Saturday, April 19, 2014

Having People Over


Here is a little bit about a gathering that we had-wow, a week ago already.

Andrei and I had some of his "former students" (from the SPB Christian University) over for dinner and fellowship. I always find it funny when he calls them that because most of them attend our church and are friends of ours. Many of them were even in our small group at one point; not so much anymore.

Andrei gets the discussion going

Admittedly they're not really plain old "friends" though either, because they have that comradery of a group who has been through stuff together; shared classes and dorm chats and life-changing decisions. It's fun to see that kind of closeness.

Talking and toys
After eating, we migrated to the living room where the discussions could continue while the two toddlers played. You might still call some of those present young adults, but I felt a difference even from just a few years ago.

There was kind of a heaviness-not in a depressed way, just demonstrating new levels of challenge and burden. Marriage for some; work, missionary work, teaching, a baby, housing conflicts.We talked about questions that relate more to being leaders in the church, not just members. How do you prepare a Sunday school lessons for the kids who've heard it all? How do you prepare a sermon for ADULTS who've heard it all?

It would be fun to form another small group and meet regularly! As it was though two people were skipping worship rehearsal to be there...oops! ;) And another two people needed to be put to bed pronto.





Bonus photo with my little munchkin....(who is very good at "sharing" toys, by the way...although I think he is just too young to really understand what's going on)

"Hmmm...here's a toy cabinet that hasn't been emptied out yet..."









3 comments:

  1. Fun to get a glimpse of your home, it seems really large for an apartment! Although perhaps that is the norm in Russia as apartments are more common then houses? And I love the big windows! And sorry if this comment seems weird, I just love to look at people's living spaces :)

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  2. The living room is huge for an apartment because the previous owners knocked down a wall. They did a nice job! All the renovations were done by them. Other than that, yeah, it was a 5-rm apartment as opposed to 2 or 3, so it's roomy.

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  3. Oh and the windows don't have screens and there are radiators under all of them. It's kind of annoying because that wall is basically lost, especially if you have a door at one end and the window/radiator combo at the other. In the kitchen, too! But we get a ton of daylight which is nice.

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