Back from Russia

Pri`vet (Hi in Russian).

Welcome back.

I'm home. Still getting used to the time change, something like 13 hours. Sorry I did not post while in Russia. We had no phone lines, no cell phones and we were almost 2 hours away from Moscow out in the woods. But I will write more now that we're here.

Andre, a 9 year old boy who lives with his grandmother touched my life. He slept on the bed next to me and at night we held hands and prayed together before going to bed. His father burned himself with a cigarette while passed out drunk in bed. His mother died of AIDS. He's lived with his grandmother since age 3 and has spent time in an orphanage.

He's the one my tears were for on the last day of camp. As he got on the bus to go back to his home, to a life few of us can imagine, I broke down.

It's good to be home to my wife who was strong through this whole time. Our children did well. I missed them, they missed me. Russia needs Jesus. The need is great among orphans and city people alike. Moscow is a huge secular, glitzy city, masking an underlying problem with AIDS and alcohol. Everyone looks like they stepped out of a fashion magazine, a great contrast to the simple life of camp and orphans. But the need is just as obvious.

The Kremlin was amazing, so was Red Square. Stalin, Lenin, Karl Marx, the Revolution Plaza, the arts theatre, it was all there and it was fascinating, especially for one from Nicaragua and our history with the Sandinistas, Cuba and Russia.

Please pray for our 1st week back. I kept a journal while I was there and will post more of my memories.