Doomsday

Dear friends,
This weekend we go to Kondepega, a village about 30 minutes from Petrozavodsk for a retreat with some of our Christian Center and Awana students from Lyceum #1. There will be skits, presentations, food, tea (never without), and picture scavenger hunts (Photograph a Picture of President Putin – and more!). Please pray that the students both enjoy themselves and that the Gospel message has special impact for them this Saturday.

Monday I moved in with Liza Debelak’s mother, Vera Petrovna for the foreseeable future. Vera Petrovna is very nice and speaks a little English so I will learn Russian very quickly here. Please pray for my continued learning (my brain often hurts from studying – not a bad feeling!).

Pictured is my new acquaintance, the Doomsday Device. We don’t get along very well. Though the Doomsday Device is nothing more than a Russian water heater, I will now proceed in horrific detail the facts that have earned this hunk of metal its apocalyptic cognomen.

The Device works in the following way: In that oval crevice lies a spigot that releases natural gas. This spigot then lights a pan of more spigots which heat a water pipe that runs through the Device and to both the kitchen and shower faucets. Now, if by chance the water running through the Device were to stop for any reason while the gas is lit, the heat from the multitude of flames would turn the residual drops of water into steam. This steam would then expand rapidly, causing the water pipe to explode into the device’s metal casing. Obviously, then, this explosion of liquid would snuff out the flame, leaving the spigot to spew nothing but natural gas into the kitchen, then the apartment, then the building. If left in such a state for long enough, the flick of a light switch would cause the entire building to explode. Every apartment in the building runs on this system, though it is clear that the apocalypse has yet to affect this place, since no part of it looks to have exploded during it’s forty years of existence. Thus, you can see why I and the Doomsday Device have an uneasy relationship.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. If you do not get the newsletter, please contact me or someone who might get it to learn more about our Campground Project. There are no Christian Bible camps in the province of Karelia and we have been offered land 30 minutes outside of Petrozavodsk for a very good price. We would like to buy it by spring and we already have about one third of the $25,000 needed. Please consider giving to this project (talk to me or someone at St. Paul’s for more information.)

Thanks and I’ll talk to you again soon

Sincerely,
Peter.