Bucket List Update!

I am coming up on 7 months since I landed in Kazan!  So, It's about time I posted and update for my bucket list isn't it?? 
I have completed a few things, made plans for a few more, and added some new ones!!  Still enjoying the adventure!

Let me know if you have any ideas for things to add to the list!!

Places to visit

1.      St. Petersburg, Russia (which has a bucket list of its own)

           - plans being made for a late April/early May trip!! SOOOO EXCITED!!!

2.      China

3.      Istanbul

4.      Ufa, Russia

In Russia

5.      Be at intermediate low in Russian before I leave (according to ACTFL guidelines- see www.actfl.org )

6.      See a Russian ballet (hopefully way more than just one)

           - tickets have been purchased for 2 ballets!!!  1 later this month and 1 in March

7.      Qolsharif Mosque

8.      Kazan Kremlin

9.       Enjoy hot tea

10.   Go ice skating

           - I even bought my own pair of ice skates!!  We'll see how good I can get while I'm here!

11. Go cross-country skiing

      - Awesome!

 

12.   Finish reading Crime and Punishment (bonus: War and Peace)

           - Started reading today

13.   Go to a hockey game (hopefully more than one)

14.   Learn to cook 2 Russian dishes

General

15.   Collect fabrics from everywhere I visit so that I can make a quilt

            - Fabrics have been purchased from: Istanbul, Kazan, and Antalya so far!

16.    Increase my scarf collection J

             - 3 new scarves so far!

17.   Improve my photography skills

18.   Grow my hair out (so that at least 12 inches can be cut off when I get back)

           - I think we are at 5-6 inches so far

19.    Improve my cooking skills

      - I have some delicious new recipes I've been working on

20. Journal regularly

 

21. ... 

Bucket List for the next 2 years

 

What an adventure these next 2 years will be!  I am extremely excited about all that I will get to see and do.  In thinking about everything I want to do, I decided to make a to-do list!(goodness knows I sure do love making lists!) I’ll be sure to post updates as I accomplish these and add new ideas to the list.  And all of you can hold me accountable to make sure I actually accomplish them!! And if anyone has any ideas of things I need to add to the list, let me know!

In my first month overseas, I have already made a small dent in the list! Pictures below!

Places to visit

1.      St. Petersburg, Russia (which has a bucket list of its own)

2.      China

3.      Istanbul

4.      Ufa, Russia

In Russia

5.      Be at intermediate low in Russian before I leave (according to ACTFL guidelines- see www.actfl.org )

6.      See a Russian ballet (hopefully way more than just one)

7.      Qolsharif Mosque

8.      Kazan Kremlin

9.      Find my favorite type of Russian tea

10.   Go ice skating

11.   Finish reading Crime and Punishment (bonus: War and Peace)

12.   Go to a hockey game (hopefully more than one)

13.   Learn to cook 2 Russian meals

General

14.   Collect fabrics from everywhere I visit so that I can make a quilt

15.    Increase my scarf collection J

16.   Improve my photography skills

17.   Blog at least once a month (this one really may give me some trouble!)

18.   Grow my hair out (so that at least 12 inches can be cut off when I get back)

19.   …

Inside the Kazan Kremlin:

The Qolsharif Mosque

 

 

Some of the views from my ferry rides in Istanbul

 

 

This is where I am taking a CELTA course to be certified to teach English

 

Why Russia?

When the subject comes up and I tell people where I will be living for the next 2 years, more often than not their first reaction is, “Why would you want to go to Russia?”

It is hard for most people to believe, but this country and its people have altogether captured my heart.

As Westerners, much of our perceptions about Russia are based on movies and the persistent “Russia is the enemy” propaganda from the Soviet/Cold War era.  Yes, I am well aware that Russia (the government in particular) has several major problems, however, as is the case in most 2-sided situations, what we are hearing on this side of the world is not really 100% true.  There are always 2 sides to every story and generally reality can be found somewhere in the middle. (I have found this to be especially true by comparing what I read in U.S. news vs. what I read from Russian news outlets Right now U.S. media is painting a very bleak and hateful picture of Russia.

There is SOOOO much more to this country than what you see on TV or read in newspapers.

I have been studying Russian history for a number of years.  Yes this country has many periods of harsh cruelty in its history, but there are also many periods rich with joy and creativity.  This country and its people have been through so much and have overcome so much!  The depth of culture and tradition amazes me!

While most people hear the Russian language and think it is harsh sounding, it sounds incredibly beautiful to me.  When I came back from Russia 2 ½ years ago, what I missed the most was always hearing Russian.  I desperately hope to be fluent someday!!

In the U.S., our general perception of Russians is that they are cold-hearted, mean, angry people.  Part of this comes from the picture the media gives, but another part of that is from not understanding their culture and history.  Trust me, some of the happiest people I know are Russians.  It is true that you will not often find a Russian smiling or laughing excessively.  The typical westerner (particularly those of us from the South) would see a straight-faced Russian and think they were angry and/or unfriendly.  However, in the Russian culture, a person who smiles constantly and laughs without an obvious reason is characterized as a fool.  They love to laugh at a good joke and smile at a friend, but not unnecessarily.  Neither culture is wrong or right about how to show happiness and/or friendliness.  They are just different, and that is perfectly fine!

Again, I am not saying that all is well in Russia, but I am saying that it is not nearly as bad as Americans generally think it is and a lot of hate could be resolved if we could look at people (all people, not just Russians) without trying to impose or views on them.  This can be difficult to do, but it is so worth it to expand our worldview and try to understand where they are coming from. 

A part of my heart is definitely in Russia!  Its culture, history, language, and people captivate me!  I am hoping that this blog will help you get a peek into my second home and experience even a portion of the depth of beauty contained in this country. 

 

P.S. In my rush to get this posted, I did not spell check or grammar check very extensively.  Apologies to those that are deeply bothered by misspelled words or incorrect grammar! I feel your pain and promise to do better next time! J

Getting Caught Up! Finally!!

Well, apparently keeping up-to-date with this was something that only happened while I was IN Russia…. Oops!! (though in my defense, it is a little hard to find a chance to update when I can't log in on my own computer because Google is acting up... anybody else have problems like that?) But I am going to make another attempt to catch up from the last 5 months and keep everyone updated on what is going on now.  So, first, here is a little of what happened after getting back from Russia….

I was able to share about my time in Russia several times shortly after getting back home.  And while public speaking always makes me nervous, I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing about what God taught me and what I saw Him doing in Ufa.

In April, I was able to go on another trip to South Africa.

The IMB missionaries in parts of South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana and their families meet once a year to worship together, enjoy each other’s company, and beginning some planning for the next year.  During this 4 day weekend, a group from the States will come to lead worship and run a nursery, vbs, and youth group for the missionaries’ kids.  My home church has built a relationship with the missionary family in Lesotho over the last several years, and we were honored to be asked to help lead this annual meeting this year.  Nearly all of our church staff and several of our church members volunteered to spend a week serving these missionaries that are serving our God on the front lines in Africa.

After spending so much time with a missionary family in Russia and growing so close to them, I do feel a great need to care for and serve missionary families.  .  And most of you know that I also have a big heart for youth.  (I mean I did work as Clay's intern for 2 summers in order to serve youth and see them grow) So, with an opportunity to serve missionary families by helping with their youth-aged kids, this was definitely a trip that I wanted to be involved in!!

I was able to spend the week loving 19 youth-aged MKs and ministering to them.  We taught 4 different Disciple Now books with topics of worship, purity, family relationships, and lifestyle evangelism.  I was amazed at how much they seemed to eat up the teaching.  We also played plenty of games and of course had a TON of junk food!

During the week we had several special events.  4 of our youth were graduating seniors.  We were able to have a great graduation ceremony and reception.  Without having a ceremony at this meeting, these seniors would not have had a graduation ceremony.  One evening, we had a luau complete with limbo and hula contests!  On Sunday afternoon, we had a wonderful family picnic!  We were able to have burgers and lemonade and play a bunch of good ole fashioned picnic games.  All of the missionaries and their kids were broken up into teams so that each team had some preschoolers, children, youth and adults and each event allowed all age levels to participate.  We had a fantastic afternoon of playing games and good-natured competition.  And, of course, any event that ends with Clay (youth pastor) being attacked with water balloons is always going to be considered a success! J

I really enjoyed hanging out with these kids.  While I do absolutely love working with youth here in the States and truly enjoy any opportunity that I get to do so, there was definitely something special about ministering to these kids.  Youth groups here get this kind of support and opportunities to fellowship and learn together every week and several full weeks during the summer.  And often it can seem like that gets taken for granted.  But these MKs get this kind of attention and service a couple times a year max, and we could constantly see how much it meant to them. 

 It was SOOOO hard to leave!  4 and a half days was not nearly enough time.  MKs nearly always develop this skill of not allowing themselves to get close to any teams or individuals that come in to serve with or around their families because they know they will leave and it will hurt less if they don't get too close. Well let me just say, I do not have this skill! I think I cried myself to sleep the last night when I realized I wouldn't be seeing all of these youth the next day or maybe ever again. And I have cried several times since leaving.  I wish these kids didn't have to guard themselves so much but recently I have actually been jealous of that skill.

God definitely used this trip to build in me a heart for MKs and I am currently trying to see where God wants to lead me so that I can act on this burden.  We’ll just have to wait and see what becomes of that, but I would ask that you would be in prayer over this.

Final Days...

Final Days…

Well, as I am writing this blog, I am sitting in a Burger King in the airport in St. Petersburg.  We flew out of Ufa at 6:00 this morning and we are now in the middle of a 5 hour layover in St. Pete.  I believe I blogged about our first experience in this airport back in August, but for those of you who don’t remember, it was definitely not a good highlight of this trip! We had serious communication problems and were incredibly confused.  So far, we have had some confusion, but not nearly as bad as the first time.  We still haven’t been able to check in yet though, so who knows what will happen.    

So, since I haven’t updated in a while, I better get yall caught up on our last days in Ufa…

Last Monday was our last English club at the Carr’s apartment.  It was a lot of fun!  We made gingerbread cookies and we were able to talk with several of our good friends.  When the advanced group finished, we had them come into the kitchen and Shannon, Kelly, Eileen, Heather, Nathan and I all performed a skit for everyone.  You may have seen this skit before… Setting- Doctor’s office waiting room… Plot- a guy(Nathan) comes to the doctor’s office with the sniffles, other people (everyone else) come in to the waiting room with various symptoms(cough, sneezing, headache, itching… etc) and as they sit in the waiting room the guy “catches” their symptoms and the other people’s symptoms go away.  Eventually, Nathan was coughing, sneezing, itching, barfing, and moaning from a headache all at the same time.  At this point Eileen waddled in like a pregnant lady…. Nathan sees her and, not wanting to “catch” this “symptom,” he takes off running out the door.  It was SO much fun, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it (Side Note: we are currently trying to get ahold of one of the copies of the video, so it might be up on facebook eventually)  we had to say our final good byes to a couple of people that night, but it really didn’t seem real to us at that point.   

Wednesday we performed a short skit about American Christmas traditions(almost completely in Russian btw) at the university as a part of a presentation/competition for all the internationals at BSU.  There were at least 100 people at this presentation (from 7 different countries)  the people from each different country did some sort of presentation about how their country celebrates New Years, but, since Christmas is a much bigger holiday in America, we were allowed to do ours on Christmas.  It went pretty well.  We were able to remember our lines (and hopefully pronounce them decently) and we had fun.  It was very interesting to see all the other countries presentations as well.  We, as Team America, even received an award for “Artistry.” During our presentation, Kelly even read the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke 2 in Russian, so over 100 people heard that story that night!

That was our next to last day of school.  On Friday, we had a test in class.  This was the equivalent of a final exam, and would show if we learned anything through the semester. We weren’t expecting to have to take this test, because we are actually leaving in the middle of their school term.  But it went well.  Shannon and I both feel like we did well on it.  Because we left today, we were unable to get our stamped certificates showing that we completed the course yet, but they should be mailed to us or something in the near future.  We had to say good bye to our classmates after class Friday.  This was a bit of an emotional experience.  We have really enjoyed our class.  We have a special bond with our classmates since we are all internationals living here and can all barely understand the language.  There is a certain bond between people who can empathize with each other like that.  And besides that we spend at least 14 hours a week with these people.  We were able to give a Vietnamese Bible to 2 of our Vietnamese classmates and they seemed really grateful and interested.

We also had our “good bye” party that night.  Nearly all of our closest friends showed up.  We played some games and ate some snacks and hung out.  Side Note: We had thought that we were not going to see one of our really good friends again (who just happened to be the first Russian friend we met when we got here) because he was out of town and we didn’t know when he would be getting back.  He surprised us by showing up at the party (with his luggage from his trip and everything)  This completely made our day!  There was some sad goodbyes at the end of this party, but still, it didn’t seem like we were really leaving in a day and half…

I had been packing for almost a week at this point.  And I still don’t know how I managed to get everything to fit in my suitcase… Somehow, I managed to buy 5 coffee mugs in 3 and a half months!  I think I might have gone a bit overboard on the coffee mug obsession… but one way or another it all fit (and was actually under the weight limit! J) 

Saturday, we spent the morning at the Carr’s for a brunch with our whole team.  We turned in our apartment keys and said goodbye to our landlady and her grandmother (our Russian grandmother!) and then went back to the Carr’s.  We were able to go slide down an ice slide with almost all the Carr kids for a while (Shannon and I have been really hoping we would be able to do this!!)

Shannon and I said our final goodbyes to the rest of our friends and Kelly Saturday night at English Club.  For some reason, neither one of us had realized that we were not going to see Kelly again.  As we were walking out the door it hit both of us.  That was a very difficult goodbye!  Kelly has been such a good friend to us!

We spent the night at the Carr’s apartment so that we could leave from there at 4:50 AM.  There were some very difficult goodbyes that night and early this morning also!  The Carrs have become so much like my second family.  They have made us feel so at home and we have loved spending time with them!

We made it to the Ufa airport with very little time to spare before our flight, but we made on and have now made it safely to St. Pete.  Soon we will be heading down to the check in desk and hopefully make it smoothly to London.

I’ll probably post more later about some more details about all that went on this last week and such, but right now I need to get ready to head to the check in desks….Aparrently blogging is a good way to pass the time, because these last 2 hours flew by!  I’ll try to update more later!    

December is Here!

Updates from the past week:

Last Friday, we had a Thanksgiving Men’s and Women’s Club.  This was our 3^rd time to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was a great evening!  We had at least 40 people come and it was such a diverse group of people.  We spent basically the entire afternoon cooking and decorating.  The food was Amazing!  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  We sang a few songs (we even sang 1 in Russian!!)  Chris talked about Thanksgiving and we asked every table to go around and each person share what they are thankful for.  Overall it was a fantastic evening.  I will say that Shannon, Kelly and I were all very thankful that we would not have to be preparing for any more Thanksgiving meals anymore.  It was a great 3 day long celebration, but cooking and preparing that much food 3 days in a row will sure wear a person out! 

Last night was our last Craft Night meeting.  I finally was able to complete a Pinterest project!! We made scarves from t-shirts last night.  We didn’t have very many people come, but we had fun with our small group and we were able to make some pretty cool looking scarves! (Side note: Ashley: we MUST make some more over your Christmas break! J)

Shannon, Kelly, and I are trying to get ready for our Christmas presentation at school.  We are finding it very difficult to find motivation to work on this project though.  Hopefully we will get some planning done and it will turn out well…

The Sunday night Bible discussion group has been studying John 3:16 and the surrounding verses recently.  This has brought up some good discussion, and I think it is very possible that some lives are being changed for the better in this group!

In other news, Shannon and I FINALLY ate at the New York Steak House that is right below our apartment!  After walking by this place practically every day for 3 and a half months and smelling the deliciousness all the time, we finally made time to go enjoy an incredible meal there today.  It was fantastic!  We also made it out to the Ikea that opened back in September.  Basically, we did a lot of Americanish things today here in Russia, but it sure was a fun day! 

With the beginning of December, we are realizing more and more that our time here is drawing close to the end.  Shannon and I have had to start saying some goodbyes to some of our friends and it seems like every time we go to some meeting or club, we realize that it is our last or next to last time to see certain people.  Oh how I miss my family and friends!  These 4 months have gone by so quickly, but it has still been difficult to be away from all of you for so long.  I know that I will deeply miss everyone here when I head home to though.  I think a piece of my heart will be left here, but I am also getting more and more ready to pick up the piece of my heart that has been in America for 4 months.  

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

First, here is an update on a few things that have been going on recently:

Last Wednesday night we had our last Cooking Club.  We made green bean casserole (in honor of Thanksgiving coming up) and homemade Reese’s peanut butter cups.  Once again this was a great time of fellowship.  We had some new women come this week.  Throughout the evening, Eileen was able to share about why we celebrate Thanksgiving and why she and Chris felt led to come to Ufa.  I feel like God used this night to speak to a couple of the ladies. 

Shannon, Kelly, and I were asked to teach 2 English classes at a linguistics school last Thursday night.  We were asked to teach about Thanksgiving.  Shannon and I were together and Kelly taught the other class by herself.  Kelly’s class had older students, but mine and Shannon’s class had 16 kids probably around 10 years old.  Oh my! It was SO much fun.  We explained a little bit about Thanksgiving, and then spent the rest of the time answering all of their questions about everything you can imagine.  …what is your favorite color, do we like fast food, do we have pets, do we have brothers and sisters, who are our favorite actors … etc.  At one point they sang a popular Russian song to us and we sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to them (there aren’t really any Thanksgiving songs, so we skipped to Christmas lol) Shannon and I could not have enjoyed this evening more.  The kids were so precious.  After the kids had left, we had some tea and a small dinner with the other teachers.  This was a lot of fun, and Shannon and I were able to try some more Bashkir foods (they were quite tasty J )   

Side note: We had our first Taxi experience in Russia this night haha  it was interesting

God definitely used this experience to bring me great encouragement and joy.  After this evening, I felt so much joy and peacefulness.  I can’t even begin to explain in words how much I needed that experience. 

Weather Update: The darkness of winter has settled in here.  Much like in Alaska, there are very few daylight hours here right now.  It doesn’t even get bright enough for the streetlights to turn off until at least 10 AM and it is completely dark again by 5:30 or so.  This is making it incredibly difficult to get up in the mornings!  During the day, it is also pretty cloudy all the time, so we rarely get to see the sun.  However, we are very much so enjoying all the beautiful snow!!! Right now we probably have at least a foot of snow built up in most places.  Temps are dropping as well.  For Thanksgiving, the high is supposed to be below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.  Maybe we should have a snowball fight with all the Carr Kids to celebrate such cold temperatures! J  

Speaking of Thanksgiving... as I have said previously, we will have had 3 different Thanksgiving meals by the end of this week.  We had our first Thanksgiving last night.  Shannon, Kelly, and I cooked a traditional Thanksgiving meal (or as close as we could get it with our lack of skills and with what ingredients we could find here) for our classmates last night.  It was so much fun!  I think everyone really enjoyed it!  We were able to have a turkey (I actually carved the turkey!) green bean casserole, rolls, corn, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, a pumpkin roll, and a Russian version of an apple pie.  It was such a wonderful experience to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends of 7 different nationalities! (American, Chinese, Vietnamese, Serbian, Turkish, Peruvian, and Korean)  Overall it was a great night.  We had great food and great friends. We spent the evening talking, playing some songs on guitar, sharing about what we are thankful for.  What a blessing this night was.

At this moment, I am sitting in the Carr’s apartment enjoying Thanksgiving Day with my adopted family here in Russia.  I absolutely love this family and feel so blessed to be able to spend the day with them.  Right now, I can smell a delicious turkey and am watching some of my adopted little brothers play some games on Wii.  If I have to be away from my family for the holiday, this is the best way I can think of to spend the day!

Tomorrow we will be having a joint Men’s and Women’s club to celebrate a traditional American Thanksgiving with the Russians who usually attend the Men’s Club and Women’s Club each month. 

It is hard to believe that we only have 2 and a half weeks left here.  I am very much so ready to see my friends and family again (and sleep in my own bed! lol), but I know that I will miss the people here so much as well.  I know these last weeks will go by so fast.  I am trying to make the most of what time we have left here.

I have had to start trying to plan for what I will do when I get back.  I am thoroughly enjoying planning the fun stuff like seeing everyone, giving everybody their gifts, and going to all of my favorite restaurants and coffee shops, doing all sorts of crafty stuff with my favorite sister and such.  But trying to plan what to do with my life after Christmas is proving to be a bit difficult.  I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for guidance in this area!

Answered Prayers

·         Our cooking club last week went so well! 

·         Teaching an English class was an absolutely amazing experience! 

·         Thanksgiving with our class went extremely well

Prayer Requests:

·         Pray that the men’s and women’s club Thanksgiving celebration will be a great time of fellowship and that we will be able to share about the Gospel through explaining why and how we celebrate Thanksgiving.  Please pray that this will be a joyful time and that Shannon and I will not be missing our families too badly.

·         On Dec. 7^th, our university will be putting on a presentation with some of the language students and all of the international students.  The international students from each different country will be sharing about how their country celebrates New Year’s or Christmas.  Shannon, Kelly, and I are the only Americans so we have decided to share about how we celebrate Christmas.  We are in the planning stage right now, but so far we have decided that we will be singing “The 12 Days of Christmas” and “Mary Did You Know?” and bringing cookies (because you have to leave cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve! J).  We will be able to share about our Christmas traditions.  Please pray that we will be able to follow God’s guidance on how to go about sharing the true reason for Christmas. 

·         As you can see, we are going to be incredibly busy in our last weeks here.  This is a good thing.  I definitely want to make the most of what little time I have left here.  But I would also like to ask that you pray for plenty of rest and limited stress for Shannon and I.  With so much going on, it could be rather easy for us to get worn out and make these last 2 and a half weeks very difficult for us.