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.