Alexfaithful

Russian People Are Speaking Out

2011-12-29T02:02:00.003-05:00

Not sure if you have been following the news about peaceful demonstrations in Russia regarding fraudulent Duma elections on December 4th. There have been 4 demonstrations throughout the country. Some of those demonstrations gathered anywhere from 30,000 to over 100,000 people, which make them the largest demonstrations in the past 20 years. Russian people have had enough and they want their voice to be heard. Things have got to change. The popularity of Putin is nowhere near to what it was 4 years ago so it is a matter of time before he will go away and hopefully other politicians who do not care for the future of their own citizens except for the well being of themselves.

Normally I do not discuss politics for various reasons, but recently I came into this article. After reading it I was laughing because it is absolutely insane and stupid to think something like that. If you have time please read the article below.

Issue #1689 (51), Wednesday, December 28, 2011 | Archive

Перевести на русский Print this article

always a dissident: Why Russia No Longer Emulates the U.S.

By Alexei Bayer

Published: December 28, 2011 (Issue # 1689)

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has declared that those who participated in the recent wave of protests against rigged State Duma elections were encouraged and paid for by the United States.

I don’t know whether Putin was misinformed or misled others, but there is not an iota of truth in these assertions, just as it is patently untrue that the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine was engineered by former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, whose influence on U.S. foreign policy Russians tend to greatly overestimate.

The United States had very little to do with anti-government protests in Russia — unfortunately so.

Russians don’t need money from Washington to fund their rallies. Putin clearly underestimates the financial resources of the country’s middle class, just as he underestimates the scope and seriousness of popular disaffection with his regime. In the run-up to the Dec. 24 rally, protest organizers collected about 3 million rubles ($96,000) in just a few days, much of which came from individual contributions of from 100 rubles to 500 rubles.

Nor would the protesters have accepted money from the United States. Unlike in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the United States was very popular in Russia and was seen as a model for building the country’s future democracy, America has become a dirty word for many Russians.

This has nothing to do with official Kremlin propaganda and is the result of Washington’s own actions. Over the past decade, the United States has completely squandered its moral authority. It started a war of aggression against Iraq, and — much like the Soviet Union — the United States has become overly self-righteous, nationalistic and ideological, and it often considers itself above international law.

For more than a decade and spanning two presidents in the White House, it has operated a legally dubious jail in Guantanamo, where prisoners are still held for years without trial. Government officials who gave orders to ignore the Geneva Convention, run secret prisons, torture detainees and spy on Americans have gotten off scot-free.

When Russians contemplate their political future after Putin, few look to Washington’s dysfunctional government as a model, nor do they want to emulate its mean-spirited, buffoonish politicians. Moreover, the Third World-like gap between rich and poor in the United States is hardly inspiring, particularly since Russia has had plenty of the same at home over the past 12 years of Putin’s rule.

It is a shame, really, because much of U.S. democracy is directly relevant to Russia. For example, the U.S. concept of separation of powers is crucial in reining in the country’s traditionally strong executive. Soviet and post-Soviet Russian rulers have all too often looked and acted like tsars, not elected leaders. The U.S. Constitution was devised specifically to make sure that no president becomes an autocrat. U.S. respect for rule of law can also be crucial in a country that tends to suffer from periodic personality cults. Finally, the U.S. tradition of tolerance and acceptance of different religions, nationalities and races should also be useful for Russia as it rapidly becomes a melting pot and a country of immigrants.

The United States is going through a crisis. It is, above all, a crisis of democracy. It currently does not present a particularly appealing face to the rest of the world. But I hope that the rising, democratic Russia will not give up on it.

Alexei Bayer, a native Muscovite, is a New York-based economist.

Russian Orphan Plot in the 21st century

2011-11-24T10:36:00.002-05:00

It has been awhile since I have posted anything on my blog. With so many different social medias nowadays it is hard to keep up with everything that is out there. Furthermore, I never know or knew how many people were following my blog.

Recently I had received a link from a friend on Facebook that talked about orphans. I read the article and it saddened me. Even though the info its self is not new for me, but still broke my heart. Here is the link for the article that you can read yourself: http://rbth.ru/articles/2011/11/21/the_orphan_factory_13777.html

We all know that there is no perfect system when it comes to caring for orphans around the world. The only successful way out of orphan mess is for every family to take one child and raise him/her as their own. If we all take the responsibility in our heart first and then the action then we would be in a different situation.

It is crucial to be prepared before you commit your life to an orphan who has been deprived of care, attention, compassion, value, identity, love, and so many other characteristics and qualities which form all of us. You can read different books and take courses, but the best way to learn and prepare yourself is to talk to another former orphan who had been adopted to find out what were the needs and issues. We need to learn from the mistakes of our forefathers. The scripture is clear that we have not learned from our forefathers.

It also saddens me that the Russian government is saying that we are closing orphanages and there are fewer orphans. Well, it really depends on how you look at this. I am not being a pessimist here, but a realist. Russian demographics been declining for the past 20 years thus fewer children being born, quite a few are still being aborted with the fact that Russian women have on average of 9 abortions, orphanages closing down, etc. The one that really bugs me is when the government says orphanages are closing down. Well, it is true, but the question is this. If Russia gets annually over 100,000 new orphans where are they going and who is taking care of them? Do keep in mind that there are already over 750,000 orphans and the majority of them are social orphans with living parents, but being "raised" by the state.

I.e. annually around 70,000 or so are leaving the state orphanage system through adoption - domestic and foreign, foster care, guardianship, and emancipation. However, with over 100,000 coming in we are not only replenishing what we have recently released, but get additional 30,000-40,000 new ones. Where are they going? That is a good question.

In my time when I was in the orphanages, which most of it falls during the Soviet era and that is different from the current Russian Federation system there were fewer orphanages because each orphanage housed a lot more children. Whereas today there are a lot more orphanages, but with fewer orphans in each institution. Basically the government is trying to hide the fact that there are orphans. I would suggest not to hide, but to do what actually works. I.e. instead of making orphanages looking nice fill them with people who have passion, love and desire to care and raise abandoned children who need parental love, attention, nourishment, discipline, direction, training, understanding, etc.

The labor is much, but the laborers are a few so let's us not give up, but rely on the Lord and keep doing what He has intrusted into our hands that is passion, gifts and talents. Use them to further God's kingdom and bring glory to His name.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I thank the Lord for everyone that I have in my life.

Infinitely More book

2011-04-11T23:03:00.003-04:00

The day has arrived when Infinitely More book is out. The book tells you my entire life story.

The book can be purchased on the following websites:

www.whitecapsmedia.com (Our publishing company)
http://www.amazon.com/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

This book can also be downloaded for electronic version in the following formats:

Kindle
iBook
iPad
Nook

I pray that this book will change, touch and transform many lives. I pray that it will bring the light to many especially when someone is going through dark and hopeless time. God is a powerful, loving and amazing Father. This book testifies to that!

Please help us to spread the word about Infinitely More. It would be awesome if we could reach 1 million people with this book. To God be all the glory!

Thank you.

Blessings,
Alex

Infinitely More book-a life story of Alex Krutov

2011-03-09T23:44:00.003-05:00

It has been 14 years now since God called me to return to Russia and 13 years since I have dedicated my life to faithfully serve my Father in reaching the lost lives of Russian orphans. For years people been telling me to write a book about my life story. Thanks to Jackie after almost 3 years of working off and on the book has been written and a prerelease copy has been published. It was available today at The Gathering Prayer Breakfast event for $10. There are still prerelease copies available so if you are interested in getting a copy of the book especially if you are in Columbus, OH area let me know please by sending email: alex.krutov@crmleaders.org

The official release of the book will be ready around March 28, 2011. It will be available on the following websites:

Whitecaps Media: http://www.whitecapsmedia.com/
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kindle and iPad

I pray that this book will touch many lives, bring joy, hope, peace, healing, restoration and glory to God. I pray that it will reveal the mighty powerful God that we have who loves us dearly.

Blessings,
Alex

Russians want child support from Tennessee woman who returned adopted son

2011-01-25T15:07:00.002-05:00

A dear friend of mine sent me this article. After reading this article I came to a conclusion this is absolutely absurd. Due to this case the Russian government for the first time ever revealed official statistics how many children are abused by their families. The number is more than 2,000 cases annually. Many of them die also annually. I wish that the Russian government would hold responsible their own families. This article is pure politics and nothing else especially because there is no way someone would pay $2,500 monthly for child support. Average monthly salary in Moscow is around $600-1,000 so to support a child at $2,500 is a random number that was taken out of who knows where. Of course, there needs to be a consequence and a lesson needs to be learned that parents must go through a much deeper training and preparation. They need to be taught about the darkness that orphans go through prior to adoption so that you are aware and not surprised when things begin to hit the fan at 100 mph.

By Associated Press

Published January 22nd, 2011 | Added January 22nd, 2011 5:55 am | Comments

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - An American woman who sent her adopted son back to Russia has been hit with a child support claim by an adoption agency, but her attorney asked a Tennessee juvenile court to throw the claim out.

Torry Hansen, who had been living in Shelbyville, sent the 8-year-old boy on a plane to Moscow by himself last April with a note saying that she didn't want to be his mother anymore because the child had psychological problems. The incident created an international uproar.

According to documents obtained by the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, Hansen's attorney filed a motion to dismiss child support claims made by Hansen's adoption agency, World Association for Children and Parents, in juvenile court in Shelbyville.

The newspaper reported Thursday that Russian authorities want Hansen to pay about $2,500 a month to care for the child, who is living in an orphanage.

Hansen's attorney, Trisha Henegar, filed the response Dec. 28. Hansen has since retained a different attorney, Jennifer Thompson, who declined to discuss details of the case when reached by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Henegar argued that the juvenile court lacks jurisdiction to order child support because Tennessee is not the boy's "home state" and said the termination of Hansen's parental rights is currently being handled by a Russian court.

Henegar said in the documents that Tennessee state law defines the "home state" as where a child lived with a parent for at least six months. She said the boy, who was named Justin Hansen, lived with the family in Bedford County less than six months before he was sent back.

Henegar wrote that the National Council for Adoption, an adoption advocacy group that joined in the petition against Hansen, has been trying to persuade a court in Moscow to postpone proceedings that would terminate Hansen's parental rights. Hansen "will not have to pay child support in Tennessee once her rights are terminated and will not be held criminally liable," Henegar wrote.

Neither Torry Hansen or her mother, Nancy Hansen, who put the child on the plane under the care of the flight attendants, has been criminally charged. Local authorities have said they have not been able to determine if a crime occurred in Bedford County.

An attorney representing the adoption agency did not immediately return requests for comment Thursday.

Reflections on Christmas

2011-01-02T00:31:00.003-05:00

As a foreigner when I look at how Christmas is celebrated in the states and how it is celebrated in Russia I see many differences. The first few hundred years of Russia there was no religion so there was witchcraft and other dark stuff. Whereas America was founded by faithful fathers who were strong believers and built this nation on God's Word and His teaching. The purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of the Savior who has given us a tremendous gift of salvation as a result of his birth and coming to earth. Now we have been richly blessed and must share the gift with those who do not have what we do. Yet in the midst of busyness and chaotic life we frequently forget the purpose of this celebration. It turns to a busy season of shopping, cooking, etc. By the time the day comes most of us are tired and we can barely remember the meaning of Christmas. Yes, we do profess it with our mouth and tongue, but our hearts are frequently far away from the reality and truth.

I have been blessed by my Father with families that I consider as my close family so every year I rotate places and families of where I am going to spend Christmas. This year I went to MN to be with Mark, Melinda and their kids. I have known them for 13 years now and it is amazing to see their kids because now they are 14, 17 and almost 20. It is hard to believe that they are that old because I feel like I am 20, but realize it is not possible. Mark and Melinda have decided to start a new tradition for Christmas Eve. They invited their Bible Study group for the fellowship. At around 8 p.m. the group came and they went caroling first. Then they came back and we read the scripture, prayed and shared some meaningful stories that relate to the birth of Christ. We then sang some hymns and shared the communion. It was a powerful and memorable time of reflection on the birth of the Savior. Afterwards we had finger food and more fellowship. People stayed at late at 11:30 p.m. In the morning of Christmas everyone woke up at around 11 a.m. and we opened the gifts. It was nice to get some gifts and for me this year it was primarily money because I truly have no needs because I have been blessed again and again. We then went to Cathey's friends home and they treated us with a delicious dinner. Thank you Carol for working so hard and for blessing us that day. The next day Melinda and I went out for a walk with her dog Chloe. Let me tell you MN is like St. Pete so lots of snow and quite refreshing as I like to say it (i.e. 5 F). Brr. I will post some pictures later so that you can sense and see the beauty and romance of winter in the midst of crisp air that is burning your ears because you do not have a hat.

One day Melinda and I went to their friend's house Wendy and they went snowmobiling. I was planning to go with them, but due to my recent cold and still some minor sniffles I did not want to take the chance to get sick again so I chose to stay at Wendy's home and do some ministry work so I felt productive after goofing off for a week or so. I guess time off from work including the mission is necessary and healthy. Ha. When the ladies were finished snowmobiling we went out to lunch and it was amazing. I guess you might be thinking by now, "Well, nothing new when it comes for Alex to be surrounded by ladies." The day after we had hoped to go to our other friend's house who are on the Board of Advisors for The Harbor, but it was cancelled due to illness in the family. I hope that Scott is feeling better. Please say a prayer for him. My last day in MN was fairly relaxing and I did my laundry and then we played game cube game "Sphinx" When I used to live in MN we all played this game, but we never got to finish it so after almost 5 years we are still not done. Now Micah's has decided to start a new tradition in the family. Every time I come to MN we will play this game until we actually beat it. Well, we were crazy because I sat with him until 3 a.m. which was the day when I had to get up at 5:30 a.m. to go to the airport and fly to FL. Well, I guess I am still 20.

Now I am in FL with my other mom Punkin. It is so awesome to be somewhere where there is a sun all the time, no snow and the temp is 75 F. I am loving it. Nice to be away from snow even if it is for a week. Yesterday December 31st I was on Skype and the phone for 5 hours calling Russia and wishing Happy New Year to my Russian friends. It was awesome to do that because I was able to catch up with many of them. Then my mom Punkin and I had a nice dinner and played some games. At midnight we drank some sparkling wine (I do not consume alcohol) and went to bed at around 1 a.m. Today on the New Year's day we worked all day. I first helped mom Punkin to do some computer work and then she was copying new music into iTunes and I was doing The Harbor work on the computer. It felt productive, but both of us were exhausted afterwards. Now she is in bed and I am writing this mini report.

Well, remember to look back and thank the Lord for all that He has done for you. Reflect on where you were and who you were and who you are now. Thus; never forget what it took you and who brought you to the point of your life today because it is Jesus. This new year might bring some interesting surprises to all of us, but we must not be shaken by them because Christ is in control and He will take care of us just as He has up to this point.

Have a blessed New Year and a wonderful and blessed Sunday tomorrow.

Love,
Alex

Companies Focus on Charity in Gifts

2010-12-28T19:06:00.002-05:00

Ever since Stalin forbid people to do charity primarily due to communism and socialism approach where the state tries to take care of the poor and needy the Russian people have done very little charitable work. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union things have slowly been improving, but the charity concept has been the slowest change yet hope never dies and now this very interesting article. I found it fascinating so if your time permits then read it because it does show some hope for the country like Russia where the charity can be revived because over one hundred years ago the charity was very active. It is the responsibility of the society to be involved in reaching out to the most vulnerable people especially those who represent the future of the country.

Article:

By Howard Amos, Justin Lifflander and Nikolaus von Twickel

The St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW — New Year’s is a traditional time of gift giving, but this year, at least 382 Russian companies will be making donations to charity instead of distributing the usual branded calendars, pens and vintage wines.

“It’s great that we are doing something useful for Russia instead of supporting the Chinese economy and its plastic rabbits,” said one chief executive, who preferred not to be identified.

The “charity instead of business gifts” worldwide initiative was launched by Britain-based Charities Aid Foundation in 2005. In Russia, the scheme has since raised more than 217 million rubles ($7 million) for worthy causes.

Among the big companies involved in the initiative are PricewaterhouseCoopers, Troika Dialog, Alfa Bank, Renova Group and Interfax Group.

“Instead of random gifts, clients and colleagues receive a card or souvenir made by charity,” said Yekaterina Shapochka, the program’s coordinator at PwC.

Some companies do not distribute New Year’s gifts at all. A spokesman for LUKoil’s Moscow office said that for them, “the concept of presents” does not exist.

“There are no bouquets and no bottles — we just don’t do it,” he said. But he admitted that the company does arrange festive theater trips for its staff.

Nevertheless, charity donations or frugality on the part of companies remain the exception rather than the rule.

Among the gift-givers this year is state oil giant Rosneft, which has two tiers of presents, one for senior managers and clients, and the other for junior clients, staff and members of the media.

A Rosneft spokesman declined to say what the top-shelf gifts would be, but those falling into the less distinguished bracket are in line for a range of company-branded material, he said. This includes the usual calendars, notepads and diaries as well as oil-drop-shaped glass paperweights containing Rosneft crude or glass baubles featuring tiny Santa Clauses leaning against oil rigs.

A spokesman for UralSib said the company distributes calendars every year but chose porcelain pieces, produced by a partner firm, as additional gifts in 2010.

Gift sets that Rostelecom gave partners this year included thick leather mittens and a winter sports game guide, an executive at the company said.

Some organizations look to imbue their Christmas gifts with elaborate meaning, though it might often be opaque for those on the receiving end.

“Our customers and partners are getting a bottle of organic wine made with grapes from a nature reserve and juniper pillows with healing properties,” said SkyLink general director Gulnara Khasyanova. “Each employee of SkyLink gets a pot with a rare type of honey collected during the flowering of maple trees, and black tea with thyme.”

This is a part of “the movement to promote safety in mobile telecommunications,” she said. “We decided this year to ‘go green’ with our New Year’s presents.”

Diplomats also hand out presents, though those on the German Embassy’s gift list this year may have been a little baffled by Teutonic Christmas cheer.

In addition to a self-explanatory bottle of champagne, the present included a large blue bucket with the phrase “Germany without traffic jams.”

The bucket is supposed to promote Germania-online.ru, a Russian-language information portal, spokesman Viktor Richter told The St. Petersburg Times.

But he did not elaborate on why the writing on the bucket was the wrong way up — so that you have to turn it upside-down to read it.

Protestors use upside-down blue buckets attached to cars — and themselves — as a parody of the detachable blue sirens known as “migalki.” The flashing lights give cars priority on the road and are used by Russian officials to flout traffic laws.

The bucket is actually a wine cooler, Richter said. “You are supposed to use it for the champagne.”

But he did admit that the present was “open to interpretation.” In past years, the embassy had sent out mainly German “Lebkuchens,” a traditional gingerbread, as gifts, Richter added.

Befriending the French Embassy might be a better bet. Spokesman Thomas Buffin said they usually send out “beautiful French books” or “small bottles of cognac, armagnac or calvados” as Christmas gifts.

Natalya Grishina, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, was reluctant to speak about presents for Russian associates. “Isn’t that a private thing?” she said.

Link: http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=33362

World Health Organization: Russians Smoke the Most

2010-11-15T02:45:00.002-05:00

This is a heart breaking statistics. I have never smoked in my life, but have always been effected by it because thousands of orphans smoke and see no harm that it actually causes. Every time I go to Russia I wish I had a mask that would protect me from second hand smoke because it is horrible due to heavy smoking. Now this article was posted in St. Petersburg Times Newspaper. I want to do something about so the point of posting this article is not so much to show how bad things are in Russia because I already know they are not good, but to make other people aware of this epidemic and try to somehow increase the number of people smoking and killing themselves.

By Natalya Krainova

The St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW — More adults smoke in Russia than in any other heavy-smoking country, and their average life expectancy is one of the shortest among former Soviet countries, according to two separate but thematically linked reports released Tuesday.

Politicians and analysts said the popularity of smoking, which contributes to worsening demographics by killing up to 500,000 Russians a year, could be stopped through tougher regulations, but tobacco producers have blocked all efforts for years, successfully lobbying their interests with the ruling United Russia party.

With 44 million adults, or almost 40 percent of the population, Russia has the biggest percentage of adult smokers among the 14 countries surveyed by the World Health Organization in a poll presented at a Moscow conference Tuesday.

More than 60 percent of Russian men and almost 22 percent of Russian women smoke, according to the WHO’s Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

The poll also covered Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam — countries that “bear the highest burden of tobacco use,” the survey said.

The survey is “not a document but a call to take action,” Luigi Migliorini, acting head of the WHO’s Russia office, said at a conference where the report was presented Tuesday, RIA-Novosti reported.

Some 400,000 to 500,000 Russians a year die from smoking-related causes, a figure that accounts for 17 percent of the country’s yearly mortality rate, a co-author of the report, Oleg Storozhenko, told the conference, Interfax reported.

Separately, a study the Audit Chamber released on Tuesday said Russia lagged behind most other former Soviet republics in life expectancy.

Only Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have a life expectancy lower than in Russia, the chamber said in an e-mailed statement. It did not provide exact figures for life expectancy in the countries in question. Russia’s average life expectancy was 62 years for men and 74 years for women in 2008, according to the latest figures from the WHO.

The omnipresence of tobacco advertising, as well as the promotion of smoking by movies and television, contributes to the high smoking rate, Alexander Lyakhovich, a public health researcher with the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy, said by telephone.

Another reason is low income, which means that families cannot afford healthy leisure activities, including sports, said Lyakhovich, who heads a department at the academy’s Research Institute for Public Health and Medical Administration.

To reduce smoking, authorities need to introduce curfews on the sale of cigarettes, ban cigarette sales in easily accessible street kiosks, prohibit smoking in all public places, toughen penalties for selling cigarettes to minors, and promote healthy lifestyle among students, said Igor Lebedev, head of the Liberal Democratic Party’s faction in the State Duma.

Excise duties on tobacco goods are among the lowest in Europe, keeping cigarette prices low. Lebedev told The Moscow Times that some of his colleagues have been campaigning to increase excise duties for 10 years.

Tobacco producers capitalize on the domination of the United Russia party, which controls the Duma, because “it is easier for a cigarette lobby to come to terms with one party,” Lebedev said.

But change may be around the corner after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed off on a state program in September to reduce smoking over the next five years. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in September that higher excise duties would boost the government’s spending on social needs.

The Finance Ministry has drafted a bill to boost excise duties on alcohol and tobacco over 2011 to 2013. The legislation was approved by the Duma in a first reading in October, but no date has been set for a second reading.

Igor Beloborodov, head of the Institute for Demographic Studies, said unhealthy lifestyles, including smoking and drinking, contribute to the less-than-impressive life expectancy in Russia, but he questioned the thesis that most other former Soviet republics have a higher life expectancy.

Europe has better anti-smoking programs than Russia, and Russians drink stronger alcohol than residents of many European countries, especially central and southern ones, Beloborodov said. But the life expectancy in central Russia is still close to that of Europe, while the situation is much more dismal in post-Soviet Central Asian countries, notorious for their poor record on children’s deaths, epidemiological situations and health care resources, he said.

Still, he added, Siberia and ethnic republics such as Kalmykia might spoil the overall statistics for the country because their harsh climate and residents’ lack of access to quality medical care might reduce life expectancy in those regions.

What is on my mind and in my heart

2010-11-09T12:11:00.001-05:00

Recently in my quiet times I was reading my devotional and read the following story. It struck me because I began to reflect on it and realized how much all of us are guilty in doing so. Here is the story:

“My wife’s parents once came for a visit the day after we bought a new vacuum cleaner, and they decided to help by vacuuming the house while we were at work. When we came home, they were sitting on the couch, red faced, sweating, and exhausted! That new vacuum clear is so heavy that we can hardly push it. We had to rest after vacuuming each room. Tammy and I began to laugh. The problem was simple-they tried to vacuum the entire house in neutral. They never put it in drive. The vacuum is designed with “Tech Drive Power Assist”, making vacuuming almost effortless. It only takes a featherlike touch to push the system. We all had a big laugh, but then the thought occurred to me, that is exactly what it is like when we try to live the Christian life without the supernatural power of the Spirit. The power was there all the time-they simply did not appropriate it.

“Can you imagine what our home, work, church, relationships would be like if we were filled with the Spirit? One moment we can be walking in the Spirit, and the next, walking in the flesh. How is this possible? We leak? Everyday we have to be filled with the Spirit afresh and anew.”

“Over the years, I have heard people say, “I cannot help it preacher; I am just weak in the flesh.” The fact is they are strong in the flesh and weak in the Spirit, Say no to your flesh. The only way to crucify our fleshly, carnal desires is to stop feeding them. Die to selfish ambitions, desires and opinions.”

“Growing up as a child, you had to learn how to walk. As a child of God, we have to learn how to walk in the Spirit. If you are exhausted by trying to live the Christian life in your own strength, walk in the Spirit.”

I began to think how am I living? Is it in the Spirit or in the flesh? I like to use a phrase that George W. Bush used to say, “Stay on target.” Thus, all of us need to stay on target when it comes to living in the Spirit no matter what.

Morning on November 9, 2011, I pray, “Father, order my steps today. Open doors that no man can shut. Close doors that no man can open. I wait on You, knowing it will be worth it. Amen.

2 Samuel 21:17 (b) says, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.” Wow, what a verse and it touched my heart deeply because I was thinking whose lamp are we? Are we being the lamp of Christ shining in the darkness for those who are hopeless? David was sinning the Song of Praise in 2 Samuel 22:29, “You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light.” It made me to cry because I began to think about God being my lamp in the darkness for so many times and I cry out to Him because I want Him to use me as a lamp in someone’s life.

How much my heart desires for The Harbor to keep reaching orphans and bring them to their Abba. My heart cries and the tears roll down on my face as we face a tough challenge financially right now, but God gives me peace. I know that He is in control and He loves them dearly. God wants us to be faithful and as David was sinning the Song of Praise in 2 Samuel 22:26, “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless.” Wow, God is faithful and blameless and He says be as such and I will show myself to you.

I am in TX right now. My journey started in Austin where I saw two families that have faithfully partnered with The Harbor. The Lord had opened a new door for me to visit Waco and reconnect with a family that is moving to Russia. They hosted the gathering and invited people from Antioch Church, which is so mission minded. I then went to San Antonio and met a new family that has a heart of love and compassion. They have two biological and three adopted. The seed was planted and in His time He will make it grow and bear fruit. I arrived to Houston three days ago. Spoke at Bridge Point Church at a Sunday School. Met with my friends who are celebrating a family addition and they have been faithful warriors for The Harbor for almost 5 years now. Participated in the dinner event through Bridge Point Church and it was amazing. New seeds were planted. Last night on November 8th had an amazing dinner with Tom, Ann and their son Tommy. Today have a meeting with Kit who has a publishing company to discuss my book that Jackie and I wrote and then a dinner with Jonathan and Sarah. I will also connect with Nancy, Jane and Alex during the day to catch up. Tomorrow morning I have a breakfast with Henry and then off to Dallas.

There is so much that is happening and the Lord is planting many seeds. I give it all to Him and remind myself that it is about Him and not me. I so much would love to connect with June Hunt in Plano, TX when I am in Dallas so that she could come on board with The Harbor and help us to establish the Hope Center like she did in Plano. Pray that God would open the doors and speak to her. I wrote a letter to her via email and heard back, but it was a general response. I am praying that God would open the door in His time. I plea to you and covet your prayers for this to happen in His time. If you know of someone that can help me to connect with June Hunt please let me know.

Much love and many blessings for now.

In Him,
Alex

Final Russia Update

2010-09-02T16:46:00.000-04:00

Well, I am off to America. I am writing this update on the plane so by the time I will post it some info will be somewhat outdated. I wish there was WI-FI everywhere and always that would allow to instantly posting update.

The last day in St. Pete was very busy. In the morning I met with Bryan who is a missionary in St. Pete. He has been in Russia for the past two years or so. Bryan and I met in order to catch up and also to see if he would be interested to minister at The Harbor in some capacity. He loves to work with orphans and this summer he lived at a camp for three months where he got to minister to orphans ages 4 through 16. Bryan is also studying Russian, which takes a lot of time as you can imagine. It is not an easy language and takes time. He loves to work with younger children so I am hoping that he could join our Vocational Training Center where we are teaching orphans ages 10 through 21 in 13 professions. Pray that God would speak to his heart and tell him whether The Harbor is the ministry that he should be part of.

Then I went to a meeting with MIR organization. It is an organization that works with orphanages and summer camps. They also have a hosting program. The Harbor was used to a part of MIR in Russia before we have incorporated our own nonprofit organization as The Harbor. Even though we were no longer under them, but we kept in touch and had some partnership. The purpose of our meeting was to discuss possible further partnership and collaboration especially when it comes to facilities. Our current Vocational Training Center (VTC) is being sub-leased through St. Michael’s Lutheran church. However, the building where VTC is does not belong to St. Michael’s, but to the state. It was given to the church for temporary usage and now at the end of this month the state will look into whether the church can continue to use this facility or will it have to give back. There is a state entity known as KUGI that manages all state buildings. KUGI is supposed to inspect VTC facility at the end of this month and we pray that they will make the decision in our favor. To find a building for purposes like VTC is not easy. KUGI does not give buildings easily either. To buy a building big enough where we can train anywhere from 150 to 300 students will cost a minimum of $350,000, which we do not have. Thus; we have to think of creative ways to locate such facility. We thank the Lord for the last year when He had brought this place, but now after a year and a half of being there it is all up in the air. We ask you to pray for this urgent and important matter.

Anyway the goal of our meeting with MIR was to discuss how we can join our forces and potentially find a space/facility that we can rent or maybe even buy it together. This would allow two ministries to be under one roof and not worry about instability that Russia frequently has. In Dallas, TX there is a lady who bought a big building where there are many Christian organizations located all under one roof. Thus; it is an amazing pool of organizations and a tremendous network. The concept of network in Russia is fairly foreign or very weak. It would be a huge answer to many prayers to have the same building in St. Pete where different organizations can become one body and be united because we are doing our mission in order to bring glory to God’s kingdom. After our meeting we have realized that there are some possibilities. Operational Mobilization (OM) used to have an office in St. Pete that has a decent space size that is being leased to different organizations. We would like to approach them with this idea and see if they would be willing to sell this building for our cause. Another option is to find different investors that would invest around $50,000 each and we could buy the building. Finally, maybe someone could find out the lady who had bought the building in Dallas, TX and share with her our vision and see if she would be willing to do the same in St. Pete. Wouldn’t that be awesome? On behalf of MIR & The Harbor we ask you to pray about this and let me know if you have ideas or ways to help us to make this vision come true or a reality.

After my meeting with MIR, which lasted for couple of hours I went to TBN Russia office to pick up the interview DVD that I had the other day. I actually just watched that and it is pretty cool. It is in Russian and will be televised next Saturday, Sunday and following Tuesday three times per day. It will be shown in many different countries via Satellite and Internet. I am praying and hoping that it will allow spreading the word about our mission among many Russian Christians and some of them will become our prayer partners, some financial partners and some volunteers. God truly is at work and doing some amazing thing. I am much pumped about this & I hope you feel the same because God’s hand is in it. Please pray for this opportunity.

I then was hoping to meet with my friend Natalia who works at the Committee of Labor and Social Welfare Protection. I have known her for seventeen years and we met in my orphanage because she was a social worker there. Then she was moved to a local Municipality Office and from there she became an assistant for chairman of the Committee so now all city municipality offices are under her. This is really good for The Harbor because we work with many different municipalities and if there is a problem then I can always call Natalia and ask her to speak on our behalf. This summer Natalia was crucial in helping us to solve different matters. One of the most urgent and important one was related to two of our residents at The Harbor: Masha and Nastia. The girls have been with us for over a year. They were born in the Republic of Georgia and then their parents brought them to St. Pete in 1994. They lived with their parents and things were ok, but in 2004 everything changed for the worse. They lost a place to live, their father was gone and their mother had a stroke and was paralyzed. The girls became alone and we deserted. They end up in different city shelters and then they were transferred to our family. When they came to us we found out that they do not have any kind of paper work: passports, registration, birth certificate, etc. For the country like Russia this is big no-no so now we have to solve their matter very quickly because Nastia is already 19 years old and Masha will turn 18 in February. If we do not resolve their issue then they will have no citizenship or a place to live and so on. Basically it will be a mess. Their uncle has been trying to solve this issue for almost 10 years and no luck. Now the city prosecutor is involved, district municipality and my friend Natalia. Lord willing and praying that it will be successfully resolved by February. I am asking you to pray for this situation because it is very crucial for these young ladies.

Well, unfortunately Natalia was busy with the government paper work and we were not able to meet. I wanted to see her so much before I left to discuss final details. God knows and will orchestrate everything according to His time, will and plan. Since I did not get to meet with her then I went to a store to buy special garlic press as a gift to my Russian uncle Misha and aunt Marina. This was the couple that rescued me off the streets about 21 years ago. Aunt Marina likes to cook with garlic a lot and she does not have a garlic press so her fingers are all cracked from garlic juice, which stings and bleeds. After that I got on the trolley and went to their home to present the gift. Normally it does not take long to get to their home from downtown especially because they live in downtown, but for unknown reasons it took almost an hour. I finally got to their home and presented the gift. They were thrilled. Both of them are elderly even though aunt Marina as a former ballerina and a teacher of ballet always tells me that she is 50 some years old yet they have been married for 54 years. Please pray for them because people at their age in Russia have a lot of health issues and typically do not live that long because average life span for a man is 59 years old and for a woman is 70 years old. I have shared the gospel with them this summer. They are very Orthodox and of course, but tradition only so they are not in favor of anything outside of Russian Orthodox. However, they were listening especially uncle Misha so pray for their salvation please and I will continue to water that seed.

My final place was The Harbor. Yesterday Russia had celebrated the Day of Knowledge, which is considered as a holiday nowadays, but not when I was a child. Many young children especially girls look very cute with white bows and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. They go to school to meet their teacher and get acquainted with their class. It is a lot of fun. So due to this holiday The Harbor had decided to host a small party last night. Also we have welcomed 20 new boys and 1 new girl. We are still anticipating for 4 new girls. Thus; now we have 24 residents and will have 28 in a week. It is going to be a full year for us. We are searching for additional mentors and volunteers that can work with this number of residents. Pray that God would bring to us mentors very quickly and those who are chosen by Him. I am glad that I was there even though it was a short one for me. I got to meet our new boys and some of them are not that new to me because they came to us from orphanage 18, which has been coming to our VTC for the past two years. I am excited about this new year at The Harbor family. For years I have been praying that God would bring many orphans to us and this time he has. Praise the Lord! Now our staff needs wisdom, patience, guidance, understanding, love, peace, prayers, support and encouragement as we begin new journey. Our residents will need understanding, kindness, respect, appreciation, patience, acceptance, receptiveness, and determination to stay on target and reach their goal. Your prayers for this are so crucial and important. Your financial partnership is important so that God can change many more lives that always brings smile to His face.

I came to my friend’s home where I have been staying for the past 12 days at 9 p.m. They were expecting me because they wanted to have some tea and cake with me as a farewell. We had a great time and it was bitter sweet. I finally finished packing by 1 a.m. I was debating whether I should go to bed at all or not because I had to get up at 3 a.m. I did go to bed, but could not really fall asleep because I knew I had to get up in 2 hours. Nice, good and hot shower this morning had refreshed my body and I was off to the airport. You know Russian airport to me is always quite an intimidating place so I always pray for peace and that everything will go smoothly. Well, praise to God because it was. To my amazement they did not even charge me a fee for extra luggage because on my way to Russia they did unless Lufthansa and United have different rules even those they are partners.

Soon I will be back home and look forward to seeing you all. I appreciate your love, support, prayers and encouragement that you have shown to me while I was gone. I had felt the presence of God because of your prayers. I am forever grateful to you and you are playing a vital role not just in my life, but in the lives of many orphans in Russia that are being touched through The Harbor or others that I had met here for the past four plus months. Thank you once again from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of The Harbor.

Blessings and love,

Alex

Final Update on Kursk Trip

2010-08-31T07:58:00.002-04:00

Well, I am on my way to St. Pete right now. This is my final Kursk trip update. I slept like a child. The mattress was good and I needed good rest before my 19 hour ride back to St. Pete. I was waiting for Nina to pick me up and take me to the station. She was late, but when I saw Lydia then I knew everything was going to be fine. Nina took me to the station. We came early and had a chance to talk about her husband and Lydia’s as well. It is very interesting that these wonderful and Godly women have husbands who do not believe in God and Nina’s husband is also an alcoholic. It is hard for these women to live with their husbands. Nina accepted the Lord two years ago. Now she is ministering to her husband in the midst of his constant nagging about reading Christian literature, Bible and watching religious programs. Yet, when she prays he never disturbs her and moreover he joins her. Please pray for him. His name is Gennady. Lydia’s husband is Alexei. He is a professor and seriously ill person. Lydia is praying that through his health problems and two serious surgeries that he has gone through it would get his attention, but so far it is not the case. However, he is going to church with Lydia time to time, but it is not sinking in his heart yet. I am pleading for your prayer support for these two men who need God desperately.

The train ride was smooth, but long like the first one. I had a gentleman who snored so loud for 5 hours so I was unable to sleep. By the time I got to St. Pete at 5 a.m. I was dead tired. I came home and fell asleep for two hours. Then I got ready and went to TBN studio. TBN is Trinity Broadcast Network. They have been here in Russia since 1999 and the headquarters for Russia is in St. Pete. They recorded an interview with me about The Harbor, orphans and my life story. Lord willing it will help to spread the word in Russia about our mission. I thank the Lord for this opportunity. As I was leaving the studio Zhanna a lady who interviewed me made a comment, "You had impressed our studio and most of all I thank you for sharing the gospel because half of TBN studio staff are not Christians." Who would have thought that this would be an opportunity to share the gospel at a Christian studio that is has been around for a long time. God is good.

In my quiet times I am studying the book of 1 Samuel. I am stunned by Saul who was a chosen king over Israel. His father Samuel was a faithful servant and a king. His son was supposed to be the same especially because he was a chosen one by God, yet Saul did not meet God’s expectations. Saul was a rebellious person and in 1 Samuel 15:23 says, “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry…” The Lord grieved that he had made Saul a king of Israel. I was moved by this chapter and realized how important it is to be obedient and do as God instructs us especially when we are chosen to do something. When we are rebellious God grieves over us and it is comfort to me because it shows his deep love, care and compassion.

I am going to meet with uncle Misha and aunt Marina. This will be a farewell dinner. Then I have to meet with two other folks. As you can see busy day. I have another meeting tomorrow and a few more people to meet with in addition to packing my stuff and getting ready for rise and shine day on Thursday.

Love & blessings,

Alex

Continuation of Kursk Trip

2010-08-31T07:52:00.000-04:00

This is a continuation of my ride to Kursk. The night was rough because first it was cold and then it was blazing hot like in a Finnish sauna. Then the mattress was constantly sliding off the bunk so the sleep was interrupted numerous times. Normally I am a good sleeper for as long as I fall asleep, but if it does not start good then the night won’t be good. Well, it is life and I guess I need to bite on the bullet. Ha. My “roommates” got off and I did fall asleep, but then had to get up anyway an hour prior to arrival to Kursk. I have safely arrived to Kursk and two nice ladies met me: Lydia Feodorovna and Nina Mikhailovna. I actually had no clue who was going to meet me and where I was going to stay. I also had no expectations because was not sure 100% what was going to happen or what should have happened. When I got off the train Lydia and Nina came to me and asked me if I was Alex. I said yes and they said it was obvious because I had a face of a Christian person. I never knew that there was a face for a Christian person except for one thing that typically makes me a foreigner in my own country is a smile on my face. I am too joyful for some folks and maybe my smile with Orbit white teeth as some orphans called me on this trip to Russia they realized it was Alex. They took me to their church dorm. It is a four story high building that is used for different purposes, but one of them is a dormitory. They have some folks that stay here all the time and guests also. I had my own room and it is nice, but isn’t 5* Europe hotel. Of course, it is a joke. I took a shower and noticed that both hot and cold water was always brownish color. It was strange to me because St. Pete’s hot water is brownish, but after running it for five minutes or so it gets relatively clear whereas here it did not. Even in the midst of brownish water I was still thankful for a hot shower after 19 hour train ride. Thank you Jesus! I tell people. I do not need much in this world except for two things: hot shower and clean clothes.

I had to be ready for the church service at 10 a.m. so I barely made it. I was going to have a light breakfast, but ran out of time. Lydia and Nina were so nice because they brought me so much food that normally I would eat in three or four days so never in one day. So here we are it is past 10 p.m. here and nothing was touched also because I just got home. The church service was long and tiring because I was tired after the train ride. It is a large Baptist church that will be celebrating 100 years in two weeks. There were three pastors and every one of them preached so that is a bit too much for me. Then a choir, which was very nice, but I wish we sang more songs with them or some songs that I know. Also they had a new deacon dedication today so that took 40 minutes alone. One preacher talked for 30 minutes and I am sorry, but it was so boring and I was literally fighting trying to stay awake. To me he talked about nothing or he could have said it all in 10 minutes. It almost seemed to me that he simply wanted to preach and he did not care if people listened to him or not. Well, the service was over and I was hungry and sleep so went to eat lunch. Lydia, Nina, Natasha, Sasha and I went to their apartment. Natasha and Sasha are the girls that Lydia and Nina are taking care of. They are trying to launch a model of The Harbor so this is their base for now. I was impressed especially because they have no funding or support. Lydia has a huge heart for orphans because she became an orphan herself when she was six years old. She was placed in the orphanage, but four years later her aunt found her and took her home. Lydia always wanted to minister to orphans and the Lord open that door and she has been going that on her own for seven years already. She has been caring for graduate orphans for two years already. Natasha and Sasha come from special needs orphanage so not a big potential and it is not because they are disabled even though they have some issues, but because this is how society is going to treat them. However, this is not stopping Lydia or Nina. Lydia actually became a guardian for two girls already and wants to help more girls.

After our lunch we talked about The Harbor and my life story for two or three hours. They had some knowledge about The Harbor, but not whole lot. They were appreciative that I came because they learned a lot about our history, program concept, etc. They also heard my story and Nina could not hear my story because she had never heard that person can suffer so much and yet come out to be the person that I am today. Please do not think that I bragging about myself no, but an encouragement to them that God does exist and miracles do happen. Working with special needs orphans especially those who are emancipated where society does not care about them at all can be very discouraging and questioning, “Why am I doing all of this?” Well, it is all for God who is in charge. God is at work even if it is at a slow pace, but the lives are changing. Yes, there are many discouragements and sometimes it is easier to walk away from it and say forget about it, but what would Jesus do? When cannot give up on them because everyone else already has. We are the last hope and light in the darkness that they have. God will work through us to touch their hearts and Lord willing in his time to transform them also. After our long, but yet amazing fellowship we had dinner and then Nina and the girls took me around the city of Kursk. It was already late and dark so I did not get to see whole lot, but it was still fun. We stopped by their new mall, which is impressed and took some pictures. The girls have never gone to this mall so I proposed to walk through it so that girls can take a peak because they will never get to go there or buy anything. They were stunned by its beauty. Boy, how little do we really need to make someone happy especially if it is an innocent soul? It is a great reminder to all of us slow down, look around you, and do something to make someone happy and bring light and hope in the midst of a dark and hopeless world. You can do it! We went to a huge store like Wal-Mart called Linia (Line) and bought some food for my train ride tomorrow morning. It is a short trip and it would have been fun if I could have stayed here longer and gotten to know Lydia, Nina, Natasha and Sasha better. Hopefully next year when I am back in Russia I could make another trip and do that. I was invited so the invitation is there.

I thank the Lord for this opportunity. There is so much needs to be done. I covet your prayers for Lydia, Nina, Iliya, Ken, Natasha and Sasha. They need funds to launch a model this fall so please pray for successful fund raiser. I will write more later.

Love and blessings,

Alex

Train Ride to Kursk

2010-08-31T07:51:00.000-04:00

I am on my way to Kursk. It is South-West of St. Pete about 19 hour train ride. The purpose of going there is to meet with a team of Russian believers who want to replicate The Harbor model. I will be there for a day and then back on the train to St. Pete. My prayer was that God would send me good “roommates” for this trip because you never know who you are going to get. I also was hoping that there would be a restaurant cart where I can sit, drink coffee and work on my computer. Well, I came to my room and met a woman who told me that this train does not have a restaurant cart so 19 hours pretty much without any food. I brought some pastry, but it is not substantial, but I am sure I will survive. In my room there are two other people: man and a woman. Both of them are going to the city of Orel, which is before Kursk so I will be in the room alone. Orel is 400 km (250 miles) from Kursk. Unfortunately I do not know the names of my “roommates”, but they are very pleasant people. Gentleman is from Peterhof, which is a suburb of St. Pete. Lady is from Orel, but her son lives in St. Pete. The most interesting discussion that we had was about God, Bible and denominations. The lady told me that her neighbors are Baptist and she thought that I was a Baptist also. I said no, but she gave me a look as if I was lying to her. I have tried to explain that there are many denominations even though Baptist at least in Russia are one the biggest denominations that has been here for over a century. The gentleman was sitting and listening quietly. He did not say much so it is hard to tell whether he was in agreement or simply did not care at all. However, his wife’s friend is Baptist, but she never shares her faith so they are good friends because she does not say anything about religion. Such conversations are quite interesting and intriguing to me. Furthermore, God’s Word is teaching us that we must preach to all nations around the world (Mt. 28:19-20). However, when we preach God’s Word it is important to remember how we present it so that people are listening and not rejecting what we are sharing. The lady made a comment that I was doing a nice job without forcing them to become a Christian. Thus, she was interested and willing to hear what I was saying. Moreover, she said that she respects people who have faith and their opinion about God.

Visit to Victoria’s home

Yesterday I finally was able to visit Victoria and her daughter Sasha. Both of them used to attend The Harbor VTC last year. They were my English students. Victoria accepted the Lord last March and was baptized in July. Last year when I was in Russia in the summer we met at her home for seven hours talking about God, forgiveness and spiritual growth. She is a sweet lady with warm and caring heart. Victoria appreciates what I am doing for orphans because she has a nephew who is an orphan because his father committed suicide and mother who know where she is now. When I was listening to Victoria yesterday I had noticed that she has so much anger and bitterness, which she did not have last year. If she did then she hid it well whereas this year it was very obvious. I had ask Victoria when was she at church last time and she said quite awhile ago. Then I asked her how frequently do you read God’s Word and she said once a week. After hearing what she said I decided to share some things with her. We read God’s Word together and I was trying to encourage her to go to church time to time since she does not want to go there every Sunday and read God’s Word daily even if it is for 10 minutes because it is a good start. It is better to read for little, but daily than once a week for an hour. It is a continuous growth and walk. Victoria heard what I said and then she said something, “Alex if you had a church then I would come to you daily.” I am not trying to say or make myself a heavenly person, but God is speaking to her through a servant like me and she is accepting it. She also said that she had received nine months worth of spiritual encouragement that she had needed for a long time. Pray for Victoria, her daughter Sasha and her nephew Gera.

Suffering

Life in Russia is tough and people have suffered for a long time. I have noticed that many people in Russia including Christians at times are stuck or proud or whatever you want to call it on the concept of suffering. They are unable to enjoy the life that God has given to them because their minds are occupied by sufferings and struggles. Some constantly talk about their suffering; thus, emotionally put themselves down. People have a hard time of letting it go or surrender it all to God. This summer being in Russia and meeting different people I have noticed this issue with many people especially my friend Tanya, Victoria and others. I covet your prayers for Russian Christian people, brother and sisters in Christ that they would be freed from such imprisonment.

Classmate Sveta’s B-day

On August 22nd my classmate Sveta whom I have known for almost 25 years celebrated 33rd b-day. She called her closes friends including Ed, Masha and I. We have known each other for 25 years because we were at the same orphanage. Ed went with Melana two weeks ago for a summer two week vacation to Novgorod region. He had a wonderful time and came refreshed. Recently there was a major electricity outage (blackout), which affected six regions of St. Pete. St. Pete is not a small city so losing power is a big deal because it has affected transportation, streets, houses and even water for 2 hours and some regions for almost 24 hours. Due to the power failure Sveta’s home did not have any water so she decided to invite everyone to a restaurant because she could not cook anything at home. When she called Ed to invite him he was furious that she was going to host her party at a restaurant. First, it is not a big deal, but I guess it is for Ed. Second, Ed did not have to pay a penny because Sveta took care of it all. Third, he talked to her so rudely, which almost ruined her celebration. At the end he did not show up anyway, which was a bummer. There were eight of us and we went to a German Pub. We had a nice meal and fellowship. Presented many beautiful flowers and she was moved. Then we all went to her friend’s home and had a cake and tea time. I am absolutely stunned because even there we actually talked about God and religion. Lately the Lord has been giving me plenty of opportunities to share the gospel with different people. I am like an apostle Paul planting seeds and watering them where it is necessary. Then I am giving them to God because in His time the seed will grow and produce fruit. Her good friends were happy to meet me finally because they heard a lot about me from Sveta but never met me. It is a family of three people: Nadezhda (mother), Vica and Kseniya daughters. There is a ten year difference between two sisters. One used to live in Cyprus and has good knowledge of English so she would like to be an English teacher. The other one is a student and junior professional tennis player. She also gives private tennis lessons. It truly is amazing that Masha is going to be 34 years old in September, Sveta turned 33, I will turn 33 this year also and Ed is 32. It does not seem that it has been that long since we have met, but I guess the time is flying faster than it might seem at times.

Meeting with Sasha and Gosha (The Harbor graduates)

One of the things that I do when I am in Russia is discipleship and mentorship with The Harbor graduates and other graduate orphans from different orphanages that I have known for a long time. About a week or so I met with Sasha who is a graduate of The Harbor for four years already. I have mentioned Sasha before in my updates. He is the one who has been struggling for almost two years with alcohol addiction. Long time ago Sasha was doing quite well, but then he reconnected with a friend of his who is an alcoholic. Of course, such influence on Sasha was negative. Sasha began to spend his entire salary on alcohol. He went to different banks and got loans worth thousands of dollars. Basically he was making very poor choices. He lost one job and then another and many more after that. When he finds a job, which to my surprise he finds them quickly as soon as he gets his salary he spends half of it on alcohol. Of course, most places will not tolerate that so Sasha looses another job. This has been going on for quite some time. Last year when I met with him, I tried to up lift him and encourage him to reconnect with the Lord and start going to the church again like he did before. He goes to church rarely and it is primarily because he feels guilty. I desperately want to help Sasha, but he needs to have the same desire or maybe even more than I do. He did not show the same enthusiasm to me last year even though his words were saying yes he does. This summer we met twice and both meetings were not easy for him. Our recent meetings seemed more productive to me. The most exciting thing is he wrote to me a note on Facebook saying that he was walking with his alcoholic friend who had tempted him to have a drink and Sasha said no. I rejoice in the Lord because Sasha is beginning to show some signs that he is fighting and wanting to change. He is a great guy and has a huge potential, but needs our support and prayers. It is important to know that he is not alone on the battle field. Thus, he needs prayer warriors.

My meeting with Gosha happened about two or three weeks ago. The purpose of our meeting was to catch up and also to find out why Gosha wants to go to a mission school. He has expressed such desire long time ago. He goes to our pastor Ivan’s church. Gosha feels lead to become a full-time evangelist or missionary. He believes that God has given him a gift of teaching and evangelism. He has gone on some mission trips in Russia and loved his experience. He is growing spiritually and wants to do what is right according to God’s Word. There are many different Christian mission schools that he can attend, but he wants to go to YWAM Discipleship Training School. It cost about $2,000 for 6 months training. We discussed how he is going to raise this amount. He is willing to set aside monthly $150. His salary is $650 per month. He lives in a communal apartment in one room with his sister, her unofficial husband because it is a civil law marriage and their daughter who is almost 2 year old. They have divided one room into two parts. His sister’s husband does not pay any money for living there and nor does he support his family so Gosha is forced to feed three people with his $650 monthly salary. It is absurd, but he does not know what else to do and nor can he simply close his eyes when he sees that his sister and his niece are starving. Another dilemma here is that his sister does not work and nor does she raise her child so Gosha has to deal with that also. Basically it is a tough situation so setting aside monthly $150 is a lot of money for Gosha. He and I would covet your prayers that God would provide funds in his time for mission school and his niece will have parents that will love and care for her.

Conclusion

Well, so much more can be said, but this entry is long enough. I will try to write more before I return to America next Thursday (September 2nd). If not then I will write shortly after. I am looking forward to reconnecting with you all. Thank you for your love, care, prayers and financial support. You are God’s servants and he is using all of us to transform the lives of lost and forgotten sheep. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Where on earth is Alex

2010-08-02T10:35:00.002-04:00

Boy, where do I begin and most of all how do I write this entry after such a long time of silence. I do not want to get into too many details because then you would be bored and simply close the page and not read it. I will do my best to summarize some of the things that have been happening to me for the past two months especially.

I have recently finished writing another update so soon you will get it; thus, I will try not to repeat some of the things that I had already mentioned in my update.

I think the biggest development in Russia is the heat. Yes, I have mentioned that already on Facebook and people write me back saying that it has been hot in the states also. However, heat for Russia that it has been facing for the past one plus month is very unusual and most of all most people do not have air conditioner. Some folks wonder how do you cool down when it is over 100 F and the normal temp for St. Pete in the summer is 75F-80F because we are so far north like Anchorage, AK. Most people drink a lot of beer or kvass. You might wonder what is kvass? Well, here it is:

Kvass has been a common drink in Eastern Europe since ancient times, comparable with other ancient fermented grain beverages including beer brewed from barley by the ancient Egyptians, the pombe or millet beer of Africa, the so-called rice wines of Asia, the chicha made with corn or cassava by the natives of America. Kvass was first mentioned in Old Russian Chronicles in the year 989. In Russia, under Peter the Great, it was the most common non-alcoholic drink in every class of society. Later, in the 19th century, it was reported to be consumed in excess by peasants, low-class citizens, and monks; in fact, it is sometimes said that it was usual for them to drink more kvass than water. It has been both a commercial product and homemade. It used to be consumed widely in most Slavic countries, where in almost every city there are kvass vendors on the street. Today it forms the basis of a multimillion-dollar industry. Kvass was once sold during the summer only, but is now produced, packaged, and sold year-round.

The town of Zvenigorod, west of Moscow, is known for its authentic, preservative-free kvass, which is brewed in the basement of the town's Orthodox monastery. Kvass is made by the natural fermentation of bread, such as wheat, rye, or barley, and sometimes flavored using fruit, berries, raisins, or birch sap collected in the early spring. Modern homemade kvass most often uses black or regular rye bread, usually dried, baked into croutons (called suhari), or fried, with the addition of sugar or fruit (e.g. apples or raisins), and with a yeast culture and zakvaska ("kvass fermentation starter").

Commercial kvass, especially less expensive varieties, is occasionally made like many other soft drinks, using sugar, carbonated water, malt extract, and flavorings. Better brands, often made by beer rather than soft drink manufacturers, usually use a variation of the traditional process to brew their products. Kvass is commonly served unfiltered, with the yeast still in it, which adds to its unique flavor as well as its high vitamin B content.

So now you know what kvass is. Well, when people drink too much of beer or kvass then they want to swim, but how can you when you are drunk? I guess in Russia you can and then this is where tragedy begins because people drown. Like the fire this summer has been another tragedy. It destroyed over 2,000 homes, close to 40 people died and over 2,000 people are homeless. The government is willing to pay a financial compensation to every family in the amount of 100,000 rubles, which is $3,333. What can you buy in Russia with this amount? Well, not much. Definitely you cannot buy a new home or build one either. Poor people because now they have absolutely nothing. Imagine if it was elderly people. Most homes in Russia are not insured so no additional financial compensation will be paid; thus, families are left on the streets. It breaks my heart because while the state invests millions of dollars into nice building and stuff the poor are dying right in front of their eyes, but little is being done to change it. Thus; the fire and heat in Russia this summer is causing a huge effect that will have enormous consequence on many lives. Another aspect is lakes, rivers and ponds are drying out. Wheat and other grains are dying so the harvest will be effected greatly. Russia will face a major shortage of grain next year. Your prayers will be greatly appreciated by millions of people in this country.

Recently when I was coming from Moscow on a train I was reading an article in the magazine known as Passport. You can check out a website for the article by clicking on this link: http://www.passportmagazine.ru/article/1935/

The article was fascinating and troubling because superstitions in this country have been here for centuries and many people believe in them. I am afraid to admit, but I believe that even new born believers continue to believe in them because it was part of them for so long. Yet we know that superstitions and religion cannot coexist. This world needs Jesus so badly and now is our opportunity to minister to those who still do not know Jesus as their personal Savior. I urge you to act before it is late.

I have been working with different teams and individuals for the past three months basically back to back. I thank the Lord that I am still young because I can keep going for a long time, but this summer I realized that there is a limit on how long I can actually do it. There we two gentlemen who came to establish partnership with The Harbor and other orphanages and mission organizations. One of them I knew because we met in Columbus and this is where both of us reside. The other one lives in FL. One of our meetings was a visit to the baby orphanage where we met with a head doctor, psychologist, two representatives from St. Pete State University the department of psychology, two gentlemen and I. I was fascinated to hear what they had said because this baby orphanage has been involved in special research done by two gentlemen from St. Pete State University and an organization in Pittsburgh. The focus on this research has been how to improve the development of a child in early childhood development if you are raised in the orphanage. A child needs a primary caretaker, which most orphanages do not have. Normally a child is placed in a group with twelve to fourteen other babies with one caretaker. Thus; no individual care, love, attention, etc. Thus; a child develops many issues that eventually turns into delayed development, attachment disorder, etc. This research consists of two stages: one is to identify the problem and the other one is to implement the changes into the system so it improves the life of a child in early childhood development. This project/research is in the second stage/phase. It is amazing what they have been able to do by implementing the change so that there is a smaller ratio between a child and a primary caretaker. Now this baby orphanage has six orphans per group with one caretaker and two nurses, which is a huge improvement. They are seeing a tremendous change in a child and want to continue to implement other changes and hopefully other baby orphanages will adopt the model.

Furthermore, two gentlemen from America are interested in working with ministries where they can help young mothers. Well, The Harbor has six moms and five of them have children. Thus; this is a perfect opportunity for them to develop future partnership with our mission to help our young moms so that they raise their children in a healthy, strong, positive and Christian environment; thus, a new generation is being raised for this country. I will be discussing our partnership with Doma International organization upon my arrival back home to OH. Your prayers for this future partnership would be greatly appreciated.

I visited my former orphanage a few times on this trip already. The first time I had helped them with some socks and then I helped them buying new digital cameras for their photography class. This orphanage has an amazing guy whose name is Alexander. He has been there even when I was at this orphanage. He gets a free space from the orphanage in order to teach orphans a skill in the area of photography. It is quite popular, but no one helps me financially to actually buy equipment so that he can teach kids photography. Thus; Alexander works as a photographer and then with his own money buys equipment so that kids can learn this trade. Kids do not take care of things as well as adults do so now they have no cameras, printers, paper, etc. Alexander asked me to helped them and I did, but so much more needs to be done. If there is a photographer who would like to help this orphanage with this class let me know please because they can definitely use some help and you will be investing into the future of these kids because they have a huge potential thanks to God and his servants like Alexander.

I have also gone to different camps where kids from orphanages 19, 51 and 18 are for the summer. Kids are always happy to have visitors because they do not get any. Summer camps have a special day known as the parents day, which is when parents come to visit their children. Parents bring goodies to their kids and play with them and show affection, etc. Whereas orphans do not get anything or anyone. It is so important to go and spend time with them and bring some goodies; thus, you become that parent or distant relative. They are so thrilled and happy that you came and brought them some sweets. I am sure we all know what is feels like to get something good. One of the camps had such bad conditions that after sitting with kids for three hours in a building playing games I had developed a cough for almost a month because the building had so much moister and mold. Poor kids because they have to stay in such conditions for three months. Summer camps have changed so much since the time when I was there back in the 80's and early 90's. Now there are hardly any activities and no fun so kids are pretty much left alone and do bad stuff because they are bored to death. Of course, orphans who are forgotten even in the camps are smoking, drinking and who knows what else they are doing. That is why I am happy to be here in the summer because at leas that day they won't be doing bad stuff that is killing them slowly, but they do not realize it. Those precious children and young adults need our love, time, affection, and care so much. We need to give it to them while they are open to it.

The latest development for me this summer is a hassle of trying to proof to people that I am Russian. With different teams taking them to palaces, museums, etc. I took them on tours. Every time I went to buy a ticket I would say so many foreign visitors and one Russian. A ticket lady would give me a look and then say, "Who is the Russian person? I would kindly say, "Me". Then a chuckle would follow and she would say, "May I see your Russian passport". I would show it to her, but she would still not believe me. Basically it is getting absurd to the point of irritating that I have to tell them many times that I am Russian. Who would have thought that the day would come when I would have to proof so much that I was born and raised in Russia. Ha. The other day when I was in Moscow with my team when we were riding in a taxi a driver thought that I was Italian. Hm.

You know it was so interesting when I was in Moscow. I have heard that Moscow has two or three Starbucks. I actually found out that it has almost 20 or so. In the states if I do go to this place then I never get anything fancy except for a coffee of the day and splurge myself by adding flavored syrup and mixing with a creamer. We went to a famous shopping street in Moscow known as "Arbat" and sure enough we found a Starbucks. Of course, we had to stop there to take some pics and buy something there. Well, it was a special treat let me tell you because I would never do anything like that. There were five of us and for five drinks our bill was almost $33. Ouch, it hurts the pocket. Well, here is the interesting moment, which I have never thought would actually happen to me. When I walked into Starbucks it looked so much like in the states that it gave me strong homesick feelings that I have never had experience. It was to the point that I got very emotional. For years I have prayed that God would allow me to be in two countries 50-50 and it happened. I love Russia and America. Both countries to me our my homes. Thus; I felt emotional because America is my other home and I miss it. I miss you all and cannot wait to come and see you face to face. Thank you for your love, care and prayers. I thank God that I have you in my life.

Well, so much more could be said, but it is way too long so hopefully you won't fall asleep or simply go to the end of this note without reading the rest of it.

Much love to all of you.

Blessings,
Alex

Next generation

2010-06-19T06:41:00.002-04:00

Since collapse of the Soviet Union the birth rate has gone done and death rate has gone up. The demographics of Russia were threatened and the population was decreased quite a bit. When Putin became the president in 2000 he realized the situation and in 2007 signed the law that would change the population growth status. The law stated that if you have more than one child in a family then the state will pay you so much money for every additional child. In 2008 the situation did not change much. Quite honestly it was even worse to the point that the birth rate was almost at 0%. Due to that the state began selling old kindergartens to companies. When I was in Russia last year I did not see that much difference either. Moreover, I heard that people were not in a hurry to have children because in order to get the funds from the state the child has to be three years old. People wondered how they are supposed to raise children. The interesting fact is this trip I had noticed many pregnant women and women with children. I am happy to see that there is a movement. Due to growing birth rate now families have to wait in line to send their children to kindergartens because they are limited in numbers. This is so Russia because first we get rid of something that we think we do not need and then we cry out for help because we messed up.

I am studying the book of Judges during my quiet times and yesterday I was reading chapter 13 that talks about the birth of Samson. Verses 3-4 says, “The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean…” These verses especially stood out to me because drinking is a big factor in Russia and has been since 15th century. Most people know that drinking or smoking while you are pregnant is forbidden or I should say not healthy because of serious consequences. Fetal alcohol syndrome is quite common for many children who have become orphans. Some of you might say,” how many women do really drink while they are pregnant?” You will be amazed, but a few. I personally have known some pregnant women who smoked and drank. I am saying all of this because I see how much Russians drink nowadays and I pray that new generation will not become victims of orphan life in this country. Furthermore, that some people are not doing it for the money because that will have consequences as well. Russia already has many hundred thousands of orphans. We do not need more orphans, but need the next generation of educated, skilled, successful and prayerfully radical Christian citizens that will change the future of this country. Pray that God would raise a new generation like we have never seen before.

One person recently told me that she did not understand what I was doing in Russia. Why I was here for such a long time wasting money of our ministry partners. This statement had hurt me deeply, but at the same time I know that I am here because God had told me to. Moreover, my heart before God and our partners is clean. Plus it has been my prayer for sixteen years to disciple and mentor orphans on individual basis. God had used many people in my life that had influenced me through one-on-one discipleship. There is a power in discipleship and I want to do the same thing because I believe in it. In nine years The Harbor has helped close to ninety graduates and there is no way we can physically minister and disciple every single person. Thus, this is where God can use me. I have been meeting with Sasha, Zena, Natasha, Luda, Ira, Nastya and others. All of them have accepted the Lord, but like all of us they have struggles and need support. It has been a blessing and an honor to meet with them, talk, guide and pray with and for them. At times so many of us feel lonely. When we know that we have someone that we can come to and we will be embraced into the arms with love then it gives us comfort and peace. Orphans as fatherless children especially until they are fully freed from their pain and past need that someone special all the time. Please hear me that I am not saying I can do it all, but that if God can use me in a small way then I want to be obedient to Him. I so appreciate every single partner of our ministry through prayer and financial investments because by investing into The Harbor and I, you invest into the lives of many other people.

Recently I had met with two former orphans from my orphanage. Sergei and Pasha are five years younger than I am. Both of them are officially married and have children. The fact that they are officially married is huge because younger generation prefers to live in civil law marriage that has no responsibilities especially when troubles come. Sergei is married to Ira. He met her in the orphanage after he had graduated. They have a boy Andrei who recently turned one year old. Sergei is a professional chef and worked at a five start hotel. Ira is a student studying to become a teacher. When Andrei was born they had to make a decision who was going to take a maternity leave. You would think it is an automatic decision where Ira as a mother would do that, but not in this situation. Sergei loves his baby boy so much that he had sacrificed his career to raise his son Andrei. Now he is on maternity leave for year and a half. He is doing an amazing job and loves his child with all his heart. It is sad that Ira is so busy and does not love her son as much as Sergei does. When I visited them she was preparing for exams. Andrei came to her and wanted to be held, but Ira yelled at him that she had more important things and moved him away. It hurt me watching that because it is not right for mother to relate to child in such matter especially during the most crucial bonding years. Pray for Sergei and Ira so that they will bond with their son Andrei. Most of all pray that Ira would love her son in a way that mother really ought to where it is not a burden, but a desire and motherly instinct to do that.

My time with Pasha was amazing. A while back I had helped him to get into Financial and Economical University, but it did not work out because the university wanted a bribe. Pasha did not get discouraged and found a different place. He had graduated and started a construction company with another friend. He is married to Kristina and they have a beautiful daughter. He manages two offices for his company and it is doing really well. He had hired some of his former classmates to help them in this life because it is hard for them to find a job. Pasha and I were talking about his family and relationship. He said some wise comments that impressed me. Because he works a lot he gets home late, but no matter how tired he is he always comes and spends time with his daughter. He said, “If you truly love someone then it does not matter how tired you might be or whatever else it is, you will always show love and spend time with your beloved.” I wish that more people would have the same view like Pasha does. He cherishes his wife and daughter greatly. When he talks about them his eyes shine like a star and his love for them is contagious. I talked to him about The Harbor and my desire for him to partner with us in some way. He was open to it. It is important for any ministry to become self-sufficient and self-supporting. Who could be a better person than someone like Pasha a local businessman who was an orphan and has a desire to invest into the lives of others? I covet your prayers for this potential partnership.

I want to keep this update shorter than usual. I so appreciate your prayers and covet them always. Thank you for your financial partnership with our ministry and most of all your faithfulness in such difficult moments. May God abundantly bless and reward you for your investments into the lives of orphans who are deprived of so many things in this world, but thanks to you now they are blessed and filled with purpose, joy, hope and smiles. Thank you!

Love & blessings,
Alex

Visit to Peter & Paul Fortress

2010-06-18T16:38:00.002-04:00

Check out this video. It was an amazing time. Thank you Natasha for making this movie.

University Experience

2010-06-13T15:34:00.003-04:00

There is so much to write, but I do not want to bore you because you will end up sitting at the computer until 2012. The latest most amazing thing happened to me is my presentation at one of the city universities. My friend Sasha who is a graduate from the orphanage #3 has asked me to come to his English class and speak about The Harbor. Sasha has been studying English for quite some time now. At a class there are anywhere from 12-17 students. They are studying British English. Most Russians who have been studying English for a long time know the grammar very well, but have very limited speaking practice. Due to that they develop a barrier and do not speak that often. Thus, they understand pretty well, but limited in communicating back. Sasha wanted me to come as a guest because I speak good English according to him and to help them with speaking comprehension. I confirmed with Sasha what to talk about and how many people there are in a class. The day when I came there were ten students and most of them were ladies except for Sasha and I. I met Sasha's teacher Tatiana. She told the ladies that I was there to talk to them as part of their speaking comprehension. Note: Tatiana wanted to make sure that I was not a teacher otherwise she would not have allowed me to come there and I think it is because of intimidation. Sasha assured her that I was not. Tatiana also said that the ladies are shy so give them some time. I started sharing with saying that I was born and raised in Russia as an orphan. I went to the states for the first time fifteen years ago. As I was talking I realized right away that even though the class has students who are supposed to have the same level of language, but on their faces I saw the opposite. Some ladies were absolutely lost and confused. They could not follow me so I slowed down and constantly asked if they understood what I said. They nodded, but I am still curious if they really understood.

Talking about The Harbor you have no choice, but to talk about orphans and street children because this is who we help. It is a topic that is not spoken of frequently in this country. Furthermore, it is not a favorite topic and most people prefer not to talk about it at all. Primarily because most people think that the state should care for orphans and street children and not the community. Moreover, many Russians really do not know how bad the situation really is. I was giving them quite an insight into the orphan problem and you should see their faces. They were quite shocked so I was discovering for them a new country. I shared some statistics and they were blown away that Russia has so many children at risk. I told them what The Harbor does and why it is important to have a mission like ours. One lady wanted to know if we partner/network with any other local organizations or people or churches and my answer was yes. Another lady said, "I disagree with you Alex that Russian people do not help orphans." I then asked them a question, "Raise your hand if you have ever visited an orphanage?" Not a single hand was raised except for Sasha's who was in the orphanage for ten years. Then I asked them another question, Only one hand and then another one was raised. Due to such low action in helping the fatherless and afflicted I told them that is why Russia has so many children at risk. If more nationals were involved in helping orphans and street children or anyone who is in need then we would be living in a different country. Orphans in Russia historically date as far back as 1860. However, official orphanages came into existence only in 1920's. I asked ladies a question, "How many of you support some sort of charitable organization or do some sort of charity?" Only one hand and then another was raised. Then I asked another question, "Who took care of orphans before then?" To my amazement they knew the answer, which is the church and peasants/servants. It shows that the community knew the importance of investing and caring for the least of these. Then I said, "What happened then and why are we facing such orphan and street children epidemic in this country?" No one could answer that. Part of it is because due to Soviet Union that forbid the religion this country was Godless for a long time and the state did it all. The hearts were hardened and the ears were closed. Now this country needs another revival when it comes to caring for the needy ones.

My point to this group of lovely ladies was that it begins within ourselves where in our hearts and lives we begin to realize that we are the ones who must become the living role model and testimony to others. We cannot simply preach the gospel or talk about the need. We must act and ask the Lord to use us as a vessel and He will when you ask and seek Him to do His will.

The word compassion consists of two factors:

First-you know the need
Second-you do something about it

Thus, it is not just simply knowing it, but actually doing something about it. One lady who is a manager of a company, which I found through Sasha had a question for me, "What motivates me and Americans to help Russian orphans?" I said, "Well, first that I was an orphan myself so the lives of Russian orphans to me is very precious, close and dear to my heart." When she heard this then she was even more puzzled or confused because it turns out that she thought that I was an American. After we had clarified this her face had changed more in a positive way instead of being mad and defensive because I was talking about orphans, which was annoying to her. Then I had told them that what motivates many American people are the following things: religion because the Bible teaches us to care for orphans and widows (James 1:27). Then compassion and the desire/willingness to do something about it. Finally, the ability such as finance, time, resources, etc. It was quiet in the room because they were thinking and beginning to use the other side of their brain that they might not have ever used when it comes to children at risk.

Like in any place we need to educate people. We need to ask the Lord to speak through us into the hearts and minds of people. Let the Holy Spirit then grow that seed as you continue to nurture it. I covet your prayers for these ladies as they think about what they heard. I pray that God would touch at least one of these ladies and she would go out and care for the afflicted in this country. The time is limited and we must act now more than ever especially as the world faces a greater epidemic with orphans, street children, homeless, etc. More later.

Love & Blessings,
Alex

One month point: update

2010-06-01T07:12:00.002-04:00

Peaceful, quiet and sunny day in St. Pete. Today is the Universal Children's Day. Here is a brief history about this day.

The World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva, Switzerland proclaimed June 1 to be International Children's Day in 1925. It is not clear as to why June 1 was chosen as the International Children's Day: one theory has it that the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco (USA) gathered a number of Chinese orphans to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in 1925, which happened to be on June 1 that year, and also coincided with the conference in Geneva.

The holiday is celebrated on 1 June each year. It is usually marked with speeches on children's rights and well being, children TV programs, parties, various actions involving or dedicated to children, families going out etc.

It was adopted mostly by former and current Communist and Socialist countries.

This morning I met with Cheryl who lives and ministers in St. Pete for the past five years with Campus Crusade for Christ. I have heard of Cheryl from friends of mine in TX. There were different reasons why we met this morning, but one of them was to discuss a potential partnership with Campus Crusade and The Harbor. Campus Crusade has been here in Russia for as long as The Navigators has been. As most of you know that The Navigators have played a significant Christian role in my life. God has used so many people as a vessel that has helped me to become who I am today so that now I can do the same by sharing the blessing with those who have been deprive of them. It is hard at times to see how different ministries can come along side and partner. Not everyone is called to do the same as you are doing, but I think it is important to network and not to reinvent the wheel. The whole aspect of networking in Russia is basically none in existence yet I pray and hope that one day it will change. Cheryl was able to give me some ideas and there is a potential people that might be able to partner. I have been looking for people who can minister at The Harbor on consistent basis because it is important for a child or young adult to have one face so that you have a chance to build the relationship. Otherwise you move from one person to another and there is no relationship and without it there is no bond and without that there is no trust. I covet your prayers that God would move the hearts of young Russian Christian students who would see the necessity to invest into the lives of young generation so that Russia would have a future.

Now concerning the next generation. Yesterday I was sitting at a coffee shop with Sasha. I have known him for almost two years now and been helping him with English. We met for over three hours studying English. As we were sitting outside I was observing the current generation of Russia. There was a group of young teenagers. I was shocked and my heart was troubled because what I saw. There were four guys and three girls. They were smoking, drinking, swearing and doing other inappropriate things in public. What was once forbidden or considered not acceptable in public now is looked upon as it is not a big deal. These teenagers were just 13 or 14 years old and this is what Russia calls next generation. If we do not invest into the lives of our generation and stop the demoralization of our youth then there will be no future for any country. What also saddens my heart is that the youth in Russia sees no problem with their behavior or alcohol and other dangerous addictions. I urge you to pray for the youth around the world because they need us now more than ever and we must invest into their lives otherwise it will be too late. Please do not let them die in this dark world. They truly and sincerely do long to be with you, but you must respond to their at times hidden desire to be noticed. We should not loose our hope and faith because God never looses his faith in us; thus, I think we should not loose our faith and hope.

Couple weeks ago I was sitting with Sasha doing English and my heart felt urgency to talk to him about his walk with God. I know that he claims to be a believer yet he never goes to church or does not read the Word. Thus; like many people it is just being lukewarm. Revelations 3:16 warns us, "So, because you are lukewarm -neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth." I was telling Sasha that now is the time for him to decide whether he is for or against God. I know it might sound harsh and direct, but I realize that the time is limited and we can no longer just be nice yet not defend the truth that God's Word is teaching us. I was encouraging Sasha to go to church because it would help him to grow spiritually and start reading his Word because it will strength him. He needs to know his Heavenly Father personally and not just through someone or something. I do not want him to miss out on the most important factor of our walk with God. Every time I ask him why he did not go to church or read his Bible he would simply say, "I am tired or had no time." If we do not have time for our Father then I am not sure how we can call ourselves Christians. God wants us to be radical and passionate followers so that we would imitate His image in all that we do, say, think, watch or hear. After our conversation he had told if I could call him every Sunday from now on at 9 a.m. so that he would get up and get ready for the church. I did warn him that he should go to church not because I told him so or because this is what I desire, but because his soul and heart desires to know his Heavenly Father personally. It was so special to see him at church especially because I end up going to his church which was just a coincidence. Plus I did not know which church he actually went. He used to go to ICA church, but not anymore because now he goes to Hope church. It was a true and sincere joy in my heart because my brother is beginning to slowly respond to the call that God has for him and for all of us. Pray for Sasha as you think of him.

For the first time in over a month being here in Russia my work load has been lightened and I am happy about that because now I can actually enjoy my time and do other things besides just running around the city like crazy. Do not read my wrong because I do love to have busy schedule, but eventually it does get tiring. I am sure some of you might say, "Wow, I cannot believe that it is coming from Alex." Hm. Well, it is long enough for now so I am closing this blog. More later. Your continuous prayers for my time here in Russia would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!

Deal on U.S. Adoptions Agreed

2010-05-18T02:31:00.002-04:00

Praise the Lord!!!

The St. Petersburg Times By Alexandra Odynova

MOSCOW — The United States and Russia have agreed on key points of a treaty regulating child adoptions, and a final draft will be approved Friday for signing within two months, children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said Wednesday.

The agreement, which Moscow demanded after a U.S. mother returned her 7-year-old son alone on a plane to Russia last month, will put an end to independent adoptions through lawyers instead of authorized adoption agencies, Astakhov said after a second round of talks with U.S. officials at the Foreign Ministry.

“There will be no so-called independent adoptions because this caused major problems. There was no opportunity to track a child’s well-being,” Astakhov said in a statement.

He said Russian officials had accepted a U.S. proposal under which agencies that participate in adoptions would have to receive U.S. accreditation and work in accordance with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which has been ratified by the United States but not by Russia.

The boy who was returned to Russia was adopted independently, a process that Russian officials have complained does not allow them to monitor adopted children’s well-being.

Astakhov said the draft agreement will oblige adoptive parents and adoption agencies to report on the children’s health and living conditions and will allow social workers to visit homes to verify the reports.

“We have reached agreement on all key issues and have noticed a readiness to sign such an accord,” Astakhov told journalists.

Members of the U.S. delegation, headed by senior State Department official Michael Kirby, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Russia effectively suspended adoptions after Artyom Savelyev, now 8, was sent unaccompanied on a plane to Moscow on April 8 with a note from his U.S. adoptive mother that said he was violent and psychologically unfit. Torry Hansen, 32, is still de jure his legal parent.

The Washington-based World Association for Children and Parents filed a petition Tuesday before a circuit court in Tennessee asking that an investigation be opened to determine whether the boy was abused, neglected or abandoned, The Associated Press reported.

In Russia, 120,000 children are registered as orphans every year, senior United Russia official Tatyana Yakovleva said Wednesday.

About 3,500 Russian children are currently in the process of being adopted by about 3,000 U.S. families, according to the Joint Council on International Children’s Services, which represents many U.S. agencies engaged in international adoption.

U.S. families have adopted more than 14,000 children from Russia over the past five years, including 1,500 last year.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=31431

State Duma Blocks Anti-Adoption Move

2010-05-18T02:26:00.001-04:00

Good news for so many families who are trying to adopt from Russia.

MOSCOW — Russia’s parliament on Friday defeated a motion that would have prevented Americans from adopting Russian children.

The motion was put forward in reaction to the case of Artyom Savelyev, an 8-year-old Russian boy sent back to Moscow alone last month by his adoptive mother in Tennessee. The mother claimed the boy was violent and that the orphanage had lied about his condition. Russian physicians said they found no mental issues with the boy.

Savelyev’s return led to calls for more control over foreign adoptions and a freeze on all adoptions to Americans until the United States signed a bilateral agreement allowing Russia to better monitor and control adoptions.

A motion to freeze all adoptions to the U.S. pending the signing of such an agreement fell 98 votes short Friday in the lower house of the State Duma.

After a month of conflicting signals, Education Minister Andrei Fursenko confirmed earlier this week that Russia had not suspended U.S. adoptions, which he said required legislation to be passed by parliament or a presidential act.

The dominant Kremlin-friendly party, United Russia, voted against Friday’s motion, saying it did not make sense given Americans’ willingness to discuss an agreement.

“If an agreement is not signed, we will be the first to submit a freeze bill to parliament,” deputy Natalya Karpova said.

Some 1,800 Russian children were adopted in the United States last year, according to the Russian Education and Science Ministry.

U.S. citizens have adopted nearly 50,000 Russian children since the early 1990s, the ministry’s Alina Levitskaya told the State Duma on Friday.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=31409

Final observations on Germany

2010-05-06T06:13:00.003-04:00

I have been wanting to write this post for over a week now. The life has been busy. Almost non stop, but I guess it is not new for me. Before I write about Russia I want to share a few facts about Germany that I learned from my recent trip there.

Family facts were quite shocking to me. Tobias told me that most children in Germany are raised by someone and not the parents at a very young age. Children as young as six months old are sent to a day care or something where a stranger is raising them. The first two years of a child's life are the most crucial ones because this is when bond develops. If you do not get to see your child that much during those two years then I would not be surprised if that child will be disconnected from his/her parents.

Orphans are a great example of that. They have been entrusted into the hands of a nurse in a baby orphanage, but they are not loved, cared or nurtured. It does not matter how loving and caring a nurse could be when she is alone with twenty or so children all the same age physically she is unable to provide that crucial care, attention, love, and bond cannot be developed. Thus, they are laying in a crib all day long for the first three years of their life. The older orphan gets and the more time he/she spends in the state institution the more he/she becomes disconnected in this world and the less they can communicate/relate to/with people outside of their world.

A country like Germany is in danger to lose the family aspects and the necessity of a bond. Furthermore, many Germans look down & negatively at people who are unemployed. A stayed home mother raising a child in Germany is not considered a job, yet we all know it is a very tough job. Thus, women in Germany are frequently forced by the society to abandon their children at such young age.

Moreover, many Germans are obsessed with work and prestige. They want to live well, which we all do, but as Proverbs 23:4 teaches us, "Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint." My point here is be careful and set your priorities. Remember what has more value.

As many of you are aware that religion in Germany or I should say in the entire Europe is on the verge sees to exist. Tobias told me that in the country like Germany which has 80 million people only 1% or so are true new born believers. I went with Tobias to his non denominational church that has about 300-400 members and it was exciting to see such reviving and live church. Currently his church is building a Christian academy because many Christians would like to send their children to such schools, but it is not an option because it practically does not exist.

The word such as legacy cannot be used among Germans because they prefer to ignore that. I also was shocked of how little they really care what is happening around them. They basically go with a flow and live day by day. They want others to worry about it. The bottom line is let George do it, but not me.

Very strict rules on the roads especially highway system known as Autobahn. Trucks can drive only so many kilometers/miles per day. They cannot drive on Sunday at all because Germany is basically off. They are remembering the Sabbath Day. Thus; nothing is open not even grocery stores. Big fines if you violate the law on the roads. Boy, I wish it was like that in Russia and not bribery system.

There is so much more can be said, but I think it somewhat summarizes my observations on Germany in general.

I will write more tonight on my first week in Russia.

Prayers are always greatly appreciated.

Love,
Alex

Russia Loses 2,000 Children to Violence Annually, Watchdog Says

2010-05-04T17:12:00.002-04:00

I do not like to focus on negativity because the world is negative enough for all of us. I want to focus on what God wants and teaches us through His Word is to help this world. He uses us as a vessel to influence this world so that more people will be saved. However, we sometimes miss it out on most important and crucial things.

Most people are aware of what is going on when it comes to adoption and most of all the latest story on a mother who had returned her son that she had adopted only seven months ago. People in America are angry and people in Russia also. Actually a better word for Russia would be furious. However, why are they furious? Is it because they truly care for their forgotten and neglected children or is it something else. I know that this world does have exceptions always and there are people who truly and sincerely care for the children who have been seriously mistreated after their lives have been entrusted into the hands of orphanage staff or families who have decided to become guardians or foster care parents. Russian people have a tendency to scream very loud so that everyone can hear them especially the United States when it comes to abusing adoptive Russian children. We will yell really hard until we lose our voice so that our words are heard. Yet, I say have you looked into your own garden and realized that you cannot tell me that my vegetables are rotten and I need to do something about when your own veggies are rotten also. Matthew 7:3-5 talks about speck in the eye. " 3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Well, before you can tell me something please take care of yourself. Thus, I want to share this latest article that a friend of mine had sent me.

April 25, 2010, 1:07 PM EDT

By Lucian Kim

April 25 (Bloomberg) -- About 2,000 children are killed in Russia every year out of 100,000 incidents of violence committed against minors, said Pavel Astakhov, the country’s ombudsman for children’s rights.

The number of Russians under the age of 18 will drop by almost a fifth in the next 15 years, to 22 million minors in 2025 from 26.7 million today, Astakhov said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station in Moscow late yesterday. Russia’s population was 140 million in July, according to the CIA World Factbook.

Astakhov praised U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle for promising to look into the case of a boy who was sent unaccompanied by plane to Moscow earlier this month carrying a note from his adoptive mother saying he’s “violent and has severe psychopathic issues.” The boy’s return prompted the Russian Foreign Ministry to suspend adoptions by American parents until the U.S. signs an agreement regulating the practice.

Orphan numbers in Russia total almost 700,000 children, more than during World War II, Yelena Mizulina, head of the parliamentary committee on families, told lawmakers on April 23, according to a report on Interfax wire service. Two-thirds of those children are “social orphans,” whose parents are still alive but unable to care for them, Mizulina said. Russian adoptive parents returned 30,000 children to orphanages over the past two years, Ekho Mosvky cited Mizulina as saying.

Foreigners adopt 5,000 to 6,000 Russian children annually, Astakhov said in the radio interview.

The government’s priorities should be reorganizing state orphanages, primarily by decentralizing the system, and giving disabled children greater opportunities, said Astakhov, who was named ombudsman by President Dmitry Medvedev in December.

Here is the point. The latest adoption story is strictly a political move on the Russian side. They want to prove a point to America. If you look closely when they talk about foreign adoptions it has to do with America only and not all countries that adopt from Russia such as: Italy second largest after America, Germany, France, Israel, Spain, Sweden, or Finland. Now Russia wants another agreement before things will resume to its normal paste. The latest article on what Russia wants from America is below.

Right to Charge U.S. Parents Sought

By Alexandra Odynova

The St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW — Russia will demand the right to file charges against U.S. parents who abuse or neglect adopted Russian children during treaty negotiations aimed at unfreezing adoptions after a U.S. mother returned her 7-year-old adopted son to Russia.

A U.S. State Department delegation held initial talks about the treaty with Russian officials at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, and the main negotiations are scheduled for May 12, the office of the children’s ombudsman said.

It was unclear when an agreement might be reached.

Russia froze adoptions after Artyom Savelyev was sent unaccompanied on a plane to Moscow on April 8 with a note from his U.S. mother that said he was violent and psychologically unfit.

Children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said Thursday that the Russian side would make sure that the treaty better protected the rights of adopted children and allowed Russian prosecutors to bring criminal charges against U.S. parents who were abusive or negligent.

“The agreement will create a legal basis for the continuation of international adoptions and, most important, empower Russia to demand that the adoptive parents observe the legal rights and interests of the child, up to the criminal prosecution of violators,” Astakhov said, Interfax reported.

Russian negotiators will also seek the creation of a single agency to handle all issues relating to the transfer of Russian children to foreign parents, including follow-up questions about the well-being of adopted children, Astakhov said in a statement on his office’s web site.

“This agreement will take into account the rules of the Hague Convention, but it will significantly expand its borders,” Astakhov said, referring to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, an international agreement between signatory countries on best adoption practices.

He said the treaty should stipulate that all adoptions are carried out through accredited agencies, except in cases where the child was adopted by relatives, and that the adoptive parents receive psychological testing and training on child-rearing.

He said Russia’s demands have been compiled in a draft treaty.

The head of the visiting U.S. delegation, Michael Kirby, told journalists Thursday that the delegation had not received the Russian draft treaty but stressed that both sides would strive to reach an agreement.

The negotiations were initially scheduled for April 19 and 20 but were postponed after a volcanic eruption in Iceland suspended many trans-Atlantic flights.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised the issue of child adoptions during a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this week, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Wednesday. He did not elaborate.

Some 3,500 Russian children are currently in the process of being adopted by about 3,000 U.S. families, according to the Joint Council on International Children’s Services.

Answering dual citizenship mystery and more

2009-12-16T23:42:00.003-05:00

I have been involved in foreign adoptions as a consultant and counselor for the past nine years. The biggest question that most families have is concerning dual citizenship for Russian adopted children who are no longer minors (18 years of age or older). I am going to attempt to answer this mystery question as a result of research and a recent conversation with a representative of the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. who works at the citizenship department.

• Does Russia recognize dual citizenship? According to recent changes in the Russian Constitution the law allows all Russians to have dual citizenship. Furthermore, the Russian law does not require citizens who have become a citizen of another country other than Russia to denounce their origin citizenship. However, there is no written agreement between America and Russia that states legal recognition of dual citizenship.

o Since early 2000’s all adopted children become American citizens automatically upon entering the United States. Once the paper work has been completed adoptive parents receive a certificate of citizenship and eventually process an American passport. Thus, they are fully recognized as American citizens and still have their Russian citizenship.

o This dual citizenship will always be legitimate. The only way to lose your citizenship if you commit a crime, officially denounce your citizenship or decide to become a citizen of another country other than the United States.

o Can you travel to Russia as a minor using the Russian foreign passport? Yes, you can. You leave the United State on an American passport and enter the Russian Federation on a Russian passport. Note: If you enter the Russian Federation on a Russian passport then you will be treated as a Russian citizen. In case of emergency you can contact the American Consulate or Embassy, but you may face some challenges because you are in Russia as a Russian citizen.

o Can you travel to Russia on a Russian foreign passport once you are no longer a minor? Yes, you can for as long as your Russian foreign passport is legit. If your Russian foreign passport has expired then you can simply contact the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. and process a new one. This process take anywhere from 1-3 months and cost $150. Make sure that your adopted child has been registered at the Russian Consular Department at the Russian Embassy. This procedure is a common step, which is preformed shortly after the arrival into America. Once your child has been registered he/she does not have to be re-registered because it has no expiration.

o What do I do if my child is a boy and he is older than 18 years old? Based on the Russian Constitution and the Federal Law registered/accepted/released on March 28, 1998, Bill #53 states the following, “Every male in Russia is required to serve in the Russian Military Forces.” A young man is eligible to serve in the army anywhere between 18 – 27 years of age. All young men in Russia receive an official stamp in the internal Russian passport that they are legit to serve in the army. Thus, they have been registered for the service. This process is known as the voinskiy uchet (military account). Following category of people do not qualify to register and serve in the Russian Military Forces: those who are currently serving in the military, if you are in prison, female and do not hold some form of military position, citizens who permanently reside abroad/outside of the Russian Federation.

o Can you be taken into military service without a registration/voinskiy uchet? No, you cannot. If someone says during your visit to Russia that you cannot leave the Russian Federation because you have not served in the military then you simply state this Federal Law Bill#53 that says clearly who is eligible and they will leave you alone. Furthermore, all adopted children have been signed out of Russia meaning no longer have a local residence registration known as propiska; thus, they cannot be registered or be eligible for the service because officially their residence is not in Russia.

o Can I renew my child’s Russian foreign passport even after 10+ years? Yes, you can renew whenever you please by simply contacting the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. and submitting the paper work. For more details check out their website “passport”: http://www.russianembassy.org/

o Do you have to denounce your child’s or young adult’s Russian citizenship? Well, only if you think it is necessary or you have no interest of keeping their Russian citizenship. To denounce Russian citizenship it takes 2-5 months, cost $145, requires a personal appearance for an interview, submission of different documents, if personal appearance is not possible then an additional application form must be filed and notarized by an attorney. If you want to know more about the process you may check out the Russian Embassy website “citizenship” or “grazhdanstvo”: http://www.russianembassy.org/

You may also contact me if you prefer.

I hope this blog entry will help you in trying to understand dual citizenship and traveling between two countries for adopted children. If you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

For more information on the military service act and laws please visit following sites in Russian:
• http://www.prizyv.net/advice/u4et/
• http://armyrus.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=1483

For more information on dual citizenship according to the Russian Federation Federal Law/Constitution please visit following sites in Russian:
• http://www.rususa.com/forum/message.asp-msgid-56598
• http://www.consulrussia.org/ru/citizen.html#6

For more information on dual citizenship according to the Russian Federation Federal Law/Constitution please visit following sites in English:
• http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html
• http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=d809a77f731de110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=d21f3711ca5ca110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

Happy Thanksgiving & Relationships

2009-11-25T14:02:00.002-05:00

Focus on Relationships by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

Philippians 1:3I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.

I once read of a survey in which people were asked if they would be willing to take $1,000 to give up celebrating Thanksgiving with their families. Most said they would decline the money; they wanted to be together as a family.

Isn't it ironic, then, that so often we get lost in the trappings of the turkey and gravy and mashed potatoes, and we forget that we should be focusing on relationships?

One way to make this Thanksgiving meaningful is to spend time expressing appreciation for the members of your family. I realize this will be uncomfortable for some; in fact, it may be impossible. But sometimes we need to stretch ourselves and say those things that need to be said.

For "Family Life Today" we taped a number of people around the country who expressed thanks for their families.

Here's a sampling:Greg Fast, Colorado Springs: "I'm thankful for three gorgeous miracle babies we were not supposed to be able to have. Just last night I went into the kids' room while they were sleeping, and I remember the feeling of thankfulness for being able to pray over these children."

Charlie Boyd, Little Rock: "I am thankful for my dad. He is a man of integrity, and he loved my mother. I remember him coming home from work every day, walking into the kitchen, putting his arms around my mother and giving her a big kiss and telling her he loved her. I can still see it as if it were yesterday."

Linda Allaback, Tulsa: "I am truly thankful for my husband. We celebrate 12 years of marriage this Sunday, and I am thankful because he accepts me for who I am."

Darcy Kimmell, Scottsdale, Arizona: "I'm very thankful for my mother. She raised six children. I look back at her example of how she loved us so much and took such good care of us. Whenever I had someone spend the night, my mother would tuck in both my girlfriend and me and then she would give us both a kiss. My girlfriends always appreciated that."

Can you imagine how meaningful it would be to hear words like that on Thanksgiving?

Why Russian adoptive parents return their children back to the orphanage more frequently now than ever

2009-10-17T00:22:00.004-04:00

I realize this is a super long article, but well worth reading it. You will find it quite educating.

In Russia every fourth orphan finds a new home, but every third is then returned to the orphanage. Let’s discuss!

Article by Ekaterina Rozhaeva-August 26, 2009
http://www.ufa.kp.ru/daily/24367/550927 (Komsomolskaya Pravda/Komsomol Truth)

A saleswoman urgently needed a child. She quickly processed the paper work and came to the orphanage in Moscow region. The fact is that every eligible parent must bring a document that he/she has no criminal background record takes over a month this woman was able to get it in few days. Lena was a lucky girl who went to be with this woman because she fit the criteria. Unfortunately in less than a month poor Lena was back in the same orphanage. Initially this woman took Lena only because she knew that the state was going to give her some financial tax break as a result of doing some charitable work by adopting orphan Lena. However, Lena did not work out for this woman so she simply returned to the state institution as if she had borrowed a book from the library.

Such case is not a lonely one. The government officials or orphanage staff would typically say, “What can we do?! The responsibility to control how former orphans are being raised in a family is not my task.

Double orphan status

Humanitarian catastrophe is becoming to sound more frequently in the Russian society. Since when did we come to a point when thousands of former orphans who were adopted are now being returned back to orphanages?

There was an incident that sparked this humanitarian catastrophe. In March a family returned a boy who was HIV positive. When he was born his mother abandoned him right away. For the first year and a half of his life he was in a specialized kindergarten until the medical examination had shown that he was healthy. He then was transferred into a normal orphanage. On one of his birthdays he received a gift, which was a family that adopted him. It was a young couple who had a newborn child and they decided to adopt Mark as well. In less than two months the parents have filed a termination of parental rights because they found out that Mark was HIV positive. They claimed that the orphanage hid the information from this couple.

Well, it is actually not true. Based on a new law since 2008 a family that has more than two children can receive a onetime state financial compensation in the amount of 300,000 rubles ($10,000). Furthermore, the state was going to give them additional maternal federal capital compensation, which is another 250,000 rubles ($8,333). As soon as they knew that it was the case they quickly went to the bank to get a credit in order to purchase a new house. Well, the bank had denied their request so the very next day the family had returned Mark to the orphanage because they could not get the credit or the state financial compensation.

The orphans who have been adopted by Russian families lately have been returned to the orphanages more than ever. The director of a charitable organization had said that they suspected that such catastrophe can happen especially when families adopt orphans just to get a bigger housing and as soon as they get it they no longer need an orphan so they return their adopted child back to the orphanage. Unfortunately there is nothing could be done. Furthermore, according to the law this orphan has no right for this housing since these adoptive parents are no longer his/her parents. Our government does not punish families for returning an orphan or abandoning him/her for the second time even if adoptive parents had a legit reason for termination.

Orphan’s dowry

The specialists who are responsible for the orphan catastrophe are convinced that the biggest disturbance that caused this dilemma was a new bill that came into effect as of September 2008. From four forms of social care (adoption, guardianship, foster care family and private orphan care) in all cases except for adoption a financial compensation is paid to parents.

Today if you want to adopt a child any person can do that with legit documents and no criminal background history. Most private orphan care parents have never seen the children and do not know how to raise them so they take them without a clue. Children are chosen based on one database that takes into consideration the preferences of parents for the child they would like. Once the child is outside of the orphanage the state officials have no interest whatsoever how he/she is being raised. There is a different government entity that is responsible to control the care of children in the private orphan care system. How parents supposed to raise these children is no one’s problem except a headache for parents who now have a child.

In the past there was one adoption system and database. A minor child was under one government and specialist supervision: psychologists, doctors, social workers, etc. Today this has been divided into many different government entities or organizations and for the most part it is just unnecessary paperwork. The papers get shifted from one place into another and from one organization into another.

Domestic adoption among Russian people is the least popular form of social care. If it is politically correct to say it is also the least economically “profitable” one. If you do adopt then the state will pay limited 8,860 rubles ($295). According to statistics at the beginning of July 2009 only 5,554 orphans were adopted whereas in 2008 more than 13,173 were.

The majority families prefer to use a guardianship form of social care. This is when they take orphans into a family as a guardian. Guardians will be paid a limited financial compensation in the amount of 9,592 rubles ($325) and depending on the child’s age the state will pay monthly compensation anywhere from 5,410 rubles to 6,160 rubles ($180-$205). This does not include other compensations from different local government entities that could be as much as 300,000 rubles ($10,000). Thus, in 2009 more than 38,000 orphans were taken into guardianship form of social care whereas in 2008 more than 75,000 were taken into the same form.

But even at such “profitable” guardianship form less people are now taking orphans from orphanages. Last year through all forms of social care for orphans more than 65,000 had found new families whereas this year only 44,000 did.

It might seem that there are fewer orphans in the orphanages, but it is an illusion. From year to year there are more orphans coming into the state system. The statistics are brutal: based on how many orphans there are for every 10,000 young children in the country, Russia has one of the leading places in the planet.

Furthermore, even in 2002 we have exceeded the level of orphans after the main meat grinder of the XX century-World War II, had left in the entire Soviet Union 678,000 orphans! Today there are more than 800,000 orphans and that is just in Russia!

Dear and kind citizens, what is wrong with us?

What has happened to the society? To whom was the Bible commandment written “Do not forsake and look after orphans and widows”? How is possible that as soon as we building ourselves nice lodges in the outskirts we quickly return orphans back to the institution? Who allowed for orphanages to be overcrowded because the ones that used to exist were either closed or simply given to someone else for other needs?

Can you really blame the financial crisis for this catastrophe?

The government officials basically speculated. They begged citizens to take orphans by tempting them with various financial compensations-the chairman of the Russian children’s fund and the author Albert Likhanov is convinced of that. I know that in different departments for unemployed people the officials would agitate citizens take children from street shelters or orphanages because it was a good thing to do and the pay was good. For awhile adoption movement was truly active. The children were given to citizens in groups/packs without carrying who parents were. Orphanages were being closed and former boarding schools were sold and given to private entrepreneurs.

Based on conviction of Likhanov, “the distribution” of children into “good” hands up to a certain point was a good thing especially for the regional government budget.

He states that he heard with his own ears that a governor of a large region on the territory where there are more than sixty orphanages said that it was “profitable” to place orphans into families cause it was cheaper for the state than raising orphans in the orphanage or a shelter.

It is true that in order to raise one orphan in the state institution it cost from 150 to 200,000 rubles ($5,000-$6,666) per year. Whereas if a child is raised in a private orphan care even with the best financial compensation it still cost the state three times less. It seems that everyone is gaining: an orphan has a family, there are fewer orphanages, which is a positive statistics for the reporting) and the state budget has saved some funds.

Citizens have quickly realized that orphans are far away from being angels. Many orphans have enuresis, or have bad habits, or some their genes take it course. Then financial compensation was delayed; thus, the children were being returned back to orphanages. But wait, where you should place double abandoned orphans? Orphanages have been shut down as soon as the bureaucrats have reported that the orphan problem has been solved. Thus, they are being placed into already overcrowded orphanages and shelters.

According to sociologists the last year more than 6,000 children have been returned to orphanages or shelters. This year this number is going to be at least double that.

Of course the Ministry of Education and Science has its own statistics:
In 2008 the government has terminated more than 1,216 cases of families who have taken orphans into their family, but did not do their job. This was said by Aleena Levitskaya the Director of State Politics Department in the sphere of education and social protection of children. All together there were over 3,000 cases.

Torture of babies

According to Levitskaya after the series of tragic death of children who were adopted by foreign citizens serious precaution and control steps were taken. In 2008 about 4,125 children were adopted from Russia, which is a lot less than the year before.

Let me remind to you the murder in May 2006 by an American adoptive mother Peggy Sue Hilt who killed a two-year old Vica. As a result the state had made some significant changes to the foreign adoption procedures. In 2008 a new series of negative and critical critiques were expressed by government officials toward foreign adoptees. This happened due to another case of two adopted boys who were killed/died. Only a lazy one who would not feel that it was his duty to scream “Shame to Russia! Our children are being killed and we are quiet.”
In the entire history of foreign adoption for all adopted children there were only 18 registered cases. Now for justice let us count how many of our own children have been brutally beaten, tortured, handicapped, raped and killed by Russian adopted parents. According to the Ministry of Health Department only in 2006 there were 1,220 deaths in adoptive families. Let us be honest with ourselves that not all these children died as a result of negligence, but…

This year has been a horrible one with different stories of murder or torture of children. In the Primorie region a woman had killed a four year old Polina who lived with her new adoptive mom for just a few weeks. Let’s remember four year old Gleb who had the worst burn degree ever. A sadistic family that had starved two brothers to death in a basement. There is another investigation that is still going which states that a family had sold a year old son for organs. Three year old Danila was starved and tortured for many days. Then while he was still alive he was thrown into a river tied with an old accumulator.

Here are some more statistics: in 1991 there were 40,152,440 children in Russia, in 2008 there are 27,000,000. Yet there are more orphans now than ever…

Horrifying numbers

Shelters, orphanages and boarding schools are more now than after World War II
In 1998 in the orphanage and shelters there was only 87,000 children whereas in 2007 there were more than 735,000 and in 2009 there are more than 800,000.
Annually there are 120,000 children come orphans in Russia. About 80% of them are considered social orphans kids who are without a family yet they do have parents, but raised in the state institution.
Forty percent of orphans upon emancipation become alcoholics, drug addicts or criminals. A true number of girls that end up in prostitution is unknown. In 2009 more than 15,000 children or teenagers were part of some kind of criminal activity.
Annually over 100,000 parents or guardians lose their parental rights or guardianship permit due to negligence.

* * *
Orphanages of Russia

10% do not meet simply sanitary and technical conditions, 48% need a capital renovation of buildings, 5% are considered in emergency stage condition.

This info was released from the report by the Minister of Internal Affairs-Rashid Nurgaliev, Moscow, 2009
How is it there?

In foreign countries traditional state institutions have become a history since 1950’s. In America for instance, a child who was taken away by social services from a family that neglected him/her will be placed into a foster care family. This can be a temporary one - a few months or sometimes even weeks or until a better more permanent family will be found. What is the most important thing here: the child is constantly placed in a family atmosphere.
Why is it like that? The research had shown by doctors and psychologists that a month of stay for a child in a state institution significantly slows the development by three times. The further stay will delay it even further. The delay in intellectual and psychological development is even noticed among the children who before a shelter or an orphanage were perfectly healthy and developed faster than their peers.

A view from a sixth floor

A few years ago the president who was shocked by the number of orphans in institution has order to urgent resolve such complicated and unusually difficult social dilemma. The bureaucrats have promptly responded to this request best to their ability by active imitation. Later on many reports began to flow stating that we shut down so many orphanages and this many shelters. Children were quickly shoved into families without even carrying who was who and if that family was even fit to raise this child. Financial compensations were paid out and the only thing that concerned the state that the parents would not use funds for alcohol.

It was not important for the state to prepare adoptive families to accept new family member. Yet according to specialists this has to happen at least six months prior to finalizing adoption or any other form of social care.
Where is the control by social services for how the children are being raised in a new family with dad and mom? Inspectors with low salaries in social services have no time to do anything else except for dealing with piles of papers that are constantly getting bigger on their desks. Sometimes they have no time to even visit an orphan in the orphanage; thus, they will never visit him/her in a new family.

For many years I have been collecting this data how social orphan issue is being solved in Russia. The latest statistics show that for the last couple of years massive returns of children into orphanages and shelters are happening everywhere from Karelia to Sakhalin. Of course, it is so much easier to blame the financial crisis for all of this. But it is not the case. If a child has truly become one of yours then will you ever try to measure that on the material level? Very rarely when adoptive parents or guardians return a child & shamelessly say the pay was low. Typically they say that they had hoped that there would have been some social perks, divorce of parents, big conflicts and fights especially during teen age. Many of these problems could be solved if social services and other organizations would prepare and teach families how to raise children who were in the orphanage. Unfortunately we have decided to save money on that because we see no value in that.

Alexander Milkus, the editor for the department of education “Komsomol Pravda”
How to solve the orphan problem in Russia? Let’s discuss!

A note from Nadia

2009-09-25T12:25:00.005-04:00

I decided to share this note from Nadia a graduate of The Harbor. She is currently studying at DTS Missions School in Rostov. It is so awesome to see the hand of our Abba in the lives of our graduates. We covet your prayers.

I love studying at this school. Currently there are five other students and we have become good friends. We have an amazing leaders. We have been serving in different ministries to homeless and at rehab centers. In the future we have many other opportunities to minister to less fortunate ones who have been deprived of the blessings. This is a beginning stage for us and we do not know whole lot and what awaits for us. This morning we had a powerful praise and worship service. We prayed and asked God to show us how He wants to use us. We drew pictures and then explained what it meant to us. The latest two topics that we have been studying are misisons and how to listen God. These topics have touched me deeply.

God is revealing to me something that I have never paid attention to or thought it was not that important. There is a lot of bad stuff and it saddens me down due to that, but I do trust my Heavenly Father. He wants to burn the bad stuff and give me fresh and new stuff. He gives strength and encouragement to me. He helps me to stay on target and make right choices. He is so faithful and I must be faithful back to Him. This school is a blessing to me and I am so excited that I am here right now. I know that this school will help me to become a different person so that I can serve the Lord in a deeper and more powerful way.

Please pray for me. Pray that God would continue to work in me.

Thank you.

Blessings,

Nadia Abramova

Quotes that are worth looking at to help us serve people better

2009-09-25T12:19:00.002-04:00

Dan Craig sent us several over the past few months: It is said that, "A good leader inspires people to have confidence in their leader. A great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves."

It is said, "Until you commit your goals to paper, you have intentions that are seeds without soil."

It is said that, "Wealth is not measured by just what we have, but rather by what we have for which we would not take money."

It is known that, "Temper is the one thing you can't get rid of by losing it."

J. Willard Marriott said, "It's the little things that make the big things possible. Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class."

"A great leader never sets himself above his followers except in carrying responsibilities."

~Jules Ormont"The measure of a truly great man is the courtesy with which he treats lesser men."

"Giving people a little more than they expect is a good way to get back a lot more than you'd expect."

~Robert HalfBill Heller said, "A good friend of mine told me that if our government was in charge of the Sahara Desert, we would run out of sand in short order."

A.W. Tozer said, "It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular. It is why he does it "If I had my life to live over again, I would live it to change the lives of people, because you have not changed anything until you've changed the lives of people. Changing the world requires changing the lives of people."

Charles R. Swindoll, Growing Deep in the Christian LifeRachel Carson warned, "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder... he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in."

D.L. Moody said, "When a man has no strength, if he leans on God, he becomes powerful."Prosperity belongs to those who learn new things the fastest."

Paul Zane Pilzer"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Jeff Pinkleton newsletter had these quotes:

Sin takes us places we don't want to go.

Sin keeps us longer than we want to stay.

Sin costs us more than we're willing to pay.

"I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go." Isa. 48:17 (b)

2009-09-17T00:03:00.004-04:00

Part II

My other meeting in CA was in La Mesa with Bill and Stephanie who have two beautiful Russian children from St. Pete. When I arrived to their house Bill and his daughter Marina came outside to meet me. I was so surprised when Marina ran to me and gave me a big hug. What a joy and sign of trust, which is huge especially because I cannot say that I know her that well. Bill said to me that since her parents trust me, she has learned that she can trust me also. Stephanie prepared a delicious Greek dinner and we had a wonderful fellowship. It gives joy to my heart when I see kids have bonded with their parents. That is very instrumental in becoming a family. Bill and I had a wonderful conversation regarding fundraising because he raises funds for the hospital and hospice in the San Diego area. This was an amazing opportunity for me to grow and soak in Bill’s knowledge and expertise. I am thankful to Bill and Stephanie for a wonderful visit. Please pray for their children John and Marina. Pray for their continuous and stronger bond with their parents.

Rick and Rita our ministry partners who live in Corona, a city southeast of L.A. Rita made a delicioso, an Italian way of saying delicious, Italian dinner and we enjoyed catching up. At a dinner party hosted by this family I met Steve their middle child. Two years ago, Steve was walking with the Lord, but unfortunately, he is no longer walking with the Lord. The parents have been talking to him about God, but he does not want to accept that as the truth. I was able to give some words of encouragement to Rick and Rita through a story, which deeply touched me. It is a story about faith and perseverance how a son was praying for his father everyday for thirty years to accept the Lord. Most people want something to happen instant like McDonald's, but the reality is the opposite. God blesses the humble, obedient, faithful and persevering servants. Please pray for Steve and his parents so that he will return to his Heavenly Father. I think many disconnect with our Father because they have never been able to experience the deep walk with Him, once we do we want more of it. I pray that every person who claims to be a believer will experience a true level of intimacy in their walk with their Heavenly Father.

On that note, I want to stress the importance of deep relationship with our earthly father as well. Many families in this world have fathers that are “somewhat” connected to their children. Somewhat, is not enough. Josh McDowell once shared a story when I went to his apologetics conference in MO. He was in AZ speaking at a larger university to an audience of a few thousand students. Josh was warned about six punks who visited the campus of this university and gave a hard time to anyone who preached the gospel. Sure enough, during his presentation they showed up. Josh paused for a second, slightly shifted his body so he could face them and went on with his presentation. At the end these guys came and asked if they could hug him. Josh was shocked, but he said yes. As he was hugging them he was whispering in their ear, “I love you.” They began to weep so he asked them why they were weeping. The answer they gave him was wrapped around the relationship they had with their own fathers. “Our fathers have never been there for us, never hugged us, or said I love you.”

As an orphan, I have never been able to experience the love of an earthly father. There was no father who could embrace me into his arms when I was lonely. When I became a Christian the Lord became that Father to me and He has given me some men in my life who have been able to give me something that I have never had. There will always be that empty spot in my heart until I will become a father to my own children. I realize that it will be another chapter of inner healing in my heart and life as I will be a father who will dearly love and always embrace my children. My challenge to you who are fathers-- if you have never hugged, kissed, or embraced your son or daughter then do it now. They are waiting for you to do that. The more you become active in the family, the better your family will become. It will be complete just as our Heavenly Father has intended.

My final dinner event in CA was with the Board of Detskiy Dom Partners that is affiliated with Nightlight Christian Adoption Agency. Nightlight has started a Board with members who are passionate and committed to make the difference in the lives of orphans who did not get adopted. Nightlight has been operating in Russia for the past sixteen years or so. Many children were adopted through this agency and every Board member has an adopted child. It was an honor to be part of this dinner, share more about The Harbor, and connect with three adopted children who were present at the dinner. One of the adoptive young adult was from my orphanage #51, but she has been in the states for over ten years now. Another young adult was from a different orphanage in St. Pete, but what I love about her is passion for Russia and desire to go back and do something for other orphans. I actually talked to her about becoming our ambassador in the states and help us raise the awareness. She is finishing her studies and looking for a job in the states. However, her heart is open and we ask for you to pray about her part in this ministry. Please pray for Liana and her becoming the ambassador of The Harbor.

How can you help?

If you love what the Lord is doing in the lives of The Harbor residents and graduates please help us to raise the awareness about our ministry among your friends, relatives, colleagues, and churches.

This past month has been a busy one trying to find new ministry partners. Due to financial struggles around the world, raising funds has been even more challenging. A friend of mine in Russia told me, “Alex, if you want to make God laugh, then show Him the list of your future plans.” If you have asked me fifteen years ago would I have ever been involved in the ministry to orphans or raise funds for an organization that helps “graduate” orphans well, my answer would have been no. The Lord truly does have a sense of humor. “The man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Pr. 16:9) My future plans include going back to Russia in April for about four and a half months. I realize that it is not super effective to raise funds in the states in the summer. Due to summer vacations and/or time off from work it makes more sense for me to be in Russia ministering to orphans. I love being in Russia especially when I can experience the joy of transformation in the lives of our residents and graduates, discipling these orphans who are spiritually hungry, and connecting on a deeper level. Daily I surrender the ministry to our heavenly Father because it is His ministry and not mine/ ours. I ask for peace through the tough times, because I know that He will provide just like He has for the past eight years.

We need more partners that will commit to partner with us by investing $50 or $100 per month to help maintain our residential and non residential program that is reaching over 80 orphans and 17 Christian national staff.

To financially partner with The Harbor please make tax deductible gift out to CRM (Account #9970) or you can make online donation by visiting: <www.crmleaders.org/support> Make sure to choose The Harbor as your ministry of support. If sending a check please send check to:

Church Resource Ministries
1240 N. Lakeview Ave. Suite 120
Anaheim, CA 92807

Blessings, The Harbor & Alex

Defending the oppressed and fatherless

2009-09-16T23:50:00.005-04:00

A friend of mine sent me this article tonight. After reading this article it broke my heart. Orphans once again have become the victims of this dark and sinful world. There are 143 million orphans around the world who desperately need us. If not us than who else will help them and become the voice of the voiceless.

This article is a great example why we as a body of Christ need to use our talents and spiritual gifts to defend the rights of those who have been deprived of everything in this world and care for the poor, needy, homeless, orphans and widows.

Galations 6:2 says, "Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Does your heart aches for the things that matter to God?

Psalm 10:17-18 says, "You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more."

Speak out and defend the truth. Orphans need you today more than ever.

Pa. man gets 8 years for sex with Russian orphans

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 16, 7:28 pm ET

PHILADELPHIA – A wealthy Russian-American car exporter was sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday for procuring girls from a Russian orphanage to have sex with them.
Andrew Mogilyansky, 39, of suburban Philadelphia raped one girl on her 14th birthday and a 13-year-old in her first sexual encounter, the victims said in letters to the court.

The original indictment accuses Mogilyansky of helping finance and run an online child-sex ring aimed at rich international customers. An $8 million civil lawsuit that made the same allegations has been settled. However, he pleaded guilty only to being a customer of the now-defunct "Berenika" ring.

"I still feel his repugnant breath. I hate him," one of the victims, now 18, wrote in a statement read in court.

Friends from Mogilyansky days at Columbia University testified Wednesday, describing him as brilliant and generous, and his wife called him a loving husband and father. A defense psychotherapist concluded he is not a sexual predator.

But the victims wrote that he left them pained, depressed and unable to trust men since the assaults in 2003 and 2004. Mogilyansky was accused of getting the girls from an orphanage on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, then assaulting them at an apartment in the Russian city.

Mogilyansky received the top of the 78- to 97-month sentencing range negotiated as part of his plea to four "sex tourism" counts.

U.S. District Judge Mary A. McLaughlin decried "this business of going abroad to have sex with young girls." She found the defendant's accomplishments impressive but called his crimes "grave."

"To take young teenagers from that orphanage to an apartment and have sex with them is a grave criminal act," McLaughlin said.

Mogilyansky had lived in Richboro northeast of Philadelphia with his wife and their three toddlers until his bail was revoked following his December arrest.

"It wasn't until after I was arrested that I looked myself in the mirror and said, 'How could I have done this?'" Mogilyansky told the judge. "This isn't me."

Prosecutors previously estimated his wealth at $5 million to $10 million, and said he earned $750,000 a year as the owner of several businesses, including IFEX Global in Bensalem, the car exporting company.

But defense lawyer Jack McMahon scoffed at suggestions his client remains a millionaire, and prosecutors did not challenge his request for a low fine of $12,500.

Mogilyansky must also pay each victim $5,000 restitution, register as a sex offender after his release and serve 15 years of federal probation.

More than 50 "sex tourism" cases have been brought in the U.S. under the 2003 Protect Act, which aims to prosecute Americans who travel overseas to have sex with children.

The criminal case stems from a related 2006 trial in Russia that spawned several convictions, one of which brought a defendant a 10-year sentence.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090916/ap_on_re_us/us_sex_tourism

"The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seek Him" ~La 3:25

2009-09-13T00:37:00.002-04:00

Part I

About three weeks ago I met with Jennifer who has started Into the Field organization: <www.intothefield.org> to talk about how two nonprofit organizations can network and partner. Network and partnership is very crucial and I wish it would be practiced more regularly. It is a constant struggle for organizations to unite as a body of Christ and partner with one another. We can do so much more in unity. It takes a community to save a child. The goal of Into the Field is to network and connect different organizations and help them to become this body of Christ. I met with another organization Doma: <www.domaconnection.org>. This organization ministers to orphans in Ukraine and Russia. It is so awesome to meet with people who share your heart and passion. Many contacts and connections were exchanged. God is so good when He brings brothers and sisters together under one roof and for one cause.

In Southern California I always stay with my family Rich and Sue in Riverside. My family has become very passionate for the ministry in addition to their passion for healthy and nutritious eating: <www.suegregg.com>. Since food is my family’s forte, one of the passions we have is serving dinner or dessert events. Every event has anywhere from ten to fifteen people thus making it a very intimate and personal time to share our heart. This is a great way to raise awareness about the ministry and fellowship with one another. In six days, I participated in five events and it was amazing. I want to express my deepest gratitude to my family Rich and Sue for everything that they have done for The Harbor and me personally.

I drove to Thousand Oaks and Calabasas where I stayed with families who have adopted Russian orphans and now wish to invest into the lives of orphans who did not get a chance to be adopted. This is a very powerful way to minister to the least of these. In Thousand Oaks I stayed with a family who has adopted two older girls Dasha and Sima. I was amazed at how well they were doing, especially language wise. They are not young and the older you are the harder it is to learn the language. Of course, they have some challenges, but God is definitely at work. I love to connect with families that have former orphan children because I love to talk to these kids and see what their passion is and/or what they would like to do in the future. I truly believe the Lord can raise a new generation of radical and passionate leaders among former orphans who will minister to other orphans. It is so important to give back especially because the Word of God teaches and commands us to care for orphans and widows (James 1:27). Who can understand other orphans better than a former orphan himself? Their stories, like every orphan, is very sad and heartbreaking, yet amazing to see the light, gradual healing, and restoration because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their life. Both girls have given their life to God and are still growing and learning how to trust and walk with their Heavenly Father on daily basis. I talked to them about inner healing and forgiveness because I believe that is a step number one for every follower of Christ in order to become effective in ministering to the lost and forgotten souls. However, do not wait to become perfect because there is no such thing on this earth. Please pray for Dasha and Sima. I am grateful to Kenny and Wendy for hosting the dessert event.

While in Calabasas I met with the entire community of families who have adopted former orphans from Russia and Belorussia. I visited a family that has two boys from a St. Pete orphanage; Sergei and Jason. We had a wonderful fellowship talking about life, goal, future, faith and inner healing/forgiveness. I feel that not much is said and done about it and I want orphans and believers in general to be healed from their past pain. Please as you pray remember Sergei and Jason in your prayers.

I had a wonderful time with my friend Gary and Sue and their two boys. Gary and Sue are ministry partners and adoptive parents. Max their youngest, has been struggling in the states due to his rough past. Max rarely opens up, but when we met for the first time he granted me the gift of his trust. I have been giving him words of encouragement and guiding him to make right choices. I also have been doing the same for his parents. Max has two other brothers in Russia, Gosha and Arthur. I have mentioned them both in my previous notes and updates. Gosha has graduated from the orphanage about three years ago. Currently he is studying at a trade school to become an auto mechanic which is his passion. Arthur was supposed to leave the orphanage this summer because he was accepted into a trade school in St. Pete. He is a bit younger than usual to be leaving the state system, but I guess the orphanage had enough of him. Anton called me this summer and asked me if The Harbor would be willing to take Arthur in because his trade school does not have a dormitory. I told him absolutely and he needed to call me. He did and I asked him to call Luba our Director. Well, two days ago Luba wrote me and said that the state did not let Arthur into The Harbor because he is too young. I have a suspicion that the state might not have let him leave the orphanage period. Anyway please pray for Arthur as he stays in the orphanage and Lord willing he can come to us next school year.

In talking with Tanya a dinner guest, we realized that we know the same people. Her brother is a pastor in Twin Cities at a church that used to meet in the Mall of America. I have spoken a few times however, it has been a long time since I have been to that church. So now we have reconnected and it is amazing to see how God puts puzzles pieces back into one giant picture that is so beautiful. I am able to see time after time the Lord’s mighty hand at work orchestrating many details and changing many lives. I am grateful to Gary and Sue for hosting the dinner event.

How can you help?

If you love what the Lord is doing in the lives of The Harbor residents and graduates please help us to raise the awareness about our ministry among your friends, relatives, colleagues, and churches. I appreciate every single one of you who has become our prayer intercessor. I am grateful for every financial partner who has invested into the lives of orphans. I am grateful that you have stepped up and believed that your life can make a difference in the lives of others, especially those who have been deprived from the blessings of God. Come and join the cause by making investments into the kingdom of God and store into eternal treasures.

Church Resource Ministries
1240 N. Lakeview Ave. Suite 120
Anaheim, CA 92807

Thank you!

Blessings, The Harbor & Alex

Safely Home

2009-08-25T19:54:00.002-04:00

This is a short note to let you know that I have safely arrived home. Actually it has been ten days since I have returned to my American home. Yes, I do have two homes: Russia and America. The trip was uneventful and I was grateful especially because my trip to Russia was a mess. The Russian Airline was going to charge me a fee for extra weight, but I was praying that maybe it would not happen. Sure enough it was the case. The airline representative said, "This is an international flight and I am allowed to carry two bags 50 lbs each so no extra charge." Actually this is what was supposed to happen in Moscow on my way to Russia, but it was not the case. Oh well, it is in the past and I did not have to pay anything so I was happy. Praise the Lord! My English student and friend Sasha was with me at the airport. He is such a nice young man.

My family in OH met me at the airport. When I came home I found out that there was a surprise waiting for me. My girlfriend at then Shannon came to surprise me. I was surprised, but my words that came out of my mouth communicated something different. It was due to exhaustion. I had a nice visit with Shannon. We stayed until 3 a.m. and then I took her to the airport at 6 a.m. I went to bed and set my alarm for 9 a.m. because I was planning to go to my church. When my alarm went off I realized that I was kidding myself if I thought that I was going to the church so I end up staying at home. Instead of going back to bed and sleep more which I did need that I end up getting up, cleaned my room, did laundry and unpacked my stuff. I stayed until 9:30 p.m. that night and went to bed. This is the earliest I have ever gone to bed in twenty years. I had a nice good night rest and was ready to my normal schedule. In fourteen years traveling between Russia and America I have never experienced jet leg. Some people say that it is because I am still young. Well, I know some folks who are younger than I am and they do face jet leg.

These past ten days have been fairly busy trying to setup CA and TX trip, sending out VTC creations orders, catching up with emails and other stuff. Furthermore, I unfortunately broke up with my girlfriend Shannon. It was hard, but we are still good friends and will pray that God would direct our friendship and if He wants us be together again it will happen. I also met with Jennifer who represents Into the Field Christian organization and Julie who represents Doma organization about network and partnership. It was a divine meeting and I thank the Lord for such appointments. I look forward to future developments in partnership. Jennifer and I also went to Worthington Christian Church where she interviewed me on the video for the Youth Event that will be held in October. The purpose of our video interview was to discuss how you can minister to people while you are a single. Sometimes people think that they have to be married, educated, have kids, etc in order to effectively minister to someone. I cannot wait to see how the video turned out and what the results our going to be. The church will also talk about The Harbor so I am excited about it.

Due to financial crisis in the world The Harbor is beginning to feel its pressure and challenges. Our financial situation is getting a bit unstable. I am praying that I will have peace in my heart because I have to rely on my Father and know that He will take care of the ministry because it is His ministry and not mine or ours. I am trying to figure out some ways how we can raise funds in the midst of financial challenges so that we can continue to reach many Russian orphans and transform their lives. Please help me to spread the word about the Lord's ministry and how He is changing so many lives. Help me to bring more ministry partners who are passionate for orphans and who want to bless others just as they were blessed. Your partnership with our ministry is invaluable and I am forever grateful to all of you.

I will write more and post some photos later. Thank you for your love, kindness, tender heart and spirit and faithfulness in prayer and financial investments into the lives of Russian orphans.

Blessings and love, Alex & The Harbor

Train your child...

2009-08-10T08:27:00.003-04:00

John & Anna

Andre-far left, Sasha-center & Alesha far right

Andre & Alesha

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” ~Pr. 22:6

About a week ago a good friend of mine John came to Russia. John lives in GA and he has been coming to Russia for the past eleven years. His purpose of coming to Russia has been to minister to orphans. John met a lot of kids eleven years ago who are now young adults, ages seventeen to twenty years old. Thus, it is a crucial time to minister to them, but most of all to see a fruit of hard labor. John loves these young adult orphans dearly and they love him. He called me on his recent trip and asked to translate for him. We met at a Japanese Sushi-Bar. By the way Sushi-Bar in Russia has become so popular and it is always crowded with a lot of people. However, in the midst of its popularity I frequently hear different stories of food poison. Another thing I personally would never choose a sushi-bar because it is rather expensive, but some of these orphans have high expectations of John and they frequently take advantage of him by visiting some very expensive places. We went to a sushi-bar because we had to kill about an hour and a half before we went to an orphanage for a meeting with the director. John has been partnering with this orphanage for a long time, but due to some issues the orphanage has forbidden him to come there. Thus, our purpose of a visit was to find out what went wrong and how we could reestablish partnership.

In the beginning there were only four of us who were sitting in a sushi-bar. We did order a slight lunch, which cost $50. I know it is a lot of money and I would never do that because I am all about saving the money. During our lunch we talked about what John was going to tell the director. Then four more orphans came from the same orphanage. They did not order anything. Then Anna a graduate of that orphanage who was with us called the orphanage director to confirm our meeting. Unfortunately, she found out that director could not meet with us. This is quite common in Russia and thus, requires a lot of patience and flexibility. Once we knew that we could not do what we really wanted we had to decide what we were going to do with eight young adults. Someone had an idea to go to a movie theater and they asked John if he did not mind to do that. I was a bit surprised because John speaks very little Russian and how do you watch a movie with bunch of Russians and have no idea what is going on? I guess you can because this is what we all decided to do. They asked me if I could go with them because they did not have a translator and that day I did not have any meetings or anything. We went to a mall and looked at a repertoire and they chose to watch latest Matthew McConaughey movie “Ghosts of Girlfriends’ Past.” I personally would have never chosen that movie. There was two hour wait before our movie so what do you do with eight “kids” once again? Well, we sat in a food court and talked about different stuff. Then a security guard came to us and said, “We can no longer occupy this space and not eat anything so we either had to order something or leave.” I kind of felt bad for John because he had to feed eight hungry mouths. They went to KFC and ordered bunch of food and ran out of money so I gave them some so that they would not ask more from John especially because he has paid for their movie as well. I would not let John pay for me because it was not right. They quickly hammered their dinner and we went to watch a movie. The beginning of this movie was a bit too much for me so I simply closed my eyes. Then it got better and to my surprise it actually had a very good moral lesson especially for Russia and its young generation. Today morality among generation Y and X is falling apart so rapidly, yet they are not noticing because they have accepted that as a reality. Many people are sexually active at a very young age and millions of people live in common law marriage. I cannot justify common law marriage so it makes me sick and I always want to tell people that it is not right and they better wake up before it is too late. The movie was talking about that you cannot live forever meeting with different girls and just for one night. This is quite accurate for Russia among young people because this is exactly what many of them are doing today. They go from one to another in a matter of days. People do not think of consequences. After movie has ended we went outside and I asked, “What have you learned?” Since I did not know these guys that well it was hard for me to determine whether they were serious or joking, but every single one of them said the opposite from what I was hoping to hear. They said that they want to enjoy their youth and status; thus, they want to have many girls until they find the right one. I was stunned by that comment and could not resist from sharing what Bible teaches us so I did. I do not know whether anything of what I shared with them stayed in their hearts, but I prayed that it would.

We agreed that I would see them next week on Monday to go to an orphanage. We did not know what to anticipate from the meeting and if it would even go well. This orphanage has a new director who used to work there as a computer teacher. The assistant director is still the same and no one likes her because she does not like the kids and she always spreads rumors about graduate kids, which is not true. Instead of being proud of their graduates they spread negative rumors and put them down. It is very difficult for Russian people to see true potential in most graduate orphans even in successful ones. To our surprise our meeting went really well. It actually went so well and smoothly that we did not even realize how quickly one hour has flown. Lilia Victorovna the director was able to explain to John what happened and why he and others were forbidden to come to this orphanage. Some level of reconciliation was done and it helped to create new partnership. In addition, I was able to tell her a very brief summary of who I was and The Harbor. The former director of this orphanage was not interested to partner with The Harbor whereas Lilia Victorovna seemed a lot more positive especially in our vocational training center (VTC). She is going to look into it and possibly send some orphans to our VTC. She actually wants to study English herself and I said that she is welcome to come to our center and take English lessons as well with her kids. I thank the Lord that this meeting was very productive and I ask you to keep lifting this up to our Heavenly Father in your prayers. Please pray that God would heal the broken hearted, complete reconciliation and develop new active partnership with John and The Harbor VTC.

After our meeting we went to a nearby Pizza Hut because John had scheduled two different meetings with graduate orphans Max and Vanya. Max is twenty-one years old. He was in this orphanage for a long time, but was kicked out due to bad behavior. Recently he came from the Navy service. He served in Sevastopol. The service has matured him greatly, but he is still flying in the clouds. When he came from the service he had no job so instead of trying to find one he filed for welfare as a socially underprivileged citizen. Russian law permits every citizen to file for such welfare. It is only six months and once in your life. The state will pay you $4,000 in six months which is a lot of money. Again Max did nothing concerning a job so when his welfare was over he was in the same situation like he was six months previously. Max had spent $4,000 on repairing his apartment, buying new furniture and food. Of course, he did not save anything because most orphans have no concept of saving. He has an older sister and now he relies on her and expects her to take care of him, which is very typical mindset among orphans. One of the things that Max had done with his money is he bought roller skates and now it is his favorite thing to do. Thus, he skates all the time and all over the city. He has three girlfriends and when I found that out I just about fell off the chair. I just cannot comprehend in my mind what it is like to have three girlfriends. As we were talking John made a comment, “How do you remember their names and not call them a wrong one?” Max assured us that he does not have such problem. Well, this is where I had a problem so I was in my regular teaching and instructing mode because my heart aches for these young adults because they are simply wasting and destroying their life and a future. I shared with him the book of Corinthians and explained to him why it is not right for anyone to date three girlfriends at ones. Furthermore, I talked to him about staying pure, which I realize is a bit too late, but I was trying to challenge him that he needs to use his brain and think about consequences and make right decisions. Even though he was sexually active, but he could confess his sins, come to the Lord and make right choices that will honor God. Max was listening quite attentively and I pray that everything that I had told him will sink in his heart and he will make right choices. Please pray for Max because I see a potential in him, but he needs a strong male model in his life that can influence him and bring him to Abba.

We also had a meeting with Vanya a graduate of the orphanage #20 which was recently shut down and kids were sent to different orphanages. Vanya is nineteen years old and he is currently studying at a tech school to become a stenographer. He is a quiet young man and has not found his place in this life yet. He does not want to work as a stenographer and actually it is quite common among orphans or a lot of Russian students who are studying in different schools: trade, vocational, colleges, universities or institutes. They simply are not interested to work according to their major. I wish I could share more about Vanya, but he did not talk much so I guess there is not as much to share about him, but please do keep him in your prayers. Thank you.

Meetings of such sort are awesome, energetic and fun, but they do drain you out. I thought that we were done and were going to go home. Well, three other guys came from orphanage #3 and John treated them with a dinner because they were hungry. Actually, they are always hungry and have an amazing appetite. It is a joy to feed them, but certainly your wallet feels it. The bill at the end of four hours of sitting at Pizza Hut was over $100 so I gave John some funds. During our dinner we had a great chat about the future of these four young men: Sasha, Zhenya, Andre and Zhenya. Sasha is nineteen years old studying at a university to become a programmer, Zhenya was recently accepted into a university to become an engineer, Andre graduated from a tech school and was accepted into a university to become a hotel manager and Zhenya is studying at a university to become something (I am sorry, but my brain is getting overloaded after meeting so many people in such short period of time. Trying to remember different stories is a challenge sometimes even for me). Three guys out of four are working so they do have some funds. Furthermore, Andre for instance has some savings and he even paid for his own braces. However, neither of them has matured enough to pay something small in situations like Pizza Hut or going to a Russian banya (bathhouse), or going to a sushi-bar or going to a movie, etc. You have to teach and guide them and only good and consistent role model can do that, which they do not have.

Our conversation led to The Harbor VTC because these guys are highly motivated and quite ambitious. They want to study English and The Harbor VTC offers English classes. Zhenya is even interested in learning cooking. I told them everything that we offer and they should call our director Ira sometime in mid August trying to figure out school year schedule so that they can come to us. This year The Harbor VTC focus is to grow our students’ capacity to 100 kids approximately. Thus, by inviting three guys and others from different orphanages that I spent time with on this trip has already increased our capacity by about ten additional students. I told them how important it is to be committed and dedicated in everything that they do. Thus, I asked them to be serious about their desire and be responsible in all that they do. I also found out that Zhenya Obramov has some housing issues and it is urgent to solve them, but due to no funds his situation has been up in the air for over two years because no one wants to do it for free. I have two attorney friends so I contacted one and he is going to try to help him. Please pray for Zhenya Obramov, Andre, Zhenya and Sasha.

John left Russia early Friday morning so we gathered at his friend’s house for going away dinner. This is where John has stayed during his one week trip. It was at Skvortcov’s family. There are four children: Anna is twenty one years old, Sasha is nineteen years old, Alesha is seventeen years old and Galia is nine years old. There is a father and a mother, but due to some form of negligence and alcohol three oldest kids were taken away from their parents and were placed into a state orphanage system where they were anywhere from nine to eleven years. Alesha officially is still considered in the orphanage, but he lives at home because he is a social orphan. Galia was never in the orphanage because the mom got her act together. Furthermore, the mom got her rights back for Sasha so he left the orphanage at the age of fifteen. Alesha is a junior Olympic soccer player and he was accepted into Lesgof Sports University where he would like to make a carrier growth into professional player and possibly play for England or some other European team in the future. Anna speaks fluent German and currently she is studying at Goethe German Institute and will be going to Germany next year for six months practicum. Sasha would like to finish his university in Russia and come to America for additional studies, but it is all up in the air for now. As you can see the entire family is quite goal oriented and ambitious. Of course, some more than others so for instance Anna has so much ambition that is enough for two of her brothers whereas Alesha wants to become a professional player, but not sure if he wants to work that hard even though he is an outstanding player. I told him my story back in 1995-1996 performing more than average that did not get me far back then. It was a tough lesson and thank the Lord, I learned my lesson so I was trying to prevent Alesha making the same mistake. Please pray for Anna, Sasha, Alesha and Galia.

Boy there is so much more I would like to share, but I am afraid this entry is already long so I am going to close it off for now and will write another one before I leave Russia which is this Saturday. I cannot believe that I am leaving already. Six weeks have flown by so quickly. I am thankful to all of you for your love, support, kindness, prayers, encouragement and financial partnership. Thank you.

Blessings and love in the Lord,
Alex

Retreat

2009-08-02T13:20:00.003-04:00

Delicious black current

Orthodox Church in Gatchina city

Melinda hiding behind hammer and sickle

Melinda and Luba

Rassberry

On Saturday July 25th we were off to the outskirts of St. Pete. The purpose of going there was The Harbor retreat for the administrative staff. I would call this more a working weekend than a retreat. Melinda had arranged for us a place to stay at the Navigators’ dacha. Dacha is like a cabin except it is not as nice as some cabins that I have seen or been to in America. Dacha in Russia is very popular especially in the summer. Normally it is a small house and decent amount of land that allows you to grow different vegetables and fruits. I thought that since this dacha belongs to the Navigators then it is nice and fairly well equipped. I have called Jim who is one of the owners of the dacha to make sure that there was a shower for me to take. You see ever since I have met American missionaries I have developed a habit to take a shower every day whereas prior to that being raised in the orphanage that had no shower stoles until 1993 I was not used to take a shower daily. Thus, shower to me is very important. I tell people you do not have to feed me, but nice hot shower and clean clothes is important to me. Jim assured me that there was a shower so I had peace on my heart and knew that I can go there without any worries.

We agreed to meet at the train station at around 2 p.m. Before we went to the station I made sure that there was a train leaving at that time because train schedule changes quiet frequently or gets canceled without any reason and explanation whatsoever. Plus there is a different schedule on a weekend compare during the week. When we were purchasing train tickets we found out that our train was canceled for some reason and no one could explain to us why that happened. Thus, we had to wait more than an hour for next available train. I had to call Jim and let him know that we were going to be late. I called and left him a message. I had no idea if he got the message because he was supposed to meet us at a platform and I did not want him to meet us at 3:25 p.m. whereas we were going to arrive now at 4:30 p.m. We went to a café and had a lunch. It was nice time fellowshipping and laughing. Right before we left a woman walked into a café and she must have had some mental issues because we was yelling and cussing for no reason at a waitress. This you see time to time in Russia especially among older people. I think part of it is because the state has deserted older people who have been left to survive on a small pension/retirement, which is very difficult.

We knew that the direction where our train was heading was a popular route so we had to go to a platform a lot sooner than normal otherwise we would have been standing with our suitcases for over an hour. Sure enough as soon as we walked outside there were a lot of people and they were already running toward the train. We boarded on the electric train (domestic) twenty minutes prior to departure and were fortunate because we had a seat. Summer in St. Pete could be very nice and sunny, but it is also very humid and no air conditioner at all. Plus many Russians do not take shower daily and they use cheap perfume so the smell could be absolutely obnoxious. Furthermore, Russians drink a lot and there are a lot of drunken people on the train so the smell of it is very bad that at times it makes me nauseated. At least we were settled and ready for our journey. The train took off so we were heading south of the city. We or I should say more I got acquainted with our neighbor passengers. One lady gave me a magazine that had some Russian jokes. We had a nice laugh and did not notice how quickly we have arrived to our final destination. Jim met us at the platform and we walked to our dacha.

When we first saw the dacha our faces were like what is this. It was a very old building that has not been repaired for a long time. Recently a new foundation was done, but not much has been done inside. Old wallpaper and a smell did not make this place super appealing. I was more concerned about the shower so I asked Jim, “Where is the shower?” He said, “I am going to show you.” He took us into a small barn type building, which is considered their temporary bathhouse. There was a hose with cold water pumped from the well. Then there was a big bucket where you pour cold water and heat it with some kind of water heater appliance. It took about 40 minutes to heat one bucket. Once it was done then I had to mix it with cold water and place into another bucket that was smaller. From that bucket there were was another small house with an electrical wire about 12 volt that was pumping the water and sending into a shower cabin. Basically it was quite a process of trying to get a shower. I got up every morning at 8:30 a.m. and by the time we all took a shower it was almost 12 p.m. The toilet was of course an outhouse. For awhile we contemplated if we would survive in such conditions so we decided that we would give a day and see what we thought. In the garden they had a lot of raspberry with black and red current. We ate tons of berries and it was awesome because you do not get to do that in the city.

When we were finished we realized it was midnight so we went to bed. As soon as we went to bed we heard loud music because someone in this village was parting. It was so awkward because normally you go outside of the city away from noise and parties, but in our case it was the opposite. The party noise went on for about an hour and then we felt asleep. After spending a day at the dacha we realized that we can get used to it so we decided to stay. It was an ordeal to take a shower, but at least there was something. On a third day we decided to go into the city nearby to look for some property that we would like to buy for The Harbor. Some drunken man tried to talk to me on our way to that city. Luba told that guy that I was not available because I was with them. When we got off the train we noticed that there were bunch of people walking on a rail tracks and I was wondering why. Then I figured that these people were free riders in Russia known as zaitsiy (bunnies/rabbits) meaning people who do not pay. In order for them to get off the platform in the city they need to go to a security and you have to have a ticket so no ticket no way out so they simply walk on rail tracks. I guess according to Russian standard that is quite clever.

In that city we first wanted to find a place to eat. We stopped a lady and asked where their downtown was and she gave me a strange look because for some reason she did not know what I was talking about. Then she finally realized what I meant so she pointed out. We found a place very reasonable and tasty food. We sat there for couple of hours talking about The Harbor. Then we decided to find a real estate agency in that city. One our way we found a coffee shop and Melinda said, “I am ready for civilization so let’s go there and meet.” It was a nice coffee shop, but a bit pricy. However, it was not as expensive as it could have been in St. Pete. When we were looking through menu a woman was sitting at another table and she looked at us and gave us a recommendation what to order. I quickly realized that she was the owner and a nice lady. She pointed out to Melinda and Luba that they had a very happy and funny guy with them who would not let them be ever bored. We stayed there for about an hour and continued our working weekend retreat. The owner came to me and said that she knows a real estate agent that can help us so she gave me her phone number.

Then we went to a real estate agency and found how much it would cost us to buy a small piece of land and a house. We decided to go to another small town/village so we hopped on the train and went there. That area was very familiar to me because I was there many times in the summer camps. As we were walking on a street a woman walks by. I asked her a question and she said, “Girls, you have been sent to me by God because I have some land that I would like to sell.” We were laughing because there were not only girls, but a guy as well. She repeatedly said, “Girls, you have been sent to me by God.” Finally I picked it up and told her, “Galina, I am sorry that I have forgotten my dress at home.” Unfortunately that comment did not register with her. Our conversation went on and she talked about nothing and always repeating the same thing. We began to wonder if something was wrong with her. Finally we talked her into going to her home so that she would drop off a bucket with blueberries from the forest and then take us to her property. We were not sure if she would return so we decided to give her about twenty minutes. We were waiting by a hammer and sickle sign. Melinda decided to climb on it and it was funny because people would stop and look at her. Well, Galina never came back so we just left. Unfortunately train back to our dacha was canceled for unexplainable reasons so we end up taking a car. We stayed for another night and met some more in the morning and went back to St. Pete on Tuesday early afternoon. We would have stayed longer, but Melinda needed to register her visa. Our ride back to St. Pete was smooth and uneventful.

Melinda has a property in Russia so she could register at a post office so this is where we went. She has done this before, but I never have. I had a suspicion that it was going to be a challenge especially because everything is complicated in Russia. We walked into a post office and lady told us that we need to go and make copies of her visa, passport, immigration card, etc. Of course, the post office did not have a Xerox so we had to go to another place and at least it was in the same building. Then we had to purchase an envelope and fill out application form. Neither Melinda nor I really knew how to fill out this form. One lady told me what to do so we followed her instruction. Unfortunately we made a mistake and you cannot make a single mistake in this form so I had to go back and ask for another one. As we were filling out the second time I realized that there has to be an inviting party. Melinda told me that she can invite herself since she has a property, but I was not sure. I asked the same lady and she said that Melinda cannot invite herself, but I can or anyone else so I decided to use Ed’s info since I did not have a passport on me. When we were done we were so happy and proud of ourselves. We waited in line for our turn and after reviewing our documents a lady said that a stranger cannot invite her and if he/she does then Melinda has to register at their city district. However, she did confirm that Melinda can be registered. It was a mess so we had to redo our documents. Both of us were tired and nervous. We worked so hard and made sure that we did not make any mistakes. Unfortunately we were way too nervous so both of us made a mistake. We were not happy campers, but decided to go back to a window and see if it would go through. We were told that our documents cannot be accepted because there were mistakes. I tried to explain a post lady that we have been here for two hours and tried to fill out this form four times. Thus, we were tired and frustrated. She complained for about a minute and then she finally registered Melinda. This was some journey and after two hours it was over. We were thrilled to leave that place.

My Russia summer journey is slowly approaching to its end. I still would like to visit orphans in the summer camps, spend time with our residents before they graduate, meet with some of our graduates, and visit Andre in Vyborg concerning potential partnership and other things. I guess at times it seems never ending, but I love it. My cough is pretty much gone. I have completed taking Nexium for acid reflux and it suppressed my cough by 97%. It comes only when I eat something too acidic or something that must stomach does not agree with. Thank you for your prayers for my health. I will write more later.

Blessings and love,
Alex

Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness

2009-07-25T03:09:00.002-04:00

“Judgment is what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting more than we deserve.” ~Robert Mitchell

About a week ago I was talking to my family in CA. I told them that it seems that God wants me to pause and not always be go getter and go doer. It seems as if this summer might be a case. My personality wants to get things done so that I feel productive. However, when I get into such mode it is easy to become prideful and I know pride is not good. The Lord wants me to make Him the priority in my life. I always have, but I know there is room for deeper growth so I constantly long to be closer to Him.

In my previous blog I mentioned that I was going to meet with one of my former classmates Marina. Well, last Saturday I met with her. Before I tell you how our time went allow me to explain you something. When we graduated from the orphanage more than fourteen years ago there were sixteen of us. Marina along with another girl Zhenya were dressed for our graduation ceremony very provocative; thus, it gave everyone the impression that they will be prostitutes. Prostitution among graduate orphans is very common; thus, these girls were not a surprise to anyone that this is what was going to happen to them. Many years have passed and during that time I ran into Marina a few times on streets with different men. Of course, this gave me impression and idea that she was a prostitute. Furthermore, I heard from different people in the orphanage that this is exactly what Marina and Zhenya were doing. I was deeply disturbed and saddened, but there is nothing I could do. Well, recently I have received an invitation on the Russian version of Facebook from Marina wanting to become my friend. I accepted her invitation and was curious what she was up to nowadays. I setup our meeting and we met.

When I saw her she was wearing quite provocative clothes once again and acting like she was a prostitute. Thus, it was hard for me to think anything else. We met in a Tea House. I bought her some food and asked various questions (i.e. what are you doing now, are you married, do you have any children, etc.) She said that she has been working as a cook in a kindergarten for almost nine years and has a daughter who is nine years old. I was pleasantly shocked that she had a child. I asked her if she was ever married and she said yes. More likely it was common law marriage. That was even a bigger shock to me. She was married to Nikita for three years. When Marina found out that she was pregnant she went to Nikita and asked for money for abortion. Abortion in Russia is very common and used as a form of birth control. Thus, Marina was not going to be an exception. However, when she asked Nikita he refused to give her money and said that this is her child. Marina gave birth to Veronica. One day when Veronica was three years old Nikita was drunk and had an argument with Marina so Veronica stood between them trying to prevent a fight. Nikita picked up his daughter threw her against the wall. Marina was furious and yelled at him and said that this is not your daughter, but mine and you can never hit her. Only I (Marina) have a right to yell and hit my daughter. So she took her daughter and they left. It has been six years and since then Nikita has not been playing an active role in the family. He does see his daughter time to time, but with Marina’s supervision. Unfortunately, Nikita drinks a lot and does nothing for living either.

Marina likes what she does even though it is not a high paying job. She has been fortunate to have a good mother-in-law who has been kind and supportive of Marina and her daughter. She is a former doctor, but due to her poor health she stepped down from doctor’s position and now works as a nurse. Not that long ago she told Marina that she can find her a better job as a cook at a private company that will pay a lot more than what she gets paid now. In addition, she will be able to buy a car in a year. I was shocked to hear that so I asked Marina how that could be. She said, “Alex please do not be naïve. Everyone steals so as a chef you steal food and sell on a side and then make money. You set money aside until you have enough to buy a car.” Well, that just blew my mind off. I know that a lot of things happen in Russia, but not like this. Then I asked her what keeps you at your current employment place and she said I never go hungry and always have food at my house. That is more important to her than a car. There you go another piece of Russian culture and business/employment.

Our conversation went on and I just could not resist from asking if she was ever a prostitute. According to her words she said never. My eyes were big and I did not know what to say. Except one thing is to apologize to her that I thought she was such person. She was pleasantly surprised that I apologized. Then she wanted to know what I am doing nowadays. I told her that I have been involved in the orphanage ministry for the past eleven years. Also I have been consulting and facilitating foreign adoptions. Now she was stunned and did not know what to say. She could not believe that this was the same Alex Krutov that she used to know.

I had to ask her one very important question if she believes in God. She said yes, but she rarely goes to a church and hardly ever reads the Bible. I asked her why she does not read the Bible and she said because it is confusing to her. Then I recommended her to read the book of John and read it slowly verse by verse. After each verse she needs to pause for the moment of prayer. Ask the Lord to give her clarity and understanding. I love how Robert Mitchell in his book “Castaway Kid” says, “She (his grandma Gigi) has given him what he needed most-the security that comes from consistent, unconditional love.” I told Marina that God has given us the same unconditional love and security in eternal life.

Finally we thought of our other classmates especially those who are no longer alive. It breaks my heart that some of them did not get a chance to live until 25 years of age. On our way to downtown as we were riding the metro I told Marina that I realize she does not care what other people think of her or the way she dresses. However, God does care and I care also. I told her that she can be just as attractive if she does not dress provocatively. I do not know if this comment and our conversation will sink in her heart, but I ask you to pray for her and her daughter Veronica. Please pray that God will reveal himself to her as her spiritual Father whom she will call her home and find peace in this world.

I want to give quick update on my health. My doctor in the states gave me Nexium which is for acid reflux, but for different reasons I did not want to take that. However, for the past six days I have been taking it and most amazing thing happened. My cough has suppressed by 95%. Thus, it was caused by acid reflux or at least this is what I think. I might need to visit my doctor in the states when I return and see what is going on with my stomach. I have had stomach problems since I was twelve. I thank the Lord that my cough is practically gone. Thank you for your prayers.

Today I went back to IKEA to talk to the store director. When I came another couple was in line yet there were three people serving customers. I had #99, but in front of me there were four other numbers, but no customers. The bell was ringing for customer with number #95, 96, 97, 98 but no one was there. I was laughing because why bother give numbers when no one is in line. Anyway I had a chat with a gentleman. He said that the store director is British and he rarely comes to Russia. IKEA is now headquartered in Netherland and not in Sweden. I explained to him what I was representing and what The Harbor needed. I was wondering if IKEA in St. Pete offered some kind of discount to charitable organizations. His response was that we work with only one charitable organization. No, we do not give any discounts or work with any other charities. However, he did say that we can file an application form and send to the Russian administration for the review. If we get approved then they might consider otherwise there is nothing they can do. I asked him how long would we have to wait, but he could not answer that question either. I told him that we need beds by the end of August so could he guarantee that our request would be approved by then and he said, “I do not know and nor can I guarantee that.” Deep inside of me I was laughing because it is so Russia. We are still going to file this request, but not sure if anything will come out of it. Please pray that God would show favor to us with new potential partnership.

IKEA is located in a gigantic shopping center known as MEGA. This center has tons of absolutely massive stores. In addition, it has humongous food court and a movie theater. The place is packed all the time. One of my favorite parts is a journey to IKEA from the metro. IKEA provides free bus ride from metro Diybenko, which is about fifteen minutes ride. The bus stop is always overcrowded. As soon as people see the bus they get ready as if they are going to run a marathon or something. People push with their elbows, carts and everything else that you can push with to make sure that they get on a bus and most of all get a seat. IKEA buses do not have many seats so you need to fight for it if you wish to sit. It is done on purpose so that customers can carry big bags on the way back to the metro. When everyone boards the bus the driver turns music about IKEA and MEGA store and it is annoying. There are two stops that you can get off at MEGA shopping center. The funny thing is when people are trying to get off while others are trying to get on at the same time so it becomes a mess. All I can do is to shake my head and laugh. I wondered around just checking what is available for sale in Russia and prices. I was amazed that you can buy just about anything in Russia nowadays, but prices are so much higher here than it is in the states. Thus, my constant unanswered question is how anyone can afford to buy such expensive items. I am yet to find an answer. I also noticed that many people go to IKEA just to have a meal at a restaurant which has fairly good Swedish food and reasonable prices. I think this is also very Russian because people in America probably would never think to go to IKEA and have a nice meal there.

Tomorrow July 25th I am heading to the suburb of St. Pete on a retreat or it is more like a working weekend. The purpose of going there is to discuss the future of The Harbor, strategy, vision, etc. Melinda, Luba and I will be there. We will return on Tuesday July 28th sometime during the day.

On July 29th I have a visit scheduled with two of our graduates Anya and Vicka. Both of them have children. I look forward to our visit and catching up. I will fill you in later on.

On July 30th I am hoping to go to a summer camp to visit either kids from the orphanage #18 that come to VTC or Yura from the orphanage #19. That day aunt Marina will be celebrating her birthday so I will join this celebration that evening.

On July 31st Melinda, Chris, Luba and I will be meeting concerning Chris becoming our potential long-term volunteer sometime in 2010. Chris is coming from the states for two days.

I am working on other plans and will keep you posted as things develop.

Thank you for your love, care, kindness and prayers.

Much love and many blessings,
Alex

P.S. Lately I have been reading Robert Mitchell's book "Castaway Child". It is a life story of Robert Mitchell. He was abandoned by his parents when he was three years old, Robert began his journey as one of the last "lifers" in an American orphanage. As Rob's loneliness and rage grew, his hope shrank. Would he ever find a real family or a place to call home?

If you have never read this book then I strongly recommend you to read it especially if you want to know how many orphans around the world feel. I found so many similarities to my life in his story. It is a heartbreaking, heartwarming, and ultimately triumphant, this true story shows how, with faith, every person can leave the past behind and forge healthier, happier relationships.

I think this book might help many families who have adopted children. Reading someone's story helps to see the other side of our problem and maybe give a solution.

Approaching half time point in Russia

2009-07-19T07:22:00.002-04:00

Today on my way to a medical clinic while riding the bus I saw a man standing on a bus stop and on his shoulder he had a strange critter. At first I could not tell what it was, but then I realized it was a rat. It is quite strange to see a grown man standing on a street with a rat on his shoulder. I was smiling because to me such moments make a lot of memories that will last for awhile.

The weather in St. Pete has been up and down. Some days are sunny, beautiful and quite warm. Other days are gloomy, rainy and cold. When I was packing I was hoping for lots of sunny and warm days. So I packed more shorts than pants or jeans. I guess I must have been Americanized a bit too much because St. Pete is a northern city and the weather is very unpredictable at times. In two weeks there have been more cold and rainy days than sunny and warm ones. I have been washing my one pair of jeans and one pair of pants a lot more frequently than usual. Hopefully they will survive my summer in Russia. I know that I can buy some extra pants, but the cheapest pair of pants I can find is $35 and I am not spending that much money.

In the past several years I have noticed that I get sick the second week after my arrival. It is primary due to acclimatization period that my body is going through. However, staying up late does not help either. Russia operates on a different life style/schedule. People get up later and stay up later. Most stores do not open until 9 or 10 a.m. and they are open until 9 or 10 p.m. Dinner in Russia could be anywhere between 7 and 9 p.m. Phone calls in Russia normally begin around 10 p.m. and could last for couple of hours. Thus, many people do not go to bed until 1 a.m. The last time when I was in Russia there were many days when I would not get home until midnight or later. There were days when I would do grocery shopping at 1 a.m. I am sure you might think this is crazy and my answer typically would be yes, but in Russia that is quite acceptable and typical for many folks. Sometimes I say, “When I am in Russia I live a Russian life and when I am in America I live an American life.”

The reason why I brought up acclimatization issue is because once again I am under the weather. It is not bad so I thank the Lord because I cannot afford to be sick and be in bed. However, sometimes it might be good to do that because I can relax and get goodnight rest. I went to a doctor today July 17 concerning my cough. She looked at me and said that my cough is caused due to my previous cold in April when I was in Russia. I have a chronic laryngitis and the last two colds were pretty bad so my vocal cords were damaged and dried up or something like that. Thus, every time I grasp air it irritates my cords, which cause me to cough. She prescribed some vitamins, immune booster and special oil for my cords that will soften them. If my cough does not go away or get better in a week she said come back and do x-ray. I did not do x-ray this time because she did not hear anything wrong with my lungs. Another very interesting thing she told me about my throat. I have another chronic issue with my throat that I am not sure how to say that in English. Basically my throat is always irritated and red. For years I was told to gargle warm water with salt. Well, she said not to do that because it makes worse in my case. Please keep praying for my health and cough.

Last week I was at The Harbor and we celebrated Yana’s B-day. It was a special day. In the morning I had English lesson with Sasha. In the afternoon met with Anya and Natasha and we went grocery shopping. The girls made special dinner for Yana. It was a surprise for her. Our dinner was delicious and the time was fabulous. We played a lot of games and shared our best wishes to her one by one. I am going to post some video clips on Facebook so that you can see the happy moments of The Harbor life. There was only one boy Kostya because two others were in a Christian camp, one went to his home five hours outside of the city and the other was working. Celebrating birthdays and other events is a special time that we cherish and treasure in our family because for many residents at The Harbor it is a new concept. Many orphans in Russia have never celebrated their birthdays because no one valued them as a human being. The Harbor family values them just as much as our Heavenly Father does. All of us are unique in the eyes of God. We accept our residents the way they are because every one of them is special.

Sasha and I went to IKEA store to look for single beds that we need for The Harbor. We need to buy new beds for our boys’ apartment and extra beds for our semi independent apartment for the girls. IKEA is a huge Swedish store and has gained an amazing popularity in Russia. In the past only wealthy people shopped there whereas now just about everyone does that. The store is so big and it looks like a maze. It is very easy to get lost there. I am glad that they put arrows on the floor everywhere so that you know where to go to otherwise good luck trying to get out of it. Sasha and I had a great time even though we did not find beds that we needed due to high prices. I thought maybe I could chat with a salesperson regarding giving us a discount. Well, she gave me a look as if I fell off the moon. She said, “No one has ever asked such question and we do not have or give any discounts to anyone.” Then I asked her if they have a manager that I can talk to and she said, “They do not have a manager who could give me a discount.” I said, “What do I have to do in order to get one” and she said, “Contact our main office in Sweden.”

You see the concept of charity is a fairly new one ever since it was taken out by communists in 1917. Before then people, churches and government actively practiced charity, but then it became a history. Furthermore, the Imperial Russia was known for humanity work, but once again in 1917 it became almost nonexistent. As Russia changing economically and new middle class developing more people are beginning to practice charity, but it is very weak at the moment. I always tell our staff in Russia to ask for some kind of discount or charity act because this will teach or encourage or give opportunity to practice charity. Otherwise it will take a long time before Russian people will be active once again like it was in pre-revolution time. People in Europe and America are taught about religion and charity along with humanity whereas in Russia they are not. At the moment some famous and rich people in Russia are involved in philanthropy (i.e. symphony orchestra conductors, actors and actresses, and some musicians.) Middle class people are not there yet because they are enjoying their new status so they spend money left and right. Unfortunately many of them buy a lot of luxury things and it is done primarily to show off their wealth. Once they have had enough then they realize how blessed they have been and they begin to give up to its community. Please do not think that I am judging them. I am just sharing a reality of Russia when it comes to certain areas and I plea to you to pray for Russia and its people. I know the Lord can perform miracles because He already has so it is just a matter of time. I see Him at work in Russia and in the lives of many people. I am thankful for everything that is happening even in the midst of struggles, difficulties, trials and challenges. I am an optimist by nature so I tend to focus more on positive than negatives especially because the world already has enough negativity, struggles and challenges.

About a week ago in the morning I met with one of my former classmate. I was helping her to prepare documents for the visa interview. She was applying for an American visa to visit her aunt. After our meeting we went to a department store/mall known as Gostiniy Dvor. It is a very beautiful and historical place. This store is 230 years old. As we were walking through the store I had to use bathroom. When I was washing my hands a woman who oversees the cleanliness of facilities began to talk to me. She said in an angry tone, “Do you know that our bathrooms are only for potential customers.” I looked at her in amazement because I have never heard such thing plus her tone of voice threw me off. I said, “How do you know whether I am a potential or not potential customer? Is it written on my forehead or what?” She starred at me and said, “I bet if I were to follow you around in this store you would not buy anything.” My response was, “Well, I reside in America, but in Russia is where my mission is and chance of me buying something is a lot higher than some Russian people.” She got furious and said, “I do not want to hear anything about America.” Basically we went back and forth, but I was kind and respected her. Our conversation was over and I end up buying a power converter for my old cell that I brought with me because I gave it to my Russian uncle Misha and aunt Marina. My flesh was telling me go back to that lady to prove that I purchased something, but my heart and spirit was telling me not to do that. Spiritual warfare is very powerful and the Satan wants us to give into our flesh. I was able to resist a desire of flesh and I left the store in peace. There are many small situations of such sort that test our faith and we must be strong warriors so that we do not fail. Please pray for my faithfulness and to be the imitator of God's image.

Sasha my student invited me to his b-day party. He said that it was going to be a small get together. He was in the orphanage for a long time, but his mother got her parental rights back so he has been living back at home for the past three years. He is 19 years old now. I have never been to his home and a lot of things have changed since I was in Russia. I was late to his party because I could not find a mini-van taxi so I end up walking. When I came to his home he and his family was thrilled to see me. To my amazement they were calling me a guest of honor. I was shocked because Sasha is the one who really should have been. I found out that Sasha has older sister, young brother and another younger sister. It is not common for Russia to have four children. Three out of four children were raised in the orphanage, but now they are all back at home. They have been reunited and I am so happy for them. His older sister has recently graduated from a university with finance and economic major. His younger brother is finishing high school. He is a very talented athlete and has much recognition especially in the soccer. He is in the professional soccer Olympic league. His desire is to move to America or Britain where he wants to pursue soccer as a life carrier. Sasha himself is studying at a college pursuing information technology major. His younger sister is still in school. In addition to his family Sasha had three more friends Zhenya, Natasha and Andrei. All three of them are former orphans from the same orphanage. During our meal we talked about what they were pursuing degree wise and I was amazed that all six of them are doing really well and very smart. My heart rejoices when I meet and see people who are doing well. I am happy because others are happy. This was that moment. Unfortunately that night I had to leave early for another appointment with one of The Harbor graduates so we could not go on with our conversation. Thus, we agreed to get together once again sometime in August so that we can get to know each other better. I am looking forward to getting to know them and building a relationship. Maybe The Harbor could help them in some way, but I do not know what it might be. Please keep Sasha, Alesha, Anya, Zhenya, Natasha and Andrei in your prayers. Sasha went to a summer camp to work as a translator with a Dutch mission group for two weeks. Pray for him.

Well, as usual this entry has been long so I better close it for now. Russian people tend to give a lot of details when they describe something. I think part of it due to many long fairy tales and books such as War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. It is very hard for a Russian to keep something short. Unfortunately I am not an exception. I am getting better, but at times I do get carried away. I hope you still enjoy reading my posts. I appreciate and covet your prayers for the ministry. I am grateful for your love and support. I thank the Lord that I have every one of you in my life. Thank you.

Love and blessings,
Alex

President Shows Off Future World Money

2009-07-19T07:19:00.003-04:00

When I saw this article in St. Pete Times newspaper I automatically thought of many prophesies. Thus, it makes me wonder are we getting closer and it is closer than we think?

By Alexandra Odynova
The St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW — After months of pushing for a new world currency, President Dmitry Medvedev had more than an idea to tout at his G8 news conference. He had the real thing.

With a broad grin, Medvedev held aloft a shiny gold coin Friday that he said represented a “symbol of unity” and a possible “future world currency.”

“I have some supranational currency in my pocket that I got as a souvenir. This is a test sample of a currency unit under the Unity in Diversity motto,” Medvedev said, holding the coin between two fingers.

“It is called the United Future World Currency. It can already be seen and touched,” he said, according to a transcript posted on the Kremlin’s web site.

Examples of the coin, worth $3,900 and produced by the United Future World Currency, a group backing the idea of a global currency, was presented to all world leaders attending the Group of Eight summit in L’Aquila, Italy.

The coin was made by Belgian Luc Luycx, who also designed one side of the Euro coins, and are called “eurodollars” in a symbolic call for a common currency to unite Europe and the United States.

Medvedev pulled out his coin when reporters asked him about new reserve currencies at the news conference that closed the three-day summit. “This is a symbol of our unity and our desire to solve such issues,” Medvedev said.

Russia and China have called for a “super currency” to replace the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at the summit that the dollar’s supremacy as a reserve currency is outdated.

“This has become a regular theme now,” Medvedev said Friday at his G8 news conference.

“We are discussing the creation or, to be more correct, the appearance of new reserve currencies, including the possibility of making the Russian ruble such a currency unit,” he said.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=29443

Russian President Medvedev Appalled by Alcohol Statistics

2009-07-19T07:11:00.002-04:00

In the midst of economic growth and prosperity things in Russia are getting groom and hopeless. At times I sit and wonder why people are drinking more than ever. One of the reasons is because people use wealth and power to fill in empty places in their lives, but deep in their hearts they feel hopeless, ruined, and abandoned. They need Jesus Christ who is the healer and restorer. Please pray for Russia and Russian people because they need Jesus now more than ever.

President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed surprise at how much alcohol Russians drink and ordered the government to develop a program to discourage drinking.

“The alcohol consumption we have is colossal,” Medvedev told Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova at a meeting this week.

“I was astonished to learn that we now drink more than we did in the 1990s, although those were very tough times,” Medvedev said, according to a transcript on the Kremlin’s web site.

He told Golikova to devise an anti-alcohol strategy. “We need to prepare a corresponding program and take appropriate measures,” Medvedev said.

A report by The Lancet medical journal last week said alcohol-related diseases caused about half of all deaths of Russians between the ages of 15 and 54 in the 1990s.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin highlighted the problem at a meeting with World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan last Friday and promised to promote a healthier lifestyle.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who initiated a 1986 anti-alcohol campaign that led to a boom in illegal production of low-quality alcohol, called on Monday for a new drive. “We are destroying ourselves, and then we will look for those who destroyed our country, for those who made us drink,” he said.

(SPT, Bloomberg, Reuters): http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=29388

4th of July & The Harbor

2009-07-09T08:27:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was my first week in Russia and I just wonder how quickly days pass by. I am doing much better emotionally so thank you for asking and praying for me. After staying for two days with my friend Eugene and his family I went to my apartment. I got settled there and it is ok. The last four days have been rough sleeping on my couch bed. It is very old and uncomfortable, but I am not going to complain too much about it. I am sure there are people in this world who have much worse life than I do. The shower is great and the washer works great also. Thus, I am well settled. I frequently tell people that you do not have to feed me, but nice hot shower and clean clothes is very important to me. I guess that is why I am so slim.

About four days ago I was sitting and analyzing what I have accomplished so far. It felt as if I did nothing so I began to wonder and pray why God had brought me here. First, on July 4th I was invited to celebrate the Independence Day with some missionary families and that was wonderful. I got to talk to some friends of mine who have been long-time missionaries in Russia and met some new people also. In addition, I made new connections for The Harbor. Second, I made many phone calls and tried to settle my schedule for the next five weeks. It is coming along fairly well so I began to feel better after that. Third, I met with my Russian uncle Misha and aunt Marina. This couple has rescued me from the streets nineteen years ago. Uncle Misha was celebrating 78th B-day. It was an honor to be part of it. That night I also found out for how many years he and aunt Marina have been married. I had a suspicion it has been a few years, but did not know how many exactly. Well, it is 54 years. This is quite amazing especially for Russia because most couples do not live together that long especially nowadays due to high common law marriage and high divorce rate. Unfortunately during our celebration aunt Marina received a phone call from the hospital where her mom is right now. Her name is Anna and she is 97 years old. She has health issues and was hospitalized a few days ago. There are no words that would describe the “beauty” of a Russian-Soviet hospital. It is a shocker to her, uncle Misha, aunt Marina’s brother Alik and I. There are sixty patients on the floor and only two nurses. If you are seriously ill patient such as unable to get up and got to a bathroom than you end up laying in wet bed for hours because the hospital is very low on nurses. Furthermore, nurses are so young and weak that they cannot lift up a patient to change his/her bed sheets. Thus, they expect family members to visit their relatives and do their work. This is so absurd, but a reality at the same time. You might wonder are there nice and paid hospitals. Well, there are, but they cost so much that there is no way someone like uncle Misha or aunt Marina or their relatives could ever afford; thus, they end up going to very old hospitals and struggle through issues and problems. Please pray for aunt Marina’s mom Anna.

About three days ago I met with Luba for the first time since I arrived. We had seven hour conversation about The Harbor residential and non residential VTC ministries. This summer we are graduating our fourth class and getting new group of residents for the next two years. We are graduating six girls and five boys. Two girls will stay for another year so we are looking for six new girls. One girl has already graduated and will live independently. Five other girls will go into Next Step Phase semi-independent apartment for a year. This is our office apartment as well and Luba lives there also. Thus, we are moving our office into one of our VTC locations and Luba will have to find another place to live so that we can house five graduate girls in our semi-independent living. Please pray that Luba can quickly find a new place for a reasonable price. The real estate in St. Petersburg and Moscow is very expensive. Our graduate boys will go into semi-independent apartment where Vadim and Ecka live with their two children. Thus, this year we will have a lot more people living there. In addition, we are getting another young man who will live in semi-independent apartment for a year. We might have six boys living there, but there is a potential that one boy will either stay in our two-year program or go into semi-independent.

Right now we are in the process of selecting seven or eight new boys for the next two years. We had a lot of potential boys’ residents, but due to many different matters it fell through. One of the reasons is that orphans from orphanage #18 have family relatives with whom they keep in touch. One of their relatives called us in order to find out if The Harbor was Russian Orthodox or not. We told them that we are not and they said that they will never let their grandchildren come to us because we are a cult to them. While I am in Russia I am supposed to meet with some of these relatives and potential residents. Please pray that God will show favor, direct our conversation and soften the hearts of relatives. These guys are awesome and we would really love to have them as our residents.

Currently we are working with nineteen orphanages in the city and suburbs of St. Pete. We have tried to work with three other, but they said no. We are in the process of partnering with three more orphanages. As you can see there is a lot of work being put into trying to find orphans. You might wonder why so many orphanages especially when St. Pete itself has six thousand social and pure orphans. Well, it is primarily due to new government regulations and money. The state government wants “graduate” orphans to go into trade or vocational schools because each school facility gets $$$ per orphan. Thus, it is business in some way. Moreover, the state is moving more and more toward private care of orphans and they do not want orphans to go anywhere besides families. When it comes to “graduate” orphans they simply do not want them to go somewhere else. Furthermore, with new opportunities and economic growth orphans nowadays have a lot of things such as computers with Wi-Fi Internet, very expensive cell phones, etc. When potential residents come into The Harbor they realize that this is not going to be some freebie so they choose to go into trade school and live in a dumpy dorm so that no one will bother them and they will have full freedom to do drugs, drink alcohol, go to clubs and hang out until 6 a.m. and so forth. Thus, we are being creative in how we attract them and most of all explain that most dorms are horrible and it will not give them a future like they think it will. We noticed that if orphans who have lived in a dorm for a year will come to The Harbor without a hesitance because they have something to compare with whereas orphans who have just “graduated” out of the orphanage live in a la-la land, but try to convince them is almost impossible. Due to this challenge we partner with four different trade and vocational schools that allow us to select new residents. We see a huge difference in orphans who have been studying at a vocational or trade school versus newly “graduated” orphans. Please pray that God will bring many orphans who will be interested and motivated. Orphans who understand the importance and value of The Harbor and why they should come to us. Most of them once they have completed our two-year program always say, “thank you”, because they realize that they would not have accomplished as much.

Little bit about The Harbor VTC new location that was given to us by a city government couple months ago. Recently we have completed renovation of our new facility. There we will teach additional computer class, sewing, English, and Christian theater production class. New location will reach not only orphans, but street children, children from single parents’ families, handicapped, poor families and others. Thus, this will expand category of students being served by The Harbor VTC. Please pray that everything will go smoothly. The center will open its doors the first week of September.

I also had my first English lesson with one of my former students Sasha. Sasha is a young man who was in the orphanage until sixteen years of age. Then his mother got her parental rights back and he left the state system. Now Sasha lives with his mom, sister and another brother. He is studying in a college and taking English courses. He has a big desire to come to America so that is one of his reasons why he is so committed to learn the language. Sasha realizes that he needs more practice and that is why we meet. He is a Christian, but not growing one so I always share the gospel and make sure that he is growing spiritually because that is very crucial for all of us. Please pray for him and most of all his spiritual growth and walk with the Lord.

Last Sunday I went to Calvary Chapel church and it was good. Pastor Boris is a very good preacher and he attracts a lot of young people. Another former student of mine Victoria came in and sat next to me. She was so thrilled to see me and she gave me a hug and kissed me in a cheek. We had a nice conversation and I found out that she has been going to this church ever since she has accepted the Lord on March 16, 2009. My heart was filled with praise and thanksgiving. She asked me when I could come to her house and spend time with her and her daughter Sasha who was my student as well. We agreed on Wednesday July 8th. I will share with you about that visit in my later blog. Please pray for Victoria and her daughter Sasha. Pray for their spiritual growth; walk with the Lord and reconciliation and forgiveness. Pray for Sasha's trip to five countries as part of her symphony orchestra.

Please come and visit my blog later for continuation of my journey in Russia. I appreciate your love, notes of encouragement and support. I covet your prayers greatly. Thank you that you are my friends, family, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Love and blessings,
Alex

P.S. Check out Yana B-Day party video. Hope you will enjoy watching it.

My new Russia summer journey

2009-07-03T03:16:00.002-04:00

Today was my first day in Russia. The White Nights season is a beautiful time to be here. St. Pete has many nicknames and one of them is the Venice on the North. I hope the name itself gives it away. Some of you might wonder what the White Nights are. Well, it is a period of time, which typically lasts for two months when the sun does not go down completely. Thus, it is more like dusk. St. Pete being the former capital of Russia for two hundred years during the tsar’s time has many beautiful palaces, theaters, and cathedrals. Walking at night and looking at different buildings has an amazing beauty. This is my favorite time in Russia.

How did my flight go? Well, it has gone safely, but not so smoothly. This time I had an amazing deal flying through Moscow, which saved me hundreds of dollars. However, in fourteen years traveling to the states I have never flown through Moscow. Before I left for Russia I called the American Airlines to confirm if I would have any problems with Russian Airlines because it has other rules compare to American or European airlines. They assured me that everything was going to be fine. I was still praying because I knew that nothing goes smoothly in Russia. My main concern was the amount of luggage I had and most of all the weight issue. Yet again I was assured that Russian Airlines will honor my flight and luggage allowance since it was international flight. My flight leg to Moscow went well. When I arrived to Moscow after going through Russian passport and customs, which went amazingly well I went to check for my St. Pete flight. As I was checking for my flight the airline representative told me, “Sir you have too much luggage and your weight limit is way over than what is permitted.” I explained to her that I was coming from America and Moscow was my connection and I was told that luggage allowance would be honored by Russian Airlines. Well, little did I know that it does not work that way. Everything is complicated in Russia. The representative told me that my luggage was over by 45 kilograms, which about 100 lbs. You see American airlines allow on international flight two suitcases each weighing 50 lbs; thus, two suitcases would be 100 lbs. plus you can take carryon. Well, Russian airlines have its own rules and you are allowed to take all together only 44 lbs. Thus, I was overweight by 60 lbs. They told me that I had to pay a fine and it was going to cost me about $75. I explained that I am a missionary and work with orphanages and my purpose of going to St. Pete is my ministry The Harbor. She told me that there is nothing she can do except calling the airline head representative and see if he could help me somehow. He came and we chatted for about half an hour. At the end of our conversation he thought of a plan even though at the beginning he told me that there is nothing he can do because these were the rules. Throughout our conversation I was praying and the Lord answered my prayers. Praise the Lord! Basically he checked my luggage as part of a group because most Russians traveling between St. Pete and Moscow do not check a luggage. I asked him what I should do with my carryon, which was a small suitcase according to American standard, but absolutely massive according to Russian. He first told me that I had to check that because it was too big, but his colleagues assured him that it was going to fit and there was no need to check. At the end of our conversation the airline representative wanted to see The Harbor papers, which I always carry with me and then he asked me a question, “What motivates American people to do charity?” I went to my gate and as I was going through security point the police officer stopped and told me that my carryon luggage was too big and too heavy. I explained to her that it was approved by the airline representative and she said I do not care because it is too big. Thus, I had to go back and request for official written approval so that I could go through security point. After an hour of this mess I finally made to my gate.

At 4 p.m. my airplane came and when I looked outside I realized that my jet was very old Soviet airplane. It was Tupolev-154. If you are interested you could Google this model. Basically this is very old model and even Russians say that thank the Lord it actually got off the ground. The luggage compartments on this airplane are very small and you cannot even fit your briefcase. Of course, my “small” suitcase was no way going to fit there. I had an emergency seat way back at the airplane next to lavatory. Boy, the smell was really bad and I thought I might need a respirator. The flight attendant said, “Sir you will have to wait until every passenger boards the airplane and hopefully there will be an empty seat where you could buckle your suitcase.” I waited and sure enough in the front there was an empty seat so I went there and my suitcase was right beside me. The flight itself to my surprise was fairly smooth, but stank really bad. They served tea/coffee with some kind of sandwich, which did not look so good to me so I did not eat anything. When we landed in St. Pete the seats that did not have any passengers folded by itself from vibration due to missing screws. I was smiling because I had never seen anything like it in my life.

I called one of The Harbor graduates who arranged airport pickup for me and a place to stay. I asked to make sure that the trunk in the car needed to be empty because I was brining two large suitcases. As usual I was assured that it will be done. Of course, I trusted Vicka. Well, I was dropped off in some strange place when I arrived to St. Pete so Vicka and her driver could not find me. I had to drag three suitcases half a mile to downstairs where Vicka was. The car was very small and his trunk was full of junk so we had to fit everything into a back seat plus my friend and I had to sit there. It was super tight to drive for two hours to my new apt. On our way the driver decided to stop and renew his car papers. I told Vicka that I need to get home and she said, “Alex this is Russia so have patience.” Boy, I was not happy to hear something like that, but I let it go. As a driver I was watching how our driver was driving and let me tell you it made my hair to stand up on the back of my neck. I was praying because I had no idea whether we were going to get to our final destination or somewhere else. Eventually we arrived to my apt. The landlord and real estate agent met us outside. After inspecting my apt. I realized that there was no phone, hot water and other things that are necessary for living. I was shocked because it was past 9 p.m. and what was I going to do. Well, they told me that there was another apt. so we went there. After inspecting that apt. which also did not have a phone and some other things, but at least there was hot water for the next three weeks. By then it was 10 p.m. so I said that I am going to stay here for now. I signed a contract and paid my fee. Once again little did I know that my rent fee was much higher than I was initially told. I was not a happy camper because it is a lot of money, but I had no choice because I was tired and had nowhere else to go.

This trip and different events have greatly challenged my faith and I was praying to God so that I would have peace in my heart. I was on the verge of emotional collapse. Typically I am a strong person and can handle a lot, but it was one thing after another that juiced me out. When everyone was gone I began to unpack my stuff and prayed with tears because I felt lonely and betrayed. He gave me peace and I was somewhat ok. Eugene my friend called at 11 p.m. and said that he was going to pick me up and bring me to his home. I went with him and his mom was very happy to see me. She fed me dinner at midnight and we had a nice chat. At 1 a.m. I went to bed after being on my feet for 29 hours. I am so glad that I came to Eugene’s home because I was able to calm down. I slept really well, but this morning July 2nd Eugene told me that I was snoring really loud. I must have been super exhausted. Hopefully I won’t snore again tonight especially because I am still up writing this blog and it is already past 2 a.m.
Today July 2nd I got up at 9 a.m. after 8 hours of sleep. I spent time with the Lord and it felt so much better. I was doing emails this morning and saw a note from Melinda, which said that Luba our director in Russia was in the hospital. I was very concerned and called The Harbor right away. I talked to Luba and she said that she was fine. It was a mistake. The person that Melinda was talking about was her former housekeeper and a family friend Luda. She was hospitalized due to heart problems. Please pray for her healing. I went to the bank to withdraw more funds so that I can pay real estate agent’s fee tomorrow. Then jetlag hit me around 2 p.m. so I went home and took nice three hour nap. This evening I met my friend Ed. We had a nice chat especially about reconnecting with some of our former classmates. I will share more news about that in my other blog.

Please stay tuned. Tomorrow July 3rd I am planning to visit The Harbor and do some other work and setup my meetings and other scheduled stuff. Your prayers will be greatly appreciated.

Blessings,
Alex

The Harbor video clip

2009-05-16T00:15:00.003-04:00

Please check out our short video. The lives are changing and transforming. Thank you to everyone who is praying and financially partnerning with us.

Blessings,

The Harbor & Alex

Exciting news-Praise the Lord

2009-05-11T21:14:00.002-04:00

Natasha accepted the Lord last night May 10, 2009. We praise and rejoice with the Lord!

Ezekiel 34:16, "I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shpherd the flock with justice."

We thank the Lord for every friend and partner of our ministry because you have allowed us to impact her life and in His time He beautifully brought his daughter back from darnkess and hopelesness.

Two others residents of ours Anya and Lesha are in the process of seeking Him. Please pray for Zena and Natasha who have accepted the Lord within one month. Pray for Anya and Lesha that in His time they will accept their Father and be restored.

Thank you!!!

Blessings & love,

The Harbor and Alex

Daughters Need Fathers, Too by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

2009-04-20T14:40:00.002-04:00

Daughters Need Fathers, Too by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

Psalm 144:12Let our...daughters [be] as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace.

We read a lot today of the problems that occur when boys grow up without male role models. But did you know that a father is just as important in helping girls understand their sexual identities?

Boys are not the only ones who lack a sense of how a man should behave. Many young girls don't know, either, because they aren't exposed to healthy male-female relationships.

How do you give your daughter a healthy perspective of male-female relationships?

The most influential way is by how you treat her mother. As she sees you loving your wife, giving preference to her, giving to her in a sacrificial way, she will learn how a man should treat a woman.

Second, your daughter needs to know you love her. She needs to be assured of your protection and your guidance. She will feel a greater sense of self-esteem if she is assured of your love. Hug her. Kiss her. Appropriately express affection for her even as she matures and goes through adolescence.

Another important way you influence your daughter is through your spiritual guidance. She should be shaped by Scripture and by prayer to be "corner pillars fashioned as for a palace."

Corner...like her role, designed by God to be supportive yet essential to holding a home together.

Pillars...because her inner strength is derived from a confidence and faith in God.

Fashioned...as you guide her to have a soft heart, willing to be led by God's Spirit.

For a palace...because her inner beauty attracts others to Jesus as much as it makes her willing to follow a godly man.

I pray the next generation of women will be pillars of love, faith and commitment to the husbands, families and the communities that need them. Maybe, with godly fathers involved, millions of little girls will develop into women who will, in turn, build godly families.

Duke's comments: Doctor Howard Hendericks from Dallas Theological Seminary challenged Wanda and I one day at luncy by asking me this question; "Who is going to teach your children how to date?" "Who will teach your daughters how a gentleman treats a woman?" After looking at the options of their school, their church, their friends, he told me that it was up to Wanda and I to take our children out on a date. My first daughter, Kerry, was asked to dress up, a flower was put on her dress and on my suit coat. She and I went on a date and I started by holding the car door for her, by opening that same car door when we got to the restaurant, by holding the chair at the table, by ordering her meal for her, by praying for her when thanking God for the food, and by reversing the order as we went home. My other daughter Jenny was also taken on a date to show her how a gentleman treats a woman. Wanda took our son Rob on a date but Rob would tell you that he learned more by watching how i treated his mother. How about your experiences? Let me hear from you.

Prayer: That God will give you the wisdom to know how to begin influencing your daughters to become "corner pillars fashioned as for a palace."

Soul of Russia

2009-04-13T19:23:00.003-04:00

While visiting my mom Punkin in FL, I saw the National Geographic magazine. There I found a very interesting article on Russia and the Orthodox Church. I realize this is a long article, but it is very interesting and educating. If you have time then I strongly encourage you to take your time to read it. I was an Orthodox believer for a long time, but for many reasons that this articles talks about I turned away from the Russian Orthodox.

Soul of Russia

Driven underground for 75 years, the faith of the Russian tsars now enjoys favored status.

By Serge Schmemann
Photograph by Gerd Ludwig
Retrieved from: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/orthodox/schmemann-text/1

The new Russia steadily ebbs away on the drive out of Moscow. The gridlock and pollution, the sprawling malls and billboards of the recent boom years give way to the gray suburbs and rusting factories of the Soviet era. These in turn fade into tall forests of pine and birch, punctuated by meadows and timeless villages of log houses. Now and again a whimsically painted steeple breaks the horizon, its gilded cupola glittering in the bright spring sun. We're back in the glubinka, the "deep" Russia beloved of Slavophiles, exiles, and painters. And we're headed for its very heart.

Our destination is Murom, among the most ancient of Russian cities. Arrayed on seven hills along the left bank of the Oka River, Murom was a proud sentinel on the eastern periphery of ancient Rus in medieval times, before the empire stretched on, leaving behind a poor provincial town rich in monasteries, memories, and myths. Soviet rulers tried to suppress many of these, and part of the story of Russia today is the effort to reconnect with the past. Out here, part of that past is also mine.

Four centuries ago, a pious young woman arrived here as the wife of a "husband of good birth and prosperous." Despite a life of extraordinary trials—a husband ever away at war, the birth of 13 children and the death of 8, the famines, plagues, invasions, and banditry of what history calls the Time of Troubles—Juliana Osorin remained steadfast in her charity and faith. After her death in 1604 she was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as St. Juliana of Lazarevo, after the village outside Murom where she lived. Her canonization was intended to persuade a people in panic and despair that holiness could be achieved in the home and family, not only through escape to a monastery. My mother, born Juliana Ossorguine, is her direct descendant and namesake.

I had been to Murom before, when Russia was emerging from another time of troubles. It was March 1992. The ice on the Oka was melting, and everywhere there was a sense of new beginnings. I had been the New York Times bureau chief in Moscow during the last years of the Soviet state, in the 1980s, and I was back to report on the collapse of communist rule and the rise of a new Russia.

It was a giddy and chaotic period, a time of confusion and great hopes—for democracy, economic freedom, and perhaps most of all, for spiritual revival. The Russian Orthodox Church was rising everywhere from the ashes of the Soviet era, and millions of Russians were rushing to be baptized. Most were only dimly aware of the religious significance of the sacrament but eager to reclaim a past and an identity that the communists had for 75 years worked to erase.

Thousands of ruined churches—including those the Soviets had used as warehouses, factories, or barns—were being restored to their original function, and eventually to their former splendor. The monumental Cathedral of Christ the Savior, destroyed on Stalin's orders in 1931, rose anew on the banks of the Moscow River. Believers who had gone underground during Soviet times emerged and began energetically establishing parishes, orphanages, halfway houses, and schools. Thousands of men were ordained to the priesthood and thousands more—men and women—took monastic vows, all yearning to recover a guiding faith.

For almost a thousand years the Orthodox Church, with its magnificent liturgy and iconography, had been an integral part of Russian identity and history. I was Russian enough to feel profoundly moved that the faith of my ancestors was coming alive again. At the same time, as a Western reporter, I wondered where this plunge into the past, often idealized and dimly perceived, could lead. Would the Orthodox Church become a potent force for reform, speaking truth to the Kremlin's power? Or would it resume the role it had played over centuries of tsarist rule and again become an ornament and tool of an authoritarian state?

These questions concerned not only the church; the future shape of Russia was at stake. As Russia scholar James H. Billington, now librarian of Congress, wrote a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union: "Whether the Orthodox Church can wrest itself from the state and become the conscience of the nation will be important in determining whether Russia can discover a new, democratic and civil culture or will return to a dark and threatening authoritarianism." Since then, the darker scenario has seemed to play out, with church leaders allying themselves with an aggressive, antidemocratic Kremlin. But as I returned to Murom last year, I wondered if something of St. Juliana's charity and piety lives on in the revived church.

I also had reason to think that an open and questioning spirit may have taken root among some believers. My father, the Reverend Alexander Schmemann, an Orthodox priest and theologian who, like my mother, was born of Russian émigrés, had been well-known among dissidents and intellectuals in the Soviet Union for his books and his broadcasts over Radio Liberty, which the U.S. government beamed behind the Iron Curtain. Both thoroughly Russian and proudly Western, he lived most of his life in the United States and dedicated much of it to stripping his faith of its ethnic crust and focusing on its universal message. In 2005 the diaries he kept from 1973 until his death in 1983 were published in Russia. To my astonishment, they became an instant sensation among many Russian believers and thinkers. Why, I wanted to learn, were the thoughts of a Western priest resonating so powerfully?

The Murom I return to is little changed. Some nightclubs, ATMs, service stations, and billboards, to be sure, but whatever wealth seeps out of Moscow seems to stop somewhere short of here. There's still no permanent bridge over the Oka, only a pontoon bridge in summer. The potholes are still treacherous, and the old wooden houses are weathered and listing. There is one dramatic change, however: The monasteries and churches on the high bluff above the river now gleam in restored grandeur.

Dating to the late 11th century, Spassky Monastery is one of the oldest in all of Russia. The army used it as a barracks until 1995, leaving behind a sad and stinking ruin. The Russian Orthodox Church assigned a dynamic priest, Father Kirill Epifanov, to resurrect the historic religious center. He began by building a bakery to sustain his handful of monks. Then, finding funds and labor where he could, he rebuilt the churches and restored the grounds. The results are stunning: Busloads of pilgrims arrive to marvel at the medieval splendor. The immaculate grounds include an aviary with peacocks, and the thriving bakery fills the air with the aroma of freshly baked bread.

Spassky is but one of hundreds of monasteries revived in the thaw that began with Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika in the late 1980s. In 1987 there were only three monasteries in Russia; today there are 478. Then there were just two seminaries; now there are 25. Most striking is the explosion of churches, from about 2,000 in Gorbachev's time to nearly 13,000 today. The Russian Orthodox Church has grown into a sprawling institution, with dozens of publishing houses and hundreds of thriving journals, newspapers, and websites.

When I meet him, Father Kirill has just returned from a pilgrimage to the Eastern Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos in Greece. A large man with a room-filling voice and a broad black beard, he distributes gifts to his monks like a loving but stern parent. Always on the move, with his cassock swirling around him, he seems the model leader the reviving church needs—a pastor and manager bristling with energy, enthusiasm, and faith. Yet over tea in his vaulted study, Father Kirill is subdued.

Raising money and restoring buildings is the easy part, he says. The pilgrims? Most are "religious tourists" who come to accumulate totems. Even the monks are here today, off to another monastery tomorrow. The church still has no real communal life, no true spiritual revival.

"The Soviet regime was the product of faithlessness, but at least it allowed real believers to live the flame of faith," he says. "Today we are more concerned with fighting sects and 'enemies' than with repentance. These forces are tearing the church from within."

Many of the people who rushed to be baptized in the first flush of freedom ended their religious involvement right there, he says. Other priests and believers voice similar laments about the decline of interest in the faith among the Russian rank and file, as well as the slide of the official church toward xenophobia and nationalism.

Figures on church attendance are sketchy, since the Russian Orthodox Church keeps no membership rolls or parish registers. According to Nikolai Mitrokhin, a historian and critic of the church, about 60 percent of Russians today identify themselves as Orthodox—they may be baptized, married, and buried in the church—but less than one percent actually enter a church at least once a month. Other sources put the figure closer to 10 percent. One reason for the sparse attendance may be that the Orthodox Church is not entirely friendly to people who are casual or clueless about its hallowed traditions—as I discover in Murom.

The relics of St. Juliana now repose in the bright yellow Church of St. Nicholas on the Embankment, perched precariously on a steep bluff. As I enter to pay my respects, two babies are being christened. The portly priest, sweaty and impatient with the young parents and godparents, shows less interest in making the rite understandable than in getting it over with.

"Come on, come on, undress them," he barks. "How can I put them in the water like this? Let him hold the candle. No! In the right hand! What are you doing?" The babies scream, the cameras flash, the parents fuss, and soon the baptisms draw to a close.

On the other side of the church, a middle-aged woman with a white kerchief tied fiercely around her head berates me for photographing the relics of St. Juliana. "Did the priest bless you to take photographs?" she demands. "Photographing without a blessing will only bring evil!"

I recognize her kind from my years in the Soviet Union. There were always women like her in the few churches that were open in those days, women who scrubbed the floors, tended the candlestands, and stood through all the services when Soviet disapproval had frightened off everyone else. In a sense, they nursed the church through its long incarceration. They were the custodians of propriety and custom: Stand like this! Face the altar! Cover your head! Cross yourself! They were insufferable, but the church owes them a great debt. So I do what other Russians do when confronted by these vigilantes: I meekly bow and put away my camera.

Obedience and ritual have ruled the Russian Church ever since the pivotal day in 988 when Prince Vladimir, ruler of Kievan Rus, ordered his people to be baptized in the Dnieper River. According to the legend familiar to every Russian, Vladimir had sent envoys abroad in search of a faith for his pagan nation. Those dispatched to Constantinople returned home awestruck by the Eastern Greek ritual they had witnessed in the Hagia Sophia, then the largest cathedral in the world. "We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth," they reported.

The religion imported by Prince Vladimir shaped the Russian nation and was, in turn, shaped by it. Orthodox monasteries became the spiritual, economic, cultural, and at times, defensive core of the nation. The churches that spread through Russia were awe-inspiring in their magnificence and immutable in their ritual. To this day the language of the church is an archaic but mellifluous Old Church Slavonic. Priests in their glittering vestments are separated from the congregation by an elaborate icon screen, and choirs sing most of the liturgy, often with hymns by Russia's greatest composers. For worshippers, the experience is as otherworldly as a Baptist service is direct and unadorned.

On my first visit to Murom, in 1992, I stood in wonder before the reliquary of St. Juliana, who was then ensconced in a just reopened cathedral. Alongside were the reliquaries of two 12th-century princes, St. Constantine of Murom and his son St. Michael. Constantine had come to what was then a hinterland to plant his religion and his rule. This was the ancient narrative of Russia: righteous warrior-princes who spread the Orthodox Kingdom, and tireless workers of the church who sustained it through times of crisis. Over the centuries Russians came to perceive themselves as a people with a unique spirituality and mission, as "Holy Russia."

The intimidating grandeur of Holy Russia was much in evidence at the Moscow residence of Patriarch Alexy II, the late leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. Hushed clerics in black cassocks referred only to "His Holiness." Huge oil canvases on the dark paneled walls depicted epic events in Russia's religious history. Acolytes instructed visitors where to stand when His Holiness entered the room.

But the patriarch entered with a smile and a hearty greeting (we had met several times in the early 1990s). He rang for tea and solicitously recommended the chocolates. Although he suffered from heart and respiratory problems that would prove fatal in less than a year, Alexy was still robust and active for a man of 79. "After my illness I officiate at services a bit less, but I still serve 150 times a year," he told me. Then, with a twinkle in his eye: "Doctors who measure my blood pressure say it's a bit high before a service, but always normal afterward."

Alexy presided over the Russian Orthodox Church from its rebirth in 1990 until his death in December 2008. His story is the story of the church and its struggle with the state. Born in Estonia in 1929 to a family of Russian émigré nobility, Alexy served as a priest and bishop for 40 years under a Soviet regime that reduced the church to a barely tolerated "cult" and compelled "servers of cult" to play a constant, humiliating game of collusion and deception. Alexy never denied that he cooperated with the state "organs," but he insisted that everything he did was to safeguard the essential functions of the church. "In the most difficult days of repression the church did not flee into the catacombs," he said. "It sustained the sacraments, the prayers."

Alexy made it his personal mission to identify the "new martyrs and confessors"—the victims of communist persecution who, in the eyes of the church, died for their Christian faith. He set aside the fourth Saturday after Easter for a special service to commemorate at least 20,000 "enemies of the Soviet state" who, at the height of the Great Purge of 1937-38, were shot and buried in mass graves just south of Moscow.

There I joined thousands of Muscovites as the patriarch, along with scores of bishops and hundreds of priests celebrated the Divine Liturgy. Some people pushed lit candles into the grassy mounds that now cover the trenches where the victims were felled and buried. A modest billboard displayed photographs of some who died here: a bearded monk, a tousled peasant, a Jewish woman, a student—their eyes either wide in horror or half-closed in surrender. A chart chronicled the numbers killed day-by-day, month-by-month. December 10, 1937: 243 executed. Total for the month: 2,376. May 28, 1938: 230. Total for the month: 1,346.

There has been some grumbling that the church has singled out its own for honor when so many others were killed. Indeed, the thousand bishops, priests, deacons, and nuns who died here lie alongside Bolsheviks, monarchists, Trotskyites, accused counterrevolutionaries, Jews, German communist refugees, kulaks, "social misfits," and even Moscow's Chinese launderers, all caught up in Stalin's orgy of death.

But Patriarch Alexy was resolved: "We are now returning to our history. We have to remember it." He talked as if those long dead were his brothers and sisters: "Can you imagine? Archimandrite Kronid, the last deputy abbot of the Trinity–St. Sergius Lavra, was 83! They brought him out on a stretcher and shot him!"

The hatred for clerics that burned among communist revolutionaries was fueled by a fact of history. For centuries the Russian Orthodox Church had served as a handmaiden of the tsars. The emperor was head of the church, and all awards, promotions, and appointments passed through the imperial court.

In 1990 Alexy became the first patriarch since the Russian Revolution to be elected without the direct interference of the government. "We have managed to establish an entirely new relationship with the state," he said, "one which never existed before." He insisted the church had no intention of becoming a state church, noting that he banned his clergy from elected office.

But critics argue that Alexy and other senior prelates have been all too happy to accept the trappings of a state church and have done little to resist the Kremlin's drift into authoritarianism. Although the Russian Constitution calls for the separation of church and state, Russia's three post-Soviet presidents—Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and Dmitry Medvedev—have made regular, well-publicized appearances in church, and Orthodox bishops and priests are fixtures at state functions.

This closeness has fed an impression abroad that the Orthodox Church has teamed up with the Kremlin to create a new Russian autocracy. Church officials deny this. They cite a host of differences and unresolved disputes between the church and the government, from control over religious antiquities to religious education. If the church and state are intertwined, they say, it is in a profound and complex search for a new, post-Soviet identity. In that search Russia's imperial history offers only a partial template, and the final result is far from certain.

Still, the Orthodox Church's favored status often works to the detriment of other denominations and faiths—especially those perceived, rightly or wrongly, as Western.

On the fringes of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Alexander Kirillov unlocks the gate to a large Baptist church that his community recently finished building. The authorities, the elder says, seized on a bureaucratic glitch—failure to submit an annual form—and shut down the association to which the church belongs. "We're at fault, of course. But they could just as easily have sent us a notice reminding us to file it." The real reason for the ban, he says, is that his church doesn't belong to the mainstream Baptist group sanctioned by the government.

"They're not used to the fact that there are denominations other than the 'official' ones, so they don't think we have the right to exist," Kirillov says. "The Orthodox Church is the dominant denomination, so of course they are represented in every sphere of authority. I watch the news: They open a new artillery institute, new entrants are arriving, and there's an Orthodox priest. Why?"

One reason traces back to the early post-Soviet years, when the euphoria of freedom gave way to disillusionment with the consumerism, corruption, and chaos that followed. Reactionaries in the government and the church accused the West of deliberately humiliating Russia, fueling suspicion of denominations and groups with ties to liberal democracies. In right-wing circles, the call went out for Holy Russia to return to her roots.

Some astoundingly dark and retrograde notions openly circulate in reactionary churches and on nationalist websites. One is a drive to canonize Rasputin and Ivan the Terrible, two of the more noxious characters of Russian history who have been reinvented by extremists as "defenders of Holy Russia."

Outside St. Petersburg, the decaying summer palaces of old Russia's tsars and grand dukes overlook the Gulf of Finland. Behind the ruins of one such palace stands a tiny, half-restored chapel. Inside I come face-to-face with a spectacle that makes me gasp—a large icon of Joseph Stalin. He's not wearing the halo of a saint, but a saint is blessing him.

The icon depicts a legend in which Stalin, at the outbreak of World War II, secretly visits St. Matryona of Moscow, a blind and paralyzed woman to whom many people came for spiritual guidance until her death in 1952. According to the legend she counseled the Soviet dictator not to flee Moscow before the invading German Army, but to stand firm against the onslaught.

The chapel's pastor, Evstafy Zhakov, is a fiery nationalist highly regarded by his flock for his charismatic sermons. In an interview with the right-wing newspaper Zavtra, he defended the icon by explaining that Russia has a long tradition of saints blessing warriors before battle.

"But Stalin was an atheist," the interviewer interjected.

"How do you know?" Father Evstafy retorted. Two wartime patriarchs proclaimed Stalin a believer, "and I will believe them before I believe all these liberals and democrats."

While in some dark corners of the church priests such as Father Evstafy recast mass murderers as champions of Holy Russia, many mainstream pastors pursue a more enlightened agenda: rehabilitating drug abusers, rescuing neglected children, and extending Christ's forgiveness to criminals.

In a brightly lit foster home in St. Petersburg, four-year-old Nikita shows me his toys and proudly tells me that his mama will soon give him a gift. He doesn't yet understand that he has just been placed in this home because his mother is a drug addict—a fast-growing blight in Russia—and she can no longer care for him.

Father Alexander Stepanov has been caring for castoffs ever since he left a job in physics to join the priesthood some 20 years ago. "I was ordained right into prison," he quips, recalling how he started his ministry by discussing the Bible with inmates. "I had no idea about that world of gold teeth and tattoos."

All private humanitarian work had been strictly banned in the Soviet Union—social problems don't exist in a workers' paradise—but after the collapse of communism, Father Alexander found no shortage of people willing to plunge in, and Western churches were quick to offer help. Today, working out of two restored buildings on St. Petersburg's waterfront, Father Alexander oversees a parish church, a foster home, an orphanage, a halfway house for teenagers in trouble, and a corps of volunteers who visit hospitals and prisons. He also has a radio station in the attic, and the offices of a summer camp in the basement. No space is wasted, and no time—his cell phone rings (to the tone of church bells) repeatedly.

Many churches now have some form of outreach, and there are plenty of volunteers, Father Alexander says. But the government is jealously seeking to reclaim its monopoly on social work. "The government doesn't want to support the social initiatives of the church," he says sadly. "It forces us to beg for scraps."

In offering little or no resistance to the "dark and threatening authoritarianism" James H. Billington warned of 15 years ago, the church has failed a crucial test. Yet no one who has witnessed the enormous love and labor that has gone into restoring churches and reviving charitable work can doubt that something good and promising has also awakened in Russia.

As I walk through an orphanage in St. Petersburg or a restored monastery in Murom, I am amazed at the mere fact that a religion so ruthlessly repressed for so long has been born anew. And I begin to understand why my father's diaries have had such resonance among many Russians. The journal he kept for the last ten years of his life was a voyage through the ideas, books, discoveries, struggles, and joys of an Orthodox believer and priest. He endured many of the same frustrations and sorrows Russians have known in this latest time of troubles, yet however tough the battle—even his final battle with cancer—he, like St. Juliana, accepted them as the norm of a Christian life. That was the heart of it: In this Western priest's daily life and thought, the Russians found an affirmation that their own doubts and frustrations and confusion were not wrong, that they were, in fact, normal, as long as they remained steadfast in faith and charity.

It's Sunday morning in Murom, and I wake early to the tolling of church bells. Pilgrims are gathering in the monastery, but Father Kirill's kindly housekeeper offers to drive me to Lazarevo, St. Juliana's village. The old church where she worshipped has finally been reopened.

We drive past abandoned Soviet military factories to a muddy cluster of wooden houses around the large, battered church, still undergoing restoration. Piles of bricks and bags of cement are stacked by the walls, and the door is reached over a bridge of wobbly boards. Inside, a modest icon screen has been set up at one side altar; on the other side rests an icon of Juliana.

Two dozen local people, most of them women, gather for the Sunday liturgy. There is no fuss, no politics, no soul-searching, just a quiet appeal to a modest woman who lived, prayed, and suffered here, much as they have: "O blessed one, intercede also for the Russian land, and for all who are in dispersion, that they may receive peace and prosperity, and all the more return to thine ancient piety. …"

Serge Schmemann is the author of Echoes of a Native Land: Two Centuries of a Russian Village. Gerd Ludwig frequently covers Russia for the Geographic.

Forty percent of Russians die before ER teams arrive

2009-04-11T00:36:00.001-04:00

10.04.2009 - Source: Pravda.Ru

Forty percent of Russians, who had to use the Emergency Medical Service over heart or blood pressure problems, died of infarction and strokes during the first 15 minutes after they dialed the number of the service, i.e. before ER doctors arrived. Up to 60 percent of such patients die on the way to hospitals.

British ER services follow special rules to prevent such lethal outcomes. An emergency team has only eight minutes to reach a person in critical condition. The time limit is extended to 15 minutes to less critical incidents.

The Russian Emergency Medical Service accepts up to 30,000 calls from patients suffering a hypertensive crisis, up to 25,000 from those having an infarction, up to 8,000 – from stroke patients and up to 2,500 – from patients suffering heart arrhythmia.

First day death demonstrates the quality of the work of ambulance crews. The emergent medical aid can be inefficient due to the absence of universal standards for the provision of pre-hospital emergency aid, the shortage of qualified personnel, the use of outdated medications and the lack of funding, topnews.ru reports.

The supply of medicines to ER stations in Russia needs to be revised too. Many medications, which the service traditionally uses, became outdated long ago. The situation is traditionally fine in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Other cities and towns of the Russian Federation (with a few exceptions) experience serious difficulties at this point.

Final entry "Russian Journey"

2009-03-31T06:46:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I just do not know where to begin because so much is happening in such short period of time. I cannot believe that it has been almost four months since I have arrived to Russia. My time in Russia has been happy, sad, exciting, challenging, fruitful, productive and disappointing in some way. I am sure you might be wondering is it really possible to have all these things in one and I would probably say yes. I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father that He has brought me back after four plus years of not being able to be here.

Before I came to Russia I had a list of things that I was going to do, which were prioritized. As my time nearing the end now I can slowly begin to reflect on my trip. I am sure most of us realize that we can plan all we want, but the Lord is the one who will make everything happen. Thus, this trip was not an exception. Some things in my list came through and I am very happy. Other did not work and for some the time was not right. My overall reflection concerning my trip is very positive and I wish to share more once I return to America on April 3rd.

About three weeks ago I went to the orphanage #19 to see Yura. He is a young boy who was going to be adopted by a friend of mine in TX. According to the Russian law there has to be sixteen years difference between parent and a child. Unfortunately my friend is six months shy of meeting the criteria and due to that the government denied her adoption request. It is very sad and now Yura will stay in the Russian orphanage state system until he turns eighteen years old. For awhile he begged me to bring him a happy meal from McDonald’s and since the orphanage did not allow me to take Yura outside of the orphanage premises I end up brining golden arches food to him. He was thrilled because most orphans do not get to eat something like that. Even though it is not the healthiest food to consume, but it brings joy to an orphan. I realize how richly I am blessed so I want to pass on those blessings that are deprived of them. This is what the Word is teaching us to do. When I see orphans happy and joyful it makes me happy and joyful also. When I presented Yura a happy meal he carefully inspected it and then began to eat it one by one. Other orphans were looking at him and quietly wished they had one also. I knew that orphans do not get sweets often so I bought a huge cake and some juice. Yura was such a nice boy so he shared some of his food. He ate his chicken nuggets without a sauce. Then I asked him what he was going to do with the sauce and he said eat it. I was wondering how he was going to do that. Well, he pulled out a piece of bread and spread sweet and sour sauce on the bread and ate it with great appetite. I guess after eating cheeseburger, Mac chicken, chicken nuggets, fries, coke the boy was still hungry and this was after he ate his lunch in the orphanage. His appetite reminded me my time in the orphanage. Frequently the food was so poor and low calorie so that you would always be hungry & that is why Yura ate his happy meal and was ready for the cake. It seemed as if this boy was not fed for a long time, but for many orphans that is very common. I bought some juice for the cake time, but the caretaker asked me if I could run to the store to buy some tea and sugar so I did. They were so thankful and served me some coffee with milk. They hammered their cake so quickly and then we talked about their day to day life. Some kids played computer games and other stayed with me. As I walked around the place where kids live I noticed that one bedroom had a corner with tons of icons. I was amazed at how many icons were there. I noticed that in four plus years while I have been gone more Russians have gone back to Orthodox traditions especially having icons everywhere. The Orthodox Church is trying to be more active in some cases and in non active in other. The biggest difference you will find today when it comes to serving in the orphanages as a missionary is that you are not allowed to talk about God anymore whereas ten years ago it was the opposite. The spiritual revival happened between 1992 through 1997 and then as we got further the less active it has become. Nowadays orphanages are forbidden to allow any visitors to speak about God, but if during the visit kids ask you about God then you can share, but not preach to them.

Last time when I visited Yura’s orphanage he was making a comment like hell is better than heaven. He said that he wanted to go to hell because it is so much better there. The lake of fire sounds pretty cool and awesome to him. I was very disturbed by his comment so we had a chat. I do not know whether he really listened to me, but the seed was planted. Please pray for Yura and his well being and spiritual growth.

I had to pause in writing this blog entry because I had visitors from America and my schedule was pretty full. Now I am on the train heading to Moscow for two days and decided to finish writing this blog. This is going to be my last blog before I return to my American home.

One of the visitors I had was my American spiritual mom Sue Gregg. This was her twelfth trip to Russia in fifteen years. She was not sure if she was ever going to come back to Russia, but when she learned that I was going to Russia for four months she decided to come for two weeks. She arrived on February 27th and stayed at my rental apartment. While she was in St. Pete she visited many of her friends whom she has known for a long time. The first time Sue came to Russia was through The Navigators invitation in 1994. She led many nutritious, healthy cooking and eating seminars. There she met many wonderful Russian people with whom she has kept in touch. This time Sue did not teach any classes so it was just leisure. I am sure most of us would like to hop on the airplane to one of the most beautiful cities in the world and have a great time. Well, if you have never had such opportunity I would strongly recommend you to do that. I know that you are going to love it. The best time to come is between May-July during the White Nights season. Mama Sue had a plan to visit The Harbor and meet our residents. In addition, she planned to meet with our graduate girls whom she has known for over four years. Her visit to The Harbor girl’s apt. was not the most exciting time because for some reason the girls were shy and quite. However, on our way to the metro one of our girls walked with us and briefly shared her story about how she end up at The Harbor and how someone invited her to come to 21st century church. The reason why I am mentioning this church because I was planning to come there also. Zeena and I end up going there the same Sunday and this was her first time at an Evangelical church. The sermon that day was not the best one, but the most exciting one because Zeena accepted the Lord. I had the tears of joy because she has given her life to her Heavenly Father. Since then I have been asking her whether she feels different and once she said yes. She actually made a very interesting comment. In the past she did not care that much about the Bible whereas now she does because she realizes that it is written to her and she has to live according to it. Please pray for Zeena and her spiritual growth.

I also would like to share one of the stories while Mama Sue was in Russia. On the last day of her visited we got together with our graduate girls who have been on their own for the last four years. Sue has met them before, but this time it was different because they are graduates now whereas before they were residents. We invited seven girls and most of them came except for Masha. Our meeting was at Pizza Hut. During our get together we asked them how they were doing spiritually and it is amazing because out of six girls four are Christians. In addition, we asked them what they were doing because this would help us to see whether they are successful or not upon graduating from The Harbor. Some of the girls are still studying or finishing their higher education and others were working. The most exciting thing is that some of them are involved in some kind of a ministry in giving back, which is awesome and my heart rejoices. At the end of our fellowship the waitress brought a bill and Mama Sue and I decided to cover the bill. While we were waiting for the credit card transaction to go through a thought came to my mind where I told the girls this, “let’s three of you cover the tip and the other three donate funds to The Harbor as a thank you for what the ministry has done for them.” The amount was not mentioned so it was up to them how much they wanted to give. It was interesting to observe their reactions because some of them donated with great desire and enthusiasm whereas others were contemplating. At the end the girls donated just as much as Mama Sue and I paid for the bill. I just love this because we received just from three girls a gift of love to the least of these with joy and happiness instead of spending it on food. I find this example as a great way of teaching orphans how to give back. Please continue to pray for Nastya, Anastasia, Vicka, Lena, Oxana & Ira. Especially pray for Oxana and Nastya because they do not know the Lord yet as their personal Savior.

When Mama Sue went back to the states the very next day Ben came. Ben is my American brother from OH. The purpose of his trip to Russia was to take professional photos. He was in Russia for five days and it was intense days because we went from place to place. This was his first time not only in Russia, but the first time ever outside of the United States. During his visit we visited all of our residential and nonresidential apartments. He loved spending time with our residents and graduates. While he was in Russia we moved our vocational training center to a different and bigger location. Ben helped us move and that was huge. At the end of our move Ben invited some of our resident guys, Ira, Tatiana and Vadim to Pizza Hut. I am sure you might be thinking by now that there are no other places to eat except at Pizza Hut. Well, that is not true, but sometime we go for the convenience and Pizza Hut was the closest that day. Anyway this was such wonderful time and Ben said that he will treasure that the most. I took Ben to the airport at 4 a.m. Unfortunately he could not fly through Europe so he end up going first to Moscow national airport and then he had to transfer to international terminal. I knew that this is a bad route, but had no choice because there were no tickets. Before I put Ben on the airplane I asked an airline representative at the ticket counter if she could tell me an easier way for Ben to transfer from one terminal into another. Her reply was, “I have not been to Moscow for fifteen years I do not know.” Hmmm. I found out that Ben can ask an agent that helps with transfers, but I guess it did not work very well for him because he wrote me once he got home saying that Moscow was a zoo. The bottom line is this try to avoid flying through Moscow back home if you can because it is a mess. I thank the Lord that Ben has safely gotten home.

After Ben went home another friend Annette from TX and her friend Dustin from Alabama came. Both of them have been to Russia four times prior to this trip. Dustin came to see The Harbor because he is coming back in the fall to minister as a volunteer to our boys. We visited orphanages #18 and 51. At the orphanage #18 we had a tea time with the cake that we bought at a store and Nastya made one also. The kids were thrilled to have some guests especially because they are on a spring break. We played some games and took plenty of pictures. Annette brought bubble booger mask and it was a hit especially with the girls. At the orphanage #51 we played games with the first graders. At first the kids were quiet and shy especially because they just got up after the nap. We played twister and face up. The kids were struggling big time playing twister, but enjoyed face up card game a lot especially chocolate prize. Once the chocolate caffeine kicked in the kids got active and we were running around and doing gymnastic moves. It was so much fun. One girl Masha got so excited and she was constantly pulling my sweater sleeve. She pulled it so hard and ripped my sweater. Unfortunately we had to go, but I could tell they wished we could stay longer. Our final visit was to The Harbor along with another volunteer Tina from Norway. She is teaching English a group of former orphans from the orphanage #6. We had an awesome fellowship and the girls really enjoyed meeting with Tina and Annette. Actually they had a lot of questions to Tina and I think it is partially because she is from Norway and not from Russia or America.

Annette left on Sunday morning and I went to Moscow on Saturday night. The purpose of going to Moscow was to meet an American missionary David who works with orphans in Kaluga a Moscow region. David and his church would like to start a model like The Harbor in Kaluga. I went by train which takes about 8 hours. It was a nice train. In my coupe (compartment) I had three other people. One lady was from Irkutsk who has been on a shopping tour in Europe. She visited her friends in St. Pete and was heading home via Moscow. The lady had two huge suitcases. Her friends in St. Pete tried to squeeze massive suitcases into a tiny space. Unfortunately the bunk was not closing so she had to unload some stuff from her bags. It was crazy and another lady in the coupe was constantly mumbling something. We finally were settled in and have safely arrived to Moscow. In the morning I helped lady to take her stuff out of the train. David met me at the train station. We took a metro to his car about forty-minute ride. Then we drove for another two and half hours to Kaluga. I spoke at his Pentecostal church. It is a small church, but very active. Pastor Dima became a widower at a very young age with two little children. He has a great passion to minister to people who are in trouble so his church has started ministries such as rehab center for drug addicts, social center for homeless and would like to start social center for the “graduate” orphans in Kaluga. This church has about thirty or forty people. Not big, but very active and it was amazing to see that. I spoke for over an hour sharing my life story, The Harbor and sharing the Word. They were very attentive and receptive audience. Many people were deeply moved and motivated to do something for the least of these as the Word calls us to do. One lady came to Pastor Dima and said, “I have three grown up girls and now I want to become a role model to someone who does not have a mom.” My heart was beating really fast because it was so exciting. At the end of the service a gentleman came to me and wanted to talk about some points that I shared from the Word concerning finance. He is a businessman and did not quite agree with my point. I tried to have a conversation with him so that I could explain what I meant, but he was not willing to listen because he likes to talk, but not listen. Pastor Dima invited David, me and others to sauna afterwards and I told them that I do not like sauna. He was so nice and cancelled that trip and we went to a café. There we had some lunch & discussed how to start The Harbor in Kaluga. The lunch was not enough so we went to a coffee shop. There I sat next to Sergey a young man who was a drug addict. He also was in prison for different crimes that he did due to drugs. He accepted the Lord while he was in prison. Now he leads the rehab center for drug addicts. I find his testimony very powerful and most of all he is making the difference in the lives of other drug addicts. Currently the center has 8 full-time drug addicts and Sergey has recruited two mentors who were drug addicts also. God is really at work in Kaluga. On Sunday evening we had a special youth group gathering. Normally they meet on Thursday nights, but because I was in town they did a special gathering. Their youth group has about thirty youngsters and half of them are former orphans that the church has been ministering to for awhile. About half of the group showed up. Some guests were there also. The meeting went really well. Actually there were some unbelievers and they were deeply moved. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to stir up the hearts of every person that was there especially those who do not know the Lord as their personal Savior.

One of the most exciting moments during our evening was when we discussed various questions about forgiveness, inner healing and living according to the Word. At the end of our meeting a gentleman came to me and said that his name was Dima and he used to work for the State Duma in Moscow. He was PR Director for one of the deputies (ministers). Furthermore, Dima knows a lot of government officials in the city of Kaluga and he wanted me to meet with them so that we can discuss starting a model like The Harbor in their city. I agreed to do that because it is important to have government moral support when it comes to helping the least of these. They might not necessarily fund you, but if they support what you are doing morally that is huge. On Monday morning (March 30th) I went to the White House and met with the head of the social welfare department. He was a very nice man and invested quite a bit of his time. He even moved his staff meeting by fifteen minutes which is amazing. He asked me how he can assist to start up the program for “graduate” orphans and I told him that we need their moral support. He then said that I need to go to the Ministry and talk to the head who oversees social welfare and protection for the city of Kaluga. He actually called her and setup an appointment for us. We left the White House and went to the Ministry. There Antonina met us and we had a lovely conversation. She has been working at the Ministry for only a year, but prior to that she worked in the local government office. Since she has been working at the Ministry for a short time she is interested to learn as much as possible about different programs that are making the difference in the lives of “graduate” orphans. She was very optimistic and excited. She shook my hand and said I am supporting your cause. Then she said that it has been her vision and passion to help every orphan in Kaluga which has 9 orphanages. As a result she started her own charitable organization, but since she was alone in her cause the organization was not active. Pastor Dima was with us also so he said that his church congregation is willing to step in and she was a bit hesitant about non Orthodox Church being involved. However, this doubt or hesitance was taken care of very quickly. Then Antonina said something that caught my attention. She said, “I want to save every orphan in Kaluga.” I told her that I greatly support that, but it is not possible to save every orphan. In addition, we must focus on the quality versus quantity to really stop the vicious cycle of destruction. Yes, my heart goes out for every orphan around the world and that is why I pray for them daily. She could not disagree with this and she did not. Then we went to the Ministry of Education and Science and met with Evgeniy the first assistant. We met with him really fast because he had staff meeting, but our meeting was also very positive. Then we went back to the White House and met with the deputy Vechaslav. Our meeting was during the lunch break so we ate lunch at the White House. I was shocked how cheap things were because I have not seen such low prices since early 90’s. In the beginning our conversation was somewhat dry and he almost tried to disagree with what I was saying. Then he kind of warmed up especially as we were leaving. We talked about religion and he expressed a concern that I was not Orthodox and my reply to his concern was the following. Denomination should not play any role here whatsoever. We believe in one God and bring glory to Him by doing good deeds as He has called us to show our faith. Focusing too much on what denomination you represent tends to occupy our mind that does not allow us to effectively serve those who He has called us to serve. The deputy was so intrigued by it and said, “I hope this is not our last meeting”, gave me his business card. Basically I had quite a day yesterday that was very productive. Please pray for the future development among the government officials that I met and Pastor Dima’s church.

I got back to St. Pete this morning (March 31st) and have two more days before I leave for America. I will write more later when I return. I apologize for this entry blog being so long. If you do not have time then you can either break it either into two pieces or do not read at all.
I look forward to seeing you all and catching up with as many of you as possible while I am in the states before I return to Russia in July for month and a half.

Blessings and love in the Lord,
The Harbor & Alex

A lot is happening - check it out

2009-03-03T07:26:00.004-05:00

Since January I wanted to visit Arthur. Who is an orphan and lives in Kingisepp. Kingisepp is a town about three-hour drive West of St. Pete toward Estonia. Arthur has two other brothers George who is nineteen years old. He is a “graduate” and now lives in St. Pete and attends a technical college. His other brother was adopted and lives in America. In addition, Arthur has a sister who is the youngest in the family and she is special needs child and resides in the orphanage also. The biological mom has a brother whose name is Igor. He was also in the orphanage where Arthur is right now. Igor is twenty-one years old. He is studying welding at a technical college and works in the evenings. I do not know whether he visits his nephew Arthur or not, but they do keep in touch at least.

Arthur's orphanage

I arranged this trip ahead of time. I called the orphanage director Nina and we arranged day and time for my visit. I asked her to notify Arthur to make sure that he would be in the orphanage. I called the night before to confirm out trip and it was a go. I asked Eugene to drive me out to Kingisepp because I did not want to take public transportation because it would take a long time and as you know my time is limited. I came to Eugene’s home around noon. We ate lunch and got on the road around 1 p.m. It took us about three hours to get to Kingisepp. The first two hours went well. On our way we stopped by Okay store and bought tons of chocolate candies and a cake.

You see Kingisepp is out in the country so the road for the last hour drive was horrible. There were so many holes and they were so big and wide that we were not sure if we would leave the bottom of our car behind somewhere. Eugene felt bad for his Audi 3 car and I was praying that he would not get too angry with me for asking to drive me to Kingisepp because the road was so bad. We finally arrived to our destination. The first thing I noticed that this was dark and rundown building just as I have anticipated. This shows the biggest difference between orphanages in the city of St. Pete or outside in the suburbs. As I mentioned in my previous entries that the city government is trying to do whatever it takes to improve the quality of orphanages and minimize them as much as possible whereas orphanages in the suburbs have been disserted and forgotten. Frequently people say, “If you want to see real Russia never come to St. Pete or Moscow.” Sometimes it is enough to drive only three hours outside of the city to see a different picture.

Arthur is in the middle wearing a gray shirt

I meant to take a picture of the building, but forgot. I wish I could show it to ya, but it is not possible, but I did take a picture of their plaque on the building. I took some pictures inside and will share them with you. On our way to the orphanage I called Nina the director to notify that we were running late. She said “it is ok and if she was not there then talk to her assistant Olga.” I was not happy that she said she might not be there because I wanted to talk to her about Arthur and potential partnership with The Harbor in the future. Sure enough when we arrived Nina was not there. We found Olga and she greeted us ok and took to Arthur’s group. Then she said that he is not in the orphanage. I was shocked and asked her what she meant by it. She said, “His caregiver let him go with his friend to wonder on the streets of Kingisepp.” I was speechless and asked her has Nina told them that I was coming from St. Pete and Olga replied, “Yes, but only at 2:45 p.m.” and we arrived at 4 p.m. Thus, it tells me that Nina did not notify anyone. She simply forgot or just did not care. Then Olga said that Uncle Igor was going to come because supposedly someone talked to him about my visit. Well, Uncle Igor was not there either. Olga tried calling him, but his cell phone was off.

Arthur lived on the streets for a long time with his brother George. When they were rescued they were placed in this orphanage. George was in this orphanage for a fairly short time because he had problems with orphanage and city authorities so he was transferred into specialized institution like a juvenile detention. He was there for three years and Arthur stayed in this orphanage. Now Arthur lives in a group with ninth and tenth graders, but he is actually in the seventh grade. I found out that this orphanage is actually a norm so that was some good news.

Here is a strange thing. When Olga took us to Arthur’s group and then his bedroom she asked us to sit there while she was trying to get hold of Uncle Igor and Arthur. The room had four beds, a closet and TV. It turns out that this orphanage does not have play room so each bedroom has TV. While we were sitting in the room a boy came in. He was surprised to see us. He asked Eugene who we were and he said “we came to visit Arthur and were told that this was his bedroom.” Well, the boy said this is not his room. He was telling Eugene something else, but Olga told him to be quiet. Another shock to me was why Olga told us this was Arthur’s room and told a boy to be quiet. It was almost as if they were hiding something. I was furious and called Nina to find out why Arthur was not notified. Nina said, “I am a busy woman and I cannot control every orphan. I could not sit and wait for you. I had to leave early “1 p.m.” because my daughter came to visit me.” Very strange!!! Meanwhile Olga is telling me something different so the stories were not matching up. This story and situation is getting even stranger. By now I do not know what to think or do.

Arthur’s room had only two beds and one was not much of a bed because his roommate moved to another room. Turns out that Arthur does not have a cell phone and his friend did not have it either; thus, there was no way for them to contact him. They asked me if I could sit and wait until 7 p.m. or spend the night in Kingisepp. I was like what??? I said, “I am sorry, but I cannot.” I end up talking to Olga for a few minutes trying to find out some information about Arthur, but it seemed as if she did not know much. There was a young boy Zhenya seven years old who saw the cake and candies. He asked, “Is that all for me.” I said, “It is for your group so you can enjoy it tonight.” He did not want to share with others and could barely resist from not sneaking a bag of candies. He even wrote his name on one of the bags.

Arthur's bedroom: small and simple

Around 5 p.m. we left the orphanage. Before we left I gave them my cell phone number so that Arthur and Uncle Igor could call me at their earliest convenience. I did not leave clothes that I bought for Arthur because I knew it was not going to reach him. On our way back we stopped by Payateroshka grocery store and bought some food for the road.

We have been on the road for about an hour. We were following a guy who was driving slowly so Eugene passed him and as he did that he realized the highway patrol was ahead of him. The police office opened his door as he was driving trying to stop Eugene. We were so bummed and did not know what to do. I began to pray because I knew how corrupt Russian highway patrol is so we needed a miracle to get out of this situation. The police officer told Eugene that there was “do not pass” sign ten miles ago. Of course, Eugene did not see the sign so he had no idea. Eugene said, “Is there a quick way to get out of this situation? Can I pay you 200 rubles ($6) and you let us go.” The officer said, “Only judge can make that decision.” Eugene then said, “Well, you are not a judge so I am sure we can think of something.” Sure enough the officer said, “No, I am not a judge and we can.” He asked Eugene to get out of the car and follow him into police car. While they talked I prayed because officers in Russia could be very intimidating especially younger ones. Eugene returned about five minutes later and said, “The officer was stubborn and threatened to take away his driver license.” I realized we were in deep trouble and if we could not think of something then we would be stranded in the forest. Eugene made some phone calls to his friends asking for their advice and all of them said you need to give a bigger bribe because the office threatened to take license away and that is huge. Long story short Eugene end up paying $170 and he was let go. The officer also told Eugene that he had a plan for the day. His boss told him to make certain amount of $$$ and terminate 2 drivers license. Since it was late in the evening and he made his $$$ so he needed termination of two driver’s license. Unfortunately this story shows how corrupt our system is and not many people try to fight it. The interesting moment was when Eugene asked me what I would do in such situation especially because he knows that I am against paying bribes. The bottom line my answer was that there are consequences for bad actions even if the officer was overusing his authority, which is very common in Russia. We have safely arrived to St. Pete. On the way Eugene stopped to show his family dacha that they are building.

On Sunday I went to All Nations Church. Valya who was in my orphanage goes there with three girls from the orphanage #51. Sasha the barber goes there also, but not every Sunday because he works every two days. In addition, Yura who is one of The Harbor’s graduate goes to this church also. Thus, as you can see there are a lot of orphans go to this church. All Nations Church is very charismatic and their praise and worship is quite a hip hop time. They dance, jump and sing very loud. I even wondered if we were going to fall through seventeen floors. The church is renting a space in the hotel on the eighteenth floor. It was a special service because ladies prepared a power point about Our Man and that was good. They also did a special song. They did this because this week Russia celebrated the Defender’s Day (Men’s Day).

A few days ago The Harbor celebrated the Defender’s Day. I was invited to join this celebration. First we went to the mall and played Laser Tag. The last time I played this game was about six years ago. This was just for guys so our resident and graduate boys came along with our male stuff. Tatiana and Natasha were there also, but they did not play. Our team was red and we played against green team from China. They were Russian-Chinese. Each team had thirteen players. We played two sessions fifteen minutes each. The boys had a blast. The first session we won, but the second session they did. Then we played Air Hockey and that was something. Vadim our mentor and I played and he won, but only because he cheated so much. Then I told him that we need to have a rematch so we did and then I did lose. Dima our graduate wanted to play Air Hockey with me also so we did. It was amazing and I was laughing so much that my cheeks and jaw were hurting. Playing these games has reminded me what it is like to be twenty again. At the end of our games we went to our girls’ apt. The girls were expecting us along with Natasha our psychologist, Tatiana our assistant director and Luba our director. Natasha loves to host different party events so she thought of many activities for that night. The first thing we had to do was to divide into two groups. Then we had to march and sing a song like in the military. Then we had to peel a potato without breaking a skin and passing it along. Unfortunately we lost. Then we had to choose two girls for each team and in our team we had Eva she is Vadim and Ecka’s daughter who is four years old and Natasha one of our residents. Each guy had to give five compliments to a girl standing on his knee. I went first and took Eva’s hand and told her beautiful compliments. Well, she did not get them and almost start crying. She was so lost because she had no idea why this guy is telling her these things. Ecka was sitting close by and she told Eva that it is ok so she relaxed a bit. I wish you could see Eva’s face- poor girl. Dima gave five compliments to Natasha and he said something that made everyone laugh because you would never consider this as a compliment. Thank goodness Natasha was laughing also otherwise it could have been ugly. The most creative person we had was another Dima one of our residents who simply took a painting off the wall and began to tell Zeena how beautiful she is as the flowers were on the painting. He did a fabulous job and she was touched and began to blossom like a rose. Our last game before we had a feast was to show how good of a daddy we could be. One person had to wrap a baby in a cloth and tell him/her how precious he/she was. The other person had to pick up the baby off the chair, smell, say, “Boy you are ripe” and take off the cloth. This was timed and it was hilarious. Everyone was laughing. Moments like this definitely unite people and bring them closer. We then had a feast. Our ladies prepared chicken, fish, rice, Greek salad, and a dessert. It was yummy. Thank you ladies!!! Our evening was closed by another game. This was quite an amazing day for our girls and we are grateful to all of you who make holidays and moments like this possible.

For years orphans were forgotten. No one cared for them as an individual. Through events like the Defender’s Day you communicate to a young man or woman that I care for you and accept you the way you are no matter what.

Last week my Mama Sue (Sue Gregg) arrived to Russia. She has been coming to Russia for the past fifteen years. This is her eleventh trip and more likely will be the last one because of her age, energy and the cost. She is visiting many of her friends & in addition The Harbor. Last week I took Mama Sue to our Vocational Training Center. She has never been there so she got to experience our morning Saturday class. Unfortunately that morning not all of our participants from the orphanage #14 came so it was Masha, Sergey, Sue and I who were on the kitchen which is our culinary class. Masha and Sergey are husband and wife and they have been our mentors for two years now. Normally Ira teaches culinary class, but last week she had to translate for a team of missionaries so Masha was substituting for Ira. Everything worked out beautifully and we had a great time. On Sunday we went to International Church of Assembly. Vicka our graduate goes there. She sings in the choir and translates for the Russian people that go there. She has invited five of her former classmates from her orphanage #6 so it is so awesome o see so many orphans going to the church and growing spiritually. Sasha whom I have been teaching English was there also with John Bull an American missionary. I hope that Sasha will come to this church every week so that he can grow spiritually and deepen his faith and knowledge in our Lord the Father. On Monday in the morning Mama Sue and I went to school #147 where a friend of Sue’s works as an English teacher there. She is hosting an international week where she takes all of her students to different countries. This Monday she had a trip to America where kids had to prepare some kind of an American dish of course Zhenya told them a recipe. It was pretty much just dessert dishes, but they sure looked yummy. It was hard to resist from not eating something off the table. In addition to trying something different from another country Zhenya invited Sue as a special guest so that she can share about America and herself. Sue spoke for twenty minutes and I translated. The kids enjoyed our trip to America and asked plenty of questions. Then I brought Sue back home and went to Vocational Training Center because I had four classes to teach. Since last week I now have two additional classes that I teach. At 1 p.m. I have Victoria a former mentor from the orphanage #46. At 2 p.m. I have Tanya and Sasha former “graduates” from the orphanage #46. At 3:30 p.m. I have Igor one of our residents and at 5 p.m. I have Natasha and Anya our residents. Typically I have one hour session with each student. I teach English to Victoria, Sasha, Tanya and Igor. I teach computer to Natasha and Anya. It is a lot of fun, but I was tired last night when I came home after teaching for five hours and running around the city for two more hours trying to find a fuse for my power transformer. The other day Sue wanted to dry her hair with a hairdryer and we were not sure if my transformer can handle it. I thought it could so we plugged it in and then I saw smoke coming out of it so I realized it was not going to work, but it was too late because it blew the fuse. I went to more than ten stores and could not find it. I end up buying new power converter/transformer. I am glad I found that because if I did not then I would be in trouble because all of my appliances such as: computer, cell phone, camera battery charger, etc is from America. If the battery runs down then I would not be able to use or charge it up. Thank you Jesus!!!

One more thing I want to share and I am going to close this blog because I have been writing it for over a week now. Last week I met with George who is Arthur’s brother and Zhenya. Both boys were former orphans, but now have “graduated” and live on their own. I met with them so that I can share some info with George about his brother Max who is in America and talk with Zhenya so that he could possibly become one of our future residents. Both guys are almost nineteen years old. Zhenya already has one degree and he is getting another one. His is very smart young man and has a huge potential. George is studying at a trade school and this is his first year. Unfortunately his laziness takes over him so he frequently skips classes. His former guardian Anton is trying to motivate him practically on weekly basis. George is a clever young man who is always smiling and has happy face, which is highly unusual for most Russians. Our conversation went well and both boys have expressed huge interest to become part of our ministry. Zhenya told me that he is ready to move into The Harbor tonight if we accept him. Please pray for Zhenya and George.

Zhenya, George & Alex

George

I appreciate your patience. I hope my blogs are not too long for you. If they are then maybe you can read them in sections. I would like to write shorter and more frequent blogs, but my time is so limited that I am forced at times to write such long ones. I am sorry and hope you can forgive and understand me. If you want to check out pictures please visit my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=536408818&ref=profile

You might need to become a member of Facebook or my friend first, which you are welcome to do if you are interested. I will post some pictures on my blog.

Love and blessings,
Alex

Changing lives one life at a time

2009-02-17T04:06:00.006-05:00

At times as I look back I wonder, “Where did time go?” My schedule in Russia has been fairly intense and I am frequently behind or just simply have no time to do emails or write my blog as much as I desire. I hope that my silence time to time does not make you worry where I am. I am thinking about you all the time and praying for you.

For the past two weeks children from the orphanage #18 who come to our VTC on Saturdays have been asking me to visit them. I have been promising to do that, but have not been able to until last week. As I was planning my trip to this orphanage Nastya one of our graduates called and asked me how I was doing. I told her that I was going to visit her former orphanage and she wanted to join. On our way to the orphanage we stopped by a store to buy a cake for the tea time. This orphanage like many others is standing in between apartment buildings. It is four stories high and has bright yellow color. It looks very nice and you would never be able to tell that this is an orphanage. They also have very nice playground. Note: This is the biggest difference today and the time when I was in the orphanage. St. Petersburg governor Valentina Motvienko said, “Northern capital cannot have orphans and street children.” Thus, she has order to do whatever it takes to improve the quality of orphanages so that they do not look like ran down buildings and the most of all is to downsize them so that there are fewer orphans in the city. Being here for the past 2+ months I have to say that orphanages do look much nicer and there are fewer kids, but once again it is only socio-economic approach. Some people might think well this is you Alex thinking that. Well, when Nastya and I were leaving the orphanage one of the administrators asked Nastya, “How do you like the new look of our orphanage?” Nastya said, “I do like it, but it has positive and negative side to it.” She was surprised that Nastya said that and she wanted a clarification. Nastya answered, “The positive side to it that it looks nicer, but the negative side to it you do not feel the warmth and love in it.” The government spent 60 million rubles ($1.8 million). This would be unheard of in my times.

As Nastya and I were approaching the orphanage there were kids playing outside. From the distance they looked like little ones, but as I was getting closer I realized it was young adult orphans who come to VTC. I recognized two of them and yelled, “Hey Sergey this is Alex.” Sergey ran to me and shook my hand. He has very nice bright white perfect teeth, which is a rarity in orphanages. He gave me a huge smile and how much I wish he would smile more frequently. Sasha who is one of my favorites was on a swing. We walked into the orphanage and a granny asked me a question, “Who are you and what can I do for you?” Since Nastya used to live here they recognized her and let her in whereas I have never been here so I am a stranger and she said, “I cannot let you in without permission from the orphanage director.” At the same time Victoria a caretaker who normally comes with our VTC participants from this orphanage was downstairs with the girls. They were happy to see me. Victoria and the girls were going to the store so they asked me to sit downstairs for half an hour so I sat downstairs with bunch of guys talking, joking and doing random file transfer on our cell phones via Bluetooth. The boys are so funny because they constantly want to transfer songs, pictures and video clips onto their cell phones. By the way I noticed that almost every child in this orphanage had a cell phone. In my mind I am thinking how can they afford to buy a cell phone especially when the cheapest decent model cost $150 and goes over $1,000. Please do not ask me how they afford to buy cell phones at such price because this is a mystery to me also. It is the same as how do Russians here afford to buy coffee at $4-7 per cup because I do not even spend that kind of money in the states. I can tell you one thing. Since 1987 all orphans are getting monthly allowance and now it is something like $15-20. Of course, this is not enough to buy a cell phone for $150, but some of them are also working at the orphanage like janitors so they are earning some income. Thus, they get to buy anything they want because they do not save any money. Orphans need to be taught how to spend money wisely and save otherwise they learn the hard way. Anyway, Victoria and the girls returned to the orphanage and we went upstairs. This orphanage has about 50 or 60 kids. The fourth floor is occupied by girls, the third floor is occupied by boys and the second floor is occupied by older boys and school classes. This is a specialized orphanage that has school attached to it and it goes all the way to eleven grades. However, they do not have many subjects that you would typically have in a norm school. Yet, these kids are so talented in arts and sports. On the second floor you will find tons of trophies that kids have won and it is very impressive. Since girls live on the fourth floor so we went there. They quickly arranged tea time, but for some reason the boys have limited access to this floor. I am sure most of us know why, but I wish they could have made an exception for the ones that I know so that they could join us for the tea and cake time. Unfortunately they were not allowed and I was saddened by this. We still managed to have a great time. There were a lot of good jokes and smiles on the faces. This gives joy to my heart when I see orphans smile and laugh because many have been hardened by this rough, dark and hopeless life; yet, they find strength and opportunity to relax.

After our tea time I went downstairs to spend time with the guys. Zhenya, Max, Sergey, Sasha, and Igor gave me a wonderful tour around the orphanage. They took me to their rooms and showed me their beds, closet, photo frames and other personal items. They do not have much, but they treasure what they have even if it is little. Many of us can learn so much from this how to be grateful even with little that you have. It brought bitter sweet moments from my childhood when I had almost nothing and realized once again how blessed I am and that is why I want to share many blessings with others. Zhenya holds a janitor position at the orphanage so he even took me to the bathroom to show how clean it was, but it was not his bathroom, but little kids one. I asked him why you don’t show me your bathroom and the boys laughed and were embarrassed. We did end up going to their bathroom and there Zhenya was so proud to show me some flaws that they had discovered (i.e. tile is broken, pipes are old and rusted already; yet, it has been only 7 months since this orphanage had gone through major capital renovation, etc.) I guess boys are boys no matter where you go. The boys also wanted me to take some pictures of their trophies with them. Our tour was over and we went back to the fourth floor. There Sasha decided to dance for me and it was very impressive. He has a talent and how much I wish this talent could be developed further. Well, no matter how much I was enjoying my visit I had to leave because the kids had to go on with their schedule and it was 7 p.m. Please pray for this orphanage, Victoria the caretaker and many kids that we know by name who come to VTC. Pray for Zhenya, Max, Igor, Sasha, Sergey, Grisha, Vanya, Sasha girl, Katya, Sveta, Ksusha, Lena, and many others. Thank you.

Two weeks ago Vicka our graduate helped us to found additional teacher for VTC computer class for the morning Saturday group. That morning we have Ilya, Vitalik and Kostya who have been begging me to teach them something more interesting other than Office 2007 programs. Katya is our new teacher. She is teaching our guys how to use Adobe Photoshop. I told the boys that they need to show interest toward it because Katya spends two hours one way to get to us every Saturday morning. She is our volunteer and I pay her 250 rubles ($7.50) per Saturday to cover her transportation cost. I personally have never used this program and Kostya was taking a different class so I joined Ilya and Vitalik. This was fun because I learned something new myself, but Ilya constantly was using bad words and wanted to play his games. Thus, I end up telling him that he needs to change his attitude and participate in the class. As you read this now you know why our VTC has two levels: introductory and professional.

Our introductory level tries to accomplish following areas:
a. Increase our influence among more orphans and orphanage directors
b. Expose as many orphans as possible to as many career possibilities as possible
c. Love on the kids, develop relationship with as many as possible, be a step to leading them to Christ
d. Using this as a screening process to find good candidates for future The Harbor participants

Last week Victoria from the orphanage #18 could not bring our participants so we had a much short day than usual. In the afternoon we were supposed to have a group of six “graduate” orphans from four different orphanages who want to study at our VTC. We have arranged for them to arrive around 3 p.m., but at 4 p.m. only two arrived: Sasha from orphanage #51 and Vicka from orphanage #8. I have mentioned Sasha in my previous blog entry that have graduated from technical college as a barber, but currently is working at Sport Master Store. Vicka from the orphanage #8 is currently studying landscape design at a technical college. This is her first year and she has two more to go. Prior to that she studied computers for four years and knows them pretty well. She would like to major in computer design so this is what she wants to take at our VTC. Thus, I need to find another teacher that would teach computer design. If you have any connections in St. Petersburg and know someone who can teach computer design please let me know. Please pray that we can quickly find someone to teach this class. We are hoping to meet with four other orphans that did not come sometime this week and figure out how they can participate in our VTC. In addition, Luba received a call from the orphanage #46 that has three graduates and their former caretaker who are interested to come to our VTC to study English. Luba asked me to teach this class for now until we find someone else. Thus, now I have additional class at VTC so I am teaching two classes on Saturday, two classes on Monday and potentially another class either Monday evening or sometime Friday. Please pray for continuous classes at VTC and for the lives to be transformed.

My plate is getting even fuller and I need a rake to sort some things out of my plate. I know that many of you are deeply and sincerely concerned for my well being especially mentally and spiritually. Yes, I won’t hide that at times I feel lonely and have no support here. Yet, I know that my Father is with me. I understand the importance of spending time with Him on daily basis and in prayer throughout the day so that I stay spiritually strong. I do everything I can to stay closely connected to my Father. I know that He is the priority in my life and must be the center of my heart. He is and I am thankful for that. Mentally is another story. I do feel lonely primarily because I do not have anyone in Russia anymore that I can talk to and pour out my concerns, issues, observations, etc. All of us need that person because we can keep stuff like that inside of ourselves for so long before the explosion happens. I thank the Lord that I can talk to Melinda, Clifford and Lori my friends in Columbus and my mama Sue & mama Punkin. I am not sure I would make without them. Please pray for my mental and spiritual being.

Last Saturday I went to Lisa’s home to celebrate her birthday. She had some friends over. It was good to see them because it has been awhile since we have seen each other. However, one of her friends Alexei began to ask questions about America and making fun of American people. As most of you know that I do not allow Russians to talk negative or make jokes about America and I do the same when it comes to my American friends talking negative about Russia. This world already has plenty of negativity and most people are aware of it, but they just do nothing about it. Thus, I would prefer to see people do something about it rather than talk bad or dirty. Alexei went on to the point that I had to raise my voice and tell him that he better changed this conversation or I was going to simply leave Lisa’s home. He did change the conversation. The rest of the evening went well. Pray for the Russian people because they need the Lord badly. Pray for the American people who still do not know the Lord as their personal Savior.

On Sunday I invited Sasha and Max to the Central Calvary Chapel church. Both boys were used to in the orphanage #3. Max recently came from the military. He served in the Navy in Sevastopol, which is Ukraine region for two years. Max has been looking for a job and until he finds a job he is on unemployment support. He gets paid $600 per month, which is very nice according to the Russian standard. When I first met Max he was wearing bright white jacket, rapper’s hat and always a smile on his face, which is quite unusual for a Russian. I can tell that serving in the Navy has made him to be responsible person. He does listen to what adults tell him especially if it has to do with his future. He has many other characters that are very rare for most “graduate” orphans. Once I asked him what he wanted to do and he was not quite sure, but he did say that if he can’t find a job then he will serve in the police. Police in Russia is very corrupt and it is not the best place for someone like Max to work at so I told him that he can always work there, but now he has a chance to find something better. I challenged him to look harder for a better job and he said yes. Then he began to take English courses with Sasha, but the beginner level for Max was way too difficult so he simply quit. Instead of going to his teacher and explaining a situation he just left. A friend of mine in GA paid for his courses and it is not cheap so by leaving linguistics school he just flushed the money down the drain, which is not smart. Please pray for Max.

I met boys in the metro and we went to the church. We got some tea and since we were early I wanted to talk to Max. I noticed that something changed in him because his appearance was different. He now has very short hair cut. He was wearing dark jacket with pointy black polished shoes and dark pants. Dark colors for Russians are very common. I told Max that I care for him and his future very much. I asked him why he quit studying English and why he decided to become a police officer. Unfortunately he could not give me a concrete answer. Simply he just was giving up and this was an easy way out. I told him not to waste his life and use the chance that he has right now to do better. He has people that care for him. They are willing to help him in any way it is possible or necessary so that he comes very successful. My conversation challenged him greatly.

Pastor Boris at Calvary Chapel preached from Heb. 11 on faith, which was huge and so important for both boys. Even though Sasha is a Christian, but he is not growing spiritually because he has no one to help him to do that. Max is not a Christian yet, but he is on the edge. The message was powerful, but a bit long for the boys; yet, they stayed alert and I pray that it will sink in their hearts. At the end Pastor Boris announced that if you would like to serve in the church then you can do that. Currently they are seeking for someone who could help them operating a computer and overhead projector. I looked at Sasha and said that he can do that if he wants to. Pastor Boris came to us and introduced himself to Sasha and Max. Sasha told Pastor Boris that he is interested to help them with their need. This is exciting that he actually initiated it. When we left the church Max told me that he wanted to go home in order to process, analyze and evaluate everything that I told him and the message that he had heard. He said that his brain had a lot of data to process. I am glad to hear that he wanted to process what he had heard. I covet your prayers for Sasha and Max.

I am sure I have given you plenty of information in this entry to process and pray for during your quite times. Thank you so much.

Blessings and love,

Alex & The Harbor

Kirill’s Vision of a Great Russia

2009-02-09T02:53:00.004-05:00

Two weeks ago I was reading St. Petersburg Times newspaper and saw an article about new Orthodox patriarch of Russia. I found this article quite interesting and decided to share with you.

Written by: Leonid Sevastyanov, Robert Moynihan (http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=28140)

Russia is a conundrum. On one hand, it is a profoundly secularized society in which traditional religious practice is sporadic and often superficial. This abandonment of the country’s traditional Orthodox faith is in part due to the period of state atheism from 1918 to 1991 and the subsequent 18 years of nihilism in which idealism is as out of fashion as religious belief. But on the other hand, Russian society longs for political idealism and religious faith.

And so Kirill, who was elected patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on Tuesday, faces a difficult problem. Within the church, he must go beyond what his predecessor, Alexy II, accomplished over the past two decades, rebuilding the institutional structures of the church. He must fill churches, seminaries, monasteries and schools with fervent believers. Outside the church, he must persuade society to engage with the church and seek to build a post-Soviet Russia that can flourish and provide a just, prosperous life for the Russian people.

Kirill has deep convictions about the role of the Christian faith in the future of Russia and about Russia’s role in the future of Europe and the world. As he has stated on numerous occasions, he is convinced that only a return to “real values” can enable Russia and Europe to confront the current economic crisis. Moreover, he believes that Russia’s greatness, eclipsed in recent years, can only be restored by renewing its ancient Orthodox faith.

Given his relatively young age, 62, Kirill could be patriarch for the next generation. He will undoubtedly set out to fulfill a double agenda. First, he will want to build on what Alexy II accomplished during the 18 years of his patriarchate, continuing the rebuilding of the church’s ruined infrastructure. Thousands of churches have been rebuilt across Russia since 1991. Second, he could start a series of new initiatives to strengthen the church’s voice and influence in Russian society.

The new patriarch can be expected to reopen schools, expand seminaries, renew monasteries and in general restore the outward signs of Russian Orthodox religious life. But Kirill, who was the key figure behind the unprecedented promulgation of the church’s social teaching in a document in 2000, can also be expected to take bold new steps to go beyond renewing the institutional structure of the church.

One big question concerns his relations with the pope and with the Roman Catholic Church. Kirill will be looking for allies in his effort to move Russian and European society in a religious direction. But he will not strive for a theocratic state. Indeed, it is precisely his acceptance of the need for dialogue with non-Christians in a modern, pluralistic state that has prompted some of the more conservative elements in the Orthodox church to be sharply critical of him as too “progressive.”

Kirill, who has been serving for eight weeks as “interim patriarch,” made his thoughts clear in a sermon he delivered on Jan. 6 at a Christmas Eve service held at Christ the Savior Cathedral. Kirill invited those present, including President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, to be valiant during the current economic crisis.

The word “crisis” comes from the Greek meaning “decision,” Kirill said. He said that today, decisions have been affected by attitudes such as “greed, loss of control over consumption, a bid to enrich oneself by all means and have as much as possible.” He said the crisis began when people forgot true values, and that further crises could be avoided if those values provided the foundation for the economy.

Kirill has his own vision for the future of Europe. In an address to the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu in September 2007, Kirill said that in order for Europe to survive the tribulations that have befallen previous civilizations, it must retain its Christian identity. An increasing number of Europeans — Christians and non-Christians alike — have come to recognize “Christianity [as] a powerful source of support for European civilization,” he said.

At the same time, Kirill was careful to explain that this does not imply that “there is no room” in Europe “for people of other religions and with other outlooks on the world.”

With Kirill’s appointment as patriarch, Russian society opens a new page in its history.
Leonid Sevastyanov is general director of StratinvestRu and a consultant to the Moscow Patriarchate. Robert Moynihan is president of the Urbi et Orbi Foundation.