Vanguard: The hugs and the laughter!

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 town, and appreciating the sights of archaic cathedrals, the white nights, stray cats and dogs, and the summer snow (cottonwood trees). We eat, sleep, wash, work, and play together in constant community, and have learned much about how to be open and flexible to the needs of the moment. At the day’s end, we also make a point of encouraging one another and noting things that different team members have done well or improved in. Please continue to pray for our team’s energy levels as the days pass, especially for each person’s physical health.

With the help of our wonderful translators, we have been able to successfully engage the children in games, crafts, and conversation. We have also discovered universal elements of communication during interactions with our new friends, or “droozya”. We have learned about as much from our energetic young charges as they have from us. So many of these beautiful children come from such hard backgrounds, and the heaviest part is knowing that these kids are just a fraction of the epidemic of at-risk youth in Russia. This clinic alone has a waiting list in the thousands.

But statistics can’t explain the joy of little Sasha’s laugh, the mischief in Danya’s and Roma’s eyes, or the warmth of one of Nadia’s many hugs. We only wish you could all spend a day here with these beautiful kids, each so responsive to giving and receiving love. Please be praying for them most of all. And be assured we will have endless photos and stories to share when we return!

Vanguard Team, written by Laila Collman