Hello all my loyal followers...the 2 of you..including my mom. :) I also would like to stop and say hi to the Grand Rapids Evangelical Free Church!! Word has reached me here in Russia that my blogs are being read by some of you in the church. I'll have you all know that I really miss going to GREFC. Thanks for all you prayers and encouragement! I know that your prayers are helping me survive here! Well, I'm not just "surviving." I am really starting to love Moscow. My weeks are full of things to do and places to go.

On Tuesdays I go to bible study here in Moscow. I have posted a picture of the group at a recent retreat. I love going to Bible study. I have really missed being involved in a challenging study of God's word. (It's also nice to be speaking English!) I started playing guitar for it too. One song that I have kind of taken on as our "theme song" is God of this City. It's a very beautiful song and really applies here in Moscow. I even found the Russian lyrics for it! So we sing it in English and then in Russian for the Russian speakers in the group. The past weekend, about 40 of us from the "YA-YAs" (Young Adults) took a train out to a small town called Snegiri. It was gorgeous!! We were walking into the town and I was amazed to see a house. I haven't seen a house in so long. Haha! We spent time getting to know each other and relaxing. We also had a missionary couple from Alaska spend the weekend with us and they led the Bible studies each day. Oh AND, I was talking to a "young adult" at the retreat. She is Russian and speaks very good English. She asked me where I was from and I said Grand Rapids, MN. She said, "Really??! I go there every summer! Do you know the Durochers?" What a small,small world....Her name is Galina. Someone else might know her too. She comes here during the summer. She's involved with a Bible Camp that is trying to build on Deer Lake. We talked for a while about Grand Rapids. It was so crazy. Of all the places and of all the people to meet in Moscow!

We stayed in a "dacha" which is a country house that most Moscovites have. They work in Moscow during the week and leave for their dacha on the weekends. So it was a great weekend! On Sunday I went for a walk with my friend Julia. We walked to a small lake and in some woods. It was beautiful and looked JUST like Minnesota. Everyone keeps telling me that Moscow region is just like Minnesota. SO anyways, Julia and I stopped in the woods and it was amazing!! We could actually HEAR the leaves falling. I have never heard that before. It sounded like rain but it was different. All around us were yellow leaves falling to the ground. I couldn't believe it and I will never forget it.

The church that I go to on Sundays is called International Christian Fellowship. We meet in a theater school inside the city. There are people from all over the world. There is currently no senior pastor (which is a prayer request). There are elders that take turns preaching every Sunday. It has been a little hard getting used to a new church. I always find myself comparing it to my church in Oklahoma or in Minnesota. But it's a great church full of people from around the world.

But now I'm back in Moscow. Today I had my "open" lesson at school. Anyone in the school can come and watch. I was really nervous and I wasn't feeling good. I just knew that I was going to be eaten alive by these little children. We got into the classroom and there to watch me was the principal, the head of the foreign language department, the head of the early childhood program, the head of the kindergarten, and two of my fellow kindergarten teachers. "Ok, Kristin...calm down. Think happy thoughts. Think of...think of...." and no happy thoughts came to mind when I sat down in front of my class. But prayers were answered and it was the best lesson that I have ever taught here. The children were un-believably well-behaved. They sat and listened and participated and spoke English!! It was such a relief. I was able to show that I actually can teach. I may look like an idiot chasing around children all day..but I'm not! : )

P.S. GO VIKINGS!