Chatting with Artists

     Today was full of fun events.  In the morning, we headed over to the Pentecostal Union for the dress rehearsal for Christmas in Egypt.  Jessie and I are part of the set crew for the children's Christmas play at the International Church.  It was complete chaos at points, but the play is delightful.  During one song, we were singing a Christmas carol, and I definitely had tears in the eyes.  I am so grateful that Christ was born!!  After three hours of kids, costumes, and singing, we headed over to one of our favorite places to eat, Robert's Coffee.  It is one of the restaurants in Chisinau where you can get amazing salad, which I often crave here.  It was nice to have quality time with Jessie as well.  Our goal for after Robert's was to visit the art market and do some serious Christmas shopping.

     The art market is one of those places where you could simply walk through and buy stuff with minimal interruptions, or you can look at stuff and get to know the sellers and the artist.  Even though we were focused, we went with the ladder.  One of the artist named Victor (he is in his 60's) is a musician.  As soon as we came to his stand, he remembered us and we each received a kiss on the cheek :) He then told us about how he was doing and gave us two apples and free hats and scarves.  Yeah, he thought the scarf would look nice on me so I had to keep it (really sweet). He also played all his instruments for us! Another stand owner asked if I spoke Spanish and when I said, yes, a little, he started telling us all about the art he was selling and how he learned Spanish.  Evidently he had lived in Cuba for several years.  I never got why he lived there but maybe next time.  Near the end of the market, we stopped by one of my favorite artist's stands whose son was selling his art.  One of the pictures was interesting and I asked what it meant.  In Russian he explained it to us.  I caught some of it and Jessie was able to tell me more, but the story behind the picture is still missing pieces.  We ended the conversation with him telling me that his father is doing well, and he was thankful that we asked.  Everyday the artists are outside selling their goods, whether it is sunny or snowing.  I admire this because it was freezing today.  I was so grateful to be able to get to know the people we met today.  I am praying that I will be able to continue to get to know those who run and work in the art market.

     We ended our day at Jack's (a team member's son) 4th birthday party at a Pizza place with 20 kids and lots of pizza. He had a blast.  By the end of today, I was feeling extremely blessed.