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!