A Great Time At The Sauna

A great time at the sauna? Yep, I know it's a surprise after yesterday's blog.

I took the subway to meet Yura (a contractor who is out of work) and Alexey, a dentist, and Sasha, a painter of murals in Orthodox churches, at the subway station on the edge of town. We drove from there to the 'resort zone' where the sauna was located. Before we got into the car Yura asked if I drink beer, "Uh, um, not so much" I said, not wanting to say "No".
"Well, you better get one right now", he said.
"It's ok, I have water".
"Oh, okay then" he said and he was really not offended and didn't think it was weird.
Actually Kim was helping me by praying that it wouldn't be a big deal since the sauna experience can often mean drinking. But these guys were cool.
On the 10 minute drive we talked skiing. It was nice, non-threatening.

We stripped down- you can forget bathing suits in a Russian Sauna (Ukrainians call the sauna experience a 'Russian Sauna'; in Russia it's just a sauna)- and went in to the sauna to find the temperature an unacceptable 158F. Yura quickly got them to crank up the heat and by the time of our last dip in the ice-water pool it was in the 200F range, which is still more of a temperature for women (that's what Russians and Ukrainians say, not me) but it was nice.

Well, we talked about a lot of things. I've never had such open conversations about the Bible, politics, religion in general, and of course, more skiing, than we had in the three hours there. It was a very nice time.

Ok, this is a lot. I need to go to a few meetings today and one of those will be early so it's time to scoot. This means I still owe a blog about what the sauna experience is like. I won't forget.

Yura and Sasha, (not the church painter but a guy who came a little later and owns two autoparts stores) begged me to go skiing with them this weekend in Western Ukraine. I'm begging off of this trip due to time constraints but the acutal cost is embarassingly cheap- all travel, lodging and ski passes for 3 days for $100. Lord willing, next season...? Anyway, remember these guys. I haven't had this kind of opportunity with unbelievers ever in Russia and these are some good-hearted guys who I'd like to see make life-changing decisions.

Until next time...