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
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