Dec. 14
Greetings from Aseri! It has been another good day.
I said my first sentence in Russian today. Okay - so it was "I drink tea" - but none the less it was in Russian! :) I also can count to 5 - excluding the number 4. I also can prounce 90% of the alphabet - the other 10 will take some time because I didn't know those sounds were possible - and they still aren't coming out of my mouth.
On a more serious note, I arrived in Aseri around 2:00pm. Viktor drove me and we went to the church. There we met up with some others, including the lady who teaches and works at the church for the after school program that was just started. Her name is Ira (prounced 'ear-ah'). We cleaned the church - I swept the children's Sunday school room. We also moved desks into another room. They do this every week - moving furnature and then having to move it again to have church. The facilites don't allow it to stay set up all the time - for church or for the after school program. This is why it is the dream of the church to remodel and make use of the whole building.
The church is in an old school building - over 100 years old. The church occupies about 40% of the building. Roughly 10% is rented to the telephone company - which I should be getting a tour of before I come home. The other 50% is the upstairs. There is so much potential. I cannot attach pictures at this time b/c of technology issues. I will bring pictures back for sure.
When I asked why do they want the after school program, the answer was multi-fold. First they said it is a huge outreach to Aseri. Currently b/c of the bad economic situation, Aseri (government) has no money and cannot provide the need. So, it is a need in the community. Second, the church already has a good reputation with the local government, so they would promote it to the kids. Third, it is a great outreach to the kids. A lot of alcoholism is in Aseri, along with a lot of broken homes. The next generation (the children) are the hope and the future of Estonia. Children are easy to reach and learn to trust the Church. Fourth, if the reputation of the Church is good, parents will want to come. During the Soviet oppression it was bad to go to church and a lot of negative ideas were planted in the people's minds about Christians. Furthermore, the last time someone was 'lord' over them and called itself their "savior' it was horrible to live with that oppression from Russia.
Those are most of the reasons for the after school program. Of course, the main reason is to bring glory to our Lord and tell the world about Him. I would ask that our church pray about supporting our Sister church in this project - if it is God's will. This can be with prayers, finances, and/or sending teams. Please pray and see what God's direction is.
The rest of my day was in fellowship in people's homes. Here in Aseri, everyone pretty much lives in flats (apartments). They are old communist built buildings with small apartments compared to America. It is so much fun to see where these people live and join in with them. A lady tonight made dinner for me - soup. It was so good. The best I could tell is that it had ham and pickles in it! :)
Well, I am signing off. Good night to you!
-Rachel
