aloof, but, when he spoke to the others in the group about being quiet or behaving, everybody seemed to listen.

The kids ate all of the food they could lay their hands on and I watched several shoving pieces of bread into their pockets for later.

Aleks talked to the kids in Russian and they seemed to respond very well to him. I was wishing I could understand what he was saying to them. As the gifts were handed out, pandemonium ensued. The youngest kids crowded Aleks so tightly they had to be forcefully moved away so he could continue.

I watched as these kids went through the gift boxes and bags. The same gifts were given to them as the orphan children with the addition of soaps and shampoos. They were trying to find places to stuff everything they had received when I realized that they would probably loose most of the items they were given because they had no place to put them. The only thing they had to carry all of this stuff were pockets and flimsy plastic shopping bags. I thought fanny packs would have been an outstanding item for them.

This younger group finally left and about ten older kids came in. These were about 16-18 years old and the same packages were passed out to them. One girl was about 17, dressed quite fashionably, seemed well groomed and even spoke English fairly well. I was too far away and too busy to hear her story as she was telling it. I would have loved to have heard it.

After these kids left we sat with Pastor Vassielly Timofaevich and he told us about the area and the children. The stories are so sad. People literally abandoning their children for booze, some being abandoned due to lack of food. The oldest ones are left to fend for themselves so the youngest ones can be fed. Others abandoned because the parents migrated elsewhere and left their children behind. It just reminds me that in a society where there has been "NO GOD" for many generations, there is also no wrong either.

We left this church for the drive back to the hotel. We were all pretty somber with what we had seen today. This church and others know they cannot house these kids, they probably would not stay inside anyway. My opinion from observing their behavior is that most of the older kids are untamable, at this point. But, at least they try to reach them with the Gospel. It is sad to think of how much I have had, and what I did with it. It shames me sometimes.

We made the train for Moscow at the Muskovskiye Station. We ended up having to pay our train attendant 50 roubles for sheets and blankets (about $1.60) and refused to pay him the extra for the box lunch, even though they are part of the ticket price. This kind of corruption is an epidemic in Russia, yet it is an indication of how bad the situation is here for many people.

This train ride was not much better than the first, though it helped to sleep with my feet over the heat pipe instead of my head. Aleks ended up in a berth with three strangers in it and one of them smelled like he had never taken a shower in his life. We convinced him to stay in our berth and Luke and Sarah shared a bed in their parents berth.

We arrived in Moscow at 7 a.m. hoping it would be somewhat warmer. It was not!

S Rozhdestvom !!!, (Merry Christmas !!! )

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7 January, Tuesday.

Today is kind of a blur; we went to a hotel very near Namyetkina Street where PDRM, MAF and many other ministries have their joint offices. I stayed in a three-bedroom Hotel flat with Tyler, Jordan, Aleks and myself. Jordan and Aleks shared a room. These rooms were cool to cold as well. The kitchen was not furnished, so no dishes or silverware to be found. We stopped at a grocery store for food on our way to the next orphanage.

We saw more children with more of the same stories. It's not that this orphanage was any different or less significant than the others were to me. I believe it is because I slept so poorly on the train and had not had any time to recoup those losses.

That night we met one of the other PDRM people, her name is Nadezhda Abydenova. We were scheduled to attend a youth group meeting with her and I was expecting another rundown, cold and primitive church setting with a lot of local children.

What we got was a very warm room with about 40-45 teenagers. We came through the doors and were welcomed warmly by this group. They had a band to play for them and a nice floor area to sit on. Nadzha, I could tell, wanted us to join the group on the floor but I cannot sit on a floor for long, getting TOO OLD!!!

The band played some Christian songs, talked to them about GOD and his love and then Nadzha got up and talked to them, as well. I was impressed with her. She had put together this whole program and even paid for it out of her own pocket. Plus she got up and talked of Gods love and hope for their future. Nadzha is a young mother with 2 kids and a heart for all children.

Next came the contest. First people got up and recited poems and were given a prize. Next, four coffee cups were put on a low table and three people were called to go up and play a tune on them. Two Girls went up and suddenly I was volunteered by one of our group members. So, I got up and the first two girls played their tunes. It then became my turn. I started tapping out "Jingle Bells" until somebody figured it out. I then volunteered the Emcee into doing it, too. She was NOT happy, but she took it in stride.

People clapped for the one they thought did the best. When it got to me, I received a huge round. I didn't think I did that good ! I was hoping I had not won simply because I was a visitor. I received a little box of chocolates from the Netherlands that had a shoe (ceramic and tiny) in the box.

After the meeting was over I went thankfully back to the room, took a blessed HOT shower and slept like a dead man for hours.

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8 January, Wednesday.

Today, we headed for the town of Vladimir (Vla-DI-mir) to the east of Moscow about two hours drive. I was with one of the PDRM managers, Pavel, a tall, jovial guy with a very loud voice whether speaking Russian or English. Pavel is about 30 or so and is married with three children; the youngest is about six weeks old. We were driving east on a two-lane highway and the van kept getting warmer and warmer as we drove. Pretty soon we were down to our regular clothes. It was even warm enough to take our shoes off.

The road and the driving methods were amusing to observe. The centerline between lanes was snow free, so everybody drove it. When we wanted to pass another car we would veer over partly into oncoming traffic, the driver ahead would steer to the right and we would both be in the respective lanes. Then we would pass the car.

Pavel was following another driver, Valentin, and true to Russian form, we were running late. Valentin would stop for nothing, he was determined to get there as quickly as possible. In the meantime, Pavel had brought a cherry cake with him and offered it to us for a snack. It was a cake made by a friend of his from the Ukraine and it was a beautiful cake to see. The baker had cut dough and made shapes of flowers and other things on it. It was almost a shame to cut it up and eat it. But, we did anyway !!

One of the ladies in our group, Cheryl, suggested we give the rest of the cake to the other people in van number one. Pavel called Valentin and we found out he was not stopping for even a minute and that their van had NO heat whatsoever! Valentin was looking through 2 small holes in the windshield to drive I was thankful for our floor heater that was keeping us nice and toasty.

We headed through Vladimir and took a two-lane road out towards the orphanages. It was fairly clear of snow, which seemed to surprise all of the Russians. We drove several miles, turned right and Pavel said, "Ah, this is more like it"! The road was the same color as the fields on either side, WHITE!

We arrived at an orphanage located out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The orphanage is a working farm and has cows and pigs with crops and included a sewing shop for the little girls. We started out on a tour of the facility. It is a house that was occupied by one of the local princes in the 1700's. The kitchen was in what used to be the Orthodox Church. There was a barn that had two of the biggest pigs I have ever seen. Another building housed the sewing shop. The children used a loom that was almost 150 years old to make carpets with. They also sewed mittens and other little items, took them to Moscow and sold them for what they could get. All materials were donated by various organizations in Russia and the proceeds usually went for food and clothing for the kids. The Director of the orphanage told us that he hoped the farm would be self-sufficient sometime this year.

I was wandering the tables in the sewing room and ran across a quilt that was about 6' by 6'. Made by the kids and it was very pretty. It is designed with little pieces of cloth sewn together on one side and a single multi-colored piece on the other. When I asked the price of the quilt, I was told to make a donation for it. I won't tell you what it cost me, but it was worth it. I can get you one of them, come and see me if you are interested in making a donation to the orphanage !!

We met the kids here in one of their larger classrooms. Many of them would be leaving the orphanage very soon as they were about 16 or 17 years old. Most of the guys were headed for the Russian Military. There was no other place except the streets for them. The girls, no clue! ( I have been given word since the trip that the Russian government tries to give each orphan a place to stay until they are 21, but with over 1.5 million orphans, the government cannot afford to do that for them all ).

We handed out more presents and gifts to the children at this orphanage and we were subsequently shuffled out the door for the long drive back to Moscow. We got back in our van, and started driving. The road was not the same as the road we had come in on. We pulled up in front of an old Monastery in the town of Suzdal and were told we would be having a bit of a surprise dinner in a Monastery that had been converted to a restaurant. The Monastery dates from the 14th Century and the domes of the Cathedral were a distinctive blue color with gold leaf stars on them. I believe that the restaurant section that we ate in was the sleeping quarters of the Monks.

The Trapeznaya restaurant was very nice. (You can see it at www.trapeznaya.ru, there is a link to pictures, just poke around and you will find them). We had hot bread, Borsch (soup), and our main meal was a large crock of chicken stew, much like a pot pie with a hunk of dough molded over the top of the crock and baked into an excellent bread. We ended the meal with Russian pancakes and hot tea. It was all so very good.

We got back in the van and started driving again. Before too long, I realized that the heater that had done so nicely at keeping us warm on the way out, was now blowing cold air. Our toes began to get real cold, so Staci, Sveta and I placed my quilt over our legs and it worked great. We managed to stay fairly warm.

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9 January, Thursday.

Today was a tourist day. We all went down to the center of Moscow and froze our way through Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral and afterwards, we decided to duck into GYM (goom) on the east side of Red Square to warm up. Gym, as I had always understood it, was a department store, so I thought I would see something rivaling HARROD's of London. Instead, it is several floors and hundreds of small shops and restaurants. It looks like it was open to the weather at one time, then presumably after World War II, they put a roof over the streets and made it an indoor mall. It was a very nice Mall.

I was able to observe the fashions of the men and women here in GYM. Everyone was dressed very nicely. It was very cold outside yet everybody was very fashionable. Dress skirts and slacks, furs, leathers, hats, high-heeled boots, etc. I felt like the typical outsider in my hiking boots, black jeans and ski jacket. I took a lot of pictures here of the fashions, it was much fun to observe.

We left GYM and went to get tickets for the Kremlin. We found out that the Kremlin Fortress was closed so we could not enter. I did not know whether to cry for happiness or sadness, it was so cold I think I was happy not to have to walk there. Instead, we decided to go to the new Orthodox Cathedral "Church of Our Savior Jesus Christ".

After the 1917 revolution, an Orthodox Church that stood on this spot was destroyed and a water fountain had been built in it's place, by the Bolsheviks. In the mid-90's, the Orthodox Church received permission to put a new Cathedral up. They removed the fountain and spent millions and millions of dollars to build this church. The Church is called the "Church of our Saviour Jesus Christ." The Cathedral is huge. There are bronze statues all over the exterior of the Church and they are at least life size, yet they seem small on the side of the building. We went into the church through metal detectors and entered the church itself. The central dome is very tall, so tall, in fact, that you could hardly see the details of the paintings inside the dome. There was paintings everywhere, on every wall, every doorframe, window-frame, literally everywhere. Most of them depicted the Saints of the Orthodox Church. Others showed Christ in various scenes of the Bible. All the paintings are done by hand and must have cost a fortune for it to have been completed within 3 years. We walked around the church and viewed everything there was to see. It was a very ornate and yet overdone place, in my opinion, but then again, I'm just "Amerikanski".

I asked Aleks about the Church and what Orthodox Church programs exist that help the congregation. I was astonished to learn that the Orthodox Church spends none of its money on people or programs. It seems that they feel the people should only receive spiritual help, anything else and the church does nothing for them. We watched as a priest took money from people as they asked for the saints of the church to pray for them. The Priest told one lady to give him more money because of the amount of prayer she requested. She had to dig out more from her purse to give to the Priest before he would pray to the saints for her. Then the Priest began a chant and prayer session. Suddenly he started walking around the podium he had stood at. He invited people in the gathering to join him, though few did. He walked countless laps around this podium while "praying and chanting". It was so sad to watch such useless rituals taking place when a relationship with Christ as Savior is so freeing. It is beyond my comprehension how a church can have so little concern for its people.

After the church we made our way by train to another section of Moscow to see a Circus. We walked for several blocks from the train station to the Circus in very cold weather. I was freezing and tired and just wanted to go home to the Hotel. As we stood in line for entry, Aleks realized that he had left the tickets at the hotel and would have to get one of the Russian guys to drive him there. I watched them run to the van, I hesitated for about twenty seconds then ran right after them. I jumped into the van, to the surprise of Aleks. I told him all I wanted to do was go back to the Hotel, take a hot shower and sit down for a while. We made our way there, I jumped out and fairly ran into the hotel room, I was so glad to be there. I took my shower and sat down to read. It was so awesome !!

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10 January, Friday

Today we were supposed to go to an orphanage in the Kaluga district southeast of Moscow. But, we found out that one of our members lost his son's passport and Visa the night before so Aleks took them to the U.S. Embassy and on to the Russian government offices in Moscow to get a replacement Passport and VISA.

We waited until 5 p.m. and it was decided that four of us, Staci, Cheryl, Pat and I would drive with Valentin to the Church in Kaluga for tonight's presentation and gift giving. The rest of the group would wait until morning to come out. We put all of the presents in the van and headed out of Moscow. Valentin was again in a huge hurry and we all laughed about the way he was driving. I will never again consider my driving to be bad!

Staci and I talked at length about what was happening in Russia from a Christian perspective. Staci is a native of Indiana and has worked in Russia for over 9 years. She spent her first four years in Nizhnyi Novgorod and five years ago moved to Moscow to work with PDRM. Staci told us of continuing spiritual warfare throughout Russia. Satan has had such free reign here for so long he will not give ground without a fight. Christians everywhere need to pray for the Lord to protect His work being done in Russia, for the Christians and for the binding and frustration of Satan's work here, as well.

We listened as Valentin received numerous phone calls from the Church. He kept telling them we were on our way and to stall the kids and parents. The last call was when we were just minutes away. Valentin told them we would be there in minutes and they said that was good because they had run out of things to say that would hold the people in their seats.

We arrived at the Church, were immediately introduced and shown the area where we would open the boxes to give the children their gifts. We were immediately mobbed by the kids and in five minutes all the kids were gone. It was so fast !!

The Pastor, Aleksei, showed us back into the auditorium. The cast of the show, high school age kids, and one in a clown costume and sang five of their songs from the show for us. I was so sorry to have missed it. They were very good. After they finished the songs, we were invited to come to the stage for pictures. I had my picture taken with them and they laughed when I stood on the floor while they were on the stage. I ended up as tall as most of them that way. It was touching to me how friendly they were. They crowded around and hugged me for the pictures. One young teenager even put a little stuffed animal on my head for the pictures. It was so much fun. It turned out that one of the cast members, the one in the clown costume, is one of PDRM's local coordinators, Natasha, and she was instrumental in putting together the show for the children.

After the picture taking in the church auditorium, there was a group of two boys and three girls sitting, waiting for something or somebody. I recognized two of Aleksei's boys and sat with them for a minute. One of them made signs of snowballs with their hands, I smiled and pointed at the outside door, put on my coat, hat and gloves and we all went outside. Two of the three girls took off and hid, one girl came after Aleksei's two boys and myself. We had a free-for-all going for about ten minutes before I realized that this little girl was not even wearing a pair of gloves. Though it did not stop her, I still felt bad. What started out as boys against girls, I quickly turned into every man for himself. We all had a lot of fun. It served to remind me that kids are the same no matter where they might be born. They all want to feel grown-up acceptance and love and even get attention from us. It turns out the two boys and the little girl were all Aleksei's children, she was about 13 and the boys about 11 and 8.

After the church, we went to Aleksei's house for dinner. It was such a shame, his wife cooked a huge meal for our whole group and only five of us were able to make it. Their house was tiny. I would guess it was only about five to six hundred square feet in total for themselves and their three children. We were shown to their living/dining room. It was still decorated from their New Years Party in which they had invited all the friends of their children and others from the church. There had to be at least 20 kids at the party. It amazed me continuously that people here made so little yet they spent so much of what they did have, on reaching out to others. I want to take a lesson from this and remember it always. We sat down to a table that was loaded with food.

We had bread, cakes, hors d'ouerves and salads. We were served a hot soup that was very good. Then we had a plate of rice with a piece of beef and pork. Dessert was a cake covered with multi-colored coconut. It was all so good and we were sorry that so much of it probably would get tossed. They made enough for about 16 visitors and only five of us showed up.

We left Aleksei, his wife and two boys and drove back to the church where we would be staying. We went up to the 8th floor. Staci and I went to our own rooms and Pat and Cheryl shared a larger room. I took a mattress from the other bed and put them one on top of the other so that my feet would go over the top of the footboard, (every bed here has a footboard, which is near death for me to sleep in). I piled as many blankets as I could on the bed. I even brought a heavy wool blanket from the Hotel in Moscow. This room was so cold I could not keep warm. I did not sleep much that night. The room temperature could not have been much over 40 degrees F.

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11 January, Saturday

I awoke very early this very cold morning. Actually, to say I "woke" early is a misnomer; more accurate is to say that I was tired of lying in bed freezing. The mattresses were no wider than my shoulders, so it was hard to stay under the blankets.

I went to the shower and was surprised to find an abundance of hot water. This was going to be nice. Ooops, spoke too soon, now there is no cold water! What a switch !! I ended up just splashing some of the hot water on me and getting my hair washed without frying my skin off. Shower complete, I sat down under my blankets in the dayroom and munched a Hershey "Special Dark" chocolate bar, while waiting for everyone else to get up, including the sun.

Valentin had driven all the way back to Moscow last night to drive more people out to Kaluga, the next day. Aleksei arrived at 8:30 a.m. to take us to his house for breakfast. Another huge meal, it was so good to feel warm again! Within ten minutes the rest of our group arrived, we prayed and ate together.

We left at about 11 a.m. for the next orphanage. This facility is in Obninsk, about twenty minutes from Kaluga. We brought all of our packages in and the director asked us if any of the group needed to use the washroom. I figured it unwise to pass up this offer so I followed. While waiting, an older girl and three younger girls waited for us. After using the restroom, I came out and they were all still there. I stopped in front of their group, pointed to myself and said "John". I felt rather silly, being in their country and not being able to communicate with them. I pointed to the oldest. She understood and said " Vika", then she pointed to her friends and said "Sveta, Oksana, and Mary". Vika appeared to be about 14, Sveta 12, Oksana 12 and Mary about 9. These girls were so timid that they were unable to keep from giggling as I showed them attention. I started to walk back down the hall towards my group and Oksana and Sveta ran up and each grabbed one of my hands. We walked together hand in hand as they giggled, all the way down the hall to our group.

We went up to the auditorium where all the orphans were gathered. We stood in front and Vika and her friends were only about six feet away.

Every time I went to take their pictures, they turned bashful and hid. It was another illustration that these kids get very little outside attention. When they do, they don't know how to handle it. We took several pictures of the group. They were so warm and receptive of us. Aleks held a little contest as part of our presentation. He promised everyone who stood up in front of the group, with either a song or a poem, would receive a special gift. We had more takers than gifts. We ended up scrambling to find good stuff for them.

Afterwards, Aleks asked Vika and Oksana to tell us a little about themselves. Vika told us that both her parents had died. One from cancer and one from alcoholism. Oksana told us that her mother had died of cancer when she was very young and the government had taken her away from an alcoholic father. She had a brother somewhere in the Russian military but she hardly ever heard from him. Vika, Oksana and the rest of the orphans here today have no family to spend the holiday with. We were it!

I can identify this as the event that put my emotions over the top. Aleks had explained what would happen to Vika in two to three years. She would be removed from the orphanage, given her belongings and be sent on her own into the world. This was too much for me. I could NOT imagine the thought of her being out on her own. It was even hard for me to imagine what she must be going through; knowing that this is what her future holds for her. It was at this point my emotions went into overload and I began to lose my perspective. I prayed about this orphanage. For Vika, Oksana, Sveta and Mary. I made a pledge to the Lord that I would try to see Vika again and I would be there to be her friend, write her and do what I could to keep her from ending up on the streets of Moscow. It was a pretty extreme reaction and it would take several days for me to come back to reality. More on that later.

We finished up at this orphanage and left for Moscow. It would be a long, thought-filled night for me. It was during the drive that I sensed the Lord speaking to me about the pressing need for prayer for Russia. Because of the overwhelming prevalence of spiritual warfare in Russia and the fact that so many of the Russia's Christians have left, the Lord spoke to my heart about praying every day for the binding and frustration of the work of evil and to build a wall of protection around this country and it's people, Christian and non-Christian alike. I have prayed every day for these things. I also believe that if more Christians prayed for Russia, it could prove to be a precursor to revival in Russia.

We went to Aleksei's house again for another huge meal. I was getting tired of eating lately. The food was absolutely fabulous and there was so much of it. And that was the problem, I had been eating much and my stomach was showing signs of discontent.

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12 January, Sunday.

The group wanted to go to Izmaylovo for souvenir shopping. We were told that this was the place to get Matroshka or nesting dolls and other Russian souvenirs. I had over a week left in Moscow and did not want to spend my money yet. So I went with my friend Svetlana to lunch instead. We met up with her roommate, Luba and spent the afternoon together. Svetlana is a tall, blonde, 35 years old and Luba is about the same age, yet shorter with long, curly, brown hair. Both girls have been friends for 20 years. Svetlana speaks very good English and Luba has a little more difficulty but does well, just the same. I also met their other roommate, Irene who speaks little English. All three girls live together with a fourth girl on the northeast side of the city of Moscow.

We ate chicken and something called "fish salad" in English and had cake. The fish Salad was very strong tasting herring.

Afterwards, we went to the Russian Baptist Church, near downtown Moscow, by the Metro and met up with our group again.

Tonight's program was for youth and the place was packed. They started with a lot of singing, then the Youth Pastor got up and spoke. I was amazed. He sounded, both in tone and volume, just like the Missions Pastor, Matt Hopkins, at Wheaton Evangelical. There was a short powerpoint presentation, more singing and then a skit that depicted the life of Christ. There was no voice, just acting, very interesting to be able to follow it even though the songs were in Russian.

After the service was over, I noticed a "Babyushka", a grandmother, sitting near us all by herself. I walked over to her and said hello. I pointed to my camera and to her and she understood I wanted to take her picture. She giggled and Aleks came over and started talking to her. He took a picture of her with me sitting next to her. She was tickled. It was fun! She would not let me leave before she pronounced a blessing on me, she was so cute !!

After everything was done at the church, I walked with Luba and Sveta to the Metro station. They went north and I went south. I learned a powerful lesson that night about Russian train stations. Each one has two exits and you have to be careful which exit you leave from. I left from the wrong one and did not recognize anything for over twenty minutes. I felt very lost as I could not make a phone call and I could get nobody in the Metro station to recognize the address that I had for the Hotel, even though it was just a few blocks away. I finally realized that I was on the opposite corner of the intersection when I saw the sign for the local "RamStore" Mall. When I saw the sign, my first thought was "how did the store get to be on my side of the street, it was on the other side …", at once I realized my mistake, DUH !!! I walked across the street and there I was at the correct entry to the Metro. Sometimes it takes a "thump on the head" to wake me up !!!

I arrived back at the hotel and within 15 minutes was in the washroom being sick. The "Fish Salad" had been the last straw for my stomach. Everything I ate that day turned sour in my stomach and I ended up spending most of the night in the bathroom. The "fish salad" was tolerable going down; coming back up, it was awful!

13 January, Monday.

Today was just a continuation of yesterday. I continued to be sick, even though I had taken several anti-diarrheal pills given to me by one of our group members. This is the first trip I have taken overseas where I did not use a laxative every few days when necessary. Using that practice, I never got sick like this in any of my overseas travels. Major lesson to be learned there, the technique works !!

I spent the day in Association of Spiritual Renewal's (ASR) office talking to them about what ASR/PDRM is doing in Russia. I also tried to get an idea from ASR how I could get back to the orphanage that Vika was in. Valentin thought he might be going back there this week, I was anxiously hoping.

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14 January, Tuesday.

The tour is officially over now. I checked out of the Hotel near Belyaevo and Aleks had his brother, Andrew, drop me off at the Namyetkina office, where I would meet up with Rick Emenaker.

Rick showed me around the office and introduced me to all of the MAF personnel. Rick asked one of the guys to get me to the Guest Hotel that he had set-up for me. "Bob", his English name, took me outside and hailed a "cab" for me. A cab here in Moscow is nothing more than a person in a private car who wants to make some extra roubles for himself. We packed all of my bags in and 10 minutes later we were at the "Christian and Missionary Alliance" Guest flat near Konkova.

This place was like a taste of heaven. The bed was huge, long, wide and brand new. The room I was in was warm, very warm. I had a kitchen that came with food and drink. The shower worked, it had hot and cold running water. There was a dayroom with a TV and a VCR, plus movies. I thought maybe I had died and gone to heaven!

Bob and I took the Metro from Konkova to Noviye Cheryumushki and then walked several blocks to get to the office. I went with Rick for lunch and spent several hours getting bombarded with reality. He talked about the situation both spiritually and politically. He also talked at some length about MAF Russia.

I left his office that day quite deflated about what I would be doing in Russia for the Lord. I knew I had been on an emotional high and the Lord was beginning to bring me back to Earth. What Rick explained was that MAF itself did not have a screaming need for my services.

In fact, it was Rick's goal to bring the Russian staff up to such a competent level that they would be self-sufficient enough to run the place by themselves. Basically, he was looking to work himself out of a job.

Over the next three days we talked about each other and how we related to the Lord's work and leading in our lives, I met and talked with several people from different organizations and they gave me their views of Russian Missions and what their organizations were doing here.

By Thursday afternoon I was having difficulty understanding all of this new information and how it related to the Lord's calling for me to Russia. I was struggling mightily with my purpose for coming here. In retrospect, I was trying to understand all the emotional highs plus the reality that had been injected by Rick, and I was still sick from Sunday.

After getting back from the office this afternoon, I took a 2-hour nap. I got up and had a bite to eat for dinner in the kitchen. Still in a quandary about all of this, I decided to open a new book my friend Karl had given me. It is called "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. I had prayed several times that day for guidance and perspective but really did not expect it to come soon due to the fact that I just felt overwhelmed emotionally and physically and still had several days left to go in Russia.

I opened the book hoping to get my mind off of the issues I had been beating around for days. The book is a 40 day devotional and I opened to Day 1.

The first words in the book were "It's NOT ABOUT YOU!!!" , it was time to laugh and pray. It hit me right there. The Lord had showed me HIS perspective. The Lord showed me in an instant, that HIS perspective is higher than mine and HE wants me to look at my calling from a higher level, HIS ! He made it clear that Russia and my calling from Him are "not about me", nor about what I can do or accomplish here. It's also not about what I want or even what MAF wants. It is about what the Lord wants to do in Russia through me. Suddenly, the perspective I needed had arrived and everything was peaceful and fine. I did not get an answer to my questions about what I would be doing in Moscow once I got here. It's not important, the Lord will show me, as He is ready for me. Even Vika and the orphanage made sense. In my emotional state, I arrogantly thought I was going to be able to rescue Vika. I realized that the Lord is in control there and the BEST thing I could do was to pray for the orphanage and Vika. I will still try to get a letter to her, but I have turned her back over into the Lord's hands where I needed to leave her in the first place.

Those words have been playing around in my head ever since: "It's not about YOU!!!"

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17 January, Friday.

Zhenia, the MAF warehouse manager, met me at the office today and we got on the Metro to go for a meeting at "International Bible Translators" 'just south of the Moscow River in an old Orthodox Monastery Complex. IBT is a Swedish Organization working in Russia. They have been working on translating some of the 120 plus languages of Russia. They showed me a book with the first chapter of Luke translated into 80 languages. It was a fascinating hour. We left the IBT office at noon and went to the Kremlin area for lunch at Sbarro's Restaurant. Zhenia wanted pizza today. We then got on the red line Metro and rode the train to Ulitsa Podbelskogo, the end of that line. We then grabbed a ride even further north on an old fashioned electric trolley. Then we walked several blocks, crossed a set of railroad rails and walked several more blocks to the MAF warehouse.

MAF's warehouse is a fairly large building. It has 2 floors for storage and a large portion of the storage space is being used already. The building itself is in the old style Quonsett hut of World War II. A quonsett hut is a building built in an arch shape where the sidewalls and roof are all the same wall. A front and back wall closes off the space. There are two floors to the warehouse and was surprised to see how much stuff was here. Zhenia showed me around the warehouse and explained how they categorized pallets by customer. I could see with careful rearrangement, how we might be able to increase the floor space by 10 or 15 %, but not much more. This space is fairly full.

I met the other MAF Russia workers, Igor and Aleks. They seemed like very nice guys, though they did not speak English. I liked all the guys here. My Boss told me I would be spending considerable time here when I first start, so will need to learn how to get here. It will be a long commute!

Since today was Friday, I wanted to leave when they normally left, I did not want to delay things for them. When 5 p.m. rolled around, we all left. Zhenia showed me the way back to the Metro Station.

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18 January, Saturday

I met my Boss for breakfast this morning. He was leaving for a trip to Yerevan, Armenia on Sunday and he wanted to have a wrap-up meeting with me. Since I had been able to gain my perspective on Thursday, it seemed, now, an easy thing to discuss everything. We had a good meeting and at 10:00 a.m. he left. I decided it was a good time to catch a nap, so I slept for three hours!

I was supposed to meet my friends this afternoon near the Kremlin and we were going to go inside the walls. By the time we actually arrived, it was too late to get in, so they decided we were going to go to Old Arbatskaya (Arbat Street).

Old Arbatskaya is closed to traffic and they built a new Arbatskaya for auto traffic to the west. Old Arbatskaya has shops, restaurants and kiosks to visit as you walk. It is several blocks long and I enjoyed the crowds. Sveta and Luba explained the different foods available and I suggested a restaurant with "Georgian" cuisine, but they both did the thumbs down on it. They said Georgian food tended to be very spicy. We continued to look for agreement on a restaurant and we passed a place called "Kafe Russ", about halfway down the walk, so I told them we were going to have dinner there after we finished walking the Arbatskaya.

We continued our walk down Arbatskaya seeing what there was to see, talking about Russian traditions and customs when it comes to food and other related topics. We reached the end of the Arbatskaya and turned around to go back. The girls passed several other restaurants. I was wondering why they seemed to target American "style" restaurants, I thought they might be thinking I would have preferred one of them, though I did not. I was pretty determined not to eat American food in Moscow. We finally ended up back at the "Kafe Russ", went in and checked our coats.

We were led to a room with about a dozen tables, a fireplace and a stage. I grabbed a table next to the fireplace and close to the stage. We were only the second table in the whole room to be occupied.

The menu here was huge and in both Russian and English. They also had pictures of each dinner to see upon request.

I had Borsch, leg of lamb and vegetables. The waiter brought over a basket of chunks of HOT white bread with our soups that was very tasty. I used it to dip into the soup broth and ate a lot of it, it was so good!!

Throughout the rest of the evening, we sat at our table, talking about each other, Russian customs and traditions and their dreams. I had to laugh at a comment Luba had made. She made a joke of saying that I was almost old enough to be her Father, Thanks Luba !!! These are two awesome and fun Christian girls.

Our evening ended at the Metro station as they went the opposite direction from me to get home. On the way back I was thanking the Lord for the fun and prayed for Luba and Sveta. I felt very honored to have had so much fun with these two girls in Moscow.

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19 January, Sunday

I met Sveta and Luba again this afternoon at the Kremlin tower. We were again going to try the Kremlin tour. As we walked towards the Tower entrance, a uniformed policeman stopped us and asked for our identification. Russia is very careful about citizen movement in Moscow and the rest of Russia due to terrorist concerns. I had left my passport at the Hotel and was suddenly very concerned about the looks on the girls faces and the tone of the policeman's voice. All I had on me was my Illinois Drivers License to show him, then Sveta, then back to Luba. All of a sudden he handed Sveta my license, turned and walked away. Not being eager to experience a Russian jail, I thanked Sveta, Luba and the Lord!

We got our tickets for the entry into the Kremlin. Sveta told me not to say anything to any official as we entered. We walked up a long ramp and entered the Kremlin (Fortress) walls. As we walked, Sveta and Luba explained to the best of their knowledge, what I was looking at. We walked past a relatively modern building that had a front, several stories tall, all of glass. In the communist days, this was where the "Supreme Soviet" met. I would have to do some research to completely understand the function of the "Supreme Soviet". (Therefore, please forgive me if I am completely wrong on this!). It is my understanding that the Supreme Soviet was somewhat similar to a European Parliament, in that they are supposed to have assisted the top leadership in governing the country. I don't know for sure how much power they had, but I believe it to be minimal next to Brezhnev, Kruschev and Stalin. A note for me to learn more about this group later. The girls pointed out the Presidential Palace where the current Russian President works. The flag on the top of the palace indicated that President Vladimir Putin was "IN" at the palace. Sveta indicated that there is a limited amount of the Kremlin that visitors are allowed to walk in. We were being careful to stay away from any restricted areas. We stopped at the TSAR cannon that had about a 20-inch cannonball. The amount of gunpowder it would have taken to fire one of those cannonballs would likely have blown up the cannon itself had it ever been fired. It never was. (The Russians aren't dumb!).

We went to a bell that was made in 1735, called the TSAR bell. It weighed about 22 tons and cracked soon after being made. Sometime later, the piece that cracked fell completely off. I marveled at this bell. I had a hard time picturing this bell in any tower. Even if you could build a tower to hold the 48,400 pound bell (22 Metric Tons @2,200 pounds), I imagined the sound of the bell would have been so loud that it would have shaken the tower to collapse. We toured the Armory next and saw the collections of state treasures; gold and silver plates and utensils; the TSAR's crowns, orbs and swords, the coaches used by the various TSAR's and some of the clothes, too. There was a collection of swords, early flintlocks and cap and ball rifles and pistols.

We saw some of the dresses worn by the lady TSAR's. I noticed how small the waist was on one particular dress, we then listened in as a tour guide explained that in those days, young girls would have two or three lower ribs broken and they would be corseted to squeeze their waist very small. I estimated this one dress to be about six or seven inches in diameter at the waist. My only thought was that it was no wonder so many women died in childbirth in "those" days! We spent about two hours in the Armory Museum. It was very interesting. As it was getting late, we headed out for some of the Orthodox Cathedrals.

After getting past one of the "gatekeepers", we headed for the Annunciation Cathedral, built in 1564, and then we went across the courtyard to the Cathedral of the Assumption, built in 1475.

Both were very typical Orthodox Cathedrals except for one thing, each Cathedral had a number of patriarchs from as far back as 1413 buried in them. Since there were several cathedrals in the Kremlin, I assumed that once it filled with dead patriarchs another church was built! After viewing these cathedrals we walked to a small museum dedicated to the Patriarchs of the Orthodox Church. We were not here long and they began showing people the door, as it was closing time. We left the Kremlin and headed to an underground, very modern mall across from the Kremlin. Since we were pretty hungry, agreed on pizza at Sbarro's. I ate a reasonably good piece of pizza and also had spaghetti that was just okay with 3 huge (and tasty) meatballs.

Time for me to head back to the Hotel. I looked at my watch and decided I better hurry. It was 12:30 a.m. and the trains stopped running at 1:00 a.m. I hiked the half-mile or more to the Metro Station at Tcherkizovskaya. I got on the Metro heading south, got off at the Chistiye Prudy (something like "shiss-TEE-yeh proody") station and made a dash for the Orange line that would take me to Konkova, far south of where I was. I glanced at the signs on the platform that showed the stations being served from which track and I jumped on the train on track 1. I was relieved to be on the train, shortly after 1 a.m.

We stopped twice and the second stop I heard the announcement for an unfamiliar station. I looked up on the map and to my horror, realized I had grabbed the wrong train. I was going north instead of south!!!

I jumped out at the next station, VDNKH, ( sounds like va-dink, I think?), ran across the platform and waited for a train. As one approached, I prayed for it to stop, it did not, it kept on going. I waited a few more minutes for another train. It didn't stop either. I sat down on a bench; I was very concerned now. I was far from Konkova, I had no idea how to get back to Sveta's flat, I could not call her, there were no coin-operated telephones and I knew they would not let me stay in the station. It was 1:30 a.m., a metro employee walked down the platform and said something to me in Russian, I didn't know the meaning of the words, but it was obvious she was telling me that there were no more trains tonight. She also made what appeared to be gestures towards the exit. So I got up and started walking.

As I walked, I tried to remain calm and logical, it was very near to impossible! I could not communicate my predicament to anyone. I was very concerned. I said about a dozen prayers between the train platform and the outside doors. I was talking aloud and asking the Lord for help. I knew at that moment there was literally NOTHING else I could do.

I was really trying to be calm, but was beginning to fail, I could tell. Here I was, with no ability to communicate, no ability to even know where I was in Moscow, except I knew I was too far away to walk. I exited the station doors onto the sidewalk. Of course nothing looked familiar. I walked very slowly towards the street, praying and trying to keep a clear head and look for options. I reached the street and saw no cars or people, it was dead here. I continued out onto the street, thinking I would look for options up and down the road. Suddenly, a car pulled up in front of me; it was a Russian VLAD, a tiny white car that came from somewhere off to my left. It stopped right in front of me, the driver, a young Russian guy, said something to me in Russian. I had been told of the "private" taxis, where a citizen gives rides for extra roubles.

I said to him "Konkovo"; he looked at me quizzically for a second and then said "Ah, Konkov-A !" I laughed and said "DA". He slapped the passenger seat with his hand and opened the passenger door. I got in and he took off.

I had mixed thoughts about this, I was hoping that it was a God-breathed rescue from my stupidity (not paying close attention when I got on the wrong train) and I breathed a quiet prayer, telling the Lord that I needed to trust Him to get me home safely. I had my camera, several thousand roubles, some American dollars and my passport on me.

We drove in Silence; we could not understand one another at all. He drove and drove, but I could tell he was heading south. He stopped twice, asking how to get to Konkova, apparently. At 2 a.m., I finally pulled up in front of the Konkova Metro Station, I was so relieved!

I pulled out my Russian dictionary, turned to the numbers translations page and he pointed to the Russian word 800. My first thought was "I am getting taken to the cleaners". Then I realized that I had been driven safely to my destination and 800 roubles was only 25 dollars. I Gladly paid the man!!! I shook his hand and said "Spasiba, moy dryg" (thank you my friend) and took my exit. As he drove away I said a prayer of thanks and I also prayed for this Russian's safety and salvation. I could not help but feel that he was Gods answer to my prayers. I have no idea what I would have done had that driver not been there or had not been an honorable man. I was so grateful that I said several prayers of thanks and relief as I walked to the Hotel. I learned a valuable lesson of trust and provision tonight. Thank You Lord!

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20 January, Monday

Spent several hours today beginning to pack and eat breakfast, plus have devotion and prayer time.

I got a call from Sveta, late in the morning. She wanted to know if I wanted to meet her at "Izmaylova" and do some shopping. I wanted to buy several Matroshka for family and friends. I took the Metro, to meet her. We got on a bus, rode to another Metro station, got off a few stops later at Izmaylova. Here, I spent the last of my cash, both dollars and roubles, on Matroshka. Matroshka are "nesting dolls" that come one inside the other. You can buy them in varying sizes, from ten and tiny to fifty and huge. They are very cute and very Russian. Having finished our shopping, we headed back to the Metro station to go for some dinner. On the way, we had stopped at a couple of kiosks and bought a variety of food. We spent part of the evening talking; I even helped her translate some Articles from Russian to English. It was a fun evening.

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21 January, Tuesday

The MAF driver from the warehouse picked me up this morning at ten. I gave him my last Hershey "Special Dark" bar. He spoke little English. On the way to the airport, I thought of Vika and the fact that I may never see her again. I have to come to grips with the fact that it might be the Lords will for her to go elsewhere. I needed to let go and trust Him regardless. I would still pray and make the attempt to contact her, but I needed to understand GOD's will may be different from mine and accept that in my heart.

I thought of the new friends that I have made. Aleks, Staci, Zhenia, Luba, Svetlana and Irene. I knew I was leaving part of my heart here. I will never be the same person. This trip has changed me forever.

I arrived at the airport and Alex helped me get through customs and he was gone. I then went to Immigration and made it through, walked to my gate and then went to duty-free shopping. It was the same items as most duty-frees have to sell. I laughed at the price of the Matroshka, they were hugely expensive here. I went to my gate, waited about 45 minutes and boarded the Delta 767-300 bound for New York. I set myself up in a double that had no owners, got situated and relaxed. Knowing that we would enter clouds soon after take-off, I took a last look at Russia as our wheels left the ground.

During the flight, I asked the Lord to keep my heart in Russia and Moscow. I was certain that I would miss my friends and this city, and I do! Now, I have to get back there to retrieve my heart, I pray it will NOT be too long. I also thought several times about what the Lord has told me. He said, "Your life is not about you, anymore." He is right; it is no longer about me! It is about HIS will.

It is now a week after arriving back in Chicago. I am back to work and everything seems normal. But I can tell it is not. I am now missing a part of me that is in Russia.

I do not know when I will be back to Russia. I know the Lord will not let me get there before He has me ready. It may take 6 months to a year. I realize that the Lord has work to do on me and it will take some time to accomplish.

A prayer was answered today; Aleks at "Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries" gave me the address for Vika. I am going to write her tonight.

Thank you, Lord !!!

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7 February, Thursday.
I mailed a little packet of pictures, postcards of Chicago and a letter that Aleks translated into Russian for me, to Vika today.

click here for MOSCOW TRIP PRESENTATION FOR JANUARY OF 2003

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