Trains, Buses, Metros & More Trains

Since starting our journey by flying into Helsinki we have spent hours riding on trains and buses to Arctic Finland and then over to Artic Russia, down thru St Petersberg and Moscow then East to Perm (where we are right now). Interspersed in the traveling are the massive Metros & carrying all of our hockey gear and luggage thru the Saint Petersberg and Moscow Metro where thousands of people travel daily, many staring. It has been quite a journey with many stories like when we got on the 3:30 am sleeper train in Kondopoga trying to quietly stuff all of our gear in nooks & crannies but managing to wake everyone up in the car. The passengers were gracious, not one complained...or when Brian, my assistant leader who is in charge of logistics, after arriving into Moscow by train after midnight took us thru the Metro looking for our hostel. He exited the Metro one station too soon so the gang hauled all of their hockey bags & luggage on the streets of Moscow probably a half a mile to the hostel.
I am truly proud of our team of 6. They have not complained once! They all agreed before the trip began that they pack & carry all of their own bags.
We had a 2 night stopover in Moscow before jumping on the 24 hour train ride to Perm.
Later I will do another entry about our hockey outreach in the Perm Region...

SAINT PETERSBURG

Today we toured Saint Petersburg's major landmarks in a snow storm. It was still something to see, imagine what it would look like in the spring/summer.

My highlight was visiting the Winter Palalce where all the Russian Tsars and their families lived in the winter.

Tomorrow we leave for Moscow!

After losing our 3rd and last game in Kondopoga we got on the 3:30 AM train to Saint Petersburg for 2 days of sightseeing and then 2 more days in Moscow before taking the 22 hour train to Perm.

Here are a few more photos...

Here is an email from Glen today. I thought I would share it on the blog ...

There are almost no internet cafes in Kondopoga. I found 1 computer in a store way in the back row of the apartments.

Hockey has been amazing here for us. They have a beautiful rink that seats 3,000 but hardly any hockey. We coached their 5 to 11 year olds (40 of them) twice and played twice. Once against the over 35 and then their 15-17 year olds (it was their 1st game of the year).

Both games there were 500-600 people who payed 50 rubles each. We were up 6-1 on the over 35 then they tied it 6-6 then Brian scored with 8 seconds in the game. Last night we played the young guys and they scored on a penalty shot with 1 min let in the game to make it 4-3 and then an empty net goal. It was like they won the Stanley cup they were so happy. It was very cool to experience it. The crowd was going nuts in both games, even Russian flags waving. COOL!

Tonight we speak at a church (Andy will preach and Brian & Michael will give testimonies). Tomorrow night we'll play the young guys again and then our team takes the 3:30 am train to St Petes.

Our team is great, they are certainly wowed when we play. What is really cool is you see our Canadian grit. We have 10 skaters and Yasmine (who has played amazing and won the hearts of players and fans) and the Russian have 4 full lines.

Brenna is in Helsinki awaiting her Russian visa. She will hopefully join the team in St. Petersburg in a few days. Please pray for her: no visa problems and safe travels to St. Pete.

There may not be any more blog updates until the team gets to Perm and then we can expect some photos and more update.

Thanks for your prayers!

Lorrain

FINLAND!

The Epic Outreach 2010 is under way. Our small team arrived in Helsinki in 3 parts; The Canada gang arrived at 5 p.m. on Jan. 5th, then Yasmine from Switzerland at 8 and then Brenna, a Canadian currently going to school in China, came today (Jan. 7th).

There are 7 of us in total, from left to right,

Michael, Mike, Yasmine, Rylan, Brian, Brenna & Glen.

While we are here in Finland, and the first few days in Russia, we have 3 guys from Mackenzie BC (Geoff, Andy & BJ) as part of our team. Geoff, used to live and run a YWAM base in Northern Norway has many contacts in Finland and is setting up this part of our outreach.

Our arrival in Finland was met by a cold snap.

After spending our first night in Helsinki we hopped on the train to YWAM base called Koivumaki in Siilinjarvi where we will be for 2 nights. We canceled our ice-time today because of the cold, the outdoor rink had no warm room.

Tomorrow we take the train north to Roveniemi (where Santa Claus resides) and will start coaching kids as soon as we arrive and 1 or 2 games are setup. The plan then is to crossover into Russia after that.

Looks like we'll have a terrific team.
Please keep us in your prayers.

Glen