Privyet (Hello) from Team Russia in Chicago!
Byron, Christa and I (Tera) just landed in O’Hare and met up with Issac who met us from Colorado. We have a six hour layover in the airport before we depart for our second leg of the trip to London! From London we will head to St. Petersberg where we will drive 10 hours to our campsite in Cherepovets. During our layover here in Chicago we are using the time to plan games and events for the kids… and don’t worry, we managed to find a Starbucks as well. 📷
We have been blessed to be in contact with our site host, Kathryn, since we started this process in April. Over the past three months we have learned a lot about Camp Iskra and have had fun planning activities for the camp sessions to come. We are all thrilled to have a chance to serve in a new environment and get to know the Russian campers over the course of the summer! Part of our preparation has included creating a team name for our American group (because what is camp without camp names?!) and we proudly introduce ourselves as Team Extreme!! We have created team shirts for ourselves and our American team members we will be meeting up with in Cherepovets. We are also VERY excited to have brought Team Extreme bracelets for every kid at camp… represent!!!!
Thank you all for your tremendous support in our preparation for this amazing trip. We would love to have a solid team of people praying for us and the camp as we are away. Some ways you can be in prayer for us are:
Safe travel and of course, health!Smooth transition into camp like and getting to know other camp counselorsThe hearts of the kids coming to camp; that Jesus would be a shining light through us, producing Spirit-led conversations and interactions
Despite all of our preparation, we are still not positive what would time will look like while we are over in Russia! Keep an eye out for further posts, we will try to keep you all in the loop as much as possible!
Lastly, we want to give a huge shootout to all of the UPC staff and church body who have organized such an outstanding program, shown us love and supported all the teams to get us where we are today! Another special thank you to Ryan Church and Grant Gustafson for meeting us all at the airport at THREE this morning to pray for us and send us off, you guys are awesome!
Team Extreme is OUT!!
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example to believers in speech, in love, in life, in faith, and in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12