A Few Adventures from Last Week

This week has been a bit of a busy blur, but I was able to fit in a few fun things in. Ready. Set. Go.

1) Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge Disney fan. So is my wife. There are times that we rival each other in how much we are Disney fans but for the most part, I usually win. Anyway, this week was opening week for Disney's new movie Big Hero 6.

**Images from @DisneyPictures

We saw the movie with some friends that we hadn't seen in a few months. It was really good to reconnect.

The movie was really good. We laughed and even cried. I'll be honest I'm a crier when it comes to movies. I don't cry at the typical girl movies like where the guy gets the girl or something like that but when it comes to the main character overcoming emotional obstacles or losing a loved one and really grieving and then rising to a challenge then I probably will cry and emotional music never helps. :-)

Ok back to the movie night with friends. We started our evening at Panera Bread. They have these BBQ Chicken Flatbread sandwiches and they are Sooo good. (I wish old have gotten a picture of it but I failed to do so. Next time I go I'll take one.) After dinner we walked in the cold to the movie theater. Fortunately, we only had to walk across the parking lot. We almost didn't get to see the movie because of projector problems but fortunately by the time we got there it was fixed.

After the movie my wife and I wanted to get pictures with the inflatable Baymax character in the movie theater lobby.

2) The next morning we had breakfast at a quaint little cafe in with a friend of mine from Novosibirsk, Russia. I met him in 2010 during a mission trip to Novosibirsk. A little background on why I went to Russia on a mission trip.

I went with an organization called Youth Reach International. They are an organization that works with orphans in Novosibirsk, Russia and Belarus. To be an orphan in Russia is to be labelled less than a third-class citizen and/or handicapped. The thing is, none of these kids did anything to deserve this status label. Some of these kids are products of orphans and some aren’t orphans in the traditional sense as in their parents passed away, but they are orphans because one or both of their parents are in the prison system for one reason or another. The problem is several fold. These kids are brought up to believe that they are basically worthless and have no value what-so-ever. This causes them to spiral into destructive behaviors and believe the lies that they have been told.

10% of Russian orphans will commit suicide

40% of Russian orphans will turn to drugs and/or alcohol

60% of Russian orphans will be jobless and homeless

Given the fact that these orphans are released into society at the age of 16, consider that 86% of the people (in the entire world, not only the former Soviet Union) who accept Christ do so prior to the age of 14.

The trip was so expensive that I had to raise support for it. It was the most humbling experience that I have ever done because I am the type of person that doesn’t really like to ask for help or ask for money or anything for that matter. This was very hard for me to do and the best part was that God was very awesome in blessing me and it was so awesome to see people giving. I’ll admit that I was in a really rough spot during this time and I was not very good at letting those who gave me support know what happened or how things went. If you would like to read my support letter please follow this link you can also see the photo card that I included with every support letter.

As a brief summary of what we did while we were there, we met with daily with the orphans at St. Nicholas Orphanage along with the mentors. Mentors are Russian young adults, usually college age, who have either grown up as orphans and were impacted by the YouthReach program or people that have a heart to help orphans. These mentors are key in impacting the lives of the Russian youth. Basically you can think of it as a Big Brothers and Big Sisters program for Russia.


If they have that program, then why did I go over? Well, good question! Americans are a novelty. We go over to Russia to aid in the continued relationship between mentor and orphan or help one get started. For a week myself and the team that I was with, would have craft sessions and story time and sharing of stories and experiences, which was VERY hard to understand as I don’t really speak Russian. The week went by fast and the last day we all gathered for a group picture. It was sad to go and Russians have a special place in my heart.

When I got home, I needed to do something. After being impacted like I was I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. So I decided to support my friend Ruslan. He is the Director of Russian Operations and now oversees the new operations in Belarus. This week he was in town visiting friends and supporters. My wife and I met him for breakfast. We heard all about what is going on in Russia and had a great time catching up as well.

I’m also including a slideshow of pics from my trip to Russia.
Please note this slideshow does not work on iOS devices such as Apple iPhone or iPad. To view the photos in the gallery please follow THIS LINK HERE .