The long shower and change of clothes felt wonderful.  Once again I am finding it hard to separate Thursday from Friday.  It seems all too familiar, as it was just last week there was no separation in Thursday and Friday.  

Today, Friday, is Debbie and my 28th wedding anniversary.  I am really looking forward to getting home to see her.  I will be home in time for our anniversary but only by a few minutes.  This is the first time in 28 years that we have not spent the day together.  She has been an incredible support and blessing over the years in the ministry.  She often gives our time together for the needs and requirements of the ministry.  I am a blessed man.  It is just one of many ways I know she is my soul mate.

There were several of us sitting around the lobby of the hotel hanging out waiting on Dan the helper to pick us up for the trip to the airport.  He and Lori, his wife, went home about midnight for a nap.  They were a little later than expected and I got a little nervous.  I DID NOT want to miss our flight or be late enough that it would delay our processing out of the country.  Just as we were making cell calls to make sure they were not asleep at home they drove up.  We loaded up and were off to the airport in Minsk.

It had just gotten dark between 11:00 and midnight.  Now it is a little after 3:00 AM and as we were driving out of the city the sun was coming up.  During the summer they only have about 4 hours of darkness.  They enjoy it because during other times of the year they have only a few hours of daylight and more darkness.

We arrived at the airport, grabbed our bags, said our final goodbyes to Dan and Lori and began the process to leave the country.  We had an easy time checking the bags through customs and there were no problems going through passport control.  We found ourselves at the gate waiting on the 5:30 flight.

The trip home was long and grueling especially since we had not been to bed.  We did sleep on the place some but it was difficult to get comfortable enough to sack out.  I napped in and out.  It was good to be on the way home.  I had missed Debbie terribly and I couldn’t get home fast enough.  

Once we got back to Chicago we learned that bad weather had delayed several flights.  The delay had held up an early flight to XNA.  There were several available seats on that flight so we ran through the airport to get to the gate before it left.  We checked in at the gate to fly standby on this flight so we could get home early.  Yeah!!!  The only hitch in the plan was our luggage.  Our luggage had already been checked through on our original flight, which would not get to XNA until a couple of hours after we would.

We came up with a plan to get our luggage on Saturday and we were on our way home, early.  We arrived at XNA and while we waited to talk to a United airline rep. about our luggage our luggage showed up going round and round at the baggage claim.  We are not sure how that happened but we believed God had smiled on us making that happen.  It was all there except 1 of Stuart and Sarah’s.  

So, with that, we loaded up and headed down the “hill” on the way to Lavaca.  Yes, we were exhausted.  It had now been almost 48 hours since we got up Thursday morning and about 26 hours since we left Minsk.  But that was all ok as we were almost home.
Thinking back over the week I am sure I was blessed more than I was a blessing and I definitely learned more than I taught.  That is the way it usually works for me.  It is really funny how we prepared to be used and we prayed and hoped that we would be able to teach the Belarusian people some things about ministry and the things of God.  You know, we are form America, the blessed land with the favor and hand of God upon her.  I was reminded we are fat with excess and in need of nothing.  I am afraid sometimes to the point of hindering our dependence on God.  Are we wrong for having plenty…absolutely not, God has truly blessed our country and us.  I am very grateful for that!  But we must be careful to not let it get in the way of our relationship and walk with God.  The Belarusian believers are amazingly committed and dedicated people.  They live and serve under incredible personal difficulties but yet have such joy.  They have one focus and major priority and that is serving God.
I want to also take a moment to thank everyone who prayed for us each day while we were gone.  

Everyone was up and at ‘em a little earlier than normal today.  Last night during our 4th dinner, Nic said to me (also in broken English), “Terry, tomorrow…good breakfast.”  He wasn’t kidding…Natasha fixed a fruit cake that was out of this world.  I know right now you have visions of Christmases past and pictures of heavy, packy fruitcakes running through your mind.  That is not what I am talking about.  This was a fresh fruit fruitcake that was light, moist and delicious.  There were other awesome things on the table but that cake stole the show!

Following breakfast we finished packing and then we all gathered in the living room to exchange gifts, hugs and take some pictures.  It was hard to say goodbye to this awesome family.  We have so enjoyed our time with them and the people of the church.  None the less it was time to head home so we gathered outside by the van for one more picture, one more round of hugs and we were on our way to the Planeta hotel in Minsk.  

We arrived at the hotel about 3 hours later.  We unloaded, checked into the hotel and waited for dinner.  We had a nice meal together with all 3 teams from both churches.  Olya and Masha stayed around to eat dinner with us.  Following dinner we were asked to share some highlights of the week.  Bro. Danny was our team’s spokesperson.  We were then asked to share a couple of funny things that happened during the week.  The final question was for everyone.  Every person was asked to answer the question, “I am glad I came to Belarus because…  It was an emotional time as each person shared about what God had done in their lives during the week.

I was glad for 3 reasons.  1) I enjoyed preparing, traveling and doing the work with this incredible team God had put together from our church.  2) I needed to be reminded of the world view of God.  Working inside the local church, it is easy to get tunnel vision.  3) I was blessed to have worked with Katie and Emily.  It was a huge joy to watch God use them during the week.  

Following dinner we walked to a local grocery store for an ice cream bar.  I don’t know what the wrapper said or who made it but it was good.  We walked down the road to another WWII memorial.  As I said before, the memorials are everywhere.  It was getting dark when we got there so pictured didn’t turn out that well.  But it was a fairly large round hole or deep impression in the ground where the Nazi’s took several thousand Belarusians, men, women and children, and marched them down in this pit.  The soldiers stood up on the rim of the pit and opened fire, shooting into the hemmed up crowd until they were all dead.  The sculpture shows scared, naked people huddled together as they descended to their death.  

We walked around the area for a while doing some sight seeing.  I have decided to not go to bed tonight because our plans are to leave the hotel at 3:00 AM on Friday to catch our 5:30 flight.  I figure I have a better chance of sleeping on the plane if I don’t sleep now.  

It was almost midnight as we made a large loop around the area on our way back to the hotel.  There were people; young people, everywhere and they were all standing around in small groups hanging out together…drinking.  Alcohol is a huge problem in young adults in Belarus.

It is late or early depending on how you look at it.  I am going to go take a shower.

Today was our last day in Orsha.  Tomorrow we will pack up and drive back to Minsk as we prepare to head home.  Our time has gone quickly and we have grown to love the Pastor and his family, Sergei and his family and people from the church.  We are going to miss them.  We are already looking forward to returning!

Today was much like the other days.  We slept in a bit, got up, had our quiet times, ate breakfast and showered.  It was a quiet morning as we waited for time to go to Baran.  There is a new church building in progress and we went over to see it and pray over it.  We met the 2 brothers who have been building this facility.  They have been working on it for over a year, all by hand and mostly with their own money.

We went inside to look around and then gathered in what will be the worship room.  We formed a circle for a time of prayer and then sand a hymn together.  It was cool to have had the first worship time in the building even though it was still block and mortar.  We then broke up and did a prayer walk.  We prayed in each room and around the building.  

The church is set in a beautiful location on top of a hill that overlooks the city of Baran.  We each took a time facing the city, praying for the salvation of Baran.  It was a very moving and special time.  After some conversation about the other church start ideas we said goodbye and headed back to Orsha.

The plans for the evening were 2 fold.  
1) Go hang out with the youth group again for more games and singing
2) Banya (not sure about spelling)

Hanging out with the kids is self-explanatory and I had no problems with that.  But I had dreaded Banya all week because I didn’t really know what it was all about.  All I knew was it is like going to the sauna.  The fact that we were told we could wear swimsuits “if we wanted to” was enough to make me really nervous.  I think the European tradition involves a different outfit...or the lack thereof.  :-) 

It was the coolest experience ever!  I loved it and can’t wait until the next opportunity to go do Banya.  It involved cold showers, a cool water swimming pool and a very hot steam room.  You simply alternate going from one to the other.  We took a break after the first hour to drink tea and eat fresh fruit and of course, cookies.  

Sergei gave Mark, Bro. Danny and me the full treatment before our 2 hours were up.  The tradition is to take branches with leaves (kind of like our oak leaf branches), soak them in water in the steam room and then whip and beat each other with them.  That sounds really comical but that is what they do.  Sometimes they would take them and hit their own legs ad chest as they sat in the steam room.

Sergei had as lay on our stomachs on the upper level of the steam room, which was the hottest spot, and he then did his magic.  By the time we were through we needed someone to come get us because we were so relaxed.  It was amazing.  We began our walk back home and it was almost 10:00.  The sun was still up and it looked to be late afternoon rather than late in the evening.

When we got back home we found Natasha preparing more food.  Tonight we had Belarusian pizza and it was awesome.  Late night food and late night conversation.  Good times.

We slept in a bit today.  After staying up so late it is nice to sleep in and not be in a hurry in the morning.  Once again Natasha has worked her magic in the kitchen.  Breakfast is a full meal.  Interesting difference here in Belarus is mealtime.  Breakfast is a time to eat and does not necessarily mean breakfast food like it does at home.  We have had smoked fish (sushi style), chicken and potatoes (not hash brown style) for instance.  It has all been delicious even though vastly different.  I hope they don’t think we don’t like it because we don’t load up each meal.  We are just so stuffed and full!  Every time we turn around we are eating again!  :-)  They are going out of their way to be take great care of us.

Today our group had to go to an official office to register our stay in Orsha. It is kind of like registering at a hotel.  In fact, if we had stayed and registered at a hotel we would not have had to register in town.  So we all went with passport in hand to register.  Natasha and Sergei went with us.  After standing outside for a while we were all asked to go and meet the person who would register us.  

Inside we all stepped up when our name was called so she (the official lady in the official uniform) could compare our passport picture with the person standing before her and verify that it was the same person.  She had a lot of questions about our Visas.  We got Humanitarian Visas with the Stepahanos Organization to be in the country.  Stephanos is located in another city and she could not be satisfied as to why we were in Orsha if Stephanos invited us.  Registration was denied.  

Natasha went to argue the decision on our behalf.  The official lady told Natasha, “I know why they are here.  They are here as part of that sect.  And I know you (Natasha) are a part of the sect too because your eyes are so clear.”  I was amazed and shocked at this statement.  It is that evident, the difference between believers and non-believers.  This was a real life example that we had been privileged to see.

Dima, the director of Stephanos, is making a trip to Orsha tomorrow to straighten it all out.  We are told she is wrong and is doing this just because she can.  It is a little unnerving especially since they have our passports.

This afternoon we went back to the park by the river for games and songs with the youth.  Bro. Danny preached and then we ate.  They brought food and spread it out on blankets and we enjoyed a picnic together.  It was cloudy, windy and cold.  It has been the coldest day here so far.  All the other days have been sunny, warm and beautiful.

It was fun hanging out with their teens and young adults.  For the first time they have warmed up, opened up and seem a little more at ease around us.  We were playing a game similar to Duck-Duck Goose when I got somewhat hurt.  I didn’t play anymore.  Everyone seemed to be greatly amused at the fact that I got hurt playing Duck-Duck Goose.  It is kind of comical when you think about it!

You play it in a circle holding hands.  The two that are “it” walk around the outside of the circle and tap hands of another couple.  I happen to be holding the hand of Andre, the pastor’s son, to my left when we got tapped.  We took off running to our right, which put me on the outside as we ran to beat the other team back to the vacated spot.  We were motoring around as Andre is a big guy and very athletic.  We were moving so fast his feet slipped out from under him and he went down.  The bad part of all this is he didn’t let go of the old guy running next to him.  I had not slipped and still had my feet under me.  He pulled me over as he went down and slammed me down to the ground.  The first thing that hit was my right shoulder and my right shoulder blade.  I turned a couple of flips and finally rolled to a stop only to find Emily and Katie standing over me asking if I was ok.  When I finally got my breath back and staggered to my feet I assured them and Andre that I was fine.  No harm done for the most part.  :-)  

We said goodbye for the night and headed home.  By now you know the routine.  We ate cookies, drank hot Chi and talked about ministry until midnight and then called it a day.  I had a hard time going to sleep so I put a DVD in my MacBook, plugged in my earphones and watched Signs.   

I slept with my iPod earphones in my ears last night.  Not because I was listening to music all night but because I was trying to drown out the snoring!  :-)  Dan, our helper, can go to sleep the fastest of anyone I have ever had the privilege of bunking with and he can snore with the best of them!  I wasn’t sure at the first if it was Dan or Bro. Danny.  I laughed this morning when Bro. Danny said he first thought it was me!!

We once again woke to sounds of activity in the kitchen.  There was also a jockeying for position in the bathroom for the shower.  There were 9 or 10 people regularly getting ready in 1 bathroom.  It helped that some showered at night but the one bathroom in the house was a very busy and highly sought after space.

After breakfast Pastor Leonid looked at me and said in his broken English, “Terry, my dear brother…one song.”  He then disappeared into the living room and returned with a guitar.  So we sat around the breakfast table and sang a song or two while I fumbled around with the guitar like I knew what I was doing.  I kept telling Pastor Leonid I really didn’t play much but he kept ignoring me and kept bringing me the guitar so we played and sang and had a good time together.

After breakfast we went into Orsha to do a little shopping and looking around.  Linen is a big thing in Orsha.  They produce hand towels, table coverings, runners and various items from linen.  We were told you can purchase it in Orsha for about half of what you can buy it anywhere else in the country.  

After shopping we walked around the town a bit.  We stopped to take a group picture beside this pretty pond and were invited to tour the Catholic Church.  They were in the middle of remodeling but it was very nice and welcoming to have been invited to look around.  We also took a minute to play a game with the children and nuns at the church.  It was really fun interacting with the folks there.

Back at the house we ate lunch and prepared to go to Sino where we would visit an orphanage.  Orphanages are interesting and special to me because my mother spent part of her early life in an orphanage in Detroit.  She has told me stories and shared many memories of her days at the orphanage.

A group from the church did a puppet show and our team sang a couple of songs for the kids.  We also gave out candy, stickers, notebooks and pens.  We also made and gave away balloon animals.  The kids loved the gifts and the candy created a sort of feeding frenzy.  They were all so appreciative and sweet.

Following the time at the orphanage we stopped by Sino church where Pastor Leonid’s brother is pastor.  They had a table spread with sandwiches, cookies and tea.  Once again…we ate!  After a time of eating and fellowshipping around the table we sang.  We sang a lot, everywhere we went.  We took up an offering among the group to help the pastor and his family and their ministry.  It was good to give and be a part of their ministry there.

I was constantly reminded of the generosity of these people.  While we were eating at the church I mentioned the Sergei, the Student Pastor, that I liked the T-shirt’s their puppet team wore.  I also asked if they had extras as I would have loved to have had one.  They told me they didn’t have extras, in fact they only had enough for the team as they went each time.  Everyone did not have one of their own.  They put one on only when they were involved in the puppet ministry as they did that day.

We returned to the church to drop people off and put away the puppet gear.  As we were saying good bye, one of the ladies showed up in the van and tossed me one of their T-shirts.  There was no giving it back or talking them out of it.  They knew I would like to have one so they gave me one.  I was touched at their generosity and selflessness.  I gave Sergei my Outward T-shirt that we wear to the block parties.  I think he liked trading.  He couldn’t speak to me and I couldn’t speak to him but by the smile on his face I knew he understood and was pleased.

Back at the house we ate cookies and drank hot Chi until past midnight.  The fellowship around the table was fun and sweet.  Our discussions always ended in talking about ministry and the things of God.  It was a great day.