Saturday, July 26, 2008

RUSSIA Day 3

Nicolay picked us up and we headed through Archangelsk to his church's Prayer House. Basically, a Prayer House is a church building that was or is also a private home. Since they have someone that lives on the property they can't call it a church, it has to be a Prayer House. Because it is not a house, the government can tax the property and house. The tax is steadily going up and Nikolay has been able to prove that no lives in the House but to no avail.

We spent the rest of the morning helping to tear out the floor in area that needs foundation repair. It was work that went quickly and we enjoyed being able to do something after sitting so much the previous few days.

The area around the Prayer House is filled with a big garden. The growing season here in very short but with such long days and short nights, they get really good growth. The reward for working the morning shift was a great lunch prepared by Tija and her friend. It was supposed to be like a picnic (we ate outdoors) but we had some great garden fresh food.

Here are a few pictures from the Prayer House and surrounding area:

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Prayer House

 

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Side view...

 

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Tearing out old floor...

 

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A friend helping to work on the floor....

 

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Nikolay

 

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Tija spooning up the soup.....

 

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Sausages finished off the main course....you might want to take those casings off before you eat the sausage.

 

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Announcement of Sunday service times....

 

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Prayer House garden...

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