First Week at the Shelter

My first week in Cherepovets has come and gone. Time goes so fast these days the past week feels no longer than a day or two. I am starting to get to know the kids individually and they are all starting to get to know me as Dyadya Nate. Dyadya is the Russian word for uncle, but it is used a lot like Mr. but a little more affectionate. It is what most kids call their elders. Right now I am mainly just a huge curiosity, and they love the fact that I don’t speak Russian very well. At least most of the time, when I don’t understand something they want to tell me or ask they can get kind of impatient, but for the most part it is part of the game for them. They ask me questions and try to teach me Russian words, it is a blast.

So far my main duty has been to help come up with and organize games. This has been fun, though I feel like I am not much of a help yet. I hope as time goes on and I understand how things work I will be a much bigger help. Also when I can speak Russian well enough to run the games then I will really be a great help, just to get the kids out to burn some energy. I would also like to start tying in little morals and messages with games, but that will definitely take time. Right now I just want to build good strong relationships with the kids. My desire is to really pour the love of Jesus into these kids. I am just afraid of letting myself get in the way. I am just not sure how to poor out that love. I know I can’t do it on my own, so I am praying that Lord would continue to work on me and give me that love, so that it will just flow from Him to them. My flesh prevents me from doing so much, and doing things in my own strength really gets me nowhere. I am also asking that the Lord would prepare me to do what it is He has called me here to do. I am still wondering what exactly it is he has me here for. If it is just to work with these kids then I will pour my all into that, but I am seeking His grace and guidance, taking comfort in the promises of God that those who seek Him will find Him, and not to lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Amen

Finally Living In Cherepovets

I am finally moved to Cherepovets. My first day wasn’t exactly what I expected. I am not sure what I expected, but this wasn’t it. I took an overnight train here on Sunday and arrived here at 6:20 am. The trip was pretty uneventful; I was able to sleep most of the way. But when I got off the train it was soon apparent that Igor had slept in or something, which I can’t really blame him for. He is a very busy guy and was up late the night before. This wouldn’t have been too bad accept it was raining. But I was able to pack all my stuff tight around me and keep everything dry with an umbrella. I didn’t mind waiting much. I spent the time praying and thinking about everything. There is a lot I have to do before I can truly settle in here. Now that I have moved everything over here and am technically moved in, now I have to work on getting visas and registration so I don’t have to leave every month or three months.

When Igor arrived we greeted each other with a hug and immediately got busy loading my stuff. I was a little surprised when we got to the apartment where I am living and found it cluttered with stuff. I had forgotten that Igor was remodeling another apartment for his parents, because Igor’s mom needs to live in an apartment that doesn’t have five stories of stares to climb. This is the main reason Igor is so busy. On top of the remodel he is doing all his other ministry work, getting ready to go to Israel for an IBS seminar and so many other things that he is doing. So we got right to work moving stuff from my apartment to the other one and all the while discussing my visa situation and figuring out how I can get on the internet while we are waiting for it to get hooked up at the shelter. We were able to get a lot of stuff moved and not everything is starting to come together quite nicely.

Finally, later in the afternoon we met with Olga, the director at the shelter, and explained what we need her to do for my visa invitation. The plan now is to get a work visa from the Light of Hope shelter and use that to get my permanent residency started, the logic being that it will give a more concrete and believable reason for me to want to become a resident. We had a great talk and in addition to the visa invitation we also discussed how I can help in the shelter and we shared ideas how I might be most useful. There was a good time when it was just me and Olga, because Igor had to run and do something. It was fun trying to express ourselves then, but we were able to understand each other and I am looking so forward to getting closer and working with this group of wonderful people.

This is now my third day in Cherepovets and I am still getting unpacked. I can’t decide what part of moving is worse, packing or unpacking. I haven’t really gotten to hang out too much at the shelter yet with all the errands I have to do, but tomorrow I am going to be there early and we are going to do something with the kids. I am really looking forward to it. I have been spending most of my time helping Igor, running little errands that I need to live here and getting ready for another visa trip in a couple weeks as well as getting ready for the next one in July. It is a complicated process. I would ask that you would keep the whole situation in prayer. If everything goes well by August I should be able to get the visa from the Shelter that will hopefully be my last visa trip. Please pray that the Lord’s hand will be in every step and everything will go as smoothly, quickly and as cheap as possible. Thank you so much for those of you who faithfully minister in prayer and support. I will continue to need it and cannot express how grateful I am. I can’t wait till I can stop writing about the difficult and expensive visa processes and tell you more about the great things the Lord is doing in the lives of the shelter kids and orphans we will be working with. Also please keep in prayer the future, that we would be attentive and follow the leading of the Lord. God Bless and May you be filled with the Grace of the Lord.

Last weeks in St. Pete

The last couple weeks have been full of mixed emotions. On the one hand I am excited and glad to get to finally reach my goal and move to Cherepovets. I am excited to finally really get to serve and minister to shelter kids and orphans. On the other hand it has been sad to have to say goodbye to so many friends. I have built some pretty close relationships with both fellow missionaries and Russians who have the same desire to serve God and share the gospel. It has been one thing after another as I try to squeeze everything I can in to the last weeks I have to hang out with them.

I had the great pleasure of being able to go to a Shashlik the other day. A Shashlik is basically the Georgian version of a barbeque with the main mail being basically a shishkabab with some Georgian seasoning. It was a pretty cool. The Shashlik was at the dacha, or vacation cabin, of a guy that is part of the Campus Crusade team here. I have been growing pretty close with the Campus Crusade group here in St. Pete, which has been great for my Russian practice. I am really going to miss this group when I move to Cherepovets, but I am sure there will be occasion for me visit. However they are very supportive and encouraging. We had a great time of playing games, reading the word, and praying. I even got to help build an outhouse and do some carpentry work again. They all prayed for my move and said that they would come and visit. I am hoping that maybe I can continue the relationship and have them come out and work with the kids and universities in Cherepovets: I will have to keep that in prayer.







I also said goodbye to the small, but fruitful and growing, English Bible study I have been teaching on Thursdays. I have been telling them for a while now that I would be leaving and that another guy, Laurin, would be taking it over for me. But it still seemed to come as a shock to them when I said that I might not be there next week and the week after that I would be in Cherepovets. The question that is always asked is, “When are you coming back?” or “For how long?” or something along those lines. My answer is always, “I don’t know if I will ever really be back, I don’t know how long exactly. The only thing I really know right now is that I feel like it is going to be for quite a while.”

I also had the privilege of becoming acquainted with a Canadian group that came on a 5 week mission trip to St. Petersburg from Campus Crusade. I really had a great time with them, each Friday we have been doing the movie night, that I have been taking part in for a while now, and then Saturday there is a sports outreach where we teach them how to play American/Canadian sports, then have fun playing the sports. Then the weekend is wrapped up with an English party where they have different themes, like Canada, life questions, barbeque and stuff like that. It has been a blast, and we have really been building some relationships and some opportunities to share the gospel in a friendly atmosphere. I will miss these things when I move, but maybe eventually I can do something similar in Cherepovets.





Some important Canadian date. ;)


Trivia game

oooooo, tattoos


National Anthems



Canadian dancing
Ok this is at around 11:30 p.m.!

I have really grown to call St. Petersburg home and it is a little sad for me to be leaving, but I still am looking forward to the move. I am just not looking forward to the transition. But I am sure, more now than ever, that this is where the Lord is leading me. I am excited to see what is next. I am also excited because this will be the beginning of what I started out to do in the first place. My reason for coming Russia has been to go to Cherepovets and now that goal is being reached. I am glad I spent time in St. Pete first, I will never regret that, and hope to keep close with those whom I have come to call friends. I am continually learning what it is to live a life the service of the Lord and I have a lot more to learn. But serving the Lord with your life is a wild rollercoaster ride, I am not sure what is over the next hump of around the next bend, but I love a good rollercoaster!