Final Week and an early farewell. :(

Caitlin and a few of the little kids listening to Olga tell a bible story and then share the EvangaCube.

                                       
 Some of the little kids amazed by the puzzles that we brought for them. They each have such amazing stories!

 Even Caitlin and I had fun making the craft! :)

 Celebrating Kristen's birthday!! :) 

 Bubbles!!!! Even the little things give them such joy! 

 Yes...I tried Liver for the first time!! lol Not too bad...didnt eat all of it..but at least I tried it! :)

 Me and my girls, Sasha and Lusya :)

 Yes, had to go to McDonnalds once while in Russia! haha (note: to the right, the small red unbrella attached to the building, instead of a drive through, they have a walk-up! lol)

Our last nice meal out together, so yummy!! :) Caitlin, me and Olga.


Wow, Okay so another week has gone by. We went back and stayed at the second Orphanage "Nikolsky" this past week. Going into this week was really hard and challenging. Each one of us were just physically and mentally exhausted. We were also kind of over whelmed in not having the team from Texas with us anymore. We felt like we had to have as much stuff and activities for the kids as they did. But we quickly realized that what we would be doing this week is completely different, we were working on more personal relationships and having intentional conversations with the kids. We of course had things for them to do, but we definitely didn't have the number of people or the number of supplies that the team had. We had to just really pray and trust in the Lord to provide and open those doors. The four of us girls have been doing daily devotions together. This really has helped us stay focused on God and stay in the word. It has been very encouraging and helpful for all of us. The last week was a struggle for me because as you know I had gotten sick towards the end of last week and started taking antibiotics, it has gotten a little bit worse, so I am actually going to come home a few days early. I will only be missing three main days, they are going back to the Crisis Center Hospital Monday-Wednesday, and it was a mutual decision that it would be best for me not to go back there. It is a very clean environment, you have to wear booty to walk in and I don't walk to give the kids anything, and the sooner I get home the better I think. I have been here for 3 weeks now and it has been life changing for sure! I came into this trip thinking that I was coming over here to change the lives of these children, I believe that I have made an impact, but they have changed my life, that's for sure! I have learned so much, about myself, about God and about the world. I have learned how big God really is, I know you hear it all the time, in church and you are told that God know's each one of us, but when you actually go outside your city, your state, your country and go half way across the world and see all these people, it's amazing and hard to fathom that God really does know each and everyone of us and know's our thoughts and how many hairs are on our head! It's crazy!! It has been very eye opening, and I have realized that I don't have to go half way across the world to find sin in the world. I have been praying for the sin and the hurt in my own back yard. I of course have mixed feeling about going home, I of course miss everyone and miss modern conveniences  such as A/C, my bed and a  nice kitchen and modern medicine. But then I realize how much more of a special meaning my life verse has for me because it just says that God has a plan for my life, I have realized this week that if I had been born into a situation like these kids, I simply would not be here today! I am so blessed! So yes, I want to come home but I am also having a hard time leaving these kids behind knowing how they live and how little they actually have. 
I want to thank God first and foremost for making everything even possible, all the glory to him! I would also like to thank everyone back home that has been praying for me. I couldn't have done it with our you all! :)
Also, My team here!! Lydia, Caitlin and Kristen! They are awesome!!  I couldn't have done it with out them either. Lydia gave me a lot of piggy back rides everywhere and the girls were such emotional and spiritual support. I also, want to thank all the translators Yon, Alex, who where amazing. 
Anya, who shared her amazing testimony of growing up in an orphanage her self and finding her mom earlier this year. She is so sweet and fun and has a heart for the Lord. 
Last but not least, Olga, We love her and will miss her so much! She has such a heart for the Lord and for ALL the kids. Thank you for sharing that with us!!!


Dear God of the Universe,
Thank you for opening my eyes to your world. Thank you for being perfect in our weakness. Lord please change my life through this experience. Never let this feeling go away. Glory be to you.
Your loving Daughter,
Melissa 

Week Two-Texas Team!! God Is Great! :)

This is at the first orphanage and we are outside making friendship bracelets. I somehow became the resident friendship bracelet maker that day! lol but anyway, this is Deana(she is 12 years old and came to know Christ while we were there.) The team from Texas has known here for the past few years. Then there is me, and Caitlin and the that's Julie from the team from Texas.(Grand parkway Baptist)

We loved to do little simple activities with the kids such as coloring...and card games! They loved it! :)

 This was one of two of our rooms that all of us girls stayed in at the orphanage. It was just like the kids rooms.

 The kids loved the sidewalk chalk! They went to town with it...lol So pretty:)

 This was the hardest part....saying goodbye!

 Did some site seeing every now and then...Russia is sooo pretty! 

Peterhoff Fountains...kinda like gardens and fountains..we just walked around there for the afternoon.

 The most awesome ladies! The team from Texas! Left-Right:
Sarah,Heather,Susan,Kloe,Becca,Julie,Paige,Dee,Katie,Nana(Margret)

 One of our translators...Yon, He has such an amazing testimony and such a heart for the Lord and such a heart for serving and loving these kids! We loved him! It's so great! :)

 Caitlin, Anya and Kristen out my the fire helping the kids roast marsh mellows! lol So fun! The kids loved it! :)

 Bread and butter! With almost every meal! Look at that butter! And I love Anya's fingers photo bombing this picture! lol Too good! Don't worry I am taking photo's of most of our meals! lol 

 We had a carnival one night and had face painting which kinda turned into body painting! lol

 These are two precious girls that I have been witnessing to. Left-Right:
Kristen, Lusya(16), Me, Sasha(14)

 Inside St. Issac's Cathedral.. incredible   

 St. Issac's Cathedral.  

 Olga being silly with the new scarf she bought...we are on a baot tour on the river..I love her!

 Russian Chocolate bar! Sorry I didn't rotate it...lol

 At our carnival....Kloe and Nana from the Texas team made the kids balloon animals! :)

Yon and Lydia played ball with the older boys! The had a lot of fun!! :)


The Lord is so good! I can't put into words all the emotions I have felt over this past week. This blog would go on for ever, especially if I gave you every detail of every day! Our days were jam packed!! But so much fun...we had a lot of ups and downs of course. We saw Gods hand at work everywhere. Getting to stay with the kids at the orphanage was very eyeopening and such a blessing. There were times where we were very uncomfortable and wanted to complain about being, hot, tired, about the food or the bathroom situations. But it was also a very humbling situation once you saw the kids and thought about how they live like this all the time. But that God shows himself even through hardships. For example, some of us got to share our personal testimonies, like Nana(from the Texas team) who has an incredible one...a little girl- Deanna who is 12 and the Texas team has seen her for the past few years since they have been coming there. She heard Nana's testimony, and got to talk to her(through Olga our translator) ask questions and ended up accepting Christ. Sarah on the Texas team was on a roll in using the EvangaCube! She talked to a lot of kids and planted a lot of seeds! And one little boy, 13 named Victor prayed to receive Christ! Lydia was able to share her testimony and plant seeds and I was able to share mine as well..After I shared my testimony I was actually to able talk to two girls Lusya and Sasha. They seem to be searching...They were at the second orphanage that we went to half way through the week..and the four of us interns are going back there next week. So I am excited about being able to continue those conversations. Please be praying about that. This coming week, now that the Texas team is gone, it is going to be very different, it is going to be more about those personal connections and conversations. Last week with the team, they had a lot of activities and crafts and things for the kids to do. We have a VBS and some things for them to do, but now we are really going to let God move and speak through us this week. We are putting all our trust in HIM! 
I am going to have so many stories to tell and things to share when I get home...I can't possibly type them all now! Sorry! lol This is just a little taste..I am doing some video diaries...I would love to share those with you all when I get back. 
For right now, we are at the half way mark and we are starting to feel a little drained, emotionally and physically. I caught a cold on Friday, I woke up just really not feeling well...I thought at first it was allergies but then I got a bad cough. So I started to take the antibiotic that I have, which is exactly to weeks worth! The Lord is so good...as long as it doesn't get worse i'll be okay..I mean I would love to feel better but, I'll be okay. Anyways, please be praying for us. Love you all and miss you. :)


Dear Healer,
Thank you, that you are bigger than we can imaging. Thank you, that you have a plan for me, for these children and for the world. A plan greater than I can fathom. Thank you, that I can find rest and comfort in you. You are an awesome God.
Your Daughter. Melissa

Saturday and Sunday-Food, Fun and Friends

 Giving recipe books and measuring cups as gifts to all the graduates that came to visit.(Kristin standing handing them out, and Lena-director standing in the back in the black and white shirt)

 Caitlin browning the meat for tacos! :)

 Kristin!! Yummy tacos!!

 From left to right: Lydia in orange, Caitlin, Aleona(graduate), back row standing,Mariana(Case worker), Alex(graduate), Lena(Director), sitting: Ira(graduate), Nastia(graduate), another Nastia(graduate),Kristin, Melissa

 Kristin and Lydia having fun making Melissa's Peanut Butter and Honey pancake! :)

 Anya teaching us how to make pancakes! :)

Sunday morning baptist church service.


Hey everyone, Well it's Sunday evening. Sorry, I didn't get the chance to blog yesterday. We had the graduates come over and spend the day with us here at our dorm. We had four girls and one boy. They're ages ranged from 18-20. It took a while to break the ice. We told them a little bit about ourselves but they didn't like a lot of personal questions. Such as how they got to where they are today etc. We kinda kept it light. Like the differences between America and Russia. The differences between families here and there. It was very interesting and eye opening. When they first came in and were very reserved I couldn't help but have a few tears. I couldn't help but keep thinking of my life back home. Of my brothers who were the same age as this boy sitting in front of me. Of how I am so blessed to have family and friends that love and support me. How I am not on my own like these kids are. I feel it was actually more sad for me to be with these older kids then it was to be with the younger kids, because the younger kids, didn't care if you didn't know Russian. They just wanted to play, and hang on to you...they loved visitors! These older kids, have been through so much more, they have so many walls up, understandably so. Fortunately we had two translators with us, but it was still difficult, we told them a little about our testimony and about why we were here. About what Christ is doing in our life. Like I said, they had a lot of walls up but as the day went on, it got easier...We cooked Taco's for them, some had never had Taco's before! lol It was pretty cool. We played some games, and the boy Alex is now in his first year of college and going to get some sort of IT degree so therefor needing to learn English! So we kinda helped him with that...which was kinda cool! The other girls taught us a few words in Russian! And laughed at us, as we tried to pronounce things! lol It was fun! We gave them some gifts and had Ice Cream for dessert:) It was a pretty fun day...We are hoping to see them one more time, maybe one Saturday before we leave. 
The rest of the day was pretty relaxing just the four of us girls and Anya here at the dorm, naps and YouTube videos! Until it came dinner time...Anya decided to teach us how to make Russian pancakes! Very yummy! :) 
This morning, Sunday, got up, dressed and ready. We pretty much walked around the corner to the Baptist Church here..all Russian speaking, we are so glad we got to experience that, including a traditional Russian communion. The people were so welcoming. Anya interpreted some. We met this one missionary family that works with Campus Crusade for Christ and the wife is from the US and speaks English..we spoke to them for a little while..they have two kids...she married a Russian man and has lived here for 8 years now! Pretty neat! :) Anyways, today has been pretty laid back as well, took a nap, did our normal evening devotional together and just packed up all of our stuff because we are going to an orphanage camp, outside the city of St.Petersburg tomorrow for the week. So this will be my last blog until next weekend. No internet at the camps! We are just taking enough things that we need for one week, clothes, things for the kids etc. and the University is letting us store all of our extra stuff here in a locked room. So that is nice, we won't have to lug everything around with us! This week a church from Texas will be with us. So they will be in charge of this camp and we will be working along side them. It will be nice..we can just ease into it, and see how things are done..then the next two weeks we will run our own VBS (Vacation Bible School)camps. 
Well anyways, everyone is heading to bed, the bus is picking us up pretty early in the morning. So I gotta go. Be praying for us, the Texas team and all the kids this week. Love you all! Miss you! :)


Dear Lamb of God,
Spaseeba(Thank You) for having such a marvelous plan for our lives. You know the beginning,  middle and end. Lord please help us trust in you and trust in your plan for our lives. Lord we pray for the team that is coming in to join us, we pray for our team, and also for all the children that we are about to meet. Prepare our hearts and theirs. Lord we also lift up in prayer all the graduates that we met this past weekend. Lord, let them know your unconditional Love, let them know that you will never forsake them nor abandon them.
Your Daughter,
Melissa

Friday!

Today was really nice and kind of relaxing for the most part. We woke up normal time, had breakfast and got ready for the day. Anaya arrived this morning. She will be staying with us from now on until we leave on the 22nd, She is so sweet. Lena (the director of the graduate students) came today with one of the students. Her name was Ira, she is 18. We took her to the store and bought some groceries. Came back and Lydia and Kristin cooked us a wonderful lunch, it was a version of chicken chili and rice. Very Yummy! We played games, like this dice game called Farkle! Which I was terrible at! And we just sat around and talked, we heard Ira's story about her time in the orphanage, and what she is doing now...we shared a little bit about ourselves as well. Lena translated everything. After lunch, Lena and Ira had to go, the rest of us took a very much needed nap! lol Tomorrow is going to be pretty much of the same thing, Lena will bring some more of the graduates over here, one boy and three girls. We are very excited.
Tonight about 8pm Anaya took us out for a walk into the city, to get us out of the apartment and just to do some site seeing. It was really cool. So interesting that, that late the city is still hopping!! So weird! lol We got back at about 11pm, had our devotions, showers and now everyone is heading to bed. Hope everyone is going well. Oh and hey, my foot is getting better, for those who know what I am talking about...I have been taking my antibiotic. But now..for some reason, I have a bad tooth ache!! lol Go figure! If it's not one thing, it's another..Lena bought me their version of Ore-gel today! Very cool...lol The things that amuse me! :)


Dear Prince of Peace,
Thank you for days like this, where we can find rest in you. Where we can meet new friends, and just see your wonder us beauty. Teach us Lord how to see what you see, and how to love as you love.
Your Daughter, 
Melissa