It's my turn to jump on this merry go round of blog appearances - my name is LV Hanson (Atlanta, GA) and it's my privilege to share with you an account of day 10 on our adventure through Russia and Ukraine. I've been looking forward to sharing with you some of my perspective on this trip because I am one of three who are returning members from last year's AIA tour to Russia. Garrett and MIchelle M. helped lead the tour last year and for some reason allowed me to tag alone again! :) Once again, Garrett and Michelle have knocked it out of the park and have joined with Victor and the other in-country staff to help organize a tour that has already helped shape our faith towards greater maturity, and we hope, helped further the Lord's work in each of these cities we have vsiited.
Last night we drove into Dnipropetrovsk, Ukriane and stayed with host families. I am with Steve, Greg, Eric, Jordan, and Ben and our host is the children's pastor with a ministiy here in Dnipropetrovsk. By the way, I am probably going to annihilate the spelling of these city names (just try pronouncing them!) J. has already blown us away with his kindness and hospitality. He made us a full breakfast with eggs, fresh peaches, cherries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and orange juice. We drove to Pavlograd (70km away) and spent the early afternoon at a teen prison with 250 teens that have had a rough go with the early years of their life. We had the opportunity to organize a program for the group of teens, emceed by Victor, our fearless leader and former Russian submarine commander. :) Scott M. shared his testimony and the pastor of the ministry shared the gospel. The prison staff seemed thankful to have us there as they were very polite in showing us around the facility and asking us many questions. After the program we spent a few minutes outside in the courtyard offering an impromptu volleyball exhibition highlighting several different volleyball skills. We decided to play a little game of 3-3; I joined forces with Hunter and Steve and we were challenged by Greg, Jeff, and Jordan. Because I am writing this blog and will not need to have it edited by Greg, Jeff, and Jordan I will tell you that we won...in fact, we dominated them! :) (and herein lies a glimpse of the behind the scenes dynamic of our team - competition to the Nth Degree!) In reality, we were all playing in sandals and played a pretty laid back game just long enough to give the teens an idea of organized volleyball.
From the prison we drove a few km to our afternoon match against a very solid local team. The gym was by far the most colorful gym we have played in, the net was criss-crossed in stitching (as opposed to the traditional squared stitching found in most volleyball settings), and the net antennas were about a fourth of the height of regulation net antennas. Before the match Garrett pulled the team together and talked with us because, as is the case in many short term projects, the finish line is on the horizon and the temptation to "coast" is growing. It proved to be pivotal for our team as we came out strong and took a quick lead. When our team is focused and unified we play well...really well. We won the mach in 4 games and Greg had a chance to share his testimony. He did a fantastic job. As we drove away from the gym we heard a story that I will quickly highlight for fear that I will lose myself in typing ALL of the details that could be shared. Moments like this serve as clear reminders that we are part of larger story being woven together by the Master Author. After the match a young student approached Scott and shared with him that many people in the community have been struggling with the fallout from the recent murder of the son of a local university official. She had been praying that the Lord would help the community and prayed specifically that He would bring people to Pavlograd to share the gospel. She was crying while sharing this with Scott because she felt like our visit was a direct answer to her prayers. We hope our visit paves the way for many conversations about the gospel...we left the gym and immediately headed to our next town.
As has been the case for much of our trip, we were late to our evening match in Novomoscovsk (50 km back towards Dnipropetrovsk). The ministry put together a team and they wanted to play us so we suited up for our first and only double-header. It was our final volleyball match of the tour and we were able to cap off the trip wtih a quick and decisive 3-0 win. After the match we spent a couple of hours eating pizza with the team and had a great time of fellowship. Jordan and Irina (our translator) were able to dive into scripture with three players from our evening match. Jordan shared with me that they had a great time sharing what they have been learning and chewing on different thoughts about the Old Testament Law, how we as New Covenant believers respond to the Law, and what it means in every day life.
We made it home late tonight, took quick showers, and closed out our day just like we have many times before - with a quick card game of spades! :) Steve and I played against Greg and Ben...as always, fun and enjoyable to simply share some fun downtime with other guys on this trip that I have come to truly enjoy. This team really is special and I will miss them...
Hey, I'm not sure if it has been said yet, but M.C. (May Catherine) and Michelle have been the unanimous MVP's of this trip. I would try and list what they have done to serve this team but this page is simply not long enough...M.C. has t served our team as our trainer (and so much more) and has had the horrific job of trying to help me stretch out before each match. I have the world's tightest hamstrings and she has gone to battle against them to help keep me in some sort of playing shape. Michelle? Well, she is married to Garrett. Enough said. :) She has done so much to keep our team organized and on the right track. A huge thanks to both for what they have done...but more for who they are. Thanks!
one of the "Old Guys" on the trip,
LV