Tuesday, February 21, 2006
I’ve discovered a new piece of heaven here on earth. It’s kind of like a liquid chocolate, except it seems even better. My Russian isn’t real sharp, but I think the label roughly translates to: “God’s Chocolate Sauce: Improving Coffee and Manna since Mt. Sinai”. It’s scary how good this stuff is in coffee and tea. I’m going to have to see if I can find a can in a market some where before I head home.
Teaching is going fairly well. To make use of the extra time that I’ve been given, I have chosen to elongate most of my sessions and include a few group projects. I had so much material that I had wanted to cover in 5 days, it’s kind of a blessing that I now have 10 days to teach it in.
I do wish it were easier to communicate back and forth. Though I believe that our time together is beneficial, I love to facilitate discussion amongst the group. The need for a translator I think some times prevents me from catching the nuances of what is taking place in the room. But, I knew about this challenge when I signed up for this adventure.
My schedule is quickly filling up. I counted while in the shower this morning. In the course of my time here (nearly 3 weeks total), I will teach a minimum of 43 times. That’s assuming I’m not urged to speak anywhere else. The astounding part is that all of those teaching sessions come within a span of 14 days! Churches and ministries here are eager to have me come and teach in one of their gatherings. I’m really not sure what’s up with that. Apparently, they don’t know what they’re getting themselves into. 8^) But, it keeps me busy. It ensures that I don’t have enough idle time to get myself in trouble.
Went to the hotel restaurant on my own last night. It was my first foray to get something to eat (McDonald’s doesn’t count. Saying Big Mac is not a cultural experience.) With my English/Russian dictionary in hand, I managed to order for myself some chicken, rice, steamed veggies, bread, and a Coke. It wasn’t pretty, but I wasn’t hungry when I finished. I guess that would qualify it as a successful trip.
I got to see some ministry that is happening on a college campus today. Totally underground. Totally illegal. Totally inspiring. We did some contact evangelism, which just isn't "allowed" here. We really didn't try to hide it or anything. I took a pic with the group, but I'm not going to post that for the public to see. I got to hear a 18-year old girl say about the threat of punishment for sharing her faith, "I'm not afraid." Man, I'm so pumped about ministry like that!
When I was travelling back to the hotel, I began to think about the history of the church. You know, it's done quite well when it's been persecuted in the past . . .
Could some of our issues in the American church be that we've gotten to lazy without any "resistance"? I don't know if I believe that or not. It's just a thought.
Posts
Much love
PS thanks for talkin to me earlier! It made my day!
And man, the persecution that goes on in other countries is hard for America to grasp sometimes. We don't have to deal with very much at all. It makes being a christian just what you do because you live in America. Then this whole stereotype of Americans=christians thing goes out there and any type of ministry seems like a conversion to American lifestyle. It happened when Rome declared christianity the official religion. It just seems to make it hard to spread the word of God when everyone tags on a cultural lifestyle around it.
I'm sure you hear this several times a day but I'm praying for you to be used by God while you are there to really inspire and encourage the believers who are being prosecuted. They have strength that we have never had to use.
alee
In christ,
Randy Casey
Romans 12:12
I was just thinking of you and finally got a chance to read your adventures. Can't wait to hear more when you get back. Love you and keep soaking up every moment. Your sis