Firstly, my trip to Russia was in conjunction with a small group of other Christians who live across the U.S. We went together focused on spreading the gospel and introducing Russians to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I particularly had a heart for Russia for a long while, especially in view of Communist oppression and the prohibition of religious expression in that country. The Christian church, for all means and purposes, was banned from civil society.

But with the fall of communism, there is an enormous window of opportunity to share with Russians who were interested in learning how to know God personally. And, after visiting this resilient country in person, I am convinced God is actively working to bring freedom, healing and victory to the people of Russia.

Memories

What I cherish most about my visit were the exceptionally loving people I met and befriended.

So many I will never forget. They made such an impression on my life. I will always remember with fondness how they celebrated my birthday with me in July. All the Americans and a whole bunch of special Russians took me to a karaoke place and we danced the night away to deafening-loud Russian music. It was a spectacular night to remember. I recall dancing like a maniac in utter joy just feeling sorry for all my friends and family in America who were missing out on this event. And the presents, holy goats milk, I got so many birthday presents from those Russians.

But there is more! There were all these little kids (maybe ages 5 to 8), that would play in an old sandbox just outside the dorm. At first, I would join them in whatever they were doing and say the 15 to 20 sentences that I knew in Russian. Sometimes they would laugh at me, which was a good sign indeed. Before I knew it, I could speak enough that I could communicate with them and say things like, "Let’s play," "Let’s buy some ice cream!" or the most irrelevant and my favorite, "That is not our car!"

Some of the Americans and myself frequently played frisbee and hacky-sacked in our free time. I thought it was amusing that Russians seemed intrigued by our play. And what a joy it was, to teach Russians for the first time the joy of throwing a frisbee across the sky or to see them finally get the hang of the awkward leg maneuvers of hitting hacky sack.

Now I certainly played lots of chess! Within the first week I knew how to say in Russian, "I love to play chess. Do you want to play?" Shortly after, I learned how to say to girls, "Excuse me. I love to play chess with women. Do you want to play?" :)

For the most part, I did pretty well playing against Russians. Ha ha ha! For those Russians whom I was closer friends with, I would always make sure that I rubbed it in when they lost to me. After all, I am an American and when it comes to chess, Russia is #1 in the world. It is a disgrace for a Russian to lose a chess match to anyone in the world, especially an American. :)

I also had the honor of playing a ten year old Russian boy, who was not your ordinary kid. He was the chess champion for his age group for the entire Siberia/Far East Russia region, and had attended a special chess school for the "chess gifted." I played him three times and although each time I played him evenly in material, it was obvious that he was masterfully controlling the board and slowing pushing his army into my territory. I lost all three matches, but I am so grateful to have played such a fine player!

Now if you attended my Colorado Springs slide show in December 1999, you obviously heard a lot more about my experience, but I will close with a few more funny stories and memories of my time in Russia.

There was a Moomie Troll concert where the environment, at least from my American perspective, was totally insane. There was very little crowd control, no turnstiles at the entrance, and everyone was just pushing and shoving to get in. A line of military people were holding everyone back, and as people showed their ticket, they would grab them from the back of the head and push them in between the small space between two of the soldiers. The chaos from that crowd was so fascinating yet extremely dangerous!

During my first week, my Russian friend Genna took me to a park on the other side of the city, where people commonly come and play chess. There was actually a 15 x 15 ft. chessboard on the concrete, with actually pieces! As I played a Russian gentleman, I could tell word was getting around that there was an American playing amongst them. I beat this one Russian and he started yelling in Russian that I was pretty good, and so they wanted me to play with them on the huge chessboard. So there I was studying the position and there were about 10 elderly Russian men standing around me yelling at me to move this way, NO, don’t do that, move your bishop! Some were screaming, "Americnasky! Bobby Fischer!" I remember taking a step back, looking all around the chess park and consciously telling myself to digest all of the experience in. My dream had come true. I had arrived in the chess capitol of the world!

Of course, I did a lot of dancing to Russian music. Sometimes I would have one earphone from a cassette recorder in one ear and Natasha or Leyena would have the other (Natasha! Leyena! Remember?), and we would just dance. There is one song by Zimfera that goes, "POCHEMU! Lai lai lai! POCHEMU! Lai lai lai!"

And then there were these dancers at the university that dressed up in native Russian attire. During their presentation, they would dance around and sing a chant that went like this, "GUYA GUYA GOOOYAHA GUYA GUYA GOOYAYA!" Ha! Ha! Ha! I am laughing right now as I type this. Listen, you must call me so I can sing the chant to you in person. It is so funny! And the melody is much more powerful when it is sung in person! :D

Then there was the moment where Becky and Emily (two American girls) and myself were boarding a bus in Habarosk. As we boarded the bus, a creepy Russian guy grabbed Becky’s backpack while it was on her back, stuck his hand in and snatched her purse. I did not realize what was happening until Becky started yelling "NO!" in Russian. So I ran over, put him in a bear hug and we wrestled for a few seconds, until he finally threw the purse down and immediately got off the bus. Becky says I am her hero! Yeeha! (Hey Becky! When are you going to have me over for dinner?)

In closing, I am so glad I went overseas. I highly recommend leaving the U.S. even for a short while. You will learn so much and your visit will enrich your life. And for those of you who share in the vision of the Great Commission, I do not think anything is more fulfilling than to show and spread the love of Jesus Christ to the dying throughout the world.