Moscow: First Two Days

Moscow.

God shows up in funny ways sometimes.  I can't seem to get enough sleep since I've been here...funny how quickly you put together a to-do list that's far beyond you.  But I'm trying to be on God's to-do list.  I did some silent/listening prayer (kinda like a "treasure hunt") where I asked God to show me where he wanted me.  One of the things I got was just "Wait."

So we went onto this one campus and prayed and split up but I just kept sitting where we were and prayed...ok...how long do I wait God?  I gave myself five minutes, then looked around...there were just two guys at the other end of the wall I was sitting on...I asked if I could sit down, the first one was a pastor's kid, and he started talking about how he was the only Christian on campus that he knew of besides one girl from his church, and how people don't understand or make fun of him when he talks about God.  As we spoke, four or five other guys came up and I met them as well.  From this group, came people who connected me to people all afternoon.  Dima was the first name I got from praying...I later spent half the afternoon talking to not one but three Dimas about life and God and such...it was a really interesting conversation.  The guy who stuck out to me most was a Muslim from Dagestan who talked about the importance of faith but minimalized the importance of God...most of the group agreed that faith was important for hard times...but more like a coping mechanism than anything else.

The next two names on my list were Chris and Masha.  Although I'd already met Chris, when I got this name I thought to myself that it was crazy that I would meet anyone named Chris here...I'm not sure why God had me hang out with him and his fellow Kansas City friend who were staying in our hostel, but we watched the World Cup and went out to dinner and it was good.  Masha is another name that has come up five times...but the first one was my language coach the next morning and we talked most of the morning, and then I met another one later at the park who I ended up talking to her boyfriend for quite some time because that name was a tip-off for me. 

It's been interesting getting these names and other things, because so far I can't really see how they connect to ministry or the importance of them, but they've definitely kept me alert and open to the Spirit, and also it's been very encouraging that even though mostly I feel tired and just confused by the language, God has me here for a reason.  His power is perfect in our weakness!