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Birthday in Moscow, Russia!

Thursday, 30 June 2011

Rona Potgieter

Northbound

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Russia amazingly consists of 9 time zones!

Due to different ministry opportunities we had to split up into two teams. Seven of us spent the first two weeks in Krasnoyarsk with an Australian 'missionary' and his Russian translator at 2 very different settings while doing kids camps.

Week1:

This 'English communist camp' hosted about 50 primary school kids all from an 'International School' in town. We were the 'international guests' from SA... A few new experiences during our first camp included:

Seeing polar-bears and Lama's at the Zoo.
Taking daily cultural Russian singing lessons from a Russian singing teacher while being filmed by a 3-man camera crew.
Teaching the “Waka-Waka” dance to Russian kids.
Having daylight until midnight.

Sharing testimonies (in a setting where its illegal to talk about religion in public) and seeing again how faithful the Spirit is when we are dependent and obedient.

Week 2:

Going from a camp, where 8 year olds have i-phones and girls re-dress themselves 5x a day just because they can, to a Russian village kids camp was quite a change.

It is known that you are likely to find no sober men in Russian villages. These people live their lives in utmost simplicity and poverty. It felt like being in an Amish town. We stayed in a church and despite constant language barriers we had the opportunity to share openly. I was personally truly encouraged by one specific 72 year old lady. We all were drawn to her from day one. She spoke with authority, overflowing with real joy, talking about the practical power of prayer and really living Him through her. She shared her testimony of being an alcoholic, having killed her husband and spending 5 years in prison. Her face lightened up when she told about meeting Jesus in her jail cell, Him taking away her sin and giving her a 360 degree make over in all areas of live.

The team regrouped after the time in Krasnoyarsk and we took a 3 day Trans-Siberia train ride to Moscow city. (Distance equaling up to being on a train from Cape Town to Kenya.) This was an amazing time of debrief and resting.

Week 3:

We met up with a South African missionary that started a “Youth leadership and discipling training” for Russia youth, known as “Motivi 3” (Mark 3:14-15). We helped with initial preparations for their arrival and spent an amazing week at their base just outside Moscow. This experience would have been worth it if only for the biblical teachings we received from Corrie and his team during this time.