Home

We pulled into beautiful Pocatello at about 3:00 a.m. on Monday night. Mike's mom met us at the airport in SLC to drive us back and my wonderful wife, Sarah, surprised me by showing up with her. It was so good to be back together with our families and on familiar soil. Sarah made me chicken pesto pizza last night and it didn't even cost me my camera. It has been a little difficult to readjust our clocks to Poky time but I think we're all getting there. Overall we are so glad that God gave us the opportunity to be part of this mission trip. There is a lot to process in our own minds from the expereince, but in debriefing together it's obvious the Lord has used this in some good ways and has expanded our vision for serving Him with our lives.

If you attend UBC, you'll see a brief presentation this Sunday morning on our trip. The plan is to take a Sunday evening in a month for a more detailed account.

It's been encouraging and humbling to hear that people were reading our blog and praying for us while we were away. Sorry for the break in posts over the weekend. We didn't have internet access after Saturday morning. Thanks again for your prayers.

P.S. The picture shows the American team at camp. As you can see, we've changed a little from the experience. Must be the kashi.

The Longest Monday Ever

We are waiting at our gate in the Moscow Airport as I write this. Because we're chasing the sun we have a 34 hour Monday ahead of us. 11 hours flying to Atlanta, 4 hour layover, and 4 hours to SLC. Yikes! Because of the timing, I expect this to feel much longer than the trip over.

To catch up on the past couple days . . .

Saturday we left camp and rode in a very crowded bus for two hours to Tambov. We stayed that night at the central church after spending a couple hours walking around the city. It felt like the Hilton after the accommodations we had at camp. I'm not complaining about camp - it was what we expected and we loved every minute of it. But it was nice to sleep on regular (although very hard) beds in a finished room.

On Sunday morning we were on our own for breakfast. We found an outdoor market a few blocks away and picked up some delicious mushroom and potato filled pirogues. During the church service they brought us up on stage to introduce ourselves and sing a song. The whole team crowded around two microphones. I hope Luke and I didn't bring down the quality of the team. We had a little time to shop for souvenirs that afternoon, drank some tea with our friends from camp, and attend the evening service at church. At 8:45 we boarded the train for Moscow and began the long journey home. It was hard to say goodbye to our friends and there were many teary eyes (for the record, it wasn't just the girls). Our translator, Anya, chased us as long as she was able to keep up with the train.

We arrived in Moscow at about 7:30 and headed straight to the airport to kill time. Unfortunately we also killed some healthy rubles. We needed to eat breakfast so we sat down at a regular looking cafe in the airport. The food was mediocre but expensive - about 750 rubles each (the exchange rate is 25 rubles to 1 dollar - you do the math).

Our flight is about to board so I better shut this down. Thanks for your prayers this week. We can't wait to fill you all in on the details in person.

The Best News

Good news! Dema, the young boy we asked you to pray for, prayed to repent and receive Christ today! Mike shared more with him and the other guys in his tent this afternoon. By the end, Dema and one other boy wanted to pray a simple prayer that acknowledged they are asking Jesus to forgive them of their sins and be the king of their lives. Thanks for praying for him and the other campers and for sharing this joy with us. Please continue to pray that they would be established in their new-found faith and that their faith would prove genuine over time.

In other news, Katie dominated the basketball court today. We played several games of lightning with the Russians. I think she won 5 in a row. I would like to say I wasn't playing at that time, but I was. She kept getting me out over and over and over again. It was a humbling experience and I suppose that's a good thing.

Part way through the evening meeting tonight a serious thunder storm rolled in. The rain dumped in thick sheets and the lightning was cracking close. After a few minutes, the power cut out. We actually stayed in the tent and continued on by using flashlights for another 15 minutes. Although we assumed it would be cancelled, they still wanted us to do our skit. The stormy darkness and pouring rain on the tent roof made a great backdrop to our skit that had a serious tone to it. Eventually we headed inside and finished the meeting. Afterward, we played a hilarious new game called "viking king" that we can't wait to import to America. It's the perfect game for late nights at camps in thunderstorms.

More kashi anyone?

The "newness" of the experience here is starting to wear off. I, for one, am getting a little tired of a dozen varieties of kashi and hotdogs. I look forward to food that crunches. The food has actually been very good, but it's not like home. I think I would trade my digital camera for a slice of my wife's chicken pesto pizza. I think the water is starting to have an affect on our digestive systems as some of us are feeling a little squirmy. From now on it's bottled water only.

We played softball with some of the staff and campers today. The only other time I've felt so talented on a baseball diamond was when I played with a similar group in China. It doesn't take much skill to be leagues above someone who has never held a bat. They're a very athletic crew but baseball takes a little practice. They picked it up fairly quickly and I look forward to more games. Mike shared his testimony tonight at the meeting. By God's grace, he's feeling much better and did a great job communicating.

One of the brothers here, Andre, is a graphic designer. I asked if he would be willing to design a logo for Crossroads. Within a day he had a half dozen options to choose from. They're all amazing and I can't wait to show them to the rest of our college crew. I don't know how much that would cost to have done in the free market, but it can't be cheap. Andre did it for free, although he keeps joking about a payment of 25 American t-shirts. At least, I think he's joking. Like I said, it's hard to tell sometimes. He's a very neat and creative guy, always quick with a sound effect and facial expression to emphasize a story or joke. He's one of the many Russian brothers and sisters we'll miss when we head home (which is less than a week now).

God bless!

Between Two Worlds

We have been studying heaven and life with an eternal perspective in our group devotional. We've studied the New Earth to come, which will once again be free from sin's consequences. God will once again walk with us as He did in the garden before the fall. Today we considered our present state as pilgrims and sojourners on this earth, awaiting our true home to come. Life makes so much more sense when we realize that we are living between two perfect worlds - the original sinless creation and the restored earth (heaven - Rev. 21:1) to come. The pain, frustration, and longing we often feel is natural if we are not yet in our homeland. Nicole spoke for all of us when she said that she has studied this before, but it makes so much more sense now that we are away from our present homeland of America. We miss our homes in America, but even more we long for our true country that awaits us as citizens of heaven.

Today we were able to borrow a guitar and sing a few worship songs in English during our group time. It was like drinking from cold, fresh water after being in the desert. They music is great here and I imagine the words are good, but we have no clue what they are saying. To sing and hear music in English felt like such a treat!

Dema, the young boy we shared with yesterday, followed up with us today. He tracked me down this morning and said he thought about the question and knows what God will do if he fails to obey His commands - He will punish him. He really wanted to talk more (as did I) so we met after the evening meeting with our translator. The short of it is we spent an hour talking through Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Through asking questions, drawing pictures, and explaining the passage Dema understood (I think) that God made a way for him to be in heaven with Him through Jesus' death on the cross. Both God's love for Dema and His requirement of justice were satisfied in that one act. All Dema has to do is receive God's free gift. He understands the need to obey God, but he has obedience in the wrong context. He thinks obedience earns God's forgiveness instead of obedience being a result of forgiveness. It was difficult to communicate through a translator, but I think he understands. He wants to think about it more. We still have four more days of camp, so please pray that God would work in His heart, reveal His truth to Him, and that Dema would receive God's gift of salvation.

Thanks for following along at home. We really appreciate your prayers. Thanks to those of you who post comments. We check once in a while and are encouraged by your words.

(The picture is of Luke and Dema in a silly game on stage during the morning meeting)

Sunday, July 29th

Today has been a good day. We all spent more time with campers and had many conversations about God. We performed another skit at the main meeting tonight. If you know me, you probably know that skits aren't exactly my "comfort zone" but they have come together pretty well, praise God. Luke and Nicole have really shined though. I hope Hollywood doesn't get ahold of any clips or we may lose them to the big leagues.

Luke also shared his testimony tonight at the main meeting. He emphasized a burning question he always had growing up. "God, I believe in You. But what do you want me to do?" In college he found out that God desires him to trust in Christ's finished work at the cross and learn to walk in obedience through Christ's power in him. It was obviously difficult for him to speak through a translator because he had to say a few sentences and . . . pause . . . and say a few more sentences and . . . pause . . . It's difficult to keep a train of thought going at full speed when it keeps making stops along the way. He did a great job though and we're very proud.

Luke, Mike, and I had a chance to talk with a neat, young boy named Dema today. He looks to be about 14 and is very amiable. I asked him the same question Luke used in his testimony - "What do you think God wants from you?" He said that God wants him to obey his commandments. I told him that he is right, but can you obey his commandments all the time? He replied with a quick and sheepish "no." We followed with, "What do you think God will do if you cannot obey Him?" He seemed a little surprised by the question and said that he didn't know but would think about it. We asked him to think about it tonight and we will ask him tomorrow what answer he came up with. Pray that he does consider it and the Spirit of God would convict him of his own sin, not simply to lay a thick "guilt trip" on him but so that he could see his need for Christ's provision on the cross.

Mike has been feeling a little sick the past two days. I think it's a combination of a cold and exhaustion. Our team very strongly encouraged him to rest today and he took us up on it - sleeping for 5 hours this afternoon. He looked much better tonight, but please pray that his strength would continue to improve. (Mike says, "Don't worry Mom and Dad, I've had worse)

The picture is of Luke and Nicole discussing anatomy and physiology with Serge, whose parents are doctors. I think the other guy is Serge also. Or Dema. Or Sasha. If we can't remember a name we just through those out and they work for 50% of the Russian guys.