Greetings To All:
Whew! After a total of 40+ hours in airplanes and three weeks away from Kathy and Dakota I am finally home in Salem again. On the whole, the trip was nothing like what I thought it might be. Of course we worked a lot. Of course it was hard to communicate (but the translators we had were very good.) Of course it was hard to be away from my family for that long. My overall review of the trip to Russia is: it certainly was successful. When our team of three left here we had an idea of what we wanted to accomplish. When we got to Kamchatka we were able to see what we actually had to work with. In the time we were there we were hoping to set ten telephone poles, hook a lot of steel cable up to them, and design a flowing, teamwork-building, challenging element. All of it was successful!
Did you know that God cares about the little things you ask Him for? I am a witness to that truth. Before we left here we were planning on digging all of the holes for the poles and then having to set the 31' poles by "hand." What else could we do about the situation but pray? So pray we did. Upon arriving at the YWAM base in Kamchatka we discovered that their base had been blessed with a small tractor, which we used for clearing the land and moving the poles. Some one had blessed the base with the tractor only about two weeks before we got there. Also, a different person asked if he could leave his excavator on their base for a while, and oh, they could use it if they wanted. That, too, happened only about a week before we got there. Do I need to mention how much labor those two machines alone saved us? Here's the best part: they also found a guy with a drilling truck and lift to come and dig and set the poles for us! What we thought would take us the better part of a week to accomplish was taken care of in only three hours! All of us were so thankful for the blessing. The time we saved on that labor turned out to be very valuable. In that part of the country, they don't have ready access to the hardware that we do here. We had to plan a lot more carefully how to use the few supplies that we were able to take over while conforming to airline luggage weight regulations. When it was all said and done We started and completed nine high elements and one low element. Eight of the high elements were done as a circuit arranged in a spoke and wheel fashion. The ninth was a stand alone element. Those highs were completed at noon on Wednesday before the Saturday that we left. The low game, which was not in the original plan, was finished in a half of day. So, we even had time to train the people there and to have a couple of groups go on the course. In one day we had any one from a twelve yr. old boy to a sixy-five yr. old woman go up in the air on the circuit. Every one really enjoyed it. The work that we did will be used to bring more people to the base and open them up to hear about trust, faith, God, and Jesus. I believe that the blessings already given to build the course are only the beginning of the all the blessings God wants to give to the people of YWAM base in Kamchatka in this ministry. His hand was definitely in this project.
Our final days in Russia were spent in Moscow. We stayed at friends' apartment. Jeff, Petra, and I got a chance to see the city for a couple of days. So, we went to Red Square, Arbat Street, and saw some other sights as we were driven to and from the airport. The city is definitely a mixture of old and new. And they are often right beside one another: old, plain, communist-style concrete apartments adjacent to modern skyscrapers. The old times may be "gone", but there are constant reminders everywhere.
I want to say thank you to all who supported me/us in this experience. I want you to know that your prayers were certainly felt. And, even though I don't know what exactly you prayed for, I am confident that some of your prayers were indeed answered. Will an opportunity like this happen again? I can't say for sure. But I hope if one does that we can have your support again.
My hope for you is that you will ask God for something that you think "isn't worth His time." He cares about every thing about you. He even tells us in His Word to ASK! Please, seek His help.
God's Blessings To You:
Carson, Kathleen, Dakota
