Reaching to Russia - The Village

As I said briefly last week, there’s too much from the last month in Russia to share in one Reaching to Russia edition.  I’ll break this up into a few smaller pieces and invade your inbox with them over the next two weeks.  As I leave for Russia and Ukraine again on August 16 I want to finish with these before I go back and continue some ministry that I know will generate many more stories, testimonies and evidences of God’s work through YouthReach International.

 

Big Lake, Russia, is a village of 250 or so people located about 370km from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, which is the next major city on the Trans Siberian Railway after Novosibirsk.  The village is literally situated on a rise in the land not more than 1000 yards long which separates the “Big Lake” from the “Small Lake” on each side.  The air is fresh.  The mountains are stunning.  The views are breathtaking.  For those that have been to Novosibirsk, think Switzerland in comparison. 

 

Our hosts were Ernst and Betsie Toerien as well as their precious 6 month old daughter Nadia.  The Toeriens are South African which, until my trip there in November of 2009 and again in May of 2010, would have meant very little to me.  From the bottom of the world to the top of the world is literally the path they followed to answer God’s call.  To get home they layover in cities like Cairo, Doha and Tehran.  Ernst has been serving in Russia since 1994 and has made this village his home for the last many years.  It’s a special place for reasons beyond the beautiful scenery, wandering livestock and generally slow pace of village life.

 

It is most special because it is the last place of hope for the many young people Ernst and his team mentor.  Literally, if he were not there then the kids he ministers to would have nowhere to go.  Hopelessness would abound and death would be imminent.  Children came to the camp (camp meaning they came to live in Ernst and Betsie’s home for two weeks as members of the family sharing meals, reading the Bible, praying, worshipping, working in the garden, taking walks, going swimming, climbing mountains…things that families do) from surrounding orphanages, state run shelters and the streets.

 

Our team of 13 took thousands of pictures but I think Tim Dunn’s catalog located here captures the gist of my words above.  Pictures #70-82 are the actual kids that YouthReach International will very soon include in our orphan sponsorship program.  You will hear more about this as the end of summer approaches but why wait till then.  Go to www.youthreach.org, watch the YouthReach for a Thousand video.  Begin praying now about how God might have you respond.  To the many, many of you who already sponsor kids in Ukraine or Russia, I personally thank you.  Having been there this summer and seen with my eyes what mentoring is bringing about in their lives, I am chocked full of stories detailing their growth relationally, emotionally, professionally and absolutely spiritually.  I’ll share those with you more in the updates to come.

 

Keep the Toeriens in your prayers.  Towards the end of our camp, Betsie and Nadia had to return to South Africa due to visa issues and won’t be back with Ernst again at Big Lakes until October.  That’s a long time for a family to be separated.  Until you decide how you might partner with us as a sponsor, be in prayer now for their family and their ministry.  They are doing a work most worthy of our respect, support and intercession.

 

As I mentioned briefly in my last “miniscule update,” my mom broke her leg/hip on July 8.  She has had surgery, graduated from in patient rehab and is now rehabbing at home with hopes of being mobile, healed and back to normal by Thanksgiving.  She has also moved since July 8 from East Point, GA, to Lilburn, GA.  That’s a God story within itself and I’ll get to that in a future update.  If you would to email her or send her a card, let me know.  I’ll give you her new address.

 

Back from Russia and so grateful to all who gave and prayed (and prayed and gave) to help us go and come back, we are,

The Browne Family

 

 

Rob Browne Director of Russian Operations   rob@youthreach.org
678-935-0220 x103 Direct 404-518-5646 Cell 678-935-9674 Fax	http://www.youthreach.org           1911 Grayson Hwy, Ste 8-344           Grayson, GA 30017

 

 

Reaching to Russia - Miniscule Update

The Brownes are back in Atlanta as of Wednesday night. 

Rob’s mom, Nancy, broke her leg last Friday.

She is in a rehab center in Duluth until a week from today.

Rob’s brother, Philip, is here in Atlanta till tomorrow.

Yesterday and today we have been packing up her East Point home and preparing for her impending move to Lilburn at month’s end.

 

It was a great summer like no other we’ve ever had.  We’ll unpack the why’s of that in the coming weeks.

 

For now, there is a house to pack, a mom to honor, a family vacation to commence and a home school year to start on August 1. 

 

Thank you for your love and prayers this summer and…always,

Rob, Traci, Benjamin, Nate, Aidan and Anna

 

 

Rob Browne Director of Russian Operations   rob@youthreach.org
678-935-0220 x103 Direct 404-518-5646 Cell 678-935-9674 Fax	http://www.youthreach.org           1911 Grayson Hwy, Ste 8-344           Grayson, GA 30017

 

 

Are you a "Fool for Christ"?

You've seen it.  The multi-colored onion domed cathedral that stands tall at the south end of Moscow's Red Square.  It characterizes Russia for much of the west.  It is Saint Basil The Blessed Cathedral, and today it celebrates it's 450 year anniversary!

I've visited this beautiful cathedral several times.  The colors are amazing to see.  Even more captivating is the story written on the walls inside.  Similar to many Russian Orthodox Churches today, the stories of the Bible are painted in beautiful murals along the walls.  I've sat on a bench in one room looking at the entire life of my savior, Jesus Christ, from birth, through his healing ministry, to his death on a cross, and his resurrection.  Without words, His amazing story was brought to life before my eyes, reminding me of intricate details that I've studied and discussed with my own family and friends.

Have you visited Saint Basil's Cathedral and seen the story of Jesus on its walls?  Did it compel you towards a deeper faith?

The cathedral is named after Saint Basil, also known as Fool for Christ, among several other names.  He was known to steal items from the rich and give to the poor (kind of a Russian Christian Robin Hood).  Saint Basil is particularly remembered for standing up against Tsar Ivan the Terrible for his violence against innocent people.  You can read more about Saint Basil here.

Imagine what it's like for him now...  Not his actual body - that's buried beneath the cathedral (and probably not much of it left).  But his soul - in everlasting unity with Christ in heaven - known for eternity as a "fool for Christ", as one that stood up for what he believed and lived a life that exemplified his faith.  This guy's got an eternal reputation for putting it all on the line for his Lord.  How cool is that?

I want to be someone that is known for my faith, living out what Christ taught, and standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.  I mess it up sometimes.  And when I do, I ask God for forgiveness and move forward with living for him and his people.  Maybe one day I'll be known as a "Fool for Christ."

How about you?  Would you like the moniker of "fool for Christ"?  Ever been called that?

Tell us your story of being a fool for Christ.  Share your comments here...

Reaching to Russia - Celebrating the Stories

If you know me well, you know I see the world through the lens of narrative. I do not see graphs, lists, charts or outlines. I see people, value relationships and celebrate events. I see those things both as individual and as parts of a greater story. At times this perspective is maddening. Ever try to put a bike together by reading a story? Don’t! The last three weeks though this perspective has been a blessing indeed. I’ll try to explain why.

We finished the Novosibirsk portion of our outreach this summer on June 26 with our Mentor Mini Boot Camp. That was a record as far as early conclusions are concerned. This schedule was more forced upon us than outright chosen by us but we survived nonetheless. From June 5 to June 26 we went non-stop. That made June 27 a day we had circled on our calendars for a long time. The “story” that unfolded during those 21 non-stop days was that NOTHING which took place during that time is unable to take place tomorrow, next month or in the dead of the coming Siberian winter. I think that is important. While eating dinner with some friends last night whose children have been a part of our camps and mentoring programs, I asked one of our mentors who was present if anything we did the last 3 weeks depends on me/Americans being present in the future to do again. She said no. She said that all we did was easily repeatable anytime as long as we have access to children. Good news - we have plenty of access. The story here is that all we have done this summer thus far need not be the final chapter of a larger story in any way at all. Instead, they are chapters in an ongoing adventure that our mentors will continue to write, star in and tell long after we are gone.

With that said, I cannot praise enough the preparation, work and heart of Andy, Denny, Olivia, Nathan, Paul, Dante, Dan, Toby, Todd, Tim, Sheila, James, Anita and Victoria as well as Traci, Benjamin, Nate, Aidan and Anna. From the onset they all understood their role was to model behavior and faith that others, our mentors, would want to emulate after we all departed at summer’s end. Understanding roles and responsibilities is a major task of our short term team members and this year’s group “got it” better than ever before. That again makes the story that is unfolding here unique in that our Americans who come serve in a supplemental role to those of the mentors. Their resources, their faith, their commitment is what makes this ministry great and is what will keep churning out chapter after chapter of this ongoing story.

Below is a picture of Lilya giving a haircut yesterday to a beastly looking fellow. I wrote about her a few

months ago saying that she’s progressing in her career as a hair stylist and showing more responsibility and willingness to be independent. I also asked at that time that you pray for her to show the same kind of willingness and desire for spiritual matters. Me thinks you did just that. A week or so ago we invited Lilya and her mentor, Nastia, to come over for lunch on June 30. As we sat down to eat lunch, Nastia told me that Lilya would like to pray before our meal. As I told Nastia a few hours later, “that moment was the ministry moment of the summer for me. I’ll never forget that.” Here is why. In the time since February when Lilya last cut my hair and I asked you to pray, she has literally experienced a spiritual awakening. She has taken a strong moral stand in her life as it relates to where and with whom she will live. This is not easy when you are an orphan that cannot live at the orphanage but cannot yet afford your own housing. She has finished her vocational training and is now apprenticing as a young (only 20), overworked (9 a.m. to 9 p.m. 5-6 days a week), underpaid (you would not believe me if I told you) hair stylist. She has also started to regularly pray with Nastia testing the claims of this Christianity that she sees Nastia holding so unswervingly to. A step beyond that is that she willingly voiced her thanks and praises to God in the home of a Christian father, mother, 4 children, 2 grandparents, an American peer and her Russian Mentor all of whom have heard more pre-meal prayers in the last 4 weeks than she’s heard in her whole 20 years on earth.

The story is that the 12-3-1 Mentors that volunteer with YouthReach “get” what we are asking them to do and they are doing it. Below is a grid that shows how a 12-3-1 Mentor relates to different children in different ways.

“But you said you don’t see charts!” True. I did not create it since it is a chart so I’m telling you that I see here a story of Nastia befriending and doing life with Lilya the last 4 plus years as Lilya moved from a 12 to 3 to 1 kind of relationship with Nastia. I believe in faith and ask you to pray fervently that Lilya finish her story as a seeker of Christ and very soon begin her story as a daughter in Christ. If this much has happened since February then I have to believe that a rallied prayer movement on her behalf will bring about her salvation very soon.

One more story to share with you. It began long before I actually am aware of it beginning with prayers being prayed of which I knew nothing about. I became an active participant in the story 16 years ago today when the prayers of my parents were answered with Traci Dunn becoming my wife. This is a story too long, deep, rich and detailed for a newsletter so I will give you the short version and tell you why it matters. For 16 years now, God has shown himself to me through Traci. Her words, her heart, her values and her standards all reflect those of her Heavenly Father. Her commitment to her family is unrivaled. Her kindness is other worldly. Her capacity to love is as pure and deep as anyone I have ever known. Those of you who know her are nodding your head right now. But this is why it matters -her awareness of her brokenness and desperate need for God might surprise you and I assure you it still humbles me. As wonderful as she is to you and me, she knows she’s lost, hopeless and dead without Christ. I live daily with a woman who unintentionally forces me to ask myself, “am I as aware of my need for Jesus as she is?” Too often I answer no to that question.

A few of the 16 chapters of the story of Rob and Traci have indeed been exciting. None rival the most recent chapter though. From a healthy eating, full time homemaker/home school mom who loves

working out to cancer patient/cancer survivor all in 10 months is a chapter we do not care to relive again. The challenge of the last year though made the celebration last night all the more sweeter. A 24 hour reprieve from our family (thank you Tim and Sheila for watching our kids in Lilburn, GA, and in Novosibirsk, Russia, so we can steal moments away with each other), ministry (we leave tomorrow to train 18 hours to live in a village for 9 days) and life in Russia (no oven for a week and only the broken promises of an inattentive repairman to bait us along) was made possible by two very kind people with a whole lot of Hilton Honors Award Points. One night alone together in Novosibirsk’s nicest hotel (The Doubletree by Hilton) was ours. As you can tell from the pictures below, I was accompanied by one of the most dashing women that hotel had ever seen. Dinner was simply perfect and the “Blessed by 16 Years” dessert touch provided by a friend in the kitchen made it all the more special.

This story is far from over but worthy of keeping you updated on as well. Thank you for sharing in it the way you do.

Please pray for the 13 of us as we leave tomorrow at 6 a.m. on a train to a village to work with a new ministry partner we are so excited to partner with. Specifically, please pray for rain…literally. Rain allows for showers and washing cloths and a level of “creature comforts” some might call a necessity.

No wifi or coffee houses in the village so expect us to be off the grid till July 12 or so. Till then, thank you again for helping us be here this summer and covering us in prayer the way you do.

In Him,

Rob, Traci, Benjamin, Nate, Aidan and Anna (as well as Tim, Sheila and Victoria)