A Journal-My Trip to Russia - Pt 1 of 9

I’m writing this journal for several reasons.  One is so I can have a written record of my trip to Nizhny Navgorod, Russia, to look back at and remember what I felt and experienced there.  If I don’t write it down, I will forget all the little things quickly!!  Also, I want others to be able to read this and get a feel for what it is like in Nizhny and maybe get to know the Christians there a little better even though they have never personally met them.

Charlie and Kay, who we would be staying with while there, have been in Nizhny Navgorod for years.  They went as missionaries to teach the Bible to the people there and have converted many people to Christianity.  Nizhny is about 250 miles from Moscow, which is just 25 miles more than the distance from Houston to Dallas.  Several other people from the states have also been to help Charlie and Kay in their teaching there.  It is something that Debbie and I had talked about wanting to do.

When I first even thought about going to Russia, I had so many mixed emotions.  First, I couldn’t believe that it was even remotely possible that I would be able to go.  When it finally appeared that I really would be going, I kept having to pinch myself to see if it was really true.  I had never done anything like this before – never even considered doing anything like this. I had never been overseas before.  I hadn’t even traveled to that many states here in the USA.  I was so excited at the thought of going, but also very scared.  I couldn’t really imagine what good someone like me could do going there.  I’m not really a teacher and didn’t plan to do much if any teaching while I was there.  It just seemed like there were so many others who could do so much more good than I could by going.  But now I can see that there are many more ways for God to use me than just teaching.  That will become clearer as I write more.  Debbie and I finally determined in our minds what our “mission” (if you can call it that) would be in going to Russia.  We just wanted to go to be with Kay and Charlie and encourage them and to meet the Christians there and try to be an encouragement to them during their difficult times.  We wanted them to know that someone cared enough to travel all that distance to be with them – just to visit and worship with them.  Little did we know when we went, though, that even more than us encouraging them, WE would be the ones that would be the most encouraged by their love for the Lord and their example of love for us!  I still find it amazing at how much love I feel for them after having only been with them for a week.  I guess I shouldn’t be amazed, though.  That’s the way it should be with the family of God.

Debbie and I prayed quite a bit about whether we should go when our plans first began.  We prayed that if it was not God’s will, He would make it clear by putting up barriers so we could see that we should not go.  However, there were never any barriers.  Not a one.  My boss had no problem with me taking off for 2 weeks, and I was able to make arrangements for my kids so I could go.  Financially, I was able to go thanks to Debbie’s company paying the way via a financial gift to Debbie and thanks to Debbie’s generosity in sharing this gift with me.  God made it very clear that this was what we should do.

When we first planned to go, we were going to go with another friend who had been before.  We had decided that we wouldn’t go by ourselves, having never done anything like this before.  Debbie has traveled overseas before, but I never had and was not even sure about doing this with someone who had been before, much less by myself who never had!!  Unfortunately, it did not work out for our friend to go.  Debbie and I considered either not going at all or postponing our trip until later.  But we wrote to Charlie and Kay to see what good he thought we could do, if any.  They very strongly encouraged us to come.  Charlie said that although the financial situation there for the Russians was very bad, there was no danger in us coming at all.  Some of our friends had feared for our safety because of the economic conditions.  What if we got robbed or worse?  I never worried about that.  We would be careful and we would be with Charlie and Kay. 

Charlie and Kay also said we would be a big encouragement to the Christians there, not to mention the encouragement for Charlie and Kay.  It had to be hard being so far away from family, children and grandchildren, and to be living in not the most modern of living conditions there.  It would let them know that in spite of the difficult situation in Russia now, they had not been completely forgotten by their American brothers and sisters.  After hearing that, I knew that we HAD to go.  We could not let them down. And the clincher in our decision to go was that Kay was going to be here in the states for about six weeks and would fly back with us!  That made us feel much better knowing that someone who knew what they were doing would be going back with us!  We decided we would for sure go and began to make plans.  I am SO glad we made that decision.

Debbie and I made plans on and off for several months.  First there was getting our passport and visas.  Then our plane tickets and reservations to stay in Frankfurt, Germany on the way back.  And, of course, there were all the warm clothes to buy.  We found our coats very easily – big heavy blue coats with a fur lined hood, something I would never be able to use again, even in the coldest of winters in Houston!  But the boots were another matter.  I believe we ended up ordering three to four pairs of boots each before we finally sent those all back and found some boots we liked here in town.  Now why didn’t we look here first?!  We were told to dress in layers because, though it would be very cold outside, we might get warm because of all the walking we would be doing.  Finding shirts, sweaters, and vests was easy.  Deciding on which pants to bring was not as easy.  And we decided to wait and buy a hat to wear in Russia.  Good decision.  We ended up not needing to buy one, and I only wore the hood to my coat the last couple of days I was there anyway.  It was while there that I realized how warm natured I am.  The temperature got down close to zero, yet I never felt terribly cold.

We finally got everything together we would need.  Although, typical of me, I was still getting things together one hour before we were due to leave for the airport!!  That included running to Eckerds a couple of hours before we left to get last minute pictures developed to bring to Russia.  I wanted the Russians to see pictures of the Christians here, so I made a photo album of some of the Christians.  I took the last of the pictures the Sunday night before we left, so that was why I was still rushing around Monday morning!!  Or maybe it was because that’s just what I always do…rush around at the last minute!

The rest of my journal will be a day by day account of our trip, the people we met, the things we saw, and my feelings about it all!