Teaching in Novorossiysk

My friend Anya is an English teacher at a small private school in Novorossiysk. Anya invited me to come visit the school and drop in on two of her classes. "It will be good for the students to listen to an American speak.", she told me, and I agreed to come by. Novorossiysk is perhaps 50 km from Anapa. I don't own a car, here, so that means taking the bus. I haven't traveled by public bus between cities by myself and I prepared myself mentally for a mini-adventure.

Early Monday afternoon I went downtown and purchased a bus ticket at the station. I was swarmed by taxi drivers before I got the ticket window. "No, thanks, I don't want a taxi ride to Krasnodar..." Ticket booths (bus station, airport, movie theatre, where ever...) in Russia are built like armored pill boxes. The attendant lady sits securely behind a plate glass window, dispensing tickets and irritation through a tiny slot. Sometimes there are holes drilled in the plate glass for speaking (usually 4.5 feet high), sometimes not (and you speak through the money slot). Either way, it's almost impossible to understand the lady behind the glass. This particular ticket lady was relatively friendly and only smirked at me once when I gave her a 500 ruble note for a 66 ruble fare (they like exact change). $2.14 is a good price for traveling 50 km to another city.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful. I actually had an idea of where the bus station in Novorossiysk was, so I didn't feel too apprehensive about getting off at the wrong stop. The driver chain-smoked the entire ride. I was a little hoarse and irritable when I finally got off the bus, since I had been breathing second hand smoke and b.o. the whole time. Anya met me at the bus station and we went off to the school. The evening's lessons centered around clothing and appearance. The first class was beginner level. We spent a while on vocabulary and pronunciation. One of the other teachers at the school sat in on class to practice her pronunciation, also. The second group was intermediate level. We started off with the clothing and appearance lesson, but got side tracked on hobbies. We eventually ditched the lesson completely and the students asked me questions (in English, mostly). I did my best to answer in Russian, but had to fall back on English a number of times :) I mentioned that I had worked in the computer industry for 8 years before coming to Russia to visit friends and help out at the church in Anapa.

When class got out, the other teacher and two of the students stayed behind to talk with me more. They commented that leaving a career to come live in Russia was a big change and wanted to know more about why in the world I would do something like that. I think I managed to convince them that I was of reasonably sound mind and that I hadn't been fired from work. One student said she knew some church people who had done something similar because they were following God and asked me if I was doing the same. What a great lead :) We had a good conversation for about 30 minutes and I got to share with them what God had done in my life. They had some good questions, "Did I come to Russia because i wanted to or because I felt I had to? If you're following God, are you really free?" Anya helped out a lot with translation through all this, for which I was grateful (the level of discussion had moved a little above clothing and colors). We had to break off the conversation at 9pm, so Anya and I could run back to the bus station for the last bus back to Anapa. We made it with a few minutes to spare and I finally got back to Su-Pseh around 11 pm. Long day.

Off to Russia!!!

Well, I'm off to Russia in a few hours. I can't believe it's finally time. It only took 14 months. It's been a busy month, wrapping up life and work in Seattle. I had applied for a leave of absence in Microsoft, but it was rejected. Oh well, I guess God thinks I don't need a safety net. After 8.5 years at Microsoft I'm finished. It was a great job and a great company. I won't miss the late nights, though, or commuting over the 520 bridge. I had to move all the stuff out of my apartment into storage in Seattle during a snowstorm that shut down the city. That was fun. I also solidified my living arrangements in Russia (I believe). I'll be renting a small house on the outskirts of Anapa, one that my friend Shawn was renting until he came back to the US 2 weeks ago. Sounds like it's a good place and the rent is a tremendous deal (~$550 a month, plus utilities).I've spent the last week in NH, celebrating Christmas with the family. We had another blizzard here in NH and spent 3 days cooped up in the house. Marcia came out to NH for Christmas, which was a lot of fun, also. It was great having her here before I leave. It was wonderful celebrating Christmas here at home, again. I got to see several friends, too, which was nice. We had a little send off for me with some friends from church. Everyone prayed for me and the English camp and the people in Russia. I had a send off party when I left Seattle, also. God has put some amazing people in my life and I am very blessed. A lot of people have given me financial contributions for my work in Russia. Thank you so much, everyone. It looks like I've got enough for 6-9 months in Russia, now, depending on how much I eat and whether I can find work. I really appreciate it, you guys are awesome. I'll be coming back to the USA at the end of March for a few weeks to reapply for another visa. First Seattle and maybe I'll pass through NH again on the way back to Russia. I'll send out another update after the English camp in a couple weeks. I gotta run, I've still got errands to do.

Please pray:
1) For safe travel for me and the team from Crossroads Bible Church to/from Russia
2) For the Russian people at the English camp and that we would be good witnesses to them
3) That I would get settled in Russia and get moving on the English teaching with the church
4) That I would find work and get a work permit in Russia

Blessings,
Ryan
Russian cell (including country code): 011 7 909 444 4898

October, 2008 Russia Update

Hello friends and family,

I hope this update finds you all well. Wow, I can't believe it's been 6 months since my last update. I would've written earlier, but there wasn't much to update you on. The last 6 months can only be described as an exercise in patience and trust. In early April I had accepted an offer on my house (miraculously, the house was only on the market for a few days) and set a closing date of May 31. I then moved into an apartment with a friend of mine in Seattle. May 31 came and went, the lender had approved my buyers but was being a little slow in transferring the money to escrow. We extended the closing date by 2 weeks and I was assured that the money would be transferred to escrow by then. Another 2 weeks, still no transfer. We extended the closing date another 2 weeks... After 13 weeks and 3 other lenders the house finally closed. It was a difficult time for me. I was impatient to move on and get to Russia, and I was now paying apartment rent as well as a mortgage. Money was very tight for a while, since I had also increased the contributions to my retirement plan at work under the assumption that I wouldn't be making house payments anymore. After a month and a half the buyers started covering some of my expenses (they didn't want me to drop them) and I had just enough to meet my expenses. It was a trying time, but God carried me through and I daresay I learned a little more about perseverance, prayer, and budgeting. I am very thankful to God that I was able to sell the house and to keep the original sale price from April. In this housing market I realize that many people are not able to sell at all, let alone get their asking price, so I am very grateful.

The house closed 4 weeks ago and I have now have a departure date for Russia: December 29. I will be returning with a small group from my church, Crossroads Bible Church, to hold another English camp with the church in Anapa, southern Russia. Anapa is a large, summer resort city and Novorossiysk (where the camp will be held) is a large port. English is commonly spoken in Europe and abroad and Russia is Russia taking a larger part on the world stage. The church believes that English teaching is an excellent way to reach out to Russian people who are involved in tourism and commerce. When the Crossroads team returns to America, I will most likely remain in Russia. I've talked more with Pastor Victor in Anapa and they're still happy to have me. I am very much looking forward to living in Russia and working for God. It'll be very challenging, I'm sure, but I was starting to get a little bored working 9-5 (or 9-midnight, as it sometimes is at Microsoft) and playing with some of the worlds leading software.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and support. There are still many details to be worked out, I’d appreciate you continued prayer support. I'm going to be very busy the next 2 and half months. That's all I've got time for now, I'll send out more info as it comes in.

Some specific things to pray for:
1) That many people would come to the English camp in January and that God would use us to reach out to them.
2) Wisdom and guidance around my living/working arrangements in Russia.
3) Visa issues- Unless I can get a work permit (which requires a Russian company to hire me and pay me a salary), I'll be in Russia on 90 day visas. Every 90 days I'll have to come back to America and reapply for another 90 days. Flying back and forth every 90 days is a little pricey, I'd prefer a work permit which would allow me to stay in Russia for 1 year, continuously.
4) Guidance/discernment around supporting organizations- I've contacted 4 different missions organizations, now, and for various reasons none of them will be able to support/send me to Anapa to do English teaching. As it stands, currently, I am not a part of a missions organization and I will be working in very close partnership with the church in Anapa. I believe this is do-able, but I will have to work out a lot of issues (accountability, support raising, medical insurance, ...) that a sending organization would normally help with on my own.
5) Russian lessons- I'm learning, slowly...

In Him,Ryan

April, 2008 Russia Update

Dear friends and family,

It's been a little while since I last wrote and it's time for an update. Yes, I'm still planning on moving to southern Russia to do missions work for a year, or more. When? I'm not quite sure, yet, but this past week I jumped a big hurdle: I sold my house. Well, I should say I accepted an offer to buy my house, it's not quite sold yet. Still, this is pretty exciting for me and a big relief. At first I wasn't so sure about selling the place, but the more I thought and prayed about it the more I realized that I needed to pay off all my school loans and be debt free before I left. I really didn't want to bother with renting the house out while I was half a world away, either.

I've never sold a house before, I had no idea what I was getting into. All the little things I'd been putting off found their way onto a To Do list, and the list was daunting. Yard work, rodents in the attic, replace the carpet and molding in the spare bedroom (thanks to my adorable cats), yard work, fix the hot tub, yard work, clean, paint, yard work, fix the fence, ... It went on. I started work in November, doing as much as I could on my own and with a friend to save some money. By mid-February I was starting to get pretty discouraged. It seemed like every task I completed only led to another task and there didn't seem to be any end in sight. God sent me some good encouragement during this time, though, by way of a touching letter and sizeable financial contribution for my ministry from a good friend. It was totally unexpected and exactly what I needed at the time.

Finally, in March the place was fixed up enough to start making it presentable to potential buyers. My agent and the stager decided that "Microsoft bachelor" wasn't really the "look" we were going for. I wasn't so sure about this at first (this "look" had worked pretty well for me the past 3 years, after all), but I was willing to play along. After I took down all the Star Wars, Guinness, and Lord of the Rings posters and cleared the ice axe and climbing rope off the kitchen counter we determined that I really didn't have any decorations. And my expensive HD TV was still resting on a $5 plastic crate. We brought in all kinds of pretty stuff that I never knew existed. "Treatments" and "centerpieces", things of that nature. I have to admit, the greenery does liven the place up a bit. The napkin arrangement thing in the kitchen still creeps me out a little, but I've truly grown to love the 4 ft tall bronze giraffe in the living room.

One big item on the big To Do list is now on track to be completed, but there are still several other things to do before I pack up and leave. I have a general plan to teach English and use that as an avenue for evangelism, but I need to talk some more with Pastor Victor and start working on some of the details. I am also planning on partnering with a missions organization. I figure I could use the support, accountability, networking, training, and credibility. I will also be raising financial support and will need some assistance, there. In order to stay for a year in Russia I need to get a business visa which, among other things, requires a letter of invitation from a Russian organization. I'm hoping the Christian camp I worked at last summer will be able to help me out, we'll see. Those are 4 big things that still need to be resolved (ministry details, missions org, financial support, business visa), I'm sure there will be plenty more. With God's help I'll work through them all and will end up one day in Russia. And then the fun will really begin.

So, that's a snapshot of where things are at today. Thanks, everyone, for you prayers and support.

In Him,Ryan