God Bless Russia!

The photos from our Russia celebration are few, but we didn't want to skip sharing about the largest country in the world. Russia, in its vastness, spans two continents: Europe and Asia, with Russia's Ural Mountains marking the division between the two. It is so large, it is nearly twice the size of the second largest country: Canada.

White fish with a cheese sauce and boiled potatoes with dill were our selections from our Russian cookbook. We also decorated the table with a doll my uncle brought back for the girls from his mission trip to the Ukraine, a part of the Soviet Union until 1991.

Legend says that in AD 988, Prince Vladimir saw a light shining over the city of Kiev. He thought this bright light was sent by Jesus Christ and he decided to follow him. So Russia became a Christian country. Everyone shared in this faith, from the tsar to nobles and peasants. For nearly a thousand years, Russians worshiped the God of the Bible, until the1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the ensuing communist rule. At that time, religion of any kind was banned and atheism was "preached" for the next 70 years. All churches were closed, but Christians don't need a building to worship God, and many remained faithful. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party, lifted the ban on religion and its people are free to worship openly again. (Paraphrased from Window on the World by Dahpne Spragett, Paternoster Lifestyle Publishing, 2001.)

We pray that many Russians will come to new faith in Jesus and that Christians there will be encouraged in their walk with the Lord.