Lessons

Today we had our first real Russian lesson. It actually went really well! We have a new teacher. She speaks English and is actually an English teacher for children! We are her first students she is teaching Russian instead of English! Philip and I both meet with her for an hour. We did various things today in our lesson. We did some reading, speaking, exercises with grammar, and some dictations. We both feel like it was a good review, and we like how things are structured. Thank you for praying for us! Keep at it because it is going to get harder!

This afternoon the sun peaked out for the first time in a few days. We decided to take the girls out and go to the Central Outdoor Market. I have decided to make it one of my cultural encounter goals to go to the market each week and buy produce from a certain person each time...hopefully building a relationship. We packed up both girls in the strollers and headed out. Of course it looked like rain once we stepped out the door, but it held off for us! The market is about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. On the way there are also people selling produce along the sidewalks. Once inside the market area, we walked around to check things out and then I decided to go the first vendor.
I am assuming they were husband and wife selling their produce. They were really nice. I told them (in Russian) that I only spoke a little Russian and that I wanted to buy good produce. I asked what was good produce. She said the pears were good, so I bought some. I also bought some apples, a tomato, and some peaches. The husband asked if Philip was my husband and where we used to live. I told him we lived in America. He also like the two girls...but of course who wouldn't!? It was good trip and I plan to go back next week to the same people. Keep praying for me as I think of more ways to have conversation with them as I buy their produce.

On a random side note, our water got turned off today...well our area of the city I suppose. They must have been working on something. It was random and when it came on it looked like this:
Lovely, right? We had to run our water to get all the dirty water out...of course it was right at dinner time, but luckily I had just enough clean water in the fridge to make our dinner!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

p.s. Gwen has been sleeping better! She still has trouble in the early evenings, but has been only waking up once in the night...HUGE blessing and answer to prayers, so THANK YOU for how you have been praying for us!

And So It Begins...

We have had a busy week here...and another yet to come! Last week our Area Director and his wife (Gwen!) and our General Director from Global Partners came and spent 2 days in Vladimir. They mostly attended meetings, more meetings, and more meetings! It was a whirlwind of a trip for them, but it was good that they came. It was our first time meeting our Area Director, Dennis and his wife, Gwen! We made sure Gwen and baby Gwen had their picture taken together!

We had a good team meeting with the directors! Philip attended the big General Conference held here in Vladimir while our General Director was here. It was a good experience for him.

Saturday was City Day here in Vladimir. They have a parade, folk dancing, fireworks, great food, and lots of other great stuff...that we didn't get to enjoy because of the rain! Instead we had pizza with our field directors and a family from the church planting team. It was a fun night!

On Sunday evening we had our church planting leadership meeting to pray, discuss upcoming events, and talk more about developing our small groups.

Today, I went to Globus with Kerry and did some grocery shopping.

Tomorrow...WE BEGIN LANGUAGE CLASSES! We are meeting with a private tutor who will be coming to our house. She will be doing a tutoring session with each of us twice a week for an hour each. We will also be having a conversational language lesson separately some other time during the week. Not going to lie, I am a bit nervous, but excited to get back into learning. Say a pray for us if you think about it tomorrow!

As we learn more about the culture, Philip and I have both written out intentional culture engagement goals with the help of our field directors. This is a way for us to be accountable to be making intentional steps toward developing relationships. For example, one of my goals is this:

1. I will go outside on the playground with the girl(s) 3 times a week during times when others are outside.
   

• I will pray before I go out each time and ask the Lord to open doors of conversation and give me opportunities to talk with the same person or specific children
• I will ask questions about her/his family and tell about myself in Russian

• I will invite her to tea after 4 times of interaction to talk about Russian culture, family, and children

Other examples would be going to the central outdoor market and buying from the same person every week, (Philip) going to the gym and working out while making intentional steps toward building relationships with others, meeting our neighbors...These are just beginning steps we are taking toward relationship building. Say a pray for us as we prayerfully go out each week. This is hard stuff. It is uncomfortable, out of our comfort zones, but this is how relationships are built. Years (yes years) ago when we first started this process of getting to Russia, someone started praying for the people we would come in contact with while we were here. The person prayed that even then, years ago, that those Russians' hearts would start to be softened toward the Lord. It is exciting to think who those people could be. I know that the Lord has a purpose for us at this time to be here in Russia!

Gwen in a car seat on the way home from our friends' house on Sunday night!

Nina, Sophia, and Adalynn sharing hats!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen