Remember all those times I have talked about wanting to get out of capital cities and into more rural areas? In Kazakhstan I got exactly what I wanted! We spent our time between two hosts… well 3 but I’ll get to that.
We started our month in Rudny working with a church. The only church working to reach this entire mining community and the surrounding area. This church was ON FIRE for the Lord and they had a packed schedule for us over the next month. Unfortunately, there was been a miscommunication and we were only able to spend 5 days with them. It was extremely hard, and frustrating, to say goodbye to the people of Rudny *cue the sass*. Communication across time zones, continents and languages is complicated, y’all.
Next stop, Astana! Which translates to Capital. Just in time to realize we are actually supposed to be meeting our second host in the village of Atbasar. Did I mention it’s a holiday and no trains will be running for 2 days? Can you see my eyes rolling? Can you hear the sass in my voice that my mother has been trying to tame for the last 28 years? These two days turned out to be an adventure. We met with some Americans doing great work in the city and had the opportunity to help them out. While we were there the president for the last 30 years resigned and the next day the city was renamed after him! What a historic 2 days to be in a place. We met some lovely new friends at our hostel who made us a feast and put on a straight up concert for us after dinner.
We made it to Atbasar! What a beautiful 10 days. We ate A LOT of meat. In the short time we were there we ate horse, chicken liver, rabbit, duck, whole fried fish, beef, pork and the very popular horse fat. We taught English every day and had the opportunity to help with an adult special needs class. We also walked everywhere, not unusual for the race. Spring in Atbasar means a lot of melting snow which means a lot of mud on the mostly unpaved roads. Our host cleaned our muddy boots twice in our stay in hopes that we would “look like ladies” I don’t think it worked. Praise the lamb for my $10 boots I bought in Jordan.
We left the village and had to go back to the capital for less than 24 hours before we could catch a train to our next country. Remember those lovely friends we made on our first trip when we weren’t even supposed to be in Astana? They completely surprised us by offering to house us at their grandmothers vacant flat for the night for free! They picked us up, made us a FEAST, and made time for some more music. We were able to share testimonies and friendship. Our musician friend even learned a worship song he heard Gina Marie sing the first time we were in town so that they could record it together!
The point of this blog is that; yes, it stinks when things don’t go according to plan. Miscommunications suck, especially when you have to be the middle man. Mud is not fun, but someone cleaning your boots knowing you’re walking right back out into it is one of the kindest gestures I have ever experienced. Feeling like things could be done more efficiently is super frustrating. But if all of those things had gone “according to plan”; my plan. We would have never met Indira and Artum. Gina Marie and Haley would have never been able to record this Brook Fraser song with him *video below*. Kelsey would have never been able to share her testimony with Indira. We wouldn’t have made these wonderful friends. His plan is always better.
Hopefully next time I will remember that and “watch my tone” and keep my eyeballs from rolling to the back of my head when I feel like “my way” is better. Here is the video Gina Marie and Haley made with our new pals… full disclosure; I held he camera steady, no big deal.
