The trip is getting close

Nineteen of us are now waiting for our invitation to Russia so we can submit our visa applications.  Those should come in a week or so ahead of our trip.

Plans are moving ahead with curriculum using characters from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  We'll have lessons and skits along with the story.  We'll be viewing the movie with the kids!

Other plans involve kids at the ministry center on parenting, relationships and jobs.  We'll also talk about how to treat the opposite gender.

Keep praying and if you'd like to donate, go to www.covenant-pres.org.  Thank You!

Trip planning and fundraising

As an update, we will be flying Delta again this year.  Between the better customer service as well as prices being very competitive this year, we chose Delta.  We are excited about landing in a familiar airport and having lunch at our favorite mall. 

We'll spend much of the first afternoon in Red Square and the Kremlin.  We have a number of first time travelers so it will be good to take them through some of the sights.  I imagine we'll hit cathedral square this year, but we don't have firm plans.

Saturday and Sunday will begin our time with the graduates in Vladimir where we'll spend fun times and provide lessons on life skills and attitudes. 

Monday we'll be at the orphanage and we'll stay through Friday.  Our plan is to have lessons, games, crafts, and skits.  There is lots of planning to do between now and May. 

Again, if you'd like to donate, you can send a contribution to:

Covenant Presbyterian Church
2845 Parliament Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Or www.covenant-pres.org and click the donate button and specify that it is for the Russia trip.

Thanks, and there will be more to come. 

We have an indiegogo page!

Here is a new way to contribute and raise funds for causes.  Check us out at indiegogo, send us a contribution, and you get a prize as well as knowing that you've helped Russia orphans in their quest to become confident young people.

Here is our page at indiegogo!

Vladimir Day 3

Today began with a double worship service for many of us. Seven of us got up early and went to an 8 a.m. Orthodox worship service. It was 2 hours long and, if you do not know, it is all standing. I actually got light headed and had to sit for a while with the elderly women on a bench on the side of the church for a while. The church is almost 900 years old. Think about that as an American. what buildings would we have that are 900 years old. It is not well kept, but still beautiful inside. It would have been more interesting if we could have had the liturgy in English, but still it was a beautiful service.

Then we went to the Wesleyan church where many of our interpreters attend. There was another group from Indiana that is there to run an English day camp at the church. It is both for the benefit of the church as well as outreach to the surrounding community members who might want to learn English. We had communion and broke into small groups to pray with others.

I also was able to meet Natalie Prikhoda (Натале Прихода), the church administrator whom I met on FB as she was looking for help in her business management program. I brought a book for her on leadership and some of her favorite candies as they do not have Wint-o-green Lifesavers in Russia.

One of my favorite people was there. Zhenya Demidova was there and will also be one of our interpreters for the trip. I am glad that she is along. I will be attending her wedding in Minnesota in August.


We then went to lunch nearby and then back to the ministry center. At the ministry center, I was able to speak with many kids and get to know our new interpreters better. We began our session with Jeff Kintner discussing why read the Bible.

A highlight of my day is that while I gave a gift to Sasha for her and her husband Fedya, Sasha invited me over for tea in the evening. Korvan Funk and I went to visit her and Fedya (and their beautiful daughter Leeza) for tea and cake. This became even more special as I'll explain later.

After this Nancy Steele did a session on personal health, including a session on alcohol. Alcohol is a big problem in Russia. Some of the kids asked how much can you drink, and what is wrong with drinking too much? Nancy did an excellent job from the health perspective. Then some issues came up that touched on the legal issues and practice ramifications of excessive alcohol consumption. Our police officer, Chris Burns, was able to address several of these issues and things that he has seen happen as a result of alcohol consumption as a police officer.

We then had further free time with the kids. We also took a group picture. I was then able to spend a little time with Ilya Petrovski, an old friend from my first visit to Pokrov. He graduated in 2005 and is now 22 years old. He is a fine young man and going to the army soon. He has also graduated from the pedagogical college.

A very interesting thing happened just after the group picture. A girl was standing off to the side dressed in a pretty noticeable hot pink outfit. I was a little surprised to say the least. As she moved closer, I realized that it was a girl that I met on my very first visit as well. A few years ago she had fallen into a deep depression. I was a afraid for her life. She also became very rebellious and even left the orphanage a year early than normal at age 15. Now, I believe that she is 19 years old and finishing telephone operator school. However, she would like to go on to the university and study marketing. I believe that she can do it. We ended up having a very good conversation.

BJ and most of the younger members of our group then went to play volleyball with members of the Wesleyan Church. Others went back to the hotel. Korvan and I went off to Fedya and Sasha's home.

It was a humbling experience. The family of three live in a one room dormitory, which means that many of the common amenities such as a bathroom, sinks, and stove are in a separate common area. Their one room is about 250 square feet. The convertible couch is the only piece of furniture besides the dining table and the crib. It is not in terrible shape and they did not complain about their situation, but, especially by American standards, it was an exceptionally humble abode. This wonderful family had bought a cake for me--certainly an imposition on their small family budget. I was so very touched. They apologized for how small their home is. (Sasha was in the US living with families with huge homes less than two weeks ago). Fedya's siblings were adopted to the U.S. and he has never been to see them. I hope to find a way to pay for an airline ticket for him to see his siblings and to visit the U.S.

The other humbling thing about this couple is that they often expressed how much they appreciated me coming to visit them and that they really hoped I had a good time. I expressed to them that a home does not depend on the size of the dwelling, but on the size of the hearts of those in the family. I've never been so humbled in my life. I hope so much to be able to go back and see them again.

I was met with yet another surprise when I returned to the hotel with Korvan. He and I were discussing plans for tomorrow when we would leave for the orphanage in Pokrov when Alyosha Smolin, yet another former interpreter called and said that he would like to see me and BJ on this last day that we would be in Vladimir. He was at the hotel within fifteen minutes. BJ, Losha and I walked across the street to a store and got some ice cream and talked for a while. It was so wonderful to see Losha and realize what good friends we have made in Russia.

I did forget to take a picture, not that I think about it. That's too bad. Losha is a great guy.

Well, it's late and a few things have happened since then, but I'll need to wait until tomorrow to write about them. One of them is a big secret.

I continue to improve my Russian as I see God work so mightily in these kids' lives. What a wonderful blessing to these unwanted children of God to be affected so much by the lives of ordinary Americans who are willing to step out in faith. Thank you Jeff, Nancy and Chris for your presentations. Thank you God for bringing Sasha, Ilya and Lilya into my life.

Vladimir Day 2

In our first full day in Vladimir, we went to the ministry center after breakfast to meet with our interpreters, and run two educational sessions, as well as to have some fun and conversation with graduates as well as pizza.

It took a little while to get started as many of the graduates did not show up or were late, but once we got started it was great. I was able to speak with Sasha, a young woman who was a graduate from Pokrov in 2001 (I think). She was in the U.S. last week and I got to know her a bit better today. She had been the victim of trafficking back in about 2003. She is now married and has a beautiful 2 year old girl. Don Shive started after tea and cookies. He presented on how to have a fair argument. As always Don was engaging as well as clear in walking through the elements of fair fighting.

We took a break, then I spoke on personal finance, talking about a budget as a road map. We discussed budgeting, and budget killers. We also talked about some tips for sticking with a program.

Then we had pizza and played some games and talked. Some played Jenga. I also spoke about Russian and American economies with one of the graduates.

We left for dinner and upon arriving back at the hotel, I was waiting for a friend so that I could deliver some clothing sent by her mother. While waiting outside the hotel, I witnessed a very sad sight. An older woman was searching the hotel trash cans in front for water bottles with water remaining. She would pour any remaining water into her own water bottle until it was full. I also had a very important discussion with one of our interpreters. It went on so late, that I arrived back at my room just before 11 p.m.

Nathan was asleep and I could not wake him. Due to the way Russian hotels often work, there was one key and Nathan had it inside the room. I went to the front desk and had to use my limited Russian to explain that my friend was sleeping and that I needed the room unlocked. They sent up a maid and she tried to open the door, but then couldn't so she just walked away and I got no other help.

Just about the time I was going to resign myself to sleeping in the hallway, a very inebriated gentleman about 25 years old came up and assisted me in waking Nathan. So, now I am about to go to sleep in my bed.

Good Night.

First day in Russia

Well, we all made it through two stops safe and sound to Russia with all of our luggage. We even had one kid come to see us as soon as we got into Vladimir.

I did have one disappointment today in that a friend of mine who lives very close to where we had lunch could not be contacted, and we were not able to see each other.

The weather was nice and warm. Our hotel is decent and has wifi, which for me is the main requirement.

I'm including a couple of pictures, including one of Chris touching a door on the airport shuttle. You can see that he should not be doing that.

All are healthy. Tomorrow we will work with the kids at the Vladimir Ministry Center. We'll cover Conflict Resolution, Personal Finance and one other topic related to spiritual growth.

We are excited. And now it is almost 2 a.m. here, so I should go to sleep.
Blessings to all of you and thanks for your prayers.

Doug

On your mark, get set...

Well, we are only a day and a half away. We will be in Russia soon. Tonight we had our last meeting to pack and to pray for each other and to make sure that everyone gets to the airport on time.

It is exciting, yet scary. There is so much to do at home, and yet so much need to travel to Russia. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. We have new team members coming and experienced ones as well.

So, Covenant Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, we are almost gone. We just need to get to the airport on Thursday morning on time with all of our passports.

Then...GO.

Plane tickets paid for and on their way

Today was the day! Our plane tickets are officially paid for and we'll be leaving on June 3rd for Moscow, Vladimir, and Pokrov Russia.

We'll visit the Fund Nadezhda Ministry Center in Vladimir and the Orphanage in Pokrov.

We are getting down to the wire on planning. It's pretty exciting.

We still need donations. The more the merrier at this point.

Thanks, everyone for your prayers and donations.

Wondering aloud about our trip to Russia

Well, I received an email the other day from a teammate that she is about $700 below where she'd like to be on trip funding. That now makes our deficit about $7,000 for 14 people with only a week and a half left to raise support.

We continue to trust God that the money will come. We believe in this ministry to Russian orphans and we also are amazed that three years in a row that we have 14 trip participants. This isn't easy for a church of about 300 people.

So, while we are encouraged to keep finding people with a real heart for orphans, it is sad that the economy has hit people hard. Among my own traditional support partners, some have chosen to no longer support short term missions, some have businesses that are struggling, and some have lost jobs. For me, this means about $1,500 will come out of my pocket.

It means for other trip members, that they'll pay between $700 and $2,000 for the pleasure of working with kids who no one else wants. That's commitment. That's honorable.

Why is it that its so hard to raise money to work with Russian orphans? Because Children's HopeChest also works in Africa, I know how easy it is for many who travel to Africa to raise money. Is it the memories of the cold war? Is it some current fears about Russia?

These kids are precious. I'm so encouraged that I'm still connected with six of the kids who have left the orphanage. Three of the six are in the university. I'm so proud of them, fighting against the odds.

There are times that I wonder if I'm just stupid to pay so much money out of pocket and take the time away from my family to go visit kids who aren't wanted by their own families. But, when I see kids succeeding who may have ended up dead or on the streets. When I receive their email. When I feel the need to learn their language. I know that this is all worth it.

As I've said before, if you are reading this, you probably have some interest in the issue of Russia and its orphan population. If so, please consider a financial gift to support us. So many on our team are giving so much. Won't you help, if you can?

You may contact me at dheringcma@msn.com or send a donation to:

Covenant Presbyterian Church
c/o Russia Ministry
2845 Parliament Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80920

So, I sit wondering who will read this, and who will care. I don't know, perhaps I'm deceiving myself, but if I am, then, on behalf of the kids we visit, I'm glad I'm deceived.