Village life

A few weeks back we had the opportunity to go with the youth from the local church out to a village to share the Jesus film.  Little did I know just what I was getting into.  Prior to the journey we had been told it would take about 4 hours to get there and 4 hours coming back.  Obviously I knew we were going far out but I had no idea how remote we were going.  We packed up the van and a car early one monday morning with the youth, some helpers and all the equipment.  We drive for three hours and then stop to use a "bathroom", as we were told that there is no bathroom in the village.  This "bathroom" consisted of some muddy rotten wood floors with walls that have holes and a hole in the ground covered by mud, beer bottles, and other foul smelling things that I didn't want to think about.  It was here at this stop that I saw the first of what would now become a few, of a passed out drunk on the side of the road.  It truly is a sad sight, but there were people around to help the man out (and in the other instances since then people have been willing to help them).

So after experiencing that we were informed that we would be on more dirt roads until we reached the village.  For the next hour or so we drove down muddy washed out dirt roads.  With every village we passed I couldn't help but wonder which one was ours and how many more were on this road.  After miles of tedious driving and passing multiple villages we had finally reached the village.  During the drive out there I kept thinking of Acts 1:8 where it talks about to the ends of the earth.  It had felt like we were driving to the ends of the earth.  This village has about 500 people living there where people live in the old log cabins/wood homes.  There is only electricity, no running water or indoor plumbing, and houses are heated by wood stoves.  Wood piles are stacked to about half the height of houses and stretch the length of some houses.  The majority of the people in this village are unemployed and alcoholism is high.  For those that have moved to the city, they leave their houses as no one will buy them so the houses are left unattended and are now falling down.  We parked the van in someones drive way as the road to the church was way to muddy  to drive down and even walking was treacherous.  The people living here have constructed plywood walkways around the sides of the streets to walk on.

After navigating the walkways we arrive at the church (which is just an old house) and are greeted by a few older ladies who make up the church, some children and one screaming child who is afraid of the people coming in.  The house is very warm (it was cold outside on this day) and the wood stove kept the house warm, almost too warm at times.  The youth sung some songs and we showed the Jesus film and the youth and our supervisor said a few things.  After all of this the ladies fed us lunch (lunch here is usually around 2 or 3).  It is a simple yet filling meal of pileini(dumpling filled with meat), pickles, cheese, bread, and of course tea.  These ladies were very hospitable and welcoming to all of us.  They are all about making sure that you don't get sick.  My teammate had just removed her sweatshirt (as it was really hot in there) and then began to drink some cold milk and the old lady told her that she needed to put her sweatshirt back on so that she wouldn't get sick.  Also if the door or window is left open and there is a draft the door must be closed so that you don't get sick.  It is good to know that random people care about your health.  After lunch we prepared to leave, so we packed up all of the music equipment and film projector and navigated the muddy path back to the van.

Upon arriving at the van it was clear that it was stuck.  After multiple attempts of trying to back it up without anything the youth then jumped in to help try to push it out.  When that didn't work wood planks were used.  Again no luck.  A local man had come over to try and help.  Even with his help we didn't have much luck.  So he preceded to go get a tractor.  Now at this point it had been suggested by some to use some hay or gravel, but the idea was shot down by others.  So again the youth try to help push the van out, and again no such luck.  An older lady then comes over sees that the van is stuck and goes and grabs some limbs off a pine tree and walks over and lays them down at the wheel.  She tells my supervisor to go try to move the van and she then proceeds to join the youth and helps push the van.  Just like that the van became unstuck and with a few replacements of the tree branches the van was finally free.  That woman knew what she was doing.  I figure you have to be tough to live out in the village.  With the van unstuck we headed back to the city slowly passing villages and larger towns before returning to Perm.  All in all it was a good day and a great experience getting to see the village and in a way stepping back in time.  Even though this village was isolated there is a group of women who love the Lord and are committed to sharing His message with those in their village.

The Youth Group, leaders and us.

This is the lady that came over and took charge.  She is placing pine branches by the wheels.

She even helped push the van.  She is one strong woman.

The youth helping push the van out.

One of the empty houses that is now falling down as no one is there to take care of it.

Just part of the main road that we drove.

It was good to see a whole different side to Russia.  In a way the village life is how I used to picture Russia.  I now know that this country is such a combination of many things and that there is so much to learn.  I came into Russia knowing very little about it and in the past month I have learned many things, all of them good.