Month End

Was I really still working at WRPR a month ago?  Did I really not even have my house packed, my clothes packed, my mind packed a month ago?

It feels like a lifetime ago.

According to my calendar, it was the 20th of October when I boarded a plane to head into this dream.  Today is only November 17th, so it must be less than a month.

So much has happened.  The new job, the new students, the new food, the new constant walking, the new transportation, the new church friends, the new language.... the renewed sense that I am where I am supposed to be doing what I am supposed to be doing.

Not that I wasn't before.  But before I wouldn't have expected this to be on the list of things I should do.  Wanted to do, yes, but should?  No.  Yet here I am walking around this museum-city at perfect peace.

I have made many interesting new friends.  Kellie, my flatmate, for example.  A young woman who has traveled the world and says of her next destination, "God will let me know when and where."  I admire that faith and hope to live it, also.  We laugh at our inabilities and our successes together.  We share our hopes and keep each other optimistic.  It's so nice of God to give me a friend like her to keep me balanced and looking forward.

Then there is Sheri.  Quiet, calm, constant also a good laughing friend.  Answering my endless questions.  Taking me hither and yon for this and that.  Welcoming me into her home like family.  And her family, of it's own right, are new friends, also.  Anthony, her son, with all of his crazy stories and songs.  Makes it easier to not see my angelbabies all the time.  He pulls me into his world glad to have another set of listening ears.  Robert, her husband, also quick to answer a thousand questions and offer sound advice.  It seems wherever my life lands I find a family to adopt me.  I guess it's their turn.

Almira, my twin from another country.  We have only spent a few short hours together and yet our friendship feels like years.  The same sense of humor, the same perspectives, the same wanting to learn from the world runs parallel in our hearts.  Only God does that kind of thing.

My co-workers, also, especially Natalie with whom I share a classroom and a burden for these children set in our path.  She is beautiful, strong, intelligent and driven to do more.  Beside working full-time (and then some) she is taking classes at the university to further her education.  She remembers everything and I can't imagine how.  I am learning so much from her about Russian culture alone and blended cultures, also.  I hope some day I can balance plates with that kind of grace.

I have been to Red Square now several times.  It seems it's everyone's favorite place - not just mine.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from time spent there.

  Riding into the sunset.

WRPR umbrella has been a great blessing!  

Maybe I'll get you some new sand clients, John?

St. Basil's rising to greet us.

At the end of the day, I am amazed and blessed.

Hit the Ground Running!

Hey!  Well, then, here we are!  Writing from my table in my room in Moscow.  I still have to shake my head every time I say those words.

My first week has been full. 

To begin with, I didn't realize the baggage restrictions waiting for me at the Delta gate.  After buying a bag and switching my things, I finally got myself to start hugging, crying and saying good-bye.  I was honestly fine until Arthur said, "but I don't want you to go."  Leave to an angelboy to get the tears rolling.  I'm sure by now his tears are dry, but my eyes honestly mist with the very thought of those kids. 

Not my grown kids, really.  I have iMessaged and e-mailed and chatted and discussed with them various important and inane details until I'm pretty sure we have communicated more this week than in the month prior.  Funny how that works. 

I landed on Monday to find two parties waiting for me at the airport.  I felt like a queen!  I expected to find the Moses family who offered to be there.  They are the missionary family I will be working with in whatever way my hands can find.  It's funny to me that I have prayed for them for so long and now I find myself talking to them as if I know them, but they can't possibly know me yet. 

The other party to meet me was the School of Tomorrow where I will be working.  It seems they misunderstood the message that I had a ride and thought I needed a ride and so there they were.  Two brave young women battling the roads to get me where I needed to be.  Since they were familiar with our ultimate destination, I rode home with them.  In the hour of travel it felt as though I had made two new, good friends.

The rest of Monday was spent traveling, exchanging cash (thanks to Genny Miller for cash in hand which has been a VALUABLE blessing and something I hadn't thought of), a quick tour of the school, getting into my room, finding the grocery store and meeting my flatmates, eating Burger King. 

Ah!  Yes, I was quite ready to sleep at 9:00 pm. 

I started work on Tuesday where I met the staff I would work with and the students who I am blessed with.  By the end of the day my heart was full of gratitude.  I still can't quite believe I'm here.

I see many things which have lead me to this place, confirming my appointment with destiny, as it were.  I have a lovely birch tree right outside my window - my favorite - as though planted just for me.  I can find my way around some, although I wish I knew the language better, I can get along.  I have made new friends who feel as though I have always known them.  The month I spent here 11 years ago provided me with so so much information and training I am honestly not afraid to be here alone.

God is good.

And now, finally, after almost a full week of waiting, I have the internet on my laptop!  I wanted to shout when I saw it connect.  Thanks, God!

Today I will attend an international church after making my way across the city.   I'll get you some pictures after I upload them from my fabulous camera.  For now, I just wanted to shout out to the world!

Week one down.  So far, so good.  Thanks, God!

Off we go!

Well, here we go. 

In about 10 minutes my crew will be here to begin the transportation process.  Thorp to Minneapolis to New York City to Moscow.  I am feeling rather cared for now that all is just about said and done.  I know I seem daringly independent, but it's all those people taking care of me that make it so.

Thanks, especially, to my tall sons.  How proud I am of them!  They are probably pretty sore puppies today after all the moving everything upstairs.  And my daughter-in-law, too.  Without the three of them this would be one messy crowded house!   I appreciate their generous time and energy. 

Then my angelbabies who filled me with hugs and kisses and promised to pray for me every day.  What a beautiful gift.

And friends, oh my word!  People coming from hither and yon and texting and calling and e-mailing to send me off covered in grace and prayers.  They say you never know who your friends are until you really need help. Well, I have a LOT of friends, apparently.  Thanks, God!

My church families, too.  I seem to have quite a few of them and I am thankful for them.  Those who give and pray and encourage.  I hope God blesses them back a bunch for all that.  I'm sure He will.

And so here I go.  Flight is scheduled to leave at 1:00 pm today to start this part of the journey.  I will keep you posted as well as I can.

Until next summer....  See you here, there or in the air!

 

Sunday I Fly

Not all too long ago a former student asked me if I was still planning to go to Russia someday.  I can see us standing there beneath the waning summer sky.

“Oh, no, I mean, I would if God asked, but I’m sure there is no way.”  I answered much the same as I had answered all the other faithful friends when they inquired.

Whether my heart wished or my mind dreamed or my God planned, it all fell out the same.  Stars flew gently by and one day became another and then I was called.  Not by God, but by a friend who, I am sure, is called by God.

“I have a proposition for you.  Would you be willing to teach in Moscow?”

I didn’t even hesitate.  Not for a moment.  My voice activated without any thought to reason.  “Yes, I am interested.  Let’s do this.  Let’s tell them I will come as long as the Lord opens the doors, I will walk through them.”

Practically speaking, there were many doors to open and walk through.  Permissions to be granted, support to be provided, a Letter of Invitation, a contract, a job waiting my return, a car, a house, a foster kid, a Little, a visa…. I stacked them all up in front of God almost daring Him to close the doors.  

Instead, one by one He opened them.  You can think what you will.  I watched them open. I viewed them through my doubt and self-perceptions.  I saw what God did.  Now, standing on the other side of Jordan, I feel like the children of Israel.  I want to dance and shout and fall to the ground in worship.  But I’m too amazed.  I keep saying how surreal it all is.  Totally, completely surreal.

There is more to the story, but I won’t bore you with the details.  Suffice to say there are no more doors to be opened.  On Sunday I’m going to board a plane which will take me from Minneapolis to New York City to Moscow.  By this time next week, I will be sleeping in a strange bed, in a new place, with two roommates in a storied, foreign land.

I am going to be teaching before I get another legal assistant paycheck.  I am going to be eating pelmeni and borscht and drinking Russian tea.  I’ll use the dormant language hiding in my memories.

I’m going to Russia.  There are so many who believed when I didn’t.  So many who reminded me when I forgot.  So many who prayed when my words rang hollow.

I have so much thanks to give.  To those who support me and pray for me and encourage me and give to me and bless me.  You are going, too.  Watch the blog for updates here and there.  

It’s really going to happen.  

Thanks, God.  I’m going to Russia.

No good-byes.  Only see ya in the summer!

 =======================

To order a copy of A Book of Pages About Crossing Bridges or a Friend Named Jesus,
 please visit my website:  Writer's Pages

Facebook:  Author Kris A. Newman

Acting and Reacting

Scene change occurred yesterday.  One that I’ve been waiting for so impatiently!  My inner OCD displayed flagrantly as I checked and checked and checked the Russian post tracking number as my package went from Moscow to NYC.  Even when the information stopped displaying as my letter of invitation worked its way across the United States.

Just before I left for lunch yesterday the call from reception came.  “Kris, could you come here a minute?”  

And there it was.  A Russian package with my name on it and my official Letter of Invitation in it. 

Suddenly it all became so real.  

Up to that point, honestly, everything was done by faith based on a phone call, some e-mails and a promise.

I am amazed, and very humbled, by the trust I feel placed on me.  

It’s funny, sort of, that I would be so taken aback by it.  I have invested in the same thing time and again.  I don’t even think twice about giving to missionaries of all kinds.  I have encouraged them to stretch and live their dreams.  I considered it a privilege to invest in the countries of their calling through them.

Now people are investing in Russia through me and it’s catching me off guard.

They can trust me, it’s true.  I really am going to take what I’m given and use it to do something good in a faraway place.  I really am going to Russia to teach children and share the goodness of God with them and their families.  I am compelled to say that out loud as if to convince myself of a truth others see.

I expect to learn a lot, too.  Much more than I expect to teach.   Maybe that’s why I’m so humbled by the generosity of my friends and co-workers.  I don’t see myself as someone with much to give.  I see my struggles, inadequacies, small-mindedness.  I wear a mask of self-confidence always fearful it will slip and the audience will see the real me.

 

I spent some generous, quality time with my kids last week-end.  We had planned a trip for many months and now that I’m heading over the ocean its importance was magnified.  Walking among the plane displays of the EAA, I watched my kids playing like kids with my grandkids.  We laughed and smiled and learned some things, too.  

Later we were joined by others of my “kids” where the laughing and playing continued.  Another milestone shared. I sat beside a graceful friend as we watched the city mouse and country mouse story played across generations.  Cultures blending in common understanding that we’re all in this together. 

One conversation in particular rings in my ears.  “You’re an inspiration to us.”  Said one young man whose life, unwittingly, inspires mine.  His friend nods in complicity.

I?  Inspire them?  That’s crazy.  In the mirror I see a woman who has slowly, tortoislly, crawled from one rung below poverty to one above and below and above and below over and again.  I see myself treading water in seas of aloneness in waves of almost.  

These young people around me, they inspire me.  Their dedication to God and each other.  Their steady moving forward beyond my generation’s achievements.  Their love for ministry.  Encompassing others, even people like me, they give and take and grow.  Their actions draw from me reactions propelling us both to reach farther. 

This is what I love.  This Shakespearian replaying that all the world’s a stage and we are merely players.  Stage right and stage left designed by a Master Director writing our life script.

Two more steps to get me from here to there.  The visa.  The plane ticket.  

I am excited to see what He has written into the next Act of this play.  Curious to see who will share this stage with me and who is in my balcony.  

So quickly and so slowly this scene unfolds. 

 To order a copy of A Book of Pages About Crossing Bridges or a Friend Named Jesus, 

please visit my website:  Writer's Pages

Facebook:  Author Kris A. Newman

Waiting Waiting Waiting

I’m not very good at waiting, honestly.  I get impatient inside when there is nothing left to be done.  I’m much better at doing something – anything!  Give me a project and a deadline and I will complete it regardless of how long it might take or how specific the details.  I will enjoy the whole work of it.

But waiting means I have to give the work of something to someone else and then not think about the thing until it’s given back.

In the meantime, who knows what someone else is doing with my project while I don’t have control of it anymore!  What if they make a mistake?  What if my expectations of them are misplaced?  What if ….

I suppose that’s where faith comes in.

When it’s God and the Russian government you are waiting on it takes a lot of faith!

So here I am waiting for my Letter of Invitation.  The official piece of paper that I need before I can apply for my visa to start my adventures in Moscow.

I’m not really doing nothing while I’m waiting.  I’m doing all kinds of things, actually.  Getting all the details ready for the responsibilities I leave behind like my house and car and the random assorted collection of stuff I have amassed.  

And collecting memories, too.  Lunches and dinners and small trips overflow with blessings, “I love you!” and hugs – lots of hugs.  Funny how the idea of going overseas makes us reconsider the importance of the friendships we fill our lives with.  As fragile as life is, I think we should fill more moments with those things.

I haven’t done much writing lately, honestly, because I am too busy living and find myself at a loss for words.  I absolutely, 100% can NOT believe how supportive people have been of this trip!  

My church family in Thorp, to start with, made pledges so fast the pledge-writer couldn’t keep up.  My son said it took 7 minutes to get a full year’s support!  That’s crazy.  Most of these people don’t even know me.  They have shared this quiet season with me from a distance watching, perhaps, but not participating in my every day.  

Then there was my church family in Bloomington.  Same story, different city.  Their prayers, their encouragement, their support leaves me without words.  Many of them know me well having helped to put me back together through one of the most difficult times of my life.  I knew I could count on their encouragement and their prayers, but financially, too, they gave and gave.  And all I could do was smile and cry and hope I can be worth their investment.

And then my co-workers worked behind my back to put together a surprise that totally surprised me!  “Let’s have dinner with Lyn” turned into “let’s have a party for Kris!” and laughter laced laughter and lives connected in another level of friendship. Their generosity makes a huge impression on my heart.

The camera they pitched in for is well beyond what I had prayed for – well beyond.  I asked God if I couldn’t have a new camera that wouldn’t take shaky pictures, that would let me get a good close up, that would make the things I see shareable.  “Could I have $150 or something at the end of the list of needs for the trip?  I’d like a camera, God, a better one than I have so I can share what I see.”  

God is probably laughing at my idea of better compared to His idea of better!

People ask me some questions the same over and over, “aren’t you afraid of what will happen with what you leave behind?”

I’m taking the best things with me.  I have discovered in all of my traipsing between hither and yon that friendships don’t really end no matter where you go.  The impressions of your friends remain on your heart, in your thoughts, entwined about you.  “Iron sharpens iron” is how the Bible describes it.  Friends remain a part of you.  Always.

I take with me the kindness, the support, the laughter, the complicity, the joy, the bonds, the sorrows, the hardships, the tears of my friends.

I hope I leave the right things behind.  Lingering smiles, gentle answers, laughter to overcome strained days, easy compassion, a quick “Thanks, God!” when interesting people challenge perspectives.

I will miss my angelbabies, that’s a fact.  But I take them with me in a thousand ways.  Mavrik’s shy smile when he realizes he’s being watched.  Anna’s laughter and sheer joy in life.  Arthur’s blunt honesty.  Eli’s giggle and teasing.   And the rest of the collection, too.  Their "got a mint?" smiles and running, leaping hugs fill my cup.  I will miss my kids, too.  John’s gentle wisdom. Thi’s crazy humor.  Melissa’s foundational friendship.  

I hope I leave a lot of things behind for them, too.  My love for Jesus, my sense of adventure, my desire to bring change to the world’s problems even if it’s only a drop in the bucket.  I want them to follow the good I do, but also to learn from my failures so they aren’t repeated.

I would like to be already there.  This waiting is trying my patience!  But while I’m waiting I’m working hard to collect what I will need when I get there, too.  I guess waiting really is ok after all.