Hello!
I hope that you are all doing well and having a wonderful week so far!
I feel like I haven’t written a letter to you in forever! The last week and half have been very busy. However, last week we were blessed with 4 days in a row of beautiful Sun shine! It was much needed and taking the children outside in the sun light was probably the best part of the week!!The children that are blind were even enjoying the sun on their face.. This week the weather has been much more Russian style..gray, gray, and some more gray weather.
The last week and half have flown by and as I am typing this letter I have had to pull out my journal to see what all last week involved due some things beginning to blend together. The work last week at the orphanage was good. Most of the days were pretty calm and uneventful. One of our boys, he is one of the oldest in the group, he cannot walk or talk, but he understands everything. He suffers from a lot of pain in his legs and feet, usually when touching either he will begin to cry. Something was really bothering him because almost every day last week he was crying and screaming. It was sad for a couple reason. First reason being that the ‘caretakers’or nurse would tell him to stop crying like a little girl or make a commit that he is such a girl. As I said he understands everything so this would make it even worse. The nurse would then come in to give some medication to calm him down..It usually wasn’t given in a very pleasant form.. .
Last week I also had the opportunity to again return to Global grounds and part take in their English teaching night to local Russians. It is such a great opportunity to have fellowship with American C&MA workers ( Makes me feel at home), as well as local Russians who are from all walks of life. This week I really felt at home because they were teaching about advertisements. The evening consisted of showing some American commercial, and then teaching what some of the words mean, and how in advertisement you are drawing people in and a short amount of time-so what is the most important thing to say? This is true in our daily interactions with unbelievers or people for that matter- Sometimes we only have a few minutes of interaction with people, what are we using those few minutes of interaction for? Are they encouraging, building someone up, tearing them down, or bringing negativity into their lives. What kind of advertisement are we leaving or making on people? These are some things that came to mind while I was there. One of the commercial clips they showed was a farming one from the super bowl game. The one about Dodge trucks, I hadn’t seen it until that night and made me again think of my family and the farming life they live and how I miss it!
This past weekend I went to Pskov with 19 German volunteers that are all working for Perspecty . This is the organization that organizes volunteers in Russian and Germany. They staff the building I work in at Pavlosk, one in Pettergof, two adult centers here in the city. So all the Germans are divided between these 4 places. Pskov is about 4 hours by bus from St. Petersburg it is located about 12 miles east from the Estonian border. It was a really great weekend, so nice to get out of the city, meet new people and see some new places! We spent Saturday driving around Pskov region and seeing an old Monastery in one of the smaller villages in Pskov. Sunday was also pretty neat, we went to the old Kremlin ( Russian Krom) Псковский Кромis an ancient citadel in Pskov. It was built in the 15th century so very old. The Krom was the administrative and spiritual centre of the Pskov Republic in the 15th century. While we were there they were having the lighting of the torch and ceremonies for the Special Olympics. For all of us who are working with disabled and special needs adults it was really something to be there during the ceremony!
This past Monday after work Helena and I went to what they call Hospice ( not the same as in the States, its more like a retreat for terminally ill children) two of our girls ( my favorites) went there two weeks ago so we decided to go visit them..They both looked beautiful, one of the girls looked to be doing better than the other but I think they were both happy to see us. The facility was extremely clean and very nice. It appeared to a newer building!
This week we also had a scavenger hunt with the kids outside. We had to get so many of the same color balls that were located in different places outside, along with doing some activities in order to get to the balls. Helena and I each took one child from our room.. I think we adults had more fun in the kids. haha.
I have been going pretty hard the last few weeks with very little sleep and this week I was really starting to feel it. My spirit has been more of- I can’t wait to go home and go to bed instead of having the servant heart to stay and work and enjoy every second of it..:) So today, Wednesday I took a “self” day to sleep in and get caught up on some things here.. I slept for almost 12 hours, which for those of you who really know me, that is crazy!! I feel like a new person, ready to go.
Karen Jones who is with Lifelinemissions/ANDORC is arriving in St. Petersburg today!! She is going to be having some meetings with Perspectiy and the orphanage so please keep her in your prayers as she is here. She is also hoping to get her medical testing done so she too can have her medicine book which will allow her to work/volunteer more freely in the orphanage.
Many of you know and have heard that I have been praying about staying here in St. Petersburg longer to continue the work Lord is allowing me to do. Despite many things going around here and many things I miss about home I do feel I am where I am suppose to be. I was suppose to return April 15th and I am now looking at returning in July. There are summer camps with the child and a few other summer camps I am hoping to take part in.I have spoken with the family I am living with now about staying here into July, they have not given me a yes or no yetJ Russians don’t usually plan to far in advance. So please be praying about the living situation. The orphanage was very excited about me staying so thrilled they said if I needed money they would pay me..ha ha.. I cannot receive any kind of payment from a Russian organization due to my visa.Here are what the expense are looking like right now. It will cost at or just under $400.00 to change my return flight ticket. To extend my health insurance will cost $500.00 ( which seems crazy!!) I am basing the rent for the extended months on what I am now which is $300.00 a month. Right now the thinking is I will need another $800-1,000.00 to stay into July. I am sharing all this information with you my faithful supporters! Please be praying for all the arrangements in the coming days! The Lord is over all things! If anyone would like to make a donation of financial support they can do so by either mailing it to my home address:
6230 Old Delaware Rd. Mount Vernon Ohio 43050
Or for Tax exempt checks can be made out to ANDORC and sent to
ANDORC
Karen Jones, Executive Director
2786 Hallock Young Road
Warren, Ohio 44481
I am humbled and truly grateful for all the prayers and support! The facebook message and e-mails that you all are sending me. They are all message of love and encouragement that are truly up lifting 🙂
Please pray this week for continued rest. Not only physical rest, but spiritual rest and refreshment as well. Pray for the outreach tonight with the Russian/English class! I am also trying to get into an orphanage here in the city to play and or just hold some of the little orphanages. Pray for the right doors to be opened.
If anyone has more questions about my extend stay please ask them!
I pray that you all have a very blessed and wonderful rest of the week!
God Bless each one of you!
-Katherine
A snapped pics of one of the girls getting her hair cut.. Hannah volunteer enjoying some ‘back time’ with one of the boys from her room. Helena and I teaching one our boys to ride a bike..Really we are trying to teach him how to move his legs. A snap of us at the hospice visiting the girls and a couple pics of the hospice.
