Quotes of the day

By Chris:
So today has been pretty relaxed. Our plans changed slightly, wo we were not able make it to the hospice center today. Tyler, Brian, and Katie went with Victor and Sister Maria to set up camp; the rest of us stayed here to hold down the fort and get to plannin our week. In the course of this planning, there were a few funny quotes I though you may find amusing.

Tyler: Yea I got these pants for real cheap at goodwill
TJ: I like good will. I got this shirt there for super cheap
Tyler: yea well I got this shirt I'm wearing for free at Seek.
Father Steve: yea well my shirt cost me my life!
Everyone: . . . . Ohhhhh
Chris: OH SHOOT
One of the girls: yea Father wins that one

Bede is one of the 6 seminarians here. He is a tiny guy from the Phillipines and has a huge sense of humor. At lunch we was keeping us quite entertained.

TJ: Have you heard of Pitch Perfect?
Bede: OHHHH Pitch Perfect? Yea I love Fat Amy! She so funny.

Missy: Yea Emily and Chris are from Florida. Do you know where that is?
Bede: Florida? OH yea thats the one that looks like America's flipper.

Well all fun and games aside, we will soon be setting out for Lesozavodsk by train. Tomorrow the kiddos come to camp. Throughout the week will be playing games with them, sharing stories and traditions (both American and Russian) and giving talks on different spiritual topics (mine is on prayer. Not sure what everyone else is talking on). It should be fun. We were told that the living conditions are quite small, so this will be the most "mission trip style" we will be living.

Adios for now! I'll post when I can, but dont be too worried if you don't hear from us for a week. 

Something Neat About Being Catholic

By Chris:
Ok so in all honestly, "neat" does not cover what I am about to write. While it seems strange to be on the other side of the world (and I don't even know if that fact has totally sunk in yet), the Catholic Church is still the same. Sure I was lost when we prayed the Angelus in Russian at lunch, but to be fair I don't really know it in English either!
This all sort of hit me during adoration today. As I stared up at the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar, the realization of how intense the universality of the Church really is. Never before had I realized that the "neat" concept of universality really all boils down to the Eucharist. The same Eucharist we adored today in Russia is the same living body of Jesus Christ that can be found in Gainesville at St. A's and at the seminary that Father Steve teaches at and all the way to Denver where Tyler works. I had always known universality to be about the Mass being the same no matter where we went (and it is of course and we had Mass today here and tomorrow we will have Mass actually in Russian. It is the same Mass). Never before today, though, had I actually contemplated the awesome universality of the Blessed Sacrament. It was quite an awe inspiring and mystifying expereince. 

Important Upcoming Events Notice

Dear followers,

Tomorrow we will spend a short time at the hospice center here in Vladivostok. Tomorrow evening the entire team will be heading to Lesozavodsk for the youth summer camp. There we will be hosting a summer camp for young, impoverished children of the area. For a whole week we will be talking and playing with these kids, most of whom come from a broken family background.

NOTE!!!! Since we are moving to another area, the access to the internet is not gauranteed. Therefore, it is possible that we may not have any posts go up for the next week. Once we return to the parish here in Vladivostok, we will add all of the posts and pictures from the week. I do plan on having the rotation of pictures issue solved by that time.  If we do have internet, posts will probably only consist of short updates on how the team is doing and not pictures.

I will try and post once more before we leave for Lesozavodsk to let you all know how our first day at the hospice center went. No promises, they are keeping our days pretty busy (which is a good thing!).

Sincerely,
Chris 

Lots of Stuff in this Post

Hello family and friends. This post has lots of updates on our first day in Vladivostok! Lots of pictures provided by Katie (as she had promised). In advance, I must apologize that some of the pictures are oriented wrong. I am not on my own computer, and blogger keeps putting all my menus in Russian, so I haven't been able to get them rotated. I am really sorry, but at least Katie took nice pictures for us.

First, here is a picture from JFK airport before we headed out. Notice that we do not look travel worn or jet lagged. 

After two very long flights, we did arrive, meet the sisters and Father Myron, and make our way to the church. Once we arrived, all of our jetlag melted away for a few moments as the beautiful church came into view. 

Coming up the walkway near the church, it suddenly came into view

Here is the front of the church

Here is the inside of the church. On either side there are beautiful stain glass windows devoted to Mother Mary.

And here is the team posing in the church. 

After getting all settled in and eating a very nice lunch with Father, the sisters, and the seminarians here, the team hit the town to do some sight seeing. We went to the station where the Trans Siberian Railway ends, did a little shopping, saw the bay, and got a nice view of the city while riding to and from the train station on the city bus. The sisters here make excellent tour guides. Here is a picture of all of the men on the team looking very "stoic" for the camera. 

So needless to say we had an eventful first day. After the tour we returned to church, had exposition for an hour, then Mass. Dinner was just as filling as lunch, but by then the team was really dragging from the long flights followed by a pretty fun day. Tyler ended dinner with a few announcements then a rallying "OK Lets go to bed!" Most of the team is now asleep or preparing for tomorrow. Now that we are finally here and all set up, the real work can begin. 

As always please continue to pray for us. This is gonna be great! 

Missy's First Post

By Missy:
It's funny what happens when a group of strangers is brought together for a common purpose. I'd not guess this happens with all mission trip groups, all though I suppose it could, but I'm so delighted at our experience of bonding thus far. It took no time at all, it seems, to get to know each other and open up . . . sure I think some people are still on their way to blooming but but generally speaking, we have gelled quite well as a mission team. Our time in NYC together for preparation and orientation was great - a mix of laughter, reflection, prayer, formation, and testing our characters and the beginning of our new relationships.
Now we've been traveling for quite a long time; we are no longer on American soil in familiar surroundings, no longer well rested (hard as we tried to sleep on the plane). Upon arriving in Vladivostok, the real mission will begin. Our spirits will be tested, we will endure some kind of suffering, we will be called out of ourselves to serve in one uncomfortable way way or another. Are we ready for these challenges? Are we ready for the grace that will come as a result? May Mary our Mother guide us. 

Air travel status: completed!

By Chris: 

Greetings from Vladivostok!!! We have landed safely, all our bags made it, and no one got motion sickness. Father Myron and two sisters greeted us very warmly. The weather is great here (anything that isn't hot or wet is nice to this Florida boy) and the landscape is beautiful. We are now on the train and heading to the parish to settle in. 

Here we are getting fresh air for the first time in 2 days. Do we look travel worn yet? 

Here is some of the team on the train. 

 

We have successfully entered Russia!

By Chris

So the team has made it to Moscow airport, we went through customs no problem, and now we are on the domestic side of the airport. Our mission seems more real now as we are sitting in an airport where no one around us is speaking English and we are already halfway to Vladivostok. 

Here is a picture I took just as the land of Russia came into view. 

The first flight was very comfortable. It was the first time I had ever been on a Boeing 777. The food was surprisingly good and we were all able to relax, watch a movie, and catch some Z's

We now wait for our second and final (and very long) flight of this journey. As would be expected, the team is quite worn out from the long flights and time in the airport. Here is a pic of some of us now in Moscow 

When we land from this flight it will be breakfast time in Vladivostok, so we will have a full day ahead of us. In case you are wondering, Vladivostok is 15 hours ahead of New York. I am not sure how the time stamps will appear on this blog.

DELAYED!!

So no big deal, but our flight was delayed on the ground, took a bit to get loaded up, and now we are far back in line for takeoff so we are further delayed. Shouldn't be a problem at all, and the good Lord has been granting us lots of patience! 

PRAY FOR OUR SAFE TRAVELS 

WE ARE GOING TO RUSSIA!!!

A few conversations as we prepare:

Father Steve: hey, Missy, we are going to Russia. 

Missy: YES!! We're going to Russia!

Chris: Hey Brian, where are you taking us? Not somewhere crazy like Russia, right? 

Brian (in Russian voice): oh no. Not crazy! 

WE'RE GOING TO RUSSIA!! 

A gift from the sisters.

The Little Sisters of Poor have continued to be extremely generous to us. This morning as we were heading to Morning Prayer, the mother of the convent came by and offered us a very special gift. As I mentioned before, the entire team read "He Leadeth Me" by Walter Ciszek. Well, after his return to America, Father Ciszek came to this convent and said a few masses here and also baptized a maintenance man here. With the Little Sisters he left his personal crucifix (which Father Steve is holding in this picture), a mass garment, and a couple of recorded homilies. The sisters have been so generous to offer us these things to bring with us on our mission! After morning prayer we listened to one of the recorded homilies. It was amazing to hear the voice of a man who did so much and we had read his story. He sounded so jovial and light hearted in his sermon. Father Walter Ciszek, pray for us and our mission!! 

Wonderful Company for Lunch

By Chris

Today the Sisters invited us to dine with them for lunch. It was a fantastic meal with even better company. They have been so welcoming to us. Emily and I met a sister all the way from from Florida!! Hearing about their stories and their love for Christ and the service they are doing here in Queens was very uplifting and inspirational as we prepare to do our own work and show the love of Christ on the other side of the world. As I shared with a few of the sisters, and I think a lot of the team agrees, the fact that tomorrow we leave for the opposite end of the globe seems unreal and hard to grasp. Anyway, here is a picture of the mission team and the sisters on the front steps of the convent after lunch. 

Photo credit: one of the sisters took the picture using Father Steve's camera. 

KNOT EASY warm up activity

Missy thought a great get to know you activity would be the human knot. Well, the team was very close and we each had our turn being tightly knotted up. Though it was way harder than we thought it would be, Missy was right and the team had a good bonding experience. AND to top it all off, we did succeed in unknotting ourselves. 

Photo credit: Father Steve (while he was also attached to the knot) 

Day One = Success

By Chris

So day one was a success! The entire team has arrived and is bonding really well. It feels like we have been together longer than one day. We are staying with the Little Sisters of the Poor in Queens, NY. They have been so wonderful to us so far and are such gracious hosts. 

Tomorrow we start real training. We have both spiritual and practical training on how to treat a mission trip, and particularly this one to Russia. Everyone is getting really excited and geared up to finally start this mission after our months of preparation. 

Amassing the army!

The team is starting to gather at JFK. The mission begins!!