Good Bye Profilac, Hello Russian Family!

I just recently moved out of the Profilactory, which was the dormitory I was living in for the past eight weeks. I am now residing with my Russian family that consists of my Mama and my Sistra and my Papa. It is a three bedroom apartment on the top level. I genuinely feel part of their family. They treat as if I was really their daughter, and go out of their way (at least from my western perspective) to make me comfortable. I have learned, however, that the Russian culture is extremely communal, and it is embedded in their nature to look out and care for one another, even if they are a complete stranger. I am not sure how exactly I feel at any given moment here in Russia so far...Everyday is a new experience, a new conversation, a new discovery. It is as if I were a sponge in a river, simply soaking up everything that comes at me. Only time will tell all that I have learned from Russia, and the lessons that it has bestowed upon me.
At the moment, I am winding down on classes. Today was the last day of Russian language, and Russia in Transition seminar. Next week is my accumulative final for Russian Language AND all of my seminar classes, as well as my 15 page research paper. I may just cry from all the pressure this coming weekend and week are going to push me too, but I know that God only tests me as much as I can bear, so I will trust in Him and press forward and work hard.
I am finding it difficult to look at the here and now, when there is so much coming up in my life in the next 4 months!After Wednesday, our RSP group will have its last 5 days in this beautiful city that we have all come to know and love as Nizhini Novgorod, and depart from our Russian friends and family and travel on a 16 hour train ride to St.Petersburg, where we will be tourists once again, and spend our last 10 days in Russia (and together). I have cultivated amazing friendships on this journey, and will dearly miss every single person I have met. I know that for the rest of our lives, we will always be bound together through our experience here in Russia.
From there we leave on April 30th and fly to Frankfurt. It is there I will say goodbye to my fellow RSPers and travel to Paris and then in three weeks I will go to Aix-en-Provence and start interning with the ICCP church. With so much ahead, and so much at present, I am brought to my knees knowing that I can not do this on my own. Nor have I ever been able to. God has been with me, is currently with me and will ALWAYS be with me, and I know that it is all to Him that I am able to breathe and learn and grow and mature here. I am humbled every day. I think I know it all at times, and that I can do things correctly without consulting God. But then, as always, I am flailing, crying out for Jesus' help, and He is faithful. I am so undeserving, and filled with awe at His faithfulness. One thing I have truly learned here is that not knowing it all is beautiful because it means that God does know all, and is in all, and Creator of all. I am secure in my unknowing because God knows all and loves me so much that He sent His Son to die for my sin. And I am forever a slave to His righteousness. Russia has taught me much, and more importantly I won't truly know how much I have learned from here until I leave and encounter the world that conflicts with how I saw it before. Please pray for me, as I face many obstacles and trials in these next months ahead. God Bless,

Aimee.

Trains, Tours, and

Nizhniy Novgorod here I come! This is the RSP group and I on our long train ride from Mockba to our final destination: Univeristy! Wohhooo! It was an extremely extensive train right, but worth it...and luckily I was able to read some more Breaking Dawn (4th book in the Twilight Series) and some sleep. Once we go off the train, we were greeted by the International Students from the Nizhniy Novgorod State University with some traditional bread and salt as well as a helpful hand taking all the of women's luggage from the train to the bus. It's nice to be taken care of here! It was quite late when we arrived at the Profilactory (our dorm hall) and I was so tired. I went straight to bed. When I woke in the morning, I was able to see just how beautiful this city is! Outside of my window, I was greeted with a beautiful picture of snow covered streets and white frosted trees.



This is the view from my dormatory, and this little boy: Rusik, is one of the student's son who live at the Profilac with us. It is interesting here, the students of this school can live in the dorm halls with their boyfriends or girlfriends, and so can their children. Rusik is extremely adorable and gives me lots of opportunity to start conversations with the Russians in the dorm. It is cold every day here, and even on a "warm" day (or at least what the russian's say is warm), it is only 20 degrees f.





This is from our tour of N. Novgorod, freezing, but the photos are totally worth it!

President Barak Obama's Inauguration Ceremony

This was Tuesday night, in Mockba, at 8 pm our time, 12 pm Eastern Time. All of us watched the the inauguration ceremony...even though we are half way around the world. It's crazy to comprehend just HOW closely today's world looks at America when you are living so far away from the U.S.

Communist Rally In Red Square, Mockba

This was something that NONE of us in the Russia Studies Program were expecting to witness. It's fascinating to me that we were able the tangibly SEE that Russia communists' roots are still prevalent in this country today. This happened the day after President Obama's inauguration ceremony.

This is me at the Church of Christ Our Saviour in Mockba, Russia. It was soooo beautiful. The cathedrals here are beyond belief. I am truly beginning to see the beauty of the Eastern Orthodox church. The people are showing me what it means to be in awe of God. To put in perspective just how BIG and GREAT He is, and just how small I am. That He is the center of all. My mind is reeling from everything I've been exposed to. I am so grateful that God has given me this gift of being in Russia; I have a core feeling that this is the exact place I'm supposed to be at, in the moment in my life.