Yumans help distribute recovery materials to Russian immigrants

Their mission to Israel was not impossible, but bordered on daunting for Yumans Glenn Graf and Paul Bensel.

Graf said he and Bensel "took with us boxes of the booklet .Came to Believe,. many translated into the Russian language. The mission was to distribute the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous with Biblical references to the immigrants and displaced people who needed the guide. It.s a ministry of the Christian Community Church in Yuma."

When they reached the Holy Land, they were picked up by people involved in a support program initiated by Tanya, a Russian immigrant who had moved to Israel about two years ago.

"She has a big heart for nationals away from home, especially for the displaced people,' said Graf. 'Many have alcohol and drug problems, and no immigration status."

Graf said that Don Fugate, assistant pastor at the Christian Community Church, had met Tanya on a previous trip to Russia and had kept up e-mail correspondence with her on the work she was doing. "Last names are not used in the recovery programs," Graf explained.

"When we arrived (in Tel Aviv), we were escorted from a hotel to a small apartment, in an area where there are Arabs and Russians. We were anxious to get started on our mission, because we felt like the Apostle Peter, who had a vision that the Gentiles would be receiving his message. It was frustrating because that first night we were taken to a barbecue.'

One thing he recalled, although not really part of the recovery program, was the food. "There were all kinds of vegetables, even at breakfast, when we often had smoked fish," Graf said.

"Bensel really liked this, but that.s not my choice. And, I don.t think I can ever look a cucumber in the face again. I never realized how many ways they could serve it - raw, marinated and cooked!"

The next day they started working in Jaffa with French-speaking expatriates from Canada and men from South Africa, Great Britain and southern California. 'We were escorted most of the time, and felt we weren.t accomplishing all that we wanted."

Graf said they visited a men.s homeless shelter, where five men lived, and all spoke Russian. "We had no translators. Some of the men could read, others couldn.t, so our booklets were not a total success.

'We could see that the shelter, something like a halfway house, was clean but sparce. The men were lacking in food and toiletries. This was a challenge, because many of these men maintained their vodka relationship. It was their lifestyle.

"Another problem was that when families at shelters overstay their visa time, the fathers are the ones deported, which leaves the women to fend for themselves.

"Individuals we met were from different backgrounds. One woman was Jewish, but believed in Jesus. There are hundreds of converts from the Jewish religion. Many of the people we met wanted to believe and find sobriety."

Jaffa, a suburb of Tel Aviv, is a modern city with narrow streets, said Graf. 'People were quiet, guarded and reserved, but we felt very welcome as the tourism employment is very low."

Their hotel was next to the United Nations office. "We could look out the windows and see bulletholes in the walls - evidence of many wars in the ruins. Walls had layer upon layer where they had been torn down, rebuilt and torn down many times. These are defensive walls and we could see new walls going up again."

Bensel agreed with Graf.s comments and said, "We didn.t get to spend as much time as we would have liked. During our two-week stay, we were taken on a three-day tour of Tel Aviv.'

One of the most impressive sites for him was "the St. Anne.s Church at the Pools of Bethesda. Inside, you could sing notes and there were seven seconds of sustained echo. Acoustics were awesome."

Overall, the men said the trip was strange, wonderful, nothing like they expected and more than they hoped for.

Since returning home, they have been notified that one of the Russian immigrants will be brought to Yuma to learn more about the recovery program.

"We hope we can find someone in the community who will be able to help us in Russian translations," Graf said. He can be contacted at 344-1360 for information.

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Pam M. Smith can be reached at psmith@yumasun.com or 539-6856.