July 11 - Happy Birthday Dimona!

Today is my dear friend Dimona's 22nd birthday! We started off with breakfast at 7:30 and gave her a birthday card from all of us. Aside from regular tea times, one of the other things I love about Russia is that they eat chocolate for breakfast! So I'm NOT wierd - I just should have been born a Russian!! Haha :) Then I led our devotion at 8:00, on making Jesus our number one priority over all other things.

We were getting ready to go to the orphanage when Kristina came into the church holding her arm and crying. It turned out that she was trying to put something in the car and the guard dog for the church, Adam, bit her when she tried to pet him. We bandaged her up and headed to the ambulance building - they wouldn't look at it because they said they didn't know anything about dog bites, so they decided she see a doctor at lunch.

We went to the orphanage and got everything set up. It is a very nice building, and when you are outside on the playground the view is of rolling fields and gardens. The first thing we started with was the parachute. First there were some older kids out, and then a bunch of little ones came running out too - they are soooo adorable! The kids really enjoyed playing Fruit Salad and Popcorn with the parachute. Next we started our pirate program with the story of Noah's Ark and crafts. The kids were really interested and listened very carefully. When they were asked what kinds of things are sins, four main ones came from them over and over again: alcohol addiction, drug addiction, smoking, and swearing.

Because we weren't going back to the church in between, we brought lunch with us. We had bread with cheese and cucumbers (and meat) on it, and coleslaw with apple. Then we went across the road to a big field outside of the school. Within minutes we had probably 30 or more kids from the village joining us. While the guys were setting up the trampoline, we played things like Red Rover, soccer (oh sorry...football...) and frisbee. I ended up playing frisbee for most of the afternoon because kids kept asking me to play. I love the way Russians say my name - they say the "A" like you would for the word "ages". It's cute. Near the end of the day a couple of women's brought a bunch of little toddlers to jump on the trampoline - they were so adorable. I love the little girls in their head scarves - too cute!

Unfortunately Kristina and Olga spent the afternoon driving around and getting to the doctor. The doctor gave her a shot to protect against rabies (since the dog lives outside), and she's supposed to get the second shot in 4 months...hopefully they have it in Denmark!
For dinner we had mashed potatoes, coleslaw (and meatballs), and then decided to go and visit the lake. On the way we saw cows walking alongside the road. When you get to the lake, you have to drive down a long, winding mud road that goes downhill - it was so much fun because the way the road was, the car kept leaning sideways. I took some pictures - all of us girls were screaming and laughing all the way down - poor Olga! Ha ha :)

The lake was BEAUTIFUL! It was so calm and still, and was set in amongst huge hills. There was a little waterfall too. The guys bathed in the lake and, of course, us girls took pictures of them all covered in shampoo. We are hoping to go back there tomorrow night and maybe have a fire - that would be awesome!

When we got back to the church we had a debriefing meeting (I keeping asking who we are debriefing, but nobody understands the joke...haha). One of the things we decided is that tomorrow we will do some of our program with the kids in the field in the afternoon. We are going to do the stations where we bring the kids around to complete tasks and get pieces of the memory verse (John 3:16). I'm excited that we get to share the gospel with them! We can also hand out materials to adults if they are willing to take it. Alexey was talking about the orphanage, and how when we were there, there was a mother with her child that she had to leave there, and they were both crying. He said it was really difficult to see. Most families have difficulty with addictions of some sort, as well as divorce and poverty. It's sad to hear what the kids see and experience.
Dimona and I desperately wanted to wash our hair, so we washed each other's hair. This is not an easy task. First, you have to scoop water out of the big jugs and put it in the top part of the sink. Then you have to wait for the water to heat up. Then we took turns pouring water over each other's heads over the sink to wet it and then to try and rinse everything out. There is not a lot of water, so we didn't really do a good rinse job.
Then we went outside to the little log cabin thing that is for washing. We carried out a giant bowl of cold water, and a giant pot of boiled water. There was a blanket hanging to cover the doorway, and we hung our flashlights from the ceiling so that we could see. Dimona stood outside and guarded the door while I poured a mix of hot and could water over myself with a small cooking pot, and then we switched. Not quite as great as a regular shower, but I do have to say it wasn't bad. It was kind of neat standing in this rustic log cabin and showering the "old fashioned way"!

Now I've finished reading the Bible reading we will be looking at in the morning and it's time to get some sleep!