random ramblings

Ok. Maybe not so random...but definitely my ramblings! I just wanted to share about my day yesterday- fun and exciting! Yesterday morning/afternoon Carolina and I headed over to the teaching college here to meet with some students. They prepared 2 hours of activities to do with us so we could interact in English. (All the students we meet with are studying to be English teachers and only 2 of them had ever before spoken with a native speaker!). We played games an enjoyed fellowship over tea and sweets. They asked us tons of questions about how we celebrate Christmas- and we even had a great opportunity to share the Gospel very simply! Going into yesterday I didn't foresee having that opportunity- but God just set it up perfectly to present a very simple Gospel message to the 20 students and 2 teachers we were with! Wow... so- we had to hurry home shortly after 2 b/c my tutor was coming. The traffic was terrible and as my lesson was supposed to be starting (and we were still several blocks from our house and at least 15 minutes away) my phone rang - it was Lena, my tutor, saying she was running late... :) So, I made it home before she got there and still had a few minutes to spare to eat a yoga rt for lunch! After my lesson we had dinner (that was cooking in the crock pot all afternoon- hurray) and then Sveta was supposed to come. Sveta is a student from English Cafe that I have been trying to connect with for quite some time now. She speaks very very very little English (she is actually studying German at the teaching college). She asked me, while we were at the college, is she could come over and use our computer tonight to finish a project for one of her finals. (Very few students have personal computers and the college doesn't have a computer lab). So, we agreed she would come at 6... but she was late b/c of traffic and arrived shortly after 7... with her MOM! Yep... didn't see that coming! Her mom is in the city for a few days... so as Sveta was working on her project with JB I got to sit and talk to her mom, Lyuba, for 3 hours. At this point my mind was completely gone from speaking in Russian nearly all day between all the time at the college and during my lesson... but God is sufficient- always! After 3 hours we had talked about everything from television, to children, to school, the weather, to american culture. She of coursed asked me the million dollar question "what are you doing here?"... which led to her asking me what church we go to and what we believe. So, I got to spend a half hour sharing the Gospel with Lyuba! She was super interested and very glad that her daughter would choose to spend time with us. Little tid bit about Lyuba- she's a stenographer. I think she's the only stenographer I have ever met... but now I have a notebook filled with russian stenography! She showed me the whole alphabet and was starting to teach me all about stenography. Hm. Interesting. Anyway... as unpleasantly surprised as I was when she showed up with Sveta- I was glad to have had the opportunity to share the Gospel with her. Again... It's amazing how God plans and orchestrates our lives.

Today- we did some last minute holiday grocery shopping, wrapped all our gifts, watched a few Christmas movies, JB went to his class, and I made all the cookie dough for tomorrow when Anya and Natalia are coming over to make Christmas cookies with me for English Cafe here on Saturday night... it will be interesting to see how us three will cram into our itty-bitty kitchen! But, we'll make it work somehow!

Look for cookie pictures very soon! Till then, ta ta!