Hello everyone. We thought you might like to see the internet club we have been using most of the time. It is about a 15 minute walk from the flat. There are closer ones but the computers are slower there is no usb hook-up for pictures and they are crowded and hot. This one is smaller less busy and of better quality. We enjoy the walks anyway. We went to church this morning. The church is called Word of Life Church. It was founded by one of the first Christian missionaries to come to Russia. He was a Swiss man named Olef Eckman. The church has four 2 hour services you can attend. We chose to go to the one that started at 9:00 am. The building is not air conditioned so we wanted to go when it wouldn't be too hot. You can see the building in the pictures. One shot of the outside and one of the sanctuary just before services started. I would say it was about 90% full once they actually started. They are currently using an old movie theatre for their church. They are collecting money to build a new church. There are fliers and a scale model inside the church. It looks like it will be real nice. They televise the services nationally so this is a well known church. They start out with some praise and worship songs. The band and singers on stage lead the congregation. There are transparency projectors for people to sing along. Everyone stands and sings very energetically. Most seem to have the words memorized and clap their hands along with the beat or raise their hands in the air. It is more typical of a special praise and worship service or christian concert at home. I guess since it is televised they put a little more into the choreography. After that they allowed a couple of people from the audience (preselected) to share testimony of how God was working in their life. Then they sang some more. After that they allowed newly engaged couples or newly married couples to come to the front (one of each came forward) and be acknowledged by the church and have a prayer of blessing for them. They also invited newly born children but none came forward. The next part was a small sermon and praise time for offering. The main sermon today was focused largely on The Holy Spirit. Several scriptures were referenced and the serman followed exactly with the scripture contents according the the translations Olga was giving us. What was really neat is that a large part of the scripture referenced was from John 14. If you look to the right and top of the blog you will see the verse we selected before we came which is also from John 14. Everything just seems perfect. We can tell the Lord is leading us through this journey. We always have believed this but the signs are becoming so obvious. What a blessing that He has chosen our family to pursue this calling. That includes all of you, our extended family and friends. We are greatful for the love and support everyone has shown. It has already been such a rewarding journey and we haven't even gotten Max home yet. After church we went out to eat at a restaurant called the Golden Lion. It is labeled an Irish Pub but it was more of a theme than an actual pub. The food was good and we enjoyed the lunch. I ordered apple pie with ice cream for dessert. How American is that? It was good but their sweets here are generally not as sweet as we are used to. At home I usually don't prefer real rich tasting sweets but the ones here have been real bland. One of the pictures is the stand were My Russian friend and I had the long conversation that night when I went for some water. He wasn't here today just his wife. I will try and talk with him again before we leave. The last picture is of some men playing dominoes outside their buliding. I thought it was a good example of their culture. You may have to enlarge it to see them. I did not want to take the picture too close in case they might not like it. We hope everyone is doing well and we will have to get caught up with everyone when we get home. I'm sure there will be much to talk about. Well you can tell Iris and then she can relay it to me like usual. Ha Ha. I have to give her a lot of credit she has adjusted well to no cell phone and no Mountain Dew. I new she would though, she has always been able to do anything she set her mind to. We are making the most of the trip and enjoying the moments. All the while we can not wait to get home. It will be here before we know it.