Moscow, Day 1

I suppose it's a given: if you are going to travel to Russia, you can't leave without seeing Moscow!  This city of somewhere between 11-15 million people is big, especially to us li'l ole Midwesterners!  We ventured into town on Sunday with Natasha as our guide.  Our plan was to attend church at International Christian Fellowship (ICF) because it was right near the center of the city, and they had service in English!  All the Calvary Chapels around Moscow have service in Russian only. We were already feeling the effects of not being able to understand or talk to others...the greatest cultural barrier (in my mind).

Train station at Snegiri

The journey began with a 25-minute walk to the train station from the dorm.  The train ride cost about $3.50 per person (100 rub) round-trip, and took about 35 minutes each way.  The trains weren't too full on Sunday (not so on other days!).  We also began to notice that Russians typically keep to themselves.  In fact, even eye contact with strangers was scarce, and if they were "caught" looking at the Americans, they quickly looked away. 

Lady shoveling snow at McDonalds

After exiting the train, we needed to make a quick bathroom break at the McDonalds.  It was the only place in the area with a free public restroom!  It also might have been the cleanest McDonalds I've ever been too!  It was snowing out, so there was a lady clearing the sidewalk outside, and a couple more mopping up after almost every customer would walk inside with dirty snow on their shoes!  

Into the Moscow metro

A little intimidating...

 

We backtracked a couple blocks and descended into the metro station.  The metro system in Moscow is amazing!  We aren't well traveled as far as larger cities around the world (or even the US for that matter), so we were pretty amazed at what we saw under the streets of Moscow.  There were giant escalators that seemed far steeper than normal, and it seemed as though they were carrying us five or six stories deeper underground.  

The longest escalator I ever saw...

Every station we saw had unique decor (different types of stone construction, different carvings in the walls, different layout and design). 

Ornate carvings inside the metro system

Everyone staring at nothing, reading or looking at smart phones on the metro

I'll post more about Moscow soon...

Apologies...

Dear Family,

I just wanted to apologize for the extended delay on updating the blog about the trip!  We had high hopes of updating as we went along, but it seemed internet access was always agonizingly slow or non-existent at the moments we had time.  As for the almost two weeks we've been home now, we don't have that excuse!  We still haven't finished sorting through the hundreds upon hundreds of pictures we took, and we still haven't sorted through all the things in our hearts and our brains in an effort to be able to relay the stories back to you!

I would ask for your prayers.  We've discovered it is a difficult thing returning from a trip like this, where we've learned so much, but yet know so little.  Of course we also recognize the flesh is weak and the enemy has been working hard at discouraging us from what the Lord wants for us.  Right now, I would just ask that you pray for us for strength through this time...the time of waiting and working towards next steps. 

I hope to post more about the trip soon...very soon!

Thanks for caring and thanks for praying.

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.  --1 Thes 1:2