As a child I would pull out the maps of National Geographic and study them for hours. Every time I saw a movie about Africa or stories of Russia my heart yearned to go to these places. I could never explain it but the travel bug has always been there. I’ve spent 9 months of the last two years in Southern Africa and just recently had the opportunity to travel to Russia.
Hamming it up for the camera at New Testament church in Perm, Russia
Russia was not at all what I expected. It was not the country I had heard so many stories about during the communist eras. It has changed. Yes it is true that there are still Lenin statues everywhere and in villages people still live the way they have for the last century without many common amenities. But the people of the cities are modern, professional, well-dressed, and very good at what they do. (Although since the previous place I visited was Haiti, the contrasts were probably more overt). As I sat in a food court in a bright and cheery Russian mall connected to wi-fi and eating a wrap from a Southern Fried Chicken place I was able to reflect on much of this and the fascination with Russia which really started for me more than twenty years ago in Belgium.
Living in Europe and working for an international organization brought a lot of people across my path. Several of those were Russian pastors. One in particular was a very young pastor who came to take a few classes at the Bible school. It was the late 80s and things had not yet opened up beyond the Berlin Wall, but the door was beginning to crack. I remember teaching Sunday school one weekend while this pastor visited the classrooms. He was amazed that children so young could be taught the gospel because it was illegal to teach their children about Jesus in those days. Fast forward twenty-one years later and I am the one visiting Russian Sunday school classes in a very large church in Perm. What I saw was a very vibrant ministry to the kids taking place, it definitely touched my heart.
Russian kids having a blast singing worship songs at New Testament church in Perm.
I remember thinking as I packed my Bible in my suitcase that this was no longer an illegal book…I could take it in legally. I later held in my hands a legal Russian Bible copyrighted in the early 90s and the many different versions of the Russian Book of Hope; many of which started so many churches and changed countless children’s lives. Our purpose in Russia this trip was to film several recent testimonies, while we were filming children and their current stories I was amazed by all the adults that we met that had been transformed by the Book of Hope in the early 90s and were now working feverishly to do the same for the current generation.
In grad school I wrote a training manual for teaching magazine design and photography specifically for Eastern Europe but never had the chance to use it, until now. Our OneHope Russian office held a photo contest just recently using many of the themes from the Book of Hope for a new edition they have been working on. Many unchurched young people participated. We arrived just in time to see the finalists and the awards ceremony. A week later I was able to teach a photography class to many of these individuals. A couple of things stood out: 1. I was able to give my testimony halfway through as it relates to my photography work and 2. a girl approached me about one of my photos, it was the one of the boy with his eyes closed and hands raised from South Africa (posted several entries back) she wanted to know what he was doing and why he had that expression. It was a joy explaining it to her.
So many things came full circle on this trip to Russia; my curiosity of Russian culture, seeing the children being impacted in a positive way and my photography. I originally studied photojournalism because of a word I received in Belgium about my camera opening doors that the title of missionary might not be able to and here I was teaching teens and young adults that wouldn’t come to hear a missionary speak but were very interested in the words of a photojournalist.
As you can probably pick-up from the article above I feel like I am just now starting my real calling. As a missionary, it is a fact that I need your continued support and partnership to continue making an impact. But, I never dreamed as a photographer I could really touch others until now! I am currently raising more funds to stay-on another year. Please consider giving. Send a check to OneHope, 600 SW 3rd St, Pompano Beach, FL 33060. Please use “Clark” in the memo line. Or you can give online at http://www.onehope.net/pages/page.asp?page_id=68958 Thank you for giving, praying and writing…
Hamming it up for the camera at New Testament church in Perm, Russia
Russia was not at all what I expected. It was not the country I had heard so many stories about during the communist eras. It has changed. Yes it is true that there are still Lenin statues everywhere and in villages people still live the way they have for the last century without many common amenities. But the people of the cities are modern, professional, well-dressed, and very good at what they do. (Although since the previous place I visited was Haiti, the contrasts were probably more overt). As I sat in a food court in a bright and cheery Russian mall connected to wi-fi and eating a wrap from a Southern Fried Chicken place I was able to reflect on much of this and the fascination with Russia which really started for me more than twenty years ago in Belgium.
Living in Europe and working for an international organization brought a lot of people across my path. Several of those were Russian pastors. One in particular was a very young pastor who came to take a few classes at the Bible school. It was the late 80s and things had not yet opened up beyond the Berlin Wall, but the door was beginning to crack. I remember teaching Sunday school one weekend while this pastor visited the classrooms. He was amazed that children so young could be taught the gospel because it was illegal to teach their children about Jesus in those days. Fast forward twenty-one years later and I am the one visiting Russian Sunday school classes in a very large church in Perm. What I saw was a very vibrant ministry to the kids taking place, it definitely touched my heart.
Russian kids having a blast singing worship songs at New Testament church in Perm.
I remember thinking as I packed my Bible in my suitcase that this was no longer an illegal book…I could take it in legally. I later held in my hands a legal Russian Bible copyrighted in the early 90s and the many different versions of the Russian Book of Hope; many of which started so many churches and changed countless children’s lives. Our purpose in Russia this trip was to film several recent testimonies, while we were filming children and their current stories I was amazed by all the adults that we met that had been transformed by the Book of Hope in the early 90s and were now working feverishly to do the same for the current generation.
In grad school I wrote a training manual for teaching magazine design and photography specifically for Eastern Europe but never had the chance to use it, until now. Our OneHope Russian office held a photo contest just recently using many of the themes from the Book of Hope for a new edition they have been working on. Many unchurched young people participated. We arrived just in time to see the finalists and the awards ceremony. A week later I was able to teach a photography class to many of these individuals. A couple of things stood out: 1. I was able to give my testimony halfway through as it relates to my photography work and 2. a girl approached me about one of my photos, it was the one of the boy with his eyes closed and hands raised from South Africa (posted several entries back) she wanted to know what he was doing and why he had that expression. It was a joy explaining it to her.
So many things came full circle on this trip to Russia; my curiosity of Russian culture, seeing the children being impacted in a positive way and my photography. I originally studied photojournalism because of a word I received in Belgium about my camera opening doors that the title of missionary might not be able to and here I was teaching teens and young adults that wouldn’t come to hear a missionary speak but were very interested in the words of a photojournalist.
As you can probably pick-up from the article above I feel like I am just now starting my real calling. As a missionary, it is a fact that I need your continued support and partnership to continue making an impact. But, I never dreamed as a photographer I could really touch others until now! I am currently raising more funds to stay-on another year. Please consider giving. Send a check to OneHope, 600 SW 3rd St, Pompano Beach, FL 33060. Please use “Clark” in the memo line. Or you can give online at http://www.onehope.net/pages/page.asp?page_id=68958 Thank you for giving, praying and writing…
