I woke up just in time to go stand in a lot of annoying lines going through customs. We finished all that and I had my last chance for Starbucks. It was about ten thirty New York time Thursday morning. My next flight was an eleven-hour flight from J.F.K. to Moscow. Before we left one of the band members realized he had too much to carry on, so I handled his guitar for him. It was

I keep saying friends because like I said, we already felt so close to them that they weren’t just translators anymore. We got to Nizhny Novgorod early in the morning, got a quick tour of the city, and then got shown the hotel that we were staying at. At this point I didn’t have time to check out our room much, I just knew where it was, and that I was rooming with a teenage buddy of mine, which I was very thankful for. We had a team meeting in the lobby just to tell the band and the techs that they had a chance to play at a “disco” that evening. We had no clue what to expect at a “disco” so we just hoped and prayed for the best. We went straight from the meeting to the concert hall to set up for the disco.

The concert hall we rented seated one thousand people, and we planned to pack it out. And sure enough, by Gods grace we almost did the first night. I had almost that exact schedule every day except for Thursday. Thursday I got to go to one of the universities and tell them about life in America. Our real reason for going to the schools was to invite them to American Christian rock concerts. After the school, my schedule went back to the same; set up for band, run sound for concert, grab a bite to eat at Mc Donald’s with all my new friends. Then go to the hotel to go to sleep. The Mc Donald’s thing is sort of funny because it was our only time to share Gods word with our unsaved friends on a one on one level. We started calling it “Mc Donald’s ministry”.

The dreaded Saturday finally came. This was our last concert day, and the sadness flowed throughout the room. By this time the concert hall was packed out. Oh, I forgot about a very key thing. The weeks leading up to “the Americans coming,” there were numerous threats involving us, so the city assigned us security guards. These were the strictest most disciplined looking guys I’d ever seen. On the last day we broke them. They finally came out of their shell and started talking to us. Somewhere in the conversations we found out that they were the Russian elite special forces. WOW! What a shock that was.

The next morning I truly experienced the cold of Russia. I had accidentally left my window open the night before, and I definitely learned my lesson. We started every morning off with a group meeting and school assignments for the next day. I had heard a viscous rumor about the band doing concerts in the schools and this was when it became a fact. I loved the opportunities and possibilities this presented. I just didn’t like the fact that schools in Russia were all multiple stories, and they didn’t believe in having gymnasiums on the first floor.

Some topics in this essay:
Nizhny Novgorod, Mc Donald’s, Red Square, JFK Moscow, Desert Church, York JFK, American Christian, Journal October, grab bite, grab bite eat, concert hall, bite eat, twenty-five thirty people, people family, boarded train, concert day, mc donald’s, train ride, thirty people, nizhny novgorod,