3 February 2008 Sunday Krasnoyarsk as reported by Lise’ B.

Today was a lot of fun. I wasn’t real thrilled about going to the BBC (Big Baptist Church) but, as it turned out, the service was quite enjoyable. In fact, it was better than “quite enjoyable.” In the pictures you can see the carved seats facing the congregation. This is where the choir sits. The tall ornate ceilings helped the acoustics I’m sure, yet the small choir was rehearsed. A visiting Pastor spoke on missions and used a clip from possibly Via Delorosa that was shown right before communion. Communion. That was really cool. They used the little cups, but the bread was freshly baked, round 20” tall loaves with a huge crown.

Before I forget, it was really cool during the church service worship. They started singing “There is Power in the Blood” in Russian and a little later, “Above All.” How fun is that…to be able to sing the same song in different tongues to the one and same God that only 23 hours before, were divided by time and distance! What a blessing. What an amazing moment, a gift from the Lord. My heart was truly blessed. I felt o.k. until we received communion together. They had shown the clip and it hit me once again “every tongue tribe and nation.” Here I was, living it out in my life because of His Grace. I wasn’t expecting it to yank my heartstrings, but I was struck anyway. The tears rolled down my cheeks freely, as I received a touch from the Lord and pondered His Goodness. The thought and magnitude of His Love for all and being there in that place to worship at that time, all together was more than I could fathom or take. I continued to weep as I pondered H is goodness, His favor, and Mercy and Grace in my life and that He would bless me so abundantly. Meanwhile, I had a little babushka sitting next to me patting my leg to comfort me. My God took the time to answer the desires of my heart and I was sitting with a people group I love, singing the God I love and live to serve. How cool is that?!?! Very Cool.

Since I didn’t have an interpreter sitting by me, I was unable to follow much of the two-hour service, yet, some things you do grasp. This visiting pastor was passionate about his God, the people love the Lord, they loved us visiting, and made us feel very welcomed into their church body. One thing different in the Russian Baptist church than the US church is the way they had a draped cloth over the communion elements. The cloth had a picture of a cross with the words meaning “slain and by His stripes we are healed.”

The afternoon was spent with our host family, Lena and Roshur. We were treated to a feast of borsch, bread, sweet pickles, a tray with meat and cheese, mashed potatoes, chicken “cubes,” meatballs, and a wonderful torte. I am pleased that I got the recipe for the dessert. It was absolutely scrumptious.

Roshur is a Pastor and has a ministry for former prison inmates which operates like a halfway house. They were all very nice and loved having us there.