Beautiful Siberia!

Yesterday evening (Friday) we said farewell to our hosts in Moscow. They recommended that instead of taking a Taxi to the airport, we could take the "Air Express" train. The pastor of the church, named Andrey, agreed to take us through the metro system and to the train station where we could board a 40-minute express train to the airport. By the time we left the church, we were on a tight schedule to catch the train. Imagine Andrey guiding the four of us, with our rolling suitcases, as we raced along the sidewalks! Navigating stairs and escalators and crowded metro carriages was quite the adventure. We did make the train, but had no luck finding seats together and had to split up. Needless to say we were very relieved to arrive at the airport and get checked in. Waiting brings its own kind of exhaustion, but at least we can relax in knowing that we are where we need to be!

Today has been a beautiful day of getting to know Tomsk, one of the larger cities in the region of Siberia. The city was founded in the 1600's and was originally a major center of trade for the region. It held that status until the Trans-Siberian railway was built and bypassed the city. These days they're known as a University town and for their historic architecture.
Our host here is Andrey Filiptsov, who is the pastor of three congregations in an around Tomsk: the city church, and two congregations that are located out in the country. Travelling to them takes 90 minutes for one, and three-four hours for the other, which he travels by bus. Todd and Hazel met him in 2005, when he was attending the seminary in St. Petersburg. When he worked on the staff of a Bible camp in northern Minnesota in 2006, they arranged for him to visit Grace and Albert Lea. When we arrived at the Tomsk airport at 6:00 am, Andrey was there to greet us and accompany us in the hotel van, and help us get settled in at the Hotel Siberia. It's a lovely hotel and we were able to eat breakfast at their cafe before having some time to rest and clean up before beginning our day. (We were only able to get a little sleep during the flight and needed some sleep!)

We met up again at noon and enjoyed a lovely lunch together. Andrey is very fun and energetic, and immediately put us at ease. This particular restaurant served traditional Russian food and unfortunately did not have an English menu. So he translated the essentials to help us make our choices. His English is quite good but translating food items is hard work! We all enjoyed the food, which was quite good and beautifully presented! (My entree of sausages and fresh vegetables with a pickled salad.)

Andrey had arranged for us to take a city tour with an English-speaking tourguide, and we met up with her and our driver after lunch. Our guide Marina is an instructor at one of the local universities, teaching engineering students how to prepare "perfect presentations" in English for the business world. She also works for the tour company giving tours and was full of information to help us learn about the city, its landmarks, and its architecture.
One of the first stops was to see the Park of Peace, a memorial to the Great Patriotic War (World War II). The monument features a massive bronze sculpture of a mother sending her soldier son off to war, calling to mind that 50% of the soldiers never returned from the war. It's a beautiful memorial, and it overlooks a spectacular panorama of the River Tom (after which the city is named).

Following this we visited several buildings in the traditional wooden architecture of the town. Most of these were built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and feature very detailed hand-carved "lace" decorations and vibrant colors. A few of them have been beautifully maintained or restored by the state, and Marina made sure we saw these. This blue house currently serves as a cultural center for German Russians, where they can attend concerts and other cultural gatherings including language lessons.

It has been interesting to learn about the difficult history of Germans in Russia during this visit. At the beginning of WWII, Germans living within Soviet territory were removed from their homes and shipped to Siberia and places like Tomsk. They developed what I would call a German sub-culture, with German-speaking Lutheran congregations and community organizations. The congregations generally held their worship in German and being bi-lingual was the norm. I don't remember the numbers, but this large population allowed the Lutheran church in Russia to grow in numbers, so that they had several hundred thousand members in their congregations. Following the end of the Cold War in the 1990's, huge numbers from these communities travelled back to Germany as part of a repatriation program. As a result, the Lutheran congregations have dwindled in both the number of congregations and their size. For example, the larger congregation that Andrey serves has about 25 in worship on Sunday, and the smaller congregations as few as 5. (Interesting note: these are not called "members" by Andrey, but "sisters and brothers.")

Our city tour included a stop at the fortress on "Resurrection Hill" that housed the original settlement from 1604. It's located on the highest hill in Tomsk and offered wonderful views of the city. This photo shows some of the oldest houses in the foreground, and some of the more modern contruction further back by the church steeple.

After we said goodbye to our tourguide, we enjoyed a stroll along the river with Andrey before meeting his wife Leane for supper. She is an English instructor at a private school and will serve as the translator when Pastor Todd preaches during the worship services tomorrow. They've been married for three years and met in Omsk, where he was previously serving a church and which is her hometown.

We have a busy day planned tomorrow. We will attend worship here in town in the morning, and in the afternoon we will travel to one of the smaller prayer houses in the country (about a 90 minute drive from town) to worship with them. Andrey has told us that many of these sisters and brothers have never met any Americans, so there will be new experiences for us all!