Nastya's Birthday
Natasha's Birthday
A few of us at the last day of our VBS Day Camp
Victor's Baptism!
Inna's Baptism!Monday, June 16, 2008
My life is going through more changes as our VBS Day Camp is now history and life slows down again – or so I thought. Just different is all. I have 5 main objectives in the next four weeks: 1) Prepare for the Black Sea Camp, 2) Spend as much time with people as I possibly can, 3) Have some evening Bible Studies leading up to camp, 4) Finish helping our Orphan family come to Christ and 5) Get everything packed out, given away, and ready to be out of this apartment and shipped back to the states! The first 2 of these objectives are right now paramount in my mind, but the others are just as demanding and have to be met as well! We didn’t go to the Orphan family tonight because they were busy and the parents gone.
Tuesday, June 17
We celebrated Ksusha’s birthday after devo tonight where we had 15. We had a good evening together.
Wednesday, June 18
I am having all kinds of banking problems in that my wired money that was supposed to arrive the first week in June still has not arrived – and this is the money we will pay for camp. As you will read this at the end of the month, I am sure that all will work out, but it is rather stressful! I spent the 2nd half of the day with Inna – one of my oldest student/friends. We had lunch together and went bowling together – I had been bowling in a long time and still remembered how! When I took Inna home, I saw her parents again after 5 years! Mostly I had seen her in Kiev where she has been going to the Univ. or when she was in town, she came to visit me and I never went to her parents’ home. It was really good to see them again.
Thursday, June 19
In the morning I went Sasha girl’s 9th grade graduation. It was nice and she sang a song in the entertainment part of the graduation time. In the afternoon, I studied. In the evening about 5 we (Artem, Olya and I) went to the Orphan home family village where there 2 twin boys had their 9th grade graduation. If you don’t know, students can either continue in school at this time or go to different colleges or technical schools. Many choose the latter route as all 3 of the graduates today will choose. Afterwards we were all hungry and Artem and I went to a pizza place to eat. I got home a little after 9. I am still working on the money wire transfer and they said that it will take at least 5 more days to work it out – my money is in Austria right now!!!
Friday, June 20
I am spending a lot of time on camp preparations. I spent some good quality time with a couple of my young people – I am trying to spend as much time with all of my young people as I possibly can to encourage them and just to be with them! The main event was school graduations took place this evening all across Kremenchuk and Ukraine. I went to school #11 for the last time for their graduation and one of our girls, Ivanna. When I walked up to the school, my first Ukrainian friend, Natalie – the English school teacher who left Ukraine to get married after the first few months that I was here – was at the school! It was fun and good to see her again! After the graduation I said good bye to several teachers and they were polite and kind. Another good bye.
Saturday, June 21
I haven’t been food or grocery shopping for some time so I went to the grocery store and market – both time consuming events. I had the bright idea of how to better give away my small items in my house. I was putting them in boxes in my living room and trying to get people to take them, but they wouldn’t do it! So I decided on Monday when our Bible Classes begin in the evenings (3 weeks of them before camp) I would do a “Christmas in June!” I had a lot of Christmas stockings left over from the holidays, so I hung them all over my living room – like I do at Christmas and started filling them with things for people to have. Every evening after Bible Classes and Devo, we will open them up and those that come, I will refill again! So some will get a lot more than others, because as they come, they get more! In the evening we had Frisbee and celebrated Nastya’s birthday.
Sunday, June 22
We had a good number at worship this morning. 4 of went to Prostor (like our Wal-Mart) had lunch together and bought a back-pack for Natasha’s birthday which we will celebrate tonight. I had a restful afternoon and then we had our evening worship and celebrated Natasha’s birthday at the church building and played games.
Monday, June 23
I had a busy study morning. Today I hung the stockings and began the process of going through my house step by step to empty it out as much as possible into the Christmas stockings. I sent out a text message to all inviting them to Christmas in June! Artem said it read the text 3 times because he couldn’t believe we were having Christmas in June! We had 10 for our first evening Bible Study. Everyone had fun opening their stockings and I cooked apple-jack pancakes for everyone! These evenings do look like that they will be late nighters!
Tuesday, June 24
I went to the market to buy extra food stuff for making tortias tonight – it is really improvising, because there are no true tortias here, but a kind of bread wrap that is similar, but a lot thinner. As I was starting to prepare supper, my kitchen sink fell apart – the drain rusted through and I had water everywhere! I took it apart and went to a plumbing outlet store that I know of – the ONLY one that I know of in Kremenchuk – and it was 5:15 and it was closed!!! So I washed dished that I had dirty and our evening meal dishes in my small bathroom sink and drained the dishes in my dish drainer moved to my bathtub! We had our devo tonight and Artem led the study on growing in our faith. Again we open stockings with 14 people here and several of us went for a walk after I cooked and we ate chocolate chip cookies! I have one bag of chocolate chips left! Pretty good timing and planning, don’t you think!?
Wednesday, June 25 – A Red Letter Day!
I continue to work on camp – I know a broken record! But it is coming along well and hopefully we will have a great camp! I also finished a chart that I have been working on about worshipping in song in our worship to God. I got to spend some extra time today with Zhenya and that was good. At 2, Yulya, Olya and I went to the Orphan family for our Bible Study! Victor is off from his work today, but the older kids were all working. I asked Inna and Victor if they were ready to be baptized and they said yes. So we went to the river, about 10 kilometers away, found a quiet spot and baptized them into Christ about 3:30pm!!! Yes, it was a great day and afternoon!!! We had 11 for our evening Bible Study that went well. Everyone enjoyed their stockings again. My tortias went over well and I took the last people home around 9.
Thursday, June 26
I went to the bank today and my money is still not there!!! So I wrote and then called the bank in the US, practically begging them to help me get it straightened out! They are not being a lot of help! They don’t seem to care! They said that I should go to my bank here and ask them to help too, which I will do tomorrow. I met Inna, who is the young woman that I first knew in the 9th grade when I was first here and is married and going to Spain to join her husband. We had lunch and a nice chat. It maybe the last time I see her for a long time! I have been sleeping only 4 to 5 hours a night for about a week and it caught up to me today. So I slept about 2 ½ hours in the afternoon. In the evening I was much better. We had 9 for our evening Bible Class. I fixed chili tonight and went to a late movie with a couple of our group.
Friday, June 27
I have been mistaken about the US bank – I have found out that they have been working very hard on this problem. I was telling a friend the other day that it seems like for people in the USA time is measured by weekends, where as we have daily and hourly pressing needs here that are not often realized by American friends and brothers in Christ. Often, we must move forward in actions with faith in God and also knowing that our US Brethren will act faithful in the future. So what about Friday? My life is full of camp, preparations for the future and people right now! In the evening we had a nice evening of Frisbee with 8 of us and 6 of those coming to my house afterwards until about 10:30.
Saturday, June 28
Since I am preaching tomorrow, I have spent several hours working on my sermon and today in finishing it up. We had no planned activity today, but again I was blessed to be with several of my brothers and sisters in Christ. In the evening we walked to the Lenin Square, where a large crowd was gathered to celebrate the Day of the Constitution. I had my sermon outline translated into Russian, so I could share it with the Church and with those that were not able to be there to hear it.
Sunday, June 29
I believe that my sermon went well and was appreciated by the Church. Our worship was good! Afterwards, about 12:15, I left for a couple of days in Kiev. I am visiting one of my students, Lilya who I have known since she was in the 9th grade. I stayed at a decent hotel and met her in the center, traveling by the metro. Today was another holiday – the Day of Youth and the center of Kiev was much more crowded than Kremenchuk’s was yesterday! We had a nice walk and supper together.
Monday, June 30
I rested and read in the morning in my hotel room and then met Lilya at 1pm in the center again and we spent the afternoon together. We said our goodbyes about 6pm. It was so hard to say goodbye. She is such a dear daughter to me! (Just a note, so you don’t have to wait to long to get the message – on July 2nd, most of my money and banking problems have been resolved.)
My life is going through more changes as our VBS Day Camp is now history and life slows down again – or so I thought. Just different is all. I have 5 main objectives in the next four weeks: 1) Prepare for the Black Sea Camp, 2) Spend as much time with people as I possibly can, 3) Have some evening Bible Studies leading up to camp, 4) Finish helping our Orphan family come to Christ and 5) Get everything packed out, given away, and ready to be out of this apartment and shipped back to the states! The first 2 of these objectives are right now paramount in my mind, but the others are just as demanding and have to be met as well! We didn’t go to the Orphan family tonight because they were busy and the parents gone.
Tuesday, June 17
We celebrated Ksusha’s birthday after devo tonight where we had 15. We had a good evening together.
Wednesday, June 18
I am having all kinds of banking problems in that my wired money that was supposed to arrive the first week in June still has not arrived – and this is the money we will pay for camp. As you will read this at the end of the month, I am sure that all will work out, but it is rather stressful! I spent the 2nd half of the day with Inna – one of my oldest student/friends. We had lunch together and went bowling together – I had been bowling in a long time and still remembered how! When I took Inna home, I saw her parents again after 5 years! Mostly I had seen her in Kiev where she has been going to the Univ. or when she was in town, she came to visit me and I never went to her parents’ home. It was really good to see them again.
Thursday, June 19
In the morning I went Sasha girl’s 9th grade graduation. It was nice and she sang a song in the entertainment part of the graduation time. In the afternoon, I studied. In the evening about 5 we (Artem, Olya and I) went to the Orphan home family village where there 2 twin boys had their 9th grade graduation. If you don’t know, students can either continue in school at this time or go to different colleges or technical schools. Many choose the latter route as all 3 of the graduates today will choose. Afterwards we were all hungry and Artem and I went to a pizza place to eat. I got home a little after 9. I am still working on the money wire transfer and they said that it will take at least 5 more days to work it out – my money is in Austria right now!!!
Friday, June 20
I am spending a lot of time on camp preparations. I spent some good quality time with a couple of my young people – I am trying to spend as much time with all of my young people as I possibly can to encourage them and just to be with them! The main event was school graduations took place this evening all across Kremenchuk and Ukraine. I went to school #11 for the last time for their graduation and one of our girls, Ivanna. When I walked up to the school, my first Ukrainian friend, Natalie – the English school teacher who left Ukraine to get married after the first few months that I was here – was at the school! It was fun and good to see her again! After the graduation I said good bye to several teachers and they were polite and kind. Another good bye.
Saturday, June 21
I haven’t been food or grocery shopping for some time so I went to the grocery store and market – both time consuming events. I had the bright idea of how to better give away my small items in my house. I was putting them in boxes in my living room and trying to get people to take them, but they wouldn’t do it! So I decided on Monday when our Bible Classes begin in the evenings (3 weeks of them before camp) I would do a “Christmas in June!” I had a lot of Christmas stockings left over from the holidays, so I hung them all over my living room – like I do at Christmas and started filling them with things for people to have. Every evening after Bible Classes and Devo, we will open them up and those that come, I will refill again! So some will get a lot more than others, because as they come, they get more! In the evening we had Frisbee and celebrated Nastya’s birthday.
Sunday, June 22
We had a good number at worship this morning. 4 of went to Prostor (like our Wal-Mart) had lunch together and bought a back-pack for Natasha’s birthday which we will celebrate tonight. I had a restful afternoon and then we had our evening worship and celebrated Natasha’s birthday at the church building and played games.
Monday, June 23
I had a busy study morning. Today I hung the stockings and began the process of going through my house step by step to empty it out as much as possible into the Christmas stockings. I sent out a text message to all inviting them to Christmas in June! Artem said it read the text 3 times because he couldn’t believe we were having Christmas in June! We had 10 for our first evening Bible Study. Everyone had fun opening their stockings and I cooked apple-jack pancakes for everyone! These evenings do look like that they will be late nighters!
Tuesday, June 24
I went to the market to buy extra food stuff for making tortias tonight – it is really improvising, because there are no true tortias here, but a kind of bread wrap that is similar, but a lot thinner. As I was starting to prepare supper, my kitchen sink fell apart – the drain rusted through and I had water everywhere! I took it apart and went to a plumbing outlet store that I know of – the ONLY one that I know of in Kremenchuk – and it was 5:15 and it was closed!!! So I washed dished that I had dirty and our evening meal dishes in my small bathroom sink and drained the dishes in my dish drainer moved to my bathtub! We had our devo tonight and Artem led the study on growing in our faith. Again we open stockings with 14 people here and several of us went for a walk after I cooked and we ate chocolate chip cookies! I have one bag of chocolate chips left! Pretty good timing and planning, don’t you think!?
Wednesday, June 25 – A Red Letter Day!
I continue to work on camp – I know a broken record! But it is coming along well and hopefully we will have a great camp! I also finished a chart that I have been working on about worshipping in song in our worship to God. I got to spend some extra time today with Zhenya and that was good. At 2, Yulya, Olya and I went to the Orphan family for our Bible Study! Victor is off from his work today, but the older kids were all working. I asked Inna and Victor if they were ready to be baptized and they said yes. So we went to the river, about 10 kilometers away, found a quiet spot and baptized them into Christ about 3:30pm!!! Yes, it was a great day and afternoon!!! We had 11 for our evening Bible Study that went well. Everyone enjoyed their stockings again. My tortias went over well and I took the last people home around 9.
Thursday, June 26
I went to the bank today and my money is still not there!!! So I wrote and then called the bank in the US, practically begging them to help me get it straightened out! They are not being a lot of help! They don’t seem to care! They said that I should go to my bank here and ask them to help too, which I will do tomorrow. I met Inna, who is the young woman that I first knew in the 9th grade when I was first here and is married and going to Spain to join her husband. We had lunch and a nice chat. It maybe the last time I see her for a long time! I have been sleeping only 4 to 5 hours a night for about a week and it caught up to me today. So I slept about 2 ½ hours in the afternoon. In the evening I was much better. We had 9 for our evening Bible Class. I fixed chili tonight and went to a late movie with a couple of our group.
Friday, June 27
I have been mistaken about the US bank – I have found out that they have been working very hard on this problem. I was telling a friend the other day that it seems like for people in the USA time is measured by weekends, where as we have daily and hourly pressing needs here that are not often realized by American friends and brothers in Christ. Often, we must move forward in actions with faith in God and also knowing that our US Brethren will act faithful in the future. So what about Friday? My life is full of camp, preparations for the future and people right now! In the evening we had a nice evening of Frisbee with 8 of us and 6 of those coming to my house afterwards until about 10:30.
Saturday, June 28
Since I am preaching tomorrow, I have spent several hours working on my sermon and today in finishing it up. We had no planned activity today, but again I was blessed to be with several of my brothers and sisters in Christ. In the evening we walked to the Lenin Square, where a large crowd was gathered to celebrate the Day of the Constitution. I had my sermon outline translated into Russian, so I could share it with the Church and with those that were not able to be there to hear it.
Sunday, June 29
I believe that my sermon went well and was appreciated by the Church. Our worship was good! Afterwards, about 12:15, I left for a couple of days in Kiev. I am visiting one of my students, Lilya who I have known since she was in the 9th grade. I stayed at a decent hotel and met her in the center, traveling by the metro. Today was another holiday – the Day of Youth and the center of Kiev was much more crowded than Kremenchuk’s was yesterday! We had a nice walk and supper together.
Monday, June 30
I rested and read in the morning in my hotel room and then met Lilya at 1pm in the center again and we spent the afternoon together. We said our goodbyes about 6pm. It was so hard to say goodbye. She is such a dear daughter to me! (Just a note, so you don’t have to wait to long to get the message – on July 2nd, most of my money and banking problems have been resolved.)
1 comment:
Doug, I am not sure I ever really understood what happened with the missing June wire of camp money. I am sorry that it did not arrive as planned but am happy that is appears to be resolved. Buddy Baker spoke tonight at West Fayetteville and was well received. We hope all goes well with camp and my wife and I look forward to meeting you in a few weeks (I don't think we have ever formally been introduced).
In Him,
Truman J. Carroll
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