- Day 1
WOW is a word to sum up our experience in Russia so far. The journey began at our check-in at Portland International Airport where we were sent off by so many of our friends and family members. It is such a blessing to have all of you in our lives so thank you for praying for us, supporting us, and holding the ropes back home!
Both flights went by quickly and smoothly. George, Slavik, and I (Natalya), had to hold back from pouring out our vengeance and kung-fu skills on Mark due to him flying comfortably in business class, while we had to humbly endure being squeezed into the economy section. "Vengeance is mine" says the Lord, so we made a pact to forgiven him and move on. Kind of...
As we stepped through the customs section of the Domodedova Airport in Moscow, it began to hit us that we were really here. Everyone was speaking Russian, yelling, being sarcastic, not smiling, and trying to rip us off. We were home and loving every second of it! Being George's and Mark's first time in Mother Russia, it has been a blast sharing this experience with them. I can tell you that holding on to dear life, crammed into a Moscow city bus, with standing room only, all while stuck in traffic for 2 hours, called for many laughs as hysteria begins to set in due to the lack of oxygen.
After spending a day in Moscow, we were excited to join up with Roman and Sophia, who have ben visiting and ministering in Ukraine for the previous 10 days. Meeting them at the train station, the six of us were ready to hit the ground running. Or riding a night train to St. Petersburg (our first stop) to be specific. As Sophia broke the love of God down to an old lady wearing a huge night gown, and a young man wearing short shorts, the rest of us tried to stay cool in the restaurant on the train. I would've stayed with her but only 3 words came to mind, FUR IT UP! :
- Day 2
We were met at St. Petersburg by Pastor Alex who took us to his city, Kingisep, were we will be ministering at for the next week. Within an hour of arriving, the people at this church welcomed us into their homes and stuffed us with food. We are treated like family. We spent the day getting settled in, and ready for the evening service where George (A.K.A. Pastor George) slammed the congregation with an awesome word about being compelled by the love of Christ to the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation means -restablishing a right relationship that was broken. One of the best things he said was, "Christ's love must compel us in everything that we do. That is the fuel for our ministry of reconciliation."
After the word, many people came up for prayer in order that they would live with that drive for the lost and focusing on fulfilling God's plan for their life, instead of their own. It was a blessing to be able to hook up with them in prayer and see God minister to their hearts.
After service, our chef (Yevgeniy), cooked us some smoked fish on a camp fire. It was amazing! Pray that God would kill the calories in our food because Yevgeniy's assigment is to cook for us all week long and he has feed us 4 awesome meals already. Mama mia! I've never had a personal chef, but I could definately get used to this! I joke. :)
Well it's 3 AM and time for bed. Day 3 will be at a youth camp and day 4 will be some sight seeing in St. Petersburg. I will keep you guys posted! Blessings!words came to mind, FUR IT UP! :
