First Day of School

me on the phone with Amy just before my first day

Phew!

I made it. My schedule is a bit crazy and I'm jet lagged. I taught for 6 hours at a local oil firm and then caught a taxi to teach at our school location. Another 1.5 hours and I got to walk back home.

It's great exercise here. I walk about 25 minutes to work on Tuesday and about 35 minutes home. I think the 'healthy' Russian Jeff will be back in no time.

Teaching went really well today. I give all credit to the L0rd, which is His due. One of my sp!ritual gifts is teaching and it really comes in handy as a teacher when you've got G0d as your source. I wasn't even a bel!ever when He established my education base in Linguistics, but he knew what His plans were for me before I had a clue.

I'm missing Amy more and more. Her encouraging words, quick smile, and comforting presence are not here with me. I'm hoping to hear news soon that our nephew or niece is born. I think it's going to be a boy.

D-Club #1

English Discussion Club has started!

It was really one of the biggest highlights of the m!nistry that I did in my first term, and I'm excited to have it start up again. I'm looking forward to seeing familiar faces and catching up with all the questions they have.

It was very interesting to come this week. Really, I've been back in Tyumen for about 36 hours and already prepping for this group is a crazy thought.

There were 8 people and there wasn't much advertising at all because I didn't get here until yesterday. So it was just the really diligent folks who have been calling EVERY week to find out when we start.

Everyone was new. No one came who I'd seen at discussion club before. That was a bit of a disappointment, but then again - how would the folks that I knew even know?

We had a great time of introductions and a somewhat difficult discussion loosely hedging around some political issues. I really don't like politics at all - so I'm not always up on the most current information.

Still no internet at home, so I'll be posting this later.

Life is different

I miss Amy horribly already. After my first morning of jetlag induced sleep, last night was a wreck. I was tired very early, stayed up as late as I could and then woke up before the light was shining. Alas.

I finally dragged myself to the shower and dosed myself with some lovely tea to jump start the day. I armed myself with the Word, grabbed a granola bar, and left the house to go stand in line.

I had to exchange money, pay the electric bill, pay the phone bill (which ended up being easier than all the rest - thanks to good friend Sasha who helped me out... again), get the internet reconnected AND drop off my passport to get registered in Tyumen.

All by 10am. AND the offices don't open until 9am.

So I was running.

Life just takes longer here. Regular errands and typical daily items take hours and sometimes hours and hours. So I was late to drop off my passport, inconvenienced our government contact, was subsequently late for another meeting at the school, and in general felt bad.

The good news is that everyone was really understanding and I need to remember that my sense of western timing isn't the same as the sense of timing that folks here have. It's okay to be a bit late (almost expected by many).

So, it was a successful day after all. I prepped to teach my first day tomorrow. I'm a bit daunted that it's 7.5 HOURS of teaching (literally standing up teaching time). Guess I should get some sleep!

...and ministry begins

So, jetlag woke me up earlier than I'd've liked. So I headed straight to our weekly Sunday service. It was really great to see everyone, and to LEAP back into Russian language. I'll admit there was a bit of a headache moment after the first 2 hours.

So, after the service, I was collecting myself to head home. Igor, one of the young guys that I've been mentoring, asked if he could follow me home. So on the walk he launched into a series of questions, dilemmas, and thoughts that were plaguing him lately.

I was tired, not ready to be speaking, and a bit unprepared for a min!stry moment after being back for only 8 hours.

All the same, G0d is ever faithful and I think the conversation, although hard, was beneficial for him and his walk. It's really hard sometimes to let someone know that they're not making the best decisions and to see their faces drop - but the truth is the truth.

Safe arrival...

It's September 28th, after 2 days of travel, I am back in Tyumen. Amy has a few great opportunities awaiting her in America - so after much thought, consideration and a LOT of pr@yer, we decided to come back separately. So far it's been about 48 hours and it's already tough.

I arrived at 5am this morning, with no internet, no phone, a notice that the power was about to be turned off and something else that escapes me... guess I'll be busy tomorrow (Monday) when all the utilities offices open back up. This is what happens when you leave the country for 10 days and it becomes 26...

Amy is going to help her sister and brother-in-law welcome their first child in about a week! We're really excited and we don't know if it'll be a nephew or a niece. We just know s/he'll be happy and healthy as s/he joins the Cook family!

Amy is also going to be working with two ladies who are coming to join us in November. We're really excited to have them come. They are almost as excited to come as we are to have them! They'll be working with Amy and Victoria (who runs our pregnancy resource center) with a special program for single moms and volunteer training. Amy's going to be connecting with them while she's in the U.S.

Ruth - great lessons in Leadership

So I've been reading quite a bit of John Maxwell's writing lately (I'm in my second book). Well, the cool news is Amy's friend Angie found a copy of the Maxwell Leadership B!ble at the 1/2 off bookstore... I've been reading in it for less than a week and my daily times with G0d have really been transformed. Not only am I enjoying it, but I'm learning so much from this different perspective.

I read through the Book of Ruth today during Amy & my 1/2 day sp!ritual retreat. We heard a serm0n about it yesterday and I was motivated to re-read it. Wow! It is packed with really great leadership lessons. Here are a few of them:

- Maxwell points out that an impeccable work ethic is noticed and attracts people to the leader. This is poignant because we want people to desire to speak with us to hear good news
- Sometimes we are required to leave our comfort zone to do His will. Ruth leaves Moab to serve Naomi and accepts here future there.
- the concepts of filling & emptying, are great to think about.

Visas!

Yes! We've been waiting for nearly 2 weeks and the day has come. As we left Sara & Ryan's to go to our 1/2 day retreat at Eagle Creek park, there it was. A FedEx envelope laying on the ground. Our passports and visas inside! Yes! We get to go back home to Russia.

I also received some incredible news. My classes in Russia aren't starting until 29 September! I've been so worried that my fellow teachers have been covering me for the whole time we've been here for visa renewal. It was such great news and really an answer to pr@yer. I have really been worried about this and am so thankful!!!

Make Today Count

So I'm reading a GREAT book (well, books) by John Maxwell. It's called Today Matters. I love leadership stuff that incorporates scr!ptures. So here's the 12 principles of this book.

12 commitments we should make each day and the Bibl!cal motivation behind them.

1. I will choose and display the right attitude. (Phil 2:3-8)

2. I will determine and act on important priorities. (Eph 5:15-17)

3. I will know and follow healthy guidelines. (I Cor 6:19,20)

4. I will communicate with and care for my family. (I Tim 5:8)

5. I will practice and develop good thinking. (Prov 4:5-9)

6. I will make and keep proper commitments. (Phil 3:12-14)

7. I will earn and properly manage my finances. (Ecc 5:10-20)

8. I will deepen and live out my faith. (Col 2:6-7)

9. I will initiate and invest in solid relationships. (Col 3:12-24)

10. I will plan for and model generosity. (Prov 11:24-28)

11. I will embrace and practice good values. (Ps 119:33-40)

12. I will seek and experience improvements. (I peter 2:1-3)

So that's an overwhelming amount to think about in any given day, let alone every day. So I'm going to try to think about them and maybe focus on one a day with some more emphasis.

I made the list a bit shorter to help me focus:

ATTITUDE
PRIORITIES

GUIDELINES

COMMUNICATE/FAMILY

GOOD THINKING

COMMITMENTS

FINANCES

FAITH

RELATIONSHIPS

GENEROSITY

VALUES

IMPROVEMENTS

I'm going to try to list an idea, thought, todo or commitment for each of these 12 items per day... we'll see how it turns out.

Needing to blog more

you know, I just don't feel like myself when I'm not blogging much. Sorry that things have been a bit busy and crazy of late. Details will be forthcoming about the missing weeks - we're still sorting all that our ourselves.

Wanted to share some cool stuff with you all - check the next post.

No we didn't fall off the planet!

Well, it's been a bit of a whirlwind. We're working on getting our visas renewed and it's been a bit of a hectic time. We found out on Friday almost 3 weeks ago that we were going to have to go to America to renew our visas... So within 5 days we were on a plane.

We were hoping to be here for only 13 days and get back to Russia in time to start teaching and jump into our official Russian lessons. Well, there was a problem with our invitations and they only arrived here in the US yesterday. So our visas will be ready and in our hands only tomorrow. And we've already missed our original flight (it was rescheduled in time for only a minor change fee).

So looks like there is also a slight change to our visa dates (we haven't seen them yet - so don't know exactly). But, they are supposed to be post dated about 5 days from the date of issue -- so we can't leave for home in Russia for another week!