Settling in

Today I found a place to live!! After asking around, hoping to rent a room from a Russian lady or family or rent an apartment with a Russian girl my age, a girl from church invited me to live with her and her mother. I visited them today and was very blessed by their fellowship and felt at home in their apartment. On Wednesday I will be moving in!

Also, the process of getting medical tests done to prove I don't have a bunch of diseases (so that I can apply for my temporary residents visa) has went very smoothly. For the past week and a half I have been in four clinics, once to be tested and then again to pick up the results. I have all the results except one, that I will pick up on Wednesday. My American documents are being translated and then I will have those notarized on Friday and hopefully be on a bus to Tuva on Saturday. I don't know how long it will take me to submit all of my necessary documents for the visa once I'm down there, but I sure would appreciate prayers for this process to go very smoothly and quickly without problems that can't easily or quickly be fixed.

All in all, things are going very well! I am still tired a lot of the time but that's to be expected. Perhaps once my visa application is submitted and I am moved into the apartment I will be able to relax a bit more and catch up on rest. Thank you, thank you for your prayers!

Arrived!

I type from my friends' apartment here in Krasnoyarsk, Russia! I praise God for the safe travels and the many people that have been praying for me to quickly get over the jet lag! Also, I was able to ship all of my things from St Petersburg to here (they should arrive on Friday).

While it is good to arrive, Russia has a way of always reminding me that I have "not arrived" in Russian language and culture. I had a couple "adventures" along the way that helped keep me humble, but over all, things are going VERY well!

I am thankful for Lucas and Jamie who are letting me stay with them until I find a place of my own (you can pray that I find a good place to live while here in Krasnoyarsk, I'd like to live with a Russian). We (Lucas, Jamie, Sam, Sophie and I) were able to attend the Russian festival, "Maslenitsa", in celebration for the coming of spring and "last hooraw" before the Orthodox fast. Here's a glimpse of our afternoon (along with a picture of my personal favorite - the horses used to give kid rides...I wish I would have taken more pictures of them, this was only one of at least a dozen "beautiful" horses....)

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

My 9 months in the States have flown by fast. They have been pretty packed with traveling, homework and visiting friends and family. I am excited to return to Russia, yet HATE saying goodbye.

I fly out Tuesday, March 2^nd at 11am from Denver. I go to JFK (in NY) then to Moscow then to St Pete (arriving 4pm March 3^rd local time, 6am WY time). I’ll spend a couple days there packing up my things (stored at a friend’s house) and then ship them out on a train to Krasnoyarsk, where I plan to arrive (by plane) on Sunday morning 5am local time (3pm Saturday WY time). Krasnoyarsk is 14 hours ahead of mountain time so that will be quite the adjustment (as well as recovering from the 20 hours of flight time).

God has answered several of my prayer requests from a few weeks ago! I received my visa with plenty of time to spare, received my FBI background check (to apply for another visa while in Russia), I am 2 papers shy of finishing up my second to last college class and I am enjoying remaining time with family (I got to spend time with my Grandma Lucille and my sister and brother-in-law)! Also, my friend Lea, who has a brain tumor is already seeing good results from her recent radiation treatments (the tumor has begun to shrink!!!)

It is sad to think about all of the people I didn’t get to see while in the States or the people that I was hoping to spend more time with, but the reality is that I was able to see a lot of people and spend time with many friends and family that I might not have been able to see if I has worked a job where I only get weekends and holidays off. I’ve been greatly blessed by the encouragement of brothers and sisters who pray for me and care about what God is doing in and through me!

I’m excited about getting back to Russia and I am praying for a “soft landing” – finding a great apartment/roommate(s) shortly after arrival, the return of my Russian language, good health, and quick recovering from jet lag. I am thankful for friends in Krasnoyarsk that are allowing me to stay with them until I can find another place to live. I am excited about what the future holds and anxious about many of the things that I have to do once I get there (finding housing, language schooling, gathering documents to apply for resident’s visa, etc.)

I have less than a week left and a lot of packing and odds and ins to get done in that time (including two more papers to write!)

Appreciate you reading and caring about my life!

The Semester's Over! Now, Waiting on Christmas and Russian Invitation

I know it’s terrible that I don’t write here more often…but what can I say, I’ve been busy!

I just finished emailing in my last assignment for this semester’s classes, that makes it 24 credit hours down and 9 more to go! I will be taking 3 more classes next semester to finish up my degree in Intercultural Studies at Calvary :)

This past Sunday I was at the last church I was scheduled to share at – that means that I don’t have to travel any more :) I’m sure I’ll still be leaving the ranch to get out and see people, but now I feel like I’m free – no more homework and nothing else on the schedule…well, except to sit back and enjoy Christmas with family!

I called the university in Krasnoyarsk last night to check on my invitation (which I am waiting on to apply for my visa so I can return to Russia as a student). No news there, except I found out that they were a month later than they had previously told me in submitting the paper work to the government to receive the visa. So if my estimates are right (though no one can ever be sure of anything when dealing with dates and timelines in Russia) it looks like (the optimistic view) the soonest I will be returning to Russia in the end of January first part of February…perhaps it is more realistic to say the end of February…

I’m not sure what I will do with “all this extra time” but I have a feeling that it will fill up pretty fast. I am getting more anxious to return to Russia and fear losing my Russian language more and more as I stay here in the States.

BUT I do not want anyone to think that I am not enjoying my time here. I am REALLY enjoying time with family and friends and am stinkin’ excited to be here for Christmas!!

Until the next time, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

p.s. I’m kinda glad I’m not in Krasnoyarsk right now, they are experiencing -40*, -50* weather…burrr