The finale part...

The end is here and with that I can look back and reflect on these past two years.  This past year has been amazing and the Lord opened some unexpected doors that I am oh so thankful for. One door that He opened was for me to be able to start a long term discipleship time with Olga.  Our time together studying the Word and praying for each other has become one of the highlights of my week.  I had tried to start discipleship with two other girls while I was here, but eventually after meeting three or four weeks it would fade away and they would stop showing up.  Like we are instructed in Acts, I shook the dust off of my sandals and moved on to the next person.  One thing that the Lord has shown me during this time is knowing when to continue investing in someone and when it is time to either move on or readjust your time focus with them.  I will admit this has been something that has taken time for me to understand and recognize.  

This past year the Lord opened up a door that I never thought would even be available.  I was able to join a small group of other believers, a mixture of non nationals and nationals, and help bring awareness to the Global injustice that is human trafficking and how it needs to be stopped.  If you would have asked me at the beginning of 2012 if I would go to Russia and be part of a group that is focused on stopping human trafficking I would have told you no.  We as a group have been blown away by the opportunities that the Lord has given us to share with the community about this injustice and with each presentation we are able to share the Good News.  The Lord not only provided me with another ministry focus that I have a passion for but He also provided me with other sisters and brothers in Christ who have become good friends.  Through this the Lord has blessed me with a group of friends that I have been able to pray with, share with, learn from, and celebrate with.  He has shown me that while we may be from different parts of the world, sent by different organizations or churches, that we all have the same goal and that is for His name to be glorified throughout the nations and that we need to help each other to do this.  

I can look back and say that through it all God is good and that He provides and takes care of his sheep.  These past two years I have been in the valley and asking God where he was and I have been at the top of the mountain walking closely with the Lord.  Through all those seasons of life that I have experienced, I can say that God remains the same today, yesterday and tomorrow.  He never changes and I can put my hope in Him.

In April 2012 I landed in Russia with little to no expectations and with other passengers on my flight telling me I was crazy and stupid for choosing to live here.  In a short time I will be leaving Russia with a love and respect for the people and the church here and with a thankful and full heart. 

A turning point...

Part two of the three:

With the beginning of a new year (2013) also came the beginning of a new stage. January began to change and things were starting to get better.  I was able to communicate better, be more independent, and I was starting to find my niche in the city and with work.  In November of 2012 I was out of Russia for an extended time due to visa problems and during that time I truly missed it and was looking forward to being back.  That for me, was a marker in my transition from the struggling stage to where I am now.  Things continued to improve and I started to be more interested in understanding this country and culture I was living in.  I knew so little about this place.  I began to learn and understand the history and saw how it still affects them today.  There is so much history here and while it isn't always pretty, there is a beauty and resilience that surrounds this culture that people over look at times.  

Winter finally gave way to spring (in May) and it was like overnight the sun returned and the trees were bursting with green.  Like the melting of the snow and the blooming of spring, the Lord had slowly been changing and melting my heart.  I began to find beauty in the smallest things in the city.  I began embracing all the things that used to frustrate me and while I was still being rejected by people when asking if they wanted to read the Bible, I wasn't so defeated by that anymore and I would just pick up and move forward.  I was still praying for one girl to disciple and there would be two who would last a short time, but there would soon be one who I would be able to disciple long term.

Out of the past 12 months there is one week that stands out the most.  One incredible and life changing week.  I was invited, along with 2 other people i work with, to help with an english camp in a small city in Siberia. Leading up to this week I had a feeling that something big might happen and my vague prayer had been for the Lord to show me something that week.  After a surprisingly fun 24 hour train ride, a day in a large city and a 4 hour drive we made it to the city we would be working in.  This is also where I saw firsthand the beauty of the Russian countryside.  That was also the coldest summer camp that I had ever been to and the mosquitoes were on a plague scale.  The camp sat on a river (hence the mosquitoes) and had some of the most beautiful sunsets I'd ever seen.  I was fortunate to have a great class and spent time with some great people and most importantly shared freely and unashamedly about God with theses people.  It was this week that the Lord confirmed my calling in life and over the remaining summer I would see it reconfirmed and see the Lord work in ways I never would have imagined.  The Lord had to let me struggle for that first year for me to see and know His plan for me (as of Now, God can change my plan if he wants) in terms of the next step.

The first few months I felt like I was just hitting a wall and then all of a sudden the wall came crashing down.  There were still hurdles to face during 2013 but overall those 12 months were a time of growth, enjoyment, and discovering new things about this city and ways to reach it.  The biggest thing I learned in that year was that sometimes the Lord will ask us to do something and we can say 'yes' and He will then close that door;  because sometimes all He really wants is to know if we are willing.