By Thea Jarvis

When Bobbie Elzey took off on a 16-hour flight to what was then Soviet Union last November, she wondered what contribution she could make to a country mired in political upheaval and economic disarray.

The Corpus Christi parishioner, founder LZ Aerobics and a fitness professional for over 16 years, was one of 14 American aerobics specialists chosen to teach workshops in Moscow and Minsk Nov. 30 through Dec. 10, 1991. The delegation made the trip under an arrangement between the U.S. Competitive Aerobics Federation and the recently formed USSF Sports Federation, at the invitation of the Soviet State Sports Committee.

On the plane, “I asked myself what I was doing,” said Mrs. Elzey, who facilitates high school religious education at Corpus Christi and is nationally known for the innovative aerobic technique. Was it “politically correct” to teach aerobics to people who couldn’t find bread on their store shelves and shoes for their feet?

What she discovered during her 10-day stay was that the Russian and Byelorussian people were open, not only to American aerobics, but to the hope and encouragement the delegation brought with them.

“It was an outlet for them” Mrs. Elzey said of the workshops, a way to “pull people out of the depression they’re in.”

She found Russia a dreary place, where the sun sets at 3 p.m. and the architecture and atmosphere, reminiscent of the U.S. in the 1950’s, triggered memories of her childhood.

But she found the Russian people warm and colorful, with a strong spirit now being tested under difficult conditions.

In a Moscow weight room, where Russian athletes trained for competition, Mrs. Elzey and other Americans viewed antiquated equipment and limited technology.

“Our athletes were amazed and humbled at what they saw,” she said. She could only conclude that it was “all because of their focus” that the Soviets had achieved such success in the international arena.

Through her workshops, which drew 120 participants in Moscow and 60 in Minsk, Mrs. Elzey met fitness trainers and young adults from all over the former Soviet Union. Russian Olympians, translators, students and athletes were her daily companions.

One translator was disarmed by the Americans broad knowledge of Soviet political events.

“Their whole life they never knew what was going on,” Mrs. Elzey said. “It was foreign to (the translator) that we would care” what happened in the USSR.

The woman’s parents, who had worked all their lives for the Communist Party, were left with nothing after the party’s collapse.

“She was very bitter about the government,” Mrs. Elzey said, like many who “don’t have any hope for their future” in the current political and economic climate.

Her students and friends had given Mrs. Elzey 70 pounds of clothing and miscellaneous items – leotards, exercise shoes, shirts, water bottles, toiletries – to be distributed in the course of her workshops as she saw a need.

“Just the littlest thing and they were overwhelmed with gratitude,” Mrs. Elzey said, visibly touched by the response of the students.

Their warmth was “an unconditional thing,” she said. “They didn’t expect anything in return.”

One 20-year-old, a dental student who shared her personal story with Mrs. Elzey, told her, “You have brought life and light and laughter to our lives.” The young woman mourned a lack of communication with her parents and cultural expectations that would have her married by age 21.

Russia, Mrs. Elzey found, was not like a Third Word country, where poverty and disease are the norm.

“They just don’t have a choice,” materially or socially, in the sense that Americans do.

During her 10-day visit, Mrs. Elzey sensed a real hunger for spiritual renewal in the people she met. Many, she recalled, wore crucifixes and celebrated saints’ days. Churches that had been used as grain storage sites or museums were beginning to open their doors. Icons long hidden in local farmhouses when churches were closed are now considered national treasures by the government, which issues stern warning to visitors like Mrs. Elzey not to remove them from the country.

An unscheduled tour bus stop at a Russian Orthodox church in Minsk illustrated people’s fervor for the faith, Mrs. Elzey said.

“You couldn’t even move” because of those standing shoulder to shoulder in the church’s open spaces, she said. A choir sang in the background, a priest stood in a vestibule blessing babies, and a long line of people waited to light votive candles.

“It was like midnight Mass,” she said “overwhelming for me to see.”

Her Russian trip has made Mrs. Elzey more appreciative of the opportunities she has to worship in the States, she said, and of her country’s material abundance.

“I still take so much for granted,” she admitted, but feels “if everybody could have the opportunity to visit this type of culture and see it first hand,” the wealth and freedoms of the U.S. would be better understood.