The Patience Blog

The past couple days sure have been busy. I've been SLAMMING to get all of my things packed. To see everyone that I care about here in Russia before I have to leave. Today has a really interesting and phenomenal feature. I'm moving all of my things that are going to be waiting for Amy and I here in Russia. And three of my four favorite Russians will be helping me move. Sasha, Igor and Dennis are all helping me move my stuff along with Dennis' friend Sergei. Zhanna is our telephone and pr@yer support specialist. You'll never believe how long it took us to move my things less than 1/4 mile from my apartment to the garage.

Everything was all set up for 2 o'clock. Then the moving helpers were late. Then the taxi was late. Then the taxi cancelled. We got a new taxi… We loaded it… We moved…We unloaded the truck. Then we spent 3 hours trying to open the garage door. It turns out to be really not complicated. But we didn't do it right. 6 different people tried to open the door… and then Zhanna and I were talking on the phone (she was helping me look up phone numbers for people in Russia who know how to open the door). She suggested we pr@y - and the door opened. Isn't that amazing?!

The really incredible part of the story is the lesson. I've really learned so many things about myself in this past year in Russia - and the lesson is about patience. There are many aspects of Russian culture that differ from American culture. And the highlight for this story is waiting. Everything in America seems to be designed to happen as quickly and as efficiently as possible. In Russia, we wait in lots of lines, people push to the front (not everyone of course) and in general it's really great for developing patience. In fact, people often go on errands in small groups so that someone can stand in line while the others get the errands done.

So the past several days - I've completely forgotten this lesson. I've been rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off and I've forgotten that the roses smell beautiful. I actually told Zhanna on the phone that I was really frustrated, because I didn't have time to be standing waiting. Zhanna reminded me that I was with my favorite people and that it was a beautiful day to be standing outside.

She was right.