May 26th - Day 5

12:10 PM - We just walked out of the hospital, if you want to call it that. Emergency exits that are falling apart, narrow doorways, peeling paint, mildew-infested rooms, smoking doctors and nurses, buckets that serve as toilets. We get in the van and have the extravagance of using alcohol and lotion to clean out our hands, while they sit in there, covered in God-knows-what, living in what HAS to be a germ-infested environment.

Most everyone in there still managed to smile and thank us for our fruit and Bibles.

I have away one Bible to a guy named Valerie. He's laying in bed, I have no idea with what illness. He helped us spell his name so I could write it in his Bible, and seemed very grateful. When we told him goodbye, he couldn't get out the word "dasvadanya" before he started to cry. I don't know why. Maybe because of joy over his new book, or maybe because we were able to stand up and walk away from that horrid place. Their stairways are dark, narrow, and awfully, awfully dilapidated. Nicoli says the state has more than enough assets to fix that place up, but instead they spend it on palaces and mansions. I hate it. I hate the "value" of the human life in this country. They throw away everybody, from babies to young women to the elderly. The thing about where we just went was that those people understand at least a little bit of why they are where they are. The burn victims we're going to see next are children, who may not be old enough to understand the world "burn". Hopefully the care there is better...

Later: Hospital 8 was significantly worse than the burn center. The place we visited is not its own hospital, but rather a ward in a very large hospital. The environment was much more colorful and inviting, at least to the best that I've seen in Russia. We handed out Bibles, bananas, and candy to the patients that we met, as well as their parents.

The hospital provides only the medicine and the actual bed. Family members are responsible for sheets, changes of clothes, care giver, and I believe food, but I may be mistaken on the last one.

Most parents were happy to have their burned child receive the gifts and attention from us, but a few were hesitant, which is understandable. We met kids who were a variety of ages, from 8 months to 16 years. The majority of the accidents were from spilling unattended hot water on themselves, but one little girl had pulled a hot iron onto her arm.

As opposed to the obvious pain and suffering witnessed in Hospital 8, the children at the burn center were not in much pain, were well-attended to, and were living in clan-smelling environments. 

One room had two older girls in it, and both of them were happy, all smiles, and loved talking with us. I gave a Bible to the younger girl, whose name was Eugenia. She was adorable! All of us felt relieved and a bit more hopeful of Russia's healthcare after we saw that hospital. However, compared to the places we go for care in the U.S., it was still a wanting place.

After we were filled with so much joy and hope from meeting recovering and happy patients, our group was in a fine mood! We were able to go to the market, right outside the famous church "Our Savior on the Blood". We learned what it really means to bargain with someone, and determine the actual value of something. Our main concern was our belongings, however. The market area (not necessarily the market itself,) is known for the thieving gypsides. Thankfully, our group didn't go through that, and we all go some awesome souvenirs! I got myself a scarf, my sister a nesting doll and "Love From St. Petersburg" t-shirt, and my mom a beautiful nesting doll set that depicts the life of Jesus! 

Last night the group stayed up late and played cards until about quarter 'till one, and we walked down to the nearest bride so we could watch it open. The bridges separate and lift for barges, yachts, and cruise ships to get through at a time when cars are less thick in the streets. [Side note: The group managed to get a glimpse of a Russian mafia member. At 1:00 AM. In St. Petersburg, Russia. Not the best moment of the trip, to be sure.]

It was a glorious day, one that will leave people and places forever imprinted on my heart. 

May 25th - Day 4

4:15 PM - What experiences we've had today! We started at the baby orphanage in Tihkvin. We were only there for a very short while, about long enough for me to give away a snowsuit to a small three-year old boy. He was so happy! We got a tour of the building, but didn't get to hold anybody. :( That was super hard for me to deal with.

Afterwards, we went to Efimovsky, the orphanage sponsored by Alyssa and her family. We were able to experience their end-of-school ceremony, where we were greeted by all the children! The presents we handed out were accepted with an over-abundance of joy and "thank-you"s. It was absolutely amazing! At one point, someone called me "Momma". I didn't get their name, but I wanted to take them home with me. We ate a fantastic lunch, and we were able to talk with the kids while they ate, as well as hand out bracelets.

They were so happy and joyful, to see us, to receive presents, and to simply eat their lunch. There was so much joy! While we were meeting kids and talking to them, one little girl was especially enthusiastic about getting my attention. Even though she was only six or seven, she understood that there was an extreme language barrier between us. She used enough gestures that I could understand that she was thrilled to eat, and that she was very grateful for her fruit and bubbles.

At one point, I was very, very excited to realize that she had asked me what my name was! ("Kahk za vut" means "what is your name?") I told her I was Stephanie, and then returned the question, to which she responded "Masha". She and I talked for several more minutes, not once knowing exactly what the other one was saying. I've decided that she can be mine. :) We started "adopting" children, and we already love them, only to leave them behind in short moments. Michael and Alyssa co-adopted another little girl named Masha at Efimovsky. :)

This orphanage blew my mind, mostly because of the joy that they express. They have each other, their staff, and the occasional loving visiting missionary group. Smiles were everywhere! I could have stayed there forever. Masha will be imprinted on my heart forever, and maybe someday we'll meet again.

At the third orphanage, Anisimovo, I "adopted" a second little girl named Alonya. She was a tiny, tiny 2-or-3-year-old, who refused to smile at us.  She hid behind an older girl until I went and picked her up. I started by pulling her onto my bent knee, but then I sat down, crossed my legs, and pulled her into my lap, and she still wouldn't smile, even when Alyssa started to tickle her. I'm not sure why she wouldn't smile. She sat quietly and willingly in my lap, leaning her head on my shoulder. I hated leaving her. If I could, I would have her sitting on my lap right now, on the way back to our hotel.

When we were leaving, we were in front of the kids, and I looked back at her and smiled, waved, and said "dasvadanya!" and she finally broke into a huge grin. That smile alone was worth my entire day, right there. What a beautiful, beautiful little girl! I've claimed her, fallen in love.

11:35 PM - We went to dinner, after our 3-or-so-hour ride, at the mall outside the city. It blows my mind that the place looks identical to our own malls back home, yet people are going home to broken down apartment buildings and shacks that they call home. Unbelievable, what the people build and repair and what they allow to deteriorate.

When we got back, we went on another walk, with the intent of feeding the birds again. Unfortunately, they had roosted for the night. We DID find an old fire station that is now a museum, and a private yacht docked on the river. We all took pictures by it, and we're going to claim that either the group rented it to get to the orphanages, or that it belongs to one of us. ;) We had a great walk. We stopped in a super market on the way back, and I purchased some greatly craved milk. I've only been served cream as my dairy option, so I was craving some good milk!!

Tomorrow we're going to two hospitals, one for the elderly homeless (Pastor says it's the most deplorable hospital we'll ever see,) and another one for child burn victims. I think both will be extremely hard for me to experience, mostly because I have a hard time seeing other peoples' suffering.

In the book "Kisses from Katie", she talks about God removing the disease, the filth, and all other impurities from her eyes so that she only saw the kids that needed to be hugged, held, played with, and rocked to sleep. I pray, fervently, that God would bless me in the same way tomorrow, so that I can spread His love and joy to the hurt and helpless that we'll meet.

I'm praying for my two little girls tonight, Masha and Alonya. It's not at all impossible to meet with them again some day, and I sincerely pray that I will, and that Alyssa and Michael will meet their little Masha again some day, too.

May 24th - Day 3

8:45 AM - First night was WONDERFUL! I slept like a rock, white night or not. I managed to get in a whole seven hours! I was even able to turn  on our Russian TV and figure out the weather for the day. I'm starting to feel at home. Breakfast was wonderful, and Pastor started off our mission off with Psalm 121. Today we're going to two orphanages, one for mentally handicapped children, and then one afterwards that is simply an orphanage. We filled up our bags with gifts for the kids, and I'm really excited to experience that! We're also all wearing crosses that we will give away to a child of our choice. We're driving to our first destination, watching children walk or be walked to school, and it's almost 9!
[Note: Russians don't start their day until 10, similar to how we start our days at 8.]

1:30 PM - We just finished up our first visit to an orphanage, Szhilgorodok, which St. Peter's in Davenport, Nebraska helps to sponsor. This orphanage is for children ages four to eighteen who have any mental handicaps. The staff served us a very nice lunch in the administration building, and then we met the kids. The first room had younger children, who were in need of help, but were also partially capable on their own. I made a couple of new friends who loved holding hands, getting presents, and having their backs rubbed. The next room we went into was for children who have to stay in bed their whole life. I made a friend in that room, and I will never forget how hard that child worked to turn over, just so I could hold their hand and they could see my face. The smile on that face was more powerful than any drug could ever be in making me smile and feel God's pure joy.

Finally, we met the orphans who were more capable of taking care of themselves. We met many smiles and grateful faces as we walked through the classrooms. The older, most capable boys (I either didn't meet any girls, or everyone had their hair cut short due to lice,) live in a brand new building and have all sorts of classrooms. They have an auditorium, a "fantasy room" that is in the works for becoming a therapy center, as well as a small pet room! We got to play soccer with the older kids, and we met Courtney's friend, Volvo. He is a very enthusiastic soccer player! We met another boy who was dressed up in a suit, and his name was Surggio. When we asked why he was so dressed up, he replied that he had a date! He seemed very pleased! :)

There were many faces that I won't be able to put names with, but it gives me comfort to know that our loving Father knows all their names, and that He loves them.

10:25 PM - Whoosta! What a day! After our first visit, we went to Lopuhinka. This orphanage was an old school that has been transformed. It's been an orphanage for many, many years, but they didn't start to restore it until about five or ten years ago. We handed out presents there, and got to play with the kids for a while. They were still in school, though, so we didn't stay for very long. We got back into the city, and Nicoli [our translator] took us sight-seeing at Peter the Great's summer palace. They have over 150 fountains running over many acres that overlook the Baltic Sea. Beautiful view, absolutely breathtaking. We walked around for a good two or three hours. We'll sleep good tonight! On our way back, we had to stop to exchange our dollars for rubles. The exchange rate is the highest it's ever been, and we got a little over 310 rubles for each 100 dollars we exchanged. While we were waiting for Uris [our driver] to come back from the exchange, we realized we were outside of a store that carries a brand  called "The Nebraska"! Unfortunately, they were out of stock in that brand, but we thought it was pretty cool!

We went to dinner after that, at a places that translates to the English word "teaspoon". They serve pancakes there with various toppings and fillings. Super good!  We had some hassle ordering, since our meals were about 100 rubles, but we only had 1000 ruble bills from the exchange place. We got it all figured out, but over here, Russians don't like to make change. They want you to do it for them.

After dinner, Alyssa, Karen, Michela, Michael, Carter, and I all went on a walk. I love walking with Karen for two reasons: 1) She has so much information about the area and 2) she knows where she's going. We went right down to the river and I started to pretend to through bread crumbs to a pigeon to see if he'd come closer. This ended up attracting a crowd of pigeons, who started eyeing my hand that was supposedly housing food. They didn't get real close until Michael started crumbling chocolate and throwing it at them. It had a cookie in the middle, so then, we had not only a crowd, but a significantly less shy one! We had fun. Tomorrow we're going to take them some crackers and see how many we can get.

On the way back, we experienced kind of a culture shock. I was trailing the group a bit, taking in all my surroundings, when I heard some shouting. Across the street, there was a lady yelling the Russian word for no at a man (presumably her husband,) and pushing him backward, or at least trying to. The guy was twice her size. He was holding a toddler and shoving her back with his free hand. I told Karen, and we stopped to watch, because realistically, we couldn't do anything else. In Russia, it is completely legal for a husband to beat his wife, and if someone had stepped in, WE would have been the ones who would have gotten in trouble. He started pushing her toward the street, but then they walked back to the apartment complex, and he shoved her out of our sight, after putting the kid down. We could hear the baby crying for a while. We weren't the only ones who saw, but we were the only ones who stopped. Karen says that the complete lack of religion for eighty years led to the devaluing of the human life, which lead to mass amount of orphanages, still here today, and situations like the one we saw. We may not be able to change the law, but we can change the kids we meet, and maybe change their kids' futures. We can only pray that God's perfect will and timing take place.

Something else I wanted to mention was the Christmas gifts. Karen was talking about Nicoli and his wife, and how every Christmas, they go to the orphanages dressed as the Russian version of the "Clauses" (Mr. Frost and the Snow Princess,) and get the children toys if the sponsors have provided money for a Chrstimas. It costs as little as $500 to give each individual orphan a Christmas present to call their own. I think that sponsors and potential sponsors should know that, because it is NOT that hard to give someone a Christmas like we experience in the USA.
[Side note: to sponsor an orphanage of your own, it cost as little as $250 a month!]

Something else I wanted to mention but forgot is the villages. Once we leave the city on our little van, we hit buildings that are best referred to as shacks. Boards and tin cover any holes, fences that are made of crude sticks, grass grows high in front yards, and windows may or may not exist. Electricity is nonexistent in 70% of the homes, and water from the ground (which, by the way, is the source of the "dead goldfish" smell I mentioned earlier,) is drawn from a community well, or perhaps one that is shared with nearby neighbors. Cars barely exist in the villages; Daily or bi-daily buses provide transportation to the city. There are no grocery stores or super markets int he village, only makeshift markets set up by the local people. It's becoming pretty evident that, yes, the orphans are in need of our help, but so are the other people of Russia! Unless I'm mistaken, the living conditions are a result of Communism, which this country has yet to recover from. Oh, and here's a fun fact: We drove past one of the Russian president's 20 houses today. When I say "house", I mean mansion, with enough "yard" to build two more mansions on. And the villagers are selling tulips to try and feed themselves. Just something to think on. Oh, more on that 70% without electricity: That's across the country, and those same people are without running water. Also, the average life expectancy in Russia: 46 years old.

May 23rd - Day 2

2:10 AM, USA Time: Well, so much for deep sleeping in the air. The three-or-so hours I got were DEFINITELY better than none! Thank God I'm still a young and physically flexible college kid! We're starting our trek over Europe, about to go over Britain. Unfortunately, I can't see any of it due to the total cloud cover we're flying over. We have about one hour and twenty minutes until our landing. We're going 542 mph, 72 mph tailwind. It's -80 degrees F outside and we're 38,802 feet up. I wish I had gotten the statistics when we were straight over the ocean, but no matter. I'm going to attempt to finish my Soduku from supper...

Amsterdam time: 9:55 AM. The adjustment begins! I'm going from nearly 3 AM to nearly 10 AM. After a 2-hour layover here, we have approximately a 3-hour flight, and then we're done with air time for two weeks!

11:24 AM - Waiting for the last flight today in Amsterdam! There are so many different people in this airport. Today's lucky find: a British pound! I'll be adding that to my foreign coin collection. I'm rather amused by the current argument between a lady and airport staff in front of me...

11:50 AM - Got through Amsterdam security, with almost no issue! I set something off and got patted down, but I'm not carrying anything, so I was good to go. Courtney and Carter are definitely an interesting sibling pair to travel with, but also fun. There is, again, a large variety of people traveling with us, and I so badly want to know all their stories, just as I am sure someone is wondering about the story of our group. About 20 minutes until we board our last flight! "I am blown away that my God, who could do this all by Himself, would choose to let me be a little part of it!" - Kisses from Katie


5:37, Saint Petersburg time!! We're here! Well, we're on the ground, any way. Evidently there are problems at Passport Control; so we're just chillin' on our plane. Very anxious to get off! As for the time difference, we've hit nine hours! It's currently 8:38 AM in Nebraska, but I seem to be adjusting fine! Nothing a quick sleep won't help. Saint Petersburg is a HUGE city, Karen estimated about 2 billion people. I tried to get pictures of it while we were flying in. [Side note: I did get pictures of the city, but my camera later deleted my first week of pictures, so I no longer have pictures of the city from the air.]

8:35 - We're settled in! I'm rooming with Michela in a very apartment-like room, and we're super excited to live here for a week! We have a meeting in a few minutes before we go to eat at "Pizza Ollie's", which is evidently pretty good! So much history on the drive to our beautiful hotel! We've only found one downside so far, and that is the water. The best way to describe the smell is "dead goldfish". No drinking tap water here! Today's interesting fact: There are 430 bridges in St. Petersburg!

11:45 PM - We're getting broken in to the culture pretty fast! After eating out, (which was an entertaining experience, trying to order from a Russian menu,) we went on about a five-block walk with Karen. There were so many visual contrasts that I saw or were pointed out to me. First, the buildings. The majority of them look old, but not abandoned. The ones that look the worst, however, are normally sitting within a block of, if not net to, brand new buildings! The second thing I noticed was color. The buildings come in a variety of colors, but the people tend to wear neutrals or black on their clothes. Not everybody, but a great deal. The people here fascinate me. I want to know all their stories! Even though we were walking through a graffiti-covered neighborhood, everyone was dressed nice and fashionably. They didn't fit their environment at all. The graffiti reminded me of the third contrast I saw today, which was the walls standing above fairly new sidewalks. When Pastor Reehl lived here, the walls were paint-free, but the sidewalks were all torn up! Nobody here smiles when we pass, let alone look you in the eye. I feel like there's a great deal of pain in this city, but from what, I'm not sure.
We went to our first Russian market on the way back! Learned a bit about the rubbels system. I ended up buying juice and tea. That was a strange environment inside the supermarket. I felt like we'd taken a trip into the 50s or 60s. Even our cashier had bright blue and gold makeup, and gold teeth! All of them! She was intriguing, for certain.
It's hard to believe it's almost midnight. We're experiencing "white nights", which means the sun never fully goes down. I'm a college kid, so thankfully I can sleep at the drop of a hat. Now that I'm showered, that sleep thing sounds rather appealing! :)

May 22nd - Day 1

Lift off! it's 3:15 PM on May 22nd, and we're flying out of Omaha! I'm sitting next to Karen [our group leader] to Minneapolis. After a three-hour layover, we'll be out of the country to Amsterdam. So far, so smooth! We're above the clouds now! This is my favorite part! :) We have 11 people on this flight who are part of our group. Only three of them are adults, the rest of us are college kids or younger, which I'm pretty excited about! Our current flight doesn't have any "entertainment", but our big eight-and-a-half hour flight will have movies and such. A couple of us are pretty excited about that! ;)

5:05 PM - Well, this is the hard part, I think. I've called Mom, Dad, and my boyfriend, probably for the last time until I come back to the States. It's very comforting for me to know that the same God will be present in my life, as well as the lives of the ones I love. We have about an hour and a half until we board, and the other kids went to go eat while I called my family. I don't think I could eat right now any way, not after our fairly bumpy landing.

7:15 PM - My, how time flies! (Hehe... See what I did there?) We're boarded on our HUGE plane, on the way to Amsterdam, and they're giving us the "welcome speech". We get little TV's of our own! Oh, how easily entertained I am! Whoop, "the door is closed!"

8:10 PM - Alright, we are up! 7 hours and fifteen minutes away from Amsterdam! We are so high up, it looks like we're over ocean, but we have to fly over Canada before we go over water. I'm siting next to Karen again, and we have decided we're GREAT flying buddies! We have these handy little screens that allow us to listen to music (I've got the "Tangled" soundtrack going right now,) watch movies, shows, just about anything we want. Great mix of classic and modern choices, too. Our current flight information: 559 mph, 62 mph tailwind, -67 degrees F outside (no swimming at 34,802 feet...) 3,866 miles to Amsterdam, and already 301 miles from Minneapolis! I love this thing. :) A note of thanks: We had a random person on our flight donate a crisp, brand-new $100 bill to a group member, with the intent of helping our group on our trip. The generosity of the people around me continues to amaze me. All the glory to God! Well, I'm going to watch "The Shawshank Redemption" for a few hours. :) More later!

8:50 PM - The sun is going down, and the dinner is being served! We're so high above the clouds that they look like an ocean! The sun is beautiful, red, gold, and purple behind the indigo clouds. A nice reminder of how in-charge our all-powerful God is. Dinner doesn't smell too terrible. Doesn't smell like steak, but it's not prison food. Seat belt sign just got turned on, probably for turbulence.

10:30 PM - Dinner was great! The movie was good! Well, about as good as a prison-break movie can be. :) We're about to fly "out" of Canada and over the Atlantic Ocean! Five hours out of Amsterdam, 620 mph, 85 mph tailwind, -76 degrees F at 36,803 feet in the air. Now, for a short nap...

Map!

Hello again, friends! I just finished up the map of where we've been, and it has a few details in it about each visit. I'll begin posting the actual journal entries very soon! :)

Travel Map

Back at Last!

Hello, friends! What an amazing, amazing experience! I can not wait to share everything with all of you, and to share everything that God did on my mission trip! I'm blown away when I sit here and think about everything that happened, and I sincerely hope that I'll be able to accurately convey to you the different emotions that I experienced, especially the love and passion that God gifted to me. I hope that I did a good job a journaling everything! God bless! I'm so excited to share everything!

Blessings on all that you do!