November 2009
11/18/2009
11/15/2009
Scavenger Hunt
Tonight the youth group went on a scavenger hunt, collecting photos of (short list):
- Someone reading the bible
- someone sleeping
- someone drinking alcohol
- someone smoking
- smiling russians
- group pic in front of Lenin's tomb
10/24/2009
Novodevichy Youth Picnic
10/21/2009
Belarus Youth Group
We had a wonderful time with Vladimir's Belarus youth group last weekend, this was from the group dinner Saturday night.
10/20/2009
Retreat At Snegiri
07/01/2009
Ciao
Final group pic (from the Naples tour) and the banner at our first pizza dinner so we remember the warm welcome...
06/30/2009
Pizza and Gelato
Italy is great for budget youth group travellers. We ate a lot of pizza and gelato. Tommy said he ate 13 gelatos in total. Pastor Bob kept telling us "this is the best gelato place ever" From Naples to Ravello to Rome, I think we tried them all....
06/29/2009
Roman Tourists
After saying goodbye to Johnny in Naples (who flew back to Houston), Bruno (our favorite driver) drove us to Rome in three hours. Pastor Bob then took us on a fascinating two-day tour through the Eternal City. We had a great picnic lunch at the catacombs, checked into the Salvation Army hostel and then toured the Colliseum. The next day we went to the Sistine Chapel, Vatican museum, St Peter's Basilica (walked up 500 steps), Trevi fountain, Peter and Paul's prison cell. Along the way, we admired gardens (terrorized orange trees), drank a lot of water, got a lot of mileage off of one cappucino at sidewalk cafes, rested where we could, and had many gelato breaks. Pastor Bob said we won the award for the only youth group he had that did not take a taxi.
On Saturday night, we had a great dinner with a simple communion. On behalf of the youth group, Sasha and Austin thanked Pastor Bob for all his hard work trip that blessed us all in so many ways.
06/28/2009
Last day of VBS
We are all now back in Moscow, and can now post pics from the last day at VBS and when we visited Rome. The last day in VBS was filled with special performances, thank you speeches to the coordinators, hand-made gifts from Rosaria's school, water balloon games, enthusiastic singing and many goodbye hugs. The final day was also when we shared John 3:16, and Michelle explained the symbolic colors in the cross necklace. We hope we left some seeds that will blossom in the hearts of these kids.
We loved the smiles and learned a little about why some children did not smile so easily. We will always remember and pray that God will watch over them.
