Our first full day in Russia. We woke up and had a yummy breakfast. We left for church at 10:15 and drove into the center of the city. There are about 10 Russian Baptist Union churches and they go to one right off Nevsky Prospket. It meets by the Swedish House in a Swedish Lutheran church. It is on a walking street with super cool benches (see above). During church, there was about 30 minutes of singing in Russian-something that is always very touching for me, hearing people of a different tongue sing praises to the same Jesus! Then the children were called forward for a blessing (see below) and dismissed to their class. Catherine went with them to translate and they had a story and then did crafts. They played an introduction game and both girls were very proud they said-Meenya zavoot Lydia/Gloria-my name is L/G! We sat through a 40 minute sermon in Russian! Lots of time to think and pray. The church is about a third Korean families, business people working for Korean companies. They were very welcoming and after communion, the children returned, more singing and then they handed out sandwiches and had tea.
We walked down the road to a Russian countryside restaurant. There were stuffed birds inside and a large tree. The kids got a box meal that included a toy. I got pasta. It was yummy.
We continued walking to the Kazan Cathedral, which is a working Russian Orthodox church. There is a famous icon which people stand in a long line to see touch and kiss. We didn't, but we did enjoy the inside. Gloria (being my tactile girl) really wanted to light a candle. I told her that the candles were for people who that is their home church :) There was also a cat that some children were petting but ran away before Gloria got there so this was our moment of leading an upset child through a historical place!
The outside is a lot like St. Peter's in the Vatican, which I remarked and then later read that is it is modeled after. There was a lovely garden with fountain. From here we walked on, and stopped to get ice cream.
Then to the Church on Spilled Blood. It was built over the place where a czar was mortally wounded hence the spilled blood. It is dedicated to Jesus, not a saint and the entire thing is mosaics-very beautiful!
The mosaics are a mix of Bible stories and Russian saints. It was neat to walk through and talk about the stories with the kids.
After all the walking, we hopped in the car and went to see their new apartment. They will be moving this fall as Gabriel's school will be moving to a different island and they need to be close to it. It was also nice. Back at their current home, Catherine had another crockpot ready for us! After baths, the kids did an Agency D3 VBS song (they got to do the same VBS we did while they were in Turkey for a meeting) then to bed!
FB status: Got to attend a Russian church thus morning, worshipping with followers of Jesus in another language is always amazing even if I don't understand a word.
No comments:
Post a Comment