New Life

I have begun my new life in Lynchburg, VA.  I have enjoyed spending time with friends in many States along the way.  What a joy it is to be able to connect with friends as if I had never been gone.  I continually sense God's blessing on this next step in the process of returning to Kazakhstan.  Today marks the first day of a six-week time of training and team building.  I am looking forward to getting to know my team members better and learning how to best communicate with one another.  I know I will learn much during this time.

I have already been blessed with many new friendships.  Last weekend I found myself missing my new friends here in Lynchburg in the midst of the joy of seeing old friends, as I spent the weekend in Muncie to attend a friend's wedding.  I am thankful that I already have a small group here.  Although I have only been a part of the group for two weeks, I feel like I belong.  Everyone has welcomed me into the group.  My small group in Muncie was such a blessing and encouragement.  The thought of leaving that group was one of the things that made the move to Lynchburg most difficult.  However, I see how God has provided a new group here.  This doesn't take away the importance of the old, but adds yet another layer of relationships to my life.  I look forward to seeing how these relationships will cause me to grow.

Sometimes the idea of making new friends overwhelms me, especially when I know that I will be leaving them soon.  I think back on the friends that I have had throughout my life (Kenya, CA, MD, IN, Taylor University, CO, Kazakhstan, and now VA) and realize how blessed I am.  However, as I realize this, I also realize how hard it is to leave.  My natural reaction is to want to protect myself from this by not adding more relationships to my life.  However, when I look back, I also realize that there is not one friend that has failed to make my life richer.  The pain of making new friends that I will have to leave becomes worth it when I dwell on the richness of my life.  As the next transition draws closer I hope to be able to hold onto this reminder and not allow the sorrow overwhelm me.

Another Round of Goodbyes

Hi everyone!  I just realized how long it has been since I last posted.  Sorry for the lack of communication.  It has been a crazy couple months.  Some of the highlights/lowlights included:

• Four delegations in four months (definitely a highlight)
• Getting a chance to have several of the youth that I worked with in Muncie come to Kaz
• Seeing my kids in Kaz and helping them interact with my kids from Muncie
• Saying goodbye to everyone in Kaz
• Becoming an accidental illegal immigrant in Kaz (thankfully worked this out legally)
• Three weeks in Muncie to see friends 
• Many games of Settler's of Catan with friends in Muncie
• Processing with delegates about their trips before leaving Muncie
• Saying goodbye to everyone in Muncie
• Spending a few days with my parents playing games

I had a wonderful time in Kazakhstan and then in Muncie.  I am now in the midst of my next big transition ... a move to Lynchburg, VA.  I will be spending the fall and some of the spring in Lynchburg as we train together as a new team to go back to Kazakhstan.  Right now it is looking like I will be returning to Kaz with this new team sometime in April.  I am excited to see this team come together and look forward to being in Lynchburg for this time.  I will be stopping in MD/PA on my way to Lynchburg later this week and look forward to seeing my Grandpa Coggins and many friends.  

It is always difficult to say goodbye, but I continue to see how each step down the path of life has a specific purpose and continues to grow me in a way that would be impossible otherwise.  I'll have to share some of the ways the last few months have impacted me in a future post.  I hope you have a wonderful week!  

My Russian Chiropractor

Although I just wrote a post a couple days ago, I couldn't resist telling you the funny experience I had today.  It is a bit of a long story, but should make you laugh.  The short version is that I went to a chiropractor and am hoping it will help my head.  The long version is ... 

After one week of having a headache caused by my back and neck being out of alignment I started asking around to see if there was somewhere here I could get adjusted.  Living in Kazakhstan definitely makes me miss my chiropractor in Indiana.  A couple years ago I tried to find someone that would operate in a similar way to a chiropractor and the only person I could find was one that required me to come 10 days in a row and with waiting usually took about 1-2 hours a day.  As a result, I needed a better option. 

Today, my director told me about a place that one of her friends had been to before.  Basically, I knew that my alignment was off and I needed my back and neck cracked.  This morning we went to check it out.  I met a somewhat older Russian man in charge of the Massage Room.  He understood a little Kazakh, but mostly spoke Russian.  I was told that he doesn't make appointments so you just have to come and wait.  Marina arranged for me to come at 1:30 in the afternoon and pay about $10.  Later I found out that it would take 1 1/2 hours and that the room had "machines" in it.  That made me a little nervous, but I clearly had no idea what I was getting into, or I might have decided the pain was worth it.  

I knocked on the door and entered when told to.  There were 3 other people in the room and a bunch of different apparatuses.  He took my bag with my sheet and towel from me and put it off to the side telling me we didn't need it yet.  Thankfully, I understand enough Russian to follow directions.  He turned me away from him and then started twisting my neck in different directions, informing me that it wasn't moving like it should (which I definitely knew).  Then he told me to sit in a chair that would be too small for a 5th grader.  I sat down and he hooked me up to one of these.  As I sat there he used another woman that was there for exercises to talk with me.  They were extremely interested and asked me all sorts of questions.  Meanwhile everyone around me kept doing their exercises.  After about 5 minutes he told me to put my hands behind my head.  I innocently followed his instructions as he stepped behind me.  The next thing I knew I felt the bones crack all the way up my neck starting about mid-way down my back.  It actually felt really good because I knew that was what I needed ... but it was a pretty impressive sound.  The cracking wasn't done yet.  He hadn't gotten my lower back, so he made me bend over a table while he VERY forcefully caused my lower back to crack (this was not fun and is the part I probably would want to skip if I ever go back - thankfully it was short).  

He then proceeded to take me over to this contraption. I was chilling upside down (and enjoying it) for about 5 minutes.  During this time I was being asked questions about where I live in town, where I learned Kazakh, how much I paid for lessons, and what kind of salary I receive.  All the while, Anatoly (my Russian chiropractor) was giving someone else a massage.  While he did this, she screamed out in pain.  Then, in the midst of the crying out, one of the braces holding my feet opened and I was hanging there by one foot.  He proceeded to put me into a horizontal position, to rest, and then after a couple minutes of rest and an adjustment to my foot braces, hung me back upside down again.  It was hard to keep my hands behind my head instead of holding onto the frame.  It was also hard to relax with the reality that if both of my feet came out of the braces at once, I would land on my head, which would cause it to hurt more than it already did.  Thankfully, after 10 minutes total, this was over and I could move on to my next "exercise."  

This one at least did not include any dangling by my feet or neck.  I laid down on a table and large rollers went up and down my back (below me) from my knees to my head.  Although it was painful, it was a really good hurt as it loosened some of the muscles that had tightened up over the last week.  

The entire time I was following one word instructions from Anatoly ), such as sit, stand, etc followed by hand motions to help me understand if I looked confused.  Now it was time to lay out my sheet on the massage table and disrobe from the waist up.  I was in a room filled with equipment and three people other than Anatoly.  However, there was a nice privacy curtain between the massage table and the rest of the room, with about three feet of space between it and the wall.  It was in this space that my "translator" sat and visited with me while I prepared my self.  I laid down on the massage table while Anatoly worked on my back.  Just when I thought it was hurting enough to say something, he would switch to something else.  It was actually a really good (yet extremely hard) massage that loosened up my back really well.  In the midst of it he grabbed my foot and cracked all my toes, ankle, and knee.  That was a bit of a shock.  After about 10 minutes of all sorts of different massage tactics from my head to my feet he told me I could get up.  

He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to try out any of the other equipment ... my answer was a quick no.  Walking out, my back actually felt really good.  My neck still hurts some (but it always does for about a day after going to the chiropractor).  We'll see how my body recovers in the next couple days and if I am able to sleep well tonight.  If it works, I might go back to my friend Anatoly again one day ... but I still think it was a good thing I didn't look into his massage room when we went to set up the appointment.  At the very least my chiropractor visit over here was a lot less expensive than it is in the States and I got to try out all sorts of new "old" contraptions.  

Already July - WOW!

Hi everyone!  I can't believe it's July already. Hope you all had a great 4th!  My 4th was quiet, with a nice dinner at a friend's house.  It is hard to believe that I have already been here for more than two months and will be headed back to the States in less than one.  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all the transitions in the next couple months, but also really looking forward to them.  

The last delegation of the summer will arrive in about a week.  It is a group of youth from Muncie, IN that I had the joy of helping with over the last couple years.  Of the 13 that will be here, 6 of them are returning.  Instead of just coordinating logistics for them, I will actually be able to participate in the time that they spend at the House of Hope, a small, private orphanage in the city of Vannovka.  We will be spending four nights at a camp near the mountains with a pool, soccer field, volleyball court, etc.  

I really look forward to being able to spend time with the youth from both the USA and Kaz.  This summer my responsibilities have entailed helping to care for the delegations, which has meant that I have not had as much opportunity to actually spend time with kids.  I have loved my responsibilities, but at times have missed just getting to interact with the kids in the orphanages.  It will be fun to have a few days to do that before returning.  

Here are my tentative plans for my return:  I leave Kaz and arrive in the USA on the 27th of July.  I will spend July 27th-August 19th in Indiana.  August 19th - 22nd, I will be in Ohio visiting my folks.  From there I will drive through PA (to see my grandfather and others) and will end up in MD until the end of August.  At the end of August I will head down to Lynchburg, VA ... my home until mid-November when I will likely become a bit transient again for the holidays.  Feel free to start letting me know when you can get together if I will be near you. I look forward to seeing many of you in the coming months as I prepare to return to Kaz full-time.  

Ulan Delegation

Hi everyone!  It's been a really busy week as the Ulan delegation has arrived and prepared for camp.  They have been a joy to be around.  I enjoy the sense of humour that each one has and have been blessed by their servant hearts.  

On June 1st (Children's Day), I had the chance to go to Ulan for the first time since being back.  It was good and hard at the same time.  We came after the concert had started, and due to the hot sun we stood at the back watching.  Many of the children did not notice our entrance.  It was fun to see the heads turn as they realized we were there.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the news spread through the crowd.  One person would turn, then their neighbor would turn, then someone in the row in front of them, until everyone had noticed us.  Since my hair has grown out some since I left, it took people (kids and caregivers alike) a little while to realize who I was.  It has been fun to see the look of friendship and joy when they recognize me and I get to say hello.  These kids (and staff) mean so much to me and it has been fun to see that although I have been gone for two years, I still have a special place in their hearts (as they do mine).  

The hard parts are when staff or children say things like "you have forgotten us" to me related to my having returned to the States.  It is hard to explain why I have been in the States for so long.  It has been touching that many of the kids have asked about my health.  One of the reasons that I needed to remain in the States, at first, was that I needed some time to take care of myself (emotionally, physically, etc).  I have been a little surprised at the concern of some of the kids related to my health.  

Overall, it has been such a blessing to be back.  I still love this country and even more the people here.  I look forward to returning next spring to live.