We have received commitments from 2 families for $50 each ($100) for our camp needs for this summer. 2 others have told me that they are going to talk to their local congregations about our needs. This is very much appreciated!
Let me remind all who read this that our needs are at least $500 for our VBS Day Camp at the beginning of June for 2 weeks and at least $2,500 for our 2 week Bible Camp in July.
We have 2 of our young Christians here that have told me that they are each going to donate more than $100 towards camp this year ABOVE what their cost of camp will be, so we can be sure and have camp!!! That is over ½ of the money they will make for an entire month!
Will you please help, too? Thank you!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Journal for May 7-15
Wednesday, May 7 and Thursday, May 8
I am lumping these two days together because they were “lumpy” kind of days! I really struggled with being productive these 2 days. Oh, I prepared for English Club and we had 4 – what is going on with that??? And it is Ukrainian holiday time and nothing much is going on. There is plenty that I could do and need to do. I have always felt that I was a pretty good self-motivator, but these days – wow – not so much. On Thursday evening at 5 I went to our Frisbee playing area and 9 of us had a good time for about 2 hours or so, but I was pretty worn down – no energy. I know that I am struggling with life like endings here and waiting for new beginnings – caught in the middle of time. The known trials of saying good byes here and the future unknown of where I will be and what work I will be doing. I constantly have to tell myself to stop worrying and turn it all over to the Lord. I could not carry the burden of life if it was not for Him!!!
Friday, May 9
Today is Victory Day – the day “The Great Patriotic War” came to and end in Europe or what we know as WWII. I expected a parade today, so I went outside with my camera and waited in the park, but nothing came. It was a bit cool, but a pleasant morning to wait in the park! So later I went shopping and then went home. I am still not much in a study mood, but am doing much better today. We met at 6 to play Frisbee again, but only 6 came – probably because of the holiday. So, I invited everyone home with me about 7 and I fixed hot tuna sandwiches and made peanut butter cookies, we played cards and had a great time together!!!
I am lumping these two days together because they were “lumpy” kind of days! I really struggled with being productive these 2 days. Oh, I prepared for English Club and we had 4 – what is going on with that??? And it is Ukrainian holiday time and nothing much is going on. There is plenty that I could do and need to do. I have always felt that I was a pretty good self-motivator, but these days – wow – not so much. On Thursday evening at 5 I went to our Frisbee playing area and 9 of us had a good time for about 2 hours or so, but I was pretty worn down – no energy. I know that I am struggling with life like endings here and waiting for new beginnings – caught in the middle of time. The known trials of saying good byes here and the future unknown of where I will be and what work I will be doing. I constantly have to tell myself to stop worrying and turn it all over to the Lord. I could not carry the burden of life if it was not for Him!!!
Friday, May 9
Today is Victory Day – the day “The Great Patriotic War” came to and end in Europe or what we know as WWII. I expected a parade today, so I went outside with my camera and waited in the park, but nothing came. It was a bit cool, but a pleasant morning to wait in the park! So later I went shopping and then went home. I am still not much in a study mood, but am doing much better today. We met at 6 to play Frisbee again, but only 6 came – probably because of the holiday. So, I invited everyone home with me about 7 and I fixed hot tuna sandwiches and made peanut butter cookies, we played cards and had a great time together!!!
Saturday, May 10
Bible Clubs were pretty much a flop today. In the morning I was working on lessons and computer started acting really weird! I couldn’t do anything buy highlight text! Finally I opened the internet and tried to write an email and it all of sudden started working ok! Well, we had 1 for Adult Bible Club and 3 for the Teen one. End of the school year is a big reason for this as everyone is SO busy!
Sunday, May 11
As we sat down for services this morning and had our first prayer and couple of songs, Andrey announced that I was preaching. I had said last Sunday that I would like to preach again next Sunday and finish my text of 2 Cor 5, but it was translated as I was going to preach! It was a very good thing that when I was preparing last weeks Sermon, that I work on the whole chapter – so I got up and preached somewhat impromptu and all said that it went really well! After services we had our monthly fellowship meal with more people than ever before! Then Sasha girl and I spent the afternoon together – with Yura (guy) joining us later on. It was a really good time with Sasha and I. At 5pm we had our Parent Beginners Bible Club with 6 students (Sasha 9th grade translated) – we have had 3 baptisms out of this Bible Club. At 6pm we had our worship with 17 present and I preached and we had a good service. Some stayed around afterwards for tea and cookies and we went home about 8:30.
Monday, May 12
I had too much on my mind to have a day off today. I worked on my charts – I have decided to use them as our main study for our July Bible Camp. I did more study – again on Woman’s Role in the Church. I made granola cereal around other things. Sergie needed help so I spent a couple of hours helping him. I ate at McDonalds! I haven’t done that in quite a while! Sometimes a day just flies by and this was one of them. I picked up Olya at 5:45pm and we went to the Orphan family for our Bible study and that went very well! Olya and I afterwards picked up Yulya and I treated them to McDonalds and they bought happy meals and just delighted in them!!! We went to my house at 8:30 and joked, ate and played cards until 10:30pm and I took them home. I ended up in bed finally about 11:30 – but a really good day!
Tuesday, May 13
This morning I spent some time in emails, spent more time personal study. After cleaning up, I worked on my devo for tonight from 1 John 2:15-17 – do not love the world. Now I am again catching up on my journal. I had a busy afternoon, part of what was working on camp things. Our numbers were small for Tuesday night with 9 people present.
Wednesday, May 14
Again, I spent a lot of time on camp. I also spent time on lesson preparations. Then at 2, Yulya and I went to Bugkivka, our village 37 miles away and studied with 2 of our 11th grade girls and 1 8th grade girls. 2 of our 8th grade girls want to go to camp with us for sure, and MAYBE the 11th grade girls too, if they can finish their entrance exams into their desired universities. It is looking like we will have between 30 and 40 to go to the Bible Camp at the sea with us again this year. This is such an important time in the lives of these young people because it gives them Spiritual encouragement and hope to carry on and brings many to Christ for the first time! Our English Club had 7 tonight – a little better than last week.
Thursday, May 15
I did some shopping for food, etc. this morning – yup I have to do that for some reason! I spent a couple of hours getting ready for our studies at the Orphanage in Svetlovodsk, about 18 miles away. I had to fill up with gas today – translated into American money the cost is $4.71 a gallon now. It is almost 3 times more than what it was when I first came here! Sasha Revaykin went with me, for he will take over the leadership of teaching these classes after I leave. 3 of our young Christian sisters that are working here, also want to continue to work here. Look at my Blog site for this journal and pictures!
Bible Clubs were pretty much a flop today. In the morning I was working on lessons and computer started acting really weird! I couldn’t do anything buy highlight text! Finally I opened the internet and tried to write an email and it all of sudden started working ok! Well, we had 1 for Adult Bible Club and 3 for the Teen one. End of the school year is a big reason for this as everyone is SO busy!
Sunday, May 11
As we sat down for services this morning and had our first prayer and couple of songs, Andrey announced that I was preaching. I had said last Sunday that I would like to preach again next Sunday and finish my text of 2 Cor 5, but it was translated as I was going to preach! It was a very good thing that when I was preparing last weeks Sermon, that I work on the whole chapter – so I got up and preached somewhat impromptu and all said that it went really well! After services we had our monthly fellowship meal with more people than ever before! Then Sasha girl and I spent the afternoon together – with Yura (guy) joining us later on. It was a really good time with Sasha and I. At 5pm we had our Parent Beginners Bible Club with 6 students (Sasha 9th grade translated) – we have had 3 baptisms out of this Bible Club. At 6pm we had our worship with 17 present and I preached and we had a good service. Some stayed around afterwards for tea and cookies and we went home about 8:30.
Monday, May 12
I had too much on my mind to have a day off today. I worked on my charts – I have decided to use them as our main study for our July Bible Camp. I did more study – again on Woman’s Role in the Church. I made granola cereal around other things. Sergie needed help so I spent a couple of hours helping him. I ate at McDonalds! I haven’t done that in quite a while! Sometimes a day just flies by and this was one of them. I picked up Olya at 5:45pm and we went to the Orphan family for our Bible study and that went very well! Olya and I afterwards picked up Yulya and I treated them to McDonalds and they bought happy meals and just delighted in them!!! We went to my house at 8:30 and joked, ate and played cards until 10:30pm and I took them home. I ended up in bed finally about 11:30 – but a really good day!
Tuesday, May 13
This morning I spent some time in emails, spent more time personal study. After cleaning up, I worked on my devo for tonight from 1 John 2:15-17 – do not love the world. Now I am again catching up on my journal. I had a busy afternoon, part of what was working on camp things. Our numbers were small for Tuesday night with 9 people present.
Wednesday, May 14
Again, I spent a lot of time on camp. I also spent time on lesson preparations. Then at 2, Yulya and I went to Bugkivka, our village 37 miles away and studied with 2 of our 11th grade girls and 1 8th grade girls. 2 of our 8th grade girls want to go to camp with us for sure, and MAYBE the 11th grade girls too, if they can finish their entrance exams into their desired universities. It is looking like we will have between 30 and 40 to go to the Bible Camp at the sea with us again this year. This is such an important time in the lives of these young people because it gives them Spiritual encouragement and hope to carry on and brings many to Christ for the first time! Our English Club had 7 tonight – a little better than last week.
Thursday, May 15
I did some shopping for food, etc. this morning – yup I have to do that for some reason! I spent a couple of hours getting ready for our studies at the Orphanage in Svetlovodsk, about 18 miles away. I had to fill up with gas today – translated into American money the cost is $4.71 a gallon now. It is almost 3 times more than what it was when I first came here! Sasha Revaykin went with me, for he will take over the leadership of teaching these classes after I leave. 3 of our young Christian sisters that are working here, also want to continue to work here. Look at my Blog site for this journal and pictures!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Journal May 1-6 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
I went shopping this morning for chicken! I bought 36 drumsticks for our cookout and picnic. I dug out my grill, charcoal and lighter fluid (even though it is not called that here.) People started coming around 10am and 9 of us gathered for our Holiday picnic – many are out of town. We started hunting for more charcoal and ended up going all the way across town to get some more. Then a little after 11 we went out to the river side in a park area and had a good time. There are no picnic tables, so we spread a large blanket on the ground, blew up a couple of air mattress. The guys gathered wood for another fire besides my grill and the girls prepared salads. We had enough chicken for 2 meals so we ate about 12:30 and then again about 5. In between we played Frisbee, prayed together, played cards together, went for walks and had a really lovely afternoon. We headed for home around 6.
Friday, May 2
I have been working on my sermon for Sunday all week. It will come from 2 Cor. 5:1-10. In the evening at 6, nine of us gathered to play Frisbee and we had a really nice time together. I got home about 8:30 pretty exhausted!
Saturday, May 3
I prepared 3 new Bible Club lessons. The Adult Bible Club had 1 person, so we just talked. The Teen Bible Club had 4, with several absent. But we celebrated Lera’s 12th birthday and that was great! 2 more came after Bible Club and we had 6 for the party – pretty small, but we had a great time. I have known Lera since she was 6! Her and her Mom, Nadya, will both go to camp with us. Lera has been nearly every year. I asked Nadya what Lera wanted for her birthday and her Mom said a skateboard! A very rare thing for a girl in Ukraine to want that! But she said that she had been asking for it for a year, so I got her a skate board and pads for her knees, arms and wrists. She was so excited!!! She literally jumped up and down for joy! All went home around 9.
Sunday, May 4
A day of great blessing! Ksusha’s Mom, Nadya (different one from the above mentioned) has been coming to most things for most of the last year. Kelli studied with her, Ksusha has and lately I have too. This morning as we approached the church building, Nadya told me she wanted to be baptized! Oh, what great joy! We have to basically fill the baptistery – a very large bathtub – by hand – at least the hot water part. So, I came, with Sasha girl’s help at 4pm and began to fill it up. At 5 we had our Parent’s Bible Club (we had 5, with 2 non-Christians in attendance) – this is our 3rd baptism from this class as Nadya was one of our first Parents to attend this class. Though some were skeptical of my original plan to reach parents through our youth, several parents have become Christians over the years through their children. At about 6:15pm I baptized Nadya into Christ! This is our 40th baptism of our work since we have been in Ukraine. We had 22 for our worship service tonight and it was very rewarding service. I preached for both services today and one of the ladies from the morning worship told me that was the best sermon she had heard in 10 years! I think people react like this when a sermon really touches their hearts, so I am thankful that I could have blessed her life in this way. At about 8:20pm, I had about a 45 minute talk with the elders and deacons from the Ottawa Church of Christ, in Ottawa, IL. It was a nice conversation! It was a really great day!
Monday, May 5
About 9am I left home to gas up my car and take Ksusha to Poltava (120 Kilometers away) for her 3 weeks of University study. She does this study as a kind of extension study. She always finds these 2 to 3 weeks very hard as she gets very lonely being away from home. After taking her, we ate lunch together and I came home, getting back around 2:30pm. Then at 5:30 we went to our Bible study with the Orphan’s family and that went very well. We left about 8:30 and I got home around 9. So a 9 to 9 day with a little break in between!
Tuesday, May 6
Ben, my son, called me this morning at 6:10 my time (I was up at 5:20) on Skype. We talked about several things and it was great visiting with him! He told me that one congregation that I applied to in CO that he is familiar with, was very interested in my working with them. The retiring preacher, Bob Lewis, was the preacher at York, NE Easthill Church of Christ when I was a student at York. I always loved him and looked up to him so much! So Ben called to tell me that and encourage me! It worked! At 10am, Zhenya girl (really young woman of 23) called and asked for my help, so I took her on a couple of errands and then took her to work. From their I went to a big super market, shopped and got home around noon. Then I caught up on my journal and fixed lunch and now it is 1:13pm!
I went shopping this morning for chicken! I bought 36 drumsticks for our cookout and picnic. I dug out my grill, charcoal and lighter fluid (even though it is not called that here.) People started coming around 10am and 9 of us gathered for our Holiday picnic – many are out of town. We started hunting for more charcoal and ended up going all the way across town to get some more. Then a little after 11 we went out to the river side in a park area and had a good time. There are no picnic tables, so we spread a large blanket on the ground, blew up a couple of air mattress. The guys gathered wood for another fire besides my grill and the girls prepared salads. We had enough chicken for 2 meals so we ate about 12:30 and then again about 5. In between we played Frisbee, prayed together, played cards together, went for walks and had a really lovely afternoon. We headed for home around 6.
Friday, May 2
I have been working on my sermon for Sunday all week. It will come from 2 Cor. 5:1-10. In the evening at 6, nine of us gathered to play Frisbee and we had a really nice time together. I got home about 8:30 pretty exhausted!
Saturday, May 3
I prepared 3 new Bible Club lessons. The Adult Bible Club had 1 person, so we just talked. The Teen Bible Club had 4, with several absent. But we celebrated Lera’s 12th birthday and that was great! 2 more came after Bible Club and we had 6 for the party – pretty small, but we had a great time. I have known Lera since she was 6! Her and her Mom, Nadya, will both go to camp with us. Lera has been nearly every year. I asked Nadya what Lera wanted for her birthday and her Mom said a skateboard! A very rare thing for a girl in Ukraine to want that! But she said that she had been asking for it for a year, so I got her a skate board and pads for her knees, arms and wrists. She was so excited!!! She literally jumped up and down for joy! All went home around 9.
Sunday, May 4
A day of great blessing! Ksusha’s Mom, Nadya (different one from the above mentioned) has been coming to most things for most of the last year. Kelli studied with her, Ksusha has and lately I have too. This morning as we approached the church building, Nadya told me she wanted to be baptized! Oh, what great joy! We have to basically fill the baptistery – a very large bathtub – by hand – at least the hot water part. So, I came, with Sasha girl’s help at 4pm and began to fill it up. At 5 we had our Parent’s Bible Club (we had 5, with 2 non-Christians in attendance) – this is our 3rd baptism from this class as Nadya was one of our first Parents to attend this class. Though some were skeptical of my original plan to reach parents through our youth, several parents have become Christians over the years through their children. At about 6:15pm I baptized Nadya into Christ! This is our 40th baptism of our work since we have been in Ukraine. We had 22 for our worship service tonight and it was very rewarding service. I preached for both services today and one of the ladies from the morning worship told me that was the best sermon she had heard in 10 years! I think people react like this when a sermon really touches their hearts, so I am thankful that I could have blessed her life in this way. At about 8:20pm, I had about a 45 minute talk with the elders and deacons from the Ottawa Church of Christ, in Ottawa, IL. It was a nice conversation! It was a really great day!
Monday, May 5
About 9am I left home to gas up my car and take Ksusha to Poltava (120 Kilometers away) for her 3 weeks of University study. She does this study as a kind of extension study. She always finds these 2 to 3 weeks very hard as she gets very lonely being away from home. After taking her, we ate lunch together and I came home, getting back around 2:30pm. Then at 5:30 we went to our Bible study with the Orphan’s family and that went very well. We left about 8:30 and I got home around 9. So a 9 to 9 day with a little break in between!
Tuesday, May 6
Ben, my son, called me this morning at 6:10 my time (I was up at 5:20) on Skype. We talked about several things and it was great visiting with him! He told me that one congregation that I applied to in CO that he is familiar with, was very interested in my working with them. The retiring preacher, Bob Lewis, was the preacher at York, NE Easthill Church of Christ when I was a student at York. I always loved him and looked up to him so much! So Ben called to tell me that and encourage me! It worked! At 10am, Zhenya girl (really young woman of 23) called and asked for my help, so I took her on a couple of errands and then took her to work. From their I went to a big super market, shopped and got home around noon. Then I caught up on my journal and fixed lunch and now it is 1:13pm!
Journal for April 16-30, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Normal work day in the morning. In the afternoon, Ksusha and I went to the village and had a real good study with our 4 11th grade girls there. Because of exams and future Univ. plans, they don’t know if they will be able to come to camp with us this summer. I really want them to come! We had 10 for our English Club tonight and that was fun and went well finishing about 7:30.
Thursday, April 17
Our big extra thing to do is to go to the town of Svetlovodsk to the Orphanage. We had probably 50 kids in the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes. We did a puppet show for them, then classes with lessons and crafts and games. It was a beautiful day and we stopped and took pictures on a hillside. I love spring! Did I say that before?!? We got back in around 5. Artem asked me to take him for a driver’s lesson and I did for about an hour then he took me out to eat and I got home around 8:30pm. Nice day.
Friday, April 18
Today was the last day for some of our American friends and teachers at the Bible College to be here, so they invited me to come to a party for their classes and that was fun. Then I went to my house and got Frisbees and water and walked to our playing field. We had 15 tonight, but I didn’t play so the teams were even. My low back has been bothering me and more today, so I didn’t play. Ksusha brought 6 of her non-Christian friends and that went well and they had a blast! We finished up around 8.
Saturday, April 19
Bible Clubs went well – we had 5 in each. At the Church discussion there was no translator, but a couple of young people that knew a little English and with my little Russian we did ok – but rather frustrating!
Sunday, April 20
We cleaned the church building after services and then we went to my house and made sandwiches for the prison. We have roughly made 30,800 sandwiches for the boys over the last 5 ½ + years! I believe that it has been a very worthy work and I thank all those who have given money for this work! A husband and wife Dr. team that I had seen maybe a couple years ago for a rash, called me and wanted to meet with me. They are wanting to immigrate to the US and wanted my help with English and learning more about America. We had about an hour visit and he will come to my English Club meetings. In the evening worship service we had 3 adult visitors and some good discussion afterwards about Church and worship and prayer. However one lady got very obnoxious and that kind of spoiled it all.
Monday, April 21
I had about 2/3 of a day off and so that was good. At 5, Olya and I went shopping for Elona’s birthday In the evening we went to the twins home (orphan family) and studied some OT characters and talked a lot about faith and how we have to act on our faith for it to really be worth anything! We also celebrated the oldest orphan’s girl birthday (Elona) who turned 8 and that was a lot of fun, too! After taking everyone home, I got home around 9. On a sad note, my cat had at least 7 seizures today and they are getting worse.
Tuesday, April 22
I spent quite a bit of time on the internet today with contacts for future churches, but definitely nothing fixed or really close as of yet. I also studied about being ready for the second coming and accepting the fact that we have to watch and be ready at all times. My cat had one more seizure today and I thought he was going to die with that one, but he pulled through. We had 12 for our devo tonight and the lesson went well.
Wednesday, April 23
Natasha was my translator today for the village and we had 3 girls and a good study – I decided to study with them on the 2nd coming too and the study went well. We had 4 for English Club tonight – rainy day all day that may have kept people away – who knows!
Thursday, April 24
Artem wasn’t working today, so he went with Natasha, Olya and Yulya and I to the Orphanage in Svetlovodsk. It is about 15 to 20 miles away. It is a town of about 60,000 and he had never been there before. We did puppets and classes again, but not so many students today. Sunday is Easter here and then Ukraine has 3 holidays in early May, so we won’t be back here for 3 weeks! No schools next week at all! I haven’t felt good all day – felt really stressed – for unknown reasons – really! – and a headache, so I just went home and crashed afterwards and went to bed early!
Friday, April 25
We had a birthday celebration for Sasha guy (hey, how am I going to keep them separate?! I can’t pronounce many of the last names – sorry to say!) who just turned 20. Our celebration started at 5 and we had a great evening together.
Saturday, April 26
Today is the day before Ukrainian or Orthodox Easter or as they call it, Paska (Same word as Passover.) There are no Bible Clubs today because most are busy with family on this 2nd biggest holiday of the year (New Year’s is 1st). 9 of us did gather to play Frisbee and I played without hurting my back! God has really answered my prayers about my back!
Sunday, April 27 – Ukrainian Easter
Good attendance today – of course! Just Kidding! Peter preached about Easter and some thought it was good and some thought he attacked the traditions too much. Me, I got most of the ideas through a translator. Several ate together and spent the afternoon together. I preached in the evening and we had 9.
Monday, April 28
Spent more time this morning in Internet communications and study. We had 15 over to my house at 6:30 – people started coming at 5. By request from my kids – my young people – I cooked chili and chocolate chip cookies! Good combination, huh? Also, I made home made biscuits and we had 15 people for dinner and a movie. Igor, a brother from Kiev, brought a Christian movie in English and we watched it with English subtitles and most got it just fine. It was a really good movie about anything is possible with God and that we should not fear. Both lessons that we all needed! Then people hung around until 10:30. This is really a holiday week for most with no school or University because it is between Easter and May 1st, another big holiday here. No schools, no orphanages and just free time.
Tuesday, April 29 – Happy Birthday to my oldest son, Butch!
We said good by to Bill, an American who has been here with us (not a member of the church) for about 3 years. He is going to the states until Sept. We had 16 for our devo tonight. It was raining so I took a carload home and got home around 11pm.
Wednesday, April 30
Not much going on above the normal today except English Club and we had 8.
Normal work day in the morning. In the afternoon, Ksusha and I went to the village and had a real good study with our 4 11th grade girls there. Because of exams and future Univ. plans, they don’t know if they will be able to come to camp with us this summer. I really want them to come! We had 10 for our English Club tonight and that was fun and went well finishing about 7:30.
Thursday, April 17
Our big extra thing to do is to go to the town of Svetlovodsk to the Orphanage. We had probably 50 kids in the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes. We did a puppet show for them, then classes with lessons and crafts and games. It was a beautiful day and we stopped and took pictures on a hillside. I love spring! Did I say that before?!? We got back in around 5. Artem asked me to take him for a driver’s lesson and I did for about an hour then he took me out to eat and I got home around 8:30pm. Nice day.
Friday, April 18
Today was the last day for some of our American friends and teachers at the Bible College to be here, so they invited me to come to a party for their classes and that was fun. Then I went to my house and got Frisbees and water and walked to our playing field. We had 15 tonight, but I didn’t play so the teams were even. My low back has been bothering me and more today, so I didn’t play. Ksusha brought 6 of her non-Christian friends and that went well and they had a blast! We finished up around 8.
Saturday, April 19
Bible Clubs went well – we had 5 in each. At the Church discussion there was no translator, but a couple of young people that knew a little English and with my little Russian we did ok – but rather frustrating!
Sunday, April 20
We cleaned the church building after services and then we went to my house and made sandwiches for the prison. We have roughly made 30,800 sandwiches for the boys over the last 5 ½ + years! I believe that it has been a very worthy work and I thank all those who have given money for this work! A husband and wife Dr. team that I had seen maybe a couple years ago for a rash, called me and wanted to meet with me. They are wanting to immigrate to the US and wanted my help with English and learning more about America. We had about an hour visit and he will come to my English Club meetings. In the evening worship service we had 3 adult visitors and some good discussion afterwards about Church and worship and prayer. However one lady got very obnoxious and that kind of spoiled it all.
Monday, April 21
I had about 2/3 of a day off and so that was good. At 5, Olya and I went shopping for Elona’s birthday In the evening we went to the twins home (orphan family) and studied some OT characters and talked a lot about faith and how we have to act on our faith for it to really be worth anything! We also celebrated the oldest orphan’s girl birthday (Elona) who turned 8 and that was a lot of fun, too! After taking everyone home, I got home around 9. On a sad note, my cat had at least 7 seizures today and they are getting worse.
Tuesday, April 22
I spent quite a bit of time on the internet today with contacts for future churches, but definitely nothing fixed or really close as of yet. I also studied about being ready for the second coming and accepting the fact that we have to watch and be ready at all times. My cat had one more seizure today and I thought he was going to die with that one, but he pulled through. We had 12 for our devo tonight and the lesson went well.
Wednesday, April 23
Natasha was my translator today for the village and we had 3 girls and a good study – I decided to study with them on the 2nd coming too and the study went well. We had 4 for English Club tonight – rainy day all day that may have kept people away – who knows!
Thursday, April 24
Artem wasn’t working today, so he went with Natasha, Olya and Yulya and I to the Orphanage in Svetlovodsk. It is about 15 to 20 miles away. It is a town of about 60,000 and he had never been there before. We did puppets and classes again, but not so many students today. Sunday is Easter here and then Ukraine has 3 holidays in early May, so we won’t be back here for 3 weeks! No schools next week at all! I haven’t felt good all day – felt really stressed – for unknown reasons – really! – and a headache, so I just went home and crashed afterwards and went to bed early!
Friday, April 25
We had a birthday celebration for Sasha guy (hey, how am I going to keep them separate?! I can’t pronounce many of the last names – sorry to say!) who just turned 20. Our celebration started at 5 and we had a great evening together.
Saturday, April 26
Today is the day before Ukrainian or Orthodox Easter or as they call it, Paska (Same word as Passover.) There are no Bible Clubs today because most are busy with family on this 2nd biggest holiday of the year (New Year’s is 1st). 9 of us did gather to play Frisbee and I played without hurting my back! God has really answered my prayers about my back!
Sunday, April 27 – Ukrainian Easter
Good attendance today – of course! Just Kidding! Peter preached about Easter and some thought it was good and some thought he attacked the traditions too much. Me, I got most of the ideas through a translator. Several ate together and spent the afternoon together. I preached in the evening and we had 9.
Monday, April 28
Spent more time this morning in Internet communications and study. We had 15 over to my house at 6:30 – people started coming at 5. By request from my kids – my young people – I cooked chili and chocolate chip cookies! Good combination, huh? Also, I made home made biscuits and we had 15 people for dinner and a movie. Igor, a brother from Kiev, brought a Christian movie in English and we watched it with English subtitles and most got it just fine. It was a really good movie about anything is possible with God and that we should not fear. Both lessons that we all needed! Then people hung around until 10:30. This is really a holiday week for most with no school or University because it is between Easter and May 1st, another big holiday here. No schools, no orphanages and just free time.
Tuesday, April 29 – Happy Birthday to my oldest son, Butch!
We said good by to Bill, an American who has been here with us (not a member of the church) for about 3 years. He is going to the states until Sept. We had 16 for our devo tonight. It was raining so I took a carload home and got home around 11pm.
Wednesday, April 30
Not much going on above the normal today except English Club and we had 8.
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