Concordance Results, etc.

Answer to the previous trivia question:

Being the ill-informed guys we are concerning the works of Shakespeare, Nathan and I were both amused that we had been invited to lecture university students on the famous playwright. So it was pretty funny to both of us, as we headed off to do the lecture, that I had enough slim shadow of a doubt in my mind that I asked him, “Hey, what was Shakespeare's first name?” We further imagined the situation had we stood before the class, talking about, for example, Howard Shakespeare. Well, anyway, only one of you (brer Jeff) committed to the correct answer. Several of the rest of you fell for my primary decoy answer concerning misplaced lecture notes. :) And to John L.: correct, that only a real occurrence might have inspired answer #3. To excuse him though, it was when he was in perhaps the second grade, and I think asked by his teacher, and apparently also by his older sister.

New question:

What play is currently showing in the Tiraspol theater, over in Russian dominated Transnistria?

1. I Don't Want to Live in Amerika

2. Earnest Goes to Siberia

3. The Taming of the Amerikan

4. Capitalist Pig in Moscow

Friday morning we were off to Balti, to see the results of the concordance exercise I had given the ladies there. I was looking forward to it, having heard that parting word from one of them two days before, “Thanks for giving us this work to do.” Vyera met us outside as she often does, and warned us that it might be a small group today. “The heat just got turned on in Balti today, so it seems some of them didn't want to leave their warm homes.” (more about heat in moment; and pictured at left is Vyera, very likeable lady) We got inside and only one other lady was present – the one who had thanked me for giving them the work. Another lady came late, but she is one who had not been present the day I gave them the work. I was disappointed, and also worried that I had been unwise in designing the task. Bummer.

Well, we discussed what these two ladies had found, and a little more about how to use the concordances, and headed back to Chisinau. On Sunday, I was in Tiraspol so I didn't get to see what happened in Balti that day, but Nathan and first Serghei were there. They said that several of the ladies absent on Friday were there and telling things about what they found in their concordance study, so I was much relieved. Apparently the heat really was the contributing factor to their absence on Friday.

The heat for the majority of people here is produced in a few central locations through the city, and is in the form of heated water. The water is pumped throughout the city, underground, into the buildings, and then through radiators in the various rooms of each flat. Friday was the day that Balti decided to start heating and pumping water. Here in Chisinau we still await such a decision. Since the people are poor, they tend to prefer enduring the cold longer, rather than to pay for heat, so the city holds off until it's “cold enough.” We've had one hard freeze, and daytime temps have been 50s and 60s mostly, maybe some in the 40s.

And a word about the Sergheis. I don't prefer calling them 1^st and 2^nd Serghei, and then there is the less than ideal teacher in Benderi, a third Serghei. Henceforth, I will name them differently.

Serghei Corcimaru is the man here teaching and preaching, who is responsible for nearly all the growth that has happened here. Converted in Moscow during his university studies, he then moved back home to Moldova and started teaching, thus reaching the others. He's the one I met 7 years ago. I will henceforth call him Serghei Sergheiovich, as per Russian naming. Middle names in Russian are a form of the child's father's name, and as it happens, Serghei's father is also named Serghei; thus he is Serghei Sergheiovich.

Then there is our driver, Serghei, a member of the church here who has been driving us to Balti and sometimes to Transnistria in his cargo van. I will call him driver Serghei.

And lastly, there is Serghei in the Transnistrian city of Benderi, who is less than cooperative with the Christians there. He will continue to be Benderi Serghei.

Saturday I was invited by Natasha (Serghei Sergheiovich's sister) to go with her and her son Dennis to the open market to find some clothes for him. They found what they needed, and I found a hat to keep my head dry when it's raining. Ten bucks, I was happy.

Meanwhile, Nathan was going with Serghei Sergheiovich to take Valerii to the hospital for a surgery to happen this week. He is the one I mentioned in one of my first blog posts back on about October 5. He will have two toes to his remaining foot removed, due to gangreene. I went later in the day to visit him, Dennis coming also to translate, and Nathan returning with us to show me where he was in the building. The hospital was a dreary looking place, and the food looked worse. But Valerii (on the right) had food that Serghei Sergheiovich had given him that morning, so he turned down the offer of ???? that the nurse offered. The guy on the left was friendly and asked us some spiritually oriented questions, but wasn't interested in pursuing any study.

On Sunday, Driver Serghei took me to Tiraspol to lead the assembly there, while Nathan and Serghei Sergheiovich went to Balti. I spoke to the church in Tiraspol (five present) about the work of the church, and planned to discuss related ideas during the discussion period that would follow. During my lesson though, there was much getting up and returning, answering of cell phones, etc. At the end of the assembly, one lady explained that her building had flooded that morning, and as a result the discussion period was eliminated. Hopefully I'll get to cover that material on another visit soon.

That afternoon here in Chisinau, I presented the same material, and did get to cover the additional material. It went quite well I thought, and they understood the points very well and quickly.

Today has been our “Day of Rest.” Nathan and I both went to town separately, partly exploring, partly shopping. I was searching for Sun City, reportedly the biggest grocery store in town. They're usually pretty small here. I happened across a different grocery store in the center that was pretty good, and its upper floors are surely the mall I had been told about. But this wasn't the part of town where I had been told to look for Sun City, so I went on the area to which I'd been directed. I had my doubts about the area, and sure enough, it was all embassies and hotels. Oh well, I'll maybe find it later. For the moment, I headed back to the one I had found by mistake to buy my day's groceries. Approaching it from a different direction, I saw a huge sign on the building. “Sun City.” Turns out also that the whole building, grocery store plus mall, is “Sun City.”

While I was exploring the mall, I saw a shop that sells leather coats. I've wanted a good leather coat for a long time, but have always been unwilling to pay the prices in the States. So I thought I'd check this store out. Really good looking coats, and sleeves sufficiently long...usually it's very difficult for me to find good length. Checked the prices: 390, 450...Wow! At 13 lei to the dollar, I figured quickly that that's less than $50! Started trying them on. While I had one on, the girl showed the price tag, and said “price in American dollars.” Rats. Oh well.

This afternoon we met Driver Serghei's wife Irina at the church meeting place, where she is teaching children. She got the idea to find kids in the neighborhood of the meeting place whose parents would appreciate something for their kids to do in the afternoon, and who have no one at home with them, and to teach them five days a week, plus Sundays. We sat in on her lessons today, and enjoyed watching her teach the 5 kids present, one of them Natasha's younger son, Artiom. Artiom is a clown, and always loves the camera, as you can see in the picture. Irina taught them about some of Jesus' miracles, and then had them memorize John 20:30. Dennis (at far right) was there to translate for Nathan and me.

Finally, if you didn't yet notice the brief post I made early this morning, about food suggestions, please scroll down just a bit more and take note. :)