Tuesday started out as any other day. I ate a peach from Valera (a really good, juicy one) and typed a bit on my computer. around 8 am our team walked to breakfast of sausage, cheese and bread and fresh fruit prepared by the ladies of the church. Today was Sveta's birthday (not my interpreter) and as is the custom here, she was doing all the preparations. After breakfast we started off on a trip to the baby home. The home was a group of nicely maintained buildings on the far part of the city. The workers are a joyous bunch of ladies, that truly care for these children. Most of the children were a bit slow mentally, but very happy and active. It was a joy to be there.

Ater lunch (this time Sveta prepared pelmini, one of my favorite Russian dishes), we set out on our first call, to visit a lady whose son had been in and out of prison. Like all parents, no matter what our children do, we love them. It seems her son was just turning the corner and had called Pastor Kazbek, and told him he would be in church on Sunday. Alas, on Wednesday, he was killed in a car accident.  So we stepped into the life of a totally distraught woman, who was unable to be consoled. She had the look of total desperation about her. Everything in her life was now in disarray, and beyond her ability to gain some semblance of control. I say in retrospect that the people who deal with these situations on a normal basis, have gained a new level of my respect. Very thankfully, she has several friends that are refusing to leave her alone. We were at a loss to find scriptures that she would let in to her tortured soul. Finally, we were able to interject Isaiah 40:28-31. Because she readily admitted that she had no strength, the verses seemd to give some comfort.  As we were preparing to leave, I asked Sveta (my ears and voice) if she felt it would be appropriate to give this lady a hug. Sveta was unsure, and not wanting to offend or add insult to injury, I let it go. God however, had different plans. As we stood, she reached for Sveta for a hug and talked quietly in her ear, and then, to my surprise, she reached for my hug also. Hugs like those are not easily released, nor should they be.

As hard as the day started, God was gracious to us and blessed us with a delightful afternoon.

At the Pavlovsk prayer house, there is an older matron of 87. She is living with her daughter-in-law. She is also a very Godly woman, full of faith and gentleness. Her daughter-in-law is Russian Orthodox, very intelligent, works in the higher echelons of the governmental party system and a voracious talker. The conversation was delightful, one of the most open conversations that I have had with a Russian. After about 30 minutes of conversation, I asked her about her faith, and quickly interjected that I was convinced that there were Christians in the Russian Orthodox church. I wanted to be very transparent and at the same time nonthreatening to her. Once again, in her delightful fashion she waxed eloquent about her faith, childhood etc. One thing however caught my attention, was when she mentioned that she had icons and that her mother-in-law believed in a living God. I let it pass for the moment, but returned there later to "mine" a little deeper. She had no concept of God's a gift, or why God created man, other than to enjoy everything else that He created. This year, it seems my "tool of choice" is explaining the whole "salvation thing" as a love affair relationship. When it was presented to her in that fashion, things seemed to start to click into place for her. I told her that I did not want to push her into a decision, and then told her how Valera had taken a year and a half to make that decision. However, also not wanting to forget the events of the morning, I mentioned that if she accepted Christ's gift, and that in the end it was all for nothing, she would have lost nothing, but if she chose not to accept the gift, and it was all true, then she would have lost it all. We left encouraged, knowing that in her home is a secret agent. Well, maybe not so secret. Her mother-in-law is wise and respected by her daughter-in-law. Maybe this one is for her to be able to follow up. Please continue to pray for Nadya.  What better conclusion could we have than for her to live up to her name, which means "hope".