Dear friends and Christmas-types,

Thank you for all of your prayers and support – we need it. Good news this week is that our attendance for Awana last Sunday more than doubled, in part due to a couple of Christmas presentations I gave to 5^th grade classes. One child claimed that he had called five of his friends to get them to come – let’s pray that he calls them again. We really want Awana to grow and the program has been attacked by mistrusting parents, heavily restricting its growth.

As you know, it’s Christmas today, though not for me, since Russian Christmas is January 7^th. In fact, Russians don’t celebrate Christmas very much since the Soviets encouraged the people to celebrate “Novi God” instead (New Year) and Easter was always more important to the Orthodox Church in the first place. In any case, I would like to take this moment to remind all of the blog posters on stories on CNN.com that if Christianity really usurped Christmas from pagan traditions, then that in fact does not make Christmas a pagan holiday, unless the church was so inept as to unsuccessfully “usurp” the holiday, it would make it, in fact, a Christian holiday. As my business is not the “War on Christmas” which everybody seems to be getting so angry about in the states (I am often surprised by what people will write – on both sides). In the meantime, Merry Christmas (Not Angrymas).

Last week, Eric and I pulled out our guitars and participated in a Christmas concert at the Transportation University of Petrozavodsk. We played five traditional spirituals adapted from one of Bob Dylan’s favorite artists, Odetta (if you haven’t heard of her, Odetta’s Christmas spirituals are worth checking out). We were very well received and we rocked out, playing the songs as spirituals, bluegrass, and blues tunes. If we have more time in the coming months, we are considering recording these songs, so you can look forward to the musical stylings of Eric Debelak and Peter Bodurtha in the not too distant future. We have been invited by a group of Russian Orthodox Christians who hold Evangelical concerts to join them again for future concerts, so Eric and I are looking forward to those opportunities as well. Because we are American, play American styles, and sing in English, we provide the really interesting “Freak Show” to get people to come and sit down at the concert and then the Russians do the playing and preaching in Russian – it’s a really good system, so long as you don’t mind being the eye-catching gimmick rather than the meat of the ordeal, but hey, I am all about gimmicks, I have absolutely no problem with this, so long as people get to hear the Gospel. There were about 250 people there, a full auditorium, and they stayed till the very end, picking up 25 of the books the Russians were offering for free. The Russians are really great guys. Pray for their ministry (one of the guys runs an Alpha course at the main Orthodox Church in Petrozavodsk).


I wind up my presentations this Thursday, thank you for your prayers. I got into an interesting banter with a student about the merits of Nietzche – I am praying that she’ll come to the Christian Center to talk about it some time. I also met a student, the rare type that is studying religion and I’m praying she’ll come by as well, since we are the Christian Center Library after all – it would be a shame if she didn’t use us as a resource. Another highlight were the wonderful hand puppets created by a few 5^th grade students as pictured. Luckily, the teacher (pictured) was very nice and didn’t mind. Hand puppets are awesome.

Ok, that’s what I’ve got for now. Enjoy the pictures.

Sincerely,

Peter.

Picture time!

Dear friends and frogs,
I have received recent complaints that there are not enough pictures on my blog. Enough complaining! I, like such great men as Neville Chamberlain and Pontius Pilate give in! So, for those of you who prefer picture books to full-length novels, below are a few pictures that I think will satiate your ravenous hunger by presenting "Russia: in Living Color (or lack thereof)"



This is my bedroom. I fall asleep here at night and wake up in the morning. It is normally too warm so I keep the window open. There is someone downstairs with a loud stereo or television that stays on as late as 2am.



This is the most Russian photo I could find. This is what Russia looks like. It was taken outside of Eric and Liza's apartment some months ago.



This is what downtown Petrozavodsk looks like - one of the main squares. Despite the hugeness of the intersection (or maybe because of it) there are no crosswalks. Megaphone is the biggest mobile phone company around and -5 C is not a bad temperature for a walk, especially with new snow and long underwear.


This is another main square in Petrozavodsk, juxtaposing an old Lenin statue with the St. Petersburg style architecture. Everything in pre-revolution urban areas looks like this: Huge, austere, plain, intimidating, and light yellow.


This is how Russians have been building apartments since the Brezhnev era - with prefabricated concrete blocks. The upside is that they last forever - have you ever tried knocking over concrete? It hurts - the downside is that it is difficult to modify and properly add such commodities as outlets on outer walls (they are only on inside walls), sound insulation, controllable heating, ventilation systems, level floors, etc. This is next door to Eric and Liza's new apartment, which I think is quite nice.


This is a normal-looking market a short walk from Lyceum #1. No matter what the weather, the sellers are out there, the only variant being the products available and the layers worn by the merchants. You'll see in the background a new Orthodox Church, as well as evidence of evening. Have no fear, this photo was taken at about 1:15pm. That's right, 1:15. The sun is like this for about 4.5 hours a day and then it's night. I am becoming nocturnal very quickly.


What is this? Do you see the duck with McDonald's arches for eyes? It looks like some sort of cloned child of Ronald McDonald and Scrooge McDuck. I need to investigate, if only to find the man who came up with this fantastic combination of McDonalds and Duck Tales.


This is "Blagaev Yest," the church I attend on Sunday. The pastor is a missionary from South Carolina and a really nice, intelligent, stand-up guy. I play guitar every Sunday and I enjoy how much time they spend praying during the service (seriously, each part of the service is divided by a sort of prayer time)


If you made it this far, you get to see me practicing my new skill: Beating rugs! Every Monday or Tuesday I go out in the morning to beat the living dust out of Vera Petrovna's floor ornaments. I will say without reservation that this activity is going to make me an unstoppable hitting machine when I come back to the US. Do you have any idea how many reps I am getting each week? Oh man, it's so great!


So there you have it, so many pictures that I will not have to do this again for a few more months. Please pray for me as I begin my rigorous Christmas schedule next week. I will have something like 20 presentations in a week and a half, so pray that my voice holds out and that we are able to both get some students thinking about God and that they might come to the Christian Center.

Until later,
Peter.

Wow, Nov. 17 was a long time ago

Dear friends and seaside resorts,
My last blog was Nov. 19th? That was indeed quite a long time ago, and I will have to apologize for my delinquency but the internet monster came to Russia and told me that one month was much too quick and efficient for me to receive internet access, and thus I would have to wait yet another week, though he was kind enough to give me the cord I needed, which I admit added some nice ornamentation to our living room.

Since my last post, I have given ten to fifteen presentations about Thanksgiving and Mary W. Shelley's Frankenstein and they're relationship to Christian tradition and philosophy in Europe and the United States. The classes responded quite well, especially the older students of the 10a and 11a English tracks, though I am a bit puzzled as to why none of them have stopped by the Christian Center as yet, since I have implored them to do so many times. Please pray that some of these students, the ones with whom I can best converse, will come to the Christian Center and become involved in our activities.

As for other events, on December 17th Eric and I will be doing a Christmas concert composed of Christmas Carols and old Gospel carols on two acoustic guitars and harmonica. We've really managed to blues/bluegrass-up the music to beautifully, annoyingly, American sensibilities such that our language will not be the only thing American about us. We hope that doing the music in such a non-Russian way will draw more interest into the words we are actually saying, at which point we have the opportunity to explain the true reason for Christmas (which I might add, is the first week of January, not December 25 like in the U.S. It's a Russian Orthodox thing that I sort of like - it's nice to have new years day before Christmas rather than after.)

My Russian steadily improves while, as the judicious reader may have noticed, my English has begun a slow descent into the prose of the early American literature I am currently reading. I think I may return to the U.S. sounding like Captain Ahab.

I feel very blessed to have so many people back home praying for me and I thank every one of you for your letters and notes of encouragement, as being so far away for even two months is arduous, especially in a place like Russia where even the sun won't cheer you up. And, I should add, the sun's lack of cheer here has little to do with the people, government, or otherwise (I am rather happy with these aspects thusfar) but rather it's truancy from the sky. At last count, the sun rises at 10am and sets a little before 3pm, though those estimates may now be entirely inaccurate since I haven't met the sun's acquaintance in nearly a week, for it keeps hiding behind such a thick layer of clouds I haven't the slightest clue where it might be. I will say, however, that it is never quite day here, for dawn skips morning and afternoon altogether and goes on right into evening, dusk, and then a very long night. I do not really understand what all the hurry is, but if Joshua were around, I would have him get that big ball of burning gas to remain in the sky a few hours, and then maybe get him to move it a little higher so that everyone in Petrozavodsk can go swimming and get a tan, two things only bears and wolves dare to do these days.

There, enough of my rambling on about the sun as a personable object, and more blog posts, and more prayers, both from me for you, and from you for me. I pray that God will bless you all in your work.

Sincerely,
Peter.

Camp Kondeboga

Dear friends and supporters,

Our retreat in Kondeboga went very well. I think you will notice that I now spell Kondeboga differently, and that is because I have become orthographically enlightened. In any case, all of the kids, young and old, had a great time and we had great help from both the church there and church leaders Petrozavodsk. We had music, skits, Bible study, a photo scavenger hunt, not to mention the essential – tea time! (pictured). Thank you for all your prayers for this retreat.

If you missed it, my previous entry lists my new mailing address. It takes letters about two weeks to get here, not bad considering I’m half way around the world. I would love to hear from you, and letters are even nicer than email – and if I’ll always try to return the message (though I must admit, it is considerably more trouble for me to procure stamps and envelopes than it will be for you. But I will do my best!)

My first presentation went very well last Thursday and I have good reason to believe that some of the student’s from Vera Nicolayevna’s 11a English class will stop by during office hours this Tuesday or Wednesday. Thus we can build relationships with the students and direct them toward our weekend Bible Study and hopefully the church (eventually). We are very blessed in Petrozavodsk to have a quality Orthodox church in town – and it just happens to be the central church. They have an Alpha program and the youth leader there, a good friend of our ministry, even has a Russian Orthodox rock band. Thus, we can feel comfortable sending them to the traditional Russian church if they so desire.

I had another mishap this week – I picked up Eric and Liza’s son Vladik and wrenched my back, keeping me out of basketball for the third straight week for the third straight reason (two weeks ago it was my foot and last week was the retreat). Please pray for healing. I ran some yesterday and it felt ok, though I am still quite sore.

Thank you all very much and get a hold of our November newsletter for the latest news on the Campground Project.

Sincerely,

Peter.

New Address!

Hello everybody,
If you would like to send me any letters or anything, I now have a permanent address:

Peter J. Bodurtha

Frunze 6-12

Petrozavodsk, Karelia 185002

Russia

If you want to send a package, please send it to Liza Debelak at the address mentioned in an earlier article (it's better that way, trust me.)

Doomsday

Dear friends,
This weekend we go to Kondepega, a village about 30 minutes from Petrozavodsk for a retreat with some of our Christian Center and Awana students from Lyceum #1. There will be skits, presentations, food, tea (never without), and picture scavenger hunts (Photograph a Picture of President Putin – and more!). Please pray that the students both enjoy themselves and that the Gospel message has special impact for them this Saturday.

Monday I moved in with Liza Debelak’s mother, Vera Petrovna for the foreseeable future. Vera Petrovna is very nice and speaks a little English so I will learn Russian very quickly here. Please pray for my continued learning (my brain often hurts from studying – not a bad feeling!).

Pictured is my new acquaintance, the Doomsday Device. We don’t get along very well. Though the Doomsday Device is nothing more than a Russian water heater, I will now proceed in horrific detail the facts that have earned this hunk of metal its apocalyptic cognomen.

The Device works in the following way: In that oval crevice lies a spigot that releases natural gas. This spigot then lights a pan of more spigots which heat a water pipe that runs through the Device and to both the kitchen and shower faucets. Now, if by chance the water running through the Device were to stop for any reason while the gas is lit, the heat from the multitude of flames would turn the residual drops of water into steam. This steam would then expand rapidly, causing the water pipe to explode into the device’s metal casing. Obviously, then, this explosion of liquid would snuff out the flame, leaving the spigot to spew nothing but natural gas into the kitchen, then the apartment, then the building. If left in such a state for long enough, the flick of a light switch would cause the entire building to explode. Every apartment in the building runs on this system, though it is clear that the apocalypse has yet to affect this place, since no part of it looks to have exploded during it’s forty years of existence. Thus, you can see why I and the Doomsday Device have an uneasy relationship.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. If you do not get the newsletter, please contact me or someone who might get it to learn more about our Campground Project. There are no Christian Bible camps in the province of Karelia and we have been offered land 30 minutes outside of Petrozavodsk for a very good price. We would like to buy it by spring and we already have about one third of the $25,000 needed. Please consider giving to this project (talk to me or someone at St. Paul’s for more information.)

Thanks and I’ll talk to you again soon

Sincerely,
Peter.

A New Hat

Dear friends,
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I have had a good time in Russia so far and I am beginning to feel comfortable (just barely). Today I will go out by myself for the first time, which is an accomplishment in Russia because it is perhaps the most disorienting developed nation on earth (For Americans, I mean). Eric and I actually had a discussion last night about what we think people who have visited India would think about Russia, if it would be more of a culture shock or less. If anyone out there has visited both places, please weigh in so that we can settle this question. Thanks.

It is pretty cold and gray every day here, hovering at about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, with a lot of humidity so it sticks to your bones, but not cold enough to snow (and I hear it snows a lot here!). This week I was so cold that I determined that I needed a warm hat. And not just any hat, but the most Russian hat that I could find. Pictured, you will see me with my Russian hat. I think it looks a little French, and with my pea-coat, Eric and I agree that I look like I am ready to mount a failed invasion of Russia during the Fall (let's not repeat history now...). That hat is very warm and is the only thing that makes me look remotely Russian. Everyone can tell I'm a foreigner here, it's sort of like a sixth sense - or the fact that my facial structure is all wrong to be Russian. And I wear a pea coat (very non-Russian for a man to do - but it's a nice, warm coat).

Good news, the Camp Project is going ahead. We have about $8,000 of the $25,000 we need to buy the land, a very doable amount we think. This spring we will turn the land into a usable space to invite kids from Petrozavodsk to enjoy the great outdoors! I will get to wield an axe and cut down trees like a real live lumberjack! Thank you for all your prayers for this project and please pray that the funds would come in by this spring so that we can get to work.

As for me, please pray that my left foot heals. It really hurts to walk and it is acting up for no particular reason (it's nice to be sitting at a computer instead!). Also pray that my scheduling of presentations at the schools goes well.

Sincerely,
Peter.

The Christian Center

This is the Christian Center. Yes, it is a small room in an out of the way corner of Lyceum #1 near the English department where you can squeeze a group of ten to fifteen around the table. Every Saturday we have guitar lessons followed by Bible study followed by tea. Then Eric and I head down to the gym and run some early High School aged kids ragged (or rather, we are run ragged. My feet and knee still hurt from on the court trauma...but I'm getting in shape!)

Running the Christian Center is quite difficult. Eric and Liza spent most of last year cleaning up the books and making sure the organization ran like a Christian mission ought to. This year, everything is in order, yet we are again running into some of the same old problems. Please pray for the following issues concerning the Christian Center.

1. Most of the students who attend and drop by frequently during weekday office hours (usually Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons) now understand what it means to be a Christian. A few of them have chosen to follow Christ, whilst the majority still struggle to choose between their current lives and the life Christ offers. We believe that we can only provide a good example and sound teaching, and the rest is up to God. Please pray that God would reveal Himself to them in a real way and that they would accept and follow Christ wholeheartedly

2. Parents and the Awana program. For those of you who are not familiar with Awana, it is a Christian program for elementary school children very popular throughout the world that involves games promoting teamwork, scripture memorization, and basic Christian teachings. Recently we had a repeat of an unfortunately too uncommon occurrence: A parent came, saw what was being taught, and at the end of the day informed us that she would no longer permit her child to attend Awana. When we ask why, we usually receive one of two answers: A) That we are sectarians and the family is Orthodox.

This is unfortunate because firstly, we teach nothing that disagrees with Orthodox teaching (in fact, we would love for the children to grow up as practicing Russian Orthodox Christians, or any other place where they will get to know Christ) and secondly, we often find out afterwards that they do not practice Orthodox Christianity at all - they merely are culturally Orthodox and Orthodoxy is a convenient reason to remove their child from the program. It is certainly their right to remove their child for any reason, but at the same time, after seeing how much the children enjoy the program and the effects of seventy years of state atheism, such occurrences sadden us.

We ask that you pray that children will come to Awana with parents who will see that we honestly care about Russia and the Russian people, and that we only wish to share our dearest gift with this great nation: Jesus Christ.

3. The Christian Center and a nearby Russian Orthodox center have both had some difficulties obtaining correct paperwork. (if I went into the details, this blog post would be inordinantly long), and which may shut us down. Please pray that Christian organizations like these would remain free to work in the schools and that no partiality would be shown.

4. The campground. Local Christian leaders have been drawing up plans to create a Bible camp in the woods outside of town, which as far as we know does not exist anywhere in all of Russia. We have been blessed in that a local Christian woman has inherited a perfect tract of land on the outskirts of Petrozavodsk and wishes to sell it to us for the camp. However, she is currently in court after her ownership of the land has been contested. The prosecution is currently in the process of appealing an initial legal victory for this woman and if this process continues, it will be a number of years before the Russian Supreme Court decides the case once and for all. Meanwhile, we are unable to proceed in our camp plans because the land is in limbo.

Furthermore, we are still attempting to figure out how to go about creating this camp legally, and we have yet to find anyone who has the connections to get the job done. So, even if we had the land and the money, getting permission to build is an entirely different maze which we will need to tackle.

In summary, please pray that we will receive sufficient funds to buy the land and build the camp, that the Russian courts would decide in the landowner's favor, and that He would send the right people with the right experience to tackle the job of obtaining the proper paperwork to build and operate the camp.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this entire blog post. As a reward, please admire the one, the only, the Christian Center (on an exceptionally slow day)!

Sincerely,
Peter.

The Luggage Has Landed

Dear Friends,
Pictured at right is my luggage. Yes, those long lost friends, those inconstant companions, fearless braves of the worldwide luggage transport system - they have finally made it

It turns out that American Airlines were mixed up and my bags were actually in Chicago. They then flew to London, then St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Petrozavodsk. The Petrozavodsk airport is in the middle of the beautiful, wild Russian countryside - think Northern Minnesota with fewer signs of human life - and after a long ride out there, we nearly did not procure the bags at all.

The airport was very, very small and as we entered we found two bags - both mine - sitting in the back. The woman in charge asked for my passport, immigration card, and customs form - wait, customs form? You mean we're supposed to have that still? The woman in St. Petersburg office neglected to return it two me after I listed my luggage as missing, but according to the officials at the airport, I would have to return to St. Petersburg, get the forms, and then come back. Now, since this idea was absolutely untenable, Liza kindly argued with the woman for a few minutes until we negotiated for the bags (everything in Russia is "negotiated" - it's just the way Russians enjoy doing things, but it is very counterintuitive for Americans). So, finally, after getting fully searched, we strapped the bags to the top of Eric and Liza's fixer-upper Russian car, and puttered our way back home.

It is awful nice to have a full complement of clothing!

Today I will be going with Eric to the Christian Center where I will help with guitar lessons, Bible study, and basketball.

Thank you all for your prayers

Sincerely,
Peter

From Petrozavodsk

Dear Friends,
After a day in St. Petersburg and two in Petrozavodsk, I have finally found time to write you all on how things are going. It is quite a culture shock coming here. For example, today I had my first experience hand-washing my jeans with a washboard. You may ask, with two giant suitcases, why I would already need to wash my jeans? Well, the benevolence of American Airlines has left me with no clothes, no contact solution, and no suitcases. It's a long story so I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say that me and the angry eastern european man from Lufthansa are equally unhappy with American Airlines.

Russia is an odd place that works in ways that I am still getting used to. I am quickly finding out how much a cultural shock is Russian bureaucracy. For instance, I have to get four separate forms in order to enter the country, two of which state only information already stated on my passport and visa. I guess they just want to make extra-super-di-duper sure that I'm legal. Oh well. It is much more difficult to start a business here as well, taking years and a lot of money to collect the necessary paperwork in order to have permission to begin. I have a lot to get used to.

But in spite of the bureaucratic difficulties, and very different service and utility standards than in the US, there is a lot to like about Russia. Russian people are uncommonly warm and welcoming in their homes and easily have the healthiest diet I've encountered. Half of what they eat is vegetables and practically everything is fresh off the farm. For example, we had some fresh fish and potatoes the other day which was some of the best I've had. Furthermore, public transportation is cheap and relatively easy to use and people are generally helpful to those who get lost - at least they are when you can actually communicate with each other (my Russian needs a lot of improvement so that I can get around).

That is all for now. Please pray that my bags come through soon. Also, pray that for my improved understanding of Russian, that I'll find my niche in the ministry here, and that my living situation will be worked out within the next month. If you would like to send me anything, my current address is as follows (it WILL change within the next few weeks, so stay tuned)

Liza Debelak
Rovio 10-78
Petrozavodsk, Karelia 185011
Russia

Note: Put Liza's name on the address, but put a note on the inside that it's for me. Thanks!

Sincerely,
Peter.

P.S. Pictured: Center of St. Petersburg. Orthodox Churches are everywhere in spite of the fact that the Soviet Union destroyed nearly 98% of them

Getting Going

Well, after messing up my mother's house for fourteen months, the prospect of Mother Russia has forced me to make my things disappear. Thus, I am spending my waning days in America cleaning, cleaning, writing, and cleaning. Martin Luther the Bobblehead keeps me company as well as some pretty Tchaikovsky pieces and I think that I will be ready for my departure this Friday.

Thank you all for your wonderful support, both spiritual and financial, over the last few months, particularly the staff at the North Woods Mission, St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bethel Christian Fellowship, my understanding Mother, and my wonderfully supportive girlfriend Julie.

Please continue to pray for me as I make my journey:
That I would get cleaned up and packed stress free
That I will accomplish my flights without trouble
That adjustment will come easily, as well as language learning

Thank you all for your prayers for me - I have both received ample funding, a visa, and a decently priced plane ticket. Everything is prepared, praise God.

Please feel free to send me a note at any time at peterjbodurtha@gmail.com

Sincerely,
Peter.

P.S. No, sadly, unlike many of those books, Mr. Telecaster will not accompany me to Petrozavodsk. He will be going to live with a certain Ms. Julie Grazier whom I trust to take good care of both him and his brother Mr. Marshall. I will miss them almost as if they were people. Luckily for all of you, they are not people and therefore I love you all lots more. That is all.