Sunday Krasnoyarsk as reported by Cathy K.

On Sunday my group went to a small church that has only been in existence for one year. The pastor was so excited and he arranged for an interpreter to be there. Jenya, the pastor, introduced our group to Irina. Even though there was no possibility, I felt as if I knew her. As we walked to the pastor’s home for lunch, Irina said she had been praying to have someone to speak English with because she felt she was losing her skills. We talked all afternoon and in a few short hours, we developed a friendship that I believe will be a long one.

When it was time to leave, we walked outside toward her bus stop. It was cold and snowing and she grabbed my arm. We looked like many other Russian friends who walk arm in arm down the street. It was an amazing and somewhat surreal moment.

I plan to give Irina lots of opportunity to keep her fluent in her English with lots of email and hopefully we will even get to see each other in Russia again.