Michele Womble: Blog

The worship band I'm part of was invited to do a mini-concert in a nearby city, Leninsk-Kuznetskii.  (Leninsk, for short.)  We didn't have enough room in the car for all the band members, so we decided that one of the girls would ride down that morning with another group of folks from our church who were also going, and she would ride back on the return trip with the rest of our band while I would stay the night in Leninsk and come back the next morning on the train.  Our church had rented a four room apartment in Leninsk for the week for people to stay in as they came and went for various outreach activities, and we thought I would stay there Saturday night (along with 13 other people).  (Just so you know, making a road trip is a little different than in America, the roads aren't quite as good.)

The trip down was fairly uneventful except for getting pulled over for passing in a no passing zone, which was kind of odd because we were car number 3 in a line of 3 cars (all of which he pulled over) so not real sure who exactly we were passing.  Perhaps the officer wasn't really sure, either, at any rate he let us go on without a ticket, and what might have taken thirty minutes (did I mention that we were 3rd out of 3?) took only about ten. (Those of us in the car were praying about that because we didn't want the ticket of course, but we were also beginning to worry about getting to our own concert on time.)

We did get to the concert in time to set up in a room that was a bit smaller than we had expected.  We were practically right next to our audience - or we would have been, if they would have come inside.  For some reason they felt more comfortable standing outside the door.  They said they could hear just fine from there.  So we decided since they were more comfortable outside we would take our concert out there onto the porch.  We moved ourselves and our instruments onto the porch, and that seemed to suit everyone except for the few ladies who HAD come in and wanted to listen to the music inside where it was warmer (it was between 40-50 degrees).  But in the end everyone was happy (although a little chilly) and we actually garnered a few more for our "audience", some folks wandered over and stopped to listen and others were listening from their apartment windows.  Once I looked up and saw that the babushka (grandmother) listening from the third floor window in front of (and above) us was dancing.

We played for about an hour, and except for the wind blowing all our notes away several times (oh - I didn't intend that pun!) it went well and we were invited to come back and play at one of the few churches sometime.  Within an hour after we had finished playing it was raining.

A- , one of the ladies who had come inside for the concert (until we moved it out), found out that I was staying the night in Leninsk and asked me to come and stay the night with her and spend some time that evening with her and her friends.  One of the guys from our church in Novosibirsk drives to Leninsk every Saturday (taking with him whoever can go as well) in order to do a Bible study at A- 's flat for these ladies and their grown children.  This is a big deal in the winter - if your car breaks down between cities you can freeze to death.  (For this reason, below certain temperatures the police won't let cars leave the city).  Being Saturday, it was the night that would ordinarily have been the Bible study night, and they just got together as they usually did except that I was the guest from Novosibirsk this time.

The women who attend the Bible study at A- 's place all have children who either have been or are currently drug addicts.  Often some of these will also be at the study.  While all cities have their pockets with drug problems, Leninsk is notorious for their problem with heroin.  It was heartbreaking to hear their stories:hiding belongings and money from their grown children who would do anything to pay for the next dose, worrying anxiously over the whereabouts and well-being of a son of daughter who is somewhere shooting up - but also amazing to see how they share and encourage each other, and to hear the stories of little victories - this son, that daughter - who have gone to Christian rehab centers and are (so far) free of drugs. 

There are small victories being won.  There are also the tragedies - one son dead, along with five of his friends - all separate drug related deaths, all within six months. 

Zhenya and I caught the train back the next morning.  The guy who was taking us to the train station was late - when he came out in the morning the air had gone out of two of his tires.  He picked us up at 9:30 (Zhenya had been staying at the other apartment) - our train was at 9:43 and the station was outside of the city.  He's always kind of on the edge with making things on time, but somehow it always works out for him.  However this time even he didn't think we would make it, saying, "we can't make it - we need to pray".  The ride to the station was harrowing (he was going very fast and had to avoid the parade for VE day) but when he left us at the station the train had not yet come.  It was a little station, kind of picturesque (sorry I did not get a picture) and we even had to wait a few minutes for the train (but not long enough to get a picture).  Joey said later that he thinks the train had to have been late - but I don't know, as I didn't check my watch.  We were back in Novosibirsk at 1pm. 

Don't be fooled by the t-shirt.  Note that EVERYONE ELSE is in a jacket.

For those of you with a critical eye, yes I do have my foot pedals turned backwards.  It's digital, and sometimes it doesn't respond to the ball of my foot but always responds to my heel...anyway, it works for me.