Mission Project to Pyatigorsk, Russia

Dear Friends at Cameron United Methodist Church,

     Greetings from the Brittles in the Shenandoah Valley. I am now back into my normal routine here in the states and glad to be back home with my family. I had a successful and rewarding mission trip to Pyatigorsk, Russia along with a 36 member volunteer team from all over the Commonwealth of Virginia. From the 28^th of June to the 12^th of July our Virginia in Missions team visited, toured, and worked along side many friendly and grateful Russian people.

  The VIM team stayed in a boarding school in the city of Pyatigorsk and was hard at work on many projects. The dining room was a major renovation in which we installed a drop ceiling and put paneling on the walls. Another group painted halls, classrooms, and the stairwells leading up to the third floor. This group had the toughest job, I feel, because they were using lead- base paint (which is standard in Russia) and, by the third day, I could tell it was getting to them. With money we had sent over early, playground equipment had been built, and a group installed and painted the new equipment. As the playground area began to take on a new appearance, children from the community began appearing at the fence-line like ants and were playing on the new attractions before the concrete and paint had dried. A rock wall garden was also built and landscaped with flowers. That was such a big hit that another was built the next day. The day camp work team taught the kids two popular games - baseball and football - of which they couldn't seem to get enough. They also made crosses out of beads and pipe cleaners, and bracelets with their names in English! The supplies work team emptied all the many suitcases brought by team members. They had supplies in them that contained everything from “A” to “Z.” These many supplies were distributed to people in the community, the local orphanage, the hospital, and the school. A mural was painted in a room that was used for plants that the children had grown and nurtured there at the school.

    We met at the Lay Pastor’s for the United Methodist Church in Pyatigorsk for a service and supper and met 80 members of a growing church. The last day there we had another service in which we took communion and had another supper at a local restaurant. We were all well fed and many complained of gaining weight while on the trip. I didn't complain and ate everything that was served - imagine that!

   On the 4th of July we were treated to a special day off and taken on an adventurous trip - traveling 140 miles to Dombai. Passing through beautiful countryside and farmland we ascended to 5,000 feet into the Caucus Mountains. From there we traveled by cable car, then by two ski lifts. Finally we climbed 200 more feet to the top of a mountain which was 10,500 feet high. There we saw just some of the many beautiful scenes God created in Russia. Unfortunately, not all the group made it to the top to see the beauty, but they did go as far as mechanical means would allow.

    Every day was filled with much rewarding work and every evening we all would gather and have a devotional meeting time during which we discussed our experiences of the day. These times just seemed to energize the team even more everyday. People that had been on trips before were amazed at how well everyone got along without any conflicts at all.

    To make our trip much easier we were blessed with having 7 volunteer interpreters from the University in Pyatigorsk. They were all English interpreter graduates and understood us very well (even our crazy American phrases), but I did stump a few with the language that is spoken in Franklin, Virginia. The interpreters were all in their early 20s and worked and played right alongside us.

    I and the VIM Team would like to thank you for your prayers and support, and we would like you to know that through God’s love we were able to leave the community in Pyatigorsk with a positive and Christ-like example.

Yours in Christ,
Shenan Brittle