Our heads are hurting!

Our Russian lessons have really amped up. After two hours of intense concentration, being asked to read and respond to questions in Russian, we feel as if our heads will explode. And then home and time to study for tomorrow’s lesson. Bill also is continuing to study for one of his last seminary courses so he is quite overloaded. He has yet to decide whether to learn Ukrainian or Russian when we start at the official language school in January. He has surveyed many people that we have met as to which language they feel would be more useful. At times their political leanings influence their answers. Those who have great loyalty to Ukraine and especially those with roots in western Ukraine feel that it is essential for him to learn Ukrainian and that the people here and especially in western Ukraine (should we end up there) will be more appreciative of his knowledge of that language. Some who are either Russian born or miss the old communist system are adamant that Russian is the best choice. As for me, we have decided that it will be best to continue to learn Russian so we may end up as a trilingual family.

Much of our shopping is done at an outdoor market which is a combination farmer’s market/swap meet. You can buy clothes, books, plumbing, furniture, meat, and all sorts of fresh fruit and vegetables. In the last couple of weeks we have developed a relationship with a young Indian man who sells household cleaning supplies. Being from India, his second language is English and he is eager to speak with other English speakers as he does not have a good knowledge of Ukrainian or Russian. His name is Farri and we hope to continue to develop a friendship with him.

This Saturday we are going to a jazz concert at the music conservatory located in Independence Square. We have invited Alla, a friend who is a graduate of the Bible College to go with us. Our church choir director has a husband who is in a group that will be performing (we are working on including a traditional Ukrainian Christmas carol from that group on the blogsite).

Our Wednesday night Bible study this week was on the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise after the news that she would be the mother of the long awaited Messiah (Luke 1:46-56). The wonderful message for us and all who choose to follow the Lord is that He takes the ordinary people who are of no special importance and uses them to accomplish His purposes. That is who we are and we are hoping that God will indeed use us to accomplish His purposes here.

Prayer Requests: Direction for Bill regarding whether to learn Ukrainian or Russian
Continued relationship with Farri

Luke 1:46-47 My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 1:49-52 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name and His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has show strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.

Settling In

Today is the 3 week anniversary of our arrival and two weeks of living in our apartment. It feels as if it is taking forever to get the things we need for the apartment. We finally found acceptable pillows today and hope to find a good mop and a broom tomorrow. Why is this so difficult? Well, it is the same problem that the majority of the Ukrainians have. You can only buy what you can carry home. I do not cease to marvel at the strength and endurance of these people. A friend told us that there are two classes here, the very rich, and the poor. The rich are increasing in numbers, as you see many modern high rise apartments going up, many cars on the street, and shops here with very expensive things. However, the majority of people use mass transit, carry everything home, and can only buy small amounts at a time because of small apartments with little refrigerators and limited cabinet space. Because of these conditions people shop frequently regardless of how cold or wet it is. The streets and metros are full of people even at nine in the evening. The snowstorm that came in early November has turned to glaciers that cover the parking lots and sidewalks adding danger to these daily outings.

Our Russian tutor, who we mentioned before, is an answer to prayer. Tatiana is a very good teacher with a good method for teaching. Russian is an interesting language. It combines all sorts of strange consonants in blends like sdr, stv, dv, etc. Another complicating factor is the large number of syllables in many words. The word for female professor is “prepodavatyelnitsa” which has required a great deal of practice in order to get it right. I still have to say it in slow motion.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration a couple of days early at the home of the Myers. They invited several Americans and we had a great turkey dinner, just like home. We met some great people who have different ministries around the city. It is interesting to hear of all the things that one could be involved in, ministries to different types of hospitals, a church that helps a large number of poor widows, ministries to street kids, orphanages, etc. One gentleman at our dinner is a gifted director who runs a musical conservatory and tours with his orchestra and choir. They just returned from a trip to closed countries in middle Asia and were able to perform Christian classical music including the Messiah to large audiences and explain the meaning and origins of these works.

Prayer Requests: Safety on the sidewalks.
Continued prayers for direction regarding ministry.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

Random Events & Observations

We have been in our apartment for just over a week now and have spent time cleaning, borrowing items, and shopping in order to make it home.

There have been challenges in adjusting to being in a foreign country (as there will continue to be). Examples: 1) We have a small wash machine which takes approximately 3 hours for a cycle. The first time we used it we tripped the switches half a dozen times and then realized that by unplugging the refrigerator and turning off all lights we could successfully make it through a cycle. 2) Our refrigerator is very old and does not have a door on the freezer. We put apples in the refrigerator and the first time we bit into one it was like having an apple popsicle. 3) We do not yet have an internet connection because the people in our building voted not to have internet cable so we walk to the Bible College (only 2-3 minutes away) and use their computers for email when the students are in class. 4) Our building has a security door system so that people have to be rung in after calling up to our apartment. However, a few days ago the huge metal security door was somehow separated from its hinges (the door was propped up at an angle for people to walk under). Thankfully it has been repaired.

However, there are so many good things about being here. We continue to find that the people in our church are very kind and welcoming. We also have an American friend, a young woman named Simone, who is very good at Russian and spent a day teaching us the ropes. She taught us how to make transfers on the metro system (subway type mass transit), which brands to look for in grocery stores, where to buy the best meat, produce, etc., and most importantly, a good restaurant for pan pizza. Bill and I have been on the "Jerry-Subway" diet (kind of). While I have been getting my kitchen organized we have made it a habit to walk 2 miles to McDonalds every night and back. Will it work? We do everything on foot so we should be very healthy very soon.

We had a large snow storm last weekend with over half a foot of snow. It has been fun to see the toddlers in their big snow suits unable to move their arms. It is common to see parents pulling their children along on sleds. Snowmen have cropped up everywhere and when we were downtown there was a major snowball fight going on between school boys in one of the large squares. Unfortunately, the storm has left over 1,000 small villages without power and most still do not have it as of today.

Last Saturday, we spent a wonderful evening with Oksana and her parents, Roman and Nadia. Normal Ukrainian hospitality dictates a meal of several courses and it is polite to eat it all. We did and it was great. They were so generous and sent extra food home with us as well as a gift of a cooking pan. Roman shared many recollections of living under Soviet rule that we were quite interested in. He has worked as a mathematician all of his life and said that at his research institution, it was necessary to get permission from the KGB to Xerox anything at the job. All typewriters were required to be registered with the KGB (dangerous weapons) and they were able to trace all typed documents to the typewriter that produced them. It was illegal to tell political jokes under communism so they made a joke about political jokes which goes like this:

Did you hear that the KGB had a contest for the best political joke?

First prize – 20 years

Second prize – 10 years

Third prize – 5 years

We have started Russian lessons with a very nice tutor named Tatiana. She comes to our home in the evenings. We are eager to learn rapidly as that will be a very important tool for ministry. We met with the church council last night and will be planning an outreach program for teaching English which is scheduled to start in January as the next month is more holiday oriented. At this point we are trying to listen and observe how things are done here. We are praying that the Lord will establish those ministries which will be most effective for us to be a part of over time. In the meantime, we are building friendships with the people of the church.

Happy Thanksgiving to friends and family!

2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

A Place of our Own

Psalm 31:19 Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of Men!

We are here! (Oh yes, and it is snowing) We arrived safely last Wednesday and were met at the airport by the director of the Bible College, Oleg. As he drove us to our temporary home in the village of Rozhevka, we were able to catch up as he was an acquaintance from our first trip. We discussed with him our desire to find an apartment and what we were looking for. Two days later he had found an apartment that was within walking distance of the Bible College, public transportation and shopping. He and many others here were quite amazed as there is a shortage of apartments. Thank you so much to all of you who were praying for this for us. The Lord appears to have us on an accelerated course to get started with our ministry here.

Our apartment is very sunny, furnished, and has two bedrooms, a small living room, and a tiny kitchen. And it has a washing machine which is a big plus! We are on the third floor (perfect for when the elevator decides not to work). We move in this Wednesday and will have to start looking for small appliances, kitchen utensils, etc.

We have been enjoying our stay with the Myers at their place in the country. We took a walk through the village the other day and made the mistake of greeting a couple of neighbors in Russian. They both immediately launched into full conversations. We explained that we didn’t understand so they slowed down and spoke very loudly (still in Russian). Until we learn the language better, we will probably just greet people in English so they do not get the wrong idea.

We attended church yesterday in Kiev. It was a wonderful service and it was good to see friends that we had made a year ago. The people are very friendly and kind and were quite happy to hear that our home in the mountains had come through the fire as they had been praying for that.

Our next tasks will be to find a good language teacher and get settled in our place. We hope to start Russian lessons next week.

Prayer requests: Direction regarding which ministries we would be best suited for and could manage during our time of language learning