So we jumped around and squealed for a bit, and then started getting ready for church. I walked over to the dorm we stayed in before to have a shower (and boy, was I looking forward to it!). Unfortunately the water takes a long time to warm up, so I stood there waiting for about 10 minutes. Finally I had to just start because we didn't have a lot of time. I stuck my head under and it was so cold it took my breath away! As I was shampooing I prayed to God to PLEEEEEAAAASE make the water get warm - after the whole bed bug thing all I wanted was to get myself clean!! Less than a minute after my prayer the water started to get warm. Thank you God!!
Then we brought all of our stuff out of the flat and into the parking lot, and started taking everything out of our bags and examining them one by one. Once everything was checked we sprayed this smelly Russian bug spray in our bags and put everything back. Then we had to rush off to church, which was being held in a real estate office, because there are no non-orthodox churches in Yurga yet.
There was our team (myself, Dimona, Kristina, Olesya, Arisha, Alyona, Andrey, Dima, Alexey, Julia, Olga, Braun and Lena. Then there were about five other people who I guess usually meet there on Sundays.
Alexey gave a sermon on communion, and Olga translated it for us. I had a LOT of trouble keeping my eyes open - they were rolling back every five seconds - it felt like the longest sermon ever, even though it wasn't that long! Then we had communion - we all had to drink from the same cup which, those of you who know me well know that totally grosses me out, but I guess this trip is widening my boundaries!
Then Kristina, Dimona and myself each gave a testimony. I spoke about how I have been a believer all my life but how my faith has strengthened as a result of many circumstances along the way. I started to talk about how I became I'll when I was 13 and had to stay home from school for two years and felt very alone, and of course then the tears started to come. And then I spoke about how the past few years have been very difficult as well and how I think God has been preparing me for mission work because I understand how it feels to be sick and alone. I couldn't say much because I kept getting tears and choking up, and I hate crying in front of people. But Kristina and Dimona said my message was clear - that God was helping me to build up my empathy for others in similar situations.
After church we came back to our meeting flat and had lunch. Everyone else had borscht with meat in it, and I had leftover rice and coleslaw. After lunch myself, Kristina and Olga went back to the bed bug flat to finish getting the rest of our things. I totally did not want to go back in there and deal with the bedding! We went in and took our sheets and sleeping bags outside and one by one stretched them out and checked them all over. My sheets still had a couple of bugs on them. After everything was checked we ironed them and then stuffed it all in plastic bags and tied them up. The hatch of the car was getting very full and wouldn't close all the way, so I started to shove it all in more with my hands. Unfortunately the iron had just been unplugged and put in the hatch, and I burned a long strip down the plan of my hand. So next was a trip to the drugstore to get burn cream. On the way there we passed by a dog that had been hit by a car and was laying in the road. That is when the floodgates opened and I cried over that poor dog, laying there all by himself in the road.
Then we needed to get a couple of things from the supermarket. I got a couple of big bottles of water and a chocolate bar. :)
When we got back to the meeting flat we had a quick meeting about camp tomorrow and about where myself, Dimona, Olga and Kristina were going to stay. Alexey suggested a hotel but we said no, we don't want OM paying for us to stay in a hotel for 4 nights! Luckily, our beautiful team member, Olesya, who lives here in Yurga with her husband and daughter, invited us to stay in their home! So then we brought our stuff to her flat and put it all on the balcony (just in case!).
Then all of us went sightseeing around Yurga. It's a very beautiful place - the housing is very different from Canada - lots of apartment buildings, and some houses, but they all look very old and very run down. I saw a woman come out of her home and throw dirty water out of a wash basin and it kind of reminded me of the beginning of The Hunger Games movie.
On the 7th of July they have a tradition that everyone throws water on each other all day. Nobody remembers even why they do this, but it began as a pagan tradition before Christianity came to Yurga. So we walked to a fountain in the centre of the town and there were kids and teenagers everywhere in and around the fountain with bottles and water guns getting everybody wet.
They also have a giant monument for the men from Yurga that died in the Second World War. I will share a photo when I get home, because I don't know exactly how to explain it! There was a kind of half-dome with a giant statue of a mother with two children, and there was a fire burning in a communist star. Apparently the fire is always burning. The names of all the people who died were on the ceiling.
We also went to a park where there were all kinds of rides (I think mostly for kids), and we went on the bumper boats. :)
One of the things I love about Russia is that parks and playgrounds are full of recycled things - tires are cut up and painted to be other things like swans, etc. or sometimes just painted and then have flowers planted in the middle. They also had those big Culligan water bottles with a hole cut in the side, and made it look like a pig with flowers growing out of it.
After our walk we went back to our meeting flat and had dinner (pasta with/without meat). Then we went back to Olesya's flat to settle in. We put some of our clothes into the washing machine and I had a shower. Olesya's older daughter, Maria, is away at summer camp, so Olga is sleeping in her bed, with Olesya's 4 year old daughter, Julia, in the other bed. Myself, Dimona & Kristina are sleeping in the second bedroom, and Olesya & her husband are sleeping in the living room, where they usually sleep. I am looking forward to a nice, bug-free sleep tonight!!
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