Youth With A Mission Perm Молодежь с Миссией Пермь

Thursday, January 11, 2007

WE MADE IT TO PERM RUSSIA!!!!
Our long trip to Perm has finally ended and we could not be more happy about that. The initial flight to Paris proved to be the longest leg of our trip but also the most uncomfortable. The seats were almost too small for Kimberly, so you can only imagine my experience.
The Paris airport was beautiful, an architects paradise, but also fairly expansive, which made it slightly tricky to get around in. We perched by our gate that would take us to Moscow, grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich and marveled at the amount of duty-free shops that lined the terminal by our gate. From Paris to Moscow we slept most of the flight, which was great, because Moscow proved to be the most difficult switch over and it was good that we were somewhat rested and alert.
Moments after exiting our plane we headed to baggage claim to retrieve our bags. Our trip was set up to where we had to switch airports in Moscow, so getting our bags from one airport to another was necessary. After getting our bags and finding a baggage cart(free) we headed towards the exit, having been told of a 15 ruble shuttle that would take us to the domestic airport. No sooner than we left baggage claim, we were surrounded by taxi drivers, each trying to convince us that the shuttle was the wrong way to go. They pointed at our bags and told us that the shuttle would not let us take baggage to the new terminal. More than one driver offered us a deal of 500 rubles to drive us. 500 rubles is the equivalent of 40-50 dollars U.S. where as the shuttle was 15 rubles which is about .75 U.S. We managed to fend off the cabbies and made it to our shuttle with plenty of time to spare. Luckily our layover in Moscow was long enough(6 hours) for us to make a number of mistakes(which we didn't).
We set up shop in the domestic terminal at about 735pm and waited for our flight to Perm that would leave at 115am. We scored a bottle of water, a roast beef sandwich and a mountain dew and set our bags out as a bed underneath a set of stairs to get some sleep. At about 1115pm we went through security and tried to check our bags for the flight. The question for us at this point was whether or not we would be able to check or carry on all of our bags. We had eight bags in all, four checked and four carry-on. While one long line began to form on one counter, another clerk pulled us to another counter to check in our bags. She asked us if we were American and began tagging our bags for Perm. She frowned when she saw how many carry-on bags we had and explained that the plane from Moscow to Perm was very very small. For a moment we thought we were going to have to chuck one of our bags so we took a second to consider which bag was expendable. To our delight, the clerk quickly checked another one of our bags and let us on the plane with three carry-ons. What a relief!!!
We arrived in Perm very quickly, only waking up on our flight once to eat.
What we saw in Perm was magnificent. The snow filled tarmac itself was breathtaking, with a host of planes and helicopters all cocoon wrapped in snow and ice. The wind was at such a speed that you could see snow being pushed along the ground. The sky was pitch black but the tower lamps gave off enough light so as to reveal the snow fall that was showering the airport.
The plane taxied to a spot of open ground and we exited the aircraft via a set of stairs. The wind and snow were a new experience for both of us seeing as we had experienced snow on the ground but never snow in the air. We hopped on a small shuttle(crammed in like sardines)and made our way to the terminal in Perm. Our bags came as quickly as our YWAM hosts did and we made our way to the base at around 535am. Stacia made us feel very welcome and even explained a little about the base and what we could expect. We traded stories of life at home in Texas and heard about her travels to Egypt, the Sudan and her life in Russia.
Within an hour we pulled up to our base and got settled in our new room. Stacia gave us a quick tour of the grounds, showing us the office, kitchen, bathrooms, lecture hall, kids room and living quarters. We had the luxury of picking our room since we were the first to arrive. As we set up our things the reality of our decision began to fall on us. The homesickness and want for family set in immediately after being left alone and we both could not hold back the want to pack up and go home. Of course, being as tired as we both were, sleep seemed a more pressing matter. We layed down after such a long journey and fell to sleep almost immediately. I woke up periodically throughout our sleep to voices in the hallway, voices outside our window and my own thoughts. Nearly 16 hours later, we woke up to see that it was nearly 11pm Russia time. We plan to go back to bed very soon.
Grace and Peace to all those who read these words. We love you, all our friends and family and are thinking of you always. We send you much love from a cold and distant place but we know that the Lord will have his way with us. Pray for us as we pray for you all. Please write when you can, we have access to email. Much love and blessings from us both to you all.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007
OUR DTS HAS BEGUN!!!!

I have to apologize for not updating our blog sooner but we have been busy these past three days with the beginning of our DTS. What a new world we are experiencing!!! Our days are heavily scheduled. We get up at 7, have breakfast at 8, then Quiet Time until 9, worship from 9 to 10, then lectures from 10 to 1130, a break from 1130 to 1145, then another lecture until 130, lunch until 3, then usually another lecture or something like that until about 6, dinner at 630 and then free time until 11 when we are told "lights out." It has only been two days and we have learned so so much!!! I cannot even tell you how expectant we are of what God is going to do through us while we are here!!!

Kimberly and I have learned that our outreach could be anywhere. We came into DTS thinking that it would probably be within the limits of Russia but we found out this week that it could be China, Africa, Pakistan, Kazakstan, Japan, or even the United States. So at the same time that we are excited, we are also finding out that we might be going into some places that are somewhat more dangerous than where we are now. We will keep everyone up to date on our outreach destination...but we won't know where we're going until maybe sometime late March or early April.

The first week has really opened our eyes to the need around the world for the Gospel. Kimberly and I have actually spent the last week just taking in all that YWAM is doing in the world to try and get the news of Christ to everyone. Jon, our DTS director, has spent the last few years literally driving around to different villages in Russia, telling people about Jesus Christ. Last year alone he visited over 60 villages(by tractor, since these were fairly remote villages) to tell them about Christ's sacrifice. One cannot help but be inspired to see how far some are willing to go for the sake of Jesus.

Our DTS staff is unreal. They are the most hard working, dedicated, self-sacrificing people that I have ever been around. We have heard from more than one person that this base is one of the best bases to be in. Kimberly and I are looking forward to our lecture phase that will begin this next week. This week has been all about YWAM and the in and outs of DTS and YWAM's vision. It has been terribly exciting.

We wish everyone at home our love.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Here's our address!
I know that Dods is usually the one to update our blogs, but I wanted everyone to know that I am thinking of them and praying for them too! We have been having a great time getting to know everyone and are beginning to feel like part of the family. Even though only about half of the people here understand English, it is amazing to hear us all worship and pray in our native toungues. It makes me think about the vision John had where every nation on the earth was worshiping in all of the languages of the world...at least I think it was John:) So there are 2 things that we will ask of you...our loyal readers, well actually 3 things would be even better. First, and most importantly, PLEASE PLEASE PRAY!!! Dods and I really need the spiritual backing of prayer and in order for us to successfully complete the tasks God has in store for us, we really need a lot of prayer:) We are expecting God to move in amazing ways, especially when we go on outreach, so we want to lay a strong foundation to pave our path.