Borsch and Sidney Poitier

On Sunday, two of our young friends, Oksana and Lyena, came over for Borsch and a movie. They gave a lesson in how to cook Borsch, the traditional Ukrainian beet soup. It is actually a very nutritious and delicious soup and almost daily fare for Ukrainians. After supper, the girls chose a movie from our borrowed collection of DVDs. We enjoyed watching Sidney Poitier in the old movie, “Lilies of the Field.” For those of you who don’t remember the movie, Sidney’s car breaks down in the desert near a convent of recently arrived German nuns. At dinner, they talk him into teaching them some English. Sidney waves his arms around, stands up and says “We all stand up!” and then follows it with more gestures and “We all sit down!” It was a good evening.

Our English classes started this week. We had advertised that we would have native English speakers, and as a result recruited Bill to teach the beginner’s class. He graciously agreed despite having no training or experience. Oksana who has a great deal of practice constructed the lesson and gave it to Bill. However, they realized at the start of class that no one had made printouts and Bill was left alone in the class with no game plan while Oksana left to print the lesson. Ah – but fortunately for Bill he had just seen “Lilies of the Field” and did his best Sidney Poitier impersonation. As Oksana returned to class she heard “We raise one hand, we put one hand down.” God’s sense of humor and timing are great!

Thank you all for praying. We had a good turnout of 20 students and expect even more next week and the Bible study following the English classes was full to overflowing.

Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.