Free Write

I was recently thinking back to time when I lived in Russia while I was doing missionary work. In a city I was living in called Novokuibishevsk I came in contact with a very strange man around Christmas time. He was very amiable person, full of joy and happiness. His character was magnified by a great bushy, round belly, great stature and large bundle of hair he kept under a beanie. Before talking to him I noticed that he always smiled and was always cordial to everyone he met, which was quite uncommon in comparison with his comrades. However, not everyone was glad to see him because also unlike many Russians, he refused to wear clothes in the winter except for a pair of boots, gloves, bicycle shorts and his beanie. He didn’t look especially cold and, to great astonishment, he wasn’t shivering or frostbitten. As I conversed with him, I learned that he had been healed by a priest at the local Russian Orthodox cathedral and was now immune to all disease, sickness or ailment. He also informed me that he walked around in the winter practically naked to be a witness to all that the Russian Orthodox Church had the power to work miracles. He had no interest in hearing about my religion, but was happy to talk to me just the same. He invited me to walk with him for a while, but I figured that it was best not to support another religion while I was trying to support my own, and I had no desire to strip down to my underwear and walk around town, which was his stipulation to the endeavor. After parting ways I saw him around town quite a few times. In the pure white, Russian winter, one couldn’t help but notice the pale, fleshy figure lumbering down the sidewalks. I left that city about a month later and never saw the man again. However, every time it snows I get a little smile on my face and picture an oversized, hairy Russian man wearing nothing but bicycle shorts and boots coming my way.