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.