zdrasvouite, "hello" in russian...that's the best i can do without cyrillic lettering!
the color green...so the reason that we named this blog the color green...the words quoted above are from a rich mullins song, "the color green" a song tim and i love about all things glorifying God, His creativity displayed in the seasons and leaves and His love for these things, and how the whole earth is crying out to Him, even the green fields. if you don't know this song, you should find it - or ask us and we can hook you up with it. i think we should all get to know new parts of the Lord's character, like the part that created green so that the fields and trees are rejoicing. there is green in moscow...there are some really beautiful forrests throughout the city, in fact, at the major airport in north moscow, tall trees surround the whole thing and as you are getting ready to land, it looks like you could touch them. and outside of moscow there are some of the most beautiful sites i have ever seen. we took this picture of the volga river one morning, early, when we were on a retreat with the staff at hinkson about 3 hours outside of moscow. it's good to be reminded that the earth is praising Him.
so we have been in russia 10 weeks now - in this very short amount of time, we are just amazed at all that we have learned and experienced so far. we're figuring out how to get around by moscow public transport which can defienetly be an adventure! we're studying the language, which is an intense process, but we are loving it. basically, we feel like we are on a date getting to have the same schedule. we have a wonderful teacher, tamara leoneedavno, who is very tough, but compassionate, too. the first time we met her, she wouldn't speak english to us...instead she had some others there who spoke english interpret. she LOVES language and has actually taught us more about the english language than tim and i had ever known! we study about 30 hours a week and have been getting some great practice applying what we're learning since our dog, kai, arrived. she just got here last week after about a 30 hour trip, and more russians have started conversations with us because we have her here than ever before. russians love dogs, and we're seeing evidence of that. kai rode the metro with us last night to go to our friends house, and a man stepped over her only to step right on my foot! we're also figuring out what we like (and don't like) to eat. tim is a fan of sharmas, meat, lettuce, pickles, sour cream, ketchup and various other things depending on what kiosk you stop at, all wrapped up in a tortilla!
we've also gotten some wonderful time to be with students at hinkson, although we don't start our position with them formally until next fall. tim and i both lead small groups called caring community groups once a month at the school in the morning, and that is a great time to get to know the kids better and begin building those relationships with them. tim's caring community group went bowling, russian-style, a few days ago. the bowling lanes here are narrower and about two-thirds as long as in the states, so needless to say they all had fun and scored high! tim has also gotten to be involved in both the high school and middle school fall retreats, and i'm meeting with girls, spending time with them and getting to know them better. we feel so blessed to get this year to study the language and begin to form some solid relationships with students here before starting the chaplaincy program.
we hope that through this blog we can communicate even better with our friends and family, and share pictures, stories, prayer requests and give you a taste of life in russia!
more to come...