The "Kras Tets" market is way over on the other side of town. It took 1hr 10 mins on the bus to get there and 1hr 45mins to get back. There are people working in the market from countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and China. There are hardly any Russians working there. (I even saw an expensive 4WD with Kyrgyz plates on it.)
A friend of our team mates lived in Kyrgyzstan for two years. It was their idea to take her to the market so she could speak Kyrgyz with people. We decided to go to and breathe some living air around the place. When we arrived the wind of the Holy Spirit indeed blew us around.
We met a Tajik man; Uzbek and Kyrgyz girls; a Chinese couple; then a family from Azerbaijan, who also had a Tatar woman from Kyrgyzstan working for them. As we met people we got into some friendly conversations.
The Tajik was very excited to hear that I believe in "Huda" too (the Persian word for God, not the Arabic word). He opened up to me. He prays five times a day and washes before he prays. I asked if I could pray for him, he said I would need to wash first. I explained though that I prayed through Huda's prophet Isa, and that meant I did not need to wash before praying. To my surprise he accepted this and let me pray for him. He then happily received my gift, a cd of stories from the prophets in the Tajik language. The two girls, one an Uzbek and one a Kyrgyz also wanted cds, we also had some in their languages. But then there was a Chinese man who wanted a cd too, but we didn't have any Chinese discs.
As we were at the market it made sense to do some shopping. We bought some shoes for Abigail from our Tajik friend. We then wandered off in the breeze of the Spirit, seeing who we would end up taking too. I had the sense to walk as deep into the market as we could. We ended up at a jeans stand. Hey, I needed some jeans. After trying them on and agreeing on a price (not sure if I could have gone lower, perhaps I don't know how hard to bargain with an Azerbaijani), the man called his son to take us to their sewing shop. His son took us far across the market again, by which point we were a little lost. :)
As we walked along both Melody and I could feel the breeze blowing. We ended up in this little back building where two young Azerbaijani guys had a photo business. A Tatar woman from Kyrgyzstan was working there. This lovely lady was reading the Koran in both Arabic and Russian. The page she was reading talked about Adam.
"Hey, I know a story about Adam, can I tell it to you?"
"Yes, please do."
As I told the story this lady assured me, "that is the same as our story, but you do have some different ones." As this Tatar woman turned up my jeans to just the right length (a service that K-mart and Target do not offer in Australia), Melody asked if she would like to hear another story.
"Yes, I would love to hear you speak too."
Melody proceeded with the story of the woman at the well in Samaria and Jesus offering living water. Such a wonderful story about worshiping God in Spirit and Truth.
Again it was very easy and well accepted to give this lady a cd of stories in the Tatar language.
May they that have ears, hear what the Spirit is saying to them.
Our day of being blown around by the Spirit was not over. We ended up taking a bus that does not go directly home for us. It goes to the University, which means a half hour walk through the forest to get home. But we needed a walk in the forest anyway.
We rode the bus home for 1hr 45 mins. Towards the end, Kulatai, our Kyrgyz friend from last year got on the bus. He was loaded down with bags. Kulatai had just flown in from Kyrgyzstan that day. His taxi had broken down and there he was in the bus feeling overloaded. We were happy to help him with his bags to the dormitory at the University.
Kulatai remarked that he was very happy to see us. He said this in the same breath as letting me know he didn't really want to leave his family to come back to Uni this year. I could see in his eyes how much he missed them. The Spirit saw fit to blow us together on the same bus. Our family were the first friends that Kulatai saw after coming back to Russia. It felt nice to be of some comfort to him that day.
Yesterday however was a sour day. I was on the bus when a Russian man who was drunk attacked the conductor. The conductor was Central Asian. I didn't know what to do. My first reaction was self preservation. I contemplated getting off the bus. My second was that I wanted to help. I was not foolish enough to try to break up the fight. I have heard too many stories of that going badly for people. I felt like calling the police, it would have made no difference anyway. Suddenly I decided to talk to the Russian man who was attacking the Central Asian (while not standing too close). I found myself saying repeatedly to this man "Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you." As if struck by guilt, he slowed down and stopped. The fight dissolved and he got off the bus.
The conductor was shaken, so was I. I went to speak with the conductor and prayed for him. I felt sorry for this man who was very obviously the victim of racial hatred. I have heard of this happening before in Russia, more often in Moscow. This was the first time I saw it with my own eyes. It hurt me. I do feel safe now, and no it is not a common occurrence. Racism is such an ugly thing. I am so grateful that the wind of the Spirit was blowing in times of ugliness as well as sweetness.
A friend of our team mates lived in Kyrgyzstan for two years. It was their idea to take her to the market so she could speak Kyrgyz with people. We decided to go to and breathe some living air around the place. When we arrived the wind of the Holy Spirit indeed blew us around.
We met a Tajik man; Uzbek and Kyrgyz girls; a Chinese couple; then a family from Azerbaijan, who also had a Tatar woman from Kyrgyzstan working for them. As we met people we got into some friendly conversations.
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| A Kygyz cafe where we ate a late lunch |
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| Hanging out with our team mates |
As we walked along both Melody and I could feel the breeze blowing. We ended up in this little back building where two young Azerbaijani guys had a photo business. A Tatar woman from Kyrgyzstan was working there. This lovely lady was reading the Koran in both Arabic and Russian. The page she was reading talked about Adam.
"Hey, I know a story about Adam, can I tell it to you?"
"Yes, please do."
As I told the story this lady assured me, "that is the same as our story, but you do have some different ones." As this Tatar woman turned up my jeans to just the right length (a service that K-mart and Target do not offer in Australia), Melody asked if she would like to hear another story.
"Yes, I would love to hear you speak too."
Melody proceeded with the story of the woman at the well in Samaria and Jesus offering living water. Such a wonderful story about worshiping God in Spirit and Truth.
Again it was very easy and well accepted to give this lady a cd of stories in the Tatar language.
May they that have ears, hear what the Spirit is saying to them.
 |
| Everyone loves a good story |
We rode the bus home for 1hr 45 mins. Towards the end, Kulatai, our Kyrgyz friend from last year got on the bus. He was loaded down with bags. Kulatai had just flown in from Kyrgyzstan that day. His taxi had broken down and there he was in the bus feeling overloaded. We were happy to help him with his bags to the dormitory at the University.
Kulatai remarked that he was very happy to see us. He said this in the same breath as letting me know he didn't really want to leave his family to come back to Uni this year. I could see in his eyes how much he missed them. The Spirit saw fit to blow us together on the same bus. Our family were the first friends that Kulatai saw after coming back to Russia. It felt nice to be of some comfort to him that day.
Yesterday however was a sour day. I was on the bus when a Russian man who was drunk attacked the conductor. The conductor was Central Asian. I didn't know what to do. My first reaction was self preservation. I contemplated getting off the bus. My second was that I wanted to help. I was not foolish enough to try to break up the fight. I have heard too many stories of that going badly for people. I felt like calling the police, it would have made no difference anyway. Suddenly I decided to talk to the Russian man who was attacking the Central Asian (while not standing too close). I found myself saying repeatedly to this man "Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you." As if struck by guilt, he slowed down and stopped. The fight dissolved and he got off the bus.
The conductor was shaken, so was I. I went to speak with the conductor and prayed for him. I felt sorry for this man who was very obviously the victim of racial hatred. I have heard of this happening before in Russia, more often in Moscow. This was the first time I saw it with my own eyes. It hurt me. I do feel safe now, and no it is not a common occurrence. Racism is such an ugly thing. I am so grateful that the wind of the Spirit was blowing in times of ugliness as well as sweetness.
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