Ulyanosvk day 2

I have no idea how I can write what is in my heart. Please be patient with me as I search for words that will adequately convey what I am seeing and experiencing.

Our days begin with breakfast that we prepare for ourselves. Then my dad leads in group devotions and testimony time. At around 8:15 our drivers arrive to take us to the construction site. Our driver is Maxim. He would make a great cab driver in New York. It is wild and crazy. Mrs. Mashas husband, Sasha drove for us yesterday as well. Maxim is their son.

When we arrived at the work site yesterday morning I was asked to go to the missionary's home where she and I would prepare the food for all of the work crew. I considered this to be a great privilege. The work on the new church was going to be too difficult for me so the Lord had already prepared the way.

Mrs. Masha lives no differently than the people of her city who are all living with the results of communistic leadership. Her apartment is home for her and her husband, her mother, and her son and his wife, and future home for a grandchild on its way.

They are fortunate to have a 3 room flat. Each room is a bedroom. They have a tiny kitchen, a little room for a toilet, and a little room for a tub and a sink and a washing machine. This family of 5 have lived in this flat for 28 years.

By having this opportunity to prepare meals with Masha and Svetlana (Masha's daughter-in-law), not only am I learning how to prepare Russian food but I am blessed to have an opportunity to spend intimate time with some very precious people.

Masha is becoming a dear friend. She came to know the Lord as an adult when she started going to church with her son and after her country was opened to Bibles and she could read about the Lord with her own eyes. It was her desire to separate from the orthodox church so the Lord directed her paths to meet people who would be instrumental in helping her start a work that is available to all but is mainly reaching women and children.

Masha's husband is a train engineer. Her son, Maxim and his wife both work for a computer company. They all work hard in their church. Masha's mom is revered in the home. She is a sweet, sweet Russian lady who reminds me of my mom, Mrs. Hilliard.

Yesterday and today I have learned to make Russian chicken and rice pilaf, and their version of potato salad. We prepared a crab, egg, and corn salad and borscht. I have been to the Russian market 4 times and I have been to the little building to buy bottles of water. It was going to the water building that really gripped my heart. They go to this round building and ask for bottles and then a lady fills them. All I have to do is turn on a faucet to have a refreshing drink.

When I went with Svetlana to the market, she pointed out an apartment building that is occupied entirely by deaf people.

As I have had an opportunity to be a guest in the home of a gracious, Godly missionary, I am learning about an old and new Russian culture. They do not wake to a glorious sunrise nor do they have an amazing view from their little porch but if you ask them if they like Russia they will say "I love Ulyanosvk and I love my people."

Tomorrow I will introduce you to some children, and update you on the progress of the church building.

We did take a wild ride to a new bridge that goes over the Great Volga river. It is one of the widest rivers in world, 4 1/2 miles wide.