Zoya, Ira, Masha, Sarah, Ina and 4 Rounds of UNO

Masha (center) is Ira's 11-year-old daugther, a sweetheart with a gob of energy. A single mom (brunette next to me), Ira is employed by Mercy Ministries and attend Emmanuel Church. Since Ira speaks almost no English, we needed Ina (in blue shirt) to translate. What sweet women. Russian women are so beautiful, especially the Christian ones. Ira and Masha hosted us for dinner in their flat one evening. We were served the usual tomatoes and cucumber with fresh dill, as well as delicious baked chicken, donuts, and chocolate.

I asked Ira how she met the Lord. She said, following the sudden death of a boyfriend, she questioned her own mortality. She began seeking answers about the afterlife that weren't being answered in the Russian Orthodox church. There was no peace or assurance in those answers.

She heard about the Jesus film and attended. Like Stanislav (see previous post) she went many times. One night she surrendered herself to Jesus, repented, and received salvation. Soon thereafter she began going to Emmanuel Church with likeminded believers and met Olya, who started Baby Rescue. It's a wonderful outreach to moms who would otherwise abort children due to financil hardship or unbelief.

After the meal, Masha loved playing Uno with us. The rules were a little different but easy to catch onto. It was the perfect way to learn four color names in Russian:

red: crossne (easy to remember by the CROSS of Christ stained with red blood)

green: zeloni: my favorite color is green

blue: sini (like the deep blue SEA-nee)

yellow: zholti (the only color I have to use process of elimination to remember from UNO)

We must have played four rounds of it till everyone (except Masha) started yawning. She insisted that Sarah and I sign her big US wall map before leaving.