Russia Mission Trip: Days 7 and 8

Day 7 of the mission trip rolled around, which was a Sunday morning.  In advance of our trip, our missionary had arranged for us four pastors to have the opportunity to preach at one of our fellow churches in the St. Petersburg area.  Two pastors would be preaching in St. Petersburg, while the other two would head out to some smaller towns nearby.  I happened to be one of the ones heading out of town, to a nearby town called Pushkin.

So, bright and early that morning, we had a minibus arrive to pick up Carrie and I to take us to the church that we would worship at that morning.  A very nice man, Alexey, arrived and picked us up, and then started driving us out to the church.  It wasn't really very far, maybe about 15 miles away.  Alexey didn't know very much English, but we still managed to have a delightful drive with him.  He showed us a few of the sights in Pushkin prior to arriving at the church.

When we got there, we were among the first to arrive.  The pastor hadn't even arrived yet, and so they showed us off to a room where we could get ready.  We had one lady who welcomed us when we walked in, who spoke a bit of English, and so Carrie spent a little time talking to her.  When the pastor arrived, he welcomed us and we started chatting a bit.  Fyodor is not only the pastor of that church, but also the director of the seminary.  He would be translating for me that morning, and so we spent a little bit getting to know each other.

The worship service that day would be bi-lingual.  No, not because I was there, but because the morning service had a large number of Finnish people in attendance.  Fyodor would speak in Russia, and the other pastor, Vladimir, would then speak in Finnish.  Because Lutheran churches throughout the world tend to follow a fairly basic pattern, it was fairly easy to know what we were doing in the worship service, even though it was in a different language.

The Sunday before I left the United States, I had preached the same message that I would be preaching that day in Russia.  I had sent it over so that Fyodor could have it translated, since he would serve as my translator for the day.  So, at the appropriate time, I ascended into the pulpit (which was raised up several steps over what I am typically used to), and began to preach.  It was the first time I had ever had to speak with a translator, and overall, I think that it went fairly well.

When it came time in the worship service for the celebration of the sacrament, I noticed one rather significant difference in how that time of worship was conducted.  In our church, and in most of the churches that I've been part of in America, we tend to do things in a fairly orderly way.  People line up and they approach the rail to kneel down in a somewhat orderly fashion.  But that was not the case at this church.  It seemed a bit like a free for all.  Worshiping that day were a decent number of elderly ladies, and you didn't want to get in their way when it came to heading up to the rail.  I would imagine that the years spent under Communist rule, when they could not have such celebrations, perhaps made them appreciate the Lord's Supper even more. 

After the service was concluded, we then joined the pastors, a couple of the elders (or deacons), and a couple of other people for lunch in the pastor's office.  It was a good lunch, and we had a great time talking with the various people.  It was a great reminder that, no matter where people may live, the same cares and concerns fill their lives, and food is always a great way to connect together.

After lunch, a young man by the name of Alexey (not the same one that picked us up) had the task of getting us back to St. Petersburg.  He walked us around Puskin a bit, showing us some of the sights and explaining them.  Alexey has a very good grasp of the English language, and told us a bit about his faith story.  It was fascinating to hear, and it's great to see the role of influence that a pastor can play in the life of a young man, as Fyodor had obviously had for Alexey.

We rode a bus back to St. Petersburg, and then caught the subway to the downtown area.  Now, Fyodor had told Alexey to drop us off at the church where we would meet the others, and to have us there at 3:00.  Alexey meant to do that to a T!  He showed us a little bit downtown, then walked us up to the church.  It was a few minutes before three, so Carrie went in to see the rest of our group was there.  Alexey and I stood outside and chatted until a couple of minutes after three, at which time he proceeded to head back to Pushkin.  We both really enjoyed our time with Alexey.

We rejoined our group once the worship service there ended, and spent a little time talking with a couple of the pastors in St. Petersburg who were on hand.  Then, one of the pastors, Sergey, volunteered to drive us back to our hotel.  Only, he wanted to show us a great place to eat dinner on the way.  He pulled a few strings (and it seems that Sergey has quite a few strings that he can pull!) and reserved an entire room at an Azerbaijani restaurant in town.  Let me just say that this meal was a feast.  There was so much good food, and at some point, I want to post a few pictures which my wife took of the food.  We ended up staying there for a couple of hours, talking and looking around.

That night, our group got together and talked a bit about the various things we did that day, and to play a few games.  Then, it was off to bed because the next day was also to be full and busy.

Day 8 (Monday) started off with breakfast, and then found us catching a bus out of St. Petersburg to a little town called Koltashay, where the Lutheran seminary is located.  We got to see some interesting sights along the way, but perhaps most importantly, to see how most people outside of the big city lived.  There were people along the roadsides selling fruits and veggies, and all sorts of different things.  Let's also just say that their brand of lawn care is not exactly what we are used to here in the United States. 

We arrived at the stop where we got off, and then we went on a little hike.  The walking path to the seminary took us through the woods to a small complex of about 6 buildings.  This is where men go in Russia for instruction toward becoming pastors or deacons.  Fyodor, the pastor from my church the day before, is the director of the seminary, and it was good to see a familiar face there.  He showed us around and explained a bit about the seminary there, and what all he has to do, and the challenges that they face. Overall, it seems like God has truly given the Russian seminary students a good place to go and study as they learn how to serve God and His people.

After a bit of lunch, Fyodor then drove us up to Levashova cemetery.  This is one of the many locations where political opponents of Soviet leaders would be taken and killed.  There were a great number of markers at the cemetery, though the reality is that no one can know for sure who all was killed in a particular location, or even how many people's bodies like there.  It served as a very real reminder that not all people place value on life, and that, as Christians, our lives are truly a gift from God and not to be taken lightly or for granted.  It also reminded me of just how easy we have it in our particular country to disagree with the government, and that we don't have to worry about the dangers of being taken outside of the city and shot because of our faith.

Then, it was a fairly long drive back out to the seminary, where we once again picked up the bus and begin to make our way back to St. Petersburg.  Along the way, we stopped at a little mall complex, where we decided to try out the local McDonald's.  They had a sandwich on the menu called the Big and Tasty, and it was both of those!  It was also sweltering hot inside the restaurant, so after eating, we went back outside to look around a bit. 

Going outside any building in Russia, you will notice one thing that we don't have so much here in the United States.  There are a lot of smokers in Russia!  Outside every building, it seems that you have to wade your way through a cloud of smoke in search of fresh air.  I think that, if I were a smoker, I wouldn't have needed to buy any cigarettes while there.  Just going outside would give you the nicotine high you would need!

Once we finished up there, it was time to head back to our hotel for the evening and start packing up.  The next day, we would be leaving St. Petersburg to head out to Ulan Ude, way out in Siberia.  But more on that tomorrow!