The other day a friend asked me if I knew some games to play with kids. I said well, some I know…. and with that I was already signed up to run the games in a Christian kids camp in Vladivostok. No one really knew how many kids would be there – we have also never been working with that church before, so it was quite interesting. There were about 20-30 kids form the ages 5 and up. To lead games is usually my least favorite part to do in kids programs, but this time it was really fun. Masha was playing with the younger kids while I was assigned to the older ones.

It is Saturday afternoon now and we have just cleaned the apartment. Today is our day off and we plan to go to the beach. Vladivostok is surrounded by the ocean, but in the city itself the water is pretty polluted, it even has a sign ; no swimming (which doesn’t mean anything here in Russia). But there is part of a beach about 40 min drive from here, where it is quite nice – but every one else with a car thinks the same thing – so it is usually quite crowded. But even that I do not mind, since I am sweating, just sitting in front of my faithful pink apple laptop.

After a pretty intense time of ministry we were able to take a few days off! My two friends from Switzerland were coming to visit us here in the Far East and that was the perfect opportunity to rent a car and drive up to Mashas parents Dacha (something like a Summer garden). This was my first time driving a car with the wheel on its right side. Here most of the cars are imported from Japan, but we still drive on the right side of the road. Every time I wanted to put on the indicator I first wiped the front window, because the switches are opposite side.

The grandmothers and grandfathers have been waiting for us on the bench outside the home. Our friend, pastor Ruslan, had told them that we would be coming. As soon as they saw us their faces lit up. Babushka Serafima smiled and gave me a big kiss as I hugged her. Over the past visits she and I have become really close. Originally she is form Moldova, so she speaks with an accent, too. Babushka Vera is glad to see us, too. Apparently she had been drinking again, but now she seems more or less sober. ‘How are you doing?” I asked.

Who would have thought that it is so difficult to be the leader of five boys for one week of camp? Because there wasn’t enough Russian speaking staff I was appointed to be the leader of the boys group (I had some awesome non-Russian speaking guy helpers). These are not the nice polite kind of boys. One of them hasn’t gone to school for about two years, just because he doesn’t want to. He definitely has a problem with rules and discipline.

9th of May: probably the biggest holiday in Russia. Flags everywhere, people smiling, kids holding balloons, eating shashlik outside, watching parades and so on. My friend Masha and I went to a small town 250km north of Vladivostok - Mashas hometown. The same thing: everyone is happy that today 65 years ago Russia defeated Germany.

Right now I am in Mongolia with our Discipleship Training School (DTS). We arrived here about 10 days ago, after 3 days on the train and another 13h on the bus:-). It was great how the people here met us and helped us getting around. As soon as we could we went to the embassy to apply for visas to got to the next country. We found out that Russians can't receive a visa for that country in Mongolia! What should we do now? We had no idea and we prayed a lot. There was only one last option to get a certain document, which we don't really qualify to get that.

Again a blog from Moscow Mc Donalds. It does have free Wifi, but it is really slow. I have just received all the Mongolian visas for our team. I had to travel to Moscow to hand in all the applications and passports for the Visa. Of course they won’t let you do that that easy: first I had to get the power of attorney from each student. That was ok for the Russian students, but there is one girl from Finland.

This is the last day of the communication seminar in Perm. Ten days we studied all kinds of communication and I realized that communication is quite an important thing in life - and it's changing all the time! Now I know how to take good pictures, make video clips or write blogs:-). But the best thing is: I have created a new YWAM Vladivostok website! You should all have a look at it: www.ywamvladivostok.org! Thank God that my apple computer is smart and has a good program that did most of the stuff! You can also read my blog on the Vladivostok website now.

Two days ago we finished off our MISSION BRIDGE 2009! This was the first project of YWAM Vladivostok and it was awesome! We had 12 participants from three different churches – all wonderful people!

Hi again!
I think the Airport is a good place to write my blog. There is nothing else to do than just wait - usually for several hours. A good thing that the YWAM Russia national office team is planning to move to Moscow soon. It's such an important world city! One can almost say: all flights go through Moscow.

Last week it was so dirty on the sidewalk that I had to take a different way home. Tying to find my way through the paddles I almost bumped into a young girl. Turns out it was Irina - she used to come to Kids club and later to out girls club at the base. And then we lost touch and I haven't seen her around for almost two years. We had a long talk in the midst of that mud. She realized that she really needs God in her life. She even went to church the week before all by herself! I invited her for Thursday night service at our base and for dinner. She said she will see.