Russia 2010

I am finally back from our Spring Break Mission Trip to Russia; Zavolzh'ye to be exact. The trip flew by very fast, except for the flights. They were both 10 hours, there and back. We landed in Moscow at 11am on Saturday morning with maybe all of us having 45 minutes of sleep the whole flight. Needless to say it was a long day touring Moscow until 10:30pm when we had to go to the train station. We got to Nizhny Novgorod at 6:30am Sunday morning and then had an hour drive to Zavolzh'ye. That morning we had about 1hr 30min to get ready for church and then were out the door again. It was such a blessing for Alissa and I to be at the church again and see how far they had come since last year.

The year before we entered in the front on the ground floor with planks of wood and drywall everywhere. This year we entered through the back and there the construction supplies used to be there is now a room they use for childrens church and for the english club. There is also a kitchen off of the room that they never had before. When you go up to the sanctuary there is a brand new floor similar to the one used in the room downstairs. Last year it was just planks of wood that if you dropped a pen it would fall all the way to the ground floor. 


On Monday through Thursday mornings we went into the school and spoke with the english classes. We gave a presentation about life in Providence and at Johnson & Wales. We then broke up into groups and we able to speak with them one on one (with translators of course). They loved to perform for us as well and would dance, play the guitar or sing. Some of the students actually came to every session on all 4 days, and they were the ones who were so eager to learn from us and had the dream of going to the language school to become a translator. It was a blessing to see the smiles that we brought to the students' faces just by being there and being interested in their lives. Many of them were confused as to why we chose Zavolzh'ye and why we were interested in them considering we are Americans. Many of them also had such gloomy faces and this look of sadness in their eyes because they do not see much hope in the future or ever in Zavolzh'ye. Many of them want to leave Russia or go work in Moscow but the teachers tell them that they are not going to make it very far, and all they are going to know is what they learn at the technical school. It is really very sad. 


I found that the church this year was much more open to inviting the students to the church for a special youth group on Tuesday and Thursday of that week. When the youth leader got up at the school to invite the students to the one on Tuesday there happened to be a teacher in the audience that was atheist. She told the principal that we were actually connected to the Baptist church and were not Orthodox. (We had never told them that we were either. They just assumed we were orthodox). Well when they found out they cut our 2nd sessions at the school on Wednesday and Thursday. (we were meant to have 2 sessions on those days but instead we had one on each day). That was ok because even though we did not announce it publicly, we did invite the students in our groups personally. And the students came. The reason for the removal of the sessions though is because Baptists in Russia are viewed as a cult. 

While there we were able to help Mike sort out the stuff for the English Club. Someone had given Alissa a Netbook before we left because they thought she needed a new computer. Since she didn't she gave it to Mike to use for the club. Mike and Jake were able to set it up so that the projector and everything was run off of the top of a cart that someone had made for them. We also organized the books so that they fit on the bottom of the cart. This way the whole cart is run off of one wooden cart and it saves Mike and Alissa from lugging books and cords and computers back and forth to the church. 

The Tuesday and Thursday youth groups were a great turn out. Each night I think we had about 7 students from the school that came. We found though that the church is very guarded when it comes to sharing the gospel because they were underground for so long and because they are viewed at as a cult. So they had asked us to plan the program for Thursday. So we decided to play a game, sang some worship songs and then Erica shared her testimony and Kevin was able to share the gospel because how else were the students from the school going to hear it. Hopefully we were able to encourage the church by doing this, by showing them that they should take advantage of every opportunity that they are given to share the gospel. 

We toured Gorodetts on Friday and that evening Kevin, Jake, Erica and myself left Alissa and boarded our train to Moscow. We went to the open air market and toured Moscow on Saturday before turning for a goodnight sleep before our return flight on Sunday. I think I slept a total of 30 minutes on the flight back. 


I am looking forward to next year and seeing the progress that the church will make in the coming year and how we are able to serve them. Please keep them in your prayers when you remember. They need the courage to share the gospel and be ready to take risks.