Trying to find the words to express a time like this is almost difficult sometimes. Maybe that’s why it has taken so long to get around to writing this. I just don’t know how to convey all that I have seen, experienced, and learned. Even moving 3 hours away from home for college is a big step, and then I move across the world to live in Russia. It still blows my mind that I lived in Russia for four months.

I think the recurring theme with this journey to Russia has to be patience. If I had to sum up what I learned during this experience, it’s patience. Had I not had it, I never would have even gone. Had I given up because I decided to be impatient, I would have never even seen this opportunity come about. Summer after my senior year of high school, I went to the Czech Republic for a week. At breakfast one morning, I learned of ways to serve God overseas for a few months during my college years. That’s where my desire to move overseas for a few months came from. The very first time I said something to my parents about either moving overseas for missions or just doing study abroad, they said no. That answer remained consistent for a year and a half. Then all of the sudden, this opportunity to go to Russia for a semester came about, and they said yes. A year and a half may not seem like a ton of time waiting, but when you’re only in college 4 years, supposedly, a year and a half is almost half of that. But no matter how long or short my waiting may have seemed, it took a lot of patience for me to wait for my parents to finally say yes, instead of going against their wishes and just doing what I wanted to do.

Here’s another time I once again learned that patience was key. This specific lesson took the entire time I was in Russia to learn. Since I was in university, I figured that was where most of my friendships would come. And since my desire is to make Christ known, I was hoping to make many friends and to have the opportunity to share His love with them. I guess I just assumed that my classmates would all speak English. Why did I think this? I have no idea, but I did. Well, I was completely mistaken. There was only one other student in the class to begin with, and he didn’t know any. Problem? In my mind, yes. But language is no barrier for God. He is the one who made it happen and is completely sovereign over it all. Anyway, along the way we did gain students, some knew English very well, some didn’t know any. But I was in school to learn Russian, and how did God use me and the other two Americans to communicate His love to those at our university? Through Russian.

In the beginning I expected God to use me to impact my class. Well, it wasn’t just my class that God used us in, it was in the entire international department at my university. God opened the door for us to share the story of Jesus birth with over 100 people at the university. It was through a skit we did, and Luke 2 was read straight from the Bible. We were talking about how we celebrate Christmas in America. It’s the celebration of Jesus birth, and that’s what we wanted people to see. It’s not just about pretty decorations and lots of presents; it’s about the greatest gift we have ever been given. Jesus. Over 100 people, many who have probably never even heard the name of Jesus before, heard that day. It was three days before we left Ufa.

People ask me what my favorite thing about Ufa was, or what my favorite thing that happened was. Usually I have a hard time picking, but this time I didn’t. There were many great things God did and many great friends He allowed me to make. Every day was a new adventure, and every day taught me something new. But there’s a reason why the story I just shared was my favorite. From before I even knew I had the chance to go to Russia, God was teaching me patience, and that’s the biggest lesson I learned while there.

Something that God taught me through the devotionals, and most importantly, Scripture, while I was in Ufa was the missions theme throughout the entire Bible. Passages and stories I’ve grown up with had new meaning for me as I began to see this theme.

Growing up, when there was talk of missions, the verses that were always associated were Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, and Romans 10:13-15. These are great verses, but God’s heart for the nations to know Him is not only displayed in the New Testament. It is a constant theme throughout the entire Bible. I feel like it’s something we all know, but if asked, we wouldn’t be able to point out a specific reference immediately. Maybe I should stop saying we, and just say me. I don’t know how it is for other people, but for me, I’ve been oblivious to it. I’m not proud to admit that at all. God has given me a heart for the nations, yet I have failed to see in His Word where He displays His heart for the nations.

Let’s take a look at a story we all know. Jonah. I’ve grown up hearing this story. Most people who have grown up in church have heard it many times. It’s the one where God tells the guy to go to this horrible place to tell them of their wickedness and how God is going to destroy them, but he decided to go the opposite way. And because of his disobedience to God this guy gets swallowed by a big fish and is there for three days, and he then decided to do what God told him to all along. Yeah, that story. My first thought when I hear the name Jonah is big fish. But I think so often when looking at this story people focus on Jonah’s disobedience, and how that caused him to be swallowed by this big fish. But I think we often times miss something. What did God tell Jonah to do in the first place? He told him to go to the nations. Specifically to Nineveh. There are so many places throughout the Old Testament just like this. Where God displays His heart for making Himself known to the nations. This gets me even more pumped about making Him known, and I wonder if more people’s eyes were opened to this, if they would get more excited and get involved in reaching the nations.

Now I’m going to stray away a little bit from what God taught me while I was in Ufa and talk about what it was like going from living the past 16 years of my life in Tennessee to moving all the way to Ufa. I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out that life is completely different in these two places. It’s not that life in either of these two places is better, it’s just different, and I think that people need to experience a different culture at some point in their life.

I think the main thing people wonder about and even worry about when going to another country is the language barrier. That was the first thing that hit us when we arrived in Russia. How do we get to the other terminal? How do we ask? Well, this lady knows English, but not well, and she’s not really helping us anyway. These were the thoughts going through my mind as we were trying to make our connecting flight from St. Petersburg to Ufa. But God is sovereign, therefore, He knows what’s up and provides in His way. There was a British man on our flight who had been to this airport several times, and was more than willing to help out. Even when language seemed to hinder us, it was never a hindrance to God, and He provided some way to get us through whatever it was that was going on. Another thing, that personally I was a huge fan of, was the use of public transportation. I usually don’t like driving places, and in Ufa, I didn’t have to. Sure, having a car is more convenient at times, and you never knew if and when the bus or tram was actually going to be at the stop, but I enjoyed it. Another thing that took a little bit of getting used to was the lack of lines. There wasn’t a line anywhere. It was just a mob of people. If you wanted to order at McDonalds and it was busy, you had to push you way to the counter, or other people would just push their way in front of you. It was just the norm.

One thing that I thought was kind of cool happened on the flights within Russia. When the flight landed, the people on the plane would clap for the pilot. I’m not really sure why they do this, but 3 of the 4 in country flights I took this happened. I know if I was the pilot of that flight, I would have been encouraged. A thing that I really liked about Ufa is that I felt safe. There was never a moment where I felt like I was in danger, which I think is a not so common way to feel when one is in another country. I could probably go on and on about things that I liked and didn’t like about living in Ufa, but that list could get long.

I could not have asked for a better time while living in Ufa. There is no doubt in my mind that that is where God wanted me this past fall, and I am so thankful for the experience and the wonderful friends that He allowed me to make.

Learning to Love

Thanks to Saint Valentine February is often thought of as the “love” month. Some people dread it, while others can’t wait for it. I, personally, am not against it and not particularly for it either. However, it has brought me to think about what love truly is.

As a follower of Christ, my idea of love has been transformed and may not match up with what most think. I look back at my life and remember how not long ago I was in such a stage of rebellion and only looked out for my own desires. I wanted to do what I wanted to do and didn’t even consider looking at the consequences brought on by my actions. Do you know that the very people whom I told I ‘loved’ I was only hurting? The God that I said I loved, I cursed with the very same mouth?

About 5 years ago I was really weighed down by this fact. How could I say I love my mom but rebel against the rules she put in place for my good? How could I say I loved God, but live a life that only brought shame to His name? I had to get things straight. It was during that time that God taught me what love truly means. Regardless of everything I had done and said, He reminded me that all of my past actions were no surprise. Only then did I understand what it meant to love. You see, He, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, put aside the fact that I had fallen short and accepted me anyway.

Now it is my life long desire to grow in love, to take the example that I have been given and live it out. It is NOT easy. There are so many times where I am tempted to fall back to the way I used to live serving myself and nobody else. It’s almost easier to just write a person off when they aren’t meeting your expectations. I mean why become friends with someone if you get nothing out of it, right?

Well, that’s not the example I’ve been given and that for sure is not true love. So as I live my life here in Russia, I reflect on how I have been stretched. Some have been easy to love, others difficult. The difference in culture has added some pressures as well as eliminated some. However, with God as my source and example of true love, I will push on in any situation I am in and try to LOVE others!