HELLO FROM RUSSIA #2 ==================== E-Mail from John Zaitseff. Saturday, 4th August, 2001 Greetings in the mighty Name of Jesus! I hope and trust that all is well with you. This is my second e-mail from Russia, written on Tuesday 31st July, and is meant to keep you up-to-date with what is happening during my time in Russia. My first e-mail was written and sent on our "day off" on Wednesday 11th July, although you may have only just received it. So much has happened in the past few weeks that it is difficult to even know where to begin. However, allow me to try... The last seven days of our time in "Zvyozdochka" were fairly quiet. I must admit that I am a little disappointed that that was the case; I was certainly hoping and praying for a greater opportunity to talk to people about Jesus. And yet, I believe that our time there has not been wasted. One of my constant prayers during the camp was to be in the right place at the right time, speaking to the right person the right words with the right attitude. And I believe I would be right to trust that the Lord answered that prayer, despite my own shortcomings and failures! Certainly, there were many times when I "just happened" to be present at what turned out to be a significant moment for me. Perhaps the most significant of such moments for me have been talking to some of the children and older people on an individual basis. Such moments, almost always "unscheduled" (at least by me!), have meant that the topics discussed were those that were of interest to that individual. Jesus often ministered in a similar manner, speaking words of wisdom appropriate to the circumstance. I just pray that I followed the example of my Leader in a worthy manner! Be that as it may, the topics discussed during such moments have certainly had a unique breadth, ranging from how God speaks to His children and how I received my job at the University of New South Wales, to Science, Creation (did God really create all things, as the Bible states, or did it all happen "by accident"?) and History, to Sexual Relationships, to the Church and Salvation (why did Jesus have to die, and so on). I certainly needed wisdom and understanding as I spoke, and I trust that that is what God gave. Hindsight is such a valuable tool, if we but use it! The "quietness" we experienced in this camp, I think, amounted to a spiritual apathy, even though the camp's director was so welcoming. The hindsight for me comes from realising that perhaps the apathy was a trap into which we as a team (and I personally) fell---and that we could have and should have been a little bolder in presenting the Gospel to the children, using as many creative means as possible. I think, for example, that I could have and should have prayed for greater effectiveness and for a "breakthrough" in the spiritual realm. There is not much point in "crying over spilt milk", as the saying goes. I am treating this camp as a learning experience for the future; we are all a little older and a little wiser in any case! One of the things I found most effective was to be a genuine friend of the children (which does not mean being lax with discipline, as they soon discovered!). Most of the children come to camp as a result of their parents working for the owner of the camp, the Government Treasury Printers. As a result, many of them do not know anyone at all and often feel lonely. That said, I found it much easier (as did the other team members) to make friends with the younger children---they tend to be much more "open" than many of the older children. And that meant that I did not spend as much time with the older ones as I should have. It was only in the last few days, in fact, that I started getting to know them. And then it was time to leave! Part of becoming friends with the children was being involved in their activities, whether it was playing "pioneer-ball" or swimming with them or playing chess against them or... One thing we learnt was to come prepared (next time) with activities for older children; the younger ones are easy to keep occupied with craft activities, the older ones seem "bored" with such things. As I mentioned in my last e-mail, the camp asked us to prepare a "concert" for Parents' Day, Day 10 of our stay. And, if I do say so myself, this went very well! We presented a dental program (about brushing one's teeth) as "Once upon a time, there lived five teeth". The whole team was involved in some way (I was the narrator, in Russian); Graham's rendition of a Bacteria Monster was particularly amusing! The song "Give Me a Home Among the Gum Trees" (with actions) was followed by the Parable of the Good Samaritan---contemporised to be a Russian lady knocked down by bandits and rescued by a Gypsy. Our oldest team member, Alison, acting the part of one of the bandits was simply hilarious, as was the "donkey" being dragged about by our Gypsy. We finished the evening with "The Great Southland" by Geoff Bullock. I think we all enjoyed ourselves, perhaps even more than the audience did! Time does not permit me to write about all of the other things that we did, nor the lessons learnt from doing them. So I won't do more than mention the banner our Sunday School prepared, with a blank one for the children of the camp to draw on, nor the bonfire we had with the counselors, where we started becoming their friends, nor the Bibles we were able to give to the children, placing them (the Bibles, that is, not the children!) under each child's pillow. In fact, I will simply end with the end of our stay in "Camp Zvyozdochka"... The end of our stay was a particularly moving time for many of us. I must admit it was quite hard to say "goodbye" to the children, especially to those with whom I became good friends. And many of those friendships were just solidifying! Many did not want us to leave, and many asked if we would be back the following year---for me, a hard question to answer, as I do not know the Lord's will yet on this point. If there is a "next time", by the way, I think that three weeks would be much more effective than just two. And so we left at 4am on Thursday 19th July. Would I go again? If it is the Lord's will, certainly. Would I recommend that you go as part of Kids Outreach International to a similar camp? Absolutely! Apart from the experience, the fact that you can share God's love with people, especially children, makes it all worthwhile. I trust that I will have an opportunity to send a further e-mail about what I have been doing since that date. Please keep me in your prayers, that the Lord God will keep me safe and sound, and that He will direct my steps. Until we meet again, may the Lord bless you and keep you! Yours in Christ, John Zaitseff -- John Zaitseff ,--_|\ The ZAP Group Phone: +61 2 9543 6448 / \ Sydney, Australia E-mail: J.Zaitseff@zap.org.au \_,--._* http://www.zap.org.au/ Finger: john@zap.org.au v GnuPG fingerprint: 8FD2 8962 7768 2546 FE07 DE7C 61A8 4486 C9A6 69B0