Friends

If you would have asked me last Friday if I was ready to head back to our country to start Russian classes, I would have said, “Oh, yeah.” However, in the past week, we have been able to make some good friends here and now I am hesitant to leave another place.  Again. Every two weeks we have been in a different location and it has been difficult to make deep friendships.  We hope that the friendships we have made here in yet another country will continue over the internet.

We have frequented a local market quite a bit.  The first time we were there, this group of women got our attention.  They worked together in an isle of little booths.  They were all friends and had us go into every single booth and told us exactly what everything was.  We talked with them about our time in the country and how we were waiting for visas. We talked about the nearby mountains, lakes and other touristy things.  We talked a little about family also.

During the weekend we went to the mountains.  It was so beautiful.  We were up in a dacha which is a little gorgeous summer cottage with fruit trees all around and nearby meandering cattle.  We went with a few other Americans and hiked down to the glacier fed river that is canalled in such a way as to irrigate the city far below.  We stuck our feet in the freezing water and enjoyed our time soaking in the nature.  We spent a good deal of time picking plums and apples off the trees, and a few pears.  The time refreshed us and we started out the week on the right foot.

We spent time together singing and praying on Sunday.  We really wanted to go back to talk to the girls we met, so Monday we did.  We spent the whole afternoon talking with them and drinking juice.  We talked about deeper issues.  I was able to spend time with one friend, just the two of us.  She had been in an abusive marriage and was struggling to take care of her son. She explained how hard it will be for her to marry a local man in the future.  Although the guy would care for her and not worry about her past, the parents in law would gossip and she bring shame to their family.  It is very sad.  I was able to spend some time with her, talking to our Papa. It was such a blessing to do that.  The three of us are going to go out for coffee after our friends get off of work tomorrow.  We are so excited to have made friends here with whom we can spend time.

We also met a girl yesterday at a restaurant who wanted to practice her English.  We went back there today to speak with her a little more.  She is just a little younger than I am.  We decided that since tomorrow is her day off work, we would go poke around the city a little bit!  We are excited to spend our last full day here with new friends.  Hopefully we can continue friendship via email!

I have also been really convicted lately about the blessings that I have been given.  There are so many people here begging.  They ask for money or food. When I pass by them I remember what was said about those who love the Lord: they give clothes to the naked, food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless. I hope to live by that. Today was a good start.  There was this beautiful old beggar woman who was asking for food. We didn’t really know what to do, but Sarita gave her bread.  I looked at my plate of food, cheap by US standards, but still more than I needed.  I ate a portion, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat it all.  I had to give it away.  I grabbed half of my breakfast burrito and one of Callie’s sausages and walked over to the woman.  I asked her to please take this.  In my very limited Russian I told her that God loved her.  She kept clasping her hands to her chest and saying thank you.  Later two of her homeless guy friends came by.  She told them what we had done.  They all became very smiley. Soon enough, they were pointing their fingers at the sides of their mouths, motioning for us to smile back.  It was so sweet.  One of the guys came over to  try to talk to us. However, all he could say in English was hello, thank you, please and “Oh, baby!” So we didn’t get very far.  One of the waiters told him to leave, so that was the end.  On our way out, we stopped by the babushka and all gave her hugs.  She didn’t want to let go!  She said to each of us, “I love you!”  I tear up thinking about her.

Suffering as our Inheritance

I am sorry for being so silent these past few weeks.  There has been a lot going on.  Callie and I have a certain pattern so far of moving places every two weeks.  Almost three weeks ago we left our main city to go to the largest city in our country!  It was about a thirteen hour train ride-- and that was the fast train!  We were so excited to be going with one of our other friends and hang out with her and her family.  However, Callie and I had planned to stay in a guest apartment, and spend the majority of our free time the first week we were there on homework.  But, Dad had other ideas.  When we got off the train, the driver wasn't there to take us to the guest apartment!  So, we ended up staying with some new friends and hanging out with them! We spent a week hanging out with them and being tourists.  We had fun wandering all over the city—going to a big bazaar and park.  The week after, we spent the majority of our time meeting with other exchange students.  It is great to have built such a wonderful support network!


One day two of my new friends, Callie and I were left alone in the apartment we were staying at while the others went out for lunch (we were going to finish leftovers.)  While they were gone, my friends and I started asking ourselves what we should do… play games, go for a walk, take a nap… when my friend suggested we build a fort!  A FORT!! So my two friends and I get uber excited and start remembering back when we were so young and would make forts all the time!  We had a lot of long tables, sleeping mats, sheets and other random things, and we put it all together in less than forty-five minutes into a huge two room fort complete with entry way and staircase!  We were playing cards inside when the group came back from lunch, with our instructor who was a half-an-hour early!! Fortunately, he was a good sport and even came inside for a little while.  We made everyone laugh, which was great!

I learned so much during that week. Each day we would start off singing praise songs and studying the Word.  We talked about suffering and how as our Father’s children, part of our inheritance is to suffer. “You are expendable,” I was told.  This made a light bulb go on in my brain.  Expendable. So often our Body fights against suffering, against death, for temporal or material things instead of turning our eyes to our eternal hope!  Paul wrote in Romans 8 how suffering is our earthly inheritance, like a pregnant woman in labor—it hurts! However, there are glimpses of the coming glory that are evident in our lives “between contractions” if you will.  It is not all about receiving blessing in this temporal lifetime, but spreading the glory of our risen Lord.  I  have been challenged greatly  by this.

Callie, my new friend Sarita, and I all had to leave the country to get our Visas changed.  Since we will be students in September, we now need student Visas.  We got to the airport two and a half hours before our flight was to depart.  When we got there, we were not allowed to go through to check in because we were too early!  So, we sat down and soon afterwards, we started talking with a local woman!  We talked with her all the way through security until we had to board our flight! We hope to continue our relationship long-distance!  She was really sweet and curious about Americans.  She had gone to Turkey to take Islam classes and was returning to visit some friends. The three of us girls really took to her and hope we can meet up with her again, Lord willing.

Our flight was really short.  We took off, reached elevation, drank a cup of juice and not everyone had finished before we were ready to land! We were told to take a taxi when we got to our destination.  We were the last ones through customs(we picked the slowest line… oops).  On my way through, I was approached by a customs officer.  He had been consorting with some of the other officers and looked rather concerned. He said, “Excuse me, do you need taxi?” I, slightly bewildered, said, “Yehhs…”  Then he looked at one of his buddies and tapped him on his shoulder than told me, “This man take you.” He then asked me for directions and made sure that that was the exact location we were going.  It was so funny.  I think this other guy left in the middle of his shift to drive us into town.  On our way out we passed some sleazy lookin guys asking us if we needed taxis. I was glad we were with a nice officer.  We passed a lot of people partying on our way into town and while we were in town there were people everywhere.  It was getting pretty late, past eleven, and then we remembered—it was the end of Ramadan!  The next day was a holiday!  So people used it as an excuse to eat a lot and even, if they weren’t devout, drink!  It was probably a combination of all the partying, that it was late and that we were three girls without an escort that made the security guys want to give us a ride back.  We did pay him and it was more than we would have spent on a normal taxi, but it was worth it.


We have been here almost a week and we have been pretty restless.  The embassy took an extended vacation, so our paperwork hasn’t been processed yet for our Visas.  Fortunately, this has given the three of us time to catch up on homework!  Which though sometimes it is not the most thrilling of activities, it is important.  We are getting a little anxious though because we want to move into the dorms and make friends and start Russian classes!  It is so weird to think that all my friends back home have started classes! Dad is really teaching us some patience right now.  We have made some friends at nearby stores and a coffee shop, which is great.  We have also spent a lot of time getting to know each other better, which is also a blessing.
Anyway, long story short.  We are tired of running around and not having local friends.  Please pray that our Visas get done quickly and that we have patience to last until we get them!
Love you all!
Peace and Blessings!