Fried Potates

Monday March5 :Today I mastered the phrase ‘fried potatoes’. Tanya said that I needed to learn this in order to eat them. With that kind of incentive I should be fluent in no time!

Also I went to volleyball club with Dima today. No one showed up, except his helper. He said that he does a Word study in the beginning, and for that reason he thinks that they are not coming. Because on other days when there is just volleyball he sees them there. So please pray that the young people will come out, if not them, then others maybe. It is good for me to go around and see what each of them do; I see what their needs are, their successes and their struggles. It helps me better to know what to pray for and what to expect as I begin to help. Also, for you, to help pray for the needs of these ministries.

Well, yesterday, Thursday was Women’s Day. Another national holiday! That is two in two weeks! I think they like to celebrate :) Anyway, it is like Mother’s Day but again, not so seclusive. It is for all women. So at our Tuesday team meeting, the guys brought us a cake. It was very nice and very tasty!! And Natasha had invited several friends and women she knows to our house for a party. It was pretty fun. I learned some new games, and of course there was plenty of food!! There was also a traditional Kyrgyz holiday treat, I forgot what it was called, but it is like pieces of fried dough!! Yum! I think when they are in smaller pieces one has a tendency to eat a lot of them, but not me. And then we all watched the movie ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’, in Russian of course. Indiana Jones was the other option but was out voted. It’s good when I watch movies I’ve seen before, that way I don’t have to worry about not knowing what’s going on. So it was a good day.

It is Friday, and I was invited to go to football club with Sergy. Well, it is hard to know if everyone is running late or just not coming. I told him it must be me because no one showed up for volleyball either when I went. I may not get invited to see any other activities if this keeps up. :) Though I guess holidays are celebrated all week long, so that might have been the reason. But there were four of us from the team so we went up to the gym and played and one guy eventually showed up. I haven’t played soccer since I don’t know when, but I think I did alright. Though it doesn’t take long to notice when one is out of shape, I of course will say that it is the higher elevation. My face was as red as my sweatshirt so next time I’ll be bringing lots of water!

On Sunday I visited another church with someone from the team. I met some other people from the States there. It’s kinda nice to meet others who have come here and what they say about it. Anyways, the church was also very nice. Some of the songs weren’t too fast so I could sing along as best as I could. There was also an outline of the sermon on the bulletin so I was able to listen for the passages and look them up as the pastor spoke. So it looked like I knew what I was doing and understood, but not so much! But that will be my translation homework this week! Afterwards, there is a time for tea and fellowship. Then the youth group met, and that was great! Other than being in another language and in another country, it was like being in a youth group back home.