Well, we have been in the Country just over a day and things are going well. we all got a good nights sleep and are trying to get over jetlag. Today we are m
aking our final preparations for the conference which means running
around town to get photocopies and name tags printed, grocery shopping, and setting up the book displays in the vendor hall. Everyone got their first metro exportable which is always fun and a bit stressful. We have connected with Boris, who is the main conference coordinator here in Russia. Without him we would accomplish nearly nothing here! We are sleeping in the lodging center connected to the conference center. It is dormitory style rooms and we are fixing our own food in a connected kitchen. Gabrielle has been our fearless cook and she is quickly learning her way around the Russian market! Most of the Russians who are traveling from out of town will arrive tonight at 8 PM and we will welcome them with a large dinner. Last night we enjoyed a reunion with the Purcell family and it was wonderful to catch up with them. We also met up with some friends Scott has known since elementary school who serve with Campus Crusade here in St Petersburg and they told us many people are talking about the conference so we were glad to hear that- we are expecting 140 families! On the way to meeting our friends we got caught outside in a torrential rainstorm and we all got completely soaked! We went to a store to buy umbrellas but they cost $40 each so decided to risk it and not buy them. Overall, things are going smoothly but the real test will be tomorrow when we have to serve lunch to over 300 people! Thank you all for your prayers, enjoy the pictures from our day…
I am praying for each and every one of you!