Baby Steps of Ministry at the Harbor

As we were getting ready to come over this past year, Diana and I began to develop a relationship with the founder of the Harbor, Melinda Cathey. Her enthusiasm for how God might use us to serve the ministry grew the more we got to know her. By the time we arrived, we had a list from Melinda of all kinds of ministry ideas that could occupy my time, some individual items being full time work. We were excited about the possibilitis.

When we got here, one of the first people I wanted Diana to meet was Lyuba, the local director of the Harbor. I had met her during my trip here in March, and we had got on well, though no ministry direction was discussed, other than my interest in using coaching as a vehicle for empowering her staff and the kids. She was intrigued, though skeptical, having told me how hard it is to get a child from that background to think long-range like that.

Lyuba and her assistant Tanya came over to our apartment in August for dinner. If anything, the ladies hit it off much beter than even we had, which I was only too happy to see. The more we talked, the more I kept giving ideas about what could be. I completely broke all the coaching rules, I was so excited about how I could help. What I got was a lot of reasons why things were more complicated here than I would imagine. I called her the next day and told her I needed to shut up and just listen more. She responded that in prayer she had the idea to ask me to consider teaching English to the new residents for 3 months. She thought that would be the best way for me to get to know the kids, learn the nuances of their lives and that of the Harber towards them, and then better be able to work at a more coaching/consultative role in the future.

Initially the idea struck me as a step backwards. I had taught English in Soviet Central Asia back in 1991-1992 to kids and adults of all ages. Although I loved it, it was not my true gift or calling. But even before the conversation ended, God started working on me, showing me that I needed to just serve them, get my ego out of the way, and moreover, that she was right about how well this could help me understand my "field" better.



Diana and I went over to meet the kids (with Lydia) on September 12th and to give them a placement test.


Diana was so good with the kids, able to get the boys to open up and talk about a picture book she brought and to bond quickly with them, that I knew long term she needs to do something like this with the kids.

Lyida also had a great time, the girls eager to practice their English with a cute, small, non-threatenting American.


So I began with a group of four kids - three boys and a girl - on the 19th. We have a good time together. The first week we got to know each other, and last week we stayed in the kitched after dinner (we all eat together before class) and and discussed action verbs like eating and drinking. Of course no one is telling me their life story yet, but we are getting more comfortable with each other. One kid has already been hinting at his desire to come visit us at home (Yuri, pictured cooking).



I've also had a great opportunity to interact with the Harbor over the last week while a two-man team from CRM headquarters has been here shooting footage for a new video about the Harbor.
As an interpreter, I have been able to get to know the program better and to have more time to hang with the kids and hear their stories.

Here you see Andy (the video guy) getting a haircut from one of the residents during her first haircutting class.

A Visit to School

School started with great fanfare at the beginning of September. Pictured here is the opening ceremony that is a Russian tradition of starting the first day of classes with formally introducing the teachers, students, having some poetry reading, and tea and snacks.

To help with the boys' adjustment to school, the idea come up for me to spend a day there in observation, and everyone agreed it would be great. So on Monday the 17th I did just that. Some of you will be interested in this level of detail on how a day goes in a Russian kindergarten, even though it is not typical, since it's private and Christian, so that is why I'm writing.

8:15. we have to leave home 45 minutes early, despite the fact that - as the crow flies - we aren't more than a few minutes away from the school. We walk 20 minutes to the metro, 3 minutes down the escalator, 3 minutes to the next stop, 3 minutes up again (I have all this down by now), and another 15 minutes by foot to the school.


9:00. School starts. There are about 10 kids in the Kindergarten class, a bare room with a few toys and an old area rug to play on. The teacher, Anna Michaelovna (AM), starts the day with a Bible story on a felt board. The boys were reasonably attentive, even though they could only guess at the content.

9:20. the kids drew pictures about the story. AM asks Kerith (she speaks no English) who is in his picuture. He says, "Eesus" (Jesus). We rejoice in small victories here.

9:35. AM has a mini-lesson with the girls while the boys finish coloring.

10:15. Breakfast, which consists of 3 cookies each and tea.

10:40. Girls are now free while AM works with the boys. Kerith returns to class, but he is not invited to the table. Plays by himself, but he comes over at one point to me an sighs. I think he may be getting bored. AM later invites Simon, who refuses. She does not press it. (Note: Although she did not this day, AM does work with Kerith some either one-on-one, or with the other boys on some reading skills.)

11:04. A general class lesson on the oval. All draw and discuss ovals.

11:17. Potty time.

11:20. Get dressed for recess.

11:38. Outdoor play. Simon plays in the sand with a few others. Kerith is with the main group that AM leads, doing games like, Wolf, sort of like tag. Kerith got to be it once, and he seemed to enjoy himself.

12:17. Back in; free time. Kerith leaves the class and pops in the 1st grade for a second. AM must not have seen it, but another kid leaves too and she puts him in the corner.

12:31. Clean up for lunch.

12:40. Lunch. Soup and tea.

1:20. Undress for nap. The kids strip, put on PJ's, and hop in bed. Only, they don't have beds yet, so they mostly share one big air mattress. (Note: They now have beds - neat little three-story jobs that look like a dresser with drawers.).

3:55. They awake and go to afternoon snack - a couple of cookies and tea.

From this point the day is over, but they offer to watch kids until 6. We have been getting them by 4, or sometimes just before nap.


Positives:
AM is patient, and she never raises her voice.
It's not quite as crazy as it seems; there is a relatively peaceful atmosphere.
She honors the kids' free will - partly a reaction to Soviet-style dictotorial classroom rule.
AM is very encouraging and mothering.

Comments:
Things have been getting better over the last couple of weeks in all areas since my visit; they buys are adjusting to the newness of both being in a school for the first time, and the newness of being in an all Russian setting. We decided recently to ask for a tutor to spend more time with Kerith on his language development, and God provided one immediately to work with him during school. She now works with him during nap time, and he loves it (she does too!). So our confidence that God led us there and will work things out has only grown.

Military Man in the Marshrutka

Marshrutkas = taxi vans found throughout the city (usually yellow) seating about 20, but can hold several more with standing and squishing. Usually we ride the marshrutkas to and from our temporary apt. to the Metro station to avoid a 30 min walk. They are relatively cheap -- about .50 per person and our 2 boys are free and normally uneventful.

Until last Thursday I (Diana) had never taken the kids by myself on any forms of transportation. In fact, I had not ventured solo since we arrived in St. P. The first opportunity/necessity presented itself requiring me to take all 3 kids on the Metro and then marshrutka to the apt. during rush hour. My only apprehension was herding them onto these very crowded modes of transportation.

I explained to the kids that they may need to stand during the marshrutka ride, and they were all "okay" with that. As we boarded, I sighed relief because at least Lydia and Kerith found a seat. I stood in the aisle with Simon between my legs right next to a large man in a military uniform who was seated. He immediately picked up Simon and cradled him in his burly arms and started talking to him.

A couple choice thoughts ran across my brain:
1. A big military man just picked up my baby without asking!!
2. How is Simon going to react to this?
3. How do I say, "Excuse me, please let my baby go?"
4. It's all right. This is a socialistic society. Let the man hold your child. He thinks he's doing you a favor.
5. A big military man just picked up my baby without asking!!

Well, Simon did not resist. In fact, he just sat there with the military man talking softly to him. I summoned my courage and spoke. What I wanted to say was, "Please don't hurt my baby." What I ended up saying was, "He cannot understand you." The man looked up at me wondering why. Immediately he switched to very broken English/Russian mix and asked if Simon understood English and where were we from. I continued in Russian telling him from where we hailed.

We continued our conversation about my impressions about the city and why were moved here. (That took some creative explanation, and no, my husband is not a diplomat. He even complimented my Russian.) Simon finally wriggled down out of his lap, but our discussion continued. Surprisingly, the woman in front of him turned around and started smiling at me. The smiles themselves are very unusual, since we mostly get long stares, no hints of friendliness, and the occasional scolding by a babushka (grandmother). This was definitely a very special marshrutka ride!

Before I knew it, we arrived at our stop, my apprehensions about traveling solo with 3 kids in this city much abated. The military man was a gift. He boosted my confidence in speaking and gave St. P a friendly face I hadn't seen before -- just when I needed it most.

Military man, you can pick up my baby anytime.

Our New Apartment

We have some new photos to add to our display.

The building is a two-story apartment building, which is unusual in itself. It was build by German prisoners of war after WW2, so it's considered good quality.

As with most entrance ways, it's nothing to write home about (although I guess that's what I'm doing, isn't it?).

As soon as you walk in from the outside, you enter the apartment, which is uncommon. The advantage for us is that most stairwells (including the one we endure now) are terribly nasty, since no one takes responsibility for them.



The hall is huge: nearly 400 square feet, so we can treat it like another room. So for a mere $1000/month (mere!), we get 4 large rooms, plus this hall, plus a decent kitchen. That's a steal around here.


All the rooms are large, except Lydia's. Overall, the square footage is over 1000.

The bath is a good example of the owner's paint work. The background is wallpaper, and the larger flowers are hers.

The kitchen and hall were then only rooms that had furniture come with them. Most of the time, apartments actually come furnished here. So now we have begun to look for furniture.

As you might imagine, furniture from scratch is a major expense, so we welcome any help towards these costs that you can offer.

















The room here is becoming a multi-purpose room, probably mainly for our office and schooling (although until we get another table, the kitchen will do). Lydia also likes it to practice her hoola hoop.

We are very happy with our new bed, but you can see we still live out of suitcases. Take a closer look at the wallpaper there.















We have turned the end of the hall into our living room, and the opposite end is Diana's laundry area.






The detail that the owner did I like a lot.

















The boys' room is wonderfully large, so there is plenty of room to set up their train set and their tent.

Hungary for Rest

It was a year ago that we last rested -- right before this whole race to prepare to leave for Russia began in August of 2006. Even though our week-long trip to Sopron, Hungary was a CRM staff conference, it felt like a breath of fresh air to slow down and not have to work for once. (and Diana says, " and not have to cook and wash dishes.")

And the whole topic, ironically, was on Sabbath. What needed words for all of us! The title of the conference "The Rest of God" is from the book of the same title by Mark Buchanan. We highly recommend you run, not walk, to a bookstore near you. The challenge to us is how to incorporate aspects of rest into our lives back here in St. P.

The kids were in their own program all week, run by some wonderful people, who did a sort of mini VBS for them. Above is a picture of Kerith (Lydia is at the end of the table.) with most of the other CRM kids in the hotel dining room. All our children benefited from playing with kids in their same shoes -- living in a culture that is not their home culture.


During our free times in the afternoon, we swam, hiked, and spent time alone with God in prayer. Kerith and Lyle found the large outdoor chess game to their liking, as you can see. In the evenings we heard team reports and learned about all the exciting things God is doing through our colleagues across Europe.