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!