Off and on over the last couple of years we have done a Newspaper/Newsletter for our young people here in Kremenchuk. I thought that I would start to add some of the articles to this Blog that we have been putting into the Newsletter. We call the Newsletter: "Living For Jesus."
I have not included activities that we do, birthdates, and that type of thing in this blog. If you would like to receive these newsletters in a whole - both in Russian and English as they are translated as we do them every 2 weeks by the fine work of Anya Vaughan. I will be glad to email it to you in that fashion if you want. Right now we are currently on #17 and started again at #14. You will find the articles #14-16 in reverse order in this blog at this time.
May God continue to richly bless you in all that do and say in service to Him!
Love in Christ,
Doug
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Articles from Oct 21 In House Newsletter
Encourage One Another Daily!
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.”
Hebrews 3:13
As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to encourage one another daily. That is the focus of a new program we are starting within our group.
Starting Tuesday October 23, we will have a place set up at the church building for you to write encouragement notes to one another. Please take part in this, you don’t have to write a long letter, just a quick note letting that person know that you are thinking of them.
We are also going to start a program called “Today is My Day.” We will have four encouragement teams. Each team will have different people to encourage each day of the month. They can do this by calling the person or sending a text message or writing them a short note. You can even call and say “I love you” in under two seconds so that you won’t be charged. If you would like to be part of an encouragement team, please let Kelli know by Tuesday the 23rd.
You do not have to be in one of these groups to encourage people. Please look around you and see who isn’t here. Who have you not seen in a while? Give them a call. Let them know that they are loved and that you miss them.
GOODNESS
Before you read this grab your Bible and read Psalm 23
Goodness is an uprightness of soul that abhors evil, it also refers to a clean-cut honesty of motive and conduct. It takes total commitment to God and His word for a Christian to dedicated his/her life to goodness. With the help of the Holy Spirit, this fruit of the spirit will enable us to first recognize the works of the flesh, wherein we walk in the past and empower us to resist the devil (Psalm 1:1-3). Let us watch out for the companies we keep today.
All our transactions must be in honesty and good mind. The Bible says that we should do honest business.
Also, we should let our yes be yes, and no be no, anything short of this is deceit (James 4:17). We must do good always, otherwise it is sinful. All we have to do today, is to practice what we have studied, read, and heard.
Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. …James Vaughan
Prayer for Understanding
Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring the moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love. Matt 5:44
A Rainy Afternoon
One rainy afternoon I was driving along one of the main streets of town, taking those extra precautions necessary when the roads are wet and slick.Suddenly my daughter, Aspen, spoke up from her relaxed position in her seat. "Dad, I'm thinking of something."This announcement usually meant she had been pondering some fact for a while, and was now ready to expound all that her six-year-old mind had discovered. I was eager to hear."What are you thinking?" I asked."The rain!" she began, "is like sin, and the windshield wipers are like God wiping our sins away."After the chill bumps raced up my arms I was able to respond. "That's really good, Aspen."Then my curiosity broke in. How far would this little girl take this revelation? So I asked..."Do you notice how the rain keeps on coming? What does that tell you?"Aspen didn't hesitate one moment with her answer: "We keep on sinning, and God just keeps on forgiving us."I will always remember this whenever I turn my wipers on.
An Eternal Question for 2 reasons:
1. To check your faith and relationship with God.
2. To ask your friends to make them think about eternity.
If you died today, would you go to Heaven?
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.”
Hebrews 3:13
As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to encourage one another daily. That is the focus of a new program we are starting within our group.
Starting Tuesday October 23, we will have a place set up at the church building for you to write encouragement notes to one another. Please take part in this, you don’t have to write a long letter, just a quick note letting that person know that you are thinking of them.
We are also going to start a program called “Today is My Day.” We will have four encouragement teams. Each team will have different people to encourage each day of the month. They can do this by calling the person or sending a text message or writing them a short note. You can even call and say “I love you” in under two seconds so that you won’t be charged. If you would like to be part of an encouragement team, please let Kelli know by Tuesday the 23rd.
You do not have to be in one of these groups to encourage people. Please look around you and see who isn’t here. Who have you not seen in a while? Give them a call. Let them know that they are loved and that you miss them.
GOODNESS
Before you read this grab your Bible and read Psalm 23
Goodness is an uprightness of soul that abhors evil, it also refers to a clean-cut honesty of motive and conduct. It takes total commitment to God and His word for a Christian to dedicated his/her life to goodness. With the help of the Holy Spirit, this fruit of the spirit will enable us to first recognize the works of the flesh, wherein we walk in the past and empower us to resist the devil (Psalm 1:1-3). Let us watch out for the companies we keep today.
All our transactions must be in honesty and good mind. The Bible says that we should do honest business.
Also, we should let our yes be yes, and no be no, anything short of this is deceit (James 4:17). We must do good always, otherwise it is sinful. All we have to do today, is to practice what we have studied, read, and heard.
Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. …James Vaughan
Prayer for Understanding
Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring the moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love. Matt 5:44
A Rainy Afternoon
One rainy afternoon I was driving along one of the main streets of town, taking those extra precautions necessary when the roads are wet and slick.Suddenly my daughter, Aspen, spoke up from her relaxed position in her seat. "Dad, I'm thinking of something."This announcement usually meant she had been pondering some fact for a while, and was now ready to expound all that her six-year-old mind had discovered. I was eager to hear."What are you thinking?" I asked."The rain!" she began, "is like sin, and the windshield wipers are like God wiping our sins away."After the chill bumps raced up my arms I was able to respond. "That's really good, Aspen."Then my curiosity broke in. How far would this little girl take this revelation? So I asked..."Do you notice how the rain keeps on coming? What does that tell you?"Aspen didn't hesitate one moment with her answer: "We keep on sinning, and God just keeps on forgiving us."I will always remember this whenever I turn my wipers on.
An Eternal Question for 2 reasons:
1. To check your faith and relationship with God.
2. To ask your friends to make them think about eternity.
If you died today, would you go to Heaven?
Article from Oct 7 07 In House Newsletter
Prayers For Us, God’s Children
As you read Ephesians 3:14-19, you see the Apostle Paul, inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit, writing a prayer from his heart. He is praying for these bothers and sisters that he dearly loves and whom he wants the very best for. Do you know that this prayer is for us? It is, because through the Holy Spirit, God knew that we would need this prayer in our lives as well!
There are several places in the Bible that prayers are offered for faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus prayed for us in John 17:20-21 - "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Another prayer is in Ephesians 1:15-23 where Paul prays for us to know the wisdom, power and strength that Jesus Christ has waiting for us! In Philemon 6 Paul prayed: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” He prayed for us to be active in sharing our faith so we could understand what good God has for us! John even prayed for health for us in 3 John 2, “I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” God wants us to be in good health, so our souls can be strong to serve Him! Remember these are prayers guided by the Holy Spirit! These are the things that not only these writers wanted for us, but what God wants for us!
Let us end these prayers with the end of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3: 20,21. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” God wants us to know how much He is ready to work in your lives – if we let Him! Have faith, trust in God to fulfill the promises that He has for our lives and praise Him for His greatness!
...Dougchik
As you read Ephesians 3:14-19, you see the Apostle Paul, inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit, writing a prayer from his heart. He is praying for these bothers and sisters that he dearly loves and whom he wants the very best for. Do you know that this prayer is for us? It is, because through the Holy Spirit, God knew that we would need this prayer in our lives as well!
There are several places in the Bible that prayers are offered for faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus prayed for us in John 17:20-21 - "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Another prayer is in Ephesians 1:15-23 where Paul prays for us to know the wisdom, power and strength that Jesus Christ has waiting for us! In Philemon 6 Paul prayed: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” He prayed for us to be active in sharing our faith so we could understand what good God has for us! John even prayed for health for us in 3 John 2, “I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” God wants us to be in good health, so our souls can be strong to serve Him! Remember these are prayers guided by the Holy Spirit! These are the things that not only these writers wanted for us, but what God wants for us!
Let us end these prayers with the end of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3: 20,21. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” God wants us to know how much He is ready to work in your lives – if we let Him! Have faith, trust in God to fulfill the promises that He has for our lives and praise Him for His greatness!
From the Kremenchuk In House Newsletter for Sept 20 07
Welcome Back To Our Newsletter!
“Living For Jesus” is back by popular demand! Many have said, “Why don’t we have a Newsletter any more?” So we have decided to bring it back.
I have a better question for you. What is going to make “Living for Jesus Newsletter” work?
You need to take it and read it!
You can give it to friends to interest them in what we are doing.
You can write poems and articles for the newsletter. (I happen to know that several of you are very good poets!)
You can give questions to be answered in the Newsletter.
You can encourage those that write for the paper and give them your ideas.
You can donate pictures to be used in the paper.
We want this paper to inform you, encourage you and train you in living the life that God has called us to live.
What Do You Want To Become?
If you are still in school, you may be thinking about what University you want to attend and what area of study you will take. If you are studying in a University, you may be thinking that you will need to get another degree than the one you now have. If you have graduated and are working, you may be thinking, “Is this really what I want to do?”
If you choose to make the decision to become a child of God, the other decisions in life take on a different perspective. You learn to look at life through the eyes of Jesus – the famous saying, “What would Jesus Do?” Remember that Jesus would stay close to God every day. Jesus would think of others before He thinks of Himself. He would serve others always. He would love people even when they don’t deserve it. He would always be ready to forgive them, no matter how many times they hurt him.
So, what will you become in Jesus? …Dougchik
“Living For Jesus” is back by popular demand! Many have said, “Why don’t we have a Newsletter any more?” So we have decided to bring it back.
I have a better question for you. What is going to make “Living for Jesus Newsletter” work?
You need to take it and read it!
You can give it to friends to interest them in what we are doing.
You can write poems and articles for the newsletter. (I happen to know that several of you are very good poets!)
You can give questions to be answered in the Newsletter.
You can encourage those that write for the paper and give them your ideas.
You can donate pictures to be used in the paper.
We want this paper to inform you, encourage you and train you in living the life that God has called us to live.
What Do You Want To Become?
If you are still in school, you may be thinking about what University you want to attend and what area of study you will take. If you are studying in a University, you may be thinking that you will need to get another degree than the one you now have. If you have graduated and are working, you may be thinking, “Is this really what I want to do?”
If you choose to make the decision to become a child of God, the other decisions in life take on a different perspective. You learn to look at life through the eyes of Jesus – the famous saying, “What would Jesus Do?” Remember that Jesus would stay close to God every day. Jesus would think of others before He thinks of Himself. He would serve others always. He would love people even when they don’t deserve it. He would always be ready to forgive them, no matter how many times they hurt him.
So, what will you become in Jesus? …Dougchik
Finding Ways to Grow Through Trials
James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
We all face trials many times in our lives. Somone has said we will always either be coming out of trial, in a trial or getting ready to enter a trial! God isn’t interested as much in our happiness as He is in our Holiness! God want us to try all the time to become like Him! He is always there to help us through the trials we are facing in our lives. 2 Peter 2:9 says, “the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.” Remember that this life is a life that prepares us to become like Jesus so that we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven!
For those of us that went to our Black Sea Bible Camp this year, we know that we had some real trials and struggles there. Did you grow from those experiences? Did you trust God through them and become more faithful and stronger in Christ? What good things happened while you were there? What did you learn? What do you need to learn from it? I am going to share some pictures with you from camp. Think about the good times we did have. Think about what we learned at camp through our Bible lessons. Think about how we can become better people, how we can become more Christ like through our 13 days at camp.
…Dougchik
James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
We all face trials many times in our lives. Somone has said we will always either be coming out of trial, in a trial or getting ready to enter a trial! God isn’t interested as much in our happiness as He is in our Holiness! God want us to try all the time to become like Him! He is always there to help us through the trials we are facing in our lives. 2 Peter 2:9 says, “the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.” Remember that this life is a life that prepares us to become like Jesus so that we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven!
For those of us that went to our Black Sea Bible Camp this year, we know that we had some real trials and struggles there. Did you grow from those experiences? Did you trust God through them and become more faithful and stronger in Christ? What good things happened while you were there? What did you learn? What do you need to learn from it? I am going to share some pictures with you from camp. Think about the good times we did have. Think about what we learned at camp through our Bible lessons. Think about how we can become better people, how we can become more Christ like through our 13 days at camp.
…Dougchik
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Journal for Oct.1-15 07
Monday, October 1, 2007
A busy day getting ready for classes and visiting classes. Also we went out to be with the Orphan’s family for a Bible Study, but because the Grandmother is in such poor health, we didn’t study, just talked, had tea and comforted the family. Grandmother has cancer, but it is not yet determined exactly how bad.
Tuesday, October 2 – Ella’s 3rd Birthday (granddaughter) and Alina’s 20th Birthday
I happy for Ella – she is such a darling granddaughter! I miss her so much, but enjoyed my time with her and he family this summer. It is a very sad time for me with Alina, for Alina has not been to services or anything much since camp and I have not seen her since I have been back. She didn’t want to celebrate her birthday with us this year. We started our 6th grade class today with 3 boys at school 11. We were also supposed to start the 7th grade class, because I forgot. You see, I got distracted today when I went outside this morning and found my back window on my car smashed in. Who did it? No way of knowing. After the morning class, I took it to the insurance company and they told me to take it a repair place, pay for it and I would get my money back in a week or so. They pay 100% for any window damages, so that is good. It will be repaired tomorrow. Well, in all that, I forgot the class I set up for the 7th grade. We had 8 for devo tonight. I spoke.
Wednesday, October 3
I got my window repaired in the morning and picked it up after afternoon classes. I traveled by using taxis today! I started my 5th grade class at School 11 with 5 kids. This age is always so much fun! We also tried to start an English Club at School 11 for 8th-11th grades, but 2 girls came and we decided to start next week. We will advertise more. At 6:30pm, we also started a University English Club, invite 3 different Universities in town to come and we had a grand total of 3! We had it and it went okay. We are having to rent a room in one of the Palaces of Culture (community buildings) for $80 a month for 2 hours a week. We don’t have this money in our budget, but Lord willing it will come from somewhere if this succeeds. We will try it for a month and see how it goes. We are doing these English Clubs as a way to get to know more people and let them see that we are okay people. We will then invite them to our Bible Classes in the future as we get to know them better.
Thursday, October 4
My main class today is at the village with 5th-7th graders. We (Oksana my translator for the village work) went out and they were busy with a teacher appreciation day. So a wasted trip. I really like this work out in the village (37 miles away) but it is so frustrating to drive all the way out there and not be able to have the classes that you want to hold. Our Thursday evening Bible Study had 6 in attendance tonight.
Friday, October 5
We were again going to the village for the 8th grade and then 11th grade classes, but they also canceled for other things, this time sending me a text message on my phone saying it wasn’t going to work for us to come. We had fun night with 5 people. Our attendance in the evening weekday classes continues to be way low and frustrating. We are trying to do all we can to encourage the young people to come. More have jobs. More have extra classes at schools and some I just don’t what’s going on – but am trying to find out.
Saturday, October 6
I did my normal Saturday morning marketing, shopping, lesson preparations, etc. for Bible Clubs. We had 5 in attendance today for Univ. Bible Club – for this class, that’s pretty good right now. Then we started the Church Discussions at the Church building at 4 with maybe a dozen and that went well and pleasant. Then we had 7 for our Teen Bible Club which also is good.
Sunday, October 7
Good attendance at services today and a good worship too! I was pretty tired and rested most of the afternoon. I spoke in the evening services and we had 12.
Monday, October 8
I am trying to take this day off, but it is nearly impossible for me to take a day off if I stay in Kremenchuk! I had 3 people calling me for assistance with different things during the day and then we again went to be with Orphan family. We come trying to bring love and encouragement to them. They really do appreciate it and we are really coming to love this family and all the kids!
Tuesday, October 9
1 6th grader showed up but we didn’t have class and he promised to come back next week. No 7th graders came, even after our visiting classes and inviting them. I also visited in the morning a lot of 8th -11 grade English classes and invited them to come to our English Club tomorrow. We had 10 at our Devo tonight and we did a split devo. What that means is that we sing together for about ½ hour and then the girls go to a different room. Kelli led the girls discussion this time and Yura had the boys lessons for us. In the evening, Inna, the mother of the Orphan home family and the daughter of the Grandmother that is struggling with her health called and asked if I would drive them to Poltava to the Dr. and Hospital there for her Mother to possibly have cancer surgery tomorrow. I agreed to do this for them.
Wednesday, October 10
Oksana went with me. I left the house at 5:20am, picked up Oksana and then we went out to their home in the village that they live at, fairly close to Kremenchuk. It is a little over an hour to Poltava and we found the hospital about 7:30am. About 11am Inna came out and told us that they had x-rayed the Grandmother after again draining a lot of excess fluid off of her abdomen and found that her cancer wasn’t as bad as they thought but still bad at stage 3 out of stage 5. They think that they can operate. She was admitted to the hospital. I abhor these hospitals. Poorly heated, dimly lit, 8 old beds to a room that have no bedding, pillows and no towels. They are fed one meal a day by the system (supposed free care!!!). They have to bribe the nurses to take care of the ones staying in because they get paid so little. Enough said. We got back in time for my afternoon classes and I had 9 5th graders and my translator didn’t show up! That was a struggle! We played Frisbee outside after reading the lesson together. One boy came to English club this time. We will see about next week – last chance as far as I am concerned. Then in the evening we had some encouragement with 4 new people! That made for a lot better time together! Our club is lasting 2 hours an evening. As you can see my day was long from 5:20am to 9pm.
Thursday, October 11
We went to the village today again and found out – again – that there was other special events going on. We got out to talk to the kids running races outside and the ones that have been in our classes for 2 and 3 years were as cold as ice! What happened???? It hurt both Oksana and I terribly! We will try to find out what is the matter and what is going on here. They have always been so friendly and welcomed us with friendliness and hugs! Again a disappointing Thursday night class with 6 in attendance. A very difficult day.
Friday, October 12
It is always amazing to me how God brings encouragement in the midst of discouragement! We didn’t see the 8th grade kids at the village today, but we had a wonderful study with our 11th grade girls about the plan of salvation! 3 of the 4 girls were there. They continue to be so open with us! We have canceled our Friday night fun night for lack of interest and I am scheduled with activities 7 nights a week. I need at least 1 night a week that I can have for myself.
Saturday, October 13
University Bible Club had 2. Bible Discussion went well with maybe 20 people. Teen Bible Club had 4. A rather discouraging week. We found out that the Grandmother can’t have surgery because she has a bad heart and bad liver. They went into her by removing her woman’s organs and cutting a piece of the cancer and it is very active cancer. She filled up with fluids again and when they drained it there was pieces of cancer floating in it – the cancer is all over her now. Very sad.
Sunday, October 14
4 of us went to Komsomolsk Church of Christ to encourage them. They continue to work hard, but continue to struggle there as the Orthodox church is very strong in that city of 60,000. They did have one new lady that has started to meet with them. There were 10 us for morning services. Then we went home, bought things for sandwiches and made 112 sandwiches for the boy’s prison. Then after eating (5 of us ate together today) we rested for a while. Then I made croissant roll dough for making sweet rolls tomorrow morning and rolls for dinner tomorrow for lunch. My electricity went off about 3:30 today. Then we had bible club for parents and we had 6 in attendance. And we had 15 for evening worship.
Monday, October 15
I got up 6am and fixed breakfast – sweet caramel rolls – for 2 of our girls who said they wanted to come at 7:30am, but they never showed! I spent much of the rest of the morning preparing dinner (lunch) for 4 Americans that are visiting here for America and teaching at the Bible School. We had a good meal and visit together. They left at 2pm. So I had my “8 hour day” in on my day off by 2pm! But it was a good time spent. Then we went to the Orphans’ home again, picking Inna up at the bus station at 5:30pm as she came back from Poltava and caring for her Mom. I got back home tonight about 8pm. It has been a hard and trying month since I have been back. I would greatly appreciate all of your prayers. I know you do pray for me and the work here. I am very thankful for that!
A busy day getting ready for classes and visiting classes. Also we went out to be with the Orphan’s family for a Bible Study, but because the Grandmother is in such poor health, we didn’t study, just talked, had tea and comforted the family. Grandmother has cancer, but it is not yet determined exactly how bad.
Tuesday, October 2 – Ella’s 3rd Birthday (granddaughter) and Alina’s 20th Birthday
I happy for Ella – she is such a darling granddaughter! I miss her so much, but enjoyed my time with her and he family this summer. It is a very sad time for me with Alina, for Alina has not been to services or anything much since camp and I have not seen her since I have been back. She didn’t want to celebrate her birthday with us this year. We started our 6th grade class today with 3 boys at school 11. We were also supposed to start the 7th grade class, because I forgot. You see, I got distracted today when I went outside this morning and found my back window on my car smashed in. Who did it? No way of knowing. After the morning class, I took it to the insurance company and they told me to take it a repair place, pay for it and I would get my money back in a week or so. They pay 100% for any window damages, so that is good. It will be repaired tomorrow. Well, in all that, I forgot the class I set up for the 7th grade. We had 8 for devo tonight. I spoke.
Wednesday, October 3
I got my window repaired in the morning and picked it up after afternoon classes. I traveled by using taxis today! I started my 5th grade class at School 11 with 5 kids. This age is always so much fun! We also tried to start an English Club at School 11 for 8th-11th grades, but 2 girls came and we decided to start next week. We will advertise more. At 6:30pm, we also started a University English Club, invite 3 different Universities in town to come and we had a grand total of 3! We had it and it went okay. We are having to rent a room in one of the Palaces of Culture (community buildings) for $80 a month for 2 hours a week. We don’t have this money in our budget, but Lord willing it will come from somewhere if this succeeds. We will try it for a month and see how it goes. We are doing these English Clubs as a way to get to know more people and let them see that we are okay people. We will then invite them to our Bible Classes in the future as we get to know them better.
Thursday, October 4
My main class today is at the village with 5th-7th graders. We (Oksana my translator for the village work) went out and they were busy with a teacher appreciation day. So a wasted trip. I really like this work out in the village (37 miles away) but it is so frustrating to drive all the way out there and not be able to have the classes that you want to hold. Our Thursday evening Bible Study had 6 in attendance tonight.
Friday, October 5
We were again going to the village for the 8th grade and then 11th grade classes, but they also canceled for other things, this time sending me a text message on my phone saying it wasn’t going to work for us to come. We had fun night with 5 people. Our attendance in the evening weekday classes continues to be way low and frustrating. We are trying to do all we can to encourage the young people to come. More have jobs. More have extra classes at schools and some I just don’t what’s going on – but am trying to find out.
Saturday, October 6
I did my normal Saturday morning marketing, shopping, lesson preparations, etc. for Bible Clubs. We had 5 in attendance today for Univ. Bible Club – for this class, that’s pretty good right now. Then we started the Church Discussions at the Church building at 4 with maybe a dozen and that went well and pleasant. Then we had 7 for our Teen Bible Club which also is good.
Sunday, October 7
Good attendance at services today and a good worship too! I was pretty tired and rested most of the afternoon. I spoke in the evening services and we had 12.
Monday, October 8
I am trying to take this day off, but it is nearly impossible for me to take a day off if I stay in Kremenchuk! I had 3 people calling me for assistance with different things during the day and then we again went to be with Orphan family. We come trying to bring love and encouragement to them. They really do appreciate it and we are really coming to love this family and all the kids!
Tuesday, October 9
1 6th grader showed up but we didn’t have class and he promised to come back next week. No 7th graders came, even after our visiting classes and inviting them. I also visited in the morning a lot of 8th -11 grade English classes and invited them to come to our English Club tomorrow. We had 10 at our Devo tonight and we did a split devo. What that means is that we sing together for about ½ hour and then the girls go to a different room. Kelli led the girls discussion this time and Yura had the boys lessons for us. In the evening, Inna, the mother of the Orphan home family and the daughter of the Grandmother that is struggling with her health called and asked if I would drive them to Poltava to the Dr. and Hospital there for her Mother to possibly have cancer surgery tomorrow. I agreed to do this for them.
Wednesday, October 10
Oksana went with me. I left the house at 5:20am, picked up Oksana and then we went out to their home in the village that they live at, fairly close to Kremenchuk. It is a little over an hour to Poltava and we found the hospital about 7:30am. About 11am Inna came out and told us that they had x-rayed the Grandmother after again draining a lot of excess fluid off of her abdomen and found that her cancer wasn’t as bad as they thought but still bad at stage 3 out of stage 5. They think that they can operate. She was admitted to the hospital. I abhor these hospitals. Poorly heated, dimly lit, 8 old beds to a room that have no bedding, pillows and no towels. They are fed one meal a day by the system (supposed free care!!!). They have to bribe the nurses to take care of the ones staying in because they get paid so little. Enough said. We got back in time for my afternoon classes and I had 9 5th graders and my translator didn’t show up! That was a struggle! We played Frisbee outside after reading the lesson together. One boy came to English club this time. We will see about next week – last chance as far as I am concerned. Then in the evening we had some encouragement with 4 new people! That made for a lot better time together! Our club is lasting 2 hours an evening. As you can see my day was long from 5:20am to 9pm.
Thursday, October 11
We went to the village today again and found out – again – that there was other special events going on. We got out to talk to the kids running races outside and the ones that have been in our classes for 2 and 3 years were as cold as ice! What happened???? It hurt both Oksana and I terribly! We will try to find out what is the matter and what is going on here. They have always been so friendly and welcomed us with friendliness and hugs! Again a disappointing Thursday night class with 6 in attendance. A very difficult day.
Friday, October 12
It is always amazing to me how God brings encouragement in the midst of discouragement! We didn’t see the 8th grade kids at the village today, but we had a wonderful study with our 11th grade girls about the plan of salvation! 3 of the 4 girls were there. They continue to be so open with us! We have canceled our Friday night fun night for lack of interest and I am scheduled with activities 7 nights a week. I need at least 1 night a week that I can have for myself.
Saturday, October 13
University Bible Club had 2. Bible Discussion went well with maybe 20 people. Teen Bible Club had 4. A rather discouraging week. We found out that the Grandmother can’t have surgery because she has a bad heart and bad liver. They went into her by removing her woman’s organs and cutting a piece of the cancer and it is very active cancer. She filled up with fluids again and when they drained it there was pieces of cancer floating in it – the cancer is all over her now. Very sad.
Sunday, October 14
4 of us went to Komsomolsk Church of Christ to encourage them. They continue to work hard, but continue to struggle there as the Orthodox church is very strong in that city of 60,000. They did have one new lady that has started to meet with them. There were 10 us for morning services. Then we went home, bought things for sandwiches and made 112 sandwiches for the boy’s prison. Then after eating (5 of us ate together today) we rested for a while. Then I made croissant roll dough for making sweet rolls tomorrow morning and rolls for dinner tomorrow for lunch. My electricity went off about 3:30 today. Then we had bible club for parents and we had 6 in attendance. And we had 15 for evening worship.
Monday, October 15
I got up 6am and fixed breakfast – sweet caramel rolls – for 2 of our girls who said they wanted to come at 7:30am, but they never showed! I spent much of the rest of the morning preparing dinner (lunch) for 4 Americans that are visiting here for America and teaching at the Bible School. We had a good meal and visit together. They left at 2pm. So I had my “8 hour day” in on my day off by 2pm! But it was a good time spent. Then we went to the Orphans’ home again, picking Inna up at the bus station at 5:30pm as she came back from Poltava and caring for her Mom. I got back home tonight about 8pm. It has been a hard and trying month since I have been back. I would greatly appreciate all of your prayers. I know you do pray for me and the work here. I am very thankful for that!
Monday, October 1, 2007
I'm Back! Sorry I've been gone so long!
Here is my catching up on my Journal! I am having some problems again with my blog. It's all in Ukrainian langauge and I know very little of Ukrainian and not very good in Russian! So be patient with me please!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
For the first time in many a year, I have been become very lax as far as my journal is concerned. It is my goal and desires to become regular at this again, for my own record of my life and for those of you who read this. The end of June was really the last time I wrote in my Journal, but now I want to catch up in a general way and then be much more specific from here on out. So we are going to go back in time!
June 28-July 11 – Black Sea Bible Camp
First from my Sept. 17th Newsletter:
Camp was a real struggle and trial this year. A week before camp began, I sprained my ankle very badly (it is much better now, but not yet completely well). At first, the Drs. even thought it was broken and put me in a cast. That was on a Friday and on Monday, we had the x-rays taken to another Dr. and they confirmed it was only a bad sprain, but they wanted me to keep the cast on to immobilize it. Drs. and friends in the states said I should take it off so I could ice it, etc. So we cut it off on Tuesday. I went to camp without crutches on Friday evening.
We took 43 people to camp with us this summer to a “brand new camp.” Well it was brand new and not completely finished and a very dirty place. We got a real bargain on the price – 600 Grievnas or $120 per person for 13 days. The other cheapest place we could have gone was closer to 1000 Grievnas for the same period of time. Another reason that the place was so cheep was because the food was so little and so poor! Everyone lost weight – I guess that is good! Also, the owner/cook of the camp was very much opposed to our Christian teachings and never failed to take the chance to put us and our faith down whenever she could. We had several confrontations with her that were very difficult, to say the least. We were told that we would have a lot of room to play games with our kids. There were some empty fields near by, but they were all filled with thistles and thorns! Then 2 of our oldest campers, one boy and one girl caused us all kind of problems in not following the rules.
So what good came from camp? Really, many things! We had some great Bible lessons and devotionals! We grew together because of the trials and difficulties. We learned that we could depend on others when we had hard times. We very much enjoyed the Black Sea this year. The weather was hot and the sea was a great temperature. We had no baptisms this year at camp, but we have 2 girls that are much more seriously considering this for their lives. God is good! We will learn and grow from this camp! One thing we learned for sure, is that we definitely will not do camp with those same people again!
Second from my Newsletter of September 20th that I write to my young people here in Kremenchuk:
James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
We all face trials many times in our lives. Someone has said we will always either be coming out of trial, in a trial or getting ready to enter a trial! God isn’t interested as much in our happiness as He is in our Holiness! God want us to try all the time to become like Him! He is always there to help us through the trials we are facing in our lives. 2 Peter 2:9 says, “The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.” Remember that this life is a life that prepares us to become like Jesus so that we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven!
For those of us that went to our Black Sea Bible Camp this year, we know that we had some real trials and struggles there. Did you grow from those experiences? Did you trust God through them and become more faithful and stronger in Christ? What good things happened while you were there? What did you learn? What do you need to learn from it? I am going to share some pictures with you from camp. Think about the good times we did have. Think about what we learned at camp through our Bible lessons. Think about how we can become better people, how we can become more Christ like through our 13 days at camp.
PRESENT TIME: Hopefully these writing will help to give a good perspective on what camp was like this summer.
July 21-August 4
These 2 weeks I spent with my daughter Janessa, her husband BJ and my grandson Gavin in Grand Island, NE. Janessa worked about 6 hours a day and BJ worked long hours. I got to take of Gavin (2 yrs. 4months) some. We went to some movies, swimming together, to a company picnic in Omaha, NE and finally on the Friday before I left, Janessa, Gavin and I went to the Omaha zoo. Omaha was the city I flew out of the next day.
August 4-11
I spent this time in Arkansas with some friends. We went to a lake for a couple of days, spent a couple of days in Branson, MO, and saw some great shows.
August 11-25
I spent this time with my oldest daughter Jenise, her husband Jon and I met my newest grandson, Malachi (5 months) in San Angelo, TX. Jenise is working on her internship as commercial artists and so I took care of Malachi each weekday for 2 to 3 hours! I was a bit worried about it, as I hadn’t taken care of baby by myself for a long time! But all worked out great – with just a little stress! Jenise and went down to San Antonio, TX for a couple of days, visited my sister Margaret in Kerrville, TX. While in San Antonio, we had a good time at some good restaurants and on Saturday, we spent time on the beautiful river walk and visited the Alamo.
August 25-Sept 7
I traveled to Puyallup, WA to spend the rest of my time in the states with my oldest son Butch, his wife Erin, and my two oldest grand daughters, Hannah (5) and Ella (almost 3). My son Butch is a Chiropractor and worked most of the time. Erin is home with the girls and we did a lot of fun things together, shopped together and just had a good time. Part of the time when Butch was free, we went Salmon fishing and I caught 9 about 5 pounds each. This was a lot of fun! Also we to Seattle one day on the fairy (sp?), and went one afternoon to the mountains which was absolutely beautiful! I hadn’t been in the big mountains for a long time and it was great!
Through all of this travel, I had such a wonderful time with my family! I enjoyed all the things that we did, but mostly, I thoroughly enjoyed just being with my family! It was such a blessing from God and I am so very thankful for it!!!
September 7-9
My return to Kremenchuk took 3 days; because of the flights across the country to NY City, then to Paris for a 10 hour lay over. Finally on Sunday the 9th at about 5pm, I returned to Kremenchuk and my spiritual family here. It is good to be back home!
September 10-23
This has been a time of catching up on many things. I have been working at getting all our classes and activities started up again at schools, Universities and of course our regular activities. Our Tuesday night devotional and our Thursday Bible study were kept on going by James and a couple of Ukrainian guys, Artem and Yura. These 2 young men have grown a great deal and are taking on a real leadership roll that is really needed here and I am very proud of them! We are in the process of starting something new this fall that we are calling “English Club.” It will be strictly an English practice time for University and school age students. We are using this as a way to get to know more people and let them know us. I believe that when people really come to know and be friends with us, we will have a greater opportunity to teach them the gospel. Please be praying for the success of this new effort. We are teaching in 5 schools again this fall and will be working with 3 orphanages again. There is always the challenge of lining up translators. We now have many good translators, it is just being able to line up there schedules with mine/ours! That’s kind of my life in a nutshell up to this point in time.
Wednesday, September 26
The main event of the day was going to the village and visiting classes and setting up classes to start next week. All of our classes at the village this fall will be on Thursdays and Fridays. There is a new big class of 5th graders this year, so that should be fun!
Thursday, September 27
I am putting the finishing touches on English Clubs for 2 schools: 1 and 11 and then for the University level, which we are trying to cover at least 3 intuitions of higher learning. They all start next Wed. Our Bible Study night had just 6 people at it tonight. We are studying Hebrews and it is a good study, but where are the people? I know that as our kids are getting older they are very busy. Our 11th form kids (3) are all taking Univ. prep classes besides their School classes that are night classes that keeps them busy every night during the week and others are working now. So please pray for our growth and success and for us to keep our spirits up with our weekly numbers are down.
Friday, September 28
We made extra trips to School 11 today to finalize everything with the Director and to visit classes to invite kids to next week classes beginning. Then at 2:10, Oksana and I went to the village to study with our 4 11th grade girls there and it went so well! They are so open and excited about the Gospel and we are so thankful to be studying with them. They got out earlier than they thought they would and waited for us for about 40 minutes! At 6 we had a party planned to encourage our young people to invite friends to come so we could get to know them better, but they didn’t come – well we had 10 and had a good time, but no visitors.
Saturday, September 29
We had our 2nd week of Bible Clubs this day. In the morning I did my normal Sat. with Bible Clubs coming up of cleaning, shopping, studying in the morning. Then we had 5 at our Univ. Bible Club and 5 at our Teen Club at 6. Next week, the Church will start church discussion time at 4pm. I get real frustrated with them some times because they asked me what time I wanted us to have it at and I said 3 or 3:30 and they said fine and then set the time at 4! Go figure!
Sunday, September 30
We had a good worship service this morning, with more people there than the last couple of weeks. Then we made sandwiches at my house with 6 of us doing that. Afterwards I made hot tuna sandwiches for us for our lunch! Everyone loves those and I hadn’t made them in a long time. This past week, the city has closed the only bridge across the river (about 1/3 or more of the city lives on the other side of the river) until Dec. 31st. Several of young people live on the other side and it is a major difficulty. One of our young women that I hadn’t had time to be with since I came back was Zhenya. It was a beautiful day, 70, no wind, clear and trees turning, so I offered to drive Zhenya home through another city. Well, it was 92 kilometers (about 50 miles) round trip, but it was a very beautiful trip and gave us time to catch up on things. It was great to spend some time with her too! At 6 we had 12 at our evening services. We have been having about 20, but this was a low number for us. I got home about 8, ate, tried to watch a movie on TV, but was soon asleep. I finally got up and went to bed about 10:30!
For the first time in many a year, I have been become very lax as far as my journal is concerned. It is my goal and desires to become regular at this again, for my own record of my life and for those of you who read this. The end of June was really the last time I wrote in my Journal, but now I want to catch up in a general way and then be much more specific from here on out. So we are going to go back in time!
June 28-July 11 – Black Sea Bible Camp
First from my Sept. 17th Newsletter:
Camp was a real struggle and trial this year. A week before camp began, I sprained my ankle very badly (it is much better now, but not yet completely well). At first, the Drs. even thought it was broken and put me in a cast. That was on a Friday and on Monday, we had the x-rays taken to another Dr. and they confirmed it was only a bad sprain, but they wanted me to keep the cast on to immobilize it. Drs. and friends in the states said I should take it off so I could ice it, etc. So we cut it off on Tuesday. I went to camp without crutches on Friday evening.
We took 43 people to camp with us this summer to a “brand new camp.” Well it was brand new and not completely finished and a very dirty place. We got a real bargain on the price – 600 Grievnas or $120 per person for 13 days. The other cheapest place we could have gone was closer to 1000 Grievnas for the same period of time. Another reason that the place was so cheep was because the food was so little and so poor! Everyone lost weight – I guess that is good! Also, the owner/cook of the camp was very much opposed to our Christian teachings and never failed to take the chance to put us and our faith down whenever she could. We had several confrontations with her that were very difficult, to say the least. We were told that we would have a lot of room to play games with our kids. There were some empty fields near by, but they were all filled with thistles and thorns! Then 2 of our oldest campers, one boy and one girl caused us all kind of problems in not following the rules.
So what good came from camp? Really, many things! We had some great Bible lessons and devotionals! We grew together because of the trials and difficulties. We learned that we could depend on others when we had hard times. We very much enjoyed the Black Sea this year. The weather was hot and the sea was a great temperature. We had no baptisms this year at camp, but we have 2 girls that are much more seriously considering this for their lives. God is good! We will learn and grow from this camp! One thing we learned for sure, is that we definitely will not do camp with those same people again!
Second from my Newsletter of September 20th that I write to my young people here in Kremenchuk:
James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
We all face trials many times in our lives. Someone has said we will always either be coming out of trial, in a trial or getting ready to enter a trial! God isn’t interested as much in our happiness as He is in our Holiness! God want us to try all the time to become like Him! He is always there to help us through the trials we are facing in our lives. 2 Peter 2:9 says, “The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.” Remember that this life is a life that prepares us to become like Jesus so that we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven!
For those of us that went to our Black Sea Bible Camp this year, we know that we had some real trials and struggles there. Did you grow from those experiences? Did you trust God through them and become more faithful and stronger in Christ? What good things happened while you were there? What did you learn? What do you need to learn from it? I am going to share some pictures with you from camp. Think about the good times we did have. Think about what we learned at camp through our Bible lessons. Think about how we can become better people, how we can become more Christ like through our 13 days at camp.
PRESENT TIME: Hopefully these writing will help to give a good perspective on what camp was like this summer.
July 21-August 4
These 2 weeks I spent with my daughter Janessa, her husband BJ and my grandson Gavin in Grand Island, NE. Janessa worked about 6 hours a day and BJ worked long hours. I got to take of Gavin (2 yrs. 4months) some. We went to some movies, swimming together, to a company picnic in Omaha, NE and finally on the Friday before I left, Janessa, Gavin and I went to the Omaha zoo. Omaha was the city I flew out of the next day.
August 4-11
I spent this time in Arkansas with some friends. We went to a lake for a couple of days, spent a couple of days in Branson, MO, and saw some great shows.
August 11-25
I spent this time with my oldest daughter Jenise, her husband Jon and I met my newest grandson, Malachi (5 months) in San Angelo, TX. Jenise is working on her internship as commercial artists and so I took care of Malachi each weekday for 2 to 3 hours! I was a bit worried about it, as I hadn’t taken care of baby by myself for a long time! But all worked out great – with just a little stress! Jenise and went down to San Antonio, TX for a couple of days, visited my sister Margaret in Kerrville, TX. While in San Antonio, we had a good time at some good restaurants and on Saturday, we spent time on the beautiful river walk and visited the Alamo.
August 25-Sept 7
I traveled to Puyallup, WA to spend the rest of my time in the states with my oldest son Butch, his wife Erin, and my two oldest grand daughters, Hannah (5) and Ella (almost 3). My son Butch is a Chiropractor and worked most of the time. Erin is home with the girls and we did a lot of fun things together, shopped together and just had a good time. Part of the time when Butch was free, we went Salmon fishing and I caught 9 about 5 pounds each. This was a lot of fun! Also we to Seattle one day on the fairy (sp?), and went one afternoon to the mountains which was absolutely beautiful! I hadn’t been in the big mountains for a long time and it was great!
Through all of this travel, I had such a wonderful time with my family! I enjoyed all the things that we did, but mostly, I thoroughly enjoyed just being with my family! It was such a blessing from God and I am so very thankful for it!!!
September 7-9
My return to Kremenchuk took 3 days; because of the flights across the country to NY City, then to Paris for a 10 hour lay over. Finally on Sunday the 9th at about 5pm, I returned to Kremenchuk and my spiritual family here. It is good to be back home!
September 10-23
This has been a time of catching up on many things. I have been working at getting all our classes and activities started up again at schools, Universities and of course our regular activities. Our Tuesday night devotional and our Thursday Bible study were kept on going by James and a couple of Ukrainian guys, Artem and Yura. These 2 young men have grown a great deal and are taking on a real leadership roll that is really needed here and I am very proud of them! We are in the process of starting something new this fall that we are calling “English Club.” It will be strictly an English practice time for University and school age students. We are using this as a way to get to know more people and let them know us. I believe that when people really come to know and be friends with us, we will have a greater opportunity to teach them the gospel. Please be praying for the success of this new effort. We are teaching in 5 schools again this fall and will be working with 3 orphanages again. There is always the challenge of lining up translators. We now have many good translators, it is just being able to line up there schedules with mine/ours! That’s kind of my life in a nutshell up to this point in time.
Wednesday, September 26
The main event of the day was going to the village and visiting classes and setting up classes to start next week. All of our classes at the village this fall will be on Thursdays and Fridays. There is a new big class of 5th graders this year, so that should be fun!
Thursday, September 27
I am putting the finishing touches on English Clubs for 2 schools: 1 and 11 and then for the University level, which we are trying to cover at least 3 intuitions of higher learning. They all start next Wed. Our Bible Study night had just 6 people at it tonight. We are studying Hebrews and it is a good study, but where are the people? I know that as our kids are getting older they are very busy. Our 11th form kids (3) are all taking Univ. prep classes besides their School classes that are night classes that keeps them busy every night during the week and others are working now. So please pray for our growth and success and for us to keep our spirits up with our weekly numbers are down.
Friday, September 28
We made extra trips to School 11 today to finalize everything with the Director and to visit classes to invite kids to next week classes beginning. Then at 2:10, Oksana and I went to the village to study with our 4 11th grade girls there and it went so well! They are so open and excited about the Gospel and we are so thankful to be studying with them. They got out earlier than they thought they would and waited for us for about 40 minutes! At 6 we had a party planned to encourage our young people to invite friends to come so we could get to know them better, but they didn’t come – well we had 10 and had a good time, but no visitors.
Saturday, September 29
We had our 2nd week of Bible Clubs this day. In the morning I did my normal Sat. with Bible Clubs coming up of cleaning, shopping, studying in the morning. Then we had 5 at our Univ. Bible Club and 5 at our Teen Club at 6. Next week, the Church will start church discussion time at 4pm. I get real frustrated with them some times because they asked me what time I wanted us to have it at and I said 3 or 3:30 and they said fine and then set the time at 4! Go figure!
Sunday, September 30
We had a good worship service this morning, with more people there than the last couple of weeks. Then we made sandwiches at my house with 6 of us doing that. Afterwards I made hot tuna sandwiches for us for our lunch! Everyone loves those and I hadn’t made them in a long time. This past week, the city has closed the only bridge across the river (about 1/3 or more of the city lives on the other side of the river) until Dec. 31st. Several of young people live on the other side and it is a major difficulty. One of our young women that I hadn’t had time to be with since I came back was Zhenya. It was a beautiful day, 70, no wind, clear and trees turning, so I offered to drive Zhenya home through another city. Well, it was 92 kilometers (about 50 miles) round trip, but it was a very beautiful trip and gave us time to catch up on things. It was great to spend some time with her too! At 6 we had 12 at our evening services. We have been having about 20, but this was a low number for us. I got home about 8, ate, tried to watch a movie on TV, but was soon asleep. I finally got up and went to bed about 10:30!
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