Well, we leave for the airport in just 3 hours and our living room is cluttered with 15 suitcases!  We are bringing 9 suitcases full of Russian curriculum and goodies to give away to the many Russia friends that we look forward to seeing again.  The kids are all playing a board game while Scott and I run around trying to finish last minute details.  Last night we had our first team meeting with all 16 of us who are flying out of Colorado and we spent some time giving final instructions and praying over the trip together.  When we arrive in St. Petersburg tomorrow evening we will be greeted at the airport by our dear friend, Pastor Oleg whom we traveled all over Russia with a few trips back.  We will then ride a bus to St. Petersburg Reformed Seminary where Boris, our main conference coordinator, will meet us.  I am sure we will all be pretty exhausted but we will have to walk to the grocery store to get some basic staples to fill the kitchen in the apartment where we will be staying.  It is always fun to have your first Russian market experience, especially since 7 of our teammates have never even left America!  Then we will crash into our beds for a well deserved night’s rest.    We have learned that the best way to get over jet lag is to take some TylenolPM at night then wake up and keep yourself very busy the first day so you are not tempted to take a nap in the middle of the day therefore we will be out and about all day Wednesday.  We plan to familiarize the team with the neighborhood in which we will stay and the metro system. Did you know that St. Petersburg has some of the deepest metros in the world at nearly 300 feet underground?  It is quite the experience to step foot on the escalator and descend underground for a 3 minute ride deeper and deeper!  Then we will meet up with some of our old high school friends who serve with Campus Crusade in St. Petersburg.  Finally we will end the day at Blake and Cathy’s apartment for dinner and a sweet reunion with our dear Purcell family!

I will try to keep the blog active with regular posts so keep checking in with us.  Please pray that all our travels go smoothly today and that I would not be too anxious about leaving our three little boys back home with grandma and grandpa…. Love to you all and thank you for your support in building the kingdom in Russia!

Blessing in Jesus,

Andie for the team