Long time no... write

Hello, beloved.

Sorry I haven't written in so long, I wish I had a crazy story to make up for it or explain my absence but I have neither. I have been doing a lot of sitting around. I last left the house on Monday to buy my train ticket, if my memory serves me correctly. Yup. since then I have been doing fairly "idle" activities. I've been reading Armand Hammer's autobiography and reading about a chapter a day on average. I am still attempting to complete the goal Penny gave me to read it before I live there. I am on page 380 out of 526. Only God knows if I'll read it all before I get there, but in the meantime it is a serious pastime. I have translated another testimony just today, by the grace of God. It was a testimony of a mother whose daughter got treatment for heroin and they both ended up accepting Christ. It was quite interesting to me, especially since the mother was a devout Atheist and Soviet-style communist before the whole debaucle her daughter got in. The trouble was the whole thing was ridiculously colloquial. I am quite possitive that this is a transcription of a speech she gave at a conference and it is rife with and's and but's at the beginning of sentences and little idioms. It was quite difficult for me to translate in a cohesive way. I left in a lot of the ands and what not because it is not my job to edit but to translate, but the whole thing was at times difficult to decipher.

I have also been watching excessive amounts of movies. I showed Veronika the Russian dubbed Garden State. She showed me a 3 hour Russian movie about a guy who had to get married in a week to get his granfather's inheritance, so I showed her the Russian dubbed The Bachelor. Then I showed Vitalik the Russian dubbed Fight Club. At first He didn't get it and said it was stupid but after we discussed it a while he seemed to think it was swell enough. I would like to add that Veronika thought Garden state was crazy weird and Vitalik's mind was perhaps half-blown by Fight club. I've only ever seen them watch movies with quite elementary depth so it has been an interesting experiment to test out some of my favs on them. After Fight Club Vitalik said it reminded him of 2 other movies because they too were "strange." He and I proceeded to watch those 2 movies which were: Meet Joe Black, and Vanilla Sky. They were of course in Russian. Yesterday Veronika and I (and at times vitalik) watched Veronika's 3 hour graduation video. then I showed Veronika fight club. I told her Vitalik didn't understand it so she was determined not to say the same, but she was less that engrossed and said it wasn't interesting.

In other news, Veronika, Mama, and Babushka have all done my little happy bootie shake. I do it increasing amounts here. I dunno if it is because I am happy all the time or if it is because I have been so astoundingly physically inactive, or a mixture. It is adorable when they do it. When Veronika did Mama informed her that she was doing it too slow, and that she needed to do it faster. Babushka does it more with her arms that anything because she says her back hurts. Mama only has done it once and that was today. It made me so very happy (they all did). She did it once and then wasn't sure of herself so she did it again in front of the mirror in the hall. :) I love my family!!!

A couple of days ago, I think it was Tuesday night there was a "violent protest" in Riga. I believe we just call those riots. Anyways, Babushka was scared to death that morning. She cried and was frantic. I tried to calm her down and tell her everything would be alright but she flipped out all the more saying "How will it be alright when there are people coming home from work and children..." I told her that OU already warned me about it (which they had the night before) and I figured that if Oklahoma knows about it, and Babushka in Daugavpils knows about it, then the people in Riga know about it and will stay clear of the protest, and the police know about it and can protect the people. she argued that it would be a war between the police and the protesters, but at least by then she had stopped crying. She did have Mama call my aunt so that her son in Riga would be aptly warned. The next day she informed me that 40 people were injured and that one boy lost an eye. "No one died," she said, "but it is still a nightmare." I think it reminded her of the revolutions of old.

She and I have talked about the war (WWII) and she was 5 she when the war was in Belarus. She said she doesn't remember much but she remembers the Nazis being in the streets and she remembers her mom trying the save the family Icons from the Nazi soldiers. she reminded me that the Germans believe too, they just don't beleve right(aka they are not catholic). She started saying Germans were bad and talked about the atrocities of the war and the concentration camps she had heard of. I reminded her that Germans aren't bad, the Nazis were bad. she protested for a second. but I reminded her that Stalin was bad and did terrible things but I don't go around saying that Russians are bad. she agreed saying that Hitler was very, very bad, which we could readily agree upon. She and I have all kinds of interesting conversations. :)

Mama has asked me today if I will start teaching her how to use the computer. Of course I agreed. Veronika went on and on about how hard it was going to be. Well, really Veronika asked for mama. What I am pretty sure happened is that Mama asked Nika to teach her and Nika didn't think she'd have time since she is taking her exams so she pawned it on me. Well, I am none the less glad for it. It will be hard I am sure due to the language barrier, but we'll make it.

I have been able to read the Bible daily the last few days, praise the Lord, and have continued in Breaking free. it is getting pretty hard core pretty quick, which is my kinda study. I am SOOOO RIFE with sin. wow. I am continuously amazed by it, and even more amazed by God's grace and patience. Seriously. and Pride in particular consumes so much of my being and my life. ah! to live out Kenosis!! LORD, HELP ME!!!

Okay, now for the Russian section of today's digest. I have been messaging back and forth with Nonna about 2 times a day, and she has friended me. They live in a building that is almost 100 years old and very beautiful. She says I'll like the apartment very much. They have a dog, a spaniel named Nora, which reminds me of Nick and Nora and makes me happy. It also makes me happy because I have learned in class that Russians often name their animals American or English names and this appears to be such a case. Mama is a lecturer at the Institute and teaches in the creative studio where students sing, dance, and act. There is free internet at the Institute. they have intternet at home, but I don't think I'll be able to use it because you have to pay for it, I think by the KB. yeah. that kinda sucks, I am not sure if skype talking will be so much available to me. I dunno how I may handle that. It I can't talk to home I may get quite homesick, but the Lord will take care of me, and take care of those back home who will miss me too. who knows, maybe something will work out. School starts the 2nd and I get there the 1st. Hello, welcome to our country, what classes would you like, now GO TO THEM. I dunno it is quite the turn around but at least I have been speaking Russian a lot here. I feel sorry for Paige who has never lived in a Russian speaking country and will get in the night of the 1st. That sucks.

Man, I love the banya. and сырки. :)

ALSOOOOOO! I have been trying to track down that church that I went to on my short term mission to st. pete. I face book messaged Joey who gave me 2 two-year-old email addresses and the names of the people they belonged to and wished me luck. i emailed them both, and search for them on face book and sent a message to one of them. One of them responded! He said he went on a trip to plant the church and dedicated 4 years of his life to it. he and his family are now in New York for a year off and then will go back to St. pete. He said a different couple is there now and gave me their email. He also said they have moved to a different and larger restaurant as their worship location and that it is at the same metro (but what restaurant or how to get there from the metro i dunno). He also said when he goes back they will be working on a community center and drug and alcohol abuse will be one of their top priorities so if I am still their they may contract my help. Unfortunately they are to be coming back in late summer and I am currently planning(ish) on leaving late summer, but who knows what the Lord actually has in store for me. He said he hadn't heard of the Good Samaritan program (the one I will be working with) but would be interested in learning about them when he comes back. I emailed the new couple and they haven't responded yet.

I also vkontakte friended a girl my friend Gary said was nice and would be my friend at Nevsky and she and I have messaged a bit too.

I LOVE YOU ALLL! I gladly receive prayer requests and love it when you pray for me!!!

I am having trouble with spiritual discernment and could use your prayer about it!!

God bless!!