The Last 3 Weeks

Besides adding a baby to the family, Curt has been extremely busy on campus. Since starting school, the staff team have:

• set up tables on campus for a week to make themselves known
• held a weekly meeting every Wednesday night to share with students they met about what Lifelines is
  
• met several times with our catalyst, or leadership team, to really start the balls rolling
• held several different outdoors events to take students on
• started Friday fun, where we do something different every Friday that students can bring their friends to
• started their weekly meetings together. The staff team meets everyday, Tues.-Fri., to pray and strategize

So, Curt is gone every morning by 8:30. He takes the time after the meetings to prepare for the day, whether that's shopping for food for the next event, gathering/organizing equipment for an outing, etc. He's had meetings either in the evenings or afternoons with students almost daily. This last week was exhausting as he led almost everything. Wednesday night he led a storying time with students (some believers, some unbelievers) and talked about truth and grace. Thursday night I helped lead a meeting in which I did the story of Philip and the Ethiopian for the devotional. Friday, Curt took students out bouldering for Friday fun. Saturday, he led the outing and took a group climbing for the day. Sunday he was beat!
Continue to pray for him as he will now be following up with some students we took paint-balling. Some of them indicated they were interested in having a relationship with God. They are all RA's in the same hall and a lot of his focus will be on that hall (where 1/3 of the freshmen live!). He will also start attending the weekly meeting of Prism, the Gay/Lesbian/bisexual group on campus. Pray for inroads with them. Thanks!

School Has Begun

August 24th. My due date and the day school starts at NAU. We had staff meetings all last week and are now implementing strategies we felt like the Lord gave us. Curt has been and will continue to be on campus all week. The goal of this time is not just to meet students but we are praying that the Lord will lead us to specific students who catch the vision of reaching the unchurched among them using the outdoors. Curt has met several students already who have said, "This is awesome. It's exactly what I'm looking for. A way to reach out among my community in a way that people will want to come." It's been really exciting for him to see the Lord answer prayers in that respect.

Every Wednesday night for the next 3 weeks, we will hold a time where these students can come and eat and we will cast the vision of what we would love to see happen. Then they can chose if they want to be involved and to what extent. We will continue to be on campus for the next two weeks doing what Curt has been doing above. It seems a little tedious but it's been awesome to see who the Lord is bringing! So, pray with us for these things!

This Week

August 13th. The day we (moreso, Curt) have been waiting for. It's the day we officially begin on campus. Meetings will start and we will begin planning with our staff team for the year. Students are returning (how did summer already end??) and we are getting back into the mindset of being involved on campus.

We began homeschooling the girls about a month ago to try to get into the groove while Curt was home to help. It's been a good month and I feel like we have a better handle on what we're doing.

Our most exciting, recent news is the Lifelines' event we got to help out with yesterday (pics to come). We helped take out 24 students on a paintball trip. We took along Turi and Bitsu who helped out with cleaning equipment and such inbetween games and it was fun to see them involved with the students.

They played two different games and then took a break where they began processing different questions that were thrown out to them. For example, the first game was every man for himself. We asked things like, "What does it mean to be alone? How did you feel being out for only yourself as oppossed to the second game where you were on teams?" These lead to good discussion and eventually we talked about how you feel being isolated in life and how God can play a role in that area. We had seven students who indicated that they want to know more about God or talk with us more about spiritual things. It was fun to actually be a part of something we've been training about doing for awhile.

Pray for us as we start up this week. Also, pray for us as we feel it's time to begin the home group we've been praying about. Thanks!

Home Group

We have wanted to start a storying home group since we've moved back to the States. Well, we finally have. Granted it is just our family for now but we actually have other people interested in attending!

What has been so fun has been watching the girls loving the stories. That is A LOT of fun and I feel like I'm back on the field. I usually tell the story (we have done Creation, The Fall, Cain and Abel and Noah) and then I ask the girls if they can retell it. Sometimes they can right away and sometimes I have to tell it again. Usually Turi retells it in English and then Bitsu, with Turi's help, retells it in their native tongue. It is a lot of fun to watch the girls' interest and watch them learn the story. They love attending church.

Please pray for some people who have either expressed an interest in attending our home group, expressed an interest in spiritual things or we are getting to know pretty well.

Congrats, Curt!

Thank you for praying for Curt. He spent a very stressful week preparing for his climbing exam. It was 2 full days from 8-5 out on the rock. He was asked to do certain things and watched by the judge. Any mistakes that were made were noted. He was only allowed to make 3 minor mistakes. A 4th would mean failing. A major mistake (forgetting your helmet, doing a knot wrong) was an automatic fail. It was a very stressful time for him, as you can imagine. Day 2 was taking out a group of clients (just volunteers) and actually guiding the whole day, again being watched by a judge. He passed with only one mark against him for his inexperience. We were all praying for him like mad and are so glad that it's over!
This was a big "to-do" for the summer. Now Curt is licensed to take out anyone and can lead climbing groups with Lifelines. It's a big plus for the ministry.
Stuff starts up with school about mid-August so we will spend the rest of the summer starting homeschooling the girls and preparing for the baby. Hopefully, once August hits, we will be ready to roll!

Training in CO

Training in CO was fantastic. The girls were able to amuse themselves all day (there were lakes, swings, lots of land, animals to watch, etc.) and Curt and I were able to attend all the meetings or switch off when the girls needed us. We spent everyday from 9-9 either in a session or out applying what we were learning. Thanks so much for praying. It was very much what we needed.
We spent two weeks at a camp which is the annual location for Lifelines Rocky Mountain Summer Project. Summer projects with CCC give us staff the opportunity to interact 24/7 with students and engage them in growth opportunities. My times on summer projects as a student were amazing summers of growth.
We spent the two weeks getting volumes of the ministry principles of Lifelines. So much of our personal ministry philosophy is also shared by Lifelines as a whole. They place such a high priority in engaging the unchurched population and come up with ways and strategies to do that. Someone who has never opened a Bible will be a lot more likely to come to a rock climbing day than a Bible study. And Lifelines outdoor programs are much more than just the physical aspect. There is always a part in the day where the staff sit down with all the students and talk through life issues. We are very upfront that we engage the whole person: mental, physical, emotional and spiritual and students who have just spent the whole day with us are very willing to do that. We are excited to actually try it and see how Bible storying might fit into it all.

A Week of Training

We leave tomorrow for a week of training in CO. It's such a great opportunity and we are glad that we'll get to be around for it. A week before the Lifeline's summer project begins, the staff gather and are either introduced or help train the new staff in Lifeline's strategy. We will get to be around for that week of learning. I'm not exactly sure what's ahead but I know that the older staff will lead us through meetings and activities that will train us and then everyone else will then be joined by students and will implement the same strategies for the rest of the summer.
For the last month, we have been continuing to settle in (cleaning out the yard which hasn't been touched in years, buying furniture off Craigslist, etc.) and Curt has been able to take a climbing certification class. This is a huge blessing because, once he passes an exam, he will be able to lead climbing trips with students in the fall. This adds one more thing that Lifelines has to offer at NAU and can attract more students. Although this may sound like fun, Curt has been overwhelmed with work. The class was extremely stressful and he was gone for 3 days from 6:30am-7:00pm. He was blown away by the amount of knowledge needed and will spend the next month after we return from CO "cramming" for his exam.
Pray for us over the next week as we travel with the girls (who are super-excited to go) and as we spend most of our days in meetings. Pray that the girls would do well as they play by themselves or with the babysitter who has been hired and that we would get good times together as a family. Pray that Curt and I would really soak up what the staff have to teach us. Thanks!

So, we're here. We moved out to AZ and finally found a house (see pic), which seems to be working out great for us. The girls love it. We spent about 2 weeks moving in (which still is not finished) and had a week of meetings with our new team (see other pic. We are still waiting on one couple and a single girl to join us in late summer). We had two days where the team evaluated the old year, which was good for Curt and I to get caught up a little. And then two days of planning for the new year to come. It was a really good time of taking the box and blowing it apart. We asked questions like, "What can we do more effectively? What are our priorities? How can we keep our students focused on actually being out among the unchurched and trying to reach them?". We came up with some really good values that we want to hold onto as a team. One of those was "Being with the lost!". From that stemmed ideas about how to train our students and be involved in their life but not take up all of their time so that they have no time for ministry. What Curt and I both had a hard time with in college was that we became Christians and then were so involved in all the activities that we never spent time with unbelievers. We want to see the students out there and excited!
The team agreed to try out storying among the students and want to dedicate about 3 months of the leaderships' meeting times to just storying. If they are trained in it and like it, they can take it to their ministry hubs (where they are pouring into; i.e. their sorority).
We will be leaving in a couple of weeks to go to CO. We will be spending a week there with other staff and students learning more about Lifelines; their values, goals and mission. Lifelines is a part of Campus Crusade for Christ that uses the outdoors to form relationships with students. The staff also always debrief the students they take out after their experiences, which of course leads to spiritual topics. The more we learn, the more excited we are getting. Please pray for us as we travel to CO and spend time getting educated!

And So We're Gone

We got back into the States on September 8th and have been raising support ever since. We set a goal and probably reached about 50% of that. We simply dropped the goal level and say we have 100% :). We think it should do us well to live on.
As you can see, we have another blog (thehanoverfamily.blogspot.com) where you can be updated about the family. We have traveled to about half of the States in our support raising. We left for Ethiopia on March 19th and picked up our three girls we adopted. We have been back since the 28th of March. We just recently drove out to AZ for our new assignment in Flagstaff. We just found a house and will be moving in shortly. Although staying in America wasn't our first plan and our hearts are still overseas, recently there has been a small window into God's plan. Our youngest has shown some signs of illness through all her medical testing and some of her meds require us to be here for 9 months. God knew all along.
We will be working at NAU (Nothern Arizona University), the third largest university in AZ measuring in at about 18,000 students. A large part of that student population is Native Americans, as we are right outside a Native American reservation. The town consists of Native Americans, whites and hispanics as it's majority, which I think is a great mix. It is a huge tourist town because it is the closest "city" to the Grand Canyon and I think half of the buildings are hotels. It comes in around 80,000 in population.
We have joined up with the team here of 2 other couples, one single guy and a single girl. They are a ministry underneath CCC called Lifelines. Lifelines uses the outdoors to draw students out and then uses the adventures they take them on to bring in spiritual topics. The ministry at NAU is relatively new and just starting to slowly take off. They are excited about the storying aspect that we bring. Their mentality seems to be "if it works, we'll do it". Perfect.

Storying Takes Off

And it did. We watched how one group began to grow and interact through the stories they themselves were crafting (taking stories from a text and turning it oral, usually in another language).
One day we took the stories we had worked on and went to a new village. There, one lady told the story of Creation. People kind of sat back, listened, joked, didn't interact with it much. We were disappointed. The next day we got together again and were planning just to move on. The leader jumped in and asked if anyone could re-tell the story from yesterday. One guy jumped up and told it almost word for word. Then the group began sharing about how almost each of them had retold the story to a neighbor, friend, co-worker, etc. We were amazed. These are people who are persecuted. People don't talk with them because of their faith. And yet they were sharing stories from God's word. It was awesome.
We spent almost our whole 3 months traveling in and out, helping to continue train and encourage nationals in Bible storying. I think what was most encouraging was how well they got it. I felt good about leaving because they knew almost everything I knew. They could do this and didn't need us. We, of course, would've been tempted to stay, to keep guiding. But I truly believe the God wanted us out. He wanted this to be an insiders movement, where it doesn't look like it comes from the foreigners. Although leaving was really, really sad, we felt confident that God moved us on.

A New Beginning

The first night at Zoya's was a small piece of heaven. For the first time since we moved to this village, I didn't worry about someone banging on our door at night or wanting to throw us out. We are out of reach of the family and it was so peaceful. Zoya made dinner for us and we sat in our room and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Lots of stuff had been sold, everything had been moved, the money had been collected. I went back to our old house a few days later and it was completely different. They had already re-white washed, moved all of the rooms around and were settled in. It was bittersweet to realize we weren't missed and there were no regrets with throwing us out even though we ourselves were glad to be gone.
And then the ministry began. We had talked with the Ragu (*code name we gave the people group) pastor we knew two weeks earlier about working in the far off villages with the two groups that were struggling. These two groups were small; believers who were meeting together weekly with no one to lead them. They had a Bible but, again, they are oral so they wouldn't turn to printed literature for information. They were being persecuted by their villages and one village even tried to throw them all out! They fought back and were allowed to stay.
We traveled south making plans to see them. We were heading toward the border and therefore required special documents to stay there. We applied for them at the right office and they informed us it would be 10 days until they were ready. 10 days! We didn't have 10 days! Our time was ticking away as it was. So, we did what every other respectable person would. We took the back, dirt roads that the police didn't monitor to the villages and hid out in a house.
What an amazing time those 2 months were! We met with some women to teach them everything we knew about Bible storying. We taught them how to sit down with the Russian text and walk through a story and turn it into an Ragu* orally told story.
They were incredible. They caught on within hours. 3 of them would stick their heads together over text and come out with a wonderful story. I would guide them in asking questions like, "Why did you include that detail? Is it important for Ragu people? Will a general audience understand the terms you've used in this story?". They were adamant about not including any Russian words, which I was glad about, and were very good on making sure the story was accurate.
They gave of their time in the midst of running a house and having small children. They took the stories and shared them with the group. The head guy was thrilled and not threatened at all, which was a huge blessing. Everyone in the group learned the story and were told to tell it to others and they each came back with stories about when they did. It was so exciting to watch storying take off.

The Move

I went to see my language helper sometime in the next few days and told her the story. It was great to see her after being gone so long. She patted my shoulder, gave me tea, told me not to cry and offered some suggestions. We could move into a house that was for rent across the street. But we didn't have any furniture. Our house had come completely furnished, with mattresses and all. Then she offered a room in her home. She said her one daughter who normally would be home for the summer was doing an internship at school and wouldn't be around. It would just be her all summer. Relief flooded over me. A place to live.
We told S, the owner's sister, that we weren't leaving until she paid us the money she owed us (she had borrowed $300 from us) and the rent money we had already paid. These were high sums but she agreed. She had been in the hospital with her new baby and had just arrived back home.
With her arrival came the whole family. The tradition when someone has a new baby is that the entire family, from both sides, comes over or in from another village and throws a party. That means 3 days after us arriving, our house was packed with drunk people wanting to see the baby, helping get the house setup for the baby, cooking or just making a mess and a lot of noise. It was not a pretty scene for us who were trying to move things out piece by piece or trying to catch some sleep when they were hanging a clothesline in the room next door at midnight.
Curt and I finally decided that this was our final sign from the Lord that He did not want us to stay. Our visa only gave us three months. Campus Crusade only gave us three months. We didn't have a place to live.
So, we began selling everything. All the stuff that we had been carefully buying and setting up just months earlier was getting sold. Buckets, containers, our stove, fridge, firewood bought for the coming winter, etc. Piece by piece we tried to sell as much as we could.
Living in that house was tough. The couple never apologized or even tried to help with anything. It seemed totally normal that they should come in and take over. So, we lived with anger and stress for a week and a half. Finally, the families left and it became quieter but we still had to deal with things like them lighting the house stove in June until it was about 100 degrees inside to wash the baby. They have lots of superstitions and one is that a baby should never be cold or chilly. When the baby needed a bath, the whole house had to be hot. Siberian houses maintain their heat and we sweat the whole night.
Finally, they got us our money, bought a few things off of us (thankfully they also bought the firewood and we didn't have to move 2 dump trucks in our CRV) and after multiple trips to Zoya's, we were out. We were so glad to be done with that. Zoya had a good sized shed where we could store things that hadn't been sold and she was so welcoming. If there wasn't Zoya, we would be lost. The Lord knew what He was doing when He introduced us.

A Break In the Story

On February 13th, a judge in Ethiopia ruled in our favor and legally signed our girls over to us. They are now ours. We just have to go and get them. We have our Embassy date! Please pray with us that the rest of the details would come together. We will be traveling in mid-March. We will keep you updated. Here they are! Turism, Turi, is 8 and is the one in the back. The next biggest is Bitsuanit, or Bitsu, and she is 7. The little one is Tihitina, or Tihi, and she is 5.

Our Return

Our trip out to train other missionaries went well. It was actually quite fun. The people group that they were among was related to ours so some of them could understand when I spoke our people group's language. It was instant love. They couldn't believe I would take the time to learn a local language. Theirs was dying out and they were trying to fight hard to make sure it stayed around. The missionaries, who were fluent in Russian, were amazed at how we were received and said, as we were leaving, "We have decided to learn their native language. We can't believe what a difference it makes!".
We went to a conference in Poland and onto the States. As we were preparing to fly back out, our passports returned with our new visas. On them was stamped the new law: only allowed to stay 3 months out of every 6. We were so sure that we would fly under the radar. What were we going to do now? How can you only live in a country 6 months out of the year? Where would you go the rest of the time?
We didn't have time to worry about it. We were flying out the next day. So, we flew to a country in Central Asia for a training we had. Some of our supervisors were there and we hadn't connected with them for quite some time. We all got to sit down, catch up and enjoy our time together. Then they dropped the bomb. Campus Crusade for Christ was uncomfortable with our placement. We were so far out that their liability structures couldn't cover us if something did happen. They gave us 3 more months to stay in the country. We began facing the question: should we stay with Crusade or join another organization that would allow us to stay?
We traveled back to Russia. We were exhausted and just wanted to crash. We had been traveling for almost 2 months in 4 countries. We flew into Siberia and as planned our friend from our region arrived with our car. He was one of the national believers from the city. We all drove back down together. It was a wonderful drive where our friend, G, began sharing about the difficulties they were having of working with some groups of believers in villages that were so far out. We talked about it a lot and began to wonder if God was planning something for us in this.
We dropped him off at his house in the city, picked up our cat and drove the last 3 hours home. We arrived and the house was still standing although there was an extra car parked in our yard that looked like it was there permanently. We entered the house and found S's (the owner's sister) husband asleep and drunk in our bed. The whole house was different. All of S's stuff (new furniture, kitchen things, etc.) were all moved into the house. Our stuff was pushed out of the way. Our office room was now a bedroom. Our living room was packed with their things and all the stuff we left in there was gone. We went and forced S's husband out of the bed and demanded to know what was going on. He just stumbled out.
We panicked. Why was all their stuff here? S was in the hospital and just gave birth to a baby 2 days before. How long were they planning to stay?
Finally, S's husband stumbled back in and explained they lived there now and we had to move out. Excuse me? I just flew all the way back from America to find I don't have a place to live? I was livid and told him that he was wrong. He would have to find someone else to live. He left. He returned with A's dad, who was actually sober. He also explained that they lived here now and they had a baby to take care of and that was that. We had to move. We were crushed. All this work that we put into this place. Our home. Where were we going to go?
We called A. She said there had been a big fight and she didn't want them living there but there was nothing she could do. She was in the city for the summer studying and her family wasn't talking to her. Sorry.
Sorry? We now had no advocate. The whole family wanted us out. We had no contract or documents to go to the administration with. And they were asking how long it would take us to leave. S's husband didn't want to work and this house was free. They were moving to the very place they promised they would never want, mainly because there was no work to be had in our village.
The emotions are indescribable. Exhaustion. Panic. Dread thinking of the amount of work it would take to move us. We had appliances like a stove and refrigerator. We had just ordered all of our wood for the winter that was sitting in our yard. Plus all of our stuff. And we still had the question, "Where were we to go?".

March to April to May to June

We had plans to leave mid-March. We had some missionaries working with a nearby people group that heard about what we were doing and wanted us to train them. We had a conference to attend. We were flying back to the States for a visa run and I (Janna) was in a wedding. And finally we had a storying training in a nearby country after we left the States. We were looking forward to the break. As we were leaving, things began to turn bad. A's dad began coming over daily demanding the house. I began locking him out and not answering the door when he appeared. His wife began coming over and telling us she didn't want us to leave but he couldn't live with her anymore either. She had 6 kids at home and he was always drunk. I understood her predicament but didn't know how to help. We had a home study worker fly in from Germany to conduct our home study for our adoption that we had just begun working on. We couldn't move now! This was our listed address. We tried to explain that but I'm not sure anyone understood.
We left the area with mixed emotions. We were connected well with the community and language had progressed so that I felt comfortable. We made friends and were known. Just before we left, I was on my way to the store and three ladies I knew were walking the other way on their way to a birthday party. They invited me so I went and sat with 10 other women for 2 hours while they got drunker and drunker. It was not so bad. Better than the birthday parties with men being drunk at least. Once their inhibitions were down, they began confronting me on why I was really in the village. I began to see their true fears as they asked if I was part of a religious cult and was trying to change their children. The same fears, things they have been fed from Communism. I assured them over and over that we were not part of some religious cult, feeling guilty because according to them, Protestantism is a religious cult.
So, the day came for leaving. We said our good-byes. Assured everyone that we would be back June 1st, handed over the house keys to A with assurances that no one but her, her husband, S and her husband were ever going to sleep there, packed up what we wanted, put the cat in the car and drove off into the sunset...
I had a sneaking suspicion that things would not be the same when I returned. Boy, was that an understatement.

Time Passes

And so time passed. January became February and February became March. My days were spent going over to Zoya's for the afternoons and spending the rest of the day surviving: pumping water, dumping water, cooking, cleaning, loading the stove, you know. I grew to be better and better friends with Zoya and her family. Once people learned that we were connected with them, they breathed a sigh of relief. They were a well liked and respected family and people finally felt like they could call us their own. Most of the store owners now knew me and we would chat when I would stop in. Most remarked that they couldn't believe I was speaking their language and when they found out I was foreign, it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, although they don't have sliced bread. We began teaching English at a nearby village and everyone loved that. They felt like we had a legitimate job and were doing something worthwhile for the community.
But we were not without issues. We had the police, more like the FBI, following us everywhere. They visited our neighbors, the school we were working at, some of the shop owners asking about us. Why were we here? What did we say we were doing? The funniest question was to one of our neighbors: "We have seen them climbing that hill over there. Why are they climbing that hill?" Our neighbor responded that she had no idea and maybe they should ask us. We were using the hill for hiking and exercise purposes but I guess they thought we were spying on something...although there is nothing but the village for miles. We even got visited personally by the police. I forced them to find a translator from Russian to the local language. They thought that was SO weird and were slightly insulted (most police are Russian, not minorities). I guess we checked out because they never showed up again.
We continued having the owner's dad show up once a month, on average, to kick us out. We actually spent long hours cultivating relationships with the owner, her fiancee, and her sister and husband. They were the owners of the house and we didn't have a contract so we wanted to make sure that this place was ours. And we just loved hanging out with them. So, we would mention that their dad wanted us out again and they would roll their eyes assuring us that they didn't want the house and their dad was definitely not going to get it. But it was always stressful arguing with him. We soon learned that he was drunk almost daily now and his wife was kicking him out of the house and he needed a place to live. Of course A, the owner, and her sister, S, were livid. He would completely junk the place and have free reign to drink and they didn't want that in their house.
I was pulled into the village administration building (every single village has one. It's the base the police use to know what's going on everywhere) one day. The head lady was furious with me. Why hadn't I come by and declared we were living there? The regional police had come by demanding to know why there were Americans living in this village and she had no idea. I apologized over and over. When she was done scolding (as they love to do), she smiled, laughed that I only spoke the minority language and told me to come tomorrow with all my paperwork. I did and gave her the copies of the humanitarian aid organization we were partnering with and she felt like that would keep the police happy. We were the best of friends then.
In general, life was good.

The Lord looks down and life looks up

After New Years, life quieted down again with one small change that made all the difference. I had mentioned that I had been praying for a language helper. One day, our dog (or a dog we helped feed) began barking, signaling that someone was in our yard. I went out and saw an older lady standing outside my gate. I walked out and greeted her. She told me that she had made several things, that they were made very well, that she had gone to school to learn to sew and that I should come over and look at them and buy something. Well, who could say no to that! We took off immediately for her house. When we arrived, she put on tea and we drank and ate, as is custom, and then looked at the beautiful things she had made. There was a rug made out of 8 goats skins. Boots, just my size, made out of deer legs and hats made of out fox. I was delighted. I told her that I would return with my husband tomorrow and we would discuss it. As I was leaving, I turned to her and asked if she knew anyone who had an hour a day to help me with language. Her house was quiet. She told me her two daughters were both away during the year at college. Her husband spent the week at the farm taking care of the animals and she lived alone. She smiled at me and said she could teach me. I was thrilled although skeptical as to whether it would really work out.
Curt and I returned the next day and bought those boots that only very, very traditional people wear. From then on with those boots and my traditional hat, I was always asked, "Are you Ragu (code name for the people group we worked among) or Russian?" Do I have a third choice?
And again, I asked this woman, Zoya, about language lessons. She said she didn't know anything about teaching but I could come everyday and she and I would talk together. And she wasn't kidding. I called everyday before I went, she was always free and would rarely let me leave earlier than 2 hours together. She was insistent that I take her tapes, books, magazines and read and listen to Ragu constantly. She took me to the school library and helped me pick out books on a kindergarden level to begin reading. She collected magazines for friends so that I could look at pictures with Ragu descriptions. She was appalled when I said I would be taking Sundays off. She became my closest friend and the one thing I miss the most about our village.

New Years

Life began to settle down. We began to study language more seriously. December was a bit rough. A neighbor had said that she would meet with me everyday to study together. She didn't work and in the winter, there's not much to do. So, it seemed really possible. But days would pass where she wouldn't answer my phone calls. There's only so much talking you can do in the local shop when you don't speak very much. We didn't really want to get involved with A's dad's family and only knew one other family in town, whom I visited once a week. Days started to drag into weeks as we struggled to learn from the one small dictionary we had.
We prayed. "Lord, I don't know how to meet other people. You can't just walk up to people's doors. But I have no one to study with and language will not just come to me!".
Christmas arrived and with it a few boxes from home. I planned a special meal and we planned to spend the day inside, opening a few things from the boxes at a time and watching movies. However, the people we knew found out that it was a special holiday for us in America and, not wanting us to be alone, came over. For most of the day, we had guests. The special meal got split up, the gifts were opened with others around and shared (or stared at) and finally the house was quiet by 9. Alas...
But then the New Year rolled around and after months of feeling like no one cared whether we were around or not, life shifted. We were invited to 3 families' homes for New Years. New Years is the biggest holiday in Russia and is usually celebrated by a very special meal at midnight. Everyone spends the whole week preparing. They wash all their clothes and bedding, things that don't get washed the rest of the year! Rugs get put outside, homes get scoured and eventually a meal fit for a king is laid out. And they will eat off this meal for the rest of the week. Usually, only family will gather together for the celebration, they will watch "the ball drop" on tv (which is usually just some party in Moscow, even though Moscow is 3 hours ahead of us) and eat. Our neighbor, A's dad's family and A's aunt all invited us over that night. We were thrilled.
At 9, we went off to the "club" where everyone gathers, which is basically just a big room. There's usually someone from the village who volunteers to dj and no one dances but everyone just sits around and talks. There's no heat so it's awfully cold. It was so awkward as all the drunk people kept coming up to us wanting to talk and A's dad was drunk and kept telling us to get up and dance. We left at 10.
So, off we went to the neighbor at 11 and we ate a little early because she knew we had to be somewhere else. At 12:30 we went off to A's aunt's house, where everyone was already drunk but ate and talked with them. At 2, we headed off to A's dad's family's house where we assumed they were all already asleep so we headed home. Turns out they were waiting for us to come over until about 4. We felt horrible and spent much of the next day with them. But we had our fill of good food and what we were starting to consider friends!

The Winter Passed On...

Life began to settle down. We began to study language more seriously. December was a bit rough. A neighbor had said that she would meet with me everyday to study together. She didn't work and in the winter, there's not much to do. So, it seemed really possible. But days would pass where she wouldn't answer my phone calls. There's only so much talking you can do in the local shop when you don't speak very much. We didn't really want to get involved with A's dad's family and only knew one other family in town, whom I visited once a week. Days started to drag into weeks as we struggled to learn from the one small dictionary we had.
We prayed. "Lord, I don't know how to meet other people. You can't just walk up to people's doors. But I have no one to study with and language will not just come to me!".
Christmas arrived and with it a few boxes from home. I planned a special meal and we planned to spend the day inside, opening a few things from the boxes at a time and watching movies. However, the people we knew found out that it was a special holiday for us in America and, not wanting us to be alone, came over. For most of the day, we had guests. The special meal got split up, the gifts were opened with others around and shared (or stared at) and finally the house was quiet by 9. Alas...
But then the New Year rolled around and after months of feeling like no one cared whether we were around or not, life shifted. We were invited to 3 families' homes for New Years. New Years is the biggest holiday in Russia and is usually celebrated by a very special meal at midnight. Everyone spends the whole week preparing. They wash all their clothes and bedding, things that don't get washed the rest of the year! Rugs get put outside, homes get scoured and eventually a meal fit for a king is laid out. And they will eat off this meal for the rest of the week. Usually, only family will gather together for the celebration, they will watch "the ball drop" on tv (which is usually just some party in Moscow, even though Moscow is 3 hours ahead of us) and eat. Our neighbor, A's dad's family and A's aunt all invited us over that night. We were thrilled.
At 9, we went off to the "club" where everyone gathers, which is basically just a big room. There's usually someone from the village who volunteers to dj and no one dances but everyone just sits around and talks. There's no heat so it's awfully cold. It was so awkward as all the drunk people kept coming up to us wanting to talk and A's dad was drunk and kept telling us to get up and dance. We left at 10.
So, off we went to the neighbor at 11 and we ate a little early because she knew we had to be somewhere else. At 12:30 we went off to A's aunt's house, where everyone was already drunk but ate and talked with them. At 2, we headed off to A's dad's family's house where we assumed they were all already asleep so we headed home. Turns out they were waiting for us to come over until about 4. We felt horrible and spent much of the next day with them. But we had our fill of good food and what we were starting to consider friends!