by Rebekah Ray
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Well, I guess you could say we started out that Sunday with a bang. After more than an hour of driving, Dad discovered that we had just taken a wrong turn, and were now about as perfectly in the middle of nowhere as you've ever seen. I'm not sure how he missed the road; I mean, there weren't any signs or anything, as usual, but aren't you just supposed to “know” where to go? Especially at forks in the road that aren't marked. (I am joking, of course!) Fortunately, the wrong turn happened to be only a couple of minutes back, and my father is a humble man, and was willing to stop and ask directions, on how to reach our actual goal. (We were all so proud.) Fortunately, the man he spoke with communicated in Russian very clearly, sometimes a rarity in a small Ukrainian village, and Dad was able to understand exactly where we needed to go.
Once we arrived at the church, we discovered that since we had been a few minutes late, (because of our accidental-detour,) they had begun singing without us. (Oops!) The people there were very gracious though, and understanding of how we'd gotten turned around. The service began again shortly after we entered.
Our family has been to many, many Zjhatva services here, so we knew pretty much what to expect. Zjhatva, is the word for ‘harvest' in Russian, and is a holiday celebrated in all of the Baptist churches here. Each church selects its own date for their Zhatva, which is why our family has been able to participate in many more than 7 of these services. (Even though we've been here only 7 years, the four of us would agree that we must've visited at least 20+ of these celebrations, without batting an eye.)
Since Zhatva is the Ukrainian's time to thank God for the harvest, they set up displays of produce (usually from the gardens of church members,) in an attractive array of many beautiful shapes and colors. This church even added a few impressive-looking cakes. Poor Dad; all of this was sitting right at eye-and-nose level – right next to him! And I'm sure I don't have to tell you, it was getting tough by the time the three-and-a-half hour service was over!
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But before the end, we still had a few funny surprises in store. I think the first one was that a pastor who'd come from another church, (one where we'd visited last year,) stood up to preach, and referred to an illustration that “Mike Ray” had used in a sermon some time ago! That may not seem funny to you, but it might when you know that Dad was planning to preach the same sermon that very morning!
After that, a few women, guests and members, stood up to quote spiritual poems, and sing some songs. One woman stood, and instead of quoting poems or verses, she read a hymn from the hymnal. (They do that here sometimes.) She sat down, and I remember thinking, “Ha! Wouldn't it be funny if she read the song we're going to sing as a family…” but I quickly dismissed the thought, remembering that not many people knew the Russian hymn we always sang at these celebrations (in English, it is “Come Ye Thankful People Come”). Think again! The next time she stood up, the first five words that came out of her mouth clued us in that she was doing JUST that! So first, a man used dad's illustration, and then this lady stood up and read “our” song! It was hilarious. (Well, it was to me anyway!)
The final funny from the actual service was the pianist. On about the third song that one group was trying to sing a cappella, I figured out that the person I'd thought was a kid banging on the piano was actually the piano player trying to pick out the melody of the guests' song that they were trying to sing! I could barely keep myself from busting out with laughter in the middle of these poor people's song, but that woman just kept on; actually messing up the unfortunate singers' song more than she ever helped it!
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After that the service continued pretty normally. (All 3-and-a-half HOURS of it, as I mentioned before!) Then we proceeded to move towards the door, on our way to the enormous outdoor dinner tables that had been set up. We couldn't possibly get there though, without of course being kissed. Whenever we are in church here, the women, (mostly the older ladies,) greet us with kisses on the cheek. This time, one of them hugged me, and kissed me hard on the cheek – 7 times! She was the sweetest little lady you'd care to meet, but I couldn't help but giggle, and my smile was stretched just about off my face in my attempt to talk with her after that, uh… “heart-felt” greeting.
Next thing we went over to the tables, feasting our eyes for a moment on all of the beautiful dishes these hard-working women had prepared for us. It was a village feast at it's best; with most everything that graced the tables having come from out of the yards and homes of the church members who lived in the small town. Then, during the time that many of us ate, there were a few ladies who waited and sang hymns for us.
Now, let's see if I can recall everything that was there. For sure there were freshly grown tomatoes and cucumbers, and then plates of fried eggplant with mayonnaise on top of them. Other items that had been taken from the garden were the mounds of mashed potatoes that were generously heaped on each plate; peppers liberally stuffed with rice; and then of course the fruit that went into the compote* most likely came from the trees in the different people's yards. (*Compote, not to be confused with com-post, is a very tasty fruit drink made from fresh berries and sometimes dried fruits, like apples.) There was plenty of bread with the meal, and some people chose to stack the sliced meats and cheese on them like open-faced sandwiches. Then there was a Ukrainian variant of deviled eggs, and of course the ever-present fish. This time it was fried, (much better than the raw alternative,) but I don't believe any of us had room for very much of it! Along with the main-course dishes the goose meat was served, and this, too, had come from the yards of the church members, (if you know what I mean!) Not to be forgotten, the beautifully decorated homemade cakes came next, along with plenty of cookies and candy for everyone. All in all it was a beautiful feast, and one from which people came away wishing to loosen their belts!
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After the meal it was time to get ready to go, so while Dad finished talking with a few pastors and men, Hannah, Mom and I gathered our things and stood visiting with the women. When we got in the car, we ended up waiting a few more minutes, while the kind, open-handed members gathered a few final things to give us.
We ended up driving away from the morning with two watermelons in our trunk, along with mineral water, pumpkins, and a cake that Mom had to carry in her lap the whole way home! But of course, the singular most interesting gift of the day was a goose! A whole, very fresh, feathered, goose! J
And so it ended, “just another day in church,” but one that reminded us once again of the openhearted giving of the Ukrainian believers, and the way God shares His love, with us, through them. We truly had much to be thankful for on that Zhatva day.
