Category Archives: Teams

CBU: Beautiful children!

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On Thursday we said good-bye to little Visilli. He has been declared an orphan and left the Transit Center for an orphanage. We were able to give him a gift before he departed and to share with him that he is never alone, that God is with Him and will protect him. Our gift and card brought him, as he so beautifully shared, “tears of joy”. Having this experience blessed Visilli and our team immensely in that while our hearts were breaking, God in his loving-tenderness reminded us that he is fully in control of all of our lives; that … Continue reading →

CBU: Almost done with first week of camp.

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The past three days have been a huge blessing! We started camp with the children on Monday and it went well! We introduced ourselves and slowly the children started to open up to us. We have learned so much from the children even though they have had many obstacles in their lives. Camp on day one was awesome to watch how the children participated in the activities that we had planned. We loved hearing them laugh with us and trying to talk to us in Russian even when we didn’t understand. We quickly learned to smile and nod, but the … Continue reading →

Vanguard: The hugs and the laughter!

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On Sunday night the team was welcomed to the rustic town of Novgorod with a hearty Russian-style dinner. Helpings of sour cream and laughter were generously passed around the table as we planned and prayed for the week ahead. Despite our worries about difficulties with the language barrier and managing the attention spans of so many little ones, it has been a week filled with blessings and growth-inspiring challenges. As a team, we have fallen in love with the communal lifestyle of this beautiful culture. We take turns in pairs doing chores in the church, taking walks through the quaint … Continue reading →

CBU: Starting the first day of camp

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We safely arrived in Russia and have enjoyed immersing ourselves in the culture. On our flight here, we dealt with a few health problems such as upset stomachs, but everyone is healthy now. Upon arriving to St. Petersburg, we discovered that Lauren’s luggage, as well as one of our team bags, did not make the connecting flight. However, the next day we were pleasantly surprised to find it by our door. We started our team training and sightseeing and have been amazed at what we’ve learned so far. We’ve enjoyed training with the Vanguard team also serving in Russia at … Continue reading →

Vanguard: On our way to Novgorod!

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Prevyet! (Hello in Russian) We are currently on our way to Novgorod to start our work with children at the TB Children’s Center. The last two days have been full of many useful training sessions and some amazing sightseeing in Saint Petersburg. We are all very happy to be here, we have no problem being the loudest people on the streets. We have learned a lot of valuable lessons during our stay so far; we learned how to travel on the city’s metro system, we learned how to cross streets without getting hit by traffic, and we learned a lot … Continue reading →