Murom, Russia

(Here are the remainder of the Russia pictures I never posted. Sorry it took so long!

Note: remember I had been posting the trip in backwards order, so this is the beginning of the trip, which we spent in Murom and Papolina.)

After nearly 30 hours of travel time, we arrived in Murom. The last several hours had been spent in a little bus taking us from the Moscow airport to the city of Murom. After checking into our motel, we headed to a busy center where many young people could be found. As we walked up we saw benches full of teenagers smoking, drinking, or just hanging out. Kolya, leading the way with Sasha, looked back and said, "Who wants to talk first!?" I smiled at him, so he picked me. Trembling yet excited, I glanced up and spotted a group of girls my age, nodded to Sasha with a nervous smile, and we headed over to them. Some seemingly hilarious joke had them all laughing loudly, when suddenly they spotted me. I stood in front of them while their roaring laughter turned to dead silence in the matter of two seconds and all eyes turned to stare at me. (talk about uncomfortable!) But God gives strength and boldness to His children, and as I began to speak God's beautiful mystery He gave me the words and I relaxed a bit. These girls were genuinely open to His word, for even in the midst of their seemingly joyful exterior, one look in their eyes gave away the fact that they were painfully searching. Pray that God captures them all for Himself!

Kolya shared with this big group of teenagers next. Boy were they a rowdy group, full of jesting but also full of questions. One girl named Sveta was also listening, and then she came and asked many many questions. I think I told you about her before. She is the one who asked, "Why doesn't God just come down here to earth and show us that He is real?!", to which Kolya replied, "He already HAS!"




These are Kolya's wanna-be sons. They wanted him to adopt them and bring them to America in his suitcase.



Notice how they can freely drink on the streets, even this boy who is probably younger than me.