Many times I try to get creative with my titles but tonight that was the only thought that was running through my mind. This evening Allie, Alissa, and I took the night off to play tourist. We ventured around town with the intent of taking as many photos as we wanted, talking with whoever we could in stores and cafes, and having a jolly good time! I am at a point where I know just enough Russian that I can actually ask people for directions, order food at the store, and sing simple worship songs. We have been learning so much Russian but have had no place to practice. Most of our friends prefer speaking English and we are always teaching English in some form; tonight was all about taking a test drive of our language skills.
It can be so easy to become overwhelmed by the busyness of life and forget to stop and smell the roses. Sometimes the stress can be so much and I forget to stop and thank the Lord for His grace and mercy. Sometimes I let the worries of this world overtake my thoughts and affect my attitude towards the ones I should be loving. This evening us girls purposefully decided to take a break from teaching and have a little fun. It was a glorious time of rest and renewal, as well as team building. It is so important for us to be united under Christ: loving, teaching, serving, and learning as a team. Tonight I felt that we were a united team. As we were sitting in a coffee shop -- making friends with our waitress -- I was struck with the realization that we are already in our third month in Russia and we are still getting along as a trio. We still like each other. We are still friends. So many people were concerned about three girls going to Russia together because someone might start to feel left out or we might turn on each other. As we were sitting in Traveler's Coffee I couldn't help but smile. I was so happy full of joy!
After spending thousands of hours together we can still walk the streets of Tomsk as a team and have a good time. I know that it is God who has allowed us to maintain open lines of communication. It was God who placed phenomenal teachers in our paths; who taught us that it is okay to talk about the problems that we are having spiritually, emotionally, culturally, academically, and physically. When it comes to living and working in another country, communication is where it's at! If us girls were not able to communicate clearly then everything we do would be in total shambles. It we were not letting Jesus take the wheel then we would have crashed a long time ago.
On another note, SBU is doing this new social media promotional thing that I can only imagine was based on Flat Stanley. SBU has developed a Flat Bearcat. Obviously we are in Russia and cannot get our hands on Flat Bearcat so we decided to make our own. This evening we took Flat Bearcat all over Tomsk (Mostly on Lenin Prospect) and took pictures. It turns out that Flat Bearcat is very photogenic and that SBU may have just chosen the corniest, yet most genius, propaganda item. He also provides plenty of stares from onlookers. Hopefully we will be able to get a real Flat Bearcat, but until then this little guy will do just fine! He is reminding us to take more pictures of our time here.
 |
| The Birds |
 |
| Riding the Bus |
 |
| At Traveler's Coffee |
 |
| An Orthodox Church |
Another big reason I was so smiley tonight was because I successfully asked a woman at the store for directions to an ATM. In Russian. YES!! And then she gave me directions to the ATM. IN RUSSIAN. And then we actually found the ATM...sadly it was inaccessible at the moment. But we were victorious in our original endeavors. Secondly, we became friends with our waitress and the coffee shop and even invited here to come to our English courses. She was precious and genuinely kind. When we tried to speak Russian she was patient with us and even helped us with our pronunciation. I'm sure I was smiling like some kind of nut. I was just so thrilled to be reminded of God's love through this girl, Leeza. She is why we are in Russia. It simply takes a smile and a little effort for walls to be torn down and bridges to be crossed. When we allow God to take the reigns He leads us to opportunities -- to the people. It is God who leads me to joy, everyday. I'll gladly accept hurting face muscles from smiling too much!
No comments:
Post a Comment