Wednesday, August 11

Wednesday, August 11, 2010


Hey y’all- it’s been a crazy couple of days. Apologies for letting the blog slip for a little while- as many of you may have heard, we had other things on our minds! We're doing well and while we know that Moscow has been in the news a lot back home, we're safe and sound.

Pastor Charles announced to us after our Saturday morning devotion that a state of emergency had been declared in Moscow and Voronezh due to the smoke from the forest fires in Russia. Pastor Charles felt that unless the situation changed, he was 90% sure that we’d change our plans; instead of leaving Orel to spend a week in Voronezh, we’d be flying out early and cutting the trip short.

It worried us that we hadn’t heard from our friends in Voronezh, and we hoped they were okay. It also worried us that United said they probably couldn’t help us until their “group desk” was open again on Monday. Thanks, United! Hey everyone: check out the “United Breaks Guitars” YouTube video while you’re at it. ;)

After a day of Holly, Karen, and Charles working around the clock, it became evident that if we cut the trip short, we’d be biding our time in Moscow, where people couldn’t see more than a few meters in front of them and were breathing through wet towels. To boot, we heard from our friends in Voronezh and they said the air was all clear there. So we switched our plans back and we were set to go!

So Sunday morning, we got the announcement that we’d be going on, as planned, to the camp at Voronezh- Praise God!

On another note, while our fearless leaders were working around the clock on getting us home (when we thought we were going home, that is) we had a fabulous day at the river with Pastor Lev and the members of Millennium UMC- our arms and abs are still sore from swinging from a rope into the river and it was a great day of games, swimming, eating, and singing (note: “Tarzanka” is a real Russian word that has something to do with swinging. We don’t know its exact meaning but we said it a lot that day.)

Sunday morning we were honored to attend Pastor Lev’s church, Millennium United Methodist Church in Orel. Anne, Emily, Amy, Ruth, and Bernie gave short testimonies on how Christ is working in their daily lives. The group sang several songs for our Russian friends and Laura and Mike provided special music. Pastor Charles preached on Joshua 1:6-9 and the challenges of receiving a “new land” from God. Afterwards, we exchanged gifts (including a handmade stained-glass window from Ruth and Bel-Air UMC) and emotional goodbyes.

After packing-up at the hotel and a long bus ride we arrived at the camp in Voronezh late Sunday night. Fortunately, the area is clear and clean of smoke as promised, although conditions in Orel and the countryside were very noticeably smoky and congested.  But fear not! We are safe, happy, and breathing easy here in Voronezh.

On Monday - we got to work on our projects at Camp Kristall. We have been plastering, painting, and hanging wallpaper for the last 3 days. We have the sore arms and paint smudges to prove it. When the work is done, we're happy to swim in the river, and spend our evenings hanging out and enjoying great fellowship. Oleg (the guitarist from Resurrection UMC) is here and he, plus Laura and Mike, keep us entertained.

One of our teammates, Karen Van Duzer, headed to the hospital on Monday. She hasn't been feeling 100% since the start of our trip. She received excellent care and got some medicine, and returned to us in good spirits. She's on the mend - and we give God great thanks for that!

Da blagoslovit vas Gospod! (may God bless you ;)

Laura and Mike (supervised by Morgan; updated by Holly)