Wonderful Sunday

We had such a wonderful Sunday today because we got to go to church and it was SO much like First Covenant in it's style of service I just kept welling up with tears it felt so much like home. It was such a blessing for us. Ted and I just kept smiling at each other because of the uncanny way that it was so much like First Cov. It is an Evangelical church that meets at the Christian University. The Pastor is a graduate from the seminary where Tanya Becker works. Tanya invited us along on Thursday and we are so glad that she did. We walked in and their praise band was practicing some songs and the tunes were familiar! The words were in Russian but it was such a blessing to hear the familiar praise music. They even had a screen where they displayed the songs. We sang songs first and smiled big when the person working the Power Point lost their place in the song and had to flip back and forth through some of the stanzas to get to the right one just like our guys do at home sometimes : ) Then one of the leaders, he reminded us of what Will does, came forward in welcome and asked if there was anyone who had never attended their service before to stand up and introduce ourselves. Of course, I was the one who had to stand up since Ted wouldn't budge. I introduced myself and introduced them to my husband and two daughters. Then he asked if anyone would like to share anything that happened to them this week that was moving to them and two people shared wonderful stories. We prayed and sang some more songs(even Natasha was singing!) then the children were prayed for as they left for Sunday School. The pastor then proceeded with the sermon and wonderful Tanya, who is 8 months pregnant, sat behind us and leaned forward the whole time to translate the entire sermon to us and she did this so eloquently and so beautifully. I just felt we were sitting among all our friends and family at home. Like I said tears just kept welling up in my eyes. It was very overwhelming but so so comforting. Such a needed thing for us since we hadn't been to church for two weeks. After service they had cookies and "chai" which is tea. A cute little boy kept grabbing handfuls of cookies and distributing them out to everyone he went up to. I should have taken a picture, it was so sweet. I highly recommend trying to attend service here for those who come to Odessa. You'll love it.
We then left and walked about 15 minutes to go and eat at an authentic Ukrainian restaurant near the Center. It was quite cold out and poor Natasha who wanted to wear her skirt today had on only tights to cover her legs but she didn't complain one bit and had a smile on her face the whole time. The girls even stopped a bit on the way to feed a cat and some birds with an extra roll we had from a restaurant we had ate at yesterday and had forgotten in a coat pocket! The restaurant was beautifully decorated in a traditional Ukrainian style. The hostess and waiters were dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothes. The restaurant was decorated for the holiday and was so pretty. We took a picture outside and tried to get in these stuffed goats which were on display in one of the windows. (Ariana really liked those) You can sort of see them in the left window in the posted picture. The food was really good even though we really didn't know what to get. Natasha and Michelle split some chicken, which was wrapped around some type of fruit but which both thought tasted wonderful, and mashed potatoes which weren't whipped but roughly mashed and looked and smelled wonderful. Lisa and Ariana ordered some borscht(which I wish I would have ended up ordering) and it was quite different than what I had thought borscht would be(just beets). It was mainly meat(shredded beef) with some cabbage and a few beans in a beet type of broth. It was served with sour cream and pieces of wonderful garlic bread. I don't even think I saw any pieces of beet in the soup it was just a type of beet broth. I tried some of Ariana's and it was wonderful. It tasted like a vegetable beef soup. I'll be ordering this the next time! I wish I would have taken pictures of the meal, like the other families who came have done, because everything that was served was beautifully displayed on the plates with all different kind of vegetables cut in wonderful displays.
After lunch it was getting to the time where we needed to bring Natasha backto the Internot(where did the time go!) So we walked around the Center for a little bit and picked up a few more souvenirs. Then it was time to head back.
We will plan to pick up Galina at 9AM on Tuesday morning to go to court. We need to be there by 10 and today Viktor said we may not even be able to get in on Tuesday, that we may have to wait until Wednesday. We are praying for Tuesday and would love to have prayer for getting in on Tuesday as well as the waving of the 10 day wait. Even though we didn't have much to do this weekend we feel drained as we are all coming down with colds, even Natasha. So prayers for improved health would be wonderful as well. But we were truly blessed today by the time spent with our daughters and friends.
Pictures are of the building where we went to service this morning, the room we had service in and some cute children who were there. Then of the restaurant where we had lunch this afternoon.