TUESDAY, NOV. 5
The alarm rang early again this
morning. The pastor’s wife had brought over fruit last night; apples, grapes,
and pears. Had one of the juicy pears – good! The apple the night before had
also been juicy and tasty. Managed to get in a few Skype calls and by 7:40, it
was time to walk to the church, a fifteen minute walk past a group of four or
five police (who made me nervous because Jason said that foreigners are never
in TC walking along the street). Well, no problem.
We arrived at the church and were
ushered down near the kitchen where women were cleaning white radish outside on
the cement and women were inside cooking. The head cook was making noodles for
us for breakfast. The noodles were not homemade (unlike the Muslim kind), but
nevertheless good, mixed in with a pork sausage broth.
Then upstairs where the people
were gathering for singing. They keep the sound system at “MAX” here so that
the singing of the man and woman made the pews vibrate (and feedback is also
frequent). A prayer following the singing and Jason and I were on.
I did a thorough job of the
Divine Plan (maybe too much because the first woman simply read her notes). The
man, however, did a fine job (I also said that he could not use notes so he
told the story directly off of the power point. The group of 125 was not quite
as enthusiastic as Bible training center last March. And maybe it was because
these people are just regular church pew people, not as fired up as those who
come to the training center. But they still did a great job.
Break time. The pastor’s wife
came to me with her phone showing me pictures of their 14 year old son, two inches
taller than his father. She is obviously proud of her son. Showed more pictures
and tried with her Russian accent to share a few English words. I greatly
appreciated her efforts because that is the only English I get other than from
Jason.
Lunch today was SPICY
(good thing that I took my zantac this morning). Not just one dish, but several
had green and/or red peppers making the whole dish hot. My mouth burned. I did
my best to enjoy the food, but I had to intersperse the very hot/spicy dishes
with pieces of deep fried pig fat. And if you don’t know that dish, it’s worth
trying although Jason said that one should only eat one or two pieces of fat.
Unhealthy!
Rest time was until 2:00 when the
group gathered for singing. During the break, back at the hotel, I watched with
interest as they mixed the hard, old fashioned way (see video). On our way back
to the church, we stopped to see if we could find some chocolate – to no avail.
My presentation on the Emmaus Disciples began at 2:30 (presentation went well).
The pastor’s wife brought fruit
the first night we were here; pears, apples, and grapes. Today she brought
additional fruit; tangerines, cumquats and fresh dates. And it is never just
one or two pieces of fruit. We have plenty to share with other.
Following the session, 13 of us
went to a restaurant for dinner. A couple from the church purchased the meal
for us – and a good one it really was. He works as the city department head of
transportation.
Tomorrow will share the story of
Zacchaeus and talk about the colors as a witness tool.
Preparing white radish (greens and roots) for the day's cooking. |
The broth was made, and the final step was the noodles. The noodle soup was made with a ground pork base - and was good. Little woks for small jobs; big wood fired woks for larger meals. |
Sharing the Divine Plan. |
Grandmas love their grandbabies. |
This grandmother would not even let me hold her grandson. |
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