Chocolate Delights!

Larry and Rader...are you SO jealous!!!!???? We found the chocolate delights from last year in the marketplace. Todd is my new best friend because he bought me almost THREE pounds of them. (He was the only one with rubles.) Gabe is my second new best friend because he was willing to endanger pedestrians to bring our car to a screeching stop when I spied the marketplace that possessed these wonderful treasures! YESSSS!!!! We're having a blogathon in our room. (I have to closely supervise Todd and Jen and make THEM do some blogging!) Anyway, the blogathon includes decaf Via and chocolate delights...oh so nice!

Megan!

P.S. Larry and Rader, if you want to have something to NOT be jealous of, the blogathon is in the girls' room, because the boys' bedroom has a VERY familiar
smell...

Famous!

These two girls were especially enamored with the fact that we were
Americans! They kept asking if we were really from America. Then
they wanted to know how to contact us. They took pictures of us with their
cell phones, and we promised them we'd post their picture on our blog! I explained
that the REAL reason we traveled on three airplanes and two trains to come meet them is because we want them to know our best friend, JESUS!

Meet Nastya and Anya!

Nikiforovka Pictures

Wow! It was absolutely a FULL house at the school today! They just kept bringing in chairs! It was fun to see a handful of kids that we recognized from last year's outreach, plus a WHOLE bunch more! We shared chocolate Twizzlers and balloons, played games, and of course shared the Christmas message of God's love! It was absolute bedlam when we handed out the Immanuel's child gifts! This is a small village, and these crazy Americans were a novel act!

Christmas Eve!

Here's photos from our Russian Christmas Eve!
We had to clean up our disheveled selves for the church service,
so we thought it'd be a good time for a team picture as
it's about as good as it gets for these travelers!
If we're being fair, we must also post the pics of Megan and Jen's footwear.
Neither of us had room to pack church shoes, so these really complimented our outfits!

Craft Queen!

You have no idea how POPULAR Jen was at camp! The youth loved the crafts and were asking at all times of the day and night if they could make more bottle cap necklaces! Geoffrey is a student from Ghana who especiallly bonded to Jen. He graciously translated for her, since his English is good! It was funny to see this 6 foot 6 inch guy shadowing Jen and poring over the detailed crafts! I'll let Jen blog more...she's taking a nice long nap, and I am really needing to follow her lead as I hear the accordians warming up for the Christmas service starting in an hour!!! We are SOOOO tired!

--Megan

Game Gang!

Of course, Jim and Jen were invaluable helpers for game time at camp! But this is the rest of our camp gamers! From left...me, Jenni (American missionary and wonderful helper! She picked us up in Moscow, has been our chauffer to and from camp, and stands in Anya's shoes as translator and friend!) Please pray for dear Jenni because she came home from camp with a cold and fever! She's had to take today off to stay home and recover! Then, our wonderful and humorous translator Misha! Finally, Gabe is another American missionary who lives in Tambov. We have really enjoyed getting to know him and his wife Becky (they also have a 1 year old and 4 year old.) Gabe was our driver today in Jenni's absence. Please pray for Gabe and Becky as they adjust to life in Tambov! They have a heart to serve youth, and Becky was the camp nurse! It is a huge adjustment, especially in the first couple years of missionary service and with young kids to get used to living away from family and friends, compounded by the fact that Russian is such a difficult language to learn. We have lots of friends in Tambov to pray for!

Transformation Christian Center

Shhhh! Jen does NOT want to see this photo of where they keep the camp mattresses. Apart from the scary mattresses and the brown pillows, the building where they have camp (near Lipetsk) is really cool...it was purchased for $10,000 in the wake of Russian economic collapse in the late 90s, and it has so much potential! It was really cool to see the possibilities for growth. Right now, the Russians have finished the first floor, where we have camp. The second floor has had some work done (storage for mattresses and other things) and the third floor is just a shell. The SEND missionary organization is raising money to complete the building, and it is a dream of Jenni's to see it reach full completion.

Many kids couldn't attend camp this year, because they simply ran out of room on the first floor. During summer camp, everyone stays outside in tents so many more kids can attend, but for winter camp, space is limited because only the first floor is completed/heated. When camp is not going on, TCC (Transformation Christian Center) is the home of the Christian rehab center.

--Megan