Greeting from the States,
After 2 days of brain fog I would have thought that I would have adjusted to the time zone change, but not yet. I woke up at 4:30 unable to go back to sleep and decided that this would be a good time to summarize for the blog, since my thoughts were about those we left behind in Russia.
Anya posted the most important thing that happened: Four of the children prayed to be forgiven their sins and turned to the Lord. Slava Bogu! (Praise the Lord). When we were preparing for this trip we really didn’t have much of an idea of what we should plan for. Dirk planned on taking his guitar, Jeff his camera, Jeff and Vicki prepped tons of crafts and we loaded our suitcases with American candy. We added our hearts desire to serve where the Lord gave opportunity. Dirk’s guitar was a godsend. Not only did it quickly bring our hearts together with their teams as he played songs that we knew in English and they knew in Russian (Lord I lift your name on high with very similar hand motions) but it also served as a gathering point to keep the kids close by. Dirk has a gift for striking up a song just as the kids seemed to be starting to wander around. Jeff’s camera was a huge blessing as well. I’m not sure what the final picture count will be but it was over 2000 last I heard. His camera can take 6 pictures a second so it adds up fast. Jeff and Vicki spent hours rearranging their luggage before they left for Russia, reorganizing their crafts in the suitcases trying to keep each one under 50 pounds. I think we used them all and each one included a gospel presentation or explanation to the kids that we tailored while we were there. We left all of our extra craft and game supplies for the church to use as they are able.
Sunday was a full day as well. The church in Tambov had a meeting after their service to confirm Vadim as their pastor. He had been serving a one year term and was being voted on to be their permanent pastor with a four year term. While this meeting was going on we took care of the children by playing games and one last teaching opportunity before the day camp’s closing ceremony.
After Vadim was confirmed as pastor we went up for the Day Camp’s closing ceremonies. Vadim spoke to the children and asked if any were going to repent. Two boys and two girls prayed out to be forgiven by the Lord. Slava Boga! Pastor Vadim finished and we then gave each of the children the Russian Bibles that we had raised money for at our VBS. We were inundated with requests to sign the Bibles which we were happy to do. After we would write a note to each one, they would take the Bible over to the translator who would then interpret what we had written. It was one of the most moving (of which I had many) experiences of the two weeks. We quickly packed and then joined the Tambov team for a wonderful dinner of what I am pretty sure was pork schnitzel.
Side note: the previous evening Dirk pulled one on the team. We were sitting enjoying a great tasting concoction of melted cheese mushroom and sliced meat. I couldn’t identify the meat but was halfway through the meal when Dirk said: “I finally figured out what the meat is.” Samantha and Vicki were quickly trying to finish before they could find out and lose their appetite as it was quite good. Too late- Dirk says that it is cow tongue. I was skeptical that he was correct since I have had cow tongue in the past and it has always been tender and this wasn’t as tender. I thought maybe it was just prepared different and continued to enjoy the meal. The girls, Anya, Vicki and Samantha, however, were done. It had tasted so good just moments before and now they couldn’t eat another bite. Dirk confessed later that it was pork, Samantha couldn’t believe that she had been taken in again. Anya is probably only finding out as she reads this blog. Please forgive him and pray for him- he needs much prayer.
The teams had gotten together and gave me some birthday presents on Sunday, June 29th which my 45th birthday. The Tambov team gave me a neckchain with Phillipians 4:13 in Russian on it as well as a Tambov Tshirt. The American team and our translators gave me a Banya stick, a hat, a cake and a poster of the Russian alphabet. (Anya and Misha, expect an email every now and then asking how to pronounce something. I wouldn’t want you to think I had quit trying to figure out your crazy language.) It was a birthday I will never forget with my new family that welcomed me when I couldn’t be with my own.
I preached at the Sunday evening service, we had dinner together and then tried to say goodbye. It was very difficult. I am surprised at how close our hearts knit together in such a short time, and how hard it was to say goodbye. The impact on me will be permanent. There is so much more that I would have liked to have said that I couldn’t put into words. The Lord did an amazing work in a short time. I hope to return in the His time. Thank you all.
Paul Graff
