Grace Notes

Good Morning,

I am now as far away from Rochester as possible on this trip. Directly on the other side of the world, if you will. The time here is 13 hours different. I am writing at 3 PM and it is 2 AM where you are. Worship was very interesting today with Pastor Sobolev. Their service starts out with praise music. They have some of the same songs, just different words. They also have some very new songs with nice tunes. The service was very liturgical. The music was very modern–a nice combination. Because so much of the past was destroyed by the Soviets, the churches have keyboards instead organs. I guess if you can have only one instrument get one that can sound like everything. The service lasted two hours. Pastor Sobolev preached for about 45 minutes. For those who think I go too long…

Here are some pictures of the congregation. There is a lady in charge of hospitality who takes care of everything. I think that every Lutheran Church has hospitality as a prime Sunday activity — as it should be when God’s people get together.

Tomorrow we go to the family camp. I don’t know when I will have internet access again but probably by the end of the week. If I get access sooner I will send a report. I am keeping notes and will have a much bigger write-up when I get back for the presentation in September.

In Christ,

The travelling Heidorn’s