That First Sunday Morning...

.....when the temperatures drop well below what you would hope for, for the very first time this season. 

You know winter is coming, but, you just celebrated fall with the missionary kids in the area. 

Friends back home are just now heading to the corn mazes and choosing pumpkins for their traditional pumpkin carving family night.

Plants are still blooming, back home.

Teens are dressing up for homecoming night in fancy dresses with open toed shoes, back home.

Thanksgiving is more than a month away! No one dreams of a white Thanksgiving!

Even for us, when that first cold morning of negative temperatures below -10 arrives, we never feel ready! 

It is even more difficult of a transition when the coldest morning yet, -17 Celsius, happens on a Sunday.

It means...

those gloves and hat just haven't made it out of the storage box they have been hidden away in,

the lack of winter boots in your wardrobe becomes a reality,

the lack of snow tires on your car becomes a reality,

you start to make a mental list of the winter clothing items that you now REALLY need to hurry up and purchase for the family,

you are reminded once again that the numerous outside summer projects either just became more important or will simply have to wait for warmer weather, including the floor of your garage which your husband has been working on all summer, that is not completely ready for the car to be parked inside.

On a day like today, that means the car needs extra attention this morning just to get it to start.

Sometimes all the preparations for that a cold Sunday in Siberia are a bit overwhelming,

 maybe even discouraging,

but then you drive down a road sparkling with newly fallen snow and you see it,

A little bundled up person waving and smiling from ear to ear as they hear or see your car approaching their house.

 They are excited that you are there to pick them up and take them to Sunday school.

You greet them with a smile as they step into the warm car which you thank the Lord started today. 

The cute little bundles of joy, even on such a cold day, warm your heart by offering to sing a song for you, since you are their Sunday school teacher.

There is no audio with this clip but you at least can see them bouncing around and showing their missing teeth!

 The cold morning that took a lot of effort is already another memory of life as a missionary in the middle of Siberia.

(Pics of the REALLY cold mornings coming soon!)