Thursday, 28 August 2008
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A New Adventure
My parents grew up during the most frigid years of the Cold War. They have always had a different perspective than I have had concerning my trips to Russia over the years. There were was always tension between America and the Soviet Union. There was always a threat of nuclear war. The Russians were our enemies for decades. For them it was pretty miraculous for me to have the opportunity to go to Russia. It was probably pretty odd for them to see a love for Russia grow in me as I studied the Russian language, wrote letters to my Russian friends, and returned to Russia each summer to continue to reach out to the Russian people.
When Russia invaded The Republic of Georgia a few weeks ago and tensions built between The West and Russia once again, it was familiar to my parents. For me, however, it has been a very sad development. It’s even worse for Anna, one of my dearest Russian friends. She works with The Salvation Army and is married to a man from Georgia. I remember her telling me about him several years ago. She said that there is a significant prejudice toward Georgian people in Russia so many of her friends and family were not supportive of her relationship. She is now happily married and has a beautiful daughter. They lived in Russia for a while but just six months ago they moved to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
During my last trip to Russia with Care Corps we spent time training David and his team that works with children from Chechnya. As it turns out several of these team members are from the region of Ossetia, where the conflict between Russia and Georgia ignited. David was forced to leave Russia in June but has remained in close contact with his team and had planned on meeting up with them in Georgia to regroup at the end of the summer.
As it turns out, Care Corps is in a unique position to provide some support to those who have suffered through this new conflict in the Caucasus. The Assemblies of God and Baptist denominations have invited Care Corps to come to Tbilisi to train their pastors and church leaders. David and his team will be there as well and will help to coordinate our training sessions. Also, we hope to connect with Anna and The Salvation Army to provide support for the work that they are doing with 65,000 internally displaced people now living in Tbilisi. We plan to leave on September 14th and will spend a week in Tbilisi. Please pray for us as we prepare to go. Pray for peace in Georgia and for the tensions between Russia and The West to ease. Pray for those who have displaced by the conflict. Pray for God’s people in Georgia who are trying to meet the growing spiritual, emotional, and physical needs as a result of this conflict.
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