MY MISSION TO RUSSIA - THE VILLAGE OF PAGAR

Saturday, August 18, 2001

We set off for Pagar at 8:00 A.M. It was another two hour drive. The road we were driving on would have taken us directly into Germany. It was a two lane, back-country road. I observed many vendors on the side of the road. They were selling squash and watermelon. My nose did not handle the environment very well. I was miserable.

Pagar wasn't much different than Tier Baum. We had about thirty kids. We had about 30 adults too. The church was small. It was one room and then there was a kitchen. We did the same program but we had the crafts outside, underneath a bunch of fruit trees. I could smell the fruit. It was the smell of over-ripe apples; sweet and pungeant. It was warm and muggy too. Thankfully, there was a small breeze. The shade from the trees helped make the atmosphere peacefull.

Many of the women joined the children and made crafts of their own. One lady was having such a good time, we had to leave her with some more paint so she could finish her project. She was painting a picture of Jesus. The women were laughing at me because my scarf kept falling off of my head. (In the church, it is custom for married women to cover their heads with scarves.)

Some of the elderly women had a large mass of facial hair and gaps in their mouths where teeth should have been. That was interesting to say the least. They were all very sweet and hospitable people though. Once again, we were presented with a large meal. We had beet borscht, mashed potatoes, boiled hot dog (at least I think that is what it was. I disliked it tremendously. It wasn't pink like our hot dogs. It was a grey-white.) There was also a little morsel of fat and meat on the side of our potatoes. I couldn't eat those but the potatoes were good. The cooks also served curd over pastry. We were instructed to dip it into honey. I am not much of a curd person so I just couldn't do it. It looked too much like a clump of sour milk. I pretty much stuck with the potatoes, tomatoes and bread. By this time, I was feeling a bit discouraged with the food.