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Andy and Rachel Frecka: Serving with Youth With A Mission Russia
handyrachet herald
28 October 2009
It turns out an endoscopy in America is a little different than an endoscopy in Russia. In Russia, you get up in the morning, whistle to your dog (if you have one), walk down the street to a pay clinic where you pay about $15 to the kind lady behind the counter. After a short wait you are instructed to go to a room where a large nurse holds you to the table as the doctor shouts, "Swallow, swallow!". It's a little traumatic (no sedative or anesthesia at all), but also quite clearcut.
My endoscopy in El Paso yesterday was a little different from that experience (they put me to sleep and I woke up more than two hours later), but happily, no surgery is necessary.
Sadly, Charlie is still in the hospital. Two days ago as I ran around Thomason Hospital I was amazed to discover that medical personnel repeating the same questions over and over is not strictly a Russian health care phenomenon. The same person asks your date of birth and phone number twice which is a storied interrogation technique. I had to laugh when the lady asked me my phone number though it was already on a form in front of her which I had to read it off of since I can never remember my temporary USA cell phone number.
It also took most of said medical personnel some time to wrap their heads around the fact that both I (Andrew Frecka, Date of birth August 2, 1976) and my son (Charles Frecka, Date of birth January 13, 2004) were both in the hospital at the same time AND that we (Andrew Frecka and Charles Frecka) had not been in a car accident together.
The hospital staff were quite concerned that the pain in Charlie's hip was a bacterial infection. That is a pretty nasty thing to have because the bacteria apparently begins to eat away at the bone pronto (as they say in El Paso).
Charlie is now in his third day in the hospital. He had an MRI with no sedation. For 32 minutes he lay perfectly still in the incredibly noisy machine while I sat nearby in a wheelchair (since that's what they gave me to sit on) in wild astonishment at his self-control. Today they aspirated fluid from his hip which is the only tried and true method of determining whether it is a bacterial infection or not. Charlie liked the turkey baster sized needle and was disappointed that this was the only procedure on tap for the day (unless the pending results proved to be bacterial infection in which case immediate surgery is necessary).
The doctor just came in a few minutes ago and gave me the cheerful news that Charlie has a condition known as toxic synovitis. It has the same symptoms as the bacterial infection (septic hip), but is not a condition that requires any surgical intervention. We hope to be discharged from the hospital onto the street in the morning where hopefully Rachel will be waiting.
We are thankful that neither I nor Charlie require surgery. We are thankful for all our friends in El Paso who have been helping us in so many ways. And we are thankful that the insurance company is picking up most of the bill. I'm not sure whether or not we are thankful that this all coincided with our three free days on this trip...
For those who would like to receive almost daily updates on our wanderings you may follow us on Twitter.
For those who missed our last herald due to the fact that we sent it out on an outdated address list please continue to read at the end of this e-mail. Since that herald we've been to San Antonio and Odessa/Midland before coming to El Paso. In Odessa/Midland we had the unique experience of being on a two hour TV show. About an hour and fifty minutes into the show I started filibustering.
Continue to pray for our move to Moscow and please consider giving towards the YWAM Moscow Welcome and Go! Center. Let me know if you have any questions about that new initiative. We must open the doors for a new wave of missionaries to the city of Moscow and the nation of Russia. To donate to the YWAM Moscow Welcome and Go! Center send your tax-deductible donation to YWAM/Box 3000/Garden Valley TX 75771. Make the check payable to "YWAM" and attach a separate note that says "For YWAM Moscow". Please do not write our names (Andy and/or Rachel Frecka) on that separate note! Thank you!
Blessings!
Andy, Rachel, Hannah, Charlie, Jaden, and Benjamin
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Order Winter Road: The Journey of a Russian Mission. Makes a great Halloween gift!
HANDYRACHET HERALD FROM OCTOBER 10, 2009
WELCOME RACE FANS:
Greetings from Douglas, Georgia!
Our team of three (not counting women and children) packed up our two trusty vans on a recent September morning. We drove out of my parents' driveway and around the corner. About two minutes later, Hannah Elaine Frecka politely inquired, "How long 'til we get there?"
It was much to my joy that I was able to reply, "About three more months!"
On our way to South Carolina from Ohio we made a stop in Racine, Wisconsin. The people of Racine showed unusual hospitality and patriotism for their local area. I also had the new and enjoyable experience of speaking in a Rotary Club. I think someday when I grow up I might want to join a Rotary Club, under the condition that they allow me to ring the bell at the end of the meeting.
As we made the little jaunt from Racine down to John's Island, South Carolina I found myself reflecting that the absurd is not to be found just in Russia. There is plenty of entertaining oddities even in my native land. Of course, there is the "Bong Recreation Area" on I-94 (a sign that the country is going to pot). Or better yet, I noticed an advertisement in the Akron Beacon Journal for Amish crafted electricalfireplaces.
"Isn't that like a solar powered coal mine elevator?" -Rachel Elaine Frecka
But perhaps the most definite economic indicator that we are about out of this recession was a product advertised on a Chicago area billboard: DogSlim.
It seems that the Russian/Belarussian portion of our team is becoming more accustomed to the American culture. I am speaking, of course, of the incessant smiling, constant eye contact, and reckless hospitality.
During our last evening in John's Island we had an enormous and delicious supper at a dinner party. Said dinner was followed by dessert. Dessert was followed by some boiled crabs which had just been trapped at the end of the dock. Then someone asked if we'd ever eaten grits. An argument then ensued centered on the point that if we tried grits then we'd never leave. The lady of the house, who I suspect had been cooking for about 16 hours straight, set right to making grits and some of the fish that had just been caught off the end of the dock. As we left that evening, one of the gentlemen said, "Ya'll come back. Maybe next time we can fix you something to eat."
Of course, this trip does not entirely consist of binging on local cuisine. We are sharing in every possible venue what God is doing in our part of the world and what we believe He is wanting to do in the city of Moscow. We are (or will be) sharing in small groups, Sunday morning church, Sunday night church, Bible studies, Wednesday night church, radio, Kiwanis, pizza parties, TV, and more. We're enjoying pulling out the guitars and drum and worshipping with anyone and everyone, and praying for Russia and the city of Moscow.
As many of you know, we are working towards a Welcome and Go! Center for the city of Moscow. And we are praying for 100 full time missionaries for the city of Moscow. Our financial goal for the Welcome and Go! Center is $350,000. It's a financial faith challenge much greater than anything we've ever faced before and we have been encouraged at the enthusiasm that has greeted this vision as we have shared. We are currently at roughly 8% given or pledged towards this amount with many more considering what part they want to take. We are praying for 50 people who would give the amount of $5000 and 100 people who would donate the amount of $1000. If you are interested or have questions please write and let me know. I will then send you more detailed information. We have also been encouraged at the number of open doors for us to share. Please pray that God will continue to open doors!
Reckon that's all for now...
God bless!
Andy, Rachel, Hannah, Charlie, Jaden, and Benjamin
