First Impressions of Novo

As is my custom I was out and about for my morning walk at 7.00 AM. My first thought was that it would be easy to get lost. Les and Debbie live in an apartment block on 55 Soviet Street. That is fine if everyone spoke English, but with all the street names being in the Cyrillic alphabet I had to content myself with sticking to the road the family lives on, and not stray and then try to ask directions. However, that was an interesting experience. It seems that everyone lives in an apartment. All you see are blocks of apartments. They look old, and many are, but with such harsh winters maintenance must be difficult.

At 7.00 AM people were scurrying around. There were several workers sweeping the sidewalks in front of the apartment block. Men and women were walking to work. There are very few lawns. With snow around for most of the year it would hardly be worthwhile sowing a lawn for three months. Most women have dyed hair. All the young chicks are in high healed shoes. It seems that they are very fashion conscious. The cars on the streets seem, in the main, to be older models.

What did catch my attention was the ornate Russian Orthodox Church down the street. The domes on top of the building were in gold paint and glittering in the sun. People coming out of the hcurch would come down the steps and then turn to face in and do the sign of the cross. Inside the church there were mainly older women with their headscarves on. The church is filled with icons - paintings of the saints. These women would go to each painting and then pause to do the sign of the cross, repeat the performance, and then move on to the next icon and do the same. At some of the icons they would do the sign of the cross and then kneel. I guess those were the special saints or the patron saints. How sad to see such superstition and simply the fulfillment of man-made traditions to try and please God and not to know the saving grace and power of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. It seems that no matter where you go in the world Satan has blinded men's eyes to the truth. In some places it is the ritual of religion, and in our western world it is the ease and comfort of material things. It made me feel that if I was 45 years younger I would want to come here to preach the gospel and seek to bring the light of the gospel to these people. No where on my hour long walk did I see evidence of an evangelical church.

There was a park near the church with some flower beds. It was kind of nice to see the beautiful colours of Petunias and other flowers.

After my hour long walk it was home to the family for breakfast. Somethings, such as scrambled eggs, never change. I was back in the safety zone.

Richard - Ricardo - Dick - Dad