While you are praying for the workers in MIR, thank God for their willingness to step out of their comfort zones in order to build relationships with people. These relationships are one way that God uses to spread the Gospel throughout Russia. Here is one example a worker recently shared.
A First-Timer’s Guide to the Banya
I was treated to a real village experience…the Russian banya.
It all started over their celebration of the end of Ramadan. While Grandma (Babushka), her daughter, her 9-year-old granddaughter and I savored the prepared feast at which I was a guest, the horrifying fact that I’ve never bathed in a Russian banya came out. That would be remedied tonight.
At first glance
In case you’ve never been inside a banya yourself, allow me to enlighten you. It is so warm inside, that for the first few seconds you wonder, “Am I about to pass out or something?” Once you’ve realized that you will survive, you look around to see that the banya is a small insulated wooden building with a narrow entry area and a small door leads to a large steam room that looks similar to a sauna.
The undressing
Babushka began taking off all her clothes pointing to where I could hang mine. I’d heard about getting naked in the banya, but being an American, I was unaccustomed, as I most Americans are, to stripping off my clothes in front of a stranger, unless he/she is a doctor. Fortunately for me, Babushka was a doctor, and assured me that I need not feel shy.
The birch leaves
Entering the steam room, Babushka directed me to a low bench and seated herself on a large raised table across from me. She started off by tossing water on the coals to produce more steam and doused herself with warm water. (The banya floor is wooden, so all the water drains through the cracks.) Once wet, she began to beat herself with birch branches. Then it was my turn. It’s harder than it looks to whack yourself on the back, front, sides and extremities at awkward angles with a two-foot-long bundle of branches weighed down by warm water! If your babushka is a kindly sort of lady like mine, she may say, “That’s not bad for the first time!” and then help beat you properly.
Scraping, soaping and scrubbing
After that, we scratched our whole bodies with our fingernails, scraping dead skin from our legs, arms, chest, neck, face, etc. Good, old-fashioned exfoliation! The next step was to rinse, then lather up a woven plastic scrub with soap, scrub everywhere and rinse again.
If you should happen to scrape, soap or scrub yourself unenthusiastically, as I did, your babushka will again assist you! Once I got over thinking, “I’m not going to have any skin left!” I actually began to enjoy the invigorating scouring my back was receiving. She kept saying, “It’s like a massage, it’s like a massage!”
The cold slosh
Whew! It’ll take your breath away. Babushka took a pot of cold water and slung the contents at me from across the room several times. Once my system got over the initial shock of the swift temperature change, my brain decided that it’s rather a pleasant sensation overall, even though I did gasp when each cold potful made contact!
Finally, we put on our robes, tromped back to the house, and ate and drank more hot tea, for the desired benefit of causing us to sweat more.
Finishing up
I certainly don’t know all the ins and outs of banya-ing yet, but I did learn one more important tip from the 9-year-old. After I’d gotten dressed in the restroom, she said, “You could have peed in the banya!” Hmm. I’ll know that for next time.
Three weeks later I visited Babushka again, and she let me go to the banya alone. Her daughter called to me once through the window to ask if I was alright, but when I was finished everyone was calmly waiting for me inside the house! I think I’m “in.”
