One year on...

Well will you look at that? I'm at the same point in my life as I was a year ago (almost).

Again, I'm getting ready for my next visit to Russia - this one will be my 4th! I'm becoming an old pro at this.

Already I have a great bunch of people on my team, we're going to have a blast!

So anyway, tonight I was writing up another of the many stories that came from my last trip. I'll be putting them into a newsletter for my supporters and would-be supporters to read and be encouraged by.

I thought I'd like to share just one of those stories, as it gives me goose bumps as I type it out and relive it! Enjoy.


Customs on the train
The train from Rostov-on-Don, Russia to Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine was an overnight journey. We bundled ourselves into the train at dusk, waving goodbye to our new friends in Rostov, and to Natasha’s mother and sister. She was coming with us on her own adventure - this being her first time out of Russia!
We crammed our bulky luggage into the small compartment with two sets of bunks, and flopped down to chat as our train rolled on.
Before long, we were all dozing. At around midnight the train stopped and border security entered the train and were soon knocking on our compartment door. Everybody woke up and dug out their passports and documents.
Yes, we had our passports. Yes, we had our visas. Then the guard checking our documents asked for a copy of our “invitation letter”. This is a special supporting document issued when obtaining our visas. Unfortunately it was one thing I had forgotten to bring! We were very, very nervous as a group of three guards gathered at our door looking at our documents, discussing what to do with us.
Wendy and I both began silently praying about the situation as Natasha answered their random questions. Suddenly one of the guards asked Natasha if we were Christians. She answered truthfully. Then he asked “baptist?” - which is used as a generic, and often derogatory term for non-Orthodox Christians. Natasha answered “no, protestant” - which itself is still probably a dangerous title in an Orthodox country. Finally, he asked if we’d come to evangelise (we were travelling on a “tourist” visa, and special visas are required for any kind of religious visit). Again she answered truthfully, and we were now in God’s hands!
The air was thick with tension as he looked at us for what seemed an age, then he ordered the guard holding the passports to “stamp it”.
The guard warned us that next time we should apply for the correct visa. He wished us goodnight and they all moved on.
Thank God!

God’s got it all planned out!

Well if I had reason to doubt God’s in this Russia thing, then all doubt is blown away now!

What am I talking about? Let me explain!

Some time ago, a Russian Salvation Army captain, Sergey Kachanov, added me to his friend’s list on vkontakte.com. He sent a brief message, welcoming me to the Salvation Army group on that site, and hoped that if I knew enough Russian I could join in on conversations.

I took some time to look at his profile and check out all the pictures in his albums. I really liked seeing him, along with a lot of youth, involved in outreach at hospitals, orphanages etc.

It was great to see the work the Salvation Army is doing over there – such practical work that seems is hard to come by here in Australia. (Q: Have we lost our focus?) I did want to know more about Sergey and his Corps, but I forgot about it for a while.

In the meantime I tried organising other missions trips through OM (a missions organisation), but those weren’t going to happen in time. I’d also contacted the Rostov-on-Don Corps, but nothing had come of it. I was keeping my eyes peeled, desperately hoping for something extra to do while we were on that side of the globe.

Finally, I prayed that God would reveal an opportunity. Then in a moment of inspiration, I remembered Sergey and decided to myself “Yes! I’ll send him an email introducing myself and explaining my desire to serve God in Russia. Then I’ll ask him if there’s something I can do.”

Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24)

My God is a big God… and yes, He was just waiting for me to seek Him first! In His faithfulness, He answered my prayer before I’d even prayed it.

When I logged into vkontakte.com, ready to send that message to Sergey, what did I find? There was a message waiting for me FROM SERGEY!

OK, maybe a coincidence that Sergey sent me a message? But what about the content of the message? Judge for yourself:

Hi, Brett, how are you doing?
Two days ago we've had one couple majors from Moscow THQ (originally they are from Australia). They introduced us to the Australian Salvation Army sites.
On one of them I saw your desire to come to Russia with a group of those who would like to serve the Lord.
I thought it's a good idea and comes from above.
So, if you would be interested we could communicate and cooperate together in it. Here at Dnepr there are plenty opportunities to minister for example youth or children.
We are visiting the orphanages and shelters on a regular base. During summer there is a good chance to minister homeless children and youth in the shelter "ROSTOK". We've practiced that already and it brought good results.
So, please, pray about that and if God will lead you and your friends we would be happy to assist you...
Blessings upon your head and great Joy in Him!

So, here is Sergey answering God’s call to contact me. I’m glad he was faithful to God, because it really made my day, week and month!

Things have progressed well from here. Sergey is organising a letter of invitation from his DHQ so that I can obtain a visa to the Ukraine (Dniprpetrovsk is located in the Ukraine I soon discovered).

Now I’m praying for a team, and God is answering those prayers. Things are very encouraging. I’m so glad to be serving living God… a God of “coincidences” :-)

Lotsa fun with stuff

Aussie English! From the sticks :D
So one of my little projects lately (outside of all-consuming fatherhood) has been to create my first podcast called Aussie English from the sticks.

So far I've only done 3 episodes, but have had some good feedback. I thought it was pretty daggy and silly, but there's been a lot of people visiting the podcast/blog from all over planet Earth!

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Vloggin'
No, not me, but Glenn. I saw a couple of episodes of his vlog and laffed. Go Glenn! Check out Glenn's vlog.

I'm betting he gets a ton more episodes done now that he just bought himself a Macbook! The schweetness about this is that he's selling me his old Toshiba laptop for hecka-cheap! Thanks Glenn, you really, REALLY care.

Meanwhile, I'm kinda nervous. Macs are looking so good... I think they might take over the world :O They were NEVER this good back in my early pre-press design days.

New Project

Not that I get time to work on new projects, but I spent til 1am last night launching my first podcast!

The idea is to share a bit of Aussie English for whoever is hungry enough for it.

I know that when I am learning a language, I'll enjoy anything in that language, especially if it is spoken slowly enough that I can grasp some new words.

So that's the theory. I'm gonna try to make it fun AND informative. Let's hope it is a success.

Here it is: Aussie English from the sticks

What am I still doing here?

In my heart there’s such a deep calling to get to work! Serve God somewhere in the vast-expanse-of-a-country known as Russia!

My efforts to find a missionary society willing to send a whole family of 6 has not revealed the open door I’d hoped for. WHERE IS IT?

Meanwhile, it’s time to plan for my short-term commitment – the St Petersburg summer camp at Kastyor (костёр). I’m so excited about going, but praying for support from my fellow believers.

Pray with me… support me… come too!

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Isaiah 6:8

Time Flies... and the end is nigh!

(Taken from my editorial in our church newsletter, 15 November 2009)
Yesterday my first son, Eli (I’m sure you all know him) turned 10. Yes... TEN! For me it’s astounding how fast those years have gone.
You can’t justifiably call them ten “short” years, as they’re the same length as any other ten years in history (except the ten that contained Joshua’s “long day”–You better read Joshua chapter 10).
However, for all of us, there’s a common perception of life going by so fast as we get older.
As youngsters, it takes forever for Christmas to come. As adults, today we can’t believe that Christmas is only 5 weeks and 5 days away - because we only just had Christmas!
Is it because our lives are progressively filled with more and more concerns, chores, family members (and birthdays), TV shows, commitments... I think so.
What will eventually be apparent to us all is how fast the end of our Earth years have snuck up on us. It will be then that we’ll experience the regrets of what was or wasn’t done and said.
It takes wisdom to recognise NOW what those regrets might be and work to make sure we live the life God prescribed in the Bible.
Make the neccessary changes TODAY, because Today is the beginning of the rest of your life!
For insight, start with the Bible verses listed below.

• Matt 6:30-40
• Phil 4:4-9
• James 1:22-27
• Eph 6:10-18

Double goodness

TWO great things have happened.

UNCLE DAVEY / VIKTOR HULIGANOV
Firstly, my favourite YouTube channel, starring a guy named Viktor Huliganov (an alter-identity of "Uncle Davey", an English guy) has explained his awesome language vocabulary learning technique "THE GOLD LIST".

Viktor, a pseudo-Russian who speaks in a very strong Russian accent while giving very good Russian grammar lessons, telling funny jokes and singing songs in English & Russian has already described his technique on his website: The Goldlist (click it)

BUT my happy discovery was his YouTube video post (a.k.a. vlog) describing the process of learning vocabulary to the Long-Term memory using his Gold List method. I highly recommend it. It works for any language, and probably for just about any other thing you have to memorise (formulas, botanic names etc).

I'd already begun using this technique, but wasn't sure I was making the most of it, but Viktor has described it well in his vlog.

STAPLE REMOVER
Yippee! Secondly I got my staples out of my gut-skin today. The skin where each staple was holding on was getting red, sore and itchy; effectively driving me bonkers.

The little staple removing device was pretty cool. It hurt a bit, but not much more than when Janene squeezes the pimples on my back (you know, the ones right on the edge of your back above your kidneys? Very tender area!)

Now I'm feeling much better. I can laugh again without that excessive pain which felt like it was causing internal haemorrhaging.

Life will be even betterer when I get my wound pads removed and Janene thinks I am sexy again.

Body Piercings

I've had my guts chopped and the hernia is all nicely repaired. The side effects are temporary, but obvious :-) I'm looking forward to doing normal stuff again, when I finally feel better.

On the left here you can see one of the 3 entry points that the surgeon created to shove his laproscopic tools in and do his work.

There's lots of vids on YouTube to show the process involved. Search for "Inguinal Hernia Repair".

(click here for one)

We have transmission!

Like a deserted Mars probe on that silent planet... this blog has sat abandoned. Like an alarm clock in the desert, its purpose long forgotten.

But there's a stirring, a brief moment of animation and suddenly with a puff and a whirl we're off again! I'M ALIVE!

There's an old philosophical question: "If a tree falls in the middle of the forest, and nobody is there to hear it, does it still make a sound".

Of course it does! What a stupid question.

My real question is IF there's a blog in the middle of cyberspace and nobody's there to read it, is there a point? So... is anybody reading this? I guess the answer is YES, because I'm reading as I write.

In any case, here I sit with a bunch of metal staples in my aching torso following surgery to repair my inguinal hernia on the right side.

Walking, and movement in general, has been awkward and painful. So then, what better way to fill some time than to resume my presence in blogland?

Glad to be back.

Clayton playing “Guess Who”

Do you have a sister?

If you’ve never played ”Guess Who”, you won’t appreciate the hilarity.

Костёр – I love you! Костёр – Я люблю!

What an adventure!

Well after 21 days away from home in foreign places, and 16 days at camp Костёр in Russia, I think I can safely call it a real adventure.

There are a stack of things I can say I learnt while I was away. Here are a few of them:

• God can use even me
• Russian kids really want to hear the Gospel
• You cannot put a price on one changed life
• Squat toilets over a pit aren’t so bad if you give it time
• Borsh (борщ) is yummo, despite appearances
• I’m a gifted pine cone (шишки) shifter, with my lanky toes
• Long distance travel hurts your butt
• Mother taught us to keep elbows in at the table in preparation for eating food in claustrophobic conditions on international flights
• Schoolyard handball - Aussie-style - is destined for universal acceptance and Olympic Games inclusion
• It’s true as the Russians say – Russia has two problems, roads and fools (though I didn’t meet that many fools – just bad roads)
• Read the fine print… and re-read the large print
• Finland is like the country you see in fairy tale illustrations
• Russia 2009 is lookin’ good

I managed to write over 100 pages of journal entries. Sure, I’d love to type them all out and post them online – right after I finish my book on the Amplified Analysis of Inter-Galactic Lightspeed Travel, And Its Effect on Photosynthesis.

But seriously, I can’t seem to dig up the words I need to express my love for those lovable kids. Will He send me again? I’m ready…

Up, Up, AND AWAY!

ДОБРОЕ УТРО, РОССИЯ

So between my last post and now, a LOT has happened! (I guess that answers the question about Live Writer – see below).

Fundraising efforts were blessed and people gave generously. At first I expected to be getting a loan to try and cover half of my trip – but here I am going to Russia fully supported by people’s faithful giving, PLUS I was able to buy $2000 worth of Bibles and workbooks for the kids. INCREDIBLE.

It’s almost 7am here now, and I’m still in my PJs with hair all scraggy. I can hear the boys in the next room, they’re up early giggling and making typical boy jokes. The hardest part about going to Russia for 3 weeks is I’ll miss them!

Lovely Janene and Layna, my lovely wife and sweet, smiling daughter. Leaving is the hardest part! I love them all so much.

For only the second time in my life I had a coldsore for the last week. It was a sign of the strained emotions leading up to this day. It means I haven’t even been able to kiss Janene for a whole week! I’ve had a few very sleepless nights, but before bed last night I asked God to prepare me, relax me… and I had the best night sleep anyone could expect!

Well, my bag’s packed – it’s full of everything I’ll probably never need. I wonder what I forgot? Like they used to say on the old game show: “Don’t forget your toothbrush!”

Whoever’s reading this, please pray for me and the team, and for the orphans I’ll encounter. These kids (like all of us) need love. Touching these lives may only be a drop in the ocean, but how do you think the ocean got full?  :P

Signing off, until I can find a computer.

До свидания!

Windows Live Blog Writer?

Testing a new tool...

So, I've updated Live Messenger and it kindly offered to include another three hundred plugins during the update. As usual, I unchecked them ALL, but then read the description of the "Writer" tool.

So here I am, I've installed the Writer tool which allows me to write to my blog in a convenient manner - not having to login to Blogger.com for every entry.

Will this encourage me to write entries on a more regular basis? Check back periodically to see...

(I must admit, the interface is pleasing...)

Whom to serve...

Is my heart being reshaped? Am I being forged for some kind of mission?

The more I look at our greedy, self-magnifying culture, the more I wonder what cultural baggage I'm carrying that is causing me to miss the purpose and beauty of life.

Materialism has gripped the heart of the West and with its general rejection of God the Creator under the guise of spiritual "liberation", the choice to believe in nothing has resulted in a belief in anything. It's a smorgasbord of false gods where you take a spoonful of this, a slice of that, pile up your plate with what looks delicious... but in the end it all has the same bland taste and you wind up still feeling rather empty.

I'm feeling the pinch financially, and I'm sure we're in the clutches of a economic recession. But this is NOTHING. We whinge and complain about interest rates, bank fees, petrol prices, grocery bills, etc. But this really is nothing if we care to think outside of our immediate selfish wants.

As I prepare for Russia, I am hoping God will break my heart with what I experience. I want it broken and reshaped into something beautiful for Him. I want to rid myself of this cultural baggage and discover something real and lasting. I know I can only find it in Him.

What are your gods?

SEND ME TO RUSSIA!

The brochure in the corner

Recently on a trip to Canberra with Janene and the kids (Janene is studying Christian Family Counseling and was doing res-school for 3 days), we visited the local Koorong bookstore to do some shopping.

In the back corner of the shop I, for some reason, decided to look at the local noticeboard. My eyes nearly popped outta my head when I saw the title of a big A4 newsletter "Love For Kids - RUSSIA".

I quickly unpinned the newsletter and started reading. The title inside presented its challenge - Will you send? Will you GO?.

That challenge ate at me for the next 10 mins or so while I walked around the shop holding the smaller brochure that I'd also unpinned from the noticeboard. Then finally, flexing my huge grin, I showed Janene... who returned a suspicious glance at me with a slow motion "Ahuh".

Needless to say I got a photocopy of the flyer from the staff at Koorong and thoughts of Russia consumed me for the rest of the day, and that night... and pretty much ever since!

I found the website (kidsoutreach.org) and emailed the director with a blurb about my long-time desire to be involved in some kind of ministry in Russia. Kari replied to my email in a very welcoming and encouraging way that just reinforced my desire to get busy!

So anyway, a few days later I'd made the decision - I'LL GO! Kari Lehelmä advised me it's likely I'll join a group leaving on the 15th June, that's around 3 months away so I better get crackin!

What will I be doing? Friendship evangelism! We're showing the love of Christ to kids who otherwise may not experience much love at all - especially since a large portion of the kids will be orphans, street kids and disadvantaged.

I'm brushing up on my Russian, although it's more like brushing a crew cut, because there's not much there to brush yet. So I'm really going back to basics and re-learning.

MONEY
It's terrible to need it, and even worse to ask for it. I personally hate it when I get phonecalls at dinnertime from telemarketing charities asking for donations. So I'm sure people are equally annoyed when I'm going to have to basically beg for support to get me over there.

I'm sure some people are going to think I just want a free holiday - but I think I'd be more interested in seeing the sights than being stuck in a dormitory with other leaders and eating cafeteria food. It's not a matter of where, but WHO. These kids are gonna love having us there as friends, while learning about our culture and our faith.

PLEDGE
I'm asking people for donations. Big or small! If anybody is reading this and wants to contribute even a few bucks, please contact me ASAP!

Whether you can afford a cash donation or not, please take a minute or so to PRAY for this. Thanks!

Missing Link tshirt

I designed and added a tshirt to Threadless.com to see what would happen. My design passed through to selection and is now up for voting.

Check it out, and please vote. I could win munny:



(YES! It's supposed to look like a broken link. Just click it!)

Eli's Homework Sentence #1

I've decided to pick out the odd sentence that Eli does in his homework book, because quite often his crazy, over-imaginative brain comes up with some doosies. Here's one from this week:

Word: Summer

People say that Summer sucks, and it does.

Well done Eli, I agree!

Flashback #1

Horrible things I did...

Now and then I remember things I did as a child - the worst of them during my teenage years. One just resurfaced in my memory, and thinking back, I really wince when I consider how horrible it was.

Of course, in our de-sensitised society, those are the stories people love to hear. So I'll retell it here, rather than 100 times elsewhere. (Keep in mind, I'm NOT very proud of this).

So....

One day while exploring a large vacant lot of ground in the town of Narromine (where I was quietly going about the business of growing up), I came upon the corpse of a domestic cat in the long, dead grass.

The cat wasn't overly decayed, though it had been dead long enough to maintain it's curved death pose when picked up by one paw and held horizontally.

Incidentally, I don't know if it's true or not, but I've heard that cats don't seem to be as readily infested with maggots and such (thus getting bloated and smelly) like other animals are. Can anyone confirm?

So back to the story. I gather it was mid or late December, because there in the vacant lot I had the most brilliant idea for a prank, and almost wet my pants as I entertained my active mind, playing out the script.

I put the cat in a bag and took it home. Luckily mum and dad trusted me during the school holidays, and knew that I wouldn't get up to mischief... so there was no guardian to oversee what I was doing that day.

Once home, I raided the cupboards and wrapped the dear creature up in Christmas paper. I also wrote out a pleasant card and attached it to the 'gift'.

I returned to the area I found it, and knowing that the house next to the vacant block was the abode of some neighbourhood children (of the Santa-believing age), I dropped the gift at the door and made haste for the long grass, then home.

The best I could do from there was lie on my bed and giggle at what might happen. For when those children found that gift (or hopefully their folks found it first), the would've discovered a lovely Christmas gift with a little card, reading:

Dear Children,
Do not open until Christmas!
Have a happy Christmas,
Love Santa.

Clayton Wisdom

Clayton says...

We were all sitting at the table last week some time having Eagle Boys pizza. Eli announced

"I've had four pieces, and this piece counts"

(referring to the piece he was currently eating).

Clayton then glared sideways at Eli, and in slow, condescending tones, informed him:

"Eli... Pizza can't count."

So true!

Eli's Nightmares

Like clockwork...

Eli is having nightmares every night. I'm trying to discover what it is that's causing them!

A hint came the other night when, around the same time as most nights (9'ish), Eli comes staggering out of his bedroom with a fearful expression and babbling some nonsense such as "Please, shhh. No... dad, please just... Ssshhh".

I sat him down and asked him what was going on (expecting a cryptic response, seeing he was still mostly asleep). He muttered something about ground walkers and men running away.

The next day I had a game of Rise of Legends, which Eli had played the day before. Lo and behold... what units do we find there? "Ground walkers".

However, based on his other nightmare experiences, I doubt the game is to blame. It's more that whatever held his attention during the day becomes the theme of his nightmare that night.

Hopefully he'll grow out of this. It's getting annoying!