Mar 31
Sometimes I just do not know where to begin because so much is happening in such short period of time. I cannot believe that it has been almost four months since I have arrived to Russia. My time in Russia has been happy, sad, exciting, challenging, fruitful, productive and disappointing in some way. I am sure you might be wondering is it really possible to have all these things in one and I would probably say yes. I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father that He has brought me back after four plus years of not being able to be here.
Before I came to Russia I had a list of things that I was going to do, which were prioritized. As my time nearing the end now I can slowly begin to reflect on my trip. I am sure most of us realize that we can plan all we want, but the Lord is the one who will make everything happen. Thus, this trip was not an exception. Some things in my list came through and I am very happy. Other did not work and for some the time was not right. My overall reflection concerning my trip is very positive and I wish to share more once I return to America on April 3rd.
About three weeks ago I went to the orphanage #19 to see Yura. He is a young boy who was going to be adopted by a friend of mine in TX. According to the Russian law there has to be sixteen years difference between parent and a child. Unfortunately my friend is six months shy of meeting the criteria and due to that the government denied her adoption request. It is very sad and now Yura will stay in the Russian orphanage state system until he turns eighteen years old. For awhile he begged me to bring him a happy meal from McDonald’s and since the orphanage did not allow me to take Yura outside of the orphanage premises I end up brining golden arches food to him. He was thrilled because most orphans do not get to eat something like that. Even though it is not the healthiest food to consume, but it brings joy to an orphan. I realize how richly I am blessed so I want to pass on those blessings that are deprived of them. This is what the Word is teaching us to do. When I see orphans happy and joyful it makes me happy and joyful also. When I presented Yura a happy meal he carefully inspected it and then began to eat it one by one. Other orphans were looking at him and quietly wished they had one also. I knew that orphans do not get sweets often so I bought a huge cake and some juice. Yura was such a nice boy so he shared some of his food. He ate his chicken nuggets without a sauce. Then I asked him what he was going to do with the sauce and he said eat it. I was wondering how he was going to do that. Well, he pulled out a piece of bread and spread sweet and sour sauce on the bread and ate it with great appetite. I guess after eating cheeseburger, Mac chicken, chicken nuggets, fries, coke the boy was still hungry and this was after he ate his lunch in the orphanage. His appetite reminded me my time in the orphanage. Frequently the food was so poor and low calorie so that you would always be hungry & that is why Yura ate his happy meal and was ready for the cake. It seemed as if this boy was not fed for a long time, but for many orphans that is very common. I bought some juice for the cake time, but the caretaker asked me if I could run to the store to buy some tea and sugar so I did. They were so thankful and served me some coffee with milk. They hammered their cake so quickly and then we talked about their day to day life. Some kids played computer games and other stayed with me. As I walked around the place where kids live I noticed that one bedroom had a corner with tons of icons. I was amazed at how many icons were there. I noticed that in four plus years while I have been gone more Russians have gone back to Orthodox traditions especially having icons everywhere. The Orthodox Church is trying to be more active in some cases and in non active in other. The biggest difference you will find today when it comes to serving in the orphanages as a missionary is that you are not allowed to talk about God anymore whereas ten years ago it was the opposite. The spiritual revival happened between 1992 through 1997 and then as we got further the less active it has become. Nowadays orphanages are forbidden to allow any visitors to speak about God, but if during the visit kids ask you about God then you can share, but not preach to them.
Last time when I visited Yura’s orphanage he was making a comment like hell is better than heaven. He said that he wanted to go to hell because it is so much better there. The lake of fire sounds pretty cool and awesome to him. I was very disturbed by his comment so we had a chat. I do not know whether he really listened to me, but the seed was planted. Please pray for Yura and his well being and spiritual growth.
I had to pause in writing this blog entry because I had visitors from America and my schedule was pretty full. Now I am on the train heading to Moscow for two days and decided to finish writing this blog. This is going to be my last blog before I return to my American home.
One of the visitors I had was my American spiritual mom Sue Gregg. This was her twelfth trip to Russia in fifteen years. She was not sure if she was ever going to come back to Russia, but when she learned that I was going to Russia for four months she decided to come for two weeks. She arrived on February 27th and stayed at my rental apartment. While she was in St. Pete she visited many of her friends whom she has known for a long time. The first time Sue came to Russia was through The Navigators invitation in 1994. She led many nutritious, healthy cooking and eating seminars. There she met many wonderful Russian people with whom she has kept in touch. This time Sue did not teach any classes so it was just leisure. I am sure most of us would like to hop on the airplane to one of the most beautiful cities in the world and have a great time. Well, if you have never had such opportunity I would strongly recommend you to do that. I know that you are going to love it. The best time to come is between May-July during the White Nights season. Mama Sue had a plan to visit The Harbor and meet our residents. In addition, she planned to meet with our graduate girls whom she has known for over four years. Her visit to The Harbor girl’s apt. was not the most exciting time because for some reason the girls were shy and quite. However, on our way to the metro one of our girls walked with us and briefly shared her story about how she end up at The Harbor and how someone invited her to come to 21st century church. The reason why I am mentioning this church because I was planning to come there also. Zeena and I end up going there the same Sunday and this was her first time at an Evangelical church. The sermon that day was not the best one, but the most exciting one because Zeena accepted the Lord. I had the tears of joy because she has given her life to her Heavenly Father. Since then I have been asking her whether she feels different and once she said yes. She actually made a very interesting comment. In the past she did not care that much about the Bible whereas now she does because she realizes that it is written to her and she has to live according to it. Please pray for Zeena and her spiritual growth.
I also would like to share one of the stories while Mama Sue was in Russia. On the last day of her visited we got together with our graduate girls who have been on their own for the last four years. Sue has met them before, but this time it was different because they are graduates now whereas before they were residents. We invited seven girls and most of them came except for Masha. Our meeting was at Pizza Hut. During our get together we asked them how they were doing spiritually and it is amazing because out of six girls four are Christians. In addition, we asked them what they were doing because this would help us to see whether they are successful or not upon graduating from The Harbor. Some of the girls are still studying or finishing their higher education and others were working. The most exciting thing is that some of them are involved in some kind of a ministry in giving back, which is awesome and my heart rejoices. At the end of our fellowship the waitress brought a bill and Mama Sue and I decided to cover the bill. While we were waiting for the credit card transaction to go through a thought came to my mind where I told the girls this, “let’s three of you cover the tip and the other three donate funds to The Harbor as a thank you for what the ministry has done for them.” The amount was not mentioned so it was up to them how much they wanted to give. It was interesting to observe their reactions because some of them donated with great desire and enthusiasm whereas others were contemplating. At the end the girls donated just as much as Mama Sue and I paid for the bill. I just love this because we received just from three girls a gift of love to the least of these with joy and happiness instead of spending it on food. I find this example as a great way of teaching orphans how to give back. Please continue to pray for Nastya, Anastasia, Vicka, Lena, Oxana & Ira. Especially pray for Oxana and Nastya because they do not know the Lord yet as their personal Savior.
When Mama Sue went back to the states the very next day Ben came. Ben is my American brother from OH. The purpose of his trip to Russia was to take professional photos. He was in Russia for five days and it was intense days because we went from place to place. This was his first time not only in Russia, but the first time ever outside of the United States. During his visit we visited all of our residential and nonresidential apartments. He loved spending time with our residents and graduates. While he was in Russia we moved our vocational training center to a different and bigger location. Ben helped us move and that was huge. At the end of our move Ben invited some of our resident guys, Ira, Tatiana and Vadim to Pizza Hut. I am sure you might be thinking by now that there are no other places to eat except at Pizza Hut. Well, that is not true, but sometime we go for the convenience and Pizza Hut was the closest that day. Anyway this was such wonderful time and Ben said that he will treasure that the most. I took Ben to the airport at 4 a.m. Unfortunately he could not fly through Europe so he end up going first to Moscow national airport and then he had to transfer to international terminal. I knew that this is a bad route, but had no choice because there were no tickets. Before I put Ben on the airplane I asked an airline representative at the ticket counter if she could tell me an easier way for Ben to transfer from one terminal into another. Her reply was, “I have not been to Moscow for fifteen years I do not know.” Hmmm. I found out that Ben can ask an agent that helps with transfers, but I guess it did not work very well for him because he wrote me once he got home saying that Moscow was a zoo. The bottom line is this try to avoid flying through Moscow back home if you can because it is a mess. I thank the Lord that Ben has safely gotten home.
After Ben went home another friend Annette from TX and her friend Dustin from Alabama came. Both of them have been to Russia four times prior to this trip. Dustin came to see The Harbor because he is coming back in the fall to minister as a volunteer to our boys. We visited orphanages #18 and 51. At the orphanage #18 we had a tea time with the cake that we bought at a store and Nastya made one also. The kids were thrilled to have some guests especially because they are on a spring break. We played some games and took plenty of pictures. Annette brought bubble booger mask and it was a hit especially with the girls. At the orphanage #51 we played games with the first graders. At first the kids were quiet and shy especially because they just got up after the nap. We played twister and face up. The kids were struggling big time playing twister, but enjoyed face up card game a lot especially chocolate prize. Once the chocolate caffeine kicked in the kids got active and we were running around and doing gymnastic moves. It was so much fun. One girl Masha got so excited and she was constantly pulling my sweater sleeve. She pulled it so hard and ripped my sweater. Unfortunately we had to go, but I could tell they wished we could stay longer. Our final visit was to The Harbor along with another volunteer Tina from Norway. She is teaching English a group of former orphans from the orphanage #6. We had an awesome fellowship and the girls really enjoyed meeting with Tina and Annette. Actually they had a lot of questions to Tina and I think it is partially because she is from Norway and not from Russia or America.
Annette left on Sunday morning and I went to Moscow on Saturday night. The purpose of going to Moscow was to meet an American missionary David who works with orphans in Kaluga a Moscow region. David and his church would like to start a model like The Harbor in Kaluga. I went by train which takes about 8 hours. It was a nice train. In my coupe (compartment) I had three other people. One lady was from Irkutsk who has been on a shopping tour in Europe. She visited her friends in St. Pete and was heading home via Moscow. The lady had two huge suitcases. Her friends in St. Pete tried to squeeze massive suitcases into a tiny space. Unfortunately the bunk was not closing so she had to unload some stuff from her bags. It was crazy and another lady in the coupe was constantly mumbling something. We finally were settled in and have safely arrived to Moscow. In the morning I helped lady to take her stuff out of the train. David met me at the train station. We took a metro to his car about forty-minute ride. Then we drove for another two and half hours to Kaluga. I spoke at his Pentecostal church. It is a small church, but very active. Pastor Dima became a widower at a very young age with two little children. He has a great passion to minister to people who are in trouble so his church has started ministries such as rehab center for drug addicts, social center for homeless and would like to start social center for the “graduate” orphans in Kaluga. This church has about thirty or forty people. Not big, but very active and it was amazing to see that. I spoke for over an hour sharing my life story, The Harbor and sharing the Word. They were very attentive and receptive audience. Many people were deeply moved and motivated to do something for the least of these as the Word calls us to do. One lady came to Pastor Dima and said, “I have three grown up girls and now I want to become a role model to someone who does not have a mom.” My heart was beating really fast because it was so exciting. At the end of the service a gentleman came to me and wanted to talk about some points that I shared from the Word concerning finance. He is a businessman and did not quite agree with my point. I tried to have a conversation with him so that I could explain what I meant, but he was not willing to listen because he likes to talk, but not listen. Pastor Dima invited David, me and others to sauna afterwards and I told them that I do not like sauna. He was so nice and cancelled that trip and we went to a café. There we had some lunch & discussed how to start The Harbor in Kaluga. The lunch was not enough so we went to a coffee shop. There I sat next to Sergey a young man who was a drug addict. He also was in prison for different crimes that he did due to drugs. He accepted the Lord while he was in prison. Now he leads the rehab center for drug addicts. I find his testimony very powerful and most of all he is making the difference in the lives of other drug addicts. Currently the center has 8 full-time drug addicts and Sergey has recruited two mentors who were drug addicts also. God is really at work in Kaluga. On Sunday evening we had a special youth group gathering. Normally they meet on Thursday nights, but because I was in town they did a special gathering. Their youth group has about thirty youngsters and half of them are former orphans that the church has been ministering to for awhile. About half of the group showed up. Some guests were there also. The meeting went really well. Actually there were some unbelievers and they were deeply moved. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to stir up the hearts of every person that was there especially those who do not know the Lord as their personal Savior.
One of the most exciting moments during our evening was when we discussed various questions about forgiveness, inner healing and living according to the Word. At the end of our meeting a gentleman came to me and said that his name was Dima and he used to work for the State Duma in Moscow. He was PR Director for one of the deputies (ministers). Furthermore, Dima knows a lot of government officials in the city of Kaluga and he wanted me to meet with them so that we can discuss starting a model like The Harbor in their city. I agreed to do that because it is important to have government moral support when it comes to helping the least of these. They might not necessarily fund you, but if they support what you are doing morally that is huge. On Monday morning (March 30th) I went to the White House and met with the head of the social welfare department. He was a very nice man and invested quite a bit of his time. He even moved his staff meeting by fifteen minutes which is amazing. He asked me how he can assist to start up the program for “graduate” orphans and I told him that we need their moral support. He then said that I need to go to the Ministry and talk to the head who oversees social welfare and protection for the city of Kaluga. He actually called her and setup an appointment for us. We left the White House and went to the Ministry. There Antonina met us and we had a lovely conversation. She has been working at the Ministry for only a year, but prior to that she worked in the local government office. Since she has been working at the Ministry for a short time she is interested to learn as much as possible about different programs that are making the difference in the lives of “graduate” orphans. She was very optimistic and excited. She shook my hand and said I am supporting your cause. Then she said that it has been her vision and passion to help every orphan in Kaluga which has 9 orphanages. As a result she started her own charitable organization, but since she was alone in her cause the organization was not active. Pastor Dima was with us also so he said that his church congregation is willing to step in and she was a bit hesitant about non Orthodox Church being involved. However, this doubt or hesitance was taken care of very quickly. Then Antonina said something that caught my attention. She said, “I want to save every orphan in Kaluga.” I told her that I greatly support that, but it is not possible to save every orphan. In addition, we must focus on the quality versus quantity to really stop the vicious cycle of destruction. Yes, my heart goes out for every orphan around the world and that is why I pray for them daily. She could not disagree with this and she did not. Then we went to the Ministry of Education and Science and met with Evgeniy the first assistant. We met with him really fast because he had staff meeting, but our meeting was also very positive. Then we went back to the White House and met with the deputy Vechaslav. Our meeting was during the lunch break so we ate lunch at the White House. I was shocked how cheap things were because I have not seen such low prices since early 90’s. In the beginning our conversation was somewhat dry and he almost tried to disagree with what I was saying. Then he kind of warmed up especially as we were leaving. We talked about religion and he expressed a concern that I was not Orthodox and my reply to his concern was the following. Denomination should not play any role here whatsoever. We believe in one God and bring glory to Him by doing good deeds as He has called us to show our faith. Focusing too much on what denomination you represent tends to occupy our mind that does not allow us to effectively serve those who He has called us to serve. The deputy was so intrigued by it and said, “I hope this is not our last meeting”, gave me his business card. Basically I had quite a day yesterday that was very productive. Please pray for the future development among the government officials that I met and Pastor Dima’s church.
I got back to St. Pete this morning (March 31st) and have two more days before I leave for America. I will write more later when I return. I apologize for this entry blog being so long. If you do not have time then you can either break it either into two pieces or do not read at all.
I look forward to seeing you all and catching up with as many of you as possible while I am in the states before I return to Russia in July for month and a half.
Blessings and love in the Lord,
The Harbor & Alex
