We Gonna Moscow!

Greetings, all! I am finally in the amazing city of Moscow, and I am already in love. Prepare for a novel of a blog, but these first couple of days have been action-packed!

I've barely been in this country for more than 48 hours and I feel like we have been here for a week. Want to hear about the crazy adventures I've been having?! Read on, my friends. It's been crazy.

After our international project briefing, Team Moscow headed to DFW airport. It was really strange to be 12 minutes away from my house awaiting this huge adventure before me.  I learned a lot about air travel, let me tell you what! Airplanes and Laura Sanderson do not mix. I took a Dramamine before we flew out, but I still got super queasy and dizzy as we took off. Then, not 2 minutes after we left the runway, we encountered the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. David (DLP) was sitting next to me and said that I turned white as a sheet. I survived the turbulence without having to reach for a barf bag, thankfully. DLP and I watched Return of the King on our tiny video screens, and Lauren and I giggled at our steward's adorable Irish accent (We flew British Airways. He said things like, "Cheers!") We flew to London and hit other bouts of turbulence here and there. Not fun, folks. To top things off, I managed to maybe doze for a half hour during our 10 hour flight. Yay! Thankfully, I was able to crash on a bench at Heathrow while we waited for our connecting flight to Moscow. The last leg of the trip was also a little bumpy, but I managed to keep my lunch in my tummy.
We finally made it to Moscow! We got into two vans and rode off to our hostel, the Napoleon. Moscow is absolutely beautiful. It's very green and there was lots of forest land between the airport and the big city. I pointed out the old Soviet Lada cars to my van mates (Steven Hudec, Laura Peden, Abby, and Brent). They're very box-like cars that are everywhere. I nonchalantly made the comment that you could play the "slug bug" game with them, and not two seconds later, I got an elbow in the ribs from Brent. "Box car blue!" (Think before you speak, Laura.) THAT was an enjoyable ride... We reached our destination and each had to lug our just-under-fifty-pounds suitcase up twelve flights of stairs. Okay, not really 12; we're on the fourth floor. Hello, Napoleon Hostel!
For all of you MSP veterans out there, the boys are bunking in Ekaterinburg and the girls are at the end of the hall in Vladovostok. I LOVE our room! It has some cheery purple wallpaper, and I picked the bed right next to our window. (Beautiful view!) The Napoleon is cozy. There are six rooms and one bathroom area to share with all of its guests. Two showers, two sinks, two toilets. Woohoo! Talk about team bonding on all levels. We all ate some snacks provided for us by the awesome Moscow Metro staff team, and then headed to bed. Everyone was exhausted.
Our first morning, we were escorted by Jessica (a staff member) to our first ride on the metro. What an experience! It was so interesting to see Moscovites in their everyday routines. Everyone on the metro sat or stood quietly, with stern expressions on their faces. We American kids stuck out like a sore thumb, but it's just something we'll have to get used to. We finally reached our stop for The Space. The Space is Crusade's (or New Life, as it is called here) office area and meeting place. We met the rest of Moscow staff and got to dig into God's Word a bit. What a great morning for casting our vision for project! We're bricklayers here. I'm so excited to see what God has planned for us.
We headed off to lunch in Red Square, with Dave Coates as our guide. He's a lot of fun, and he has a great knowledge of Moscow's history. We had our first lunch in Moscow at (drum roll) McDonald's! Familiar food, foreign language. I felt ridiculous trying to order my food. "Moshna pazhalsta cheeken macnuggets." But I survived!
Staff had planned an "Amazing Race" type tour of the city, and sent our ministry teams off with clues to find and explore different parts of Moscow. My ministry team is comprised of David, Abby, and myself. Steven Pittman will be joining us next week! Yay! The three of us navigated through various metro stops and got to have some fun adventures! Unfortunately, my McDonald's didn't agree with me very well and I sat out near the end of the competition with a tummy ache. It was still lots of fun. Abby and David are tons of fun. I am very happy with my ministry team, and I'm really excited for Pittman to be joining us soon!
We ate supper at a posh restaraunt (PECTOPAH in Cyrillic) in the mall and I had much better luck ordering my food! I ate my first blini! :) It's very similar to a crepe.
Once we got back to our hostel, we made a very unsettling discovery: Abby couldn't find her wallet, which also happened to contain her passport. We all prayed with her and contacted staff right away. Thankfully, things are taken care of now, and Abby isn't in any danger. What a great God we have! He knew that was going to happen, and he was completely in control of the situation.
When morning came, I got to become Jason Bourne. Abby needed to get an important document to Chris, a staff dude, and I was to meet him on the metro platform and deliver it. Sounds like something out of a spy movie, right?! It was actually pretty fun. Kaleb became my partner in crime, and we accomplished our mission with flying colors. :)
Briefing at the Space was even more refreshing than day one. Dave explained how we were going to be visiting certain campuses and what our mission was to look like. We want to be "cultural learners." I can't wait to head to campus next week! It will be a big step of faith to approach strangers and start conversations, but I need to trust that the Lord will place special people in our paths to meet and interact with. After briefing, Kim and Jessica (staff women) took us to Moscow State University, which is the most prestigious college in the country. I was blown away as we approached it: the building is incredible. I can't wait to show pictures! Our team split up into pairs to do prayer walks near campus and I partnered up with DLP. He and I walked and prayed for God to move at Moscow State, and for their small ministry to grow and build up new students in their walks with Him. We met up at the end of the road at a place called the Lookout. From the Lookout, you can see all of the "sister buildings" in Moscow. There are seven sister buildings that are built the same, six tucked around Moscow, and one that was gifted to Poland in Warsaw. Moscow State happens to be one of them. Simply breathtaking buildings. (There's a lot of amazing architecture here and I love it.) Okay, so honestly, I have tons more to write on this thing, and there's been another day of amazing activity. So this blog has to be continued. Hopefully I've left y'all at the edge of your seats. :) I miss my sweet friends and family back home! (But I'm having the time of my life over here!) Pray for continued safety and health and amazing things that only God can accomplish! Dosvidanya!

Mail Time!!

Every afternoon, I trot over to my little apartment mailbox and cross my fingers for a support check. It has been a very fun activity these past few weeks! God is faithfully providing for my Moscow expenses! Okay, so let me explain to people who are reading this and thinking, "Why the heck is Laura getting all these checks in the mail?"
I'm raising financial support for my project to Moscow this summer (see my first blog post), and it costs $5,500. Some people feel awkward about asking others to fund a trip, but biblically speaking, it is a really awesome way for the body of Christ to work together towards an eternal impact! (Check out 2 Cor. 8 and 9.) My project director, Zach, helped give us more perspective on the matter, which was quite encouraging. So, here is Laura Sanderson's look at support-raising:
I'm a college student. I have this cool opportunity to spend part of my summer sharing the gospel and investing in the lives of Russian students. I mean, our team is comprised of vivacious 19 to 20-somethings, with the health and energy that all of the middle-aged whippersnappers reminisce about. We're mobile! We're hip young Americans! We think cramming together in a hostel for a month is a fun idea!
In contrast, not every Christ-follower is in my position. Many have grownup jobs, so they can't just up and spend a month in a foreign country. These things cost time and money! By asking my friends and family to provide financially for my trip, they become a part of it! God uses their support to give me the ability to spread the good news of Jesus to people in Moscow this summer. I've had checks ranging from $25 to $500 so far. These friends are all giving generously and within their means, and every bit is a blessing! Through all of these wonderful people, I have raised about 40% of my funds for Project! (Holla!) Even when I discover an empty mailbox, and I sometimes find myself discouraged, I trust that the Lord is going to provide that other 60%. He's a big God.
I'm getting ready to send out another round of support letters, so if you'd like to receive one from me with info about my trip, send me your address! (via Facebook, preferably) My support deadline is May 22, when I begin project briefing. That's just about a month, readers! Woohoo! I think it's so cool to gain this team of people who will pray for my team and me while we're overseas. We are one body of Christ, with different parts to play. My supporters are the hands, and my team are the feet. :) I couldn't make this journey without God's hands, which are used to pray and to give. I'm so thankful for y'all.

"You Got Dipped!"

That's right, folks. I got baptized on Sunday! What a neat thing!


My summer project buddy, Steven, wanted details about this event, so I figured I'd blog about it and elaborate a bit for him. And to the rest of my swarms of faithful readers (ha.) who weren't there to witness the occasion. Alright Steven, here ya go:
Where?
Redeemer Church, Lubbock, TX.
Why?
I love this question! Because I believe that God sent his son Jesus to live a perfect life, die an undeserved death, and then be raised from the grave. Through His perfect sacrifice, we are able to one day be in heaven with our Creator if we surrender our lives to Him. I am a broken person. A sinner. And I could never dream of being with God, unless I trust that Jesus took away my sin and wickedness when He was on the cross. (If you want a little biblical reference, take a look at Romans 3:23-28. Good stuff.)
Okay, so that's what I know to be true. But why get baptized? I'll quote my other project buddy, Kaleb: "Baptism is an outward expression of the commitment I made in my heart showing that Jesus died for my sins [being "dunked" in the water] and rose again [coming back up from being dunked]..."
Why Now?
Another good question! A lot of people are baptized as babies, but I wasn't. I believe that baptism is an act of obedience toward God that should be done after one chooses to follow Christ, as a public symbol of faith. I started really walking with Jesus as a senior in high school, so I figure it was high time I took the plunge! (I also wanted to get plugged into a church before just randomly getting baptized somewhere. Just a personal note.)
What will you wear?
Haha. I wore a t-shirt and athletic shorts. No white robes or anything fancy.    Comfort > formality.
Will you make use of goggles or ear plugs?
No, I just plugged my nose and shut my eyes. Less cumbersome, more aesthetically acceptable.
What color towel will you use afterward?
A striped one. Haha.
Who baptized you?
Pastor Dusty Thompson. Cool guy. He's actually a good friend of my great aunt Pat and uncle Earl. He wore waders, which I think is awesome.

I hope that covered everything. On a side note, the heater in the baptismal is broken, so the water was quite chilly.That was exciting.... And I was really happy to have lots of Cru friends there to support me, as well as some of my family, and even my two best friends from high school. It was really heartwarming and exciting for them all to be a part of the baptism with me! That meant a whole lot. I love you guys!

Here's the chorus of a song we sang at the end of church. I was really moved by it, even though I've sung it before. It just speaks so much truth and joy and hope about our beautiful God!

You stay the same through the ages,

Your love never changes.

There may be pain in the night

but joy comes in the morning.

And when the oceans rage,

I don't have to be afraid

because I know that You love me.

And Your love never fails.

blog title credit to Kelsie Pinckard, photos courtesy of Julia Cotaya

New Kid on the Blog.

Ah, my first post in the blogging community! Creating this work of internet magic has been quite the adventure! I've been having flashbacks to my high school Web Mastering class...and I've found that my amateur knowledge of html actually came in handy when working on my sidebar. Ha! You know, the word "blog" is so strange. I think its origins stem from something like "web log," but "blog" just sounds kind of icky. Like an onomatopoeia for vomiting...I digress. Anywho, hello friends! :) I'm really excited to have this piece of social media at my fingertips now, particularly for the sake of documenting my travels in Russia. But, this is also just to chatter about how Jesus is working in my life and how He guides my steps. Plus some random musings here and there...

Some back story for those of you with whom I haven't talked in a while:
I will be traveling overseas to Moscow, Russia this summer for about a month! Why? I'm going on this awesome thing called a Summer Project, which is run by Campus Crusade for Christ (or Cru for short). I'm involved with Cru here at Tech, and I LOVE it! Cru is an international ministry that focuses on helping college students grow in their relationships with Christ. They have a ministry presence on campuses all over the U.S. as well as around the world. Through Campus Crusade, I will be going with a team of 12 other students to Moscow with the goal of sharing the good news of the Gospel with Russian university students! Less than one percent of the 11-or-so million people in Moscow follow Christ. It's going to be a whirlwind of a trip! I'm excited for the challenges ahead, and I really look forward to growing with the Lord.

A couple of Fridays ago (the 25th), I embarked on a road trip with my two fellow Tech Moscow SP members, McCall Sanderson and Brent Daugherty. Holla! We drove (Well, McCall drove.) up to Norman, Oklahoma to meet the majority of our Moscow team! I must say, I could write a whole blog on our car ride.  Brent provided us with an extremely long road trip playlist, as well as a nice array of his vocal talents. McCall and I became fast friends, and had fun discussing our crazy connection to one another. No, we're not long lost cousins or anything, even though we share a last name. We did, however, go to church together when we were little, back in Wichita Falls. Small world! The three of us had fun swapping stories, and we inadvertently created lots of inside jokes. We arrived to our destination and were greeted with hugs and handshakes from our new friends.  I think I can speak for all of us in saying that the weekend was awesome. Our project director and his wife are wonderful. Our team meshes extremely well. I can't wait to live in a hostel with them for a month! Ha. ;) God did a good job of putting this group together. (Here we are, pictured below. Minus Brian and Rachel. We're a fun bunch! We so excited!)

Anyways, that weekend was great. We're all stoked to see what God has in store for us! McCall and Brent and I headed home on Sunday (the 27th), and made more memories and inside jokes. McCall got pulled over (Don't worry, she did nothing wrong.), Brent sang with more gusto, and I talked incessantly, even though I was losing my voice. There you have it! A little snippet of what is to come. School is super ridiculous for me right now, so I may not post frequently. Congratulations on making it to the bottom of the page! Thanks for reading my first ramble.