“I’m not who I was…”

Dearest Friends,

I have returned from my mission’s trip within a mission’s trip… I’m alive!! I’ve actually been back for a few days, but my faithful computer thinks it needs a new battery. It randomly plays dead and I can’t use it for a few hours. Silly contraption. Although playing dead is quite a good trick. Can YOUR computer play dead?? I thought not.

Now I’m going to be extremely open with you guys about the mission’s trip. Extremely. Well, I can honestly say that I have gone LEGIT camping for what ended up being 7 days. Bathroom in the bushes, baths in the Amur River, snakes in the campsite, eating extremely fresh fish, storms bringing water in your tent, sunburn with no available sunscreen, bugs in your food, washing dishes in the river, campfires for warmth and not just smores… Yeah, I’d say it was pretty legit. I wish I could tell you about all the people who came to the Lord, the people filled with the Holy Spirit, all the healings and miraculous things we saw… but I can’t. Honestly, I didn’t see much of anything other than the campsites and the little bit of evangelism we did while on our way to a new campsite. Me and Tim Eshelman were made the official security for the campsite. That way we didn’t have to break camp every day and the Russian speakers could do the talking with the people. We earned our way by being security, helping around the campsite, and praying for the team as they went out every day. We had three different campsites. The first was on sand, the second was on rocks, and the third was straw that we put on the rocks. So very comfy cozy… :) We were always able to camp along the coast of the Amur River since that’s where most of the villages are. It really was a survey trip to find out where the villages, roads, and people are. There were several places that the map said there WAS a village but once we got there we saw there was only like 5 people living there now. The villages are definitely disappearing. So the surveying part of the trip we were able to accomplish. We took tons of Christian literature with and gave away almost all of it. A lot of seeds were planted in the hearts of the people in the areas we were in.

As far as how the trip went for me… Again, I’m going to be very open with you guys… All around it was pretty rough on me. I thought I had been roughing it these past 5 months and then I’m put out in the forests of Russia… In 7 days time, I got sunburn, a bad cold and 123 (that’s one hundred and twenty-three) bites from mosquitoes, gnats, and the like. Not to mention the sleeping on rocks and trying to sleep through storms that soaked my sleeping bag. Washing in the Amur River is not what I would consider an efficient system for a thorough clean up. Keeping watch over tents for days on end is not exactly exciting. Eating fish for every meal except 2 was not exactly appetizing. I could go on and on:) Pretty sure I learned that I am a city girl when it comes to legit camping… Communication between us team members was difficult since half of us were American and the other half Russian. I struggled with that every day.

But, I did have some high points of the trip (believe it or not)। If I haven’t mentioned before, sunsets in Russia are amazing। And I was able to see many of them which were made even more amazing with the river and giant hills. Those 7 days were a great time to see and appreciate Gods beautiful creations. God also taught me a good lesson that with His help I can handle more than I think I can. Many times during the trip I told God that I’d had enough and that I simply couldn’t handle anything else to go wrong or happen to me… One more bug bite, one more night in that tent, one more mouthful of fish, one more word in Russian I couldn’t understand, one more day feeling helpless just watching the tent, one more bug infested trip to the bushes, one more day in the sun on top of my already burned skin… But even though pretty much all of those things happened when I said I couldn’t handle it… I survived. I’ve been very humbled these past months with what I am able to do as far as ministry because of the language barrier. It continued to remind me of how many opportunities I have in the US just because I can speak the same language. But this trip really humbled me. I watched our stuff. I washed dishes (as always:). I prayed. There wasn’t much I could do. I did get to hang out with my adopted brother Tim quite a bit seeing how he was my partner in security. We were hired around the same time… :) I really prayed that during the times I was with Tim that I would be a good example for him and an encouragement. Being with the other members of the trip was pretty cool too. I shared a tent with Lena, the only other lady on the trip. She was one of many stand-in moms for me during my time in Russia. It was really cool to see her love for the Lord and how she put that into actions. I think the real highlight of the trip for me was when the team found some Christians in one of the villages who have a house church. We were able to go there for Sunday service and meet everyone. The “Pastor” is a girl around my age who grew up in the village but moved away for school. God called her back after she graduated and she has been trying to grow a church ever since. With our team of six, we doubled their church attendance for the day. But it was so great to see that SOMEONE is doing something out there. We now know that a church DOES exist and we can stay in contact to help out. It was a great time fellowshipping and encouraging the church there. I had the “Pastor” write down some specific prayer requests for their church and I will be bringing them to my small group back home to keep in our prayers… For me, the trip had many downs but I definitely have had more adventures to add to my list:)Here are some pics of the trip… This is Cecil with some people he met.


This is our Russian team members talking with some villagers…

This is me and my faithful buddy Tim..


It’s been 6 days since I got back from the trip. The sunburn is gone, my bites are slowly healing, and my cough is not as frequent. Hooray hooray. I’ve been resting, doing some last time things. I was a part of my last Khabarovsk team meeting and worship time with the Eshelman and Hinson families. Those worship times are something I am really going to miss. I’ve hung out with a few of my girlfriends for the last time. Sunday was my last time at my church here in Khabarovsk. The Pastor surprised me by having me come up front to be prayed for. I didn’t know that they realized it was my last Sunday. I am very thankful for my Russian church family. They have been amazing.

During the mission’s trip, I read through the books of Micah and Habakkuk. Micah is only 7 chapters and Habakkuk only like three but I really got a lot out of it. In the midst of suffering, Micah says, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” (Micah 7:7) And in the second part of verse 8, “Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.” Habakkuk is asking God why things were so terrible in Judah. He goes on and on and on asking God why… but even though things were so horrible Habakkuk says, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Hab. 3:18) Even in the hard and difficult times, these men remained faithful. They knew that in the end God would come through for them. They knew that God would prove true to the promises made to them. “But as for me”, “Though I have fallen”, “yet I will rejoice”… even though hard things HAD happened and WERE happening they trusted in God’s plan. They knew that Gods plan was better than their own even if they didn’t understand it themselves and couldn’t see a way out because they sat “in darkness”. May we always remain true and faithful to the Lord. No matter what happenS. No matter what happenED. The Lord is faithful.

I leave 5 days from today (my time). I’m excited because the day I leave, my church is having a water baptism. As long as I have my luggage in the car, I should be able to attend. What a way to end my trip!!!

I hope to have one more blog from Russia or at least partly. I have a 7 hour layover in Seoul so I may have some time to spare there:) Please be praying for the remaining 5 days of my trip. God can do anything in 5 days!!! Pray for everything to go smoothly with tying things up with the university and dorm. Pray for safety, and no problems with my trip home. Also, for when I get home. I’ve been gone for almost 6 months… A lot changes in 6 months. My family moved to a different house so I don’t even know where my bed is let alone the house! I will be counseling at youth camp the week after I get home, I need to find a job, school starts in August… there will be a lot of challenges with going back home but I’m excited to start this next part of my journey!

I’m not who I was when I first arrived in Khabarovsk. Soon I will be seeing just how much I’ve changed. It will be kind of like an unveiling:)

Who you are and all that you’ve done for me is amazing.

A city girl,
Leah