Moscow Journal -- 5-13-07

Moscow Journal – 5-13-07

Mother’s Day and Red Carnations

God is so good and so faithful!

I just attended a worship service here in Korean – for Korean immigrants who live in the former Soviet Union – and there are a lot of them. Some families have lived here since Japan invaded Korea in 1905 and others came from North Korea after it embraced communism. It seems that the Lord is working through the Korean people in many amazing ways. The largest Methodist Church in the world is in Seoul, South Korea, for instance, and there are many Korean missionaries here and in other countries.

One of the pastors of the church I attended today is actually a Korean-American missionary from the Baltimore-Washington Conference and has a degree from Wesley Theological Sem in DC, just like I do. I was able to have a chat with him this week and found myself feeling led to go to his service this morning. When I walked down the hall to the sanctuary here, a young woman gave me a red carnation in honor of Mother’s Day.

They don’t celebrate Mother’s Day here in Russia. Instead, on March 8th, they have a day of celebration for women from the days of the Soviet era, but not one just for Mom’s. The people of the church I attended church were honoring women, and the pastor preached about how parents find their happiness in providing for their children. He then connected it to how much more our Heavenly Father finds joy in providing for all people, and in special ways for us, His children in Jesus Christ. Pastor Lee preached in Korean, but they have little personal receivers so that those who do not speak Korean can listen to the translation of the service in Russian. It was a joy to be able to understand what was going on.

I sat next to one of the graduates-to-be here – a woman pastor from the area around the city of Krasnodar in the south of Russia, near the Black Sea. I met her yesterday morning when she was outside her room on the dormitory floor here. She is lovely, and will be preaching at the 4PM service today geared to youth. I am looking forward to hearing her preach.

Last night the pizza was interesting . . . not quite like at home, but the students and the visiting pastors who are here for graduation said they liked it. I also brought some down to one of the ladies who watches the front door of the building -- she locks it at night and keeps charge of the keys to the offices and rooms. Her name is Marina, and she is very sweet. Last Thursday she was also here and I asked her what she did for the Day of Victory holiday. She said she went to Gorkiy Park with her daughter and grandchildren. Apparently it is traditional for veterans of the war to gather there, and people give them flowers in gratitude for their service. She said her grandchildren gave the veterans flowers.

When I went for a walk last Wednesday, May 9th, the Day of Victory, I noticed people carrying long-stemmed red carnations, and wondered about it. But bringing flowers to a loved one or to your hostess if you go to someone’s house for dinner is very common. So you often see people with bouquets of flowers on the Metro or walking around. It was good to understand about the flowers on the Day of Victory, though.

Marina mentioned that when her daughter was young there were many veterans in Gorkiy Park on the holiday. She said she was sad to see only around 20 there last Wednesday. I told her that of course that was the way it was in the U.S, too – that many of the Greatest Generation have already passed away. I told her about the new World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., and that we had only recently finished it and dedicated it a few years ago. I described the fountains and stone work and told her that it is a beautiful and fitting tribute to the veterans and all those whom made it through that difficult time.

I wasn’t just wandering when I was out walking on the Day of Victory. I finally took the opportunity to go to St. Nicholas of the Weavers’ Church, which I saw for the first time more than thirteen years ago. After lighting a candle in honor of all the veterans here and everywhere, and listening to the beginning of a worship service, I was kind of overwhelmed with emotion and needed to walk some more. The church is even more beautiful than I remembered, and I was happy to be back there.

As I left the church, I headed down Leo Tolstoy Street to his house, but it is farther away from the church than I remembered. I saw a woman about my age and an elderly woman coming toward me, so I excused myself and asked the younger woman how far away Tolstoy’s house and museum was. She told me, and the elderly woman overheard her and started to tell me that the house was closed on Wednesday because of the holiday. I told her that I thought it might be, but just wanted to look at it from outside the fence since I had been inside it already thirteen years ago.

The younger woman wished me good luck and hurried away as the elderly woman continued to talk to me, telling me that she had been born in a house near Tolstoy’s house, and now lived in one of the big, Soviet-era apartments. She also talked about the war and how her life had been during that time. Of course it was a similar story to the one that the woman at Lyudmila Gorbuzova’s church told us last Sunday, but I was glad to listen to her.

She also asked me where I came from and what I was doing in Moscow, and we parted after a few minutes, heading in opposite directions. I pray that she has a peaceful life and knows the Lord is still watching over her and those she loves.

It rained a lot yesterday, but not during the time I was out shopping for the pizza cheese, tomato paste and soda pop for the pizza party. I had some work to do making copies of some brochures for the annual conferences, and Fedya helped me do it since he had just hooked up the computer to the printer/copier. He and Katya made a delicious summertime dish that they said they had been looking forward to eating again since last summer. It had cucumbers, cold boiled potatoes, green onions, fresh dill and little cubes of sausage in a delicious cold sauce . . . more like a cold soup, really. I had never had it before, and they were surprised.

A few hours later they came back to the student kitchen and tried some pizza, too. I’ve been tutoring English with Darya (Dasha) and Natasha, two young women who attend the ”Raduga” (Rainbow) service on Sunday afternoons here. We had made plans to work on preparing for them to take the TOEFL which is used to help qualify students who do not speak English as their first language when they apply to study in US colleges and universities. They have both been to the US before, and are heading back there on May 27th, the same day I will be going home.

While studying at a tourism institute, their English language skills have been improving, and it is a joy to be their tutor. When we made plans to work together last evening, I told them I would make them dinner, and they said they would bring a cake. Actually, that’s how the idea of making pizza for everyone came about. We had a fun time all together. They even invited some of the students to have some cake, too, of course.

Dasha also brought some photos to show me, and told me about her life in Ekaterinburg before her family moved to Moscow. As a young child, Dasha was baptized by in one of the first UMC churches in Russia – three bishops took part in the baptisms that day, including Bishop Vaxby who for the last two years has been the Bishop of the Eurasian Area here. It was interesting to hear that, and to see photos of some skits put on when the pastors gathered together in Ekaterinburg.

In the summer of ’99, when she was 12, Dasha stayed with a family in Loveland, Colorado, and there were photos of the fun times she had with them, too. She has also been to North Carolina, to Busch Gardens in Virginia, to New York City, at the beach in South Carolina, and in Washington, D.C. Dasha is full of joy and enthusiasm, and it was fun to see the photos and hear her stories.

It’s almost 2 PM, and I think I will take a walk. Wish you could join me! I am going to try to call my Mom later today when it is daytime in Florida to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. It was lovely to talk to my folks last Wednesday, too – and I have been blessed to be able to chat with both Krista and Tom on MSN Messenger. Isn’t life in cyberspace grand??!

I hope you will be able to wish your Mom “Happy Mother’s Day”, too – and if you are a Mom, I hope you will be blessed to be with or to hear from your kids. Isn’t God wonderful to have placed us in loving families and given us one another to love?!

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.

Blessings in the Love of Jesus -- Kathy