We have had a fun but busy weekend. On Thursday we had an American couple over who Trish met not long ago. The kids had a blast with them. Yesterday the girls survived their long, cold day of treasure-hunting. Alan did too as he was a chaperon for Rachel's group. They spent a good four hours running around the center of the city looking for clues. Alas neither of our girls' teams won but overall they had a good time. Lauren had a birthday party to go to on Saturday and then in the evening we, Alan and I, went bowling with a Russian couple we are getting to know. Alan did as well as ever and Trish had a few brilliant throws amidst the more-than-usual gutters.
Today at youth group we had ten kids attend (ages 11-14). Ira led a discussion on fear and it was interesting to hear what fears we all have. We had a craft time and then several of the girls stayed to practice a performance that they'll be doing at our church's 4th birthday party in a few weeks.
At church today we had a brief worship service and then a members meeting. Actually, we are asking people to become members officially, which is a first for this young church. Each person signed a membership commitment. Then we did something interesting. Dima introduced a chain with just two links, representing himself and his wife, four years ago. We and the Friesens then were added to the chain to represent our arrival 3 years ago. As people signed the membership commitment sheet, they took a loose link and joined it to the others representing their membership into the church.
We hope that you have a great week!
