Sorting it out

Sunday morning dawned and the team gathered for devotions and prayer at 7:30 am.  This was a daily routine before breakfast and the most critical time of the day for us to lay our plans before the Lord.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a good, hot, Russian breakfast buffet with choices of salads, blini, sausages, fried eggs, potatoes and cheese pancakes.  A host of baked goodies were also available along with various fruit juices, yogurt, sliced oranges and the option of Vodka or Wine!  This is the first hotel I've ever been in that offered "adult" drinks at breakfast.  Coffee and tea completed our delicious breakfast.

Olya, Galina, Inna, Julia, Lena and Tanya

After a brief orientation meeting we were introduced to our delightful and talented interpreters.  It is absolutely critical to our mission to have trusted, reliable interpreters who will accurately translate for us.  Igor, our in country staff person, has the job of finding these folks and he is very good at it.

A couple of the girls had worked with our team before so they knew exactly what to do.  The others quickly fell into place because without them, we would not have a way to convey the love of God to anyone. We are always very grateful to God who sends the most incredible people to us.

The team is divided into small groups, each with a leader and an interpreter.  My group consisted of me, Don (the singing Cowboy) and Helen.  While we took time getting to know our delightful interpreter, Lena, we also shared our lives and pictures with her so she knew how to present us to groups.  A very special bond develops in a small group and particularly with the interpreter.  It's like ripping off on an arm when we have to say goodbye to them at the end of the trip.  I have made some life long friends with interpreters from the past and I think Lena will also be one of those people I keep in touch with through the years.

A very substantial lunch was served to all of us then we embarked on our first adventure to Transfiguration Church to sort and pack the aid we brought in by suitcase.  For quite a few years, GAiN has not been able to ship containers into Russia, so we bring a lot of things in by suitcase and also purchase as much as possible in country before the team arrives.  There is a couple from Tennessee, Bob and Becky, who come over weeks in advance of the mission to purchase specific items the various sites have requested.  They also arrange transportation to the various cities we are working in and then we deliver the items in person when the team visits the site.

Suitcases unloaded, aid sorted on tables.

The suitcases we brought from the States and boxes of items purchased in advance were unloaded, sorted and repacked taking great care to ensure each site got what was on their "wish list". 

Suzanne preparing the letters from Americans

We also assembled "CarePacks" which consist of school and hygiene supplies. Tables were set up in buffet fashion and team members walked around with gallon size zip-lock bags filling each one with the necessary items.  This is a great bonding experience for everyone not to mention a tremendous amount of fun.  Each person was assigned a particular job and with a lot of hard work, it all came together in a few hours.  Our interpreters were included in this fun fest which made them feel like they were a bigger part of the mission.

By the time we were finished and had everything loaded, it was getting late.  The marvelous ladies of the church prepared a fantastic dinner for us of mashed potatoes and chicken Kiev along with hot tea and various sweets to complete the meal.  After a good time of packing, eating and cleaning up, we dawned our coats and headed back to the Hotel for a good night's rest.  Oh, did I mention it was cold?  Very cold!  The average temperature while we were there was about -22.  It was snowing when we left the church and continued to snow all through the night.

Assembly line for CarePacks