Dec. 19 - Saturday
What a great LORD we serve!
I've been here 1 week today - but at times it feels like months. It's sort of interesting when you travel so far away and get so caught up in the world that you are now immersed in, that when you pause and think of your "normal" life, it feels like eons ago. It makes you question your regular routine... which can be beneficial. I feel like I talk funny now too! Haha! I speak language they understand. Simplistic. Short sentences. Small words. :)
Today was good. I got up, walked to Ira and Damon's flat, ate breakfast, walked to the market with Ira, then went to the church to set up for the children's Christmas party. I was there all day.
It's funny how much we take for granite. For the past several days when Ira and I arrived at church, we had to build a fire to warm up the church - we did that first thing. Ira assigned me to cut out some figures for an activity today while she went to build another fire - in the kitchen stove. They use old Russian stoves if they don't have an electric one. So, Ira heated the stove with scrap wood. The paper she used to start the fire was torn pages from the children's coloring books - it was the only paper to be found besides a few other scraps. And I really appreciate our dishwasher at church. Try hand-washing all the dishes in cold water when it's less than 5 degrees outside! So sanitation? Well, I think if America wrote the law, they break it daily! I won't go into details. :) It's the culture though and I just follow along! :) It's a good break from so many rules that we place out there.
The party was wonderful! The kids are so well behaved. We started off by singing Christmas songs and some kids recited something (not sure what). Then the kids had a banquet waiting for them - the "potato" salad that I helped make (evidently the kids love it here - they all went for seconds), pickles, little hot dogs, bread, and juice. The kids ate then went to watch a movie - a movie about Jesus. The church borrowed a projector from Maxim and showed it on the sanctuary wall. I would guess about half of the children there do not go to church, so this was a great opportunity to have them hear about Jesus. Ira also told the story of baby Jesus' birth. After this, the kids went back into the classroom where the "banquet" tables were and there was fruit (bananas, apples, pears, and tangerines) and cookies and candies were. After this we gave the children candy to take with them. Ira gave marizipan and I brought candy from the states.
At the end, Ira told me that the kids really didn't understand the concept of "party." She said that they didn't really "get it." She told them it was Jesus's birthday celebration. She told me that they don't celebrate things in Aseri and so the kids don't have many parties.
One thing that I thought was sweet was how people dressed for the party. They wore their best dress and outfit. Some boys even wore a tie. I wasn't expecting this. When we have parties in America, we wear things that are comfortable and allow us to run and play games as children. It was sweet to see. One little girl was still wearing the same outfit that she wore all week though. I wish I could speak the language and get the full story without feeling like I would offend someone if I asked about the situation.
Afterwards, the teens and adults hung around and played UNO. It seems to be a favorite here! :) And I don't need to speak the language to understand - all I have done is learn the colors in Russian!
Well - I must sign off. I must give some talk at church and I have NO idea what about. So, I will spend time now working on that. Hope all is well at home. Love you all!!!
- Rach
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." - Eph.3:20-21
