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.

This was the Mt. Olivet ladies' last day in Ufa.  Today, after some souvenir shopping, they made us lunch!  The food they made us was delicious and we had a good afternoon of fellowship with them.  The rest of the ladies' day was spent packing for the trip home.  They must be at the airport very early in the morning.

Tonight was the last night of the cooking and crafts exchange in Ufa.  The activities were cookies and greeting cards. 

Tonight's exchange was a little different and maybe a little crowded.  The room that the ladies from Mt. Olivet were using for crafts was unavailable tonight so they were all in the dining room where the cooking takes place.  Flexibility is a big part of living in Russia.  In the USA we are used to things being ordered in a certain way.  Russia is not always ordered the way we expect.  Only having one room was no big deal, though.  It just meant that everyone was together the whole time instead of breaking into two groups that alternate between the cooking and crafts.  On the menu tonight was chicken corn chowder and decorative pillowcases.  The pillow cases were a little more involved than the other crafts that have been done so far.  It involved more preparation than some of the other projects.

A new day means a new craft  and a new dish in Ufa.  The cooking items were morning glory muffins and banana nut muffins.  The craft was hand made jewelry.  Today, some of the women that have been participating all week brought some of their friends with them.  Since the cooking piece was centered around muffins, Patti shared  about the 'Bread of Life'.  

The schedule is similar, yet everyday the Mt. Olivet ladies have new experiences.  Today they visited an art studio run by a local believer and were able to purchase a few of his small works as souvenirs.  Again, the afternoon was spent preparing for the evenings activities.  The also listened to Chris share what he hopes to see happen in Ufa and to discuss a little bit about how their activities fit into the big picture.

This evening the dish was French beef.  This was a little more involved than yesterday's mini cheesecake and required the ladies to get a little more hands on in the preparation stage.  

Almost all of the teams that visit Ufa tour the same spots.  Hey, there are only so many parks and museums here.  However, each team's experience is unique to them.  The Mt. Olivet ladies enjoyed a stroll through Victory Park and a tour of the Lula Tulpan mosque this morning.

The four ladies from Mt. Olivet had their first full day in Ufa.  Jet lag dogged them, but they were awake and happy to be in Ufa.  Today was mostly about church and logistics.  The ladies attended a local Baptist church this morning.  In the afternoon there was an orientation lunch and meeting.  Everyone in the room was excited about the possibilities of the coming week.  The big unknown for this week is how many people will attend the cooking and craft exchanges.  Its tough to plan!

This evening the ladies went to a Bible discussion group and, though they were tired, had a good time participating.  They were trying to relate to some of the regular Russian attenders what their faith means to them.  The discussion tonight was from Mark, the last half of chapter 13.  One of the questions discussed in the group tonight came from a local school teacher.  "If I say Jesus is the only way, then I half to say all other religions are wrong.  How can I say this to my students?"  It was a profitable discussion followed by chatting and, of course, food!

Four ladies from Mt. Olivet Baptist Church will be coming to Ufa next week to see the usual sites around Ufa and to participate in a cooking and crafts exchange with some local women.  This will be a very special time where both the ladies from Virginia and believers from Ufa connect with some other local women.  The exchanges will be held for one week.  Please pray for these ladies as they travel.  They will arrive in Ufa on Saturday and will begin the exchanges on Monday.   I will be posting updates during the week so be sure and check in to see how things are going!

This was the Centreville team's last day in Ufa.  They will fly out early tomorrow morning and everyone should be praying for their safe return.  Today was full of souvenir shopping. (it is surprisingly hard to find a good matroshka doll in Ufa) The big event of the day was a farewell dinner we had to say goodbye to the team.  Several local believers and non-believers came and it was a great time of fellowship.  Also, several of the team members got to tell the people present what they meant to them.  God was glorified in what went on this evening and it was a great way to end up a great couple of weeks.  Lots of new friendships were made and lots of older relationships were continued by the people from Centreville this week as well as by those of us who live here.  I can not say enough good about this team and what all went on this week.  They had great endurance in the face of one of the worst heat waves on record and the resulting mediocre sleep.  I know the locals look forward the return of their friends as soon as possible and look forward to continuing these friendships over social networking and email.  I, for one, had a lot of fun following them around and chronicling their activities.  It was fun to act like an American around a bunch of other Americans.  This was the first time I personally got told to be quieter on a bus or tram!  So, here are a few pictures from the dinner.  As you see, we had a lot of fun.