Cluck or Moo?

Tuesday morning we were free of studies, so went by Serghei's flat for a little while at midday, discussed some things, and were able to give him a hand in installing a window. We also took a load of our laundry to a small clothes washing establishment. It's a room in the half-exposed basement of a panelak apartment building several blocks away. The room is maybe about 12'x17', with 3 or 4 washing machines, one in mid-repair. Brace and Larry recommended the place to us, largely on account of the way the lady running the place seemed to take pride in her work. Of course she didn't speak any English, and Nathan and I have only about 3 Russian words between the two of us (okay it's not quite that bad), but setting a bag of dirty laundry on the counter of a clothes washing establishment said much of what we needed to say! With hands pointed to darks and whites, then the separation of the hands, and the similarity between the Russian and Czech words for separated (I know Czech), we were able to confirm that yes we wanted colors washed separately. With a little confusion at first, we were able to understand that our clothes would be ready two days later (the inoperable washer apparently slowing them down from their normal next-day service). Her name is Daria, and we told her our names. She seems to be a nice woman.

We also made a stop at the grocery store. When my parents were in the Czech Republic and Mom needed ground beef, she went down to the butcher shop, waited her turn, and then did the meat grinding motion with her hands, while simultaneously saying, "Mooo-oooo." It worked. And I believe the butcher was very cooperative, as she was an attractive and dignified lady...just didn't mind being humble. Well, Nathan got her genes...at least on the first count. In the grocery store, Nathan was at a glass counter in an area similar to a deli, and was examining some items rolled in some sort of bread wrap. Neither of us could tell what kind of meat was inside. So Nathan got eye contact with the girl behind the counter, and then, with folded arms mimicking flapping wings, said, "Cluck-cluck-clu-clu-cluck" with appropriate tones, and then, "or Mooo-oooo?" Unlike Mom, Nathan's question called for the worker to also say what the animal says - and this girl was not about to do it. I wish I had had my camera ready for her facial expression. She had half a smile showing some amusement, but the rest of her expression said both "You are a nut," and also "You don't really think I'm gonna do that, do you?" We both looked at her expectantly anyway. Finally, she shifted her head a bit and then held up two fingers, meaning the second one, beef.

When evening came, there was a study at the church's meeting place for whomever wanted to come, which usually seems to be a majority of the Christians here. I had planned a certain lesson for this hour, related to the fact that Serghei does most of the leading in the assemblies here - discussing prayer needs, leading singing, choosing prayer leaders, distributing the Lord's supper, and when such as we are not around, preaching and teaching. Of course Serghei would like very much for others to be taking their part in those leadership matters and further developing themselves. So I had planned a lesson to address that need, but for last night's meeting only a few of the Christians were able to be present. So instead, I simply took questions. One was a request for a discussion of the meaning of Col. 4:16. Another was about the phrase "the last days," and when that period is. Spiritual gifts and whether the Holy Spirit might talk to us directly was another subject asked about. From that last question came a more general question about the role of the Holy Spirit today, which we will discuss tomorrow night (Thursday night) at a similar meeting of the Christians.

Just before going to that study last night, I noticed water in our flat around the bottom of the toilet, and no water pressure anywhere else. As a result of the leak, the building superintendent had apparently turned off the water for the whole building. The lady from whom we are renting this flat, a member of the church here, came over after the study, made some calls, got a temporary fix, and the water turned back on, and a repairman would come in the morning.

Then this morning (Wednesday), we were on the road at 7:45 to make the trip to Balti again to study with the women up there. Second Serghei drove us in his van as usual, and we had good conversation the whole way, the two+ hour trip passing quite quickly. We were glad to find several of the women present, especially after the announcement that Serghei had had to make on Sunday morning. I presented a lesson on Joy from Philippians 1, and they seemed to respond very well as we discussed Paul's situation and the joy and optimism hs nevertheless had, by focusing on the good things rather than on the bad. We are thinking that we will use that begining to take them through a study of Philippians, since their studies don't usually seem to cover books as a whole.

When we got home from Balti in the early afternoon, the plumber was still here, and we didn't get water until about 5:30 this evening. But everything seems to be solved now.

We were to have a study this evening with the older couple who are recent converts. But Serghei's nephew called to say that it had been cancelled (the man wasn't feeling well), and asking if he could come over for more "Russian/Singing" lessons. So that's how our evening was spent, followed by discussion of the studies on schedule for tomorrow. It should be an interesting day, but I'll save that for my next entry. :)