Has it really already been a whole month?!?

I’ve been in Ufa for over a month!!!  I can’t believe it! It still feels like we just got here yesterday!

School is going great!  Shannon and I have been enjoying our classes.  We like all of our teachers and we can understand what they want us to do most of the time.  We have even been able to hold some short conversations with them!  Slowly, but surely we are learning more and more

We have 2 other guys in our class.  One is from Vietnam, but he does not speak English and can barely speak any Russian, so we have not been able to communicate with him very well yet.  The other guy’s name is Peter and he is from Peru.  Peter does speak English quite well, so Shannon and I have been able to talk to him.  We are also getting to practice our Spanish skills with him as well.  Who knows, maybe I will come back to the States with improved Spanish skills as well as Russian! J  Shannon and I are planning to go to McDonald’s every Thursday evening to work on our homework and practice Russian and we have invited Peter and Kom (Vietnamese guy) to join us.  Hopefully this will be a good opportunity to build some relationships and ultimately share with them.

Over the last few weeks I have been dealing with some negative feelings.  Satan has been trying to get to me by telling me that I’m not needed here, that all of these ministries could be going on just fine without me here, and that what I’m doing here is having no affect.  But of course, God saw fit to remind me that He called me here for a reason.  Almost immediately after these feelings began to grow more prominent, we met Peter and 2 other girls at the university.  These girls heard Shannon and I speaking English and followed us down the hall to introduce themselves.  They were so excited we spoke English, VERY excited that we were from America.  We couldn’t continue the conversation for too long at that time, but we will hopefully be able to reconnect with them and hang out with them each week and maybe even get them involved in the English clubs.  We were also able to give a lady that works in the international department information about the English clubs.  And, just last night, Shannon Kelly and I were able to hang out with a girl that we met while we were attempting to pay for school a few weeks ago.  We are going to try to work out some way of hanging out with her each week.  Each of these situations would not have happened had Shannon and I not been here.  I am hoping that in these next few months I will be very intentional about seeing opportunities that God gives me and following His guidance so that my time here will be very productive for advancing The Kindom!

So far, the only real culture shock moments I’ve had have involved paying for thins at the store or on busses.  It seems that in general, everyone expects you to have exact change when you pay for things.  Which, when you think about it logically, is impossible.  If you are always giving everyone exact change, then you never get any change, and eventually you run out of change and won’t have any to give them the next time you are paying for something (can you tell this has been bothering me just a bit?)….But, I suppose, if that is the worst form of culture shock I have experienced in a month of living in Russia, I should be quite thankful! (which I am, by the way)  I do, of course, miss home and my friends and family, but God has really been helping me feel at home here. 

Prayer Requests:

• Shannon and I would be able to continue to build relationships with the people we've met so far
• Shannon and I would be very intentional in each conversation we have.
• we would be able to follow God's guidance in starting up new groups and meeting with our new friends regularly
• Culture shock and homesickness would continue to not be a problem

Part 2!

A friend of mine posted this quote on Facebook a while back and it was quite helpful to me as God was beginning to teach me about being a Global Christian:

"Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossiper, Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody, Moses stuttered, Zaccheus was short, Abraham was old, and Lazarus was dead.... God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the CALLED!"

I would like to add to this thought that if you are a follower of Christ, He wants to use you to spread the Gospel.  You are Called! 

This concpet of being a Global Christian and focusing on getting the Gospel to the nations can seem like a pretty huge project(because it is), but we serve a pretty powerful God don't we?  I know a lot of you will probably not be able to actually go to the nations.  It is fully possible to be missions-minded at home (and I am going to give some general ideas for how to do so), but there is a world full of people who have not yet heard.  We need to be living every day of our lives with the goal of making Christ known! 

Here are a few ideas of ways to serve that I thought of over the last few days.  Maybe these will spark some more ideas for you…

Some ideas for starters:

-          Hosting a movie night Bible study (with an emphasis on getting non-Christians to come) and discuss worldview questions

-          Learning a new language to prepare to serve in a country that speaks that language or to share with people in your area that speak that language.

-          Starting a prayer group to pray for the nations

-          Fundraising for a project (I have plenty of ideas if you want some!!)

-          Start a Bible study on God’s heart for the nations (I could potentially have some material for such a study)

-          Encouraging those around you

-          Serving those in need in your area

-          Encouraging and enabling others as they go.  If you know someone who is preparing to go, ask them what they need help with prayer for.

-          Get connected with a career missionary serving a particular people group and see what they need (could be actual supplies/funds, could be prayer support, could be bringing a team to serve for some amount of time)

The most important thing is to be attentive to how God is already working and following His lead Wherever and However He is working.  I have been leaning more and more about what it means to be ministering like Jesus.  This involves being willing to join God WHEREVER He is working (not just where I feel comfortable) and constantly looking for how God is already working in the hearts of those I meet and trying to start from that point.  In general, being continually aware of the fact that God is working in each person’s heart in some way, and being ready and willing to follow the Spirits guidance. 

"Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin! The time for waiting is past! The hour of God has struck! War is declared! In Gods Holy Name let us arise and build! The God of Heaven, He will fight for us, as we for Him. We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of the sayings of Christ, and the gates and minions of hell shall not prevail against us. Should such men as we fear? Before the whole world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God; we will venture our all for Him; we will live, and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God, than live trusting in man. And when we come to this position, the battle is already won, and the end of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real Holiness of God, not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; we will have a Masculine Holiness, one of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ."
 – C.T. Studd

I’m sure I will be adding to this whole idea in future blog posts, because God is still teaching me about this whole concept and what it looks like in everyday life.  So, you can be looking out for more to come! J

p.s. update on my life in Russia to come tomorrow!

Global Christians part 1

God has been teaching me so much in this first month in Ufa!  He is changing my way of thinking in so many ways, and I want to try to share some of what He is showing me with you. 

In general, one of the main impressions I have of Ufa (and Russia) so far is that there are far less of America’s modern conveniences here.  Elevators are rare (even in 5+ story apartment buildings), not nearly as many people have their own cars, using public transportation is the norm even though the trams and buses are usually cramped and not the cleanest, apartments are smaller, fold-out couches are often used as beds, and people go for walks to hang out, rather than watching TV or spending $4 on a cup of coffee.  Right now, I can’t even remember how this conversation got started, but at some point in the first week we were here, Chris said something that has been making me think.  In America specifically, modern conveniences have made our lives so much easier, and we are constantly trying to figure out new ways to make life easier still.  This mentality may very well be seeping into our spiritual lives as well and making us think that the Christian life should also be easy and that we can come up with ways that make it easier or more comfortable, but that’s not how God intended for us to follow Him.  He never told us that being a Christian would be easy.  In fact, He told us it would be difficult and that we would face trials.  Perhaps it has taken a trip to Russia to show me that I do not need to be striving to make my Christian life as easy as I can, but instead I need to be willing to follow Christ no matter how difficult the road may be.  This is not to say that every Christian should be moving to a 3^rd world country and living in a grass hut with no electricity or running water in order to be following God’s will for their lives.  But if we are completely comfortable in our Christian lives and hardly ever face any trials, perhaps we should be wondering if we really are completely following God’s will.  I no longer want to have a focus on how I can keep my life and my spiritual walk as comfortable and easy as possible.  I want to be completely focused on following God no matter how many trials and difficult situations I have to face, because I know that His plan is better than anything I can come up with.  And I will count it a privilege to face trials if it means that I get to play a part in His plan to reach the nations.

In some of our devotional material, we have been learning about being World Christians or Global Christians.  To fully explain the scope of what a Global Christian is has been kind of difficult for me (partially because I think God is still teaching me and partially because I don’t want this blog entry to be 17 pages long), but in a nut shell, Global Christians have a vision for reaching the lost of the world and are actively working to draw others to Christ. They see the scope of the lostness in the world as God sees it and are fully surrendered and fully committed to following God’s guidance to bridge that gap. (no matter how hard or where that guidance takes them).  If this were a description of our lives, missions (spreading the Gospel) would be the driving force behind our lives, every decision we make would be made with that in mind, with missions as our ultimate goal.  We would have a deeply burdened heart for the lost and we would be acting on that burden daily!

Does this describe you?  Why or why not?  What do you think is keeping you from being a Global Christian? Laziness, wanting life to be easy, not fully believing in God’s plan or His willingness to use you… etc.   What can you be doing to be growing towards being a Global Christian?  If you are not feeling particularly burdened for the lost in the world, you can be asking God to build a heart for the lost in you or show you how you need to be actively involved in reaching the lost.

 If that “definition” of a Global Christian does describe you, how can you be helping others become Global Christians as well?  How can you be encouraging others and helping them grow and learn more of what God has already taught you about His heart for the nations.

If we are going to say we believe and follow Christ, we should be actively involved in reaching the nations for Him.  This thought has been floating around in my mind for a while now: My failure to obey God’s will could mean that some people never hear about Jesus and will consequently spend eternity in Hell. If we aren’t willing to be a little uncomfortable or go somewhere far away from home, it could mean that some people will die without having heard of Jesus.  This thought has been heavy on my heart as I think it should be.  I think we should be concerned and worried about that fact and let that build a sense of urgency within us to go to the nations!  Quite honestly, if we really believe what the Bible tells us we couldn’t hesitate to go to the entire world and risk everything to tell the lost about Christ. This should be our sole purpose!

… To be continued…

I hope at least some of that made sense! This is something that God is still teaching me and revealing more to me about so it is kind of difficult to fully explain, but I wanted to share with all of you and hopefully encourage some of you to dive into this journey with me.  As God continues to teach me about what it looks like to be a Global Christian and how to follow Him with a fully surrendered heart, I will continue to share with yall.  (and if/when He shows you something new, I would LOVE to hear about it!!!)  I know God has some big plans to grow me during these few months and I am hoping that some of you will be touched and changed as well…..

In my next blog, I’ll try to present some practical ideas for how to serve and grow into being a Global Christian. 

Short Update

I am in the process of typing up what will be a pretty major blog update right now.  God has been showing me some pretty amazing and intense things over the last few weeks, and I want to share about those with you all and encourage you to join me in some of them.  But it is going to take me a couple days to get all of these thoughts together and typed up in a way that you can understand them.  So, I will continue to work on that and you can look for it sometime this week, but I wanted to give everyone a quick update in the meantime:

Shannon and I have had some good, though short, conversations with some people over the past week.  We are really excited to see how God is already working in the lives of these people who have quickly become such great friends!

We are finally starting school tomorrow!  I am excited and nervous at the same time.  We think that tomorrow will just involve seeing who all shows up and dividing us up into our different levels (beginner and intermediate and such)  I’ll be sure to let everyone know how it goes

p.s.  I have some pictures of Ufa and the friends we have made here uploaded on Facebook.  Be sure to check them out! J

Celebrating the small victories and excitement for what is to come

We have offically been in Russia for over 2 weeks!  It still feels like it was just yesterday that I was weighing my suitcase 5 times a day trying to get it under 44 lbs ...  Time sure does go by quickly!  Which means that we need to be incredibly intentional in sharing Christ with everyone around us in every single situation we are in.  We may never have these opportunities again....

Eileen shared with Shannon and I once about how important it was for her that they celibrated the small victories when they first moved to Russia.  I have been trying to do this each day.  Here are a few of the victories Shannon and I have accomplished recently... Last weekend, we went to KFC and Shannon and I (with a little help from Eileen) were able to order our food in Russian! The lady that took our order was so nice and patient with us!  That same day, Eileen gave us her recipe for, helped us go shopping for, and then helped us bake the most delicious chocolate chip muffins.  We were then able to bake some for the Bible discussion group the next day.  These muffins are SO delicious and I can’t wait to bake them for everyone when I get back to the States!

We are continuing to build relationships with everyone we’ve met so far.  We have walked around town and through several parks in Ufa with between 7 and 10 of our new friends here nearly every evening.  We are getting to know them better, and they are getting to know us.  We get to learn some new words in Russian, and they get to practice speaking English.  Shannon and I have each had a couple of opportunities to share at least a little bit about what we believe and why.  God is laying certain people in this group of friends we’ve met on each of our hearts to pray for in specific ways and attempt to share with.  We are both very excited to see where God is planning to take these friendships!

We still have not heard from the university about when we will start classes.  Shannon and I have mixed feelings about this.  We both are glad to have some free time without the burdens of classes and homework and such, but we are also ready to get into a set routine and have something to do during the day.  It has been nice to be able to hang around our apartment, sleep in a little, and get more acclimated with the city, but we are feeling a bit lazy and bored at times as well.   I know I will miss this free time when school actual does start though. 

It has been rather warm for about a week now.  By warm, I mean that it has been in the high 70s to low 80s.  I realize that for most of you reading this, that doesn’t sound warm at all, but when you have packed clothes expecting much cooler weather and don’t have very many short sleeve shirts or anything other than jeans to wear, and do not have air conditioning, low 80s can be very warm!  But early this morning, we had a cool front come through!  Right now, Shannon and I have several of the windows in our apartment open and are letting a nice cool breeze blow through our rooms, and it feels so very wonderful! 

I am realizing more and more that finding rest in Christ is going to be essential for me.  I cannot depend on my normal relaxation methods (working out, watching a favorite movie, reading a good book at a coffee shop, playing BananaGrams :)… etc).   When something happens that could be stressful for me, I have to be able to give it up to God and find peace in knowing that He can and will handle it perfectly.   

Prayer Requests:

·         Opportunities to share with the friends we’ve made

·         That Shannon and I would be able to hear and follow the Spirit’s guidance in how to approach opportunities

·         That I would be able to continuously find rest and peace in Christ