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!