We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
he chastens and hastens his will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
sing praise to his Name, he forgets not his own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning:
thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine!
We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation:
thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
What a glorious day!
You know, by the time you get to be our age you have become pretty set in your ways and your notions about what things should be like are pretty set in stone. That is especially true of holidays. So, as Thanksgiving day approached I was pretty apprehensive about how the family was going to react to our first major holiday away from home. For that matter, I was not sure how I was going to react. I like sleeping late on Thanksgiving morning and watching the parades in my pajamas. I like cooking a big turkey and smelling all of the wonderful goodies that Kellye prepares throughout the day. I like sitting around the table with my family and hearing all the things that we are thankful for. And, I especially like my afternoon nap on a big cushy couch while Kellye and the girls watch "It's a Wonderful Life."
Well, as you can imagine this Thanksgiving was different...but it was great. We spent most of the afternoon with our mission family here in Moscow. Including the children there were around 70 people, mostly missionaries, who gathered together in the cafeteria of the Christian school to celebrate the holiday. There was turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beens, and pumpkin pie. We sang songs of thanksgiving, talked about the things we were thankful for, and spent the afternoon enjoying each other's company. After dinner the kids went out to play in the snow while the adults and teenagers played board games. Hannah went home with a friend and SB went with the other teenagers to a friend's house to watch movies and hang out. When we got home our internet connection was working well enough to call home and talk to family, as well as some of our mission friends around the world. It really was a great day.
So today I am thankful for many things, including the fact that our first holiday in Russia was a happy one and not one filled with sadness and longing for home. As a matter of a fact, we are slowly able to call this our home...and that is something to be thankful for.
Some of the other things I am thankful for include:
~ My wife, Kellye. I adore her and am thankful to God for giving me such a wonderful woman to stand by my side.
~ My children. I know that one day you will have to move out of the house and live on your own, so for now I am thankful for a house filled with the noise of an active family.
~ Our family back home. We miss them all and appreciate their love and support.
~ Snow! Yes, it is beastly cold. But the snow adds a cheeriness to the otherwise bleak weather.
~ Small victories. Today on the way to lunch I was able to read a sign I had never seen before and understand what kind of place it was. (It was the post office.) Earlier this week I took the kids to McDonalds and ordered in Russian. This time there were only two items on my tray that should not have been there! You get the picture.
~ My two best friends, Mike and Neil. I know that the thought of me serving overseas as a missionary is still funny to you. But it is even funnier to me. Thanks for being my friends, no matter what the circumstance, for more than 20 years!
~ Our language teacher, Irena. I cannot tell you what a blessing she is to our family. Not only is she a gifted teacher, and she must be to teach me, but she has become a treasured part of our family. Although I am thrilled to have a four-day weekend, I will miss having her in our home tomorrow.
~ Ed Tarleton. I have known Ed for around two years now and every time I hear him speak to a group I am just in awe of this Godly man. I am proud to work with and for such a missionary.
~ Our Moscow family. We have a great group of IMB folks who live and work in Moscow. Every one of them has been loving and kind as we have made the transition here. I am especially fond of our team, but the entire mission family has taken us in and we are thankful for each of them.
~ Our FPO family. What a treat it is to get to chat with our dear brothers and sisters from FPO who are serving around the world. Kellye always knows when I am getting to talk with one of them because I am always smiling when she enters the room.
~ My pastor. What can I say. We would not be here today if it were not for my friend and pastor, Alan Floyd. I love this guy.
~ Email. I can't even imagine what it was like to serve overseas before email. I am sure that every letter from home was precious. While the method of communication is different, let me tell you that your emails are no less precious to our family. We love to hear from you and are thankful when you take time to write to us.
Fortunately, I am a blessed man and have much to be thankful for which means that I could continue to write about them for hours. However, it is getting late and the sounds of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" are coming from my living room which means that I need do go. Tomorrow evening we will pull a few precious Christmas ornaments (including a few dorky reindeer) out of a box and decorate our small tree for Christmas. While we do we will watch White Christmas and sing along. One of my favorite songs is in that movie and it talks about counting your blessings. I hope that tonight before you go to sleep you will take time to count your blessings and thank the God who has made every one of them possible.
Oh, and I am thankful that after six weeks you have continued to read our blogs! Happy Thanksgiving!
Blessings,
Marc
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
There comes a point in which a man has to admit to himself that he is not quite the man he thought he was. Today I found that point…it turns out it is right around 19-degrees!
We have had a busy week since I last had a chance to write. We have enjoyed a glorious week off from our language studies. This was in order to allow us to attend a team retreat Monday through Wednesday. So, our teacher decided to take the rest of the week off to visit her parents in Kiev, Ukraine. We have tried to take advantage of that time and do some fun things in addition to our normal routines, so I will try to bring you up to speed.
“That’s Russia!”
We have heard missionary friends of ours say “well, that’s Russia” before, but we are really starting to get a feeling for what that phrase really means. On Monday morning the family hiked a mile up the street to the nearest metro station (with three suitcases and four backpacks in tow) to meet our team and load the “bus” for our annual retreat. It was about 30-degrees and as we walked it began to snow. By the time we arrived at our meeting place the snow was falling heavily and the roads were getting slippery. As we started to load up we realized that the company had only sent a 17-passenger vehicle for the 20 of us. That’s Russia. We then drove the 70 kilometers outside of Moscow to the retreat center that we had booked for the week.
Russian Retreat Centers: Making RA Camp Look Luxurious
The only word I could really think of as we drove through the front gates of the retreat center was “gulag.” However, I am told that this was one of the nicer Christian retreat centers in Russia. Let’s just say that I don’t ever want to visit a bad one. As we popped out of the van like clowns out of a VW, we lugged our things to the second floor only to find that only three of the four adult couple’s rooms had bathrooms in the room. Guess who got the fourth. That’s Russia. The next morning I padded down the hallway in my jammies to take a shower. I turned the hot water on and waited….and waited…and waited some more. Then I turned on the hot water to the other shower on full blast…and waited. Stone cold. (And you have never felt cold water like the cold water here.) So I padded back to the room. Luckily our room did have a sink in it so I gave Kellye and John fair warning and started my day with a sponge bath. At breakfast I commented to a teammate about how cold the shower was and he told me that he kept getting the water too hot. It turns out that the lines to the shower were reversed and the hot water was in the opposite direction from which I was turning the knob. That’s Russia.
Capture the Flag and Other Feats of Physical Prowess
Our first evening at the retreat center ended with most of us spreading out around the campus to play “Capture the Flag”. If you have not played it, it is kind of like a mini war game where you can be captured and put into jail if you are caught behind enemy lines. I haven’t played capture the flag since I was in college and it seems that while my mind still believes it is 20, my body was in for the stark realization that it is not. To make matters worse, by this time it had been snowing for at least 12 hours and the ground was beginning to be covered with ice and snow. Now, I won’t tell you just how bad my body decided to rebel against me under these circumstances, but I spent the rest of the retreat being known as “Mr. No-Vertical-Leap” and my colleagues doing impressions of me attempting to hurdle the hedges in order to escape capture. I spend a lot of time in “jail” that night.
Never Eat S’mores With Your Gloves On
We were blessed to be joined on our retreat by a couple from Colorado that lead us in Bible study. Mark and Christy served on the mission field for many years before making Colorado their current home. More on that later, but one of the wonderful things they did was to bring suitcases filled with goodies. Candy and CDs for the kids, magazines (including MacWorld just for me) and books for the adults and a special suitcase filled with all the fixins for s’mores. So despite the six inches of snow that was already on the ground and the steady snow shower that was pelting our faces we gathered firewood and built ourselves a nice little bonfire. It was more like a campfire, but trust me when I say that nobody there wanted to camp by the fire for long. After one of our Journeymen discovered, the hard way, that you should not eat S’mores while still wearing your fuzzy mittens we doused the fire with snow and headed back indoors for the night, all the while looking like an army of snowmen (and women) making their way down the path.
Breaking Down Incrementally and Going Out In Joy
I am not sure that the timing for our retreat could have been any better than it was. Life in Russia is not easy. No, it is hard. And…that’s Russia. We all experience it. Whether you have been here for 13 years, two years, or just six weeks, after living in America, life in Russia is hard. To Russians it is just life…but for those of us used to the conveniences of the Western World everyday life here can be frustrating…and that is on the good days. You have probably guessed from our infrequent posts that we are still without dependable Internet service and I can’t really express to you the frustration that brings. Add to that the inability to communicate with those around us and the frustration of learning our new roles and it is usually only a matter of time before your first breakdown sets in. And, after spending time with our teammates we discovered that it happens to everyone, but some of us crash and burn all at once while others of us break down in increments. The secret, however, is to stay rooted in your call and to live in joy, regardless of your circumstances. I can never express enough gratitude to Mark and Christy who took time and money to leave their comfortable life in Colorado to share with us about living in joy. Yes, these are things that we all knew. But it is good to be reminded every now and again by someone who has walked the path that you are on. So remember that wherever in the world that you live or whether you speak the same language as your neighbor or not your life is supposed to be filled with joy. Whether you have high-speed Internet or just a hamster that runs around a wheel in a box to power your network connection you are to be filled with joy. How do you get that joy? It only comes from one place…a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Once you have that I promise that no circumstance or incremental breakdown can rob you of your joy.
Dining at an Oasis
Having the week off has given us some time to do some fun things. The kids and I have taken a few minutes to play in the snow. But even more notable has been yesterday’s trip to the Starlite Diner, an American-style diner in the heart of Moscow. We had pancakes with real maple syrup, bacon and probably the best cup of coffee that I have had since Miss Penny served me my last cup at Country Cabin. All the while we ate a fresh layer of snow fell from the skies and we listened to American rock-and-roll classics blaring from the jukebox. It was a little slice of heaven. I cannot wait until Kellye and I get to go back for date night in December so we can try their hot wings! After breakfast we got another treat…a trip to MediaMarket— think Best Buy on steroids! They had one of the largest flat-panel tv screens that I have ever seen. We bought a hair dryer for the girls and I got a DVD of Looney Tunes cartoons that are overdubbed in Russian. Hey, if you are going to learn a foreign language you might as well make it fun!
Plowing Concrete and Long Cold Winters
I think there is something about how constant cold, snow and ice effect a person’s personality. Russians are not unfriendly, but they are not an outgoing gregarious society either. We have been jealous as we have read the blogs of other missionary colleagues who have been invited into the homes of national friends, neighbors and others that they meet. Quite frankly, we are jealous that they have forged relationships with any nationals at all. Before arriving we were told that the work here can be described as “plowing concrete” and so far that has been a pretty accurate description. While others are enjoying meals with neighbors, we are happy when any of our neighbors nods their head at us in the elevator or on the sidewalk outside of our building. This week I had the opportunity to speak with several different people and while my communication skills are limited at best, I was still able to have brief encounters with these Russians. I will write more about these encounters, as I am able to begin to develop relationships with them. However, in the meantime please pray that we would be able to reach these people and eventually have the opportunity to share the Gospel with them.
Praying For Us…
As Thanksgiving approaches this week we are reminded for all we have that we are thankful for. I cannot tell you how thankful we are for you. All of you who take time to check our blogs regularly and pray for us. We can’t tell you how much that means to us and what an important part of our ministry it is. As you head into Thanksgiving week and the Christmas season, please pray for the following things on behalf of the Hooks family…
1. Dependable Internet service.
2. Language acquisition.
3. Wisdom in making decisions about the children, home situations and other matters that will need Godly discernment.
4. Joy in all situations.
5. That we will begin to have an impact and ministry in Russia.
Blessings,
Marc
We have had a busy week since I last had a chance to write. We have enjoyed a glorious week off from our language studies. This was in order to allow us to attend a team retreat Monday through Wednesday. So, our teacher decided to take the rest of the week off to visit her parents in Kiev, Ukraine. We have tried to take advantage of that time and do some fun things in addition to our normal routines, so I will try to bring you up to speed.
“That’s Russia!”
We have heard missionary friends of ours say “well, that’s Russia” before, but we are really starting to get a feeling for what that phrase really means. On Monday morning the family hiked a mile up the street to the nearest metro station (with three suitcases and four backpacks in tow) to meet our team and load the “bus” for our annual retreat. It was about 30-degrees and as we walked it began to snow. By the time we arrived at our meeting place the snow was falling heavily and the roads were getting slippery. As we started to load up we realized that the company had only sent a 17-passenger vehicle for the 20 of us. That’s Russia. We then drove the 70 kilometers outside of Moscow to the retreat center that we had booked for the week.
Russian Retreat Centers: Making RA Camp Look Luxurious
The only word I could really think of as we drove through the front gates of the retreat center was “gulag.” However, I am told that this was one of the nicer Christian retreat centers in Russia. Let’s just say that I don’t ever want to visit a bad one. As we popped out of the van like clowns out of a VW, we lugged our things to the second floor only to find that only three of the four adult couple’s rooms had bathrooms in the room. Guess who got the fourth. That’s Russia. The next morning I padded down the hallway in my jammies to take a shower. I turned the hot water on and waited….and waited…and waited some more. Then I turned on the hot water to the other shower on full blast…and waited. Stone cold. (And you have never felt cold water like the cold water here.) So I padded back to the room. Luckily our room did have a sink in it so I gave Kellye and John fair warning and started my day with a sponge bath. At breakfast I commented to a teammate about how cold the shower was and he told me that he kept getting the water too hot. It turns out that the lines to the shower were reversed and the hot water was in the opposite direction from which I was turning the knob. That’s Russia.
Capture the Flag and Other Feats of Physical Prowess
Our first evening at the retreat center ended with most of us spreading out around the campus to play “Capture the Flag”. If you have not played it, it is kind of like a mini war game where you can be captured and put into jail if you are caught behind enemy lines. I haven’t played capture the flag since I was in college and it seems that while my mind still believes it is 20, my body was in for the stark realization that it is not. To make matters worse, by this time it had been snowing for at least 12 hours and the ground was beginning to be covered with ice and snow. Now, I won’t tell you just how bad my body decided to rebel against me under these circumstances, but I spent the rest of the retreat being known as “Mr. No-Vertical-Leap” and my colleagues doing impressions of me attempting to hurdle the hedges in order to escape capture. I spend a lot of time in “jail” that night.
Never Eat S’mores With Your Gloves On
We were blessed to be joined on our retreat by a couple from Colorado that lead us in Bible study. Mark and Christy served on the mission field for many years before making Colorado their current home. More on that later, but one of the wonderful things they did was to bring suitcases filled with goodies. Candy and CDs for the kids, magazines (including MacWorld just for me) and books for the adults and a special suitcase filled with all the fixins for s’mores. So despite the six inches of snow that was already on the ground and the steady snow shower that was pelting our faces we gathered firewood and built ourselves a nice little bonfire. It was more like a campfire, but trust me when I say that nobody there wanted to camp by the fire for long. After one of our Journeymen discovered, the hard way, that you should not eat S’mores while still wearing your fuzzy mittens we doused the fire with snow and headed back indoors for the night, all the while looking like an army of snowmen (and women) making their way down the path.
Breaking Down Incrementally and Going Out In Joy
I am not sure that the timing for our retreat could have been any better than it was. Life in Russia is not easy. No, it is hard. And…that’s Russia. We all experience it. Whether you have been here for 13 years, two years, or just six weeks, after living in America, life in Russia is hard. To Russians it is just life…but for those of us used to the conveniences of the Western World everyday life here can be frustrating…and that is on the good days. You have probably guessed from our infrequent posts that we are still without dependable Internet service and I can’t really express to you the frustration that brings. Add to that the inability to communicate with those around us and the frustration of learning our new roles and it is usually only a matter of time before your first breakdown sets in. And, after spending time with our teammates we discovered that it happens to everyone, but some of us crash and burn all at once while others of us break down in increments. The secret, however, is to stay rooted in your call and to live in joy, regardless of your circumstances. I can never express enough gratitude to Mark and Christy who took time and money to leave their comfortable life in Colorado to share with us about living in joy. Yes, these are things that we all knew. But it is good to be reminded every now and again by someone who has walked the path that you are on. So remember that wherever in the world that you live or whether you speak the same language as your neighbor or not your life is supposed to be filled with joy. Whether you have high-speed Internet or just a hamster that runs around a wheel in a box to power your network connection you are to be filled with joy. How do you get that joy? It only comes from one place…a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Once you have that I promise that no circumstance or incremental breakdown can rob you of your joy.
Dining at an Oasis
Having the week off has given us some time to do some fun things. The kids and I have taken a few minutes to play in the snow. But even more notable has been yesterday’s trip to the Starlite Diner, an American-style diner in the heart of Moscow. We had pancakes with real maple syrup, bacon and probably the best cup of coffee that I have had since Miss Penny served me my last cup at Country Cabin. All the while we ate a fresh layer of snow fell from the skies and we listened to American rock-and-roll classics blaring from the jukebox. It was a little slice of heaven. I cannot wait until Kellye and I get to go back for date night in December so we can try their hot wings! After breakfast we got another treat…a trip to MediaMarket— think Best Buy on steroids! They had one of the largest flat-panel tv screens that I have ever seen. We bought a hair dryer for the girls and I got a DVD of Looney Tunes cartoons that are overdubbed in Russian. Hey, if you are going to learn a foreign language you might as well make it fun!
Plowing Concrete and Long Cold Winters
I think there is something about how constant cold, snow and ice effect a person’s personality. Russians are not unfriendly, but they are not an outgoing gregarious society either. We have been jealous as we have read the blogs of other missionary colleagues who have been invited into the homes of national friends, neighbors and others that they meet. Quite frankly, we are jealous that they have forged relationships with any nationals at all. Before arriving we were told that the work here can be described as “plowing concrete” and so far that has been a pretty accurate description. While others are enjoying meals with neighbors, we are happy when any of our neighbors nods their head at us in the elevator or on the sidewalk outside of our building. This week I had the opportunity to speak with several different people and while my communication skills are limited at best, I was still able to have brief encounters with these Russians. I will write more about these encounters, as I am able to begin to develop relationships with them. However, in the meantime please pray that we would be able to reach these people and eventually have the opportunity to share the Gospel with them.
Praying For Us…
As Thanksgiving approaches this week we are reminded for all we have that we are thankful for. I cannot tell you how thankful we are for you. All of you who take time to check our blogs regularly and pray for us. We can’t tell you how much that means to us and what an important part of our ministry it is. As you head into Thanksgiving week and the Christmas season, please pray for the following things on behalf of the Hooks family…
1. Dependable Internet service.
2. Language acquisition.
3. Wisdom in making decisions about the children, home situations and other matters that will need Godly discernment.
4. Joy in all situations.
5. That we will begin to have an impact and ministry in Russia.
Blessings,
Marc
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Headlines from Moscow
(After some gentle chiding from a missionary colleague I am making myself sit down and write a post for my blog. It is not that I have forgotten or lost interest, but have started three or four entries that never got finished. So, here is a catch-up blog.)
Many of you know that in one of my former lives I was a newspaper writer and editor. While that was not my favorite job in my media profession it did have its own set of rewards, one of which was writing headlines and seeing them on the paper the next day. You see, writing a good headline can be an art. It needs to be short, snappy, grab people’s attention and sum up the story in just a few words. So, when I start writing blog entries my brain automatically switches into “reporter mode” where I begin thinking of a headline at about the same time that I start writing the blog. So I got to thinking, how would I convey our Moscow experience thus far by using only headlines. And this is a few of what I have come up with…
“Nat King Cole may have loved Paris in the springtime, but I love Moscow in the fall.”
“Deaf, Dumb & Blind—Going Shopping in a foreign land.”
“Life lessons from playing charades.”
“Are you there God? It’s me, Marc.”
“Frustrated missionary murders tutor at dining room table using nothing but a Russian Language textbook.”
“The fetal position…not a bad place to be.”
“Baby, it’s cold outside.”
“Dancing Bears and a good night’s sleep.”
“Lewis & Clark could not have found good Internet in Moscow.”
“Patience is in a jar on the top shelf next to the peanut better…oh wait, they don’t have that here either!”
“Let’s play ‘What’s That Smell!’ That’s right Sergi, it’s fish and cigarette smoke…again!”
“I’m a katchka in a shopka!”
“Spa-see-ba Bog and other dinnertime prayers.”
“WWLMD…What would Lottie Moon Do? And other questions from the field.”
“We’re still having tacos for dinner and Kellye can tell you how that reminds us of Jesus!”
I hope you have enjoyed the headlines from Moscow. Trust me, there is a story for each of them and one day I hope to be able to write them all. If you see one that has peaked your interest, leave a comment and ask for the whole story. I will try to write and publish them as as soon as possible.
Thanks for joining us in prayer. I wish I could report that life here is easy and fun all of the time, but I cant. I wish I could report that 20 new churches have been planted since we arrived, but they haven’t. I wish that if you called me today I would be able to talk back to you in Russian, but I won’t. But what can report is that the God of the Universe has called us to this country to help spread the word about how people here, including missionaries, don’t have to live in a world without hope. I can report that our God is alive and well in Russia and that my family is happy to be part of that work…on the good days, the funny days, and even the bad days.
I will leave you today with words that God gave me this week from the book of Isaiah. Now I understand that when they were written they were speaking about Jesus and well we all know that the comparison stops with the fact that we are both Jewish men. However, they spoke to me this week and so now I share them with you…
“I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.”
Wherever you are this week, and whatever you are doing, remember that the Lord has called you too to be light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and to those who dwell in darkness from the prison. Won't you take your light and search the darkness of your workplace, your community and your own family so that the light can be seen?
Blessings,
Marc
Many of you know that in one of my former lives I was a newspaper writer and editor. While that was not my favorite job in my media profession it did have its own set of rewards, one of which was writing headlines and seeing them on the paper the next day. You see, writing a good headline can be an art. It needs to be short, snappy, grab people’s attention and sum up the story in just a few words. So, when I start writing blog entries my brain automatically switches into “reporter mode” where I begin thinking of a headline at about the same time that I start writing the blog. So I got to thinking, how would I convey our Moscow experience thus far by using only headlines. And this is a few of what I have come up with…
“Nat King Cole may have loved Paris in the springtime, but I love Moscow in the fall.”
“Deaf, Dumb & Blind—Going Shopping in a foreign land.”
“Life lessons from playing charades.”
“Are you there God? It’s me, Marc.”
“Frustrated missionary murders tutor at dining room table using nothing but a Russian Language textbook.”
“The fetal position…not a bad place to be.”
“Baby, it’s cold outside.”
“Dancing Bears and a good night’s sleep.”
“Lewis & Clark could not have found good Internet in Moscow.”
“Patience is in a jar on the top shelf next to the peanut better…oh wait, they don’t have that here either!”
“Let’s play ‘What’s That Smell!’ That’s right Sergi, it’s fish and cigarette smoke…again!”
“I’m a katchka in a shopka!”
“Spa-see-ba Bog and other dinnertime prayers.”
“WWLMD…What would Lottie Moon Do? And other questions from the field.”
“We’re still having tacos for dinner and Kellye can tell you how that reminds us of Jesus!”
I hope you have enjoyed the headlines from Moscow. Trust me, there is a story for each of them and one day I hope to be able to write them all. If you see one that has peaked your interest, leave a comment and ask for the whole story. I will try to write and publish them as as soon as possible.
Thanks for joining us in prayer. I wish I could report that life here is easy and fun all of the time, but I cant. I wish I could report that 20 new churches have been planted since we arrived, but they haven’t. I wish that if you called me today I would be able to talk back to you in Russian, but I won’t. But what can report is that the God of the Universe has called us to this country to help spread the word about how people here, including missionaries, don’t have to live in a world without hope. I can report that our God is alive and well in Russia and that my family is happy to be part of that work…on the good days, the funny days, and even the bad days.
I will leave you today with words that God gave me this week from the book of Isaiah. Now I understand that when they were written they were speaking about Jesus and well we all know that the comparison stops with the fact that we are both Jewish men. However, they spoke to me this week and so now I share them with you…
“I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.”
Wherever you are this week, and whatever you are doing, remember that the Lord has called you too to be light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and to those who dwell in darkness from the prison. Won't you take your light and search the darkness of your workplace, your community and your own family so that the light can be seen?
Blessings,
Marc
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Russian Language and "The Quest"
“Ruski Izzihk” (That’s Russian Language)
My language training starts each day at 9am when Irina rings the “doma-phone” (the intercom at the front door of our building) with her usual cheery greeting of “Dobre Utra!” I spend the next three hours tied to a medieval torture device as she shoves a red-hot poker in my face screaming, “No! You got it wrong again! Why can’t you be more like Kellye!” OK, maybe that isn’t what really happens every morning, but some days it sure feels like it! Needless to say, language learning is not my gift and more often than not my tutor is tortured much more than I am. If you want an idea of what I look like when I finish my daily “exercises” click here and then click on the pig’s nose. OK, if you did that then you get some sense of what the past two weeks has been like for me. Two down…only 10 more to go!!!
And let me add here that we have WAYYYY too many friends and family members that are teachers. Why do I say this? Because the word for teacher in Russian is nearly impossible for me to say. “Pre-pa-da-va-teal” Yep, looks easy when you do it like that, but try saying it over and over again. My tongue just won’t do it. I always get the syllables mixed up and in the wrong order. And, if I do get it right, it is always slow and sounded out syllable by syllable. If I ever need to use it in actual conversation people will think I am “a very special boy.” So many of my lessons over the past two weeks have been done sitting in front of a stack of photographs with Irina asking me who people are and what they do for a living. Again I say…too many teachers. So, I thought I would be clever. When I got to Kellye I said “missionaire.” “And….,” Irina said, before forcing me to say it. When I got to Mikey I thought I would try “video producer”. “E” (that’s the Russian word for ‘and’) so I thought I would try “universitit professor”. “Neyt. Eeeee?” Prepadavateal. Dang! Got me again. And if the word does not sound scary enough, this is the way that it looks in Russian: преподаватель. That's right, kids. Don't try that at home!
So what have I learned over the past two weeks? Well, I have learned to introduce my family and friends and tell what they do for a living, which will be important if you come to visit. Today I learned a handful of adjectives, which will be important because now I can describe you to other people when you come for a visit. (Though I am not sure that hot/cold, heavy/light, short/long, etc. will be very helpful during an introduction. For example: “This is Kellye’s good, long, light, sister Kay.” But probably the most important thing that I have learned to say is, “I am studying the Russian language and speak Russian very poorly. Do you speak English?” There are usually three responses that come after that question. The first is the least common, but it does happen more often than I would like. It is when the person hears the question and rolls here eyes and turns away in disgust. (That happened yesterday when a girl asked to borrow my cell phone and I told her that I didn’t understand her and asked if she spoke English. The girl at the table next to mine gave me a similar look as she handed the first her cell phone to borrow.) The second response is most common. It is a smile accompanied by much giggling. Even the men giggle a little when they hear me. And the third response has come from probably more than 99-percent of the Russians that I have talked to. “Angleski? Nyet.” I cannot tell you how few people I have found in Moscow that speak English. It is a little surprising, especially considering that our building is right next to the dorm of a college campus and there are young people all over the place. Yet, very few speak English. However, they are almost always more than willing to help and they almost always do so while speaking Russian about a hundred miles an hour in the hopes that if they keep talking the words will magically be translated and I will understand what they are saying.
Well, while all of this is terribly amusing (if you are not me), I tell you these stories to tell you another one. So, here goes…
They said there would be days like these!
For all of my FPO buddies: “So there I was…”
Do you know how when you are being trained to do something new people always tell you stories about things that happen and you think to yourself, “That won’t happen to me. I am much more competent than that!” Wrong again, my friend. Wrong again. Well, anybody that knows me even a little bit knows that I have to constantly be “wired” to the world. The Internet has become has important to me as getting three meals a day. It is how I get information (in English) and, most importantly, it is how I stay connected to my family and friends and all of you who take the time to read this blog. Since we arrived we have been stuck using dial-up Internet, which in it self is bad enough. But the worst part about dial-up here is that you have to pay for it by purchasing an Internet card which are usually available at one of the kiosks outside of the Metro stations. That is not too bad, but the speed is not fast enough to download anything of any significance and as a result that burns your Internet minutes. And you ALWAYS seem to run out of minutes at a time when you want to be online the most and/or you are not planning on going to the Metro.
Now, Moscow has high-speed Internet. As a matter of a fact, every other missionary in Moscow has some form of high-speed Internet in their apartment, but for some reason we could not find a single company that would service my building. Needless to say I was getting frustrated. We have a college dormitory on one side of us and a Mercedes dealership on the other and we cannot find a company that will put a high-speed line into our apartment. I was nearly at my wits end when I discovered that there is a company that has a high-speed wireless network in the city, but as luck would have it, their service area ends on the other side of my street. I discovered that if I put my laptop out on the balcony of the kids’ room I could pick up their signal, but that was the only place in the house. However, I found that if you purchased three months of service they would give you an antenna booster that would improve your reception. Frankly, that should have been my first clue, but you have to remember that after two weeks in the city, I have become a desperate man.
At this point let me add that I realize that missionaries have survived on the field or decades without Internet access and that I sound like a whiney baby. This I realize, but even all IMB communication comes via email and/or web pages.
So last Saturday I had determined that I would go to the center of the city where their offices were so I could pick up one of these antennas and finally get a decent Internet signal in the house. As I was leaving my apartment I met my next-door-neighbor for the first time. She and her boyfriend spoke English (two of the one-percent in Moscow) but unfortunately I met them as they were moving out of the building, so I am hoping that when I get a new neighbor he/she/they will speak English too, but I am not counting on it. Well, during the conversation I found out that there was indeed an Internet company that would service the building and she gave me their name and phone number. So, I decided to stay home and have our team leader help me speak with the company on Monday.
I finished my lesson at noon on Monday and had determined that I was going to have my Internet issues resolved by the end of the day. Jeff had called the company and told me that I had to go down there in person to get my account set up. He had a full day of meetings, so would not be able to go with me, but I figured I was a big boy and could do this all on my own. And, I was pleased to find that the office was located on the street perpendicular to mine – Ulitisa Mikukho-Maklaja. (Nope. I am not making that one up.) I have been walking the neighborhood on a fairly regular basis, so I know my way around and figured that it would be easy to find. So I got the address from the web site, wrote it on a piece of paper in Russian just in case I would need it, and with Hannah in tow, headed out the door. According to Jeff, the office was located on the 4th floor of building 23A. I pulled out my map and could not find building 23A listed, but building 23 was one of the large buildings that is a part of Pushkin Institute, the university in our neighborhood. I thought this was a strange place for the office of an Internet company, but I figured that maybe since our building is located on campus that they service only the university. When I got the fourth floor all I found there were classrooms. That took me back down to the main floor where I asked several people if they had heard of NetFort. Nobody had ever heard of the company. One nice guy tried to give me some help in Russian and wound up pointing me to one of the building’s security guards. He didn’t speak English either, nor had he ever heard of NetFort, nor did he know where building 23A was. So he pointed me to another guard. Same story. I then went outside and started walking back to the intersection of my street, Ulitisa Akademika Volgina, when I ran into the first guy who helped me. He pointed me back toward my apartment, which I knew was wrong because the address was Mikukho-Maklaja and not Akademika Volgina. So, I ventured up the street in the opposite direction. After asking three or four more very amused non-English-speaking Russians for directions I headed the other direction with much the same results. I again ran into the first guy who didn’t know where I was going, but was willing to help me guess. Looking at my map I discovered that Akademika Volgina has a 23A that is across the street on the other side, so we went off to find that building. We stopped into a women’s clothing store where a couple of young women proceed to giggle at me. They also pulled out a map to discover that 23A was not on the map, but they did point me in the other direction. (It is a good thing that Jeff had taught me the Russian word for crosswalk just two days before.) So, it was back to the area around the Institute. I found a couple of guys in the parking lot and decided to ask one more time, pulling the piece of paper out of my pocket, pointing to it and shrugging my shoulders. They pointed me to a small building behind where we were standing and said they thought that was the one. Hannah and I went traipsing through the mud, through a construction site on the way to this building, asking a couple of construction workers for help along they way and they confirmed that we were finally on the right track. We finally got to the building, which was surrounded by an iron fence and guard shack. “NetFort?,” I asked the guard. “Da,” he said as he activated the gate for us. Finally. Now we are getting somewhere.
We took the stairs up to the fourth floor because we couldn’t find the elevator and buzzed the intercom at the front door. They let us in and I went through my usual speech about not knowing Russian and asked if they spoke English. And then I heard music to my ears…English. However, what she said was, “Can you come back in about 15 minutes, it is lunch time.” It was around 2:15pm. So, I agreed and Hannah and I left the building. As we rounded the corner we discovered that we knew exactly where we were. We were standing on the back side of our own apartment building! The office was located right behind the dormitory that is next door to us!
Well, we had some time to kill and Kellye had given me a grocery list, so we headed up to the grocery store to pick up a few things. By the time we got back to the office, 45 minutes later and with hands full of groceries, we had walked no less than three miles that afternoon. We finally found the elevator and headed upstairs where there was someone who spoke English waiting for us. Once in her office she explained that it would be at least 10 days before they could get an installer out to our apartment. I said that was fine and she told me I would have to sign a contract…that was all in Russian. By that time I think I would have signed almost anything. I told her that was fine and that if she would give me a copy I would have a friend read it for me and I could come back the next day. So far, so good. She then asks what kind of computer I have. When I told her that I have a Macintosh she looked at me funny and said, “Only work on Windows XP.” This didn’t make much sense to me, so she called her tech support guy (who didn’t speak English) and he came up with the same conclusion. I thought that we were finally getting somewhere when she pulled out a piece of paper and began writing, but what she wrote for me was the name and number of the wi-fi company that I had planned to go to on Saturday!
Dejected, but determined Hannah and I walked the 50 yards back to our building and headed upstairs where Kellye was just finishing her lessons for the day (3pm). By this time I had decided that I was not giving up and not going to bed until I had some form of high-speed Internet in the house. So I traded children and Sarah Beth and I caught the bus to the metro and headed for the center of the city. The street the office was located on was just a couple of blocks from the Kremlin and I sort-of knew where I was going since we had been there just a couple of days before. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Russian addresses are a little funny. The address of this particular office was 9 Gazetny side-street Building 2, Office 5. So, I set out in search of Building 2. We got to the end of the street and on one side were buildings 1, 3, 5 & 7 and on the other side of the street were buildings 4, 6, & 8. Back to my map and broken Russian as I approach a police officer who motions to the end of the street where building two wasn’t. Well, we finally find that the office is located in building 9, which is divided into two sections. The girl at the counter spoke English and I was on the way home after sending a one-word text message to Kellye… “Success!”
After eight hours of trekking my way around the city on a wild goose chase I was able to connect my computers to the Internet at a speed just slightly faster and less dependable than dial-up. The good news is that I don’t have any time limits and that I am supposed to be able to connect most anywhere in the city…except for my building, which I am nicknaming “The Cone of Silence.” So, the quest for decent Internet service continues.
Assuming that I can get connected for long enough to post this blog, more updates are on the way. Thanks again for praying.
Blessings,
Marc
My language training starts each day at 9am when Irina rings the “doma-phone” (the intercom at the front door of our building) with her usual cheery greeting of “Dobre Utra!” I spend the next three hours tied to a medieval torture device as she shoves a red-hot poker in my face screaming, “No! You got it wrong again! Why can’t you be more like Kellye!” OK, maybe that isn’t what really happens every morning, but some days it sure feels like it! Needless to say, language learning is not my gift and more often than not my tutor is tortured much more than I am. If you want an idea of what I look like when I finish my daily “exercises” click here and then click on the pig’s nose. OK, if you did that then you get some sense of what the past two weeks has been like for me. Two down…only 10 more to go!!!
And let me add here that we have WAYYYY too many friends and family members that are teachers. Why do I say this? Because the word for teacher in Russian is nearly impossible for me to say. “Pre-pa-da-va-teal” Yep, looks easy when you do it like that, but try saying it over and over again. My tongue just won’t do it. I always get the syllables mixed up and in the wrong order. And, if I do get it right, it is always slow and sounded out syllable by syllable. If I ever need to use it in actual conversation people will think I am “a very special boy.” So many of my lessons over the past two weeks have been done sitting in front of a stack of photographs with Irina asking me who people are and what they do for a living. Again I say…too many teachers. So, I thought I would be clever. When I got to Kellye I said “missionaire.” “And….,” Irina said, before forcing me to say it. When I got to Mikey I thought I would try “video producer”. “E” (that’s the Russian word for ‘and’) so I thought I would try “universitit professor”. “Neyt. Eeeee?” Prepadavateal. Dang! Got me again. And if the word does not sound scary enough, this is the way that it looks in Russian: преподаватель. That's right, kids. Don't try that at home!
So what have I learned over the past two weeks? Well, I have learned to introduce my family and friends and tell what they do for a living, which will be important if you come to visit. Today I learned a handful of adjectives, which will be important because now I can describe you to other people when you come for a visit. (Though I am not sure that hot/cold, heavy/light, short/long, etc. will be very helpful during an introduction. For example: “This is Kellye’s good, long, light, sister Kay.” But probably the most important thing that I have learned to say is, “I am studying the Russian language and speak Russian very poorly. Do you speak English?” There are usually three responses that come after that question. The first is the least common, but it does happen more often than I would like. It is when the person hears the question and rolls here eyes and turns away in disgust. (That happened yesterday when a girl asked to borrow my cell phone and I told her that I didn’t understand her and asked if she spoke English. The girl at the table next to mine gave me a similar look as she handed the first her cell phone to borrow.) The second response is most common. It is a smile accompanied by much giggling. Even the men giggle a little when they hear me. And the third response has come from probably more than 99-percent of the Russians that I have talked to. “Angleski? Nyet.” I cannot tell you how few people I have found in Moscow that speak English. It is a little surprising, especially considering that our building is right next to the dorm of a college campus and there are young people all over the place. Yet, very few speak English. However, they are almost always more than willing to help and they almost always do so while speaking Russian about a hundred miles an hour in the hopes that if they keep talking the words will magically be translated and I will understand what they are saying.
Well, while all of this is terribly amusing (if you are not me), I tell you these stories to tell you another one. So, here goes…
They said there would be days like these!
For all of my FPO buddies: “So there I was…”
Do you know how when you are being trained to do something new people always tell you stories about things that happen and you think to yourself, “That won’t happen to me. I am much more competent than that!” Wrong again, my friend. Wrong again. Well, anybody that knows me even a little bit knows that I have to constantly be “wired” to the world. The Internet has become has important to me as getting three meals a day. It is how I get information (in English) and, most importantly, it is how I stay connected to my family and friends and all of you who take the time to read this blog. Since we arrived we have been stuck using dial-up Internet, which in it self is bad enough. But the worst part about dial-up here is that you have to pay for it by purchasing an Internet card which are usually available at one of the kiosks outside of the Metro stations. That is not too bad, but the speed is not fast enough to download anything of any significance and as a result that burns your Internet minutes. And you ALWAYS seem to run out of minutes at a time when you want to be online the most and/or you are not planning on going to the Metro.
Now, Moscow has high-speed Internet. As a matter of a fact, every other missionary in Moscow has some form of high-speed Internet in their apartment, but for some reason we could not find a single company that would service my building. Needless to say I was getting frustrated. We have a college dormitory on one side of us and a Mercedes dealership on the other and we cannot find a company that will put a high-speed line into our apartment. I was nearly at my wits end when I discovered that there is a company that has a high-speed wireless network in the city, but as luck would have it, their service area ends on the other side of my street. I discovered that if I put my laptop out on the balcony of the kids’ room I could pick up their signal, but that was the only place in the house. However, I found that if you purchased three months of service they would give you an antenna booster that would improve your reception. Frankly, that should have been my first clue, but you have to remember that after two weeks in the city, I have become a desperate man.
At this point let me add that I realize that missionaries have survived on the field or decades without Internet access and that I sound like a whiney baby. This I realize, but even all IMB communication comes via email and/or web pages.
So last Saturday I had determined that I would go to the center of the city where their offices were so I could pick up one of these antennas and finally get a decent Internet signal in the house. As I was leaving my apartment I met my next-door-neighbor for the first time. She and her boyfriend spoke English (two of the one-percent in Moscow) but unfortunately I met them as they were moving out of the building, so I am hoping that when I get a new neighbor he/she/they will speak English too, but I am not counting on it. Well, during the conversation I found out that there was indeed an Internet company that would service the building and she gave me their name and phone number. So, I decided to stay home and have our team leader help me speak with the company on Monday.
I finished my lesson at noon on Monday and had determined that I was going to have my Internet issues resolved by the end of the day. Jeff had called the company and told me that I had to go down there in person to get my account set up. He had a full day of meetings, so would not be able to go with me, but I figured I was a big boy and could do this all on my own. And, I was pleased to find that the office was located on the street perpendicular to mine – Ulitisa Mikukho-Maklaja. (Nope. I am not making that one up.) I have been walking the neighborhood on a fairly regular basis, so I know my way around and figured that it would be easy to find. So I got the address from the web site, wrote it on a piece of paper in Russian just in case I would need it, and with Hannah in tow, headed out the door. According to Jeff, the office was located on the 4th floor of building 23A. I pulled out my map and could not find building 23A listed, but building 23 was one of the large buildings that is a part of Pushkin Institute, the university in our neighborhood. I thought this was a strange place for the office of an Internet company, but I figured that maybe since our building is located on campus that they service only the university. When I got the fourth floor all I found there were classrooms. That took me back down to the main floor where I asked several people if they had heard of NetFort. Nobody had ever heard of the company. One nice guy tried to give me some help in Russian and wound up pointing me to one of the building’s security guards. He didn’t speak English either, nor had he ever heard of NetFort, nor did he know where building 23A was. So he pointed me to another guard. Same story. I then went outside and started walking back to the intersection of my street, Ulitisa Akademika Volgina, when I ran into the first guy who helped me. He pointed me back toward my apartment, which I knew was wrong because the address was Mikukho-Maklaja and not Akademika Volgina. So, I ventured up the street in the opposite direction. After asking three or four more very amused non-English-speaking Russians for directions I headed the other direction with much the same results. I again ran into the first guy who didn’t know where I was going, but was willing to help me guess. Looking at my map I discovered that Akademika Volgina has a 23A that is across the street on the other side, so we went off to find that building. We stopped into a women’s clothing store where a couple of young women proceed to giggle at me. They also pulled out a map to discover that 23A was not on the map, but they did point me in the other direction. (It is a good thing that Jeff had taught me the Russian word for crosswalk just two days before.) So, it was back to the area around the Institute. I found a couple of guys in the parking lot and decided to ask one more time, pulling the piece of paper out of my pocket, pointing to it and shrugging my shoulders. They pointed me to a small building behind where we were standing and said they thought that was the one. Hannah and I went traipsing through the mud, through a construction site on the way to this building, asking a couple of construction workers for help along they way and they confirmed that we were finally on the right track. We finally got to the building, which was surrounded by an iron fence and guard shack. “NetFort?,” I asked the guard. “Da,” he said as he activated the gate for us. Finally. Now we are getting somewhere.
We took the stairs up to the fourth floor because we couldn’t find the elevator and buzzed the intercom at the front door. They let us in and I went through my usual speech about not knowing Russian and asked if they spoke English. And then I heard music to my ears…English. However, what she said was, “Can you come back in about 15 minutes, it is lunch time.” It was around 2:15pm. So, I agreed and Hannah and I left the building. As we rounded the corner we discovered that we knew exactly where we were. We were standing on the back side of our own apartment building! The office was located right behind the dormitory that is next door to us!
Well, we had some time to kill and Kellye had given me a grocery list, so we headed up to the grocery store to pick up a few things. By the time we got back to the office, 45 minutes later and with hands full of groceries, we had walked no less than three miles that afternoon. We finally found the elevator and headed upstairs where there was someone who spoke English waiting for us. Once in her office she explained that it would be at least 10 days before they could get an installer out to our apartment. I said that was fine and she told me I would have to sign a contract…that was all in Russian. By that time I think I would have signed almost anything. I told her that was fine and that if she would give me a copy I would have a friend read it for me and I could come back the next day. So far, so good. She then asks what kind of computer I have. When I told her that I have a Macintosh she looked at me funny and said, “Only work on Windows XP.” This didn’t make much sense to me, so she called her tech support guy (who didn’t speak English) and he came up with the same conclusion. I thought that we were finally getting somewhere when she pulled out a piece of paper and began writing, but what she wrote for me was the name and number of the wi-fi company that I had planned to go to on Saturday!
Dejected, but determined Hannah and I walked the 50 yards back to our building and headed upstairs where Kellye was just finishing her lessons for the day (3pm). By this time I had decided that I was not giving up and not going to bed until I had some form of high-speed Internet in the house. So I traded children and Sarah Beth and I caught the bus to the metro and headed for the center of the city. The street the office was located on was just a couple of blocks from the Kremlin and I sort-of knew where I was going since we had been there just a couple of days before. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Russian addresses are a little funny. The address of this particular office was 9 Gazetny side-street Building 2, Office 5. So, I set out in search of Building 2. We got to the end of the street and on one side were buildings 1, 3, 5 & 7 and on the other side of the street were buildings 4, 6, & 8. Back to my map and broken Russian as I approach a police officer who motions to the end of the street where building two wasn’t. Well, we finally find that the office is located in building 9, which is divided into two sections. The girl at the counter spoke English and I was on the way home after sending a one-word text message to Kellye… “Success!”
After eight hours of trekking my way around the city on a wild goose chase I was able to connect my computers to the Internet at a speed just slightly faster and less dependable than dial-up. The good news is that I don’t have any time limits and that I am supposed to be able to connect most anywhere in the city…except for my building, which I am nicknaming “The Cone of Silence.” So, the quest for decent Internet service continues.
Assuming that I can get connected for long enough to post this blog, more updates are on the way. Thanks again for praying.
Blessings,
Marc
Friday, October 19, 2007
Photos from Red Square!
We took Wednesday afternoon to be tourists and visit Red Square. We are going to try to take at least one day a week to do touristy things. There is so much to see and do here.
Stories to follow later this weekend.
Thanks for reading and leaving comments!
Blessings,
Marc
The family in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square.Stories to follow later this weekend.
Thanks for reading and leaving comments!
Blessings,
Marc
Marc & Kellye in the same spot...hard to believe that we are really in the heart of Moscow, Russia!
John-John plays on some cannon balls and old cannons outside the cathedral.
Hannah is becoming a natural Muscovite!
Statue to Karl Marx located outside of the metro station near Red Square.
The family outside of the walls to the Kremlin.
Lenin's Tomb.
St. Basil's again...one of Moscow's most famous and recognizable landmarks.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Have I mentioned that I love the snow?
I love the snow. I am saying that more for my benefit than yours. I know that six months from now when it is 90 in Florida and still snowing here that I may not be saying how much I love the snow, so I wanted something in writing to remind myself. :-) It has snowed since around 12:30 today and I love to be out in it.
Today has been a full day. I started my language training this morning. My tutor, so far, is kind and patient. But, man does she move fast. I guess that is what happens when you try to squeeze a year's worth of learning into just 12 weeks. I wish I could say that learning Russian was easy. I wish I could say that it came naturally to me, but both those statements would be a lie. In reality, I find it very difficult and confusing. For example, there are letters that make one sound when used at the beginning of a word and a totally different sound when used at the end of a word--and those are some of the consonants!! However, I am determined to learn it well and to use it regularly so that my conversational Russian is as good as I can make it.
Believe it or not, I have homework to do, so I better keep this short. Keep praying.
Blessings,
Marc
Today has been a full day. I started my language training this morning. My tutor, so far, is kind and patient. But, man does she move fast. I guess that is what happens when you try to squeeze a year's worth of learning into just 12 weeks. I wish I could say that learning Russian was easy. I wish I could say that it came naturally to me, but both those statements would be a lie. In reality, I find it very difficult and confusing. For example, there are letters that make one sound when used at the beginning of a word and a totally different sound when used at the end of a word--and those are some of the consonants!! However, I am determined to learn it well and to use it regularly so that my conversational Russian is as good as I can make it.
Believe it or not, I have homework to do, so I better keep this short. Keep praying.
Blessings,
Marc
Sunday, October 14, 2007
This morning we woke up to...
SNOW!!!
Watch the video.
Well, how 'bout that?? It's the middle of October and we have our first snow fall. And it was a good one, too. You may remember from my previous posts that we have had nothing but rain since we arrived. Last night was no exception. And it rained hard. The wind howled all night long. But, this morning we were greeted to tons of snow falling from the sky. Because it has been so wet and was just barely 32-degrees it did not sticking to the ground until around lunch time. But after lunch it started sticking and by the time I walked home tonight there was at least 3 inches of snow on the ground in some spots! It has pretty much stopped for the night (I think) and the scenery is just beautiful.
This has been a bittersweet day for our team. One of our teammates is leaving tomorrow for the States (and that is bad.) She is getting married (and that is good.) So, we all gathered at our team leader's house for church this afternoon and then celebrated with her as she prepares to return home and get ready for her new life. Even though I only knew here in person for just a week, she will be missed by our family and we wish her well. Did I mention how much we love our team? If not, I LOVE our team. They are an answer to prayer and I am looking forward to the time that I get to minister with them. In the days to come I hope to write some about house church. It is an incredible experience.
Now, it is time for you to pray. Pray hard. Tomorrow is the day I have been dreading. It is the day that I begin language school. Now, don't get me wrong. One of the things I want most of all these days is the ability to speak the language. I long to be able to communicate with the people around me and pray each morning for the boldness to speak the few Russian words that I know. But I am scared about starting formal language training. Fortunately for me, Kellye does not start until next week, so that gives me a week ahead before I immediately fall two weeks behind! Just pray that my teacher is kind and patient and pray that I would have the tongue of a Russian.
We have a busy week ahead. In addition to language training and my weekly team meeting, we must go out and buy some essential supplies: cold weather gear for the family, and a big chili pot for Saturday afternoons. We also hope to carve out some time this week to visit downtown and do the tourist thing. We are hoping to visit Red Square, The Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral this week. We will uploda those photos when we get them. In the meantime, here are a few from our first snowfall in Moscow!
Blessings,
Marc
Watch the video.
Well, how 'bout that?? It's the middle of October and we have our first snow fall. And it was a good one, too. You may remember from my previous posts that we have had nothing but rain since we arrived. Last night was no exception. And it rained hard. The wind howled all night long. But, this morning we were greeted to tons of snow falling from the sky. Because it has been so wet and was just barely 32-degrees it did not sticking to the ground until around lunch time. But after lunch it started sticking and by the time I walked home tonight there was at least 3 inches of snow on the ground in some spots! It has pretty much stopped for the night (I think) and the scenery is just beautiful.
This has been a bittersweet day for our team. One of our teammates is leaving tomorrow for the States (and that is bad.) She is getting married (and that is good.) So, we all gathered at our team leader's house for church this afternoon and then celebrated with her as she prepares to return home and get ready for her new life. Even though I only knew here in person for just a week, she will be missed by our family and we wish her well. Did I mention how much we love our team? If not, I LOVE our team. They are an answer to prayer and I am looking forward to the time that I get to minister with them. In the days to come I hope to write some about house church. It is an incredible experience.
Now, it is time for you to pray. Pray hard. Tomorrow is the day I have been dreading. It is the day that I begin language school. Now, don't get me wrong. One of the things I want most of all these days is the ability to speak the language. I long to be able to communicate with the people around me and pray each morning for the boldness to speak the few Russian words that I know. But I am scared about starting formal language training. Fortunately for me, Kellye does not start until next week, so that gives me a week ahead before I immediately fall two weeks behind! Just pray that my teacher is kind and patient and pray that I would have the tongue of a Russian.
We have a busy week ahead. In addition to language training and my weekly team meeting, we must go out and buy some essential supplies: cold weather gear for the family, and a big chili pot for Saturday afternoons. We also hope to carve out some time this week to visit downtown and do the tourist thing. We are hoping to visit Red Square, The Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral this week. We will uploda those photos when we get them. In the meantime, here are a few from our first snowfall in Moscow!
Blessings,
Marc
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