Final photos from Kristina Brendel on Karl Marx Street in Minsk, Belarus...

An update to all who have supported or expressed an interest in our New Thing teaching ministry in the former Soviet Union, or in our local Scottsdale Compass house church, which has adopted a children's shelter in Zhodino, Belarus...

 

Views of another world...

As I write these words, Kristina is winging her way westward from Belarus. She sent a final round of "sightseeing" photos that I thought you might enjoy. I'm including her own explanations of the photos, with only minor editing, since she is in the air and unable to proofread and approve of any wordsmithing I might normally do :-) —Doug Brendel

 

"Ghost Library." The fog was thick this morning. The odd shaped building in the background is the National Library of Belarus. It has become something of an icon of the country in the year since it was completed. Our friend Liudmila ("The Great Kozovaya"), director of the "Otklik" organization and a former ranking member of the communist regime, had never been inside before. She and co-worker Lydia Danielevna wanted to take me someplace I hadn't been, so we took the tour! At right: the entrance.

 

Anyone who has visited Minsk is familiar with the giant mosaics that decorate the sides of apartment buildings as you drive into the city. Snow and freezing fog have decorated the trees. At right: famous quotations from various sources in many languages. There's a quote from Proverbs in Hebrew.

 

Snowy sidewalk - just a pretty view

 

Lydia Danielevna (left) and The Great Kozovaya in the atrium of the library waiting for our tour to begin Out front is a statue of Franska Skorini, the first to translate the Scriptures into Russian.

 

They do have computers where you can look up books, but the card catalogs (maybe 30 banks like this one) are still here. There are approximately 8 million "documents": books, periodicals, academic dissertations, etc. in the library. (Absolutely everyone has a card.) This building is the country's (which is to say the President's) showplace, and it is the most modern I've seen in this country.

 

There's a fascinating museum of antique books inside the library.

 

This Torah was hand copied.

 

Later I was able to cruise the streets alone and shoot for fun (although I narrowly avoided an anti-dictator demonstration in the main square). The parks in Minsk are full of statuary. These two sleeping figures seems to be cuddling under the fresh blanket of snow.

 

 

I rather imagine this was a place for kids to come meet with Grandfather Frost (the Russian culture's version of Santa Claus).

 

I'm often amused at how "naked" remodeling projects are. This door was just demolished and left open, debris and all. snow blowing in on the workers.

 

Don't quite know what to make of this sign... Beware of snow?!

 

No, there aren't ghosts in the subways; that's steam rising off the steps. High humidity combined with temps right at freezing. Kinda cool effect.

 

Home soon. Thanks for making the journey with us!

Much love,

Kristina Brendel

 

To support Doug's New Thing teaching ministry in the former Soviet Union online — http://www.NewThing.net - click on the donate button (the first $750 given each month goes directly to Belarus)

To support The Compass and its compassionate Belarus outreach online — http://www.CompassDVDs.com — click on the donate button (half of everything given up to $750 a month goes directly to Belarus)

To send a check by snail mail — make it out either to Compass or New Thing, and snail mail it to Kristina Brendel's attention at 15261 North 92nd Place, Scottsdale, AZ 85260

To be deleted from the New Thing distribution list, http://www.NewThing.net and choose "Contact" and type "unsubscribe"

To be deleted from the local Scottsdale Compass distribution list, choose "reply" and type "unsubscribe"

 

Thanks again!