Another update from the CBU team in Novgorod:
I (Kristi) am pleased to tell you that our team has survived (and thrived) in our first week of minsitry in the transit centers here in Novgorod. In just one week, we have already learned so many of the stories of these children, and it burdens our hearts to labor even harder in order to share/plant seeds of the Gospel. So many of these children and teenagers come from unfathomable backgrounds, and our team has begun to feel the emotional repurcusions of this ministry. Please pray that we would continue to press on, sharing His Word and loving these sweet people with the love of Christ, not our own.
This past week, our team at the children’s transit center (Michelle, Kaylee, Jocelyn, Alex, Yesenia, Sarah) has spent every afternoon teaching crafts and sharing the Gospel through storying. This team, on Friday, was invited to watch a performance that the children have been practicing for their family members. The children sang, danced and laughed their way through the performance, ending the week on a superb note.
Our team at the transit center for teenagers (Kristi, Emily, Kara, Brooke) have spent this past week getting to know the teens through games, outings for ice cream and sports. The teenagers are more reluctant to sharing their stories, believeing that as Americans we all live perfect, wealthy lives back in the States. As we know, this is not true, but it is a belief that they hold to. Slowly, we have seen them begin to share more about themselves and their personal lives, especially the girls, and this is something that we pray continues into our next, and final, week of ministry. On Friday, we too had a celebration. One of our teen girls, Helen, turned 16 years old. Before we went to the center, we stopped at a local bakery and market to pick up a birthday cake and candles as well as a small gift. Upon our arrival at that center, Helen was completely and utterly head over heels at the sight of all of these goodies. We sang her the American version of “Happy Birthday”, had her blow out her candles and open her gift. Her expressions of joy and thankfulness were more than our little hearts could understand! She stated that she hadn’t had candles and a cake in about 8 years and that in all of her 16 years of life, this was her favorite birthday by far. We were so thankful to share this moment of life with her, expressing her value and worth in what we see as a very simple act. 
This weekend we will be sight-seeing and resting, preparing for our final week of ministry here in Novgorod. As we go into this weekend and into the next week, we ask for your prayers in these areas:
– That our teenagers in the transit center would begin sharing their life stories with us and that we would not be hindered by their idea of the American life.
– That our children would be receptive to biblical storying and roots would grow deep in them as we continue to plant seeds.
– That our emotional, spiritual and physical health would be renewed each morning, that we would be healthy and strong as we finish out our second week in the transit centers.
– That the Lord would begin preparing our hearts to process the time that we have spent here and how he has worked in us and through us.
Thank you for lifting us up!
With love from Russia, Kristi and Russia B
PS. More pictures to come next week!