First of all, sorry it has taken me so long to post this last blog. I got back to texas the 22nd and have been relaxing a lot and processing all that I have learned in the past month.
The last Sunday in Russia, we went to an all english speaking church that was mainly missionaries. After the service, we got to talk to the other people and hear their stories. This was really awesome to me because I see God working in college station or working with our team in Russia but meeting people from all over the world (England, Australia, Holland, Africa) just shows me how BIG God is.
Originally our plan for the last week was to go to camp Monday-Wednesday but since we only had two interns, we decided to go to the Crisis Center Monday and Tuesday and go to camp just for wednesday morning. So Monday, we got to go back to the Crisis Center, which we were all pretty excited about. I wasn't sure how long kids normally stayed at the crisis center before they move them to their permanent orphanage, but I was hoping to see some of the kids we got to play with the first week we were there. When we got there, the babies were asleep so we took two little girls, probably about 2 years old outside to play with the older kids. I didn't recognize any of the kids. Its very hard for me to realize that every three weeks, they have 20 new kids becoming orphans. Tuesday, we went back to the Crisis Center and got to play with the babies. We recognized three of the babies but there were 4 new ones. We got to play with them for a couple hours until nap time.
In St. Petersburg, kids normally leave the city for the summer to stay with their grandparents somewhere in a small village or go to camp. Orphanages send their kids to camp for the summer to let them take a break from the city. Wednesday morning, we got to go out to one of the camps to visit orphanage #2. Once we got there, the kids just came running up to meet us and give us hugs. Since it was the last place we went, we had a lot of supplies for them. They were so excited! We played with them for a few hours and before we left, we gave them all gift bags. Olga, the person who organized our trip visits the orphanages on a regular basis. She said every time she comes to this orphanage, the kids always ask her if she has found any American parents for them yet.
Thursday we did some sightseeing and pack up to leave. I can tell you that I was not at all ready to leave Russia. It's really hard to leave those kids and think I might never get to see them again. I have learned so much from those kids-its hard to imagine that they had a better time than I did. I am just so thankful that the Lord was able to use me in more ways than I probably know. Maybe someday soon I will get to go back.
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