SUMMER RECAP: VII

One of the neatest and most unexpected part about this summer was my interaction with fifteen Russians that were also lifeguards. They were all on work and travel visas and God gave us an awesome opportunity to minister to them. Constant pressure from our boss and higher standards for them made working at the Lagoon difficult for them. Crusaders were practically the only Americans in our work area that had shown them kindness or love. Most Russians come from religious backgrounds that didn't really think of christianity as a relationship with God. 

(Matt, the Russians, and I Left to Right: Matt, Andrey, Ty, Bulat, Sergey, and Vaschilly)

Matt (another Crusader) and I went out of our way to learn the language and customs of their life and were later bold in sharing the name of Jesus. None of them accpeted Christ, but we both learned a lot about sharing with someone from that culture. These people, both the guys and gals, were our friends and we defintely had an impact on them. Matt is thinking about going to Russia this summer and it is clear that he has a heart for the people of Russia. We were both spekaing Russian well, but Matt was reading it better than I was. 

I never wanted anything to do with Russia and often thought of it as a boring country, having close friends from there changes. Matt and I also learned that Russian people have access to many countries that Americans do not. The need for the Gospel in Russia is clear to me now.