'Dasvidaniya,' Capo Valley Christian Students Say

Thirteen impoverished Russian families will receive hand-delivered care packages from when the students touch down Sunday for a two-week trip in Vladimir.

Nearly everyone at the school, from preschool to the high school, has been participating in the effort. Students and faculty have collected everything from toothbrushes and maternity clothes to jars of peanut butter (difficult to find in Russia) and jars of multivitamins, said Teri Whitney, admissions assistant at the school.

Besides visiting the families—one with 16 children—the team of two adults, three alumni and seven current high school students will stop in at least three orphanages, a juvenile delinquency center, a hospital and the local university in Vladimir, a city of 400,000 three hours east of Moscow.

“I’m most looking forward to helping the little kids in orphanages,” said Colin Argue, a ninth-grader who will celebrate his 17th birthday while in Russia. He raised $3,000 to make the trip.

Simultaneously, another group of Capo Valley Christian students will be headed to Israel for sightseeing. Argue said he purposely chose the Russia trip so he could serve. “I’d rather be helping others than myself,” he said.

Argue’s older sister went on the trip two years ago. “It changed her life,” he said. Now he’s looking forward to “just a change of perspective.”

Terry Gaunt, principal of the junior and senior high schools, said Argue’s comments are typical. Before the trip, the students look forward to playing with the orphans most. But it’s the home visits, where the students deliver a 50-pound, filled suitcase of clothing and necessities specific to that family, along with bags of food bought in Russia, that end up touching them the most.

“These families know we’re coming. We don’t go down the street and knock on doors,” Gaunt said. Over the years, Gaunt, who’s made the trip every year since 2001, has become a familiar face.

“What an awesome experience it is to just talk and share,” he said.

The first trip was 1999 (they occur on the odd years) and was sparked by the interest of one student who had spent some time putting together Christmas packages that were headed to Russia at Samaritan’s Purse. She told school administrators that they should go.

The first trip in 1999 was with Josh McDowell’s ministry in Russia, Gaunt said. While they were there, school officials connected with Paul Lossau, an American missionary living in Vladimir. He invited the school to partner with him and his Mercy Ministries, which already had connections with local churches, orphanages and other organizations.

The school’s been back every other year, bringing new students and new supplies to an impoverished area, Gaunt said. The trips are always taken during Easter, both the Orthodox Easter and the Protestant Easter, which is a week later.

This year, Easter is so late, the students will celebrate Orthodox Easter in Russia but return two days ahead of Easter in America, Gaunt said.

The students also come to share their faith, Gaunt said. His most impressionable memory from a previous trip was an encounter with a grandmother trying to raise two teenage girls who seemed troubled. While they were intrigued by what the Capo students had to say, when the invitation was offered to attend Easter services, it was met with vague assurances that didn’t seem sincere, he said.

Easter morning, Gaunt was at the local church, getting ready for the day’s services. He said he told himself, “'I’m just going to pray and pray and pray.’ Five minutes later, she walks in. Her name is Christina. My heart and my eyes just lit up. There was something that was said in that conversation that she wanted to explore.”

Because he has been on almost every trip, Gaunt has seen post-Soviet Russia change. His first trip, he looked out the window to see drab buildings and no vegetation. “I thought I was in a black and white movie from the ’30s,” he said. Even the people wore black and white.

Fast-forward to his last trip in 2009, and the people were wearing bright, cheerful colors, and the children had cell phones, he said. “The young ones ... they have become the same as us,” Gaunt said.

The older generation is harder, Gaunt said. “You will not get a smile out of the older Soviet generation. They’re stoned-face. They’re still wearing black and white.”

Meanwhile, the children exchange e-mails and Facebook contacts with the Capistrano Valley Christian students.

Teri Whitney, who along with Gaunt forms “Team Terri,” will be making her second trip in her 17 years working for the school.

“We go to the baby orphanages. It breaks your heart. You know that another person isn’t going to go and hug those babies for a long time,” she said. Many of the babies appear to have fetal alcohol syndrome or other developmental problems.

Gaunt said it’s hard to return every two years and recognize the children in the orphanages, as they move from the baby orphanages to the institutions for younger children, then for older children.

Senior Andrew Sears has done a lot of world traveling, especially to First World countries in Europe. So he appreciates the new experiences to come. He has always wanted to make this trip, which is usually offered to just juniors and seniors but was extended to the freshmen and sophomores this year.

“Obviously the purpose is to be a lot higher there. It’s not a vacation. It’s a time to serve,” Sears said.