By: Brandon Dirks
Well, after flight delays and missing our connection in Amsterdam, we finally made it to our hotel at 2 am local time night before last. We had an amazing experience yesterday – we were invited to meet with a men’s small group! More on that soon. In the meantime, here are some photos from my first hours in Russia…
Landing in St. Petersburg at midnight! It looks like sunset. These days are Wthite Nights, longest days of the year. The sun never completely sets.
Outside the Hermitage Museum, aka the Winter Palace. It’s HUGE!
Rafael, “Madonna and Child.” He painted this masterpiece when he was only 20! It is about the size of a side salad plate. How did he do it?!
We met Pastor Andre. This is the outside of his house church.
The name of the church on their one and only bulttein board reads, “Saint Petersburg United Methodist Church – Bethany”
The view from Andrea’s pulpit…the balcony is his apartment!
Andre’s Sanctuary
Andre’a Men’s Covenant Group: Elijah, Vitaly, Andrea, Brandon (me), Mark Danzy + Anton taking the picture
Pastor Andrea and I had to communicate mainly by speaking into Google Translate and showing each other the result. It worked slowly, but worked!
The World Cup crowd!
World Cup fans on the street!
Holy Discontent 