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My boss just called me to offer me my job full time! Yea! I get to start officially tomorrow!

:).

-Jessica

Check out the “images” page. We’ve begun to load photos from the trip.

Hi everyone. Thanks for sharing in our trip to Russia. Thank you so much, Dad, for being our scribe and writing so well. We appreciated having you relay some of our stories and prayer needs.

It was a good trip and very diverse in all that happened. It was just enough to whet our appetites to go back. We feel, along with our teammates, that it is difficult to make an impact when you are only somewhere for one or two weeks. The point is the follow-up, though. It’s continuing the relationships that we made. Adam and I plan to keep in touch with our 6 deaf boys: Mirian, Andre, Jenya, Alosha, Grisha and Nikita. We should write them this week. We also made good friends with our four translators– Adam especially connected with Misha who sings in a Christian Russian hard-core band and looks like he’s from Cali. Two other members of our team (that my dad accidentally superimposed over our translators) were Sergey and Grisha two 20-year-old orphans to whom Gary, our team leader has been a surrogate father and friend for several years. They don’t speak English, but they were definintely part of our team. They were with us the whole two weeks. Through them, as well as through the deaf boys at camp, I learned a lot about getting to know, befriend and love people with whom you can’t even speak. I liked how sometimes I forgot that Sergey and Grisha couldn’t speak English. It was good to watch how Cliff and Sergey became really tight. We have friends now in Russia who we look forward to going back to visit.

I think we did some good stuff on this trip, and I hope we can follow through with correspondences, but I think that the biggest outcome of this trip for Adam and me was that we learned some things and grew a lot. That’s pretty vague, I know, but it’s specific in my head. I’ll write more, but we’re going to Shakespeare in the Park tonight, and we need to get going. We really appreciate your prayers. God protected us, and we were also able to come through some very difficult moments because you were praying. Just curious, was anyone led to pray Tuesday, August 16 in the morning? That evening- your morning- was the most difficult time for us, and we made it through by the grace of God. Curiosity piqued? Come back. :).

Much love.

-Jessica

Hi, this is Ward. Communications have been very difficult to make, and the days rolled by. I had been given a phone number by Jessica at the desk (or whatever the main management location is) for their hotel. Unfortunately, Jessi and Adam were out working, ministering, interacting, sightseeing, eating or whatever during their normal waking hours, when there was some person at the “switchboard”, and so I managed to contact that person on several occasions, but unfortunately, Adam and Jessica were not in their room. At other times of the day or night, (when I thought they might be in their room), I could not get an answer at the main number.
Therefore, I have been unable to bring you any news. UNTIL NOW…….. Adam and Jessica have arrived at home in Nashville, according to plans. We talked to them this evening, which was actually 6am according to the time zone where they awoke Friday morning, after traveling nearly 20 hours. They were tired, and are going to sleep for a while.
Then, I trust they will give you some report of what God did with your prayers and their willingness to go. I can’t wait to hear it myself….. but I’m afraid we will have to wait til they sleep ad get over the jet-lag.
So, I’ll sign off and turn the reins back over to Jessica and Adam, with a sigh of relief ( because they are home).
Bye, and thanks for your patience.
ward

Well, we finally heard again from Adam and Jessica on Sunday. It was a long draught, from Tuesday to Sunday, but it sounds like they had a good time developing new relationships and sharing the love of Christ. But the week wasn’t without it’s surprises. The Team did not get to use too many of their pre-planned music lessons and Bible stories, as the camp is less structured (or differently-structured) than most camps in the US, and than they had expected. So, they focused on the kids that were available, and worked daily at forming relationships with the kids who were not already involved in sport programs, or other camp activities. Many of these kids would seek them out regularly, after initial introductions with the help of Friendship bracelet braiding, or Frisbee throwing.
In particular, there was a group of 6 deaf boys ages 15-16 (some, not all, completely deaf) who hung out together, and took a liking to Adam. Surprisingly, Jessi said that these boys seemed the easiest for them to communicate with, as they are less dependent on language and more creative in both expressive and receptive communication. So, they learned to communicate using hand gestures, and a bit of “charades”, as well as with the Translators. Adam was able to share a couple of Bible stories with groups of kids. They felt that the story of the Shepherd and the lost sheep, and the parable of the seeds went well and were received by the children with some level of understanding and identification.
They have now moved back from the camp to St Petersburg, where they have been conducting a Music Camp at their host church, having invited some of the kids from the camp to travel with them back to St. Pete. We will need to give you more info on the Music camp after our next communication, since our recent phone conversation ended abruptly (with Jessica in mid-sentance). It seems that communications from the camp were extremely undependable and the situation from St. Petersburg is better, but still cumbersum and unpredictable.
Keep praying for those kids with whom the Team had significant contact, and for the work of this small host Church, where the Team will be working for the last week.
we’ll keep you updated as soon as we get more info.
thanks for hanging in there with us, and praying for Jessi and Adam and the Team
ward

Hi, it’s Ward again with a continuing report on Jessica and Adam’s trip.

Notable Events:
-After their Saturday night arrival in St. Petersburg, the Team attended their host Church with their main contact person, Max Borissov. The Church has about 35 members, so the Team of ten Americans (with their newly joined Team-mates of 4 young adult, Russian translators), had a conspicuous presence. They enjoyed participating in the active and enthusiastic worship time, and shared a few songs from the other side of the pond. The languages barrier seemed not to be a barrier for the Holy Spirit who seemed able to create a bond and sense of family. The Team will return to this congregation later in the trip, but it was an encouraging (if brief) first encounter with fellow Christians.
-The Team (again along with their Translators) were treated to an afternoon boat tour through the city of St. Petersburg via the canal system (did you know they had a canal system in St. Petersburg? I didn’t). They saw some classic Russian architecture and points of historic significance.
-They then took a trip of about an hour and a half to the Camp where they will be living and working for much of their time. Settled in Sunday evening, and saw a few kids.
-There are around 130 kids at the camp in an age range of 7-17. There are some handicapped and special needs children as well as others who are very much like active kids anywhere.
-Monday, the Team spent the majority of their day meeting many of the kids, and introducing them to throwing a Frisbee, drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, and making friendship bracelets. They also are learning about the camp, and trying to find where their nitch can fit and how they can fit and be used.

Not yet feeling in the “Flow”
-They are still adjusting to the time changes. Not only in the time zone (difference of 9 hours), but also the fact that the sun sets at around 11:00 pm, and is up before they are at 7:00am. So while the short nights and their enthusiasm want to keep them up and going, they need to regulate their sleep schedule a little more intentionally, or they will be dragging before long.
-There seem to be a number of diversified groups and activities, all using the same camp facility, but disconnected in schedule. There are several sports groups there (most notably a gymnastics group and a wrestling group), who are kept busy in their own activities by their coaches, and so far, it seems that the Team will have little time to interact with these kids. Perhaps they will focus on the others.
-Adam has been designated one of the Team members to communicate with the camp management as to their role (which is pretty specifically defined for them each evening for the next day). It seems that the Camp manager is not opposed to the Team sharing Bible stories, but seems unwilling to carve out some time for that to happen in groups of any significant size.

Relationships:
-The Team is bonding and getting to know one another. They have particularly enjoyed the addition of the 4 Translators (4 Russian young adults in their 20’s, 2 male and 2 female, all believers and some of them former orphans themselves).
-They have noticed that some of the kids are showing particular interest in their activities and the Team is getting to find ways to relate to them individually. They are hoping to find ways to continue to draw the kids to their activities, in order to build relationships.

Please continue to pray that the group will find the “focus” that the Lord has for them at this camp with these particular kids.

Thanks, we’ll be keeping you up to date as we hear from Jessi and Adam.
ward

this is Ward again, and I’m still learning the ropes here….. I typed the meaasge (below), and I thought I did what I was supposed to do to post it to the web, but it seemed not to show up, so here is attempt #2. Sorry if it appear twice, but anyway, here’s the message

Hi. I just heard from Jessica. She said that the travel all went well, and they have arrived in St. Petersburg, where it is 9 hours ahead of the Central time zone in the US. She was very brief, as the calls are expensive, but she let me know that they have encountered their first change of plans, and they are excited about it. They have been told that the plan is now to go to the camp on Sunday night (after attending their host’s Church), rather than Monday as originally planned. So they are excited to be on the ground and ready to begin. Keep praying (see my previous Blog for suggestions), and I’ll try to keep blogging, as I have been “deputized” to do.
ward rau (Jessica’s dad)

Hi, this is Ward Rau, Jessica’s dad.
Jessi and Adam have asked me to keep you up to date with the events and details of their trip as they make them known to us. As you might know, or would likely suspect, technology is a little behind in many areas of Russia, and they have very little knowledge of what they will find. I am sure Jessi and Adam will make an entry or two if they have the access, but that is a huge and as yet unknown variable.
Marlene (Jessica’s mom) and I were able to see Jessi and Adam very briefly today as they had a short stop-over in Chicago to change planes. Their flight from Nashville to Chicago had gotten delayed on the ground in Nashville, so the connection was even tighter than we had expected. But we were able to see them as they hurried from one terminal to the other, and got to deliver some hugs, and some homemade cookies. We also got to meet several of the Team members that they will be traveling and working with. Lori Nichols, from Hendersonville, was on the flight with Jessi and Adam from Nashville; Donnie and Cliff Murray, brothers from Southern California, caught up to us as we made our way through the terminal. They had flown in earlier and had been running between gates trying to connect with Jessica and Adam; we also met Ashley and Allison Robinson, sisters from Knoxville, at the entry area, as they also had flown into Chicago earlier in the day. It was a fun “reunion” to watch as they are all very excited to get under way and to begin to put “legs” to these dreams and plans they have.
So, the packing is done, the planning is done, it’s time to GO. And at the time of this writing, 70% of this Team is in the air, enroute to Frankfurt, Germany connecting later to a flight to St. Petersburg, Russia. But the praying is never done. Now is the time they need your prayers more than ever. Why not pray RIGHT NOW, as you read this……
**Pray for God’s hand of protection and His oversight of their trip.
**Pray for hearts and minds that are ready to serve the Lord, by serving others.
**Pray for receptive hearts on the part of those who run the camp, and especially for the children who will be the recipients of the lessons, songs, crafts, and the love that are all shared in Christ’s name.
**Pray for details that are yet unknown and undecided, that God will direct and pave their way to achieve His purposes for this trip.
**Pray for flexibility on the part of the Team when plans change and some preparation goes unused.
**Pray that the obvious language barrier will not be a barrier to the communication of caring.
**Pray that God would honor their obedience to GO, by “showing up” in a powerful and surprising way.
**Pray that God would bring Honor to His own name because of these folks who go to care for “the least of these”, the orphans.
Amen. Thanks for Praying.

One final comment. As a parent, it is a great thrill to see your child grow to a strong Faith in the Lord. And then to see them (or, her, in our case) step out in that same Faith and follow the Lord’s personal call to her. It is also a little bit scary as well, in human terms, but if we really have the Faith ourselves that we tried to teach them, then we know that they are still in the Lord’s hands, no matter where in this world they travel. And what better place can a child be than in the Hand, and following the Plan of the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe? None, I guess.
Keep praying, thanks for reading and feel free to comment.
(I’d give you directions for that, but I don’t quite know myself. This whole “blog” thing is new to me, so I hope I did it OK, and didn’t bore you to tears.)
bye, now.
ward

It’s been a total mad dash, as per usual, but we’re 3 minutes away from walking out the door. Totally excited, slightly frazzled. We’ll feel absolutely fantastic once that plane is taking off. Much love and tremendous blessings to all of you.

—A.

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go, I’m standing here outside your door…

Our bags are packed, and we keep finding more things that we need to bring. Really, our clothes are the very least of it all. I have often packed more clothes for a weekend than for these two weeks abroad. Still our four suitcases are totally bloated with craft supplies, musical instruments, gifts, toys, clothes for the kids, CDs, books, game supplies (complete with neon colored potato sacks with smiley faces on them), and starfish. I think we’re set. What a blessing. Adam just pulled out another bag that he’s going to try to pass as a carry-on.

A little over two weeks ago, we were very unsure about our decision to go since we were still short $3,000 dollars for our trip need (that we paid with plastic). We started to pray (a little late in the game) that God would direct us and provide just enough. He is proving again that he is good, huge and reliable, even when we are flighty, impulsive and selfish. As of this moment, we are still short, but he has brought us within $1,000 of our need in a little over a week’s time. I trust that God provides, and it’s exciting to learn first-hand what we have heard about forever and I have recently read about in L’Abri. God may not provide the last $1,000 in the way of checks from friends, but in any aspect of our life where he will show that we get to keep on living and somehow keep paying our bills while enjoying the things he brings for us to do. Life is fun. I’m full of it right now as I look across the Atlantic at the next days.

Oh, I have a few added details to our Russia schedule for those of you following the play-by-play. Gary, our leader, called this morning from Russia and told Adam and me about some more details that Max has solidified. Our group will all be participating in leading the music at Max’s church on both Sundays. Max has also arranged for us to hang-out/jam/worship with 7-10 of his musician friends on Tuesday of the seceond week in the evening. We will also be leading the entire 1.5 hour service at a church on the next night. I think we will have a lot to share by then.

Can’t wait. Now I’m going to go to bed. We’ll try to say hello once more before we leave tomorrow, but if not, see you! Have a great couple of weeks! We’ll write if we can, and we’ve given my dad blogging rights to add an update if we talk on the phone.

:). Good night.

-Jessica