Librarian's bellydance?!

At a souvenir market in Moscow.

A couple of weeks ago I was in the school's library and Olga, the librarian, came up to me and asked me if I would teach her 6 year old daughter, Masha, English. On Saturday, me and my friend Melissa went over to Olga's friend's flat. It was a little modest home - very small and crowded up on a few floors of an apartment building, but that is all they needed and are happy with it.

Masha and Maxism eating dinner

We met her friend named Yulia and she had a son named Maxsim. They were the cutest little kids! They wouldn't stop smiling or staring at us. Olga said, "They are so curious. They have never seen foreigners before,". I did a little lesson with them and it was FUN! They are better than some of the kids I teach at the school, hah! Afterwards, we all had dinner together. There were 9 of us in the little kitchen, but it couldn't have felt more comfortable. The food was so good and filling! We had traditional Russian food: noodles, chicken, pig, tomatoes with cottage cheese, stuffed eggs, and for dessert some apple pie with a milky-hot drink. Mmm...   After dinner, Olga asked me, "Would you like to do some belly dancing with us?" - WHAT? My librarian BELLYDANCES??! YEAH! Olga and Yulia were legit at it too! They were teaching us proper techniques and wrapped bells around our waists. The kids were going crazy and having fun...Maxism even took his clothes off except for his underwear. Olga told me he was being an "American Indian", hahahaha &Yulia was even multi-tasking: breastfeeding and bellydancing! Now that's how its done! Hahaha.

After church on Sunday, there was a brother there sitting in a chair waiting. I went over to him and found out he was from Nigeria and his name was Collins. I  asked him, "Collins, could you give me some good advice about life in general?" and he said, "Dear sister, everyone you meet, make sure to treat them with kindness," - well said, Collins, well said. He then asked me for some advice as well and this is for Collins, but also for all of you out there, "Collins, make sure that you take everyday of your life and LOVE IT! Embrace every opportunity, every person, every lesson, every thing...even down to the food you eat and sidewalk you walk on. Be happy!" - we both continued talking and I was so blessed to hear from this young man. As we were saying our goodbyes, what he said made me smile, "Oh Nusly, you have no idea how much you made my day," - and he said it over and over again. My friends, if the Spirit prompts you to go to talk to someone, don't shrug the thought away. Do it. You never know what new friend you'll make. You'll never know how much you'll touch them. You never know how you could have possibly made someone feel...significant and special. You never know how much they'll touch you. You never know what you will learn. I encourage you all to go out and make a new friend - or maybe you'll even realize that as you talk to someone, it was a friend who was just waiting for you to finally meet up with again in this life.