AFL Grand Final

Yesterday I saw my second ever AFL game- the relaxed final between Port and Geelong.

Our friends (from Australind!) Scott and Alison and their boys live on Sakhalin, working in the oil and gas industry here. They have a lovely home, and cable TV! So Scott gathered all the Aussie men from the neighbourhood to watch the game together.
It was also Alison's birthday. So they invited all 6 of us to spend the night and celebrate life in a very Australian way.
It felt like all of our birthdays.

We were laughing about it together-
our eyes wide, talking excitedly about visiting Scott and Alison, where we watched a game of footy, saw some Rage, listened to the new Missy Higgins album, ate 'real' sausages, home made sausage rolls, real BBQ sauce, and egg and bacon and cheese toasted sandwiches.

How does this sound to you guys at home? Exotic? Exciting?

It's the small things in life.

Recent developments

A young woman in our church who has a 10 year old son is out of work and as of last Wednesday, they had nowhere to live- so they moved in with us!

She has about half a flat's worth of furniture which has slowly been enveloping the girls' room, where Natasha is sleeping, and the boys' room which her son Vlad is sharing with Luke and Jake. It's interesting having another adult, and another child in the house (not in the teenage demographic!) - and we're slowly settling in around the changes.

We want to help Natasha find work and get back on her feet, and give Vlad some stability in his life (they haven't had a stable home for about 6 months I think)- so they'll be here with us for as long as they need to be.

You'll see more of them later.

Kateso's married!

Our Kateso's married!
Yesterday was the big day.

It rained- but by 3pm when she and her husband Ruslan, the bridesmaid and best man and their close family arrived at our house for the pre-ceremony gathering, the rain had stopped and the sky began to clear.

Thick clouds. Moist air.
Kate's ivory glowed against the grey and green.

At our house the professional wedding MC had arranged games and competitions after Russian culture. Kate waited upstairs while Ruslan and his entourage arrived- Ruslan had to complete various tasks to earn his bride.
























He had to guess which lipstick-kiss on a poster is his Kate's; to write Kate's name in rice on a board looking only into a mirror; to split a log of wood (determining how many children they'll have); guessing which shoe box contained Kate's shoe- and finally, when he'd passed the tests, Ruslan was presented with his bride.
























Lovely, isn't he? Jake, in his element.

Thankfully, Ruslan wasn't happy with the "bride" his friends had tried to fool him with- Kate came down the stairs on cue, ready to greet Ruslan and his family.

In Russia, couples marry in the registry office. The office is open on certain days of the week, so couples and their small groups of witnesses are lined up in the foyer, waiting for their turn.

We arrived a little late, thanks to the taxi's non-arrival... We missed the first two minutes, and the ceremony was nearly finished. There were some musicians at the back, who played bars of this or that song on cue; the photographer directed everyone to their places, and the wedding was conducted by a woman in a nice suit, wearing a tight bun.



















After Ruslan and Kate were presented to us, we greeted them and presented them with flowers etc. Then we were ushered into an adjoining room so the next wedding party could come through.
























In the adjoining room was a long table laid out with champagne glasses (enough for one per adult) and two trays of chocolate.

We toasted Kate and Ruslan, some people said some things, and we we chatted for a few minutes.
























Before leaving the registry office, we took group photos; and when Ruslan and Kate arrived, he carried her down the steps while we delighted in throwing plastic rose petals, grain and small coins at them.



















Kate particularly wanted the 6 of us to come with her to take photos between the ceremony and the reception; it's tradition for newly weds to pay their respects and take photos at monuments throughout the city.
So we visited Lenin Square, Glory Square, and Kate and Ruslan paid their respects at the Neftigorsk memorial (remembering the town at the north of Sakhalin that was devastated by an earthquake in 1995).
There they fed pigeons.





















































































The reception was held in a restaurant, and was a little more familiar- though there were still games, a couple of admirably short speeches, more kissing than Pearl Harbor, as Jake said, and dancing. It was a media event.

Congratulations Kate and Ruslan!

3 days on the edge of my seat

At the last minute we were invited to join the pastor's and leader's conference happening this week. A team of pastors and teachers from the States were coming, and Pete, Trac and I agreed we wouldn't miss this opportunity to hear some teaching in English, no matter what the topic.

I guess I expected to hear a lot about building and increasing the local church, encouraging people, how to counsel with wisdom, etc etc. What I heard was something I've been learning about just very recently, and I had so many questions that were answered!

The Harrisons and I were very privileged to go out for dinner with Tom and Nelson, (left and right) - we had them all to ourselves for several hours.



These men have studied the Bible extensively, but never been to a Theological seminary; Tom is linguistically gifted (which is an understatement) and can understand meaning from the original Greek and Hebrew texts that gets lost in translation into English.

From Tom and Nelson I learned to 'dig' into the Scriptures- when I come across something that doesn't make sense, the answer can be found in another part of the Bible.
Here is an example:

John 7:52
The Pharisees (Jewish religious leaders) want to arrest Jesus. They were upset when their guards didn't bring Jesus to them, and they said "check into it, you'll see for yourself that no prophet comes from Galilee."
That was their reasoning for why Jesus couldn't be a prophet, let alone the Messiah.
Well- is it true? Can a prophet not come from Galilee? Because Jesus did.
Did Jesus give us a hint to the answer?

Check out Matthew 16:4
The Pharisees are testing Jesus- they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
Jesus replies that a wicked generation asks for a sign; the only sign that will be given them is the sign of Jonah.

What's the sign of Jonah? Many people say that in the way that Jonah was kept in the belly of the fish for 3 days, so Jesus would stay in the belly of the earth for 3 days, then he'd rise from death. But what if there's more in Jesus' oblique answer?
Where's Jonah from?

2 Kings 14:25 tells us that Jonah is from Gath-Hepher. The other place this town is mentioned in Bible is Joshua 19:10-13, where it tells us that Gath-Hepher is in the region of Zebulun.
So... where's Zebulun?
Isaiah 9:1- Zebulun is in - wait for it- Galilee!

And the question is solved. Jonah came from Galilee, the Pharisees didn't know what they were talking about, and God shows us his wisdom and love by spreading the answer to our question across the centuries between Joshua and Jesus.

In teaching us this, Nelson could add his own experience. He's visited the area of Galilee several times. He's been to Nain, where the widow's son was raised, and he's been to Nazereth, the hometown of Jesus. Gath-Hepher is right between these two towns, 10 minutes walking distance from Nazereth. Jesus would have known the town Gath-Hepher from his childhood.

Do you understand what all of this means?
I'm so excited by the possibilities.

A story I heard

**


Some years ago, a foreigner was visiting the USSR.
As he was walking along the footpath, his foot caught in an open, unmarked manhole, and he all but fell in to the pungent, briskly-flowing sludge below.

In his frustration he berated a passer-by.
"Why on earth is this man-hole left uncovered? It's unbelievably dangerous. There should at least be something to warn people to be careful. In my country we would mark a hole like this with red flags!"

"But sir," replied the passer-by, "When you entered the USSR, didn't you notice the big, red flag at the border?"


**

The welcoming committee

Home bodies

Roma's 20

Sunday September 9th was Roma's 20th birthday- and the city's 125th.

We had a crowd for dinner, then they went into the city to see the concert and fireworks that accompany any celebratory occasion here-
Roma and his girlfriend Alissa arrived after everyone else had left, so we had them all to ourselves!
We couldn't have arranged the timing better.

First dinner crowd

Now that Rome's 20 he has to apply for a new passport- all Russians over the age of 14 have a domestic passport that acts as an identity document- they need a passport to et a job, pick up a parcel from the post office, or to make a large purchase.

One of Kostya's paintings

Our house is decorated with pictures and paintings from Kostya. He has very little free time as a soldier serving his compulsory 2 year sentence, but the time he does he spends productively.

Mostly he uses the gel pens Trac posts to him occasionally; this was his first time to branch out into paints. He laid the watercolor on pretty thick to get a strong consistency.

Sakhalin Orchid

That is, I think it's an orchid.
Native or introduced?

Does anyone know?

How many gentle flowers grow

3 doors down lives a babushka. She is very kind to us: her husband sells us his diesel when we've run out (our heating and hot water runs from a diesel boiler); they brought us jars of birch tree sap to drink in early spring; and she often bring us herbs and vegetables from her garden- not to mention the flowers.

Baptisms

On Saturday Valya and Sasha were baptised, along with several men from our church.
We drove in a convoy to a lake that's in the marshy plains, outside of the city. I'd never been there before.



After a little worship and prayer, one by one the candidates waded out to Pastor Peter.


Afterwards they were presented with a Bible each, and then a great feasting on watermelon began!

Sunday School

Sunday School celebrated the back to school season as well. Becky was less than excited about standing at the front to sing a song and say a few lines with the other (much smaller) girls- but she did a good job, and was by far the best when it came to actions.

The kids perked up a bit when "Congratulations you're about to survive another year" gifts were presented to each student.

Back to School

Students across the nation collectively grit their teeth on Saturday, September 1st 2007, for what was the first day of the new school year.
Bedecked in new school attire, laden with books and stationery all neatly placed inside their new school bags (kindly supplied by Pa and Granma), our three really looked the part.

All the best for the new school year!