It's hard to believe that I have been here for almost two weeks! I am still learning so much, and I have grown a ton already.
On Saturday, we went to the park where we had a picnic and got to hang out with 40ish Russian students that we had met throughout the week. It was really windy. It was interesting to talk with some of them. While we were there, a guy I was talking noticed my tattoo. (If you didn't know I had a tattoo....well, now you do. Whoops.) He asked me what it meant, and through telling him about why I got it (my mom, Ecclesiastes 3:11, etc.) I got to share the gospel with him! So cool. I wouldn't have ever thought that a relatively small tattoo on my wrist could be used to tell someone the greatest news of all time. Our God is big.
Sunday, we went to church. Almost the entire service was in English, which was really refreshing. It's a small church, maybe 50 members or so, but I can't explain how encouraging it was to see that there are other believers in this city, that will be here even after we are gone. Sunday afternoon, we went to Ismaylava, which is the Moscow market to buy Russian souvenirs and such. The only thing I have in my schema to compare it to is buying things at street stands in Mexico. You can bargin with these people like crazy. While we were there, we had Shashleek, which is like a Russian shishkabob that comes with a huge hunk of yummy bread. I had chicken, but other people on our team had pork and lamb too. Shashleek has been my favorite food here so far. We had a good time at Ismaylava, and I think we are planning to go back this weekend. Sunday night we played a game at the hostle that was really entertaining. I also fell off of a bunk bed all the way to my knees because of my pride. Brent will probably never let me live that one down, considering he tried to help me but I wanted to do it myself...annnnyyyway.
Monday, we spent most of our day at the Architecture school. We had some good conversation with some guys that I think some of our team is planning to meet with tomorrow and Friday. Most students are in the middle of their end of semester exams, and it is so encouraging that they are still wanting to meet with us. God is faithful. We finished up Monday with Bible study.
Yesterday, we went back to the humanitarian university. The feel is a bit different there, because we are not allowed to actually get on campus or into their school. Since we can't, we just have to hang out near the school at coffee shops or restaurants and look for people who we think might be students. Our conversations always start with "Do you speak English?". Many of the students do. Yesterday, we seemed to have a hard time finding people. My ministry team was split up and I was with Steven and Brian. We walked into Starbucks, I paid $7 for a small iced latte (Ridiculous, I know. Hey dad, they don't take giftcards here. Disappointing, I know. However, they do sell giftcards here, but the guy told me they can only take them if they are loaded with rubles, not American dollars...I don't get it?) I saw a guy sitting by himself, and I felt like the guys needed to talk to him. I went and sat at a table nearby and prayed for them and their conversation as it happened. About 15 minutes in, I found that I didn't know what to pray for anymore, since I didn't know the direction their conversation was headed. I decided to open my Bible and just begin reading and praying scripture over them. I randomly ended up in Matthew, and I was so encouraged when I came across Matthew 6:8, which says, "...for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." The reality is, the Lord knew exactly what they needed right then in their conversation, even if I didn't. The same situation happened later in a restaurant. I ended up reading all of Matthew yesterday, which was pretty encouraging. I found that the reality of Jesus and the cross and the resurrection is something that I often take for granted. I have known and believed it for so long that, even being here and being conscious of why we are here, I forget the power of it and that people really don't know about the freedom it gives. I was encouraged yesterday.
Today, I woke up not feeling great. I was literally sitting on my springy mattress in my pajamas thinking, "There is no way I can do this today." I was tired and a little cranky from not sleeping well. The whole time until I got to the humanitarian school, I was just praying that the Lord would fill me and give me a good attitude as I tried to have conversations with students. We started at McDonalds. We got coffee, made a plan, and then tried to get creamer for our coffee. The lady working and I were having a complete miscommunication. At first she thought I was asking for another coffee, then she offered me marozhna razhok (an ice cream cone) and then she tried to give me a child's meal milk carton. I ended up giving up because I don't think she had a clue what I was talking about. I had a good laugh about it though AND I drank my coffee completely black with a little sugar. (Dad, I hope you are proud. :)) Me and Laura (one of my new besties) approached a girl sitting by herself. We asked if she spoke English, and she told us she was actually an English teacher and invited us to sit down. We were a little unsure about how long we should continue our conversation since she wasn't a student. However, the more we talked with her, the better our conversation got. We had been talking for a little bit about her job, Russia, America, her students, etc., when literally the Holy Spirit just took over. As soon as the conversation lulled a little, I just asked her what she thought the meaning of life was. (If you know me, you know that this probably isn't a likely thing for me to ask someone that I had just met 30 minutes before.) She told us that she didn't really know, and then asked us what we thought. OH MY GOSH!!! I seriously could have peed my pants. Normally, people aren't so open to ask us what we think, so this was awesome. We ended up finding out that she definitely believes there is a God, and she asked us things about why people have hard times and why some things are harder than others. Both Laura and I both ended up getting to share part of our testimonies, and we got to share the gospel with her! We got to give and look over with her a Russian/English Knowing God Personally book. If you are familiar with this, you know that at the end there is a circle on the left/right (aka: point of decision). She told us that she didn't know where she was, but that she would love to look and read over it and talk with us more about it. We are going to meet with her either tomorrow or Friday. I am so excited. It's so encouraging/refreshing to see that, even though it doesn't always seem to go the way we think it should, what the Lord has called us to here matters and that people really do need to know this good news. I'm keep finding myself so humbled that He would choose sinful, broken McCall to carry His message. I'll keep you posted on what happens in the rest of our time with this girl.
Now for some cultural observations:
Girls/Women/Elderly women often wear see through shirts. Bras are optional. I am so glad this isn't a trend in America!!!
Lots of people don't wear deodorant.
The metro has awesome pasteries. (Thank you Luke Williams for telling us!)
Still no smiling on the metro.
There are piegons EVERYWHERE. They freak me out and they are really brave little things.
The piegons are about the size of Berkley. FREAKY.
Everyone here smokes cigarettes like crazy.
I'm pretty sure Americans are the only people on the earth who say Moscow like "moss-cow". Everywhere else, it's called "moss-cowe" (rhyming with stow, row, go).
CACTUS WAAAATTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR! gimmegimmegimmegimme. We don't know what it really is, but I've never had anything like it. It's really yummy. Similiar to lemonade but not really at all. Dad, Marlee, and McLane, I'm going to try to bring you some! I think you would like it. :)
The weather is so beautiful!
I'll try to write more often. Things are so busy here that it's hard to find the time! I love each of you dearly and look forward to sharing more stories in detail with you when I get home. Thanks for all of your support!!
On Saturday, we went to the park where we had a picnic and got to hang out with 40ish Russian students that we had met throughout the week. It was really windy. It was interesting to talk with some of them. While we were there, a guy I was talking noticed my tattoo. (If you didn't know I had a tattoo....well, now you do. Whoops.) He asked me what it meant, and through telling him about why I got it (my mom, Ecclesiastes 3:11, etc.) I got to share the gospel with him! So cool. I wouldn't have ever thought that a relatively small tattoo on my wrist could be used to tell someone the greatest news of all time. Our God is big.
Sunday, we went to church. Almost the entire service was in English, which was really refreshing. It's a small church, maybe 50 members or so, but I can't explain how encouraging it was to see that there are other believers in this city, that will be here even after we are gone. Sunday afternoon, we went to Ismaylava, which is the Moscow market to buy Russian souvenirs and such. The only thing I have in my schema to compare it to is buying things at street stands in Mexico. You can bargin with these people like crazy. While we were there, we had Shashleek, which is like a Russian shishkabob that comes with a huge hunk of yummy bread. I had chicken, but other people on our team had pork and lamb too. Shashleek has been my favorite food here so far. We had a good time at Ismaylava, and I think we are planning to go back this weekend. Sunday night we played a game at the hostle that was really entertaining. I also fell off of a bunk bed all the way to my knees because of my pride. Brent will probably never let me live that one down, considering he tried to help me but I wanted to do it myself...annnnyyyway.
Monday, we spent most of our day at the Architecture school. We had some good conversation with some guys that I think some of our team is planning to meet with tomorrow and Friday. Most students are in the middle of their end of semester exams, and it is so encouraging that they are still wanting to meet with us. God is faithful. We finished up Monday with Bible study.
Yesterday, we went back to the humanitarian university. The feel is a bit different there, because we are not allowed to actually get on campus or into their school. Since we can't, we just have to hang out near the school at coffee shops or restaurants and look for people who we think might be students. Our conversations always start with "Do you speak English?". Many of the students do. Yesterday, we seemed to have a hard time finding people. My ministry team was split up and I was with Steven and Brian. We walked into Starbucks, I paid $7 for a small iced latte (Ridiculous, I know. Hey dad, they don't take giftcards here. Disappointing, I know. However, they do sell giftcards here, but the guy told me they can only take them if they are loaded with rubles, not American dollars...I don't get it?) I saw a guy sitting by himself, and I felt like the guys needed to talk to him. I went and sat at a table nearby and prayed for them and their conversation as it happened. About 15 minutes in, I found that I didn't know what to pray for anymore, since I didn't know the direction their conversation was headed. I decided to open my Bible and just begin reading and praying scripture over them. I randomly ended up in Matthew, and I was so encouraged when I came across Matthew 6:8, which says, "...for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." The reality is, the Lord knew exactly what they needed right then in their conversation, even if I didn't. The same situation happened later in a restaurant. I ended up reading all of Matthew yesterday, which was pretty encouraging. I found that the reality of Jesus and the cross and the resurrection is something that I often take for granted. I have known and believed it for so long that, even being here and being conscious of why we are here, I forget the power of it and that people really don't know about the freedom it gives. I was encouraged yesterday.
Today, I woke up not feeling great. I was literally sitting on my springy mattress in my pajamas thinking, "There is no way I can do this today." I was tired and a little cranky from not sleeping well. The whole time until I got to the humanitarian school, I was just praying that the Lord would fill me and give me a good attitude as I tried to have conversations with students. We started at McDonalds. We got coffee, made a plan, and then tried to get creamer for our coffee. The lady working and I were having a complete miscommunication. At first she thought I was asking for another coffee, then she offered me marozhna razhok (an ice cream cone) and then she tried to give me a child's meal milk carton. I ended up giving up because I don't think she had a clue what I was talking about. I had a good laugh about it though AND I drank my coffee completely black with a little sugar. (Dad, I hope you are proud. :)) Me and Laura (one of my new besties) approached a girl sitting by herself. We asked if she spoke English, and she told us she was actually an English teacher and invited us to sit down. We were a little unsure about how long we should continue our conversation since she wasn't a student. However, the more we talked with her, the better our conversation got. We had been talking for a little bit about her job, Russia, America, her students, etc., when literally the Holy Spirit just took over. As soon as the conversation lulled a little, I just asked her what she thought the meaning of life was. (If you know me, you know that this probably isn't a likely thing for me to ask someone that I had just met 30 minutes before.) She told us that she didn't really know, and then asked us what we thought. OH MY GOSH!!! I seriously could have peed my pants. Normally, people aren't so open to ask us what we think, so this was awesome. We ended up finding out that she definitely believes there is a God, and she asked us things about why people have hard times and why some things are harder than others. Both Laura and I both ended up getting to share part of our testimonies, and we got to share the gospel with her! We got to give and look over with her a Russian/English Knowing God Personally book. If you are familiar with this, you know that at the end there is a circle on the left/right (aka: point of decision). She told us that she didn't know where she was, but that she would love to look and read over it and talk with us more about it. We are going to meet with her either tomorrow or Friday. I am so excited. It's so encouraging/refreshing to see that, even though it doesn't always seem to go the way we think it should, what the Lord has called us to here matters and that people really do need to know this good news. I'm keep finding myself so humbled that He would choose sinful, broken McCall to carry His message. I'll keep you posted on what happens in the rest of our time with this girl.
Now for some cultural observations:
Girls/Women/Elderly women often wear see through shirts. Bras are optional. I am so glad this isn't a trend in America!!!
Lots of people don't wear deodorant.
The metro has awesome pasteries. (Thank you Luke Williams for telling us!)
Still no smiling on the metro.
There are piegons EVERYWHERE. They freak me out and they are really brave little things.
The piegons are about the size of Berkley. FREAKY.
Everyone here smokes cigarettes like crazy.
I'm pretty sure Americans are the only people on the earth who say Moscow like "moss-cow". Everywhere else, it's called "moss-cowe" (rhyming with stow, row, go).
CACTUS WAAAATTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR! gimmegimmegimmegimme. We don't know what it really is, but I've never had anything like it. It's really yummy. Similiar to lemonade but not really at all. Dad, Marlee, and McLane, I'm going to try to bring you some! I think you would like it. :)
The weather is so beautiful!
I'll try to write more often. Things are so busy here that it's hard to find the time! I love each of you dearly and look forward to sharing more stories in detail with you when I get home. Thanks for all of your support!!
-m.
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"
-Matt. 16:24-26
McCall, Thanks so much for sharing all of this! It's so exciting to see how the Lord is working in and through y'all!!! I'm praying for your time with the English teacher!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your updates! I wish I was there...
ReplyDelete