From Russia, With Love
Sochi in Summer I love watching the Olympics. It has been especially fun seeing them in Sochi, where I had the opportunity to visit in 2005. I spent a couple weeks in Russia with my friend, Tina, visiting her parents who were living there at the time. There are so many things I could share about my time there, but I have narrowed it down to one story. Tina's parents did all sorts of good work in their community there. Her dad was a pastor and her mom was a nurse by trade. But really, they were simply great at loving people. They somehow got connected with an alcoholic rehab center and took Tina and I there to visit. The center was for men who were looking to turn their lives around. It was in the country - what appeared to my foreign eyes as the middle of nowhere. The center was run by 2 former Olympic athletes who had devoted their lives to helping these men. The center itself was essentially a farm. The men were learning to live on the land and the goal was for the