четверг, 30 августа 2007 г.

Switzerland Швейцария




It's hard to believe, but I'm writing this from Switzerland. Boy, do I like it here! I am actually thinking about staying here forever illegally. Shhhh.....I didn't tell you anything.
It's been a while since we used russian airline and to be quite honest, "Rossiya" is not my favorite. Couple of times I wondered: Does the airplane supposed to make sounds like that or we're going down?))

Трудно в это поверить, но мы в Швейцарии! До чего же симпатичная страна! Я всерьез намереваюсь попросить политического убежища, но не знаю куда с этим обращаться. Папа-мама не волнуйтесь- это шутка)))
Довольно давно я не пользовался услугами российских авиакомпаний, и, скажу честно, правильно делал! Все таки на борту очень важно ощущение спокойствия, а когда видишь неулыбчивых стюардесс бегающих(!) по проходу, хочется обернуться и посмотреть: а нет ли у них на спине парашюта?



Our dear friend Manue lives in the small village called Degersheim which is about 45 minutes away from Zurich. As we were driving from the airport, I noticed that there are a lot more cows in Switzerland then people. Manue told me that no one was outside because it's Sunday. Today is Wenesday. We still haven't seen anybody.))

Наша дорогая подруга Маню живет в деревушке Дегерсхайм, в 45 минутах езды от Цюриха. Страна маленькая, поэтому это считается далеко. Вообще далеко здесь начинается со следующего поворота. Пока мы ехали из аэропорта, я обратил внимание на то, что коров в Швейцарии значительно больше чем людей. Маню сказала, что это из-за того что воскресенье. Вранье. Сегодня среда и коровы продолжают доминировать. На фото дом в котором мы живем.



I dont have anything against russian cows. I don't think they're ugly or anything like that. But you can't even compare them to cows in Switzerland. It's like comparing me and David Beckham. I'm a lot better looking.
Swiss farmers can't watch their cows 24/7. Instead, they put electric wire around their fields. Too bad I didn't know that in advance. Ouch! Kids, learn from my mistakes!

Я понял, что животные в России, которых я называл коровами всю свою жизнь, не заслуживают такого громкого названия. Здесь, в Швейцарии, коровы выглядят лучше многих моих человеческих знакомых. Месные фермеры обносят электрическим заборчиком коровьи пастбища, чтоб буренки не надумали сбежать. Я этого не знал. Дальше додумайте сами....



This is just a pic with a local girl that happend to be very hot. I couldn't resist taking a picture. We're madly in love now.

Хэзэр сказала, что я порчу все наши совместные фотографии, строя рожи. Это не так. На этой фотографии я ничего не строил. Такая вот рожа. Естественная. Мы плывем на корабле из Цюриха в Рапперсвилль.

понедельник, 13 августа 2007 г.

четверг, 9 августа 2007 г.

#756


Today is a very sad day. Actually it was 3 days ago.
BARRY BONDS PASSED HANK AARON'S RECORD.
There should only be two types of people right now:
1. People who are really really sad.
2. People from SanFrancisco.
If you want to know what i think about that, i'll give you a hint: i'm not from San Francisco.

воскресенье, 5 августа 2007 г.

Pics from MA 07


Original logo of this year's theme.

Our own version of the show.

Kids showing their program for the first time

Phil. A tough guy with a soft heart.

Outreach in one of the local villages.

IdiotBall. Part of Summer Olimpics 2064.

Take that, amerikanski!

Bringing sexy back.

A group from Good News Mission church.

Nastya.

Me and Mark as Jack and Rose from Titanic
One of the groups that came this year

That's right, baby. Men In Black!

Final scene from Titanic

beginning of Passion play

суббота, 4 августа 2007 г.

Mission Adventures 2007


Mission Adventures 2007 is officially over.
4 weeks. 13 staff. 42 participants. 10 churches. 1.649.022 mosquitoes. 3 army tents. Lots of fun!
This year theme was "Lazarus. Wake up dead man!", based on John 11.
Also, this year's outreach was in Belarus (former Soviet respublic), which was a big eye opener for all of the kids, since preaching the Gospel outside the church is illegal out there. Each team had only three days to learn all skits and dramas; evangelism tools and songs. They were all VERY stressed out, but did a really great job. One of the best parts of the programm, was thursday night outreach in one of the local villages, For the first time kids would perform their entire programm in front of strangers. Anywhere from 30 to 50 people would gather to watch it, Probably 70% of them were kids. Awesome! Usually we would stay for about 40 minutes after the show to hand out Bibles and just to talk to locals. Not last thursday.
We completly forgot that august 2d was Spesial Forces Day (Day of VDV). Usually that means a lot former soldiers walking around in there old uniforms absolutely drunk, looking for an opportunity to fight. That night we went to Garbolovo- one of the biggest villages in the area. Kids from Calvary Chapel team started inviting people to watch the programm. I saw several guys standing by the store, drinking. They were all wearing their uniforms. Crap... I told Mark (volunteer from Scotland) that we have to be ready to..."Fight?"-he asked. "No! Get the heck outta here!".
Right in the middle of the show, one of the "soldiers" started yelling things that i can't really write here. Here's my edited version: "Would you please leave this village, dear sect members or this beautiful summer day will be the day when your life will be over!")) Crap...
He promised to come back in 5 minutes. And he did. This time he was right behind the team, while they were performing. He kept saying that he killed a lot of morons like us, while serving his country in Afganistan. I asked him if we could move a little bit, so we wouldn't interrupt the show. He was amazed: "Do you really want to fight me one on one?!". Crap...
Me and Tim decided that instead of waiting we needed to go and talk to this guys. What can be more desirable than a conversation with a group of drunk, mad former professional killers? Especially, when they're mad at YOU!
It was a difficult conversation. They hated America, they hated Bush, the hated Putin. They were calling themselvs "orthodox believers" and we were foreign agressors to them. I had a long conversation with a 45 year old guy Viktor. He was by far the most intellectual and sober guy there. He was convinced that America is evil and anything that sponsored by american money evil as well. Every time i would switch the conversation to Jesus, we could talk. Every time he would switch it back to politics, we couldn't. I would love to tell you that all of them became christians after we talked, but they didn't. And i think that is what sharing Gospel is all about: viewing yourself as a link in a chain and hoping that you would be the last one.
We had to leave immdeatly after the programm. When we got back to YWAM base, kids were so pumped! That night Tim told me: "I think this outhreach did more for this kids than 10 years of going to church". Amen.
I posted all of the videos we made this year at www.youtube.com\zhuliker. Go check 'em out. Let me know what you think.