Greetings from Russia

Wellllllllllllllll Okay......So it is my turn to blog today. We are only five days in and need I explain that this has been quite the adventure already. Megan, the tattletale (spoken with love and in much laughter I promise you) has already disclosed some of my mishaps. I will not recap or elaborate on them...if you want the details....you'll have to ask me in person.

I am not sure why, but today has been a very emotional day. Here is how it started.....

My alarm rang at 6:00 AM. I gathered my running gear and out I went into the cold and snow to "skate" around the church (there is a nice layer of ice under the snow of the church parking lot). The air was cold, snow was lightly falling, "Earnestly, Tenderly Jesus Is Calling" was playing softly through my earbuds. A quiet time, alone to reflect on Jim's sermon last night...What is Worship....After about 30 minutes of "skating"out pops my new friend LeeYena (phonetic) she has come to "fellowship" with me....and she is fast...round and round the church we went. Occasionally she would try to speak but the language barrier is great and I could tell she was frustrated by it as was I. We rely much on Misha and Anya, our translators, to communicate with our new camp friends and on the rare occasion when they aren't with us it is challenging--I so appreciate the gift God has given them.

By 7:30 we are done and climbing up the 72 stairs to our rooms where we can shower and get ready for the Sunday service. I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciated being one of the first ones up this morning--my shower was warm (yesterday I took a very fast freezing cold shower and I do mean FREEZING.....I am guessing there are about 50 people here who need to bath and a very limited supply of hot water sooo....ya SNOOZE, ya LOSE).

8:00 quiet time for prayer and to read my Bible. Focus Jenefer (happens to be the camp theme)...My mind is frequently overwhelmed. What will glorify you Lord?

9:00 Breakfast. Megan points out that this morning my prayer was answered..we are eating porridge. My stomach has been challenged by all the new foods. This is more up my alley. Most mornings breakfast consists of fatty meat, fatty cheese, and white bread.

10:00 Church Service. Our team gathered together in the 4th and 5th rows on the left hand side of the sanctuary. The music here is so beautiful....our Russian brothers and sisters successfully moved me to tears this morning with their songs of praise to our God. I have been fighting that emotion since their New Year's Eve gathering. Occasionally our team is able to recognize a tune and sing along---fantastic. We took communion in "updated" Russian style (Slavabogo for the little cups that came before us). Jim preached from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice, Pray with out ceasing and in everything Give Thanks. The service lasted according to Laddy (Larry, but they don't have a good "r" sound to pronounce his name) 2 hours and 20 minutes.

That puts lunch at about 12:30. Another meal and more laughter. Usually it involves lots of laughter over Laddy's purposeful mispronunciation of Russian words.

By 3:00 Our group gathers again: Megan, with the help of Misha, successfully "herds the deaf cats" in our USA Olympic Challenge. All went well until.....TWO BALL.....Thanks a lot, Josh! Apparently this game is a hit with the Heritage youth, but it almost ended in a fist fight for the Russians.

I think I have been blogging now for well over an hour (Megan has had enough time to take a nap, shower, and dry her hair) and I am getting heckled by the team. I think I put Jim to sleep because I can hear him SNORING behind me...Laddy and Rader have put on there NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES....I wish I had some (ha,ha,ha, really I have said that more than once on this trip the plane ride over was AWESOME!!!!)

I will sign off for now....more to come.... Jen

P.S. This is Megan now. I'm proofreading Jen's note and feel it necessary to add the following.
Jen has a nickname of "Ninja" among the youth because they caught sight of her in her early morning running gear complete with a black burglar mask. The team has taken to calling her "Betsy Ross" or "Martha Stewart" for all her contributions to the team flag and for her beautiful crafts. Tonight we will do our first craft with the youth. Pray for us!

Another prayer request is for an orphan named Sergei. He's struggling to socially fit in, and he is very new in the faith. He came to our room yesterday and spent quite awhile talking with me while Misha translated. (Jen was sitting next to me embroidering our flag.) Larry and Rader got him and some other kids playing the new American game of hacky sack. Today he won points for his team in the cookie competition...it was neat to see him be successful in front of his peers. He was grinning ear to ear. Anyway, pray with us that this camp will continue to be a neat time of growth in the faith for him. He just turned eighteen and was declined for his school of choice because of his background as an orphan. He has good mentors in the church, but we're praying that he'll make friends. Misha helped me write Romans 8:28 on his hand to read!

Now, we've put Larry to sleep. How Rader sleeps in this room is beyond comprehension. There is a SERIOUS snore competition going on between Larry and Jim.