No Christmas in Russia

There are twinkling lights, tinsel and decorated trees, but there is no Christmas in Russia.  There are presents wrapped in shiny paper, but there is no Christmas in Russia.  You can even find Father Frost and the Snow Maiden, but there is no Christmas in Russia.  There are no nativity scenes, no Christmas carols, and no holiday specials on television.  There are no Christmas cookies, no Christmas punch, no sausage balls, and there is even a lack of fruitcake!  As a matter of a fact, December 25 is just an ordinary day here.  And while much of the city looks like it is getting ready for Christmas, once you learn how to read Cyrillic (the Russian alphabet) you realize that all of the fanfare, including the huge fireworks that you can buy in the grocery store, is not for Christmas at all, but in celebration of the new year.  Even in our evangelical church, this Sunday's service was nothing out of the ordinary.  There were no carols, no mention of Jesus in the manger, no wise men, shepherds or angels.  Even the other American missionaries (not IMB) who attend did not greet one another with "Merry Christmas."

But guess what?  Christmas came...it came all the same.  It came without pageants.  It came without lights.  It came without sausage balls, cookie cutters or Christmas punch.  It came without all of the things that we think make the season Christmas-sy.  It came all the same.

When I was feeling particularly low this week I was reminded that Christmas is not about all of the "things" of Christmas.  It was not when we saw John-John looking at the packages in front of our teenie artificial tree muttering to himself, "It's not about the presents, it's about Jesus...It's not about the presents, it's about Jesus."  Nor was it late on Christmas Eve when we gathered with friends and had a candlelight service.  (Though that was great and I am sure that Kellye will write about it in her blog.)  But it was Sunday night when I was feeling my lowest and turned on the television.  Now I don't really recommend that you take any of your theology from cartoon sitcoms.  And I should not really admit that I am a big "King of the Hill" fan, though it is hard not to be if you have ever known or been friends with anybody who is a native Texan.  (Well I'll be dipped.)  But Sunday night they were running Christmas episodes and as I tuned in Hank found himself in an old-fashioned tent revival on Christmas day.  "He doesn't have to, but He is working on His birthday," screamed the preacher.  And all at once I was reminded about the many sacrifices that Jesus made when he came to earth.  Do you think that anybody really cared about what that small child had given up to be there?  Do you think anybody really understood that this child (and later a man) was used to walking the streets of gold and sitting at the right hand of the father?  I don't think so.

It has been very hard over the past few weeks not to become irritated with the Russians around me.  They don't celebrate Christmas.  There are no mangers, no baby Jesus and no Silent Night.   Now we have no record of it, but I would like to think that when the Bible talks about Jesus going off alone to pray early in the morning that on occasions he looked to heaven and said things like, "Why did you send me here?"  "Why is it that nobody around me can see what is so obvious to me?" or "I am so sick of these people.  Nothing about them reminds me of home."  And, I can only imagine that if Jesus did say any of those things that God sat back on his throne, folded his arms and waited quietly for his son to finish venting and then whispered, "You know why you are there.  How else will they know how much I love them?"  And then Jesus bowed his head, wiped a few tears from his eyes and went back to work...even on his birthday.

I can truly say that this has been one of the best Christmases ever.  No, we didn't get to share the Gospel with our Russian neighbors.  We were not invited into the homes of those around us.  While we opened presents on Christmas morning the busses still ran and the construction workers continued to work in the bitter cold.  The stores were still open and to most in Russia this was just another day.  And it was not good because of the gifts that were exchanged, although it was as sweet as usual and we even managed to make some new traditions for ourselves that had a distinctly Russian flavor.  But it was one of the best Christmases ever because we were reminded once again that this is His story and we get to play a small part.  

We hope that wherever in the world you are today that you are reminded of why we celebrate.  Take time to remind yourself that the creator of the universe wrapped himself in frail human flesh so that we would know how much God loves us.

We love and miss each one of you, especially during this special time of the year.

Merry Christmas!

Poking Jesus at the Breakfast Table

This week was like many of our other weeks here in Moscow.  There were days that were good..days that were bad and days that Russians would call "nee-chee-vo" (a great Russian word that means that things have not changed and are just "normal.")  Our language skills are improving and we can now hold a pretty meaningful conversation in Russian...as long as we are speaking to a 3-year old!  And, we are looking forward to speaking with several of our partner churches this week and next as part of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering emphasis that Southern Baptists have during the Christmas season.

This week as I was getting ready for my language class and the kids were at the kitchen table eating breakfast I overheard a conversation that has tickled me all week long.  As usual, John was picking on his sisters, and as usual they didn't like it.  This was the dialogue that followed:

Kellye:  John, that does not make Jesus very happy when you do that.

John:  I wasn't doing it to Jesus.  I was doing it to Hannah!

Now if you are a regular reader of our blogs you will know that Kellye is generally the one with deep theological insights (Jesus and taco night is my favorite.)  But this one has been eating at me all week long because I am so guilty of saying the same thing as John...over and over again.  You would think that after nearly 40 years I would stop saying it.  But how many times a week do we find ourselves getting caught in our sin and responding the same ways as John-John.  "I wasn't doing it to Jesus..."  But the reality is that when we turn our focus off God, even for just a split second, we are no different than the six-year-old caught poking his sister at the breakfast table.

This morning as I was walking to the grocery store I was listening to John MacArthur teach about Christmas.  His sermon, entitled, the ugliness of Christmas reminded us that while we try to paint Christmas as something beautiful the reality is that Christmas was necessary because we have sinned.  If our lives were not tainted with the blackness and ugliness of sin then there would not be a reason for Jesus.  Man would still live in The Garden and God would not have had to put on human flesh for the sole purpose of becoming a sacrifice for our sins.  

Now for a moment of sheer honesty and transparency.  I was the one this week who said "Why are we even here?" and then I added that I was feeling like God had made a mistake by sending us."  Guess what, folks.  I was tired, frustrated, homesick, angry, sad, disappointed, and a million other negative emotions.  I was yelling at my family and was not really thinking about God all that much, except for to be pretty upset with him for bringing me to a place where I do not feel like I excel in ANYTHING.  But the reality is that in that moment when John answered my question by saying "Because God told us to" I broke down and felt tears coming to my eyes.  Not because my feelings had changed, but because I knew that what I was really saying was "I didn't do it to Jesus..." But I was and he was sad.

So I had to come to grips with some stuff this week.  First, we are here to stay and to imply otherwise is a sin...no matter how I am FEELING that day.  Secondly, there will be hard days and that is alright.  But most importantly, when we are feeling selfish, having a pity party, or any of other multitudes of sins, we are not just doing those things to ourselves, or to our family and friends, but we are doing them to Jesus as well.  The same Jesus who lay in a manger and the same Jesus who hung on a cross.  But most importantly, the same Jesus who left an empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning and who lives even today!

It is funny what you can learn from your kids at the breakfast table.

Merry Christmas from Moscow

то будет Россией - Часть Два (That's Russia-Part 2)

It has become my custom to update my blogs and write email, etc on Saturday and Sunday mornings since they are usually fairly restful days for us.  However, this weekend was yet another "That's Russia" exception to the rule.  We were excited about the weekend, too.  However, if nothing else, our experiences in Russia have taught us to appreciate the "little things" that we take for granted.  For weeks now, one of those "little things" has been the Internet.  However, this weekend the "little thing" that turned into a big thing was electricity!  That's right, we spent 72 hours without electricity in our apartment.  And let me tell you, when the power was restored this afternoon at 4pm it was as if Ben Franklin himself had hand-delivered the magical source of power!  I am sure that it is not culturally appropriate to carry the workmen around the room on your shoulders and cheer "huzzah!", but I certainly thought about it.

So, power is restored.  Our high-speed Internet is working at smoking-fast speeds and Kellye is in the kitchen cooking a hot supper.  Life is good, my friends!

I will catch you up on the week past and what we have in store for the week ahead in the next day or so.

Blessings to all,

Marc

FAQs

It has been a pretty quiet week here in Moscow, so I thought I would take a few minutes this morning to update you on a few of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

How is the weather?

I have found, more than ever,  that this is a relative question.  Put simply, it is cold.  But even that has become relative.  This morning when I woke up it was 18-degrees outside.  And, because I left the window open overnight it was around that in the living room.  By anybody's standards 18-degrees is cold.  Earlier this week we had a warm snap of a couple of days where the temps rose to just above freezing.  And, frankly we considered that to be a warm day.  Now I remember a time in Florida when our children would shiver and complain if they were able to see their breath on the way to school, but that has become our new normal and any day that is above 32 is a warm one!  But never fear, even though it is freezing cold outside, it is plenty warm inside.  (Which is why our windows are usually open most of the day!)

Those warm days also present their own forms of problems.  You see, we have had snow on the ground for at least three weeks now, so when it gets that warm during the day things begin to melt, but when the sun goes down at 4pm things start to refreeze leaving the sidewalks a solid sheet of ice.  So, we pray for snow.  In actuality it snows almost all the time.  It is usually just flurries, but there is snow in the air nearly constantly.  We have about four or five inches on the ground right now and the forecast usually calls for snow four or five days a week.  Usually it is a very different kind of snow that you typically think of though.  Even when it is snowing hard, the flakes are generally very small and grainy...almost like white sand.  But every now and then you get bigger flakes.

Yesterday was my favorite kind of day, weather wise.  It was just below freezing and the wind was not really blowing hard.  There was a light snow falling and it was just a lot of fun to go walking in.  I love to take the shortcuts through the areas of town that have a lot of trees, especially when it is snowing.  There is just something dreamlike about the whole scene.  And, with Christmas quickly approaching it is even more exciting to get out and walk in the snow.  While Russians don't really celebrate Christmas the way that we think of it (their big celebration is the New Year) there are "New Year's Trees", lights and decorations all over.  It really is beautiful.  My absolute favorite time to be out is right around twilight when it is nearly dark, the holiday lights are lit and glowing and the snow is falling.  Wow.  I hope I never get tired of that!

My goal over the next few weeks is for us to try to start experimenting with some winter sports.  We have a fairly large section of woods behind our apartment and I am hoping to try cross-country skiing.  I also want to take the kids ice skating.  And, of course, we are trying to find the best place near us to go sledding.

How is the language study going?

Let's make no mistake here.  This is probably my least favorite part about living in a different country.  And, there have been many days when I wanted to go back in time and beat up those folks in ancient Babel who ruined this whole language thing for us.  If it were not for them, I would not be studying Russian right now! (Read Genesis 11 for the background on that little rant there.)  However, this week I really turned a corner in my language learning.  First, I have been given in incredible peace in this area and have almost come to look forward to my lessons each day.  And that helps.

While I am reminded daily that I have forgotten more half of the things that I have been taught, I am starting to slowly get a grasp of the language and the vocabulary.  It is a very rare occasion when you find someone here who speaks English, so I have really stopped asking and forge ahead with my Russian when I am out of the apartment.  There are many occasions where I have to explain that I speak, or read Russian very poorly, or that I have only been studying the language for two months, but as a general rule people have been very friendly and understanding.

So this week when considering my language skills (and I use that term loosely) I thought I would concentrate on the positive and tell you about some of my successes and some of the things that I can do, rather than the things that I cannot do.  So here are 10 things that I can do in Russian:

1.  In just six "short" weeks I have completed nine chapters in my Russian language textbook!

2.  I can tell you all about my family and friends.  I can tell you who they are, their relationship to me and what they do for a living.  I can also tell you where they live.

3.  I can tell you the things that I have or want.

4.  I can tell you what I did yesterday and by the end of this next week I should be able to tell you about what I am going to do today and tomorrow.

5.  I can tell you that something belongs to me (or someone else.)

6.  I can order my own food at McDonalds and get the order mostly correct!

7.  I can purchase the family's metro and bus passes or other things from kiosks.

8.  I can order meat from the deli counter (though I rarely want to!)

9.  I can translate simple paragraphs to Russian from English and from Russian to English.

10.  I am starting to be able to watch Russian television and understand what is going on.  Last night I was able to watch a sitcom and catch enough of the dialogue to understand the plot.  AND, I even correctly solved the puzzle on the Russian version of Wheel of Fortune!!  Wow, was I excited.

Have you gotten high-speed Internet yet?

The answer to this one is that we are optimistic about what the week ahead holds.  We now have a contract and the equipment with yet another Internet service provider and have been assured that this one will do the trick.  The service is supposed to be activated within 10 business days, so we are hoping that we will be online and surfing by the end of the week, but it may take a little longer.  Once we are connected we should be able to use Skype to make audio and video calls and we are hoping to have our Vonage phone hooked up so that we have a US "batphone" that will connect us with the States.

What are the kids doing for school and how are they doing?

All three kids are doing there academic studies at home with Kellye as their teacher.  However, this week Hannah and John started going to the American Christian academy (Hinkson) in Moscow on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  While there they attend PE class and have lunch and recess with other kids their age.  They also have access to the library, which is a pretty huge thing in our house.  So, I would tell you that things are going very well.

What can we do for you?

Pray.  That is the most important thing that you can do.  When you are on your knees you are on the front lines of our ministry.  While care packages and other things are nice and appreciated, the best thing you can do is pray.

There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of you, my friends.  Know that you are loved from around the globe.  I hope that you are enjoying this Christmas season and that you will make time to share Jesus with someone else during this time.

As usual, peaceful Saturday mornings give way to busy Saturday afternoons.

Blessings from Moscow,

Marc