Tuesday was a beautiful day! The sun was been shining and melting the snow a little. I can actually see some of the sidewalks around campus now. And it was warm enough that I didn’t have to wear gloves or a hat. I thought about taking a walk but that didn’t happen:) We got out of class an hour early and Wednesday we didn’t have class because it was “Men’s Day”. A “national” holiday when they celebrate men in the military which is pretty much everybody. Once a guy reaches a certain age he has to attend like an after school military training s. That is unless he has the right diplomatic connections or has some kind of medical reason. “Women’s Day” is in March apparently. I was excited for the first day that I could sleep in since being here! By the way, my cold is gone and pretty sure I’ve seen the last of the jet lag. So that’s wonderful.
The Asian students in the classes next to mine have a 30 minute lunch break and a 10 minute break at the same time as my class. They can be very rambunctious and can do a lot of damage in just 40 minutes. The other day they played leap frog in the hall, threw tennis balls around, and were picking up multiple people at a time. One guy picked up two girls at once and was trying to flip them but he dropped them on their heads. Thankfully, they’re heads were already close to the ground but I’m sure they both have a good sized knot on their head. There are only a few of them that can hold a conversation in English with me but if a bunch of them get together they can eventually figure out how to say something in English. Monday they were trying to find out if I knew Jackie Chan… Yeah not personally… There are now two guys in my class from China. We are an odd group I must say.
Since it was such a nice day I took my time walking to and from the Golden Bird, my grocery store down the street. On my way back from the store, I happened to see a guy sprawled across the side of one of the dorm buildings. His friend was helping him out of a second story window. Apparently he doesn’t know about the easy way of exiting a building…
On my day off, I went to a museum with Tonya, her kids, and the Hinson kids. Each Russian speaker had an English speaker partner in case of getting separated from the rest of the group. Tim was my Russian buddy, official tour guide and took his job very seriously:) We all had a great time at the museum. I’ve never been to a museum that I couldn’t read the little explanations of what things are. Not being able to read anything Russian is a little like that time in your childhood when you can’t read but are ready to start learning. But yes, we all had fun and it turned out to be a very educational day off for me. When I went back to school the next day one of the guys in my class, Ivan, asked what I did for my holiday. I told him, then I asked what he did and he replied, “Party!” Soooo while I was at a museum he was somewhere getting drunk… Oh dear.
These were pics of us at the museum.On Saturday, I saw an Asian girl walk past our door and look in that I had didn’t know. Later during our break she came into the room and went right up to me. Apparently, she has some Russian friends who told her where they could find me, the American. Between her English and my friend Anton’s translation she is going to be picking me up next week to “talk”…. I don’t know who these Russian friends are or how they knew where to find me… I wonder if there is some sign somewhere with directions on where to find the American… I should look into this. Anyway kind of random and stalkerish but she seems like a nice girl. We’ll see if, when, and where I will be picked up. After she left Anton decided to share with me that, “All the Chinese girls and boys are talking about you all the time. You are very popular.” His words, not mine. And I was just thinking how everything had quieted down from that first week. I guess I thought wrong.
Thursday I helped with a birthday party for some kids from the orphanage who were born in February. The Eshelman’s pick the kids up and bring them to the Hope Center where they play games, have cake, give presents, and just love on the kids. There were six this month that came. I’m not at a point in my Russian studies where I can just talk to the kids so I did setup, cleanup, and anything else that didn’t entail speaking in Russian. They were great kids and it was an honor to serve them. But still it gave me a kind of helpless feeling not being able to do more for them. These kids really don’t have much of a chance once they graduate from the orphanage system. Apparently there are people, gangs, and “businesses” just waiting for them to use them for illegal means. The girls likely become prostitutes and have children at a young age then they bring their own children to the orphanage because they don’t have the knowledge to raise a child. The boys are targeted by gangs and other illegal things. Russia’s orphans need a Savior. Pray for the orphans and for a change in the orphanage system.
These are pics from the birthday party...
I don’t remember if I have mentioned how much I enjoy the sermons on Sundays. This past Sunday, pastor spoke about going into the depths of God’s presence. That we should search for depth, that when we are in the depths that is when God is changing something in you, and that we should get rid of anything keeping us from the depths. Pastor said (through translation of course:), “We should never exchange Gods depth for small ponds.” An image of me splashing around in little puddles came to my mind. Yes, kind of fun and I could get decently wet. But then I imagined swimming in the deepest waters where I could see the beauty of the ocean floor. The beauty of the Lord. Pastor read Psalms 27:4 “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek… to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord...” What better place to see His beauty than in the depths of His presence? What better place to experience His perfect love? Psalm 50:2 “From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.” I challenge you, as I have been, to rid yourself of anything that is keeping you from the beauty of God’s presence. We need depth.
Thanks for reading my humble blog. Thank you for your prayers!! Prayer for my classes, my conversations, and that God would work everything out in His timing (not mine) managing to fit everything that He wants me to do while I’m here:) You are all AMAZING.
Miss popular,
Leah
No comments:
Post a Comment