We were amazed at how the “Russia
team” at WMPC got many members of their congregation involved.
The team also came prepared to engage with the children. One member
had brought a rhythm band, a colorful parachute, as well as individual
craft kits for the children. She got many children on their feet
and involved. Another member of the team shared a special talent
that our Russian friends had never seen before—ventriloquism.
Everyone was amazed and delighted by her performance. The WMPC
group worked together wonderfully and their visit was a blessing.
With each of the last three visits, we have followed the time
in Smolensk with a few days in St. Petersburg. In the past, we
have taken a train back to Moscow and then on to St. Petersburg,
only to return to Moscow again at the end of the trip. Each of
these train trips have been overnighters, with some members of
the group sleeping better than others. The group last year asked
if there wasn’t a way to avoid so many overnights on the
tracks. The alternative we found was to travel by day by van from
Smolensk to St. Petersburg—a journey of some 800 kilometers
and some 12 hours over local roads (not major highways). During
the first couple of hours of particularly bumpy roads, the group
was asking whose idea this van ride had been.
As the journey continued, though, they were thankful for the
opportunity to see Russia from a new perspective. We drove through
rural Russia, a view few foreigners ever see. In those 800 kilometers,
we saw virtually no large-scale agriculture and only two churches.
There was no industry to speak of either. There were groups of
old women sitting beside the road selling apples and cranberries
(harvested from their own gardens or the marshy fields nearby).
The group asked why. For villagers, selling their produce is often
the only way they have of getting any cash for those things one
must buy. The rural areas are extremely poor. As we toured Peterhof
(Peter the Great’s country estate, with magnificent fountains)
the next day, one member of the group paused to remark at the
incredible contrast between that grand estate and the poverty
we had driven through the day before.
This past week, I visited with my friend, Margarita Nelyubova,
director of the Russian Round Table—an office of the Patriarchy
working to help churches develop social ministry. Margarita told
me of a project she hopes to find funds for in a nearby region.
The project is a joint effort between a local Orthodox church
and a secondary school in a village. There are so few opportunities
for youth in this village that they are falling into alcoholism
at an early age. This is by no means an isolated problem. The
church is working with the school to try to develop a youth club
with interest groups, sports activities, and creative projects.
I am excited about the project, because models are so badly needed
to address an extensive problem.
People often ask me what I do when groups are not visiting. I
do the same thing that I do when they are here. I listen. We cannot
solve the problems that Russia faces, but we can stand beside
our brothers and sisters in Christ, listen deeply and encourage
one another in the development of good models.
I look forward to seeing some of you in Atlanta soon. Please
hold Al and the girls in prayer as I head out yet again.
With love in Christ,
Ellen
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
187 |
