Maura Sweeney: Living Happy Inside Out | Personal Growth | Influence | The Power of Happiness
Aug 31, 2026 · 50 min · 10 segments
When my husband and I invited a young student from the former Soviet Union to live in our home, we had no idea of what lay in store for us in this historic trans-cultural, trans-political exhange. A…
Maura SweeneyHost
And secondly, I wanted to go and share a little bit of background on the USSR at the time, which was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
But Before I do, I will just let you know that in the year 1996, four years after the USSR had fallen, is when my husband had gone over to Russia, went on a missions trip.
But it was also done out of our church, which was bringing the gospel to a nation that really was not supposed to be believing in God.
And they were doing a lot of outreach, which meant music, musicals, mimes in the streets.
And they were partnering at the time with some newly established Christian churches that were forming in Russia after the old Soviet Union had fallen.
And to give you a little bit of background, which I think it's always good to have context.
Right now, I am in the process of reading, I finished one, but two other books about Boston and New York City during the early to mid 1800s.
And what's so surprising is that as each generation passes, And as a generation literally goes on into the netherworld after passing and death, we forget a lot about what life was like during each generation and each era.
And until we have someone maybe fill in some of the blanks, it's hard to get the full spectrum of maybe how we can see into the lives and the experiences of people who lived during that time.
Some of you who have listened to me before knew that I grew up during the Cold War era.
After World War II, even though our country had fought with the Soviet Union against Hitler and the Nazis in World War II, as soon as World War II is over, We decided then that we were going to have a new archenemy.
And from that point forward, we needed to arm up because we had a huge communist enemy.
But our story will be set with that as a backdrop and a lot of what that entailed.
But back in 1917, the Bolsheviks had a revolution, and it was the Working People Revolution.
And secondly, I wanted to go and share a little bit of background on the USSR at the time, which was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
But Before I do, I will just let you know that in the year 1996, four years after the USSR had fallen, is when my husband had gone over to Russia, went on a missions trip.
But it was also done out of our church, which was bringing the gospel to a nation that really was not supposed to be believing in God.
And they were doing a lot of outreach, which meant music, musicals, mimes in the streets.
And they were partnering at the time with some newly established Christian churches that were forming in Russia after the old Soviet Union had fallen.
And to give you a little bit of background, which I think it's always good to have context.
Right now, I am in the process of reading, I finished one, but two other books about Boston and New York City during the early to mid 1800s.
And what's so surprising is that as each generation passes, And as a generation literally goes on into the netherworld after passing and death, we forget a lot about what life was like during each generation and each era.
And until we have someone maybe fill in some of the blanks, it's hard to get the full spectrum of maybe how we can see into the lives and the experiences of people who lived during that time.
Some of you who have listened to me before knew that I grew up during the Cold War era.
After World War II, even though our country had fought with the Soviet Union against Hitler and the Nazis in World War II, as soon as World War II is over, We decided then that we were going to have a new archenemy.
And from that point forward, we needed to arm up because we had a huge communist enemy.
But our story will be set with that as a backdrop and a lot of what that entailed.
But back in 1917, the Bolsheviks had a revolution, and it was the Working People Revolution.
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