Why Russia?

Russia is one of those places you either love or hate – or even both, but I’m not sure that you can feel mediocrity about it. It’s a land of extremes. Extreme temperatures, extreme wealth, extreme poverty, dramatically turbulent history, dictatorships, harsh living and dying (think rampant alcoholism and an average life expectancy for men of around 59), amazing beauty, and conversely at times – an amazing disrespect for nature. And, let’s not forget that Russia is known for extreme bureaucracy!
The fact that Nickolai is Russian probably helps to explain his heart for this rather, um, challenging place, but mine?
I first went to Russia when I was 21. My church at the time often had a short term mission going to China that I had an opportunity to go on. While it sounded interesting, it didn’t particularly stir my heart. But then I was told that there were plans to take a team to Russia. Something leapt inside me and I just knew I wanted to go. I worked like crazy to save for the trip and we left for my first overseas trip on my 21st birthday – what a present!
The moment we stepped off the plane onto Russian soil I knew I was ‘doomed’. A piece of my heart would always be in this Russian Wonderland. I could not even explain the fascination, because the next three weeks I spent being shocked at how different life was there and increasingly frustrated by so many things. And yet Russia gets under your skin.
I knew I had to come back, and I did. A year later I returned with another team and the sense of destiny was the same. This was the trip when I met my husband – a story for another day . It was most definitely not even one of my remotest thoughts to marry a Russian, but it helped to confirm to me that Russia was meant to be a big part of my life.
The following year, Nickolai and I got married in Australia, and 15 years later, here we still are. Four children and a handful of short trips back to Russia later, it’s just never been the right time to go (having small children does manage to consume a lot of time and energy, I’ve discovered!) But things are changing and we believe God is stirring us to go.
We’re still not sure exactly when, but much sooner rather than later. And we’re still not sure exactly how, or what He wants us to do there, or for how long at this time. We have so many questions for Him, but we trust that He will open and close the right doors as we obey His calling. It is a very big step to be considering, especially as our children will be along for the journey. That is why we really covet your prayers. Please pray that God will make things really clear for us, and that the way will be smooth. I can’t wait to see what God has in store!

Yes, I'm a dreamer...

If you’ve known me for a while, you’ll know that I’m a dreamer. This drives my husband nuts. Idea after idea, some even started, few finished.

Unfortunately I have several dreams and I can’t seem to find a way to make them blend seamlessly. Some of you may know that I really want to go back to study and complete a PhD in Linguistics (ok, so who am I kidding that I can do that with 4 kids? – I’ve humbly admitted I need to put that on the back burner); I’d love to start a small business that I could grow to help support us on the mission field and challenge my creativity; I desperately would like us to be able to get into the real estate market and I feel like I’m watching the ‘Aussie Dream’ disintegrate in front of my eyes; I want to get back into music; and I want to shine the light of Jesus in Russia – with my family. I’ve come to the place where I realise I can’t have it all at once and so I’m going to have to work out what order to do it in. I know I need to pick one dream to pursue and revisit the other stuff later, or risk never seeing any of those dreams coming to fruition.

Some time ago we did an analysis of our strengths. My DH is an activator, an achiever. Some of my strengths are ideation, intellection and input (collecting things – mainly information in my case). His main strengths are ‘doing’ kinds of things. Mine (maybe not surprisingly!) are the ‘thinking’ kind. Theoretically a great combination if we can get it together, but I don’t blame DH for being a little beyond believing that any of my ideas will actually come to fruition, let alone completion.

So that is why I’ve started this blog and I’m asking you to journey with me (us). I hope to finally see this dream - to reach beyond our nation of Australia - rise beyond the realm of my imagination and into reality. For that I need accountability. If I have that, I know I can do things. I don’t like it, but I know I thrive under pressure.

For various reasons, that I’m sure I’ll discuss as this blog meanders on (and not the least of which being that my older children soon won’t be children!), I really believe now is the time to stop thinking and talking about this, and to start acting. Please pray for us as we start exploring the options available to us that God will grant us wisdom and open and close the doors that will help lead us in the direction of our destiny.