I was a member of a college serving team in the summer of 2005 from Seattle’s University Presbyterian Church.  That trip ignited a passion in me for Russia, especially its orphaned and lost children.  My faith in God was strengthened immensely through my experience.  Many undergo a crisis of faith when confronted by pain and suffering, but it was the opposite for me.  Seeing children who were discarded and abandoned by the very people supposed to love and care for them is difficult and can make you feel helpless.  But I discovered it was only my faith in a great, powerful, loving and just God that made it ok.  I don’t know why some children are raised in loving homes and why others are abused or abandoned.  But I do know that God loves each and every one and that it is no accident when a child is born.  Without my faith in God, I would only be left with the belief that some children are born into impossibly hard lives with no purpose and no hope of justice or salvation.  Without God, I truly would feel helpless! 

I had no idea when I would get the chance to return to Russia, but I knew beyond a doubt that I would do everything in my power to.  God had showed me a desire of my heart, and I was going to follow that call.  So, when I learned that Sunergos was accepting interns, I was ecstatic!  To be able to return to St. Petersburg so soon, and to intern with the people who first introduced me to orphaned Russian children was such a gift from God.  In 2005, on my last day at Priyut Fedor, a little boy Roma, who I was particularly attached to, casually asked me when I would be coming back.  This broke my heart.  I told him, honestly, that I didn’t know, but at the very earliest it would be in a year.  Little did I know that God would honor those words, and I returned to Fedor one year and one month from when I said I would!  I loved it and was so thankful for the chance to do what is so close to my heart and to serve those that God has called me to!