too much sleep bu tmy body doesn't think so.

Well, I slept in again… bad. And I missed my Russian class…. I went to bed at 11, which if you know me at all is WAY early, but all the same the only time I looked at the clock with any amount of human thought it was 9:07 and my class started at 9:00, so I went back to bed. Woke up for keeps at 10:30ish. Now I am waiting for the shower, I’m in no rush though because that was my only class and I already good and missed it. SO guess be praying that that never happens again. Last semester I had an unfortunate habit near the end of the year to sleep in uncontrollably. Oh, by the way, this morning I set 3 alarms to go off all in a 10 minute period, and then every 9 minutes after that… it seems that isn’t good enough, or I was just unusually zonked today. I’ll try to go to bed way early on Thursday, Lord willing. And then I’ll start having one day a week where I don’t need to set an alarm. That usually helps my body catch up on any lost sleep from a given week. But I am not really feeling any signs of depression, which is usually what causes me to have trends of sleeping in. Actually, starting the day before yesterday I have been craving comfort foods a lot… hmm… this all my add up to nothing, but aren’t you glad you are here to watch my slow and gradual thought process? Ah, anyways…
Yesterday after posting and having my interweb time I met up with Paige and we went to a class with Tanya. IT was some sort of an English class and the assignment was to look over some weird existential questions (i.e. if you knew there would be a nuclear war in a week what would you do?) and discuss them in class. So we were brought in to spice up the conversation. So yes. IT was fine and kinda strange in a natural sort of way to be talking in English for like an hour and 30 minutes straight with Russians… Wa? Speaking English with Russians? That seems so weird. But it was a nice vaca.
Then Tanya lent us one of her favorite movies so Paige went over to my place and we watched it. And Nonna gave us some pizza and Russiany cinnamon Rolls for our viewing pleasure. IT was a delight. I am dying to make chocolate chip cookies. But chocolate chips are not to me found in all of Russia. : ( Maybe I’ll cut up a hershey’s bar or something. So the movie was interesting, and it was pretty good. Very… European in style. Then Paige beat it, I did some Russian homework to prepare for the class I didn’t go to today. Then I ate with the fam some delicious Asian rice and we ate it with chopsticks : ) Then I did more home work, and realized I needed some God time but as soon as I started hearing His voice He told me to go to sleep, so I got in bed and prayed until I fell asleep… but apparently I abided a bit to late to make it to class…

Okay… yesterday my flash drive didn’t work on the 3 computers I tried it on and since I hadn’t really written anything interesting I thought I’d just wait for another day. Welp, after I missed class and took my time getting to the institute I saw Joe, Tanya, and Paige in the café and talked to them for a bit. Then I went up and apologized to Elena for missing class and she told me what we did and then said it wasn’t scary that I missed class and was just glad I was okay and told me that on Friday we are going to a concert or Museum or something… haha I forget, but she said she’d call. Then I went down stairs and met up with Paige and Joe again because Paige had agreed to show us where the American consulate because she passed it one day when she was clubbin’ with Irina. So we went there. At one point it was funny because I was totally following her and then I suddenly realized that she wasn’t there and that the lady infront of me also had a purple coat on but one completely different… so I asked Joe where she was and he was equally flabbergasted. We called her and she had been watching us from across the street hoping we would eventually notice her absence. Then we walked to the Consulate and passed it and kept walking for a bit just for kicks and right there was a CHINESE RESTAURANT!! : ) Wonderous! I was starved so it was so much the better. We ate there and it was a really nice restaurant and the Buisness lunch was a 4 course meal. Each course was 100 grams (yeah… they tell you stuff like that here). and you had 4 choices for each course. The courses were soup, salad, entre, and side. My soup said it was Chicken and potatoes but it definantly had an element of egg drop soup to it. Then I got the white Chinese mushroom salad, Not my favorite course but not bad. Then I got SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN! YUMMY!!! The chicken like fell apart in your mouth… in a good way. And I got fried rice with eggs. SO YUMMY! SO FULL! It totally hit the spot. This was a legit restaurant. And it only cost like 10 bucks for all of that and a drink. Yumm. We stayed there a long time and talked and laughed. It was fun. As we walked back to the Metro station we passed a construction site and as we were passing it we were all kinda anxious and just as we passed it the workers dropped a bunch of metal rods and ladders…. It was frightening. And then I guess that upset the snow or something because the snow all fell on us. Btu it was funny. SO at the metro Paige went home and Joe and I went to the institute to use the interwebs. We stayed there until they kicked us out. I found out that the tuition at OU is about the same as at MGU, Moscow State University. There is a fun fact for you. Then he walked me to the Metro and we stood outside of it and talked a lot. I did a lot of aloud idea bouncing and he did a lot of beign a good bouncing board. Then he headed home, and I headed to Rehab. I had been 30 minutes early on Monday so a lot of Jo and I talking outside of the Metro was me trying to wait so as to be on time an dnot early. HA I was late, but only by like 20 minutes. I got there and Seryozha was busy talking to a guy and 2 girls who wanted the guy to go to rehab. As I tried to appear unobtrusive another guy came and his Mom. That was a lot of people for that little office. Shortly after the first group left Rufina came in. I guess her son left rehab shortly after he got there. Poor dear. I had her sit by me and talk to me while she waited to talk to Seryozha. Then she talked to him a long time. Then she asked if I live there. I shook my head.. I do that a lot. It is like if I open my mouth people will know I am an idiot so I try to respond without opening my mouth… but once I open my mouth a flood of nonsensical words gush out and they don’t stop for a long time… haha one time Seryozha said Once I understand you, you don’t have to keep talking. Haha. It was totally nice though, I just get redundant and silly because I feel misunderstood or I want to correct myself a thousand times or after I say it I think of a better way to say it or whatever… Anyways, after I noded and Seryozha asked me where I live (even thought he knows… it was just because she wanted to know) I must have given him a pleading look because after that he answered his own question for her and took it away from there. It was nice and not really characteristic of him because he is always the one making me talk. Then he pretended I was looking to go to rehab and we went through the first steps for it until I said I didn’t want an Anteka and didn’t wanna go anywhere. Then we just talked. We talked about the music he gave me and he said I probably was headbanging to it on my bed and I told him he was right. Every now and then he’ll ask me how to say something in English or say something he just said in Russian in English and he said pretty soon we can just walk up to eachother and greet eachother with this whole long greeting and conversation and I’ll talk completely in Russian and he’ll talk completely in English and we’ll understand eachother perfectly. We talked along time about a lot of stuff. About our drug problem in New York and how he’d love to come there and help, but that it would be hard to be a foreigner and have a different language and culture all the time. And I told him that the cool thing about being a foreigner is that like everybody in the Bible is a foreigner and that it doesn’t make it any harder to talk to God. But then we just decided that we should ship the Americans over here for rehab and I could translate the Anteka into English and all would be well. Then we talked about Russian verses english and he taught me a bunch of Russian slang, which I am pretty sure I promptly forgot. He said I’d better learn slang and not just Russian and by the time half the year is over people will think that I was an addict in Russia because I’ll know the slang so well. Haha. I wish (not that I was an addict but that I could pass for fitting in a very specific local social group especially the addict one). Then he gave me some music for my phone and had me translate the words to the American ringtones he had. I had translate “Ya’ll gonna make me loose my mind, up in here, up in here.” IT took me like 10 minutes to come up with this in Russian “Because of what you all are doing here, I will go crazy.” Yeah, you try to do better! Then he sang me a new praise song he wants to sing with the brothers. It was cool, then I left and he told me not to get lost, and then had to tell be what that meant. Then I walked/metroed home, listening to Russian Christian music. I really like some of it. I think it is important that I listen to Russian music to keep me in Russian mode. Oh man if I am talking in Russian to someone and have music in English playing in one year it is SOOO HARD. But if I am listening to Russian music it is doable. Oh, the sun was out for a long time today. : ) it was wonderful, especially because of the snow. Hopefully when I post this I can successfully send you a picture of the sunset I saw on my way to Rehab in my little forest by the lake. Delight. Then I came home and ate more rice pilaf form last night. Now I am writing this and will soon sleep. Be praying that God will focus me on Him more fully. I can feel my focus becoming distracted. I love you guys!!

SO this morning i got up on time, but I must say it was quite a battle to do so. Adn I called Cherith, the poor dear at like 12:45 am american time. she was a dear abotu it thougth and it was good to here her voice. Then I had class and paige had slept in so I was alone and the kids were all talkign to one another an dhten somebody sent me a note. It was scary but thenm I figured it out. It was a friedn of Gary who I had friended on vkontakte before I got here. IT seems her friend invited me an dPaige to go to the theatre with her. cool.

Yes it’s a good day from mornin’ ‘til night!

Hello loved ones!!! I am incredibly happy! And as you can probably tell by my tone, I just got back from the Rehab office. Seriously! I WANNA LIVE HERE. When everyone was leaving I was totally let down that I couldn’t do more! They gave me …


Haha. That is as far as I got before I got beckoned to delicious foods and gave up on writing… I’ll try to recall it, but I am not quite so dizzy with the spirit right now. I am actually watching “The Last Hero” with Nonna, it is the Russian Survivor… and it is Sunday. Anywho, so on … what day was that?? Friday. Friday they gave me some flyers to cut the little tear of tabs for. Then while I was doing that, Nicolai asked if I knew computers and I said yes… I’ve learned that when I am the youngest person in the room and someone asks if I know computers I can usually safely say yes. I really know almost nothing about computers, but I am not afraid to try and I can do basic things on basic programs. So, he handed me this business card and told me to make it exactly the way it is but with different telephone numbers. I they pretty much only have Microsoft word, in Russian of course and it is old school with no templates… as far as I could tell, but again it was in Russian. So I made a table 2x8 and measured the card with a ruler and made each rectangle of the table approximately the same size. Then I typed the text… which was the slowest process of my life. And you know me, when I mess up of feel a fool I laugh almost uncontrollably so here I am with these 3 Russian men in the rehab office laughing up a storm and pecking away at a snails pace. They were so confused, but eventually learned to laugh with me. Nicolai told me not to type it but to just to the format… but I still had no clue how to do the format because I was winging it and didn’t wanna blow my chance to help out. So with some laughs and grunts and a fair amount of time the business card got written. Nicolai thanked me and said that it would have taken him all night… I couldn’t help but thinking that that was about as long as it took me. But I just smiled awkwardly. I need to start responding to compliments or whatevers those are by just saying “praise God!” I think it is much more appropriate because if right now I am doing anything good or helpful, it is all HIM. Then I noticed that the new like 1000 flyers we had just printed said www.narkostop.org instead of www.narcostop.org so I told Nicolai and he asked if that would still get to the site and I said I didn’t think so so he had me fix the flyer and then he told me to change the phone numbers again, and then we re-printed everything. Good times. But I kinda think God had them put the wrong address just so I could feel special. Thanks God!! : ) I really felt special. Then I finished cutting the flyers. Oh, and while I was writing the card some people came in to go off to different centers and I was always introduced as “our psychologist” and people always said hi and bye to me. Then Nicolai told me I couldn’t do anything else an he drove me to the Metro… which is nice but kinda silly… I think it might be faster walking, although I have been falling in the ice lately. The only traction my boots offer are in the heels, but I walk really hard on my heels so they are pretty much warn slick. I’ve fallen 3 times in the last week and a half. Then I came home and typed that little bit and ate deliciousness and probably read the Bible or prayed or something then went to bed. I have been so tired lately. It is hard for me to wake up.
Okay. Saturday. Saturday morning I read a bit, watched part of the documentary thingy that Seryozha gave me about the Centers. Oh, I remember Thursday night I prayed about where to go on Saturday and God told me 2 places that made sense… and then 2 were in my head that didn’t make sense and I dunno if they were from, God or what. Anyways, so he said Sportivnaya and Zvyozdnaja. SO when I was good and ready I went to Chkalvskaya and bought a glue stick, and then took the Metro to Sportivnaya. I don’t really know that area at all but I wasn’t concerned with that, thanks to my man Jesus, and knowing that I had a map. I texted Tanya and let her know that I could meet here at Zvyozdnaya (where she lives) at 3 and that I’d burned some American Music for her. She was up for it, so I figured at about 2:40 I’d look on the map and try to find my way to a metro. I just prayed about which way to go and where to post them and God was really awesome and it was just like in Psalms when it says God will be over your shoulder yelling in your ear to go to the right or to the left. Then at about the time I was thinking of checking the map to see where I was, I saw a “Chainoy lozhka” a café that I’ve only seen on decently busy places and I thought I’ll check it out first…it was our Chainoy lozhka! The one right by Chkalkaya! Hehe It was so sweet of God to take me right back to my metro! I posted a few more and Jesus and I headed to meet Tanya. We met up and she asked if I had time to hang and I said I did, so we went for a walk in the park. There was a lot of snow and some people were skiing in the park. And she told me the History of all the park and the 3 churches in the park. Then she took me to the Museum of the WWII blockade… or maybe the monument of heroes or something… I am not sure what the name was, as I so rarely am, but I got the gist of it all. Basically the primus is that everyone in the City at that time was heroic. It was nice. There have been a lot of Billboards around town with the same gist I guess because the anniversary of the city is coming up. It is beautiful, uplifting, and subtle nationalistic propaganda. Well crafted and boosts morale and repoire without seeming overbearing in the slightest.
So then it was time for Saturday night church so Tanya and I parted ways and I headed that way. I got there about on time…and the downstairs door was locked. I didn’t know what to do so I almost gave up. I was calling Paige… as I often do for morale support when awkwardness occurs and I was walking away when someone came out of the building to I ran for the door and slipped slid and ran to it in time to get in. I think it must have been a funny sight. Then it was a round table Bible study over the second half of John 1. Then we got in groups and discussed this week’s lesson in the little devotional thing they are reading. I didn’t know what group I was to they told me to go with my Wed. night boys. IT was highly interactive and my brain was OFF. It was tragic and there were lots of verses to look up and read so we’d spit the versus up and half the time I was reading mine I’d midway through give up and hand my bible to Seryozha to read for me. And every time they’d ask me a question I would awkwardly blank out. After the service we sang some.. I guess it was preparation for Sunday night but I just wanted to sing so I sang along and they asked me to sing with them Sunday to I said I would. Then I really wanted some mandarins and I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since the oatmeal I had that morning to I called up Paige and asked if she was down for hunting down some since I was only one stop away from her and she said she was game. So we wandered in the snow until we found a fruit stand open. Paige was tipsy and cute and talkative. We wandered eating mandarins. Then I went home and ate SOO MUCH and it was all SO GOOD. Then I went to bed. Today I went to morning church at “New Life” where Seryozha told me to go… I wasn’t sure what time to go but I thought Seryozha said 11,but he told em to call or text, so I got there at like 10:50 and texted to ask what time it was and walked around a but until 11:20 so I figure I was wrong about the time because he hadn’t texted back. SO I went to Teremok to kill some time and right when I ordered my food, Seryozha texted to tell me sorry he forgot, and that it started at 11 and told me the address and the # of the pastor. … so when I got my food I inhaled it and left for church, I got there late of course and was met by the pastor who directed me to the English speaking group… they were organized into 4 groups. They were reading verses from Genesis and then telling them as stories to one another. They said they had been doing this for about a year now to make church a more interactive experience. After we all read or told the story we read and answered some questions about it and prayed. The Americans there were from Texas and Oklahoma. They were very nice. It was a family and a couple. We read about Abraham moving to Canann and then all his promises and how he had Ishamael and Issac. God recently brought me here to encourage me about being a foreigner. It is really hard to be a foreigner. IT was nice to pray in group in English and be understood and talk with brothers and sisters in my radnoy yasik, but I don’t think this is the place for me. Everyone seems so nice and wonderful but I am dying to be fed. I want a sermon, a deep and chunky sermon that I can sink my teeth into, not another interactive bible study and not that regurgitation in English. I need to learn how to talk about the things of God in Russian. Religious and Biblical vocab is a whole different can of words that I didn’t learn in Latvia or school and I think I need to be immersed in it. I am not concerned so much about the fact that I may only be fed in Russian, because I am getting fed and being held accountable, and to be honest my spiritual Life is probably the best it has ever been, Praise the Lord, and hopefully it will continue to grow deeper and stronger and richer in HIM. It was nice to go there today, but it isn’t home. Then I met with Paige and we ate Subway. She said she really wanted it but didn’t wanna have to go through the ordeal of ordering, so I ordered for her… It was all very silly but I felt less shame when I took on her shame by ordering for both of us. It was nice. We stayed in Subway for like almost 2 hours. IT was nice, but I’ve gotta stop going to Americany places so much. I was cool with it, but God and I talked about it and we are protiv.
Then I went to Church. It was delightful as usual. I sang 2 songs with them…. Neither were the ones we rehearsed and neither I’d ever sung before. IT was interesting but they asked me to sing with them next week and to Practice with them next Saturday. They said I have a good voice... another appropriate time to say “praise God” but I didn’t. I gotta work on that. OH! So here a guy named Aleksandr read about Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how they Submitted fully to the Lord and His ways and didn’t give to the world around them even as they were strangers in a strange land. Praise God for making almost everyone in the Bible foreigners. It is like this great theme in the Bible that I knew of before but feel SOOOO blessed by right now. IT almost seems like a right of passage or something that the Lord puts so many of those He loves through to either grow them, or do something great through them, or both. It is definantly cool beans. And these 4 boys were students at that and God blessed their studies for their devotion and God called them not to partake of the Local ingestible delicacies just as I am called to not partake of Russian vodka. Needless to Say I was incredibly encouraged by today’s lessons and I very much believe that the Lord will be faithful to bless my studies, even as He calls me to study in a language that is not my own.
Yup… after Church it was kind of a hen party because all the guys beat it before chai. Then th gals left at the same time and they told me to get on bus 15 which took me God knows where forever… I just wanted to get to the metro and after forever I saw a metro sign so I got of and was at Mayakovskaya when the closest metro to where I got on was Ladozhskaya… wa? Oh, well, I saw a different part of town and got home in one piece. Who could ask for more. Then I came home and ate more wonderful food, picked out the song I would sing for the festival, and then watch the end of Posledneij geroj and then Watched Juno with Nonna. It was on 1oe channel and in Russian.  then I wrote to God and now I am going to bed! GOOD NIGHT! I LOVE YOU ALL! Be praying for the Lord’s continued protection, direction, discernment, wisdom, love, joy, peace, and humility in my life!!! THANKS!!!

OK. So I thought I would get a chance to post on Monday, but I didn’t. SO here is Monday’s. I slept in… I guess these late nights are getting to me. I need to figure out a better sleep routine, but I guess that isn’t a new problem in any way shape or form. So I called Paige to tell her I had slept in because we had planned on going to Mega in the morning. She said she was about to call me because she too had slept in. I guess there is just something about Mega that makes you sleep in. Anyways, so I got ready for the day, put another notch in my belt and met her underground at her metro stop. Then we continued on to Mega. It was some but Holiday, the 23rd of February, the old school Military Service day… but now it has become more of a man day in general because you are required to serve the military here. So it is like Man-day/women in the military day. So at Mega there was a military band playing and there were butt-loads of people because they didn’t have work or school. Paige and I saw the entire Massive mall. It was funny and cool, but by the end we were definitely pooped and all the stores ended up looking the same and the people running into us got annoying. Oh, in one of the stores we ran into 2 of the Russian girls I met at the Morning Church I went to on Sunday, New Life. They were nice and way excited to see me. That is the first time I’ve just ran into someone I know in town. It makes me feel like I know people. I know enough people in a city of like 5 million to just bump into 2 acquaintances and have a little chat. Paige ended up buying a coat for like 500 rubles (SO CHEAP) and was really cute. I ended up buying 2 movies- American Classics: Citizen Kane and Arsenic and Old Lace. I’ve never seen citizen Kane and Arsenic and Old Lace is a childhood favorite of mine. It is funny because I have tried to buy oldies like these in America and had trouble finding them but here in Russia they had all these American classics that I was like in heaven. I almost also bought Bringing up Baby and A Streetcar Named Desire too, but I felt like I was spending too much money. The movies were 300 rubles a piece but that is 33 dollars if I bought all 4 and I am trying to not spend money. And if I and dying for them I can always go back, they had so many classics and the classic Russian Sherlock Holmes that we recently discussed in my Russian class. I might have to go back sometime, but for the time being I am quite content. Oh, and they work in all country codes and are in English or Russian and can have English or Russian subtitles. Very cool. SO Paige and i took the free bus that was supposed to take us to the Metro but it took us God knows where and we wandered until we found a Metro. We didn’t feel too bad because like as soon as we got off the bus a Russian girl asked us where a metro was and I told her we didn’t know and that we were looking for one too… and while I guess that would be more concerning to some, it was nice to know that we weren’t just confused because we are foreign, and that instead we were in a confusing situation. The metro was on a completely different line, but plop us down in a metro and we can get ya anywhere to we were quite contented. We parted ways and I went to rehab. I go there early and Sergey invited me up to this office that is like a watch tower. Then we went to the office to wait for intakes. I had my zipdrive with me and he have me buttloads of Russian Christina Music. And we listened to a lot of it and sang some of it and discussed musical styles. We say the Lord’s Prayer after every service and meeting so I asked if they use the Lord’s prayer from Luke or Matthew and he said they were the same and I said they weren’t which seemed to really confuse him, so I showed him the one in Luke and we compared it to Matthew and he said it was the one in Matthew. His confusion made me wonder if he had ever compared the stories in the bible and seen the minor seemingly discrepancies which are so frightening when you first notice them, but beautiful when you realize they help you more clearly see the picture being drawn. Hope I didn’t rock his faith boat… At the Parent’s meeting, Rufina wasn’t there. Pray for her. But the meeting was good and Olga invited me again to sing with them and I again said I would. I feel like Olga is becoming my friend and she and the other women often take picture during lessons and look at them together and they included me in that this time. This is a good thing because of the fellowship, but I must admit I missed part of the lesson because of it, and this made me feel like I was in middle school youth group, wanting to get fed, but knowing that to fit in I needed to be mildly disruptive. Except here it doesn’t seem urgent to fit in and I know they’ll love me anyways. : ) Also every time I say my age everyone calls me a little girl. They are totally sweet and jovial about it, and it doesn’t bother me, but it is amusing that I am a female, young, foreigner, who virtually cannot speak… Really God, is the best you could send to Russia, the land you love so dearly? Ah, but Your ways are better than ours I know. Again during prayer requests after I said mine it had to be rehashed and retranslated from my Russian to real Russian and Sergey said that soon enough he’ll be British because he is going to have to start understanding me. This time I understood when they were translating it and figuring out what was going on and helped them along a bit. Also this time I didn’t feel ashamed about it. I mess up a lot and it is best to mess up with friends and family who love you. Plus earlier Sergey was playing guitar and totally was playing wrong and then gave up and everyone just laughed and joked a bit like they do with me and he just played along so it seemed natural and normal to follow suit.
So yeah, then I came home, we ate blini because it is Maslanitsa (MardiGras… but consists of eating… crepes). Then we talked and stuff and then I watched a movie with Elena Borisovna and Nonna called like Stilog… or something. Basically it is the musical, Russian movie about kids in the mid 1950s who were obsessed with American music and fashion as they understood it and their lives and plight. IT was like 50s soviet Swing kids. IT was good. Then it was like 2 AM so I tried to call home, but no one answered… Then I went to be and today I slept in again and I need to take a shower.

Flash...

I bought a flash drive, Praise Jesus. Oh, and the internet on my phone stopped working as well. IT seems that God wants me to Himself a little more than I thought perhaps. : )
And that is fine with me. Okay, SO, I went to go meet Paige and we went to a movie theater but none of the movies that were out were of interest to us. So we walked to another theater, but with the same result. So we just walked around. We went into this little ritzy mini mall by the Petrogradskaya metro. It was pretty cool beans. Then we went to McyD’s. Then we didn’t have anything else to do but I still had time to kill before rehab so I rode with her to her Metro stop (during Rush hour) and then rode it back and to rehab. Then I was still crazy early. There was like 4-5 inches of snow on the ground, and the snow was still falling. It was beautiful. I walked as slowly as possible to soak it in (and to waste time). It was wonderous. I was really tempted to make a snowman on the way to rehab, and Lord knows I had the time, but I pretty sure that is not exactly the social norm for an adult to do alone in public at mid-day. I prayed about it, and felt the Lord was calling me to go on ahead to Rehab instead. I got there and saw some people. Then everybody left the Office. I was left alone, so I prayed, and sang some hymns. When people would occasionally come back in to grab something they had forgotten I would try to stop singing before they heard anything. I think it worked…. But it was awkward kinda because I never know what to do so I just sit there. Then finally I asked Seryozha how I can help, in general, whether cleaning or anything and said that is the reason I am there: to help. He couldn’t think of anything, and asked Nicolai when Nicolai came in. Nicolai was with a guy who wanted to be admitted to Nicolai ignored Seryozha as Seryozha asked how I can help continued with saying that I want to serve God. It was nice to have a brother trying to help me serve. While they were discussing the intake God had me pray for the guy who was coming in and then God told me that soon he would be our Brother, and that he and his whole house would be saved. IT was delightful. I was so filled with the spirit that I was shaking. When he left they gave me some flyers to cut the little pull tabs for. I began cutting jovial and then it was just Seryozha and me again. Then Nicolai brought in another guy. When I prayed for him God just told me that his heart was still hard. Then he and Nicolai left. I looked up in my Russian Bible the word for prophesy (via Acts 2) and asked Seryozha “DO you believe that if God wants us to we can prophesy now?” ( I didn’t know how else to see if he was a sessationist and even thought God gave me the go ahead to tell him the prophesy I thought I’d see where the local church stands on the matter) HE said “We can always Prophesy” (at least that is how I translated it in my head). And I did what I could to show my relief and explain that many believe that that was only during the Apostles’ time. Then I told him What God told me about the men, and he looked up the men’s names and said he would remember, and he praised God.
After a while some more guys came (yes I was the only girl). And then we read Gen 39. We each read 4 verses and then paraphrased and analyzed them. I actually participated… mostly by looking up related verses that I thought of and attempting to read them, or referencing the verses I was thinking of until someone understood what was talking about… yeah. It was basically a giant game of catch phase every time I spoke, but everyone was very nice and patient and seemed to wanna hear what I was trying to say. Then it was over, we all shook hands and said goodbye. And that same guy walked with me to the Metro because he has to get on the tram which is right by there. Oh, but before we left one of the guys was talking with me in the street about what I am studying, and another guy came out of the building that I never go into and basically shooed him away and said hello to me…. I am not sure if they are saving me from them or the other way around…. Is my female presence perceived as a stumbling block? I feel like in this environment everything is working against me. I am a female foreigner… this makes me feel like a mute stumbling block…. How is this supposed to please and Glorify the Lord in this community? But that way of thinking is probably just what the enemy wants me to think. I for got to bring the flyers with me so I texted Seryozha to say that I forgot it but will get them later… two hourse later he responded… which made me wonder what I wrote him… Let me translate to the best of my ability the crap I texted him: “I forgot the little papers, the most next of time I believe with me” yupp. But some how he got it and responded “I am saving the little papers for you, they are ready to paste.”
So at like midnight I was freaking out about how stupid I am for sending that message and I texted him to say that I just read what I sent him and praise God that he understood and that I’d be back on Friday. I hope I didn’t text him too late, but I felt SOO freaking dumb… OH! But before that yes, I was walking home from the metro talking to Joe on my cell, and when I tried to use my fob to open the door it didn’t beep to indicate that it was unlocking. I tried like 5 times, and then tried to open the door anyways and it worked. I saw a woman on the first floor with a candle, but I didn’t think about it. I started going up the stairs because the lift didn’t look like it was operating… Then I looked up the stairs to see that everything was pitch black. We were out of power. I told Joe I had to go trek through the blackest black up soviet stairs so he’d have to excuse me from the phone. He understood. About then, when I was hanging up I ran into something that scared the crap out of me. IT was a wardrobe that is always in the middle of the awning… in the dark it was frightening.so I used the cellphone light thereafter. Then I heard someone else coming up the stairs and saw that they too had a cellphone light… For some reason this concerned me so I quickened my pace and unlocked the door quick and locked it behind me althoght it seemed like they had stopped. Later I found out that it was Masha who lives above us. She said she stopped because she was just about as eager to meet the person she heard above as I was to meet the person I heard below. The apartment was pitch black and though no one answered when I asked if they were home I thought I heard something in the kitchen so I proceeded to there and as I neared I heard Elena Borisovna and Nonna. They greeted me and were amazed that I had trekked up the stairs in the dark. We ate dinner (gas stove) and chatted and had tea. I took a candle with me to bed and right as I was about to go to sleep I blew out the candle and found it all very fitting to be in a early 1900s Russian apartment without electricity and blowing out my candle to go to bed… then I realized what I had typed Seryozha. Oh the shame. SO after texting him I lit the candle and got out my homework dedicated to get better at Russian. I did some homework by candle light and noticed a light in the hall, I tried out the light in my room and it worked, so I finished this week’s homework. Seriously…. I have GOT to get better. This is painful. Then and only then did I go to sleep.

Thursday
The SUN WAS OUT TODAY! Really shining and everything! It was so wonderful in the melting snow, although the streets were dirty and disgusting. I wrote you all, had a lesson, wrote you again, and friended some people on vkontakte, then had another lesson. Then paige and Joe and I ran some errands. I was temporarily drained and depressed so I lazily took the metro home (so silly… but hey desperate times…). Then I came home, walking in the Sun and went to my room and spent about an hour with the Lord. IT was much needed. Then I watched some telly with Nonna and as scheduled we went to the Loreal salon and got our hair cut together. It cost about 1000 rubles. It was fun and I feel pretty. My hair is straight right now because that is how they styled it. It makes me feel like a singer for some reason. We’ll see how it looks when it is curled. Fingers crossed.

Also, as far as things to pray for, I could really use a sister in Christ here. Or just a “wrist” in general I really don’t care what gender, it just seems wiser to pray for a sister. I can rock the whole lone prophet thing if God wants me to, and I do have a community to strengthen me, Praise the Lord, but that is slightly different from having someone to confide in. I am used to having 1-7 accountability partners… so having 0 in the country is quite downgrade. God is all I need, but I could use an Elisha around to keep me honest, if you know what I mean.



Okay... This is Wednesday. I just got out of my Russian Lang class. Inma wasn't there so it was just me and the teacher. I was workign Really slowly because thta is always what I do when I am nervous or under pressure... but I got slightly better by the end of class. I think I have to get used to her... and get use to beign in such a small class again.

Also, I no have soem rehab friends on vkontakte. :) and alot of people tell me that I look Russian and are suprised that I am not from here like Olga who messaged me this:

Я хочу тебе сказать что у тебя не американская внешность, ты похожа больше на русскую, ты не там родилась, перепутала всё:))))


OH, pics- the first to are of the Rehab office form when I was in there alone. The other one is the area by the rehab office when I was stalling and considering makign a snowman and the last ones are of our new dos.

More.

Okay, so that was Tuesday. Wednesday.


Wednesday Morning I went to my Russian Language Lesson. It was fine. I think Elena is going to teach us (the one at school. not the one I live with and not the one who picked me up form the Train station). There are 2 classes, one for "beginners" and one for intermiadiate. I am in the Intermediate one. There is only one other girl in my "class." She is form Sapin. She studied here last semester too and works as a Russian to Spanish Translaor here in Town. She also studied Russian in Spain and for a year in Estonia. IT is quite evident to me that she kicks my butt in Russian. She is nice but I am way intimidated. Adn I am competetive and have the suckign feelign thta I've already lost. But I need to surrender that to God and just concern myself serving Him. then I got on the computer for a bit and went home. At home Paige called and said she wanted to go to a movie. At home I was desperate to pee but the intire back of the toilet was missing... this was concerning. Elena Borisovna caught me starign awkwardly at the toiled and handed me a bicket of water and told me they were remodelign the building and that after I peed I needed to pour soem waher in the toilet. so I did and all was well. Then I had an egg sandwich with Nonna. Then I called Paige back and told her I was game.

more later...

:)

Hey, I've got some interesting news. I can't get my computer to connect to the wifi at the institute.... That kinda sucks but I can see how God can use it as a blessing. The temptation to get on the interwebs during class is gone, and I will probably be in less pain if I don't carry this computer on my shoulder 4 times a week the mile to and from school. So... now I need a zip drive. I brought one from America, but it broke in Latvia. I am not excited about gettign one because they look EXPENSIVE, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and I would certainly prefer to keep you all updated and I don't see that happenign very effectually if I only write these blogs in the Library or computer room at school. There are way too many things that could go wrong there and that would make th efew pictures I've been able to post the last ones you'll see. So yeah. I'll get right on buying one.

Hmmmm... crap. seriously my class starts in 10 minutes. I got to school 40 minutes early only to find a working computer in enought time to write that. suck. well, I'll try to get on here later today and give a real update... but let me do what I can in about 5 minutes. Prepare for typos.

Where di dI leave off??? I haven't talked about Tuesday did I? Okay. Tuesday I had 1 class and these 2 Czech girls were in there with me. This class was the actual problems of world Social groups, except we didn't even talk about anythign related to the title of the class that day so the Czech girls who are fluent in Russian asked her what was up and the teacher said somehting about preparing the girls in the class for some exam, and the czech girls looked at me and said lets go... so we left... ah. I don't really knwo what happened... but I intend on attending the class in the future, I guess. Sucks though. So then I used the web and but some stuf on vkontakte.

Then I met up with Paige and we talked to the Lady in the office who told us when we would go to our Russian for foreigners class. Mine is on Wed. at 9 am and Firday at 10:40... Did I mention that before this I only had class on Tues. Thurs? and nothing earlier than 10:40? Oh,well. What is most important is that I will have a Russian class. Then paige and I got her school supplies and a phone card for her and went to my place and watched Boondock Saints. It was nice and it seems like Paige is having a hard time of it here, so be praying for her. Then I walked her to the Metro and took a walk and went home and fell asleep by 8 pm and didn't wake up until 7 am. I guess I was tired... who knew.

Oh how His ways are Not our Ways, but INFINITELY BETTER!

Genesis 12:1 (NET)
Now the LORD said to Abram,
“Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you.

Sorry Kiddos that I didn’t finish out the weekend’s blog before I posted it yesterday and that it ended on kinda a downer note.
All is well, and as it ought to be because I am with Christ!!! Let’s see. What did I do Saturday… I met with Tanya and we ought her little 11 year old pupil. That was a weird way of saying that. Tanya teaches an English lesson to this little girl every week and she invited me to come along because she thought it would be interesting for us both. IT was. She was very cute and gave me a little mouse on a heart thing, a heart on a stick and a chocolate bar! So cute and so nice for Valentines day! Then after the lesson and talking a bit with Tanya I went way to the other side of town and met up with Paige and called Nastya so we could be her house guests. She came and had a gal friend with her. We went to her apt. and started cooking Chebureki. I was in charge of rolling out the dough in the circular shape, putting the meat in it and closing the dough with the impression of my fork. It was great fun… although hard work and I seemed to be a very slow learner. Then a friend of Nastya came, the Joe, and then Nastya’s Husband Zhenya. It was fun and yummy. Then we talked and hung out and I got o use their interwebs and we played with their cute bulldog Arnold and their Cockatiel Chico. IT was great. Lots of Russian practice and lots of bonding. Then we took Arnold for a walk in this cute park and we stood on the pond and I made a snow angel in it. It was childish but I didn’t mind, and I also didn’t mind if anyone else minded….
Then we went back and talked and what not. Then one of Nastya’s friends came from Moscow and then a whole bunch of their friends came over to meet with him. Nastya didn’t know he was coming over and was very apologetic that a hullaballoo was about to start, but it was great fun. One guy gave us some tulips!! Yea! Flowers on Valentine’s Day! Then Paige wanted to go home because she hadn’t been home so late and was concerned about the metro and so we americanos headed out. It was a most pleasant night, and since I already had talked to Nastya about rehab and how for that reason I don’t drink I wasn’t hounded too badly about it. I always feel that if you go to a party and one person in the in-crowd there already knew you don’t drink everything goes much more smoothly.
Sunday. Seryozha had told me to go to this church and showed me on the map how to get there and drew a map of the area for me. He told m e to go by metro, but I walked to save the 70 cents and to prepare my mind and heart. I listened to Sufian Stevens’ Christmas hymns and praised the Lord for my surroundings. I am after all in Russia!!!! HOW WONDEROUS!!! I took the scenic route and it took me about and hour and 15 minutes to get to the area he had drawn out. He hadn’t written the road names ot the house # and said the pastor would be on the street waiting for me…. I saw no one looking vaguely pastorly and after 45 minutes of wandering I abandoned it and decided to try again next week. It was about -7 degrees celcius but it felt good and God filled me up with the Holy Spirit. So I called Nastya to see if she wanted to go to the Hotel to see about me working or studying here. She was really sweet as usual and since I couldn’t find the church she was going to try to help me find one but I told her it was cool. It was cute though. She said she didn’t know if it was rude and asked if she could ask what my faith was. I said it wasn’t rude and said I’m Christian. She asked if I was Catholic, and I said no and then she sighed what sounded like a sound of relieve and said oh! Then you’re Orthodox! And I said no, I’m protestant. Then she sounded like she was thinking very hard and said she was trying to think of a church I could go to and I told her the people at the rehab are protestant too and they are helping me (this was all in Russian of course). Then when I asked if she was ready to go to the Hotel she said she had an unsual predicament because of that friend who had come over and she didn’ think it would be okay to leave . I told her it was cool and that I’d go alone. She tried to get me to call Paige or Joe but I said I was down for going it alone. I took the Sportivnaya metro to Sadovaya and walked from there to the historic Hotel Astoria. The thing was a bust. It was 100% for Russians wanting out, not for foreigners wanting to stay in… Well, it is to be expected. There were a whole bunch of Canadian Universities and Organizations and like none from the US. COME ON GUYS! WE’RE DROPPING THE BALL.
SO after asking around in Various languages until I was sure it was a lost cause I walked from Hotel Astoria to Nevsky Prospect. En route some young hooligans I was trying to ignore took notice of me and asked me a question while we were stopped at a light. I didn’t understand but just said I didn’t know… from that moment on, though I had spoken in Russian, they started saying all of the English they possibly knew. Wow….. my accent is that huge.
On Nevsky I ate at Sbarros. I ate a monster meal. 2 pieces of pizza, garlic bread, and a pepsi and a water. I sat alone with all of this food and swiftly devoured it. It was nice to be in the warm. On my phone I read my email from my mommy and shed a few tears… which amused me greatly. I dunno why those tears popped up but I am sure I was generally a sight to see: A foreigner ravenously devouring a meal for 3 and then looking at her phone and crying alone in a busy restaurant. Haha. It was funny. And if you don’t think so… you’re a dope. Good times.
From there I took the Metro to Ladoskaya then tram # 8 to the church. I go ther nce and early. It was swell. I love it there. Seryozha asked if I had gone to that church and I told him my little story and he told me the house # and asked me “u tebya little phone?” haha it was cute and funny. It means do you have a little phone…. For cellphone the Russians use the diminutive form of the word mobile so he translated it as little phone. Good times. I gave him my number and he said for me to call him next Sunday and he’d call the pastor and make sure I’ll get there okay next time.  Church was a delight. And after church we had tea and sandwiches as usual. I’ve started helping the old ladies with that because that is one thing I can do. I can both put tea bags in cups and kielbasa on bread! WOOHOO!
After church every one talked and our guest speaker told us the story of how he came to Christ and it was all wonderful and interesting. I talked a little more his time. I met a girl named Natasha and she was very nice and seemed to generally understand me and I spoke to her comfortably if not correctly.  IT was most pleasant. Then I took the tram to the metro and the metro to home. According to my in-phone pedometer I walked 11 miles… just beating how much I walked on Wednesday,
Some things I have seen in or around the metro: A man playing the accordion, a drunk man with one arm and a wooden leg in a wheel chair in a sailor’s uniform (he was asking for money on my wagon… I don’t even know how he got down the massive escalator… I think he said he was injured in the Chechnyan War…). Also I see atleats one black person everyday. Last time I was here for a week and didn’t see a single one, but I guess the black population here is growing. Yea diversity!

Monday. This morning Satan woke me up and tried to get me to miss home, but God gave me discernment and once He helped me rebuke the devil God told me some wonderous things. I’ll type an excerpt from my prayer journal here:
“Mom said something that I have been pondering “it seems like God wants you to Himself for now” because He doesn’t seem to want her to come to me… I’ve been praying about that and pondering that and I believe it is not that HE wants me to Himself fully (which of course God is a jealous God, slava Bogu!), but that as the LORD JESUS CHRIST said during His time on Earth in Luke 8:19-21 “… my mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” And I don’t feel like that was a diss to Jesus’s family, but instead a higher realization to Jesus’s bond with those He was called to minister to. Mary was a very blessed woman who we time and time again trying to glorify God. Yet Jesus said this highlighting that brotherhood in Christ is primary to any blood relation and that we are called to serve and actively love deeply certain brothers, sisters, and mothers at certain times as ordained by the LORD JESUS CHRIST! Praise God! And this calling is primary to any earthly longing to see the beloved ones we are blood related to.”
Yeah, sorry if that is kinda raw… I wrote it way early in the morning but I strongly feel it was inspired by the Holy Spirit ‘cause I don’t think that good…  And I felt the holy Spirit on me at the time. I know my mom wasn’t saying God wanted me to be isolated but the words she said struck me at truth and as prophetic so I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to pray for the meaning of these words, which HE bountifully and mercifully gave me. Praise GOD!!
Then I went to the institute, met up with Joseph and Nastya. Put up the blog, met a girl from Spain, and talked to Tanya. Then Joseph came with me on my excursions to to get a phone card, get notebooks, and then we ate some delicious Teremok which he graciously paid for. HE is a good kid. Then we walked to my place and parted ways. My phone seemed to be malfunctional, but it was just me being malfunctional and all was well that ended well. After talking a but with Nonna, I CALLED HOME! First time I’ve talked to the fam since I’ve been in Russia!! I called mom and dad. Wonderous. I mad ethem late to work and work out… btu I’d like to think it was worth it. Then I actually put money on my phone and went to Rehab. IT was the day for the parents meeting and this one lady, Rufina…. I forget her ochestva… she latched on to me and loves me.  Be praying for her. She has lost the will to pray anymore for her son. You can tell hopelessness is slipping in. But she is nonetheless a fiery one, and has invited me to tea, and wants me to meet her son, and taught me some random Russian words and corrected my grammar and pronunciation a lot. Please to pray for her. The Anglophile version of her name is Ruth, if that is how you want to pray for her (God knows who you mean). It kinda makes sense that I might have a decent ministry with these older ladies and perhaps it is what God is calling me to in part. I’ve always had a keen connection with older ladies and they tend to want to talk more than listen which works well with my speaking difficulty.
Please be praying that God would tell me exactly how long to stay here and what to do here. I feel that the Lord is calling me to stay here longer than I had tentatively intended… but I don’t know how to acquire the visa (or rather through which avenue), what He wants from me (to do for example), or for how long, or how this will affect any possible studies or scholarships, or whether I’ll even ever need those scholarships again…. Etc. Pray that the Lord is clear to me and soothes all of our emotions about it and makes my path straight.
Now I am at Elena Borisovna’s.  Nonna and I had some pineapple juice earlier and she played bar tender and we got straws and lemons and it wass fun. And she taught me several conjugations I didn’t know and a few new words.  Pray for my Russian learning and retention and grammar!!! AS PER USUAL!!!! PLEASE BE DILIGENT IN THIS MATTER, also For God to open doors and make me willing and able to serve, and for discernment and increase prophesy and the ability to tell it…. It is interesting that the Lord gave me the gift of prophesy … and then sent me to a country where I virtually cannot speak. Oh how His ways are Not our Ways, but INFINITELY BETTER!

Today, Friday, was a down day emotionally. I say that but it wasn’t a bad day by any means. Everything that happened was highly pleasant. I think it is a scientific mixture of my body not being physically capable of making enough endorphins to sustain my bliss, and some spiritual attacks. Anxiety and codependency, two of my main issues of bondage, are trying desperately to creep into my life. Throw in an (un)healthy portion of pride and we’ve got an incredibly serious spiritual battle. It seems I may be giving Satan some footing in those areas and could use oodles of prayer (and wouldn’t mind encouragement and verses that you all find apropos). THANK YOU!! GOD BLESS YOU!!
Today, Friday the 13th, we all slept in. Nonna, Elena Borisovna, and I all planned on going at 11 to the MegaMart thingy (which is really just a mall). But at 10:47 Nonna knocked on my door to find me asleep and I apologized until I realized she too was in her pjs and she said we’re going later because we all slept in.  haha. So we got ready, ate breakfast, and left. At the mall we met up with Elena Borisovna’s old classmate who we call tyotya…. Something…. I don’t remember. So we went shopping. It was fun and I got to eat Subway at the food court and I ended up buying a shirt for 250 rubles (about 7 dollars). Almost Everything was on a good sale, and this apparently is an even that happens 2 times a year. We had fun and did some “family” bonding. The mall is way on the other side of town, and in the opposite direction of the rehab office. They told me I could catch the bus to the metro and head out whenever I wanted. Then I prayed about when to leave and God seemed to be saying I’d get there at 7, and I asked if I could get there at 6 and He said sure… then leave at 4:30. It was 4:45 at the time. It is cute when God says stuff like that to me. So I waited until 5 and departed. I got there at like 6:30. God really knows his public transport timetables (and everything else ever! : ) ). I got there and it was just Seryozha and he said he’d wait another 30 minutes to see if we’d get anymore intakes. We talked and he gave me directions to the church he used to go to and really highly recommends. He said maybe I’d find my family there… I felt like saying little do you know I already have!! But I have already told him that I was always (Lord willing) gonna go to Sunday nights and told him about God waking me up and having me read what we read on Sunday (I said it in crap Russian so only God knows if he understood, the poor guy…). He said I could go there on at 1 and also go to our thing on Sunday at 5. This Sunday from 12 to 5 is the thingy Nastya wants me to go to about how to study here more permanently and how t work here. I really wanna do all three, so we will see if God can work all of that out for me (PLEASE LORD!!!). I guess by the time I post this, you will already know the conclusion to what at this time is a cliffhanger to me… and of course, God already knows too. So after talking about that church and about the guy who is prematurely leaving rehab and how we need to pray for him and how I Am Legend has a beautiful biblical allegory (…okay so it was mostly him talking… although right before he went into the allegory bit I tried to explain to him how I love zombies… then I totally felt a fool when he discussed the movie’s spiritual merits… haha, I probably seem so base). No one came so we discussed something I didn’t quite understand and I left. …in slight confusion and the heavy feeling of guilt. I wasn’t quite sure what I was guilty of, but man I sure was guilty. I now feel that that was spiritual warfare, working my guilt gene and weaving in Anxiety and a few other sins. It was really quite impressive work and while I was dying to call Caroline or someone about it, after calling Paige for a bit I eventually surrendered at least the bulk of it to God and realized the spiritual warfare aspect of it. Seriously, demons are all the frick over the place. It feels so rare that I get respite from their presence. I guess there is a time and a season for everything, and praise the Lord I get to look forward to another season of spiritual Rest someday. At least I’ve got buckets of joy, even if peace is occasionally being crushed by anxiety. I came home exactly when Nonna and Elena Borisovna were coming home (cool, Jesus), and then went to my room and spent buckets of time trying to figure out anyway to call or contact home using any sim card ever or praying for miraculous wifi, and even trying to hack local wifi networks, and then emailing papi and caroline on my phone forever. Yeah. So I should have gone to God. Eventually after eating with the fam and more futile efforts, I did another beth moore lesson and am now writing you guys. I feel some serious anxiety now… it seems to be welling up from somewhere, so in a sec I need to go surrender it….




Okay kiddos... I am at school and I didn't finish writing this blog.... so you might have to wait for Saturday, and Sunday and today.... sOrry. But at least you are getting something.

Another Good Day, Thanks to the Good Lord Jesus!

Today (Tuesday) was once again wonderous, Praise the Lord!
I woke up and after reading the Lord’s glorious Word Paige called me to tell me that the class we were going to doesn’t start until March 2nd. This was a pleasant surprised but became less pleasant when we realized that Joe didn’t know this delightful fact and that he doesn’t have a cell phone. I bit the bullet and got to him before he waited too long. He has had a crap time getting here and I’ll be darned if I don’t do anything to help make his stay here a little less of a crapfest. He is really cool about it all though. Since I got there early I got to get on the interwebs, hence that most recent post, and I got an AMAZING email from my MOMMY saying that she saved the day (with the help of the Jesus-man) and got my atm card situation. I also got to chat Joe’s ear off and meet his sister via skype. Yea.
Then Paige came and we were amused by the rockin’ awesome pic of them that I posted. Then we met with Nastya briefly and went to each of our respective classes. Mine was the same class room with the same lecture that I had gone to the first day… the lecturer who didn’t like us there. But whatever, at least Paige didn’t have to endure it this time, and I wasn’t tempted to write notes to anyone to escape. I did learn some. The class is Actual Problems of World Social Groups (at least that is my crap translation). Today we learned about the Azerbaijan-Armenian conflicts and about a bit about China and Tibet. I certainly didn’t catch it all but I think it will be interesting even if she doesn’t ever look at me. I already have prayed about what classes to take, and turned in the classes God selected with me. Then we 4 met back up, Nastya gave me a copy of Zeitgeist {which is this … documentary… ish thing about how Jesus’s life is supposedly based on Horace (the Egyptian god) and astrology and 9-11 was done by the US government and the US economy is run by bankers who decide when we go to war and plan events like Pearl Harbor and 9-11 for us to go to war or to take away our freedom (they even mentioned the OKC bombing}. We walked around a bit. I went to an ATM. And Nastya walked me and Paige to my home and we parted ways and Paige came with me and we watched Zeitgeist. To give you some background, Natasha told us that this movie is the reason she doesn’t believe in God… and the girls have mentioned it everyday we’ve seen them. After the movie Nastya told me to call her and I did. She and Natasha and Tanya had been waiting for us and trying to get a hold of Joseph. Paige was beat, so she walked with me to the Metro where we met the girls and then she went home. The gals and I went on to Nevsky, and Natasha headed home, but not before I had discussed a bit about zeitgeist. Haha. I kinda felt like by disagreeing with the movie I was coming off as a cog or something that took things on “the man’s” authority. But it was just bad scholarship to begin with… but I don’t know how to say that in Russian, so I don’t know how I came off. Oh, Nastya invited Paige and I to her home to eat on Saturday, and Tanya invited me to go to her English class on Saturday and also told me about a Russian Festival movie she thought we would like. We met up with Nastya’s husband in the metro and found a teremok stand and ate there. Then we took some back alley to some little library that Tanya wanted to go to and then we parted ways with Tanya. So Nastya Zhena and I decided to go to a movie. We headed that way and got the tickets, which I had to borrow some money because I left my bulk at home. Then we needed to kill some time before the movie so we walked around to look for a statue of a cat that if you throw kopecks at and get it to land on the cat your wish will come true. We found where he was, but he wasn’t there, so we wondered where he could’ve gone. Then we walked some more and found the coolest store ever. It was awesome. It was like some boutique of a crafters mall, I guess you could say and they had made a lot of old stuff into cool new stuff, which is cool all by itself, but even cooler because it was all Russian and mostly made of old soviet era stuff! 
Then we went to an indoor Teremok and had tea. It was fun. At some point Nastya showed me this flyer of this like… education or career fair thing that will come to st. pete and will in part talk about how foreigners can go to school here. She really wants us to go and see if I can take the rest of my courses in Russia. She said that here Psychology (or whatever) is a very hard study and she is concerned that I may have to take more courses in Russia even after I complete my schooling in the US. Plus she thinks it would be way cool if I lived for this time. I think it would be really cool too, if it is God’s will, but to be honest I haven’t given any serious thought or prayer to it as of now, so don’t worry fam. It isn’t time to fret yet. One day at a time.  Then we went to the movie, I don’t know its name…. but it has Angelina Jolie and is Directed by Clint Eastwood. We all agreed it was WAY good, but I for one hope I never see it again. It was sad and stressful to me to the point that I was sore afterwards. The movie theater wasn’t always a movie theater I think. It looked like it might have been a ballroom or a theatre-theater or something. Way pretty. Then we walked on the all but deserted Nevsky to the Metro and parted with her telling me I better call her when I get home. I got home just fine, although I saw the beginnings of what sounded like a drunken brawl just outside my Metro station. I didn’t look to see if that is what it ended up being because I was on default Daugavpilian mode –don’t look and act mad and like you know what you are doing- but in retrospect it is a good thing I didn’t know for sure because I might have gone into my inherited “hero” mode and tried to break it up or something, which might not have been Ideal when walking home alone at 11:40 at night in a foreign country. So anyways, I got home without incident, called Nastya who thanked me for calling and ate and talked to Nonna a bit and am now listening to Praise music, loving me some Jesus, and writing you.
I really wanted to go to Rehab today. REALLY. I even called to see if I could but they said something about it only being at church today and sounded against me going, and said I could come tomorrow… what time I forget (as usual) but I think at 6. I am thankful that God somehow got me through a day without my brothers and sisters there!!! I really do love it there!!  Praise the good Lord Jesus!


I recognize that I have an underlying feeling of missing my family and friends and I also have un underlying “rational” concern that this is what they call the “honey moon phase” of my journey, but as a friend of mine said once “ride it […] ride it straight to hell!” and while luckily this wave leads to no such place, I think I’ll stick around for the ride. Plus, no psychological guide to studying or living abroad I have ever found accounts for the grace and joy of the Holy Spirit.











Okay... so that was tuesday... now for Wednesday. I got to sleep in, then Paige called and then Jo called. I met Joe at his metro and we met Paige on Nevsky Prospekt. We figured out and documented which ATM ate Joe's card and found a christian bookstore where after much looking and reading and analyzing and much patience from Paige and Joe and I bought a Russian Bible.... My bilingual new testament fell apart. IT is still totally usable and it has served me well, but it was time to get a full bible, and one in Russian because I dunno where to get an English one and because I need it for the ministry. Then we went to the cool shop that Nastya Zhena and I found and Ishowed them the splendor. Then we went to a ritzy hat shop and Paige an dI tried on hats for kicks. IT reminded me of liek thoroughly modern millie of something. Then We went back to Dom Knigi (the huge bookstore) and got maps and Paige got Lotita in Russian. Then we parted ways. Jo and I got our computers and went to the MacDonalds in hope of food and interwebs. the Interwebs were not to be found. So we ate and parted ways. Nastya called to talk to me about getting a translation job. I guess she looked into it for me and since I have a study Visa I couldn't do so now, but she would like to go with me today, Thursday, to see about using them as a venue for gettign another invitation to Russia. It sounds liek I would be translating texts from Russian to English. Last night I prayed about it and I really don't feel like that is how God wants me to be spending much of my time, but it seems lke He is saying I can look into it, but it is not HIS purpose for my being here (OF COURSE!).
Then I went to the Rehab office. The Metro on the way there was RIDICULOUS. I guess it was Rush hour. horrible. I tried to get there at 6 and got the at like 6:40, but when I got there and knocked on the door a guy opened the door and asked em to wait 2 minutes. :) I needed that time to recenter myself in Christ. I had been anxious about being late and though I LOVE it at Rehab I had almost seriously considered turning around and going home when I was almost there because the devil and my own anxiety were getting me down about being late and telling me not to bother them. So I sat down and got recentered adnd felt the filling of the Spirit. Then they had me coem in and told me to sit down. Seryozha asked it I like Pineapple and asked if I wanted some an dI after hesitation said yes and then he opened a can of mixed fruit and was amazed that it wasn't pineapple. But we got out plastic spoons and ate it out of the can. :) and he asked if I wanted tea and I said yes and he made a big deal about how much he loved my decisiveness and stuff. It of course made me happy. On Monday when I went to the Rehab office and we had the parent meeting everyone was tryign to get me to eat sandwiches and I wasn't in the mood, so I politely said no thank you. The guys there made a big deal about it and asked if I was trying to lose weight or if I wasn't eatign because it was after 6 of 8 or soemhtign and I said "I eat when I want to." and Seryozha said in Russian Glory to God! (or as we would more likely say praise Jesus!) so I feel this was a continuation of that convo. I told them I bought my first Russian Bible and showed them they told me I should've gotten one with a zipper and text references and tabs and that I should go return it. It was cute that they wanted me to have a bible with all of the bells and whistles, but I prayed abotu it and I don't think I am gonna return this one for now. I like it. Then Seryozha showe me his Bible and told me it was old (it couldn't have been more than 7 years old according to the copy right) and he asked it I liek it. I liked that he showed me his bible. I dunno why but it made me happy. then more people came and we went to a classroom and had a Bible study. The only other woman there had brought her little girl and she ended up leaving half way through because she couldn't consentrate. I now think I should have gone into another room wiht the kid and tried to play with her so her mom could focus but I felt awkward about it at the time. I don't like to talk very much when a lot of people are around. IT makes me keenly aware of how bad my Russian is, and I don't even like talking to kids in public in America because I start acting liek a kid and it makes me feel silly wiht adults around. Anyways so we had a Bible study about Genesis 37. Joseph getting sold by his brothers. It was a small group and we each read 4 verses. That was terifying... especially because when it was my turn to read I knew I was in the wrong chapter but didn't knwo what chapter was right and when I asked they just kept tellign me the verse... and then I read in my terrible Russian. sad. When I was trying to figure out where to read, pretty much all of the guys wanted to skip my readign but Seryosha said I would read because I am learning Russian and I want to. IT was sweet of him to back me. I got it over with. Then after we read it all we went aroung and summarized and anaylze the passages we had read. I failed at this... I wasn't even sure what we were doing and I stalled until someone filled in. Oh, and when I read and couldn't read a word Seryozha helped me. He also has said on 2 different occations thaat I am one of them and that I am Russian. That makes me happy. After the bible lesson we prayed again anf they said if in your heart you feel so compelled to pray, then do so. The Spirit was leadign me to pray. I was sure of this but I was also aware of my inability to pray in Russian which I know from recent experience, to I prayed in English. IT felt good. I LOVE JESUS!!! :) hehe If I had written this last night there would be alot more of those little joyous asides. Then we said the Lord's Prayer (which I really need to memorize in Russian). When we were moving the chairs and desks back I picked up a table and turned it around... that got an interesting reaction. They started talkign about how strong I am and howI am a Russian woman.... I guess women here don't lift anythign of the lightest weight when men or around... or they think American women are panzies or soemthing. and when we went outside I held the door open for everyone out of habit and they also handled that strangely. We went outside and 3 of the men started talking to me about where I am from, where I've lived, how old I am etc. and Seryozha say from afar and thought they were hassling me so he told them to leave me alone and they tried to explain that we were just talking, and he verified that with me, and they made alot of jokes abotu Seryozha saving me and that he would beat them up for me and Right when I was about to say that I could to it myself, another guy (the one who gave me the music) swoped in and said indicated that he was walking me to the Metro (which I have always walked from Rehab alone...) and the men told me God bless me (some in russian some in English) and we left. I chatted a bit with the guy walking me and he helped me a but on the Really slick places.. I almost fell on the way to Rehab so while I knew I didn't need the help I didn't mind it. When he started to go to th Metro a different way than I usually do I went my way an dhe laughed really hard and said soemhtign I didn't quite understand and I told him that his way was slippery and he said that was completey understandable... I think I might be getting a rep for eing cray-cray independant or something... whatever.

When I got home Nonna and I talked a long time and she showed me some picture of when they went to Sweden and of the Summer and stuff like that. She invited em to go shopping wiht them on Saturday morning I said I would. Friday evening is Rehab. I wish I was there right now!!! I am at school and it is so boring.
I wanna live at the Rehab office. and I told them so. Thankyou guys back hoem for your encouragement. Especially Cher and Aunt Connie (I think that is a fitting title for you... what do you think?)! It was very encouraging for you so bring up teh possibility that I am encouraging them with my presence. And thanks cher for your encouragement and sayign that I may be sent here to preach to you! hehehe. that wa encouraging and was nice to here because I have been tryognt o figure otu what the heck God means when he said to me "Preach my word" how can they preach if they cannot speak? anyways, I LOVE YOU!!!!!

I am lovign your prayers for me and could use more!!! Please pray that I pick up my cross daily and that I am pruned of all distractions! I LOVE YOU!!!

(pictures of the sign for the cool shop we wnet to, the statues in the movie theatre we went to, the sunset at the Area by the Rehab office on a warm day of thawing snow)

A GOOD DAY KIDDOS!!!

I Love Jesus So much! He is the most amazing all and all I could ever ask for! He supplies everything and I am continually left without wanting. I got back from the rehab office. I LOVE THAT PLACE. I want to go every day of my life. Seriously, I was the last female to leave and I only left because I didn’t know how else to help or do anything and I didn’t want to be a nuisance (plus I thought I better make my “lonely” night trek before it got too incredibly late). But seriously! I LOVE THEM! PRAISE THE LORD JESUS FOR GIVING ME A CHURCH FAMILY WHERE I AM FED AND CAN THEORITICALLY SERVE TOO! Pray that the Lord makes me a usable tool here!!!! I basically just sit and talk when spoken to… if I can manage that. Sergey told me today that I am one of them. It made me very happy! Everything about that place and those people make me happy! I am SO FILLED WITH JOY and the HOLY SPIRIT and keenly aware of it PRAISE THE LORD! Please be praying that the Lord shows me my niche of service here and helps me fill it. I feel like I am just taking even though I was sent here to serve, at least I think that is why I was sent… All I really know is that I was sent… and that HE said “Go to Russia and preach MY word.” But how can I preach if I cannot speak? What is preaching really? Oh, Jesus! I love you SOOO MUCH! I love you all very much but I am dying to go pray, so I am going to go do that! God bless you!!! BYE BYE!!!

Ok. I’m back! So yesterday we met at the institute and met Joe. He is also from the Uni and is cool. We had no clue who he was and had heard he was sick and wouldn’t be able to join us for a week. This made him very mysterious and that was added to the fact that he doesn’t have a facebook. So I was expecting some one very odd… and perhaps like a baby raptor. But he is nothing like a baby raptor. He is a real live human being.
Then Nastya and Natasha met up with us and the 5 of us went to Nevsky Prospect and the Hermitage and every place pretty. It was fun and I got to talk a lot in Russian. Poor Joe put his atm card in a machine and it said it was retained and when we asked the bank what was up they said that it was being shipped to Moscow…. WOW and his first full day here.
Then I went to Rehab and it was freaking amazing!!! It was the night the parents of the addicts meet. IT was wonderous. Ok I’m outtie.

(Pics- the most amazing picture ever: a walking picture of Paige explaining somehtign to Joe, me in the caf, Paige in the caf, me in the caf, pretty, Non-Raptor Joe, prrof of my Russian friends- Nastya and Natasha)

Sleeps wanted

I don’t know if I can imagine being more tired. SO TIRED. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO TIRED. That is all I can write right now.

Haha. I don’t know when I wrote that, but since I saved it let it stand. … I think it might have been wither wed. or Thursday. Man am I beat, even now. And that is despite the fact that I woke up for the final time at about 2:30 pm. I’ll start with what happened today, Sunday, and go back from there. I LOVE JESUS!! HE IS MY LIFE AND MY EVERYTHING! I HAVE NOTHING BU THE LORD! This week I so shamefully neglected the Lord, or perhaps to put it better, neglected my need for HIM. The Lord is SO SWEET AND LOVING AND FORGIVING! Even though I am the one who always screws up, HE so lovingly pursues me and wins ME back. HA! I am amazed that is the exact opposite if any human relationship I have ever heard of. Last night I went to bed decently late because I came home from a birthday party, and as I went to bed I was trying to decide which church(s) to go to. [AW YEAH! I am listening to this cd that this guy at the Rehab office gave me and I just heard some Rockin’ harmonica and it just made my life] Anyways, the Central Baptist Church seemed a little too early for me (starts at 10 am and transit to anywhere takes TIME) but I was praying about it and opted for “Lord, if you want me to go, Wake me up.” … the Lord woke me up at about 7:30. I was not entirely pleased about it, and told God that I hope He realized that when I said wake me up if You want me to go, I was really hoping He didn’t. The Lord was loving and patient and eventually informed me that He simply wanted me to spend some quality time with Him. In that moment I realized how very much I had been neglecting my relationship with Him. How do I do these things????? I am here for HIM and the first week I am here I totally out of it. How can it be easier to trust HIM with the big and not the little? Doesn’t even HE say it is the other way around, that when we trust with the little, we will then trust with the big? I hadn’t noticed my terrible neglect because I have been quite occupied and have been reading the Bible and praying daily, but I have been far from continuously communicating and far from being engrossed in the Word. I read the Bible in the mornings and lately at that time I feel like I have just awoken from a coma. My prayer life this week was sporadic, which is SO STUPID because I know I always need HIM, and in the stressful, new anxiety filled I am in I should be even more keenly aware of that and be gripping to the cRoss that saves.
Anywho, enough about my bondage, let us instead talk about our SAVIOR AND SALVATION! So this morning the Lord woke me up and had me read in Luke, as he has been doing so lately. He awakened my senses to feel His intense closeness, warmth, and love. I cannot describe how wonderful it was! I read Luke 4-5. When I read 4 I didn’t feel like that was the main reason I was reading, although I was reminded by the Lord’s temptation to Rebuke any evil in my midst and send it far away. And I am pretty sure that was some evil hanging around since it seems that recently the prince of darkness has been using my dreams to attack and tempt me and a nightmare actually woke me up (one about Zombies and Vampires) – but what I love SO much is that God uses ALL things for the good of those who love Him. ALL things. He used a nightmare to awaken me to spend the most intimate time with Him I have been graced with since I left America and set the day up for perfection. OH LORD YOU ARE SOOO GOOD! So after I read 4 I felt called to read 5 too, even though I usually only read a chapter a day.
I am so blessed to be HIS! After reading and a time of prayer the Lord told me to go back to sleep. When I woke up it was about 2:30- perfect for me to get ready and go to church and relax a bit.  I ate and talked to Nonna and Elena Borisovna who were amazed at my presence because they thought I must have already left (I usually leave the house before either of them wake up). Nonna told me that she had only woken up an hour earlier. Then I took a shower, got ready and went to church. TO get to this Church (the Ex-Addict “social” Baptist Church) I use 3 metro lines and a tram line. I got there without incident except the building it was in was creepy and slightly reminded me of the apartment building in A Clockwork Orange, and I didn’t know what floor it was on but was in the elevator with another guy so I got off on the fourth and walked down the stairs trying to text someone who knew when I ran into Volodya who asked me where I was going and why I didn’t call I told him I was calling him, and we went in. I thought I was early…. But I was late. 
We meet in an Autoschool. There are too many people for seats so I stood the whole time, although every time someone would look up and see me standing they would offer me their chair. I cried at church I was so happy to be with my Brothers and Sisters in Christ. They call eactoer brother and sister a lot. At first it made me kind of uncomfortable, but that is just because it reminds me of the Mormons that I met in Latvia. But now it just makes me happy. Like today after church when we all were snacking and having chai, a guy walked by and was talking to himself and as he passed me started talking to himself in English then he started laughing and we looked at each other and he said to me in Russian “When I saw my sister I automatically start talking in English!” hehe.
The service was good. I need a new Russian Bible. Well, I guess just a new bible, they use I different translation than me and it is better. Shortly after I got there I man got up and said he was going to talk about service, he then read Mark 2:40-42. The man with leprosy. Exactly what the Lord had called me to Read in Luke when He had me read on. That was the Lord’s way of telling me that this is the church for me. And when I asked if I should go to the other churches to he seemed to be protiv hahah I mean against. (yupp when I mess up I just leave it in these days). So the Lord has given me a church on the First Sunday I successfully go to one!
I got an email today from the church I went to last time I was here and they gave me directions and told me that I was always welcome and that they have an English club on Friday nights and that I am welcome to come anytime and they’d love help. I will pray about whether or not to do that. That somewhat seems perfect to me, but the Lord hasn’t said anything pro about it, so what do I know! I am so filled with JOY!
So back to church! We talked about the faith of the Leper and the deep Love of the Lord and how the Lord touched the Leper instead of using any other method to heal him and we talked about how each of us are like the Leper that in the depth of us being absolutely Unclean, though in our case spiritually unclean, the lord reached out and touched us, which is so intimate and healing to our souls and is exactly what we need and needed. He went on to compare addiction to leprosy which was a beautiful comparison. We sang a lot and as we sang I cried most wonderful, spirit-filled, cathartic tears. Another guy, Nikolai, went up and read from another section of the Bible, but I totally don’t remember where… naughty me. But I truly felt fed today. The Lord is faithful to provide for His children. I know the Lord will always provide for me and I especially feel the promise His provision for this stay in Russia. Dad would like the format of the service. It is very interactive. Whoever is preaching often asks questions so the crowd. At one point a guys said whoever wants to come up and sing can do so now, and a guy came up and led us in a song of worship. After the service I was able to meet some people and they set up some tea and biscuits and sandwiches. I don’t know if I will ever remember everyone’s names… or anyones names for that matter. Ah.. tragic. I talked to a guy from church in the Metro for a bit, he is the one who had given me the CD and he asked me about it. Then I got home and ate and am writing this. I have to admit that walking home from, and even in the Metro I couldn’t help from smile, but at least I didn’t dance like I had wanted to! I am so filled with the LORD’s joy! PRAISE HIS NAME!!! ALL THE EARTH!!!!

I’ve seen six different black guys in 6 days. Cray-cray.

Please be praying that I surrender all! My petty flesh wants to live for itself and is mesmerized by the new environment it is in. Pray that I DIE to MYSELF. I want to be more dead than I have ever been so I can live more fully. I have talked to almost no one about anything about God, except for those at Rehab and those at Church. what a fool I am. Lord, give Wisdom to the Fool.
… and now if people ask I have to tell them I am Baptist…. Honestly I was really holding on to saying I am Presbyterian to avoid the occult connotations. Oh, well, I guess the judgment I may receive is a mild form of suffering for the Cross, so GLORY BE TO GOD!
AH! I love Jesus so much I just wanna talk about this FOREVER and not tell you anything about what I have been idly spending my time doing this week. I am getting sick. Pray for healing.
Paige and I met Nastya, Natasha, and Tanya at the institute. They seem cool and they have all hung out with us outside of school. Nastya and Natasha showed us around the area around the school the day after Tanya did. Hehe. Then on Saturday Tanya and Natasha took us to 2 museums. Nastya wanted to but couldn’t make it. But we didn’t go to the Hermitage yet so I thing we are going to do that another time with them. Then we all parted ways and I went home and got my ATM card rejected 2 times… pray about that… then I asked about getting my hair dyed blue at a local salon and they gave me a card and told me to call which I haven’t done yet. Then I went to Paige’s after buying some flowers because there was a birthday party for Irina, Paige’s … house cousin. So I stayed there until the metros had already closed down because they offered me a ride home and it was swell. The ride home was nauseating, but also amazing because it was almost like a tour for me… haha. I only travel slowly and tiresomely on foot or see nothing because I am underground. Cars! What a novelty! The party was fun! We discussed politics and economics and it seems to be a popular belief here that 9-11 was planned by the American gov’t. I say that based on 1 convo so take it with a grain of salt. So I was asked whether I believed that and also asked why America is in an economic depression. I at first said I didn’t know why, but later after discussing with Paige in English, primarily blamed the war. Paige and I spent much of the time talking together in English and it was good bonding time for us. When we are exploring the city we tend to be on the pissy side, but last night we were laughing a lot and having a really good time. I need to be more Christ-like and less pissy, despite my opinion that is it reactionary. At first I was the only one not drinking wine. I drank juice. It was yummy. When they asked me why I wasn’t drinking wine I said I don’t drink, and when they asked why I said that I work at a Rehabilitation Center for Addicts and Alcoholics and that if I tell them I drink it is bad for them (yeah… I am pretty sure that is the crappy direct translation) so Irina jokingly said Don’t tell them, and I retorted that I also don’t lie….
I like the people we hung out with last night a lot. They were fun and sweet and understanding about my lack of language skills. And the 2 guys there only had half a glass of wine each and then joined me in the juice club. One of the guys even pointed out to me that it seemed l the Russian men and the American girl weren’t drinking, so it seems that only Russian women drink… of course that was discounting Paige, but at least he was making me feel at ease for not drinking. It was an excellent thing to do.
Friday Paige and I ran errands and I ate at Pizza hut for lunch (breakfast and dinner are provided by our host, but not lunch). We also went to a movie theatre and saw
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in Russian of course. It was pretty good. I don’t know what It is about seeing a movie in the theatre, but it is SO therapeutic to me. It is like I am back in Oklahoma despite the language change. I felt that way in Lativa, and I feel it almost more profoundly here. In Latvia I felt pretty at home when I was at the house, but here even my room feels distinctly foreign. My cultural refuges so far are the movie theater and, strangely enough, the Metro. I feel at home in the metro. The metro has such diverse meaning to me. IT is a perfect place for prayer walking, for soaking up Russian media, faces, and culture, or for putting in headphones and being rocked back and forth into peaceful relaxation. Anyways after the movie it was metro Rush hour but we were way close to my house to Paige came home with me and we watched A Clockwork Orange to while away the time for the Metro to clear out a bit.
Thursday. We went to one class… it was Philosophy and the lecturer talks really fast and it was so hard to understand. SO Paige and I drifted into zone out mode and wrote notes…. which is basically what the other students did too. I cannot focus when no one else is… I am gonna have to scoot up or something if I expect to get anything out of that class. When I am done with writing this note I am going to go pray about which classes to take. Then we were introduced to Nastya and Natasha who showed us around the area, facebook friended us and call us almost every day. They are really sweet. Natasha even bought Paige the Russian version of computer cord she needed so she can now charge her computer.
Seriously. They are SO sweet and SO willing and enthusiastic about hanging out with us! After hanging with them for quite some time they went back to learning, and I went to the Rehab center for the second day in a row. This was the day I met Valera. He is the guy I had been talking back and forth with when I was in America and Latvia. There were a lot of people there this time. It was awesome. We had sandwiches and had tea and talked and it was really swell. I had a hard time understanding and talking… my brain was tired from school and hanging with the girls. I think that much have been the day I wrote the entry to this note. I was sooo beat but couldn’t sleep so I played spider solitaire for like 40 minutes.. ha, and to think I could’ve been spending quality time with Jesus. Silly girl

Well. I love you all! I am hopefully gonna go pray now! Bye!