SPU and Interns: First week of camp at the Gulf of Finland

Greetings from the Gulf of Finland! The first week has finished and everyone is doing great! The SPU team and our interns are enjoying their time at the camp, as they get to know the teens they are partnered with throughout the day. It is challenging, yet very rewarding to see the impact they have on the teens and staff. Since there is no internet at camp, this update is done by way of a phone call! 😉 Everyone sends their greetings and appreciates your prayers! Please continue to pray for good weather: there has been lots of rain the … Continue reading

SPU: Our week with little ones

Greetings again lovely friends and family! Our time at the Orphanage has been so much more than playing with and loving on kids. God has been doing some incredible things here in Russia! Friday was our last day at the orphanage and we all left with amazing memories and hopes for the kids. Our hearts were broken while we were there. We are trying to piece together what the experience has meant personally, for each one of us. One thing we know is that these kids really impacted us and touched our lives. We were so glad to have worked … Continue reading

Interns: Had some rest and now off to camp again!

Hi everyone! It’s Shannon! I am doing really well and cannot wait to go back to camp tomorrow (Monday), but am so glad I was able to get some rest these past few days back in the city. I also got to do a bunch of laundry since everything was sandy and smelled like campfire. It was hard to say goodbye to the kids, but it was so good to see that so many of them had such good families to go home to since Savannah and I rode home in the van with some of the kids. I can’t … Continue reading

SPU: Finished training, tomorrow we meet the kids!

Privyet Friends and Family! After completing our training in Russia we are excited to embark on our next adventure: BABIES! We will start helping at the HIV Baby Orphanage tomorrow. What we have learned: These first few days have already been an eye opening experience for us as we have learned much from the people of Russia. In our training we learned about the Language, History, Religion, and Culture. Through learning the history, we were able to understand its large impact on present day culture and people. This morning, we had the opportunity to attend an Orthodox Church service: a … Continue reading

CBU – St Petersburg: Almost done with the first week of camp

Months of planning had come down to May 14th, the first day with the kids from the transit center. Naturally nerves were there but so was the Holy Spirit. We were warned by one of our translators, Masha, that the kids would be shy and we naturally thought that they would take a while to warm up to us, but this was not the case. The day was blessed with plenty of laughter and games. In our small groups the kids really opened up about what they liked about the day.   We were so thrilled with their responses. When we … Continue reading