When our group begin planning for our mission trip about three years ago, one of the things that was highlighted to us was that we would be planning and preparing for a retreat for pastors and their wives somewhere in Russia. At the time, we didn't really know where in Russia that would be, or what all would be involved. We did, however, know that we and our congregations in the United States would take it upon ourselves to cover the costs, not only of the retreat, but of the transportation for the various pastors and wives who would be in attendance.
That seems like a rather significant challenge, and the truth is, it really was a challenge. We would not only be providing for our costs to travel, eat, sleep, and the like while in Russia, but we would also be covering costs for others. We actually chose that because we wanted something that would challenge and stretch us. We didn't want to simply arrive in a country, help with an already-established ministry, and then leave. We wanted to be active in planning and preparing, and to really make sure that the trip would have an impact on us, as well as require us to go above and beyond ourselves.
Thus, when the retreat on the shores of Lake Baikal began on Thursday, July 21, we came to the major point of our mission trip. These church leaders and wives were the reason we had chosen this particular trip. This retreat and conference was about them, making sure that we were there to serve them, and to help build them up and encourage them as they carried on the task of ministering to people with God's good news. This is what we had been building up to for almost three full years.
Day one of the retreat featured a focus on developing and growing in prayer life. It was led by Randy, one of the pastors of our group. Following breakfast, we had a four hour time slot devoted to learning together. So we gathered together in one room in the retreat center, and Randy began to teach us.
One of the interesting parts of this retreat was the need for translators. The seven of us from the United States barely knew any words in Russian. While quite a few of the Russians had some level of English, the entire conference would need to be translated. Thus, we had hired two translators to be part of our retreat, translating sentence by sentence everything that was to be shared throughout the five days of the retreat.
Randy discussed several ways for all of us to grow in our prayer lives. Not only did he emphasize the need for prayer, but he also gave several practical ideas on how to make our prayer lives even more vibrant than what they may already be. Randy quickly became adept at speaking with a translator, and it was generally amazing to see how focused everyone was on the subject. Even though we pretty much sat together for the full four hours, the time seemed to fly by.
Having given us several different resources, Randy mentioned that we could take some of the afternoon time to actually go and practice this. We had intentionally left the afternoons open, both to allow free time, but to also give the Russians time together. They are so spread out in the places where they serve, and they get to see each other so infrequently, that we wanted to make sure that they had time to spend together. That was what each afternoon was dedicated toward, and it seemed to fulfill that purpose nicely.
However, not all of us wanted to simply sit around and talk. Just about 100 meters, or the length of a football field, away lay the deepest freshwater lake in the world. How many times would I have the opportunity to say that I went swimming in the largest freshwater lake in the world? So, several of the Russians, and a couple of us Americans, made our way down to the side of the lake, swimming clothes at the ready.
Let me just say that this lake was rather chilly. Along the shallow shores, the temperature may have been in the 60s (good thing it was a warm, sunny day). However, as you moved further out, it got colder. Having walked about another 100 meters out, the water begin to get up to about my waist. It had probably dropped a good 5-10 degrees, too! Yet, my friend Slava challenged me to go even further. So we finally made it out to where the water was up to our chins (which dropped the temperature another good 5-10 degrees!). It was chilly, but after swimming around in it for a while, I found that I actually got fairly used to it.
After swimming around a little bit, I made my way to the shore, where my wife and a few others were standing. As we made our way back to the shore, it was a very interesting sight. In Russia, especially in agricultural areas like where we were staying, fences are fairly rare. To get down to the lake, we had to walk through a herd of horses. So now, as we were making our way back to the shore, there was another herd, this one of cows, just meandering their way along the shore (and leaving all of the tell-tale signs that cows had been there!). A couple were even walking a little bit out into the lake, as though they were ready for a swim, too!
After warming up a bit, Slava decided that we should go back into the lake. This time we went all the way out to where our feet weren't touching anymore. It was another exhilarating experience, and is one that I will never forget. After all, how many Americans can say they have swam in the largest freshwater lake in the world, in Siberia?
This would not be the last adventure we had in the afternoons, but this one was perhaps one of the most fun. It was great to spend time with our friends and get to know them. And then, after dinner that evening (which began at 7:00), we had our reflection time of the day. We had a devotion for the evening, and spent a little more time talking with one another and sharing stories of our prayer lives as well.
That afternoon, Carrie and I also had a little chore to attend to. We had been traveling for several days, and had brought along a limited number of clothing options. So our free time that afternoon found us doing laundry in the bathtub in our room! It actually went pretty well, as we had brought along some detergent, and then I, on my hands and knees, performed the function of the washing machine. After washing and rinsing out the clothes, we hung them around our room and out on the balcony to dry for a while, and then went on our adventure down to the lake.
That evening, I have to admit that I was pretty tired. However, I found it tough to go to sleep. In earlier posts, I have mentioned that we were so far north that the sun did not go down for very long each night. The same was true for where we were in Siberia. The sun probably didn't truly go down until around 1:00, and came back up shortly after 4:00. Since I am a person who sleeps according to sunlight, that meant that I didn't sleep very much that night. It also didn't help that we had not fully overcome the effects of moving 5 time zones further east, either!
The next day was a day designated for me to lead the men, and for Carrie to do a separate session with the women of the group. So, after breakfast, the men gathered in the same room, and the women gathered in a room in another building of the retreat center. My focus on the day was our identity as Christians, and specifically, I wanted to bring out a few thoughts and ideas on how to grow in this even when we may live in isolated areas without much connection with our fellow Christians.
Right from the beginning of this session, I discovered one of the challenges of translation. We may tend to think that words simply have another word to describe them in another language. But I quickly discovered that this is not the case. The word "identity" seemed not to have a direct correlation, at least, not in the way that I was hoping for. I've noticed this challenge from time to time in some of the other languages that I have learned, and recognize that any word which is not a specific "thing" may be a bit more difficult to translate. For example, we cannot simply point to something and say "this is an identity" like we can with, say, a rock or a car. There is more of a concept rather than a thing, and translating concepts is much more challenging than translating words for things.
I also discovered that my whole presentation, while received quite well, had a number of these concepts that required much more explanation than I had thought would be necessary. I spoke on how we grow in not only our understanding, but our living out what the Bible says. We first pray for God to have us know the meaning of what we are reading, then we read parts of the Bible that may speak about the topic we are interested in, and then we see how we may struggle to bring our lives in line with what God says in the Bible. I found that words such as challenge, struggle, and difficulty are words that are not easily translated, which led to the need for extra time to explain what I was trying to convey. I still do wonder if I made myself understood or not.
Carrie led the women in some time together, and it seems that women tend to bond quicker than men. Carrie's overall theme was to develop spiritual growth ideas for the women, especially since they tend to be even more isolated than the men. She discovered that there is a lot of room for opportunity and growth, and the women enjoyed their time so much that they would actually schedule extra time together over the next few days.
That afternoon it turned a bit rainy and wet. But that didn't stop the adventures. Slava, the same one who went swimming the day before in the lake, wanted to go for a walk. So Carrie and I decided to go along with him. We started walking toward a post office, which was only about a kilometer away. We wanted to mail a couple of postcards, but found that they didn't have the proper postage for our cards. So we kept on walking.
We left the small village our resort was in, and found ourselves walking through the woods. However, as we hit the edge of town, we had an unexpected surprise. There was a pack of dogs, and they were all fighting with each other. It was pretty vicious, too. I really did think they were trying to kill one of the dogs, and was afraid that they might see us as some kind of threat. Thankfully, we made it past with no problems.
We walked through the woods for a couple more kilometers before we came to the next little village. Right at the outskirts of the village was a bridge leading over a decent sized river. We crossed over it right as a large truck carrying lumber came up to it. However, the truck was too heavy to cross the bridge, so he did the next best thing: he went on this little side road through the river. It wasn't really that deep, but it was fun to watch.
We made our way into the little village, with the plan to walk back toward our resort along the side of the lake. Along the way, we met a few interesting people. Of course, we relied upon Slava to translate for us (his English was pretty good!). We met one lady who shared some of the history of the village with us. We also saw a sign up with fish for sale. We noticed that Slava kept looking back at the sign even after we had passed. We followed the road down to the lake, where it was very windy, and where a slight shower had started.
As we walked along the shore, the thought suddenly hit me. We had crossed over a river. To get back, we would have to cross over that same river. I wondered if there would be a way to do it. As we got closer, we discovered that there wasn't. There were a couple of canoes that someone had left there, but we didn't think it would be right to "borrow" them to get across the river, which was narrower, but deeper at this point. That also meant that we couldn't just walk across. It was at least 5-6 feet deeper at the shallowest place. So we had no choice but to turn back and return the way we had come.
So we followed the road back into the village. As we passed the house with the fish for sale sign, Slava again kept looking it at it. Then, the man of the house came out and started up his car. His son climbed into the car. Suddenly, Slava took off running back for the house. He started having a conversation with the man, and waved as the two of us to come back. Just as we got to the house, Slava and the man went into his yard, where the man was showing off his fish. Slava seemed to be telling him that he wanted some. So the man pulled out a couple of different fish and gave them to Slava. All this time, they were chatting away.
Finally, the man wrapped up the fish, but we had seen no money change hands. Then, as we walked out of the yard, the man indicated that we should get in his car. He then proceeded to give us a ride back to our resort. Carrie and I sat in the backseat with the little boy, while Slava and the man rode in the front and chatted the whole way. He dropped us off, and Slava left him 50 rubles (to get something for his son, Slava said). We asked Slava if it was common for people to be so nice, and he assured us that this kind of thing happened all the time in Siberia. We were amazed!
That evening, we had another good time for devotion and reflection. After our devotion, the women went to continue their sessions together, while we men reflected on this process of growing as Christians. A number of helpful suggestions were made, and a few even gave some feedback to me for consideration. We also shared a number of stories on ways that we had been challenged to grow, which I find is still a necessity, even after 10 years in my career.
Perhaps the most meaningful thing for me about this whole day was the interactivity of the men. I intentionally set up my presentation to give them time to talk in groups. I had no idea that this would be such a good thing. Every time I had to break into their discussion to move to the next point, I could see that they were really getting into the discussions. More than anything, I hope and pray that I provided a few things to help them grow in their spiritual walks.
That seems like a rather significant challenge, and the truth is, it really was a challenge. We would not only be providing for our costs to travel, eat, sleep, and the like while in Russia, but we would also be covering costs for others. We actually chose that because we wanted something that would challenge and stretch us. We didn't want to simply arrive in a country, help with an already-established ministry, and then leave. We wanted to be active in planning and preparing, and to really make sure that the trip would have an impact on us, as well as require us to go above and beyond ourselves.
Thus, when the retreat on the shores of Lake Baikal began on Thursday, July 21, we came to the major point of our mission trip. These church leaders and wives were the reason we had chosen this particular trip. This retreat and conference was about them, making sure that we were there to serve them, and to help build them up and encourage them as they carried on the task of ministering to people with God's good news. This is what we had been building up to for almost three full years.
Day one of the retreat featured a focus on developing and growing in prayer life. It was led by Randy, one of the pastors of our group. Following breakfast, we had a four hour time slot devoted to learning together. So we gathered together in one room in the retreat center, and Randy began to teach us.
One of the interesting parts of this retreat was the need for translators. The seven of us from the United States barely knew any words in Russian. While quite a few of the Russians had some level of English, the entire conference would need to be translated. Thus, we had hired two translators to be part of our retreat, translating sentence by sentence everything that was to be shared throughout the five days of the retreat.
Randy discussed several ways for all of us to grow in our prayer lives. Not only did he emphasize the need for prayer, but he also gave several practical ideas on how to make our prayer lives even more vibrant than what they may already be. Randy quickly became adept at speaking with a translator, and it was generally amazing to see how focused everyone was on the subject. Even though we pretty much sat together for the full four hours, the time seemed to fly by.
Having given us several different resources, Randy mentioned that we could take some of the afternoon time to actually go and practice this. We had intentionally left the afternoons open, both to allow free time, but to also give the Russians time together. They are so spread out in the places where they serve, and they get to see each other so infrequently, that we wanted to make sure that they had time to spend together. That was what each afternoon was dedicated toward, and it seemed to fulfill that purpose nicely.
However, not all of us wanted to simply sit around and talk. Just about 100 meters, or the length of a football field, away lay the deepest freshwater lake in the world. How many times would I have the opportunity to say that I went swimming in the largest freshwater lake in the world? So, several of the Russians, and a couple of us Americans, made our way down to the side of the lake, swimming clothes at the ready.
Let me just say that this lake was rather chilly. Along the shallow shores, the temperature may have been in the 60s (good thing it was a warm, sunny day). However, as you moved further out, it got colder. Having walked about another 100 meters out, the water begin to get up to about my waist. It had probably dropped a good 5-10 degrees, too! Yet, my friend Slava challenged me to go even further. So we finally made it out to where the water was up to our chins (which dropped the temperature another good 5-10 degrees!). It was chilly, but after swimming around in it for a while, I found that I actually got fairly used to it.
After swimming around a little bit, I made my way to the shore, where my wife and a few others were standing. As we made our way back to the shore, it was a very interesting sight. In Russia, especially in agricultural areas like where we were staying, fences are fairly rare. To get down to the lake, we had to walk through a herd of horses. So now, as we were making our way back to the shore, there was another herd, this one of cows, just meandering their way along the shore (and leaving all of the tell-tale signs that cows had been there!). A couple were even walking a little bit out into the lake, as though they were ready for a swim, too!
After warming up a bit, Slava decided that we should go back into the lake. This time we went all the way out to where our feet weren't touching anymore. It was another exhilarating experience, and is one that I will never forget. After all, how many Americans can say they have swam in the largest freshwater lake in the world, in Siberia?
This would not be the last adventure we had in the afternoons, but this one was perhaps one of the most fun. It was great to spend time with our friends and get to know them. And then, after dinner that evening (which began at 7:00), we had our reflection time of the day. We had a devotion for the evening, and spent a little more time talking with one another and sharing stories of our prayer lives as well.
That afternoon, Carrie and I also had a little chore to attend to. We had been traveling for several days, and had brought along a limited number of clothing options. So our free time that afternoon found us doing laundry in the bathtub in our room! It actually went pretty well, as we had brought along some detergent, and then I, on my hands and knees, performed the function of the washing machine. After washing and rinsing out the clothes, we hung them around our room and out on the balcony to dry for a while, and then went on our adventure down to the lake.
That evening, I have to admit that I was pretty tired. However, I found it tough to go to sleep. In earlier posts, I have mentioned that we were so far north that the sun did not go down for very long each night. The same was true for where we were in Siberia. The sun probably didn't truly go down until around 1:00, and came back up shortly after 4:00. Since I am a person who sleeps according to sunlight, that meant that I didn't sleep very much that night. It also didn't help that we had not fully overcome the effects of moving 5 time zones further east, either!
The next day was a day designated for me to lead the men, and for Carrie to do a separate session with the women of the group. So, after breakfast, the men gathered in the same room, and the women gathered in a room in another building of the retreat center. My focus on the day was our identity as Christians, and specifically, I wanted to bring out a few thoughts and ideas on how to grow in this even when we may live in isolated areas without much connection with our fellow Christians.
Right from the beginning of this session, I discovered one of the challenges of translation. We may tend to think that words simply have another word to describe them in another language. But I quickly discovered that this is not the case. The word "identity" seemed not to have a direct correlation, at least, not in the way that I was hoping for. I've noticed this challenge from time to time in some of the other languages that I have learned, and recognize that any word which is not a specific "thing" may be a bit more difficult to translate. For example, we cannot simply point to something and say "this is an identity" like we can with, say, a rock or a car. There is more of a concept rather than a thing, and translating concepts is much more challenging than translating words for things.
I also discovered that my whole presentation, while received quite well, had a number of these concepts that required much more explanation than I had thought would be necessary. I spoke on how we grow in not only our understanding, but our living out what the Bible says. We first pray for God to have us know the meaning of what we are reading, then we read parts of the Bible that may speak about the topic we are interested in, and then we see how we may struggle to bring our lives in line with what God says in the Bible. I found that words such as challenge, struggle, and difficulty are words that are not easily translated, which led to the need for extra time to explain what I was trying to convey. I still do wonder if I made myself understood or not.
Carrie led the women in some time together, and it seems that women tend to bond quicker than men. Carrie's overall theme was to develop spiritual growth ideas for the women, especially since they tend to be even more isolated than the men. She discovered that there is a lot of room for opportunity and growth, and the women enjoyed their time so much that they would actually schedule extra time together over the next few days.
That afternoon it turned a bit rainy and wet. But that didn't stop the adventures. Slava, the same one who went swimming the day before in the lake, wanted to go for a walk. So Carrie and I decided to go along with him. We started walking toward a post office, which was only about a kilometer away. We wanted to mail a couple of postcards, but found that they didn't have the proper postage for our cards. So we kept on walking.
We left the small village our resort was in, and found ourselves walking through the woods. However, as we hit the edge of town, we had an unexpected surprise. There was a pack of dogs, and they were all fighting with each other. It was pretty vicious, too. I really did think they were trying to kill one of the dogs, and was afraid that they might see us as some kind of threat. Thankfully, we made it past with no problems.
We walked through the woods for a couple more kilometers before we came to the next little village. Right at the outskirts of the village was a bridge leading over a decent sized river. We crossed over it right as a large truck carrying lumber came up to it. However, the truck was too heavy to cross the bridge, so he did the next best thing: he went on this little side road through the river. It wasn't really that deep, but it was fun to watch.
We made our way into the little village, with the plan to walk back toward our resort along the side of the lake. Along the way, we met a few interesting people. Of course, we relied upon Slava to translate for us (his English was pretty good!). We met one lady who shared some of the history of the village with us. We also saw a sign up with fish for sale. We noticed that Slava kept looking back at the sign even after we had passed. We followed the road down to the lake, where it was very windy, and where a slight shower had started.
As we walked along the shore, the thought suddenly hit me. We had crossed over a river. To get back, we would have to cross over that same river. I wondered if there would be a way to do it. As we got closer, we discovered that there wasn't. There were a couple of canoes that someone had left there, but we didn't think it would be right to "borrow" them to get across the river, which was narrower, but deeper at this point. That also meant that we couldn't just walk across. It was at least 5-6 feet deeper at the shallowest place. So we had no choice but to turn back and return the way we had come.
So we followed the road back into the village. As we passed the house with the fish for sale sign, Slava again kept looking it at it. Then, the man of the house came out and started up his car. His son climbed into the car. Suddenly, Slava took off running back for the house. He started having a conversation with the man, and waved as the two of us to come back. Just as we got to the house, Slava and the man went into his yard, where the man was showing off his fish. Slava seemed to be telling him that he wanted some. So the man pulled out a couple of different fish and gave them to Slava. All this time, they were chatting away.
Finally, the man wrapped up the fish, but we had seen no money change hands. Then, as we walked out of the yard, the man indicated that we should get in his car. He then proceeded to give us a ride back to our resort. Carrie and I sat in the backseat with the little boy, while Slava and the man rode in the front and chatted the whole way. He dropped us off, and Slava left him 50 rubles (to get something for his son, Slava said). We asked Slava if it was common for people to be so nice, and he assured us that this kind of thing happened all the time in Siberia. We were amazed!
That evening, we had another good time for devotion and reflection. After our devotion, the women went to continue their sessions together, while we men reflected on this process of growing as Christians. A number of helpful suggestions were made, and a few even gave some feedback to me for consideration. We also shared a number of stories on ways that we had been challenged to grow, which I find is still a necessity, even after 10 years in my career.
Perhaps the most meaningful thing for me about this whole day was the interactivity of the men. I intentionally set up my presentation to give them time to talk in groups. I had no idea that this would be such a good thing. Every time I had to break into their discussion to move to the next point, I could see that they were really getting into the discussions. More than anything, I hope and pray that I provided a few things to help them grow in their spiritual walks.
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