Russia Update

On July 15th I send the following letter out via email:

"Dear Friends and Family,

Twice a year members of our church travel to Volgograd, Russia to teach the Character for Kids program at Volgograd Pedagogical University.  The Universal Values taught are Honesty, Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Courage, Caring, Fairness and Hope.  The students are typically studying to become teachers and the goal is to model to them how to teach the values to their students. There is also an advanced class that the students can take on Conflict Resolution.  

A key part of this journey involves our church supporting a church in Volgograd.  While we are there, we meet and study with the members, share meals, and fellowship together.  We will also spend time outside of the University fellowshipping with the students. 

I've felt God's nudging for years to be a part of this program.  Ryan and I have prayed about this, God has been faithful with the timing of my job and our family, and in October of this year I will travel with 5 other members of our congregation to Volgograd!

I have two requests of you as I prepare for this journey.  First, and most importantly, I ask for your prayers.  Please pray for our team as we prepare for this journey, that God will keep us safe, that He will open our hearts and eyes to where He is leading us and where we need to spend our time.  I believe there is power in being prayed for by name, so the group going is Rick Ellis, John Cooke, Mike Odle,David Gleason, Rachael Wise and Julie Pagenkopf.  

The second request is more difficult for me, but I believe that God calls us to ask each other for help when needed.  I ask that you prayerfully consider joining me financially on my journey.  The cost of the trip is around $2,500 to $3,000.  No gift is too small, and all gifts are sincerely appreciated.  Any funds raised beyond that will either be used to assist other members of the team pay for their portion of the trip (if needed), or to provide additional assistance to the church in Volgograd.   Please send contributions directly to our church with “Julie Pagenkopf –Russia” in the memo line.  Please also label the envelope with that information to help distinguish it.  The address is Riverside Church of Christ, 150 E. Beltline Rd Coppell, TX 75019.  

Also, there is a post on March 17th about the decision to start this journey. 

I thank you for your prayers, love and support as I make this journey.  I know God has big things planned for me in this ministry. 

Love and Blessings,

Julie Pagenkopf"

Financial Updates:
Thanks to some very generous gifts, I only have about $900 remaining to raise.  God continues to be faithful even when I have doubts.  

Preparation Updates:
Our team meets regularly to get together and spend time getting to know one another and  prepare for our journey.  I started really reading through the materials and trainer's guide two weeks ago to begin to prepare my portions of the classes.  I get to teach Respect and Fairness and I get to assign the homework the first night.  

The homework is really easy, (and not so much) we ask the students to write down what they believe.  Ex.  I believe in love at first sight, I believe in God, I believe in aliens, I believe peace is possible etc.  The one thing I am struggling with in presenting this assignment is what examples to put up on the presentation.  I could go with the ones that are already there, or I can put up some new ones.  One of the current examples is the peace answer.  I was given the opportunity to read some previous years papers and that answer was given an awful lot.  So I am wondering did they put it down because they really believe it or because it was a good example.  My goal is to spur them to introspective thought, but not end up with cookie cutter answers.  Any thoughts on possible examples? Maybe I am just over thinking it.  

I am still delving into Respect and Fairness.  Luckily a couple of the guys hired someone to record all of the classes, and so far I have watched the one on Respect and have some notes. More to come on that another day.  

I hope to provide more frequent updates as we get closer to our travel date.  

A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who are Making this Possible for me by providing support in EVERY way.