St. Petersburg

 Almost 2 weeks ago we traveled by train to St. Petersburg, the "Venice of the North".  St. Petersburg is the center of art and cultural while Moscow would be known to be the center of business.  We debated about going because it is expensive to take the overnight train, pay to stay over night a few nights, and spend money on museums and all the tourist things.  After a few weeks of debating it, we decided to just go for it!  We took both girls and our intern, Katie, came along too for the cultural experience.  We all had a lot of fun!  The night train was an experience, not too bad of one at that.  We got lost at least once...and we were lost for awhile, so that made up for all the times we could have gotten lost in small increments.

We all stayed in a small hostel in walking distance of the main tourist street and attractions.  We enjoyed walking over 10 miles the first day...well, we were enjoying at the time, but the next day our legs felt like lead!

Here are some exciting things we were able to experience.  Sorry I couldn't capture all the Russian we spoke while there!

 The Hermitage and Palace Square

 A building that looked important.  I mean there was a monument about it...

 We ate snacks...

 Took a few stroller naps...

 Saw some magnificent fountains and palaces

Took some boat rides...and worked on strengthening our muscles...

Thank you for your support, prayers, and love.  We are still in the midst of praying and seeking the Lord for direction in our future.  Please be praying for employment opportunities in ministry in the States as our time in Russia draws to a close in a few months.  

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Happenings

 Last Saturday, Kerry and I Philip went into Moscow to pick up the newest member of our GP Team, Katie!  Katie is from Indiana also, but is a student at Kingswood University in New Brunswick.  This year is her senior year, and as a Global Ministry major, she is required to spend 5 months overseas doing an internship.  Her internship has landed her here, in Russia, for 5 months!  We just found her an apartment on Monday and today she has moved in---she had been staying with us since her arrival on Friday.  Welcome to the team, Katie!

Thank you for your prayers for Vika!  We are seeing God answer so many prayers this summer!  Vika moved to Vermont for work and study program with the local university here in Vladimir.  When we were meeting with her this spring, we kept telling her that we were praying for her and really praying that she would have a good time in the States.---we were also praying she would meet some believers and get plugged in!  

My friend, Sarah, has a friend (who I slightly knew in college) that lives in the same city that Vika was going to be for the summer.  Sarah contacted her friend, Meredith and then I followed up via facebook with Meredith.  Well, we got Meredith and Vika connected!  They met up a few months ago after Vika arrived!  I got in contact with Meredith a few days ago and she said that Vika had been coming to her weekly Young Adult Bible Study and she had been asking great questions.  Meredith had been going to pick her up each week for this Bible Study!  Wow!  Meredith also said Vika mentioned how she was seeing how God was answering the prayers we had been saying for her during her stay in the States.  Praise Jesus!  He is at work!  Keep praying for Vika!  She returns in mid-September.  Please also pray for Meredith as she continues to ministry to Vika!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwenyvere

Lunch at a Hotel

2 weeks ago I was able to spend a wonderful lunch with Anya and Marina.  Both of these ladies own the language club that Philip helps out with each week.  I have been to the park with both ladies quite a few times.  They speak great English, but of course I try to practice my Russian with them.  This last time they told me that it was fun to speak Russian with me!  Are you wondering why my shoes are in the picture?  Well, Russian ladies are ALWAYS wearing heels and fancy shoes...I rarely wear these because I am not a fan of walking around with kids and heels.  To me that is just too much work!  But on this day I decided to put on my "Russian" heels!

For lunch we went to this hotel that overlooked a river.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We sat on the veranda for lunch with a wonderful view.  I didn't even feel like I was in Vladimir, let alone Russia!  We had some tasty food along with some really great conversation.  They both began to ask me about marriage and how to keep it a marriage these days.  I was able to share with them about how the God we serve really helps us in this area.  It was just a small window, but I feel like through talking about marriage I was able to point to the Lord in many areas.  I praise God for this because before I even went to this lunch, I prayed that the Lord would give me opportunity to point to Him sometime during our time together!  

Toward the end of our meal, they asked to read the book "The Five Love Languages" together.  They are really interested in how to learn more about marriage.  I thought this was a good book to start with, but I hope and pray to begin to share with them the truths that Scripture tells us about marriage.

Thank you for your prayers!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Victory Day!

Today is May 9th, Victory Day here in Russia.  Today is a day to celebrate all the veterans from WWII.  It is a fun celebrated holiday.  There is a parade (not like you may think like in the States---it is more just cars driving with officials and the people in the services), balloons, flowers, and lots of people.  

 

 

At the end of the speeches given at the Eternal Flame, people come and put flowers by the eternal flame (a flame that is always burning) in memory of those who died.  Or people will find a veteran and give them flowers in honor of their service. 

 

People are lined out along the street ready to sell flowers.

 

Adalynn got a balloon.  Her first balloon from Russia.  I think she is in love.

 

Gwen just chilled and finally fell asleep as we approached home 3 1/2 hours later!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Moscow Trip

I went into Moscow on Wednesday to get Gwen's 6 month immunizations done at the American Medical Clinic.  She did great!  Cara B. went with me.  After the shots in the morning, we had the rest of the afternoon to walk around Moscow, shop, and drink Starbucks before catching the train back to Vladimir at 6pm.  The weather was beautiful!  I even got hot!

 

This is what Gwen did a few times throughout the day, which I was very thankful for!

Around the Kremlin, they were planting flowers galore!  There were rows of white, blue, and red...all for the holiday coming up on the 9th of May!  Here is a picture of the city (all women!) workers who were busy planting the flowers.  

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Warmer

Welcome Spring!  Finally, Vladimir is starting to see some warmer weather!  It was in the mid 60s yesterday and it was oh, so glorious!  The girls and I went with Philip to pay our bills---to the post office.  We weaved in and out of puddles, but mostly just enjoyed the beautiful weather!!!

 

This is what most cars look like these days...dirty.  All the mud, puddles, and rain just give people an excuse to not wash their cars.

This picture was taken outside the post office while we were waiting for Philip.  I thought it was a neat symmetrical picture, though I am not sure what it says, so hopefully it isn't something bad!

Gwen is living it up with no winter snowsuit, a light hat, lounging in the stroller, and a snack.  What a hard life of a 10 month old!

Peek-a-Boo!  In Russian people say, "Coo Coo"

Sister loving!  Adalynn was singing this song, "My best friend, Gwen is my best friend.  My best friend is my sisterrrrrrrrrrr!!!  Gwenie!!!!!!"  It was pretty cute!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Grace of Christ's Easter Celebration

We had a great turn out for our Easter outreach with Grace of Christ Church yesterday!  It was a great time of fellowship, food, and sharing of the Word!  We had almost 50 people attend, which was great!  We had many friends join us for this special celebration.  

We enjoyed some Russian food...

Brian shared a short message about the meaning of Easer...

Lena, one of the team leaders on our leadership team, read a poem about Easter.  We also shared in some meaningful worship songs.

The children played a game and did a version of Resurrection Eggs.  Gwen enjoyed the game as you can see!

 

 

Of course the babies were passed around and the children found adults to entertain them!

We had Anya and her family join us, which was really fun!  Anya is the woman who's English Club Philip helps out with each Thursday.  Hopefully this week Anya and I can get together with the kids!  It was great to meet her husband and daughter!

Thanks for your prayers and continual interest and investment in our lives and the ministry here in Russia!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Пасxa

Did you know that we have not celebrated Easter here in Russia yet? Actually we did celebrate with our family last weekend, but Russian Easter is this coming week (tomorrow). Easter is the biggest religious holiday here in Russia. Since Russia follows the Julian calendar, Easter falls on a different day than in America.  

Easter is a big and fun celebration for many Russians, both Protestant and Orthodox. They do color eggs here, but the tradition is to use onion skins.  They boil the onion skins and turn the eggs a brownish color.  (see picture of eggs on the plate below)  We opted to use food coloring because I wasn't up to boiling onion skins...this year--maybe next year!  They also sell these cakes that are pretty popular.  Usually they aren't very sweet, but more like bread.  Sometimes there are raisins in them...yuck, um no thank you.  I decided to buy some to try to make...of course I decided to buy the sweet kind!  

They turned out pretty good.  I even read the directions in Russian...but of course double checked everything to make sure I was reading correctly. Basically you just mixed in 2 eggs and 100grams of butter and put them in the oven.  I made some for some friends we will be seeing tomorrow as we celebrate Easter (Пасха).  Of course I tasted it, just to make sure it was worthy of giving as a gift.  No worries, it was!

Our neighbor, who likes to occasionally pound on our door and come right in our house, brought us an Easter cake this afternoon!  We were thrilled to receive the kind gesture.  We chatted in our kitchen for a few minutes.  Adalynn was eating chips (which was actually a treat at the end of her lunch) and our neighbor was telling us how unhealthy they are for kids.  Great, she is probably thinking, "Those fat Americans!"  Hahah!  

As you can see Gwen was all about the hard boiled eggs.  And no, the cake did not fall off the plate despite what the picture may look like!

Христос Воскрес!  Воистину Воскрес! 

(Christ is Risen!  He is risen indeed!)

Above is the greetings you exchange on Easter!  I think I like it better than Happy Easter!

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Please pray for our outreach tomorrow afternoon!  Our church is having a dinner/tea!  We have invited many people!  Our friend, Anya and her family are coming, so we are really excited to share this special day with them!

Buses and Personal Space

Riding public transportation is actually not too bad.  If I think about leaving Russia, I actually think about how I would actually miss public transportation....in some ways, not all. Shocking, right?  Obviously there are some negatives about public transportation.  

Negative: It is really difficult to take 2 little girls anywhere with you if you have to take PT.  You have to carry them to the bus stop or take a stroller--which is really annoying in some sense because you have to figure out how to get the stroller on the bus along with yourself and the children.  You also have to keep them from squirming, crying, and talking in loud English (in our case singing in loud English). 

Positive: There is no taking in and out of car seats with big winter coats!

Negative:  The bus is crowded!  Sometimes you are so squished that you lose all sense of personal space.

Positive:  If you have children, someone usually gives up their seat for you--note:  always carry a child with you.

Negative:  Sometimes the trolly buses break down, and then you have to get out and walk to the next stop.

Positive:  You have no road rage because you are not driving!  I am never annoyed (ok, only once) at the bus because it is taking forever to get somewhere because I have no control of it.  I just sit and wait for the bus to arrive at my destination.  If we are late, we are late.  We can always blame the bus.  There is no being annoyed at the driver next to you or the driver who cut you off or ran the yellow light.  

Of course overall, I do enjoy getting into my car when back in the States and going anywhere I want in just minutes. 

Yesterday, I left the apartment to go to the art school again.  I left around 5:10pm.  I knew the buses would be crowded because it was "rush hour".  I prepared myself to lose my personal space.  I hoped on the 27 bus, and yes I lost ALL personal space and then some.  I am pretty sure my face was smashed to the glass and the person on the other side of the glass by the door had a pretty view for 2 stops.  Plus being crammed in a bus, traffic was busy too because everyone who had a car decided to go somewhere at the exact same time.  So, of course I was squished for an extra 10 minutes.

  I kept waiting for the lady who collects the money to come around.  I heard her money jingling in her pockets, but never saw her.  There was another couple standing by me who also needed to pay.  We all waited and waited, but there were so many people, and I had no idea how she was going to actually get through to the middle of the bus.  Finally, my stop came and I got off, still not paying.  I have no idea what I was suppose to do.  The couple got off the bus and went to the first door by the driver to pay.  I followed.  The lady just waved her hand and said something as the door shut and they drove away.  I guess I got a free ride.  I am still trying to decide if I am suppose to feel guilty for this act of "stealing" or not.  I'll let you know if they come looking for me.

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen

Art School

Yesterday evening I was a model.  Yes, didn't you know that I model here in Russia?!  Haha just kidding!  No, but really, I was a model...for an art class of young Russian students.  They were probably about 15-16 years old.  This class is a class taken separate from regular school.  They have art class three times a week for 2 hours.  The students I talked with said they really enjoyed the class.  This particular art class is taught by a lady who goes to the other Wesleyan church.  The teacher saw me at church a few Sundays ago (when our new church came to share about how God is working in the new church) and asked if her students could draw me.  They needed someone different to draw.  Since I am odd looking (no, it is because I am Korean and look different than other people around here), she asked if I could come model for the class. The teacher's daughter has helped us in different ways since we have been here.  You might remember her, Natasha.  She is the woman who came to our first apartment over a year ago and taught us how to cook our first Russian meal! 

Around 4:50pm Natasha met me at the bus stop by the mall and we walked to the art school.  She helped me get situated, answered a few questions, and then left. I actually just sat there for 2 hours while these kids drew me.  

 Of course everyone spoke Russian, but I just sat and listened and tried to figure out what was going on.  A few students were actually studying English, so they helped when needed.  I did understand a few things she was saying.  I guess they were all drawing my nose incorrectly...too pointed.  The teacher even had a student, whose nose was a little larger, come up and stand so she could show them the difference!

After sitting for about 30 minutes, there was a break and the teacher and some of the students took me on a short tour of the art school.  It was pretty neat.  I also got to meet two other teachers.  One was a sculpture teacher and the other teacher taught sewing and other textile art.  

It was a good experience.  I am actually going back on Monday for another 2 hours so the students have another chance to draw me.  Then in a few weeks I will take Adalynn.  We will only stay for 15 minutes though.  If you know Adalynn, you will understand that she will probably not be the biggest fan, but I wanted to make it work for the class.

Here are a few pictures of my experience.

 Some of the students

 I sat in a chair and then the students sat around me in a semi-circle.  They all had easels and either pencils, chalk, or charcoal. 

 Drawing in action

 

 There I am...

 

Philip said this is my Mulan drawing...thanks, honey.

Blessings,

Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and Gwen