Day Three

OK, God, now what?

We now had a load of musical instruments, baby dolls, backpacks, salvation beads, toys, and yo-yos out the ears.  Where do they go now?  Yuriy, one of our Russian friends, Lena's husband, in fact, has been wanting us to visit an orphanage in Murom, the fartherest point of the Vladimir region, about 2 hours from the city of Vladimir.  We called the director and learned the kids had just left for summer camp, but he would wait for us to arrive.  Oh, can you guess?  They have an award winning music program using 12 year old instruments purchased from flea markets and such. 

The director called and one of the buses had broken down on the way to camp.  He asked if we could give him a couple of hours.  Yes, it gave us a chance to stop at the internaat (school for orphans) in Murom and have a short time to minister to the kids.  Tanya spoke about their potential and Angela lead them in a time of worship.  Back on the bus!!

When we arrived at the orphanage and showed the director all the professional grade instruments, and special teaching instruments Angela Pickering, our TOTH musical consultant, had helped us select, he was speechless. He was particularly excited to see the violins and guitar, as they had no stringed instruments.   Being of Armenian descent, he immediately grabbed the tambourine, placed it between his knees, and started playing.  He was thrilled.  Holding it up and pointing to the skin, he said he had never seen such quality. 

While he may have been impressed by the quality and number of instruments, we are impressed by God's guidance of our footsteps to the right places.