MrJim going to Russia for a Church Mission

[MrJim]

Well, I have had allot to be thankful for in recent years. NPORA coming together as a group and helping me get my Pathfinder back was something that I will never forget and it is things like that which caused me to start thinking about ways that I could give back in general.

 

A nearly 4 year divorce left me with little monetary value, so I looked for other ways to give. My niece, "Krissy" has done so many humanitarian things in her short life that she inspired me to get into Mission work. She has been to Haiti more than once in the last year and has helped them rebuild after their earthquakes devastated the region.

 

I was accepted as part of a 9 person team with my church to go to Tobolsk, Russia to help build parts of an ongoing mission there, who's primary focus is drug and alcohol rehabilitation. This part of the country has a very bad economy and yet heroine and vodka are very cheap there. There is no real legal drinking age there either, so you see alcoholics who are not even teenagers yet. This will be the first of many missions that I hope to be able to participate in and I am new to this so the fund raising part of this is new as well. In addition to the cost of each team member that will be $2500, we are raising an additional $6000 for the mission itself. I have been writing letters to friends and family, as well as going door to door seeking donations for this cause.

 

Literally every single dollar counts and if you would like me to mail you an information packet from my church, please let me know your address. For those in the US at least, this is tax deductible because every penny goes to the church for this mission directly.

 

I am learning Russian and I am attending training classes with the other team members to learn what will be expected of us while we are there.

 

Any words of encouragement, or ideas for fundraising from those who have done this before would be appreciated. There is a way to donate to the church directly online too. As I said, every dollar counts so help if you can.

[adamzan]

Sounds like a good experience. Once you get there and are immersed in the language it will come naturally to you after all that studying. Same thing happened to me with italian.

[MrJim]

Yeah, that is what I am hoping for. I have even thought getting some Russian videos (movies) to see if i can start to pick up some words in real time would help, but wow they talk fast. My hat is off to people who are bilingual.