One afternoon…

I was able to grab lunch with a teammate. 

Sarah and I were headed to the Indian restaurant in Bishkek. We had a great first experience with Indian cuisine in Georgia, why not try again. (Georgia is where I had Indian food for the first time.)

We show up and they had a business lunch buffet set out. We looked at each other and looked at what they had to offer. We decided that because we didn’t know how long everything had been sitting out, we would go elsewhere for lunch. 

We headed back out of the shop and decided on lagman for the second time that week. Being my favorite dish in Kyrgyzstan, I was happy to have it again. 

Lagman is a national dish of Kyrgyzstan. Just one of many dishes. This one is handmade noodles from scratch with a sauce, peppers, onions, garlic, and meat. I usually got beef. It is savory and delicious. 

We also chose that, because our teammate Aaron was supposed to be there, but when we arrived, he was no where to be found. 

All is well, we ordered our food, and it came out in 5 minutes. We sat down, talked about life, our week, the future, and so on. 

Randomly this older woman walked by and mutters something to us in Russian. She put her shopping bag in the extra chair that was at our table. She went inside the shop, grabbed her food, came out and sat down with us. 

Sarah and I looked at each other and said “Well okay Lord”. 

This older woman continues to talk in Russian to us. She opened up her box of lagman and started to eat with us. 

I tried to tell her that we do not speak Russian or Kyrgyz but she continued to ask us questions. Patiently waiting for our answers, Sarah said “Wait… I know what she asked”. 

Sarah translated from Russian to English for me through the Holy Spirit and used the translator app to talk to her!

A full conversation through the Holy Spirit about why we were in Kyrgyzstan, why she was in the city, where we are from, where have we been, to her family, and eventually her statement that she knew God. 

I showed her pictures on my phone from the yurt camp we stayed at and she pulled out her phone to show us her family and the vacation they took. It was amazing. She named every person in every picture. Sarah and I sat there coo-ing over her family. 

We finished our meal together and she endlessly thanked us for letting her sit down with us to eat. We got up together from the table and walked across the street. In the Russian gibberish she told us to go on ahead of her. So we broke off and headed to the store we were going to. 

As we were going in the door we looked back and waved our final goodbyes. She smiled and waved back. 

https://sarahmounts.theworldrace.org/post/i-dont-speak-russian

To hear Sarah’s side of the story click