United Methodist Church in Russia

Because it had a presence in Russia in the days before the Russian Revolution, the Unted Methodist Church is allowed to have active churches in modern Russia.  I have celebrated Orthodox Christmas twice with the congregation of the First United Methodist Church of Moscow, and I look forward to worshipping at the Tomsk United Methodist Church this year.

A mission group from the Marvin United Methodist Church in Texas has traveled to Tomsk in recent years and have posted a wonderful web site describing their visit with the orphans.  I love looking at their photo gallery to get a taste of what I will experience on my visit to Tomsk.

Where in the World is Tomsk?

Most people have heard of Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia, but where in the world is the city of Tomsk?  Well, if you look at a map of Asia, find the western edge of Mongolia and go north; that's where I'll be!  (Someone asked me if I were going to "Outer Mongolia" - not quite, but close!)

Wikipedia has a good general article about Tomsk, including history, climate, politics, industry and education.  Tomsk is a city of about 500,000 people and is known as the "Athens of Siberia" because of the number of colleges and universities found there.  It is also an industrial center; many factories were moved there during WWII to avoid capture by the Germans.  It has been described as "quaint" because of the many old wooden buildings with decorative carvings.  I'm really looking forward to visiting the city and learning more about how Russians live outside of the big cities.

Gifts for the Children

Here are the lists of items we need to bring to the orphans:

Infant and Toddler List:
Coloring book
Box of 8 Crayons
Tube of Chap Stick
Sheet of Stickers
Toothbrush/Toothpaste
Socks
Matchbox Car for Boys, Small Doll for Girls

Children and Youth List:
Make-up and Nail Polish for Girls/Cologne for Boys
Winter Gloves and Knitted Hat
Tube of Chap Stick, Tube of Hand Lotion
Toothbrush/Toothpaste
Pad of Writing Paper, Erasers
Pencils, Pens, Pencil Sharpener
Socks

For both age groups, a signed Christmas Card; please don't seal it or put anything extra in it but you can write a message (we'll get it translated) and 2-gallon Ziploc bags.  The 2-gallon bags are not as easy to find as the 1-gallon bags, but they do exist.  We can make do with the 1-gallon bags but it is a tight squeeze!  Also, as tempting as it is, please don't put the gift bags together yourself.  It is much easier to pack like items together, and when we get to the orphanage where we're staying we have a package stuffing party.

The first year I went I asked what the orphans would get for Christmas if we did not bring these presents with us.  The answer was "a box of candy".  Even more importantly, we bring smiles and love.  If you would like to be a part of the love, bring the presents to me at Canaan UMC (I'll make arrangements for collection boxes in the Worship Center and Sanctuary) or contact me by phone, e-mail or responding to this post and I'll make arrangements to pick up your contribution.  God bless you!

How You Can Help

When people find out about this mission trip, they want to help! There are several things you can do. First, PRAY! It's a long, hard trip (but well worth it!) and all of us on the trip will need all the prayer support we can get.

Second, you can make a contribution to W.Va. Volunteers in Mission (see the link to the right of the blog) or towards my expenses by sending a check to Canaan United Methodist Church with "Margie - Russia" in the memo line. The trip itself costs $2400 and there will be shipping fees for the presents we will be taking to the orphans (see below).

Third, you can help me gather presents for the orphans. I will be posting a list of the items that I will need to take with me to help make up the packages that we will give to the kids. (Thanks to Mona Meyer and Connie Crouch and the Canaan Kitchen crew for the items I've already received!) I've been asked why we can't ship the presents instead of paying airline fees for extra baggage, but when items are shipped to Russia, they don't always make it to their destination. If we take them with us, we are more sure that they will get there with us.

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!

Russia/Siberia Trip Details

This will be the 10th year that the W.Va. Volunteers in Mission has taken Christmas to Russian orphans. I was blessed to be able to participate in the 2006-7 and 2007-8 trips. We spent the first three nights in an orphanage and then visited many, many other orphanages in the Moscow region. This year will be a little different. We had the choice of visiting St. Petersburg or Tomsk in Siberia. As much as I would like to see the sights of St. Petersburg, it is possible to visit there via commercial tours if you really want to. It is not so easy to visit deep in Siberia! My roommate on the trip, Jan Blount, and I decided that we wanted to be part of the team that will make the trip to Tomsk. We will fly from D.C. to Moscow and then take another flight on to Tomsk. Moscow is 8 hours east of D.C. and Tomsk is 5 hours east of Moscow, so I will be 13 time zone away from home. We will leave on December 28, 2009 and return on January 8, 2010.

I'm BACK!

It's been way too long since my last post, but I've got some VERY good excuses! On February 1, 2008, I had arthroscopic surgery on my right knee. That went well, but the EKG didn't make anyone happy, so, to make a long story a little shorter, I wound up having a double coronary bypass on February 22. God is good (all the time!) and I had a fantastic recovery.

Also, on July 1 last year four United Methodist churches here on the West Side of Charleston came together to form Canaan United Methodist Church . I play keyboards in the praise band, sing in the choir and chair the Council. It's been quite a ride but I wouldn't have missed a minute of it. Well, almost all of it!

Anyhow, updating the blog kind of fell between the cracks. I wasn't able to go to Russia on the 2008-9 trip because I used ALL my leave time with my medical adventures (and had to take advantage of the leave-sharing program at work - grateful for it, too!). This year though, everything is working out for me to go. Look for the next post for details!

Elektrostal Public Library

After the party on the 30th we went on an excursion into town to see the local public library. You can imagine what a treat that was for me! Actually, I wasn't going to go because of my knee - they were going to walk a couple of miles through snowy woods to get there. As beautiful as it was going to be, I was afraid I wouldn't make it hobbling along on my cane and would hold them back. Director Nina wouldn't hear of me staying behind and ordered me a taxi! The rest of the group never let me live it down! Irene, our translator, rode with me and we sat in the lobby talking to the librarian till till the others got there. That's Robyn in the picture sitting in the main reading room beside the librarian.

Party Time!

Most of the children at our orphanage were at "Winter Camp" while we were staying at Elektrostal but we still had plenty of kids when it came time to have a party! The children had prepared a marvelous program for us and we had seats of honor at the front of the gym. The program was a traditional story of the Snow Maiden getting in trouble with the evil characters and Grandfather Frost coming to her rescue. Grandfather Frost came riding in on a sleigh and circled the room to deafening cheers and shouts of joy! Afterwards, we presented our puppet show and gave out presents.

We Interrupt This Blog...

Sorry, another non-Russia post, but I want to let everyone know I'm home from my outpatient surgery on my knee and all is well. I'm sitting here with a brace and ice packs on my leg and Frances is taking good care of me. I have a walker to get around with and good pain medicine if I need it. They called me to come in early today because another patient didn't show up so I was home by 5:00. I'm going to get to bed in a little bit and get my rest - I go back to the doctor on Wednesday. Thanks for all the prayers - they worked!

Eating Again!

I wanted to use this picture because it shows all the lovely juice boxes that were on the table at every meal. I especially liked the strawberry juice (and managed to spill it all over the white table cloth!). The orphanages apparently go through juice by the caseload - it's a convenient way of getting lots of vitamins into the kids.

Me and My Puppet

I started out with two puppets to work with. This is the Host - he hired the musician to play for his party and got to dance to the music. To make a puppet dance you have to dance, too! I really liked the Host but we had another lady join the troup after we came together in Moscow. My other puppet was the Sea Captain - I've got a picture of him later on.

Recognize these guys?

These Russian versions of Minnie and Mickey Mouse were painted on the wall of the play room where we practiced our puppet show.

Where's Waldo...er, Margie?

Delphine wanted to know where in the world I was on my trip so here's a map showing the Moscow Region. Last year I stayed at Sergiev Posad, northeast of Moscow, and this year I was at Elektrostal, almost directly east. After we moved into the hotel in Moscow we took day trips to several other orphanages, including Almozovo. (Double click on the map if you want to enlarge it.)

Puppets!

This is Chris Arveson, our puppet master. Each year, Chris finds a folk story, has it translated to Russian, and reads all the parts (in Russian!) onto a CD. Then he makes puppets for each of the characters and backdrops that he can transport by air. When we settled in at the orphanage he pulled it all out and started to train us to be puppeteers. This year's story was about a musician who played for the Sea King and fell in love with his daughter, but had to decide whether to stay with her or go back to his beloved city. He chose the city but sat on the bank of the river and played and thought he saw a beautiful face in the water. Chris always puts a Christian message at the end of the story and we wound up singing "Silent Night" in Russian. There will be more pictures of the puppets later on.

Sad News

This has nothing to do with my trip to Russia but I want to share this sad news with you and ask for your prayers for the family. My friend Frances called me about 7:30 this morning to tell me that her best friend, Lanora, passed away from a heart attack at 5:30 this morning. Lanora's daughter Carly was with her when she had the attack and called 911 but there was nothing they could do. Of course, it's too soon to know about arrangements. Carly will be with loving friends but it will be hard for her to deal with all this; please keep her in your prayers.

My Knee

Thanks to everyone on the trip who put up with me poking along on my cane. You'll be happy to know (I hope!) that I have arthroscopic surgery scheduled for February 1 to fix it. I have a bone spur on my knee that is pressing against a tendon and it's making my whole leg hurt. The surgery should be straightforward and I should be back in (limited) action in a couple of weeks but I do covet your prayers. At least I should have plenty of time at home to blog and publish my pictures!

Bring on the Food!

The kitchen ladies always placed lovely cloth napkins on the back of our chairs before the meals were served. I like Russian food - even borscht! There are cold cuts and cheese on little rounds of bread, pickles, tomatoes and cucumbers among the appetizers. The main dish is usually pork or chicken and always some kind of potato on the side. The best desert is ice cream but there is always lots of chocolate candy to eat while you drink your cup of tea after the meal. Oh, and who could forget the chocolate covered marshmallows? Yum!

Don't Waste Bread!

On the wall above the kitchen serving window is this mural that reminds everyone of the importance of bread to life and that it should not be wasted. Apparently, it was a concept left over from Soviet days.

Dining Hall at Elektrostal

We ate all our meals at the orphanage in the dining hall that the kids use when they are in residence. One wall is covered with these beautiful murals of scenes from Russian fairy tales.

The Orphanage at Elektrostal

We arrived at the orphanage in the town of Elektrostal in mid-afternoon. The van pulled up to a back door close to the stairs where we had to carry our luggage up to the third floor where we were going to stay for the next three days. Unfortunately they hadn't cleared the ice off the steps and I took one step and slithered right on down! (My knee has been giving me some problems and I used a cane for a lot of the time in Russia - canes don't help on ice!) The orphanage director, Nina, grabbed me and walked me around to the front door where the steps were cleaned off. (You don't say "no" to Russian orphanage directors!) That was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Nina "adopted" me as her "American daughter" and she is now my "Russian mama". She made sure that I had taxis into town when we went on excursions to see the library and attend church on New Year's Eve; John Wratchford teased me and said "Some people will do anything to get special treatment!" ;-)

When we got all the baggage upstairs we took a breather in our room with the pretty lace curtains. My bed was better than last year - last year I may as well have had a hammock but this year the bed was very firm. The bathroom was across the hall; the toilets aren't like ours here in the states but they serve the purpose! The sinks were in the next room where there was also a free-standing shower stall. It was a decent shower but you had to make sure you gave the water a chance to warm up!

Unfortunately, most of the kids were at "Winter Camp" for the holidays and we didn't get to play with them but they came back to give a program for us and let us do our puppet show for them. More on that soon!