Salekhard 203

Our second Sunday here included a church picnic.

It was a perfect day-

sunny,

relatively warm

and thankfully just windy enough to keep the mosquitoes away.

We met at church,

had a shortened service ( about 2 hours),

enjoyed chai (tea) and sandwiches,

then carpooled to the picnic area.

Three vehicles, several trips each, 

ended with about 40 people gathered to enjoy the afternoon.

I could see the trees from the road,

but was surprised to find myself in a sandy place,

amidst several small bodies of water.

Larger than puddles, smaller than lakes I am familiar with.

Two had ice in them.

This one was called a snow lake.

As Selah was exploring we heard an excited “look, grass!”.

It was the first grass I have seen here, 

and judging by her excitement it is not a common thing.

Abigail came running with news, “there’s an animal in the water!”

Anatoli, the pastor, identified it as an otter.

Everyone scoured the area to find wood to build a fire.

The men roasted hot dogs,

the women spread out food,

washed tomatoes and cucumbers in the water of the snow lake,

and gave them to Bre and Deborah to slice.

We ate.

Afterward,

children played,

adults gathered in small groups to chat.

One woman shared her thermos of chai with me and Bre.

It was more than shared tea, it was an offer of fellowship.

Several people took turns playing the guitar and singing.

When Bre played and sang "Forever", 

several voices joined hers-

“we sing Hallelujah”.

It has been a beautiful day.