Friday, February 1, 2008
Besides my regular morning routine, I worked on finishing up my personal information and references today to send out to Churches that I might be interested in to move too. I am very thankful that all but one of the people I asked to be references for me agreed and have gotten back to me very promptly! One of the big questions is if churches are interested in me! I haven’t done this since 1990 – apply to churches and it is always a time consuming and waiting game. Since I am trying to locate close to where my children are, I sent stuff to 2 churches in NE and one in TX. Well, it’s a start anyway! After lunch, I went to the food market and bought food to make Pizzas at my house for tonight. Several are going to homecomings at their local schools, so I don’t expect too many people tonight. I fixed 2 large pizzas and we had 11 people! It was enough for everyone to have at least 2 small pieces! I was surprised! Then we watched the movie “Cheaper by the Dozen Part 2!” We watched it in Russian with English subtitles. It is a pretty funny movie and clean. Then people stayed around until 10:15 in a very comfortable and relaxed environment. Of course people drifted out and all didn’t stay that late.
Saturday, February 2
Bible Club day. Morning is preparations. In the afternoon we had 7 for the Adult Bible Club and 5 for the Teen Club. I didn’t go to the Bible Discussion at 4 because I had a bad headache.
Sunday, February 3
My Dad has been gone for 10 years. It doesn’t seem possible – he is always still in my heart and thoughts. On a brighter note, we had a good worship, made sandwiches and started going to the Orphanage in Potoki again. We had classes of 32 and 20 kids. It was really good to be with them again! We have really missed them! Then I had just 2 in my Parents Bible Club at 5 at the church building which has just turned into another Bible Club for people from the church – I don’t have any parents coming now, but it has made our fellowship with those from Church that come stronger. At 6 I preached, which I do at all Tuesday and Sunday nights unless otherwise noted. I got home around 8. In the evening Anton and I had a good spiritual discussion. I am so proud of him!
Monday, February 4 – Happy 24th Birthday to Janessa, my youngest daughter!
I tried 3 times during the day to call Janessa and missed her each time, but left messages. In the morning Inna from Kiev came over and we spent a couple of hours together. Then in the afternoon, I had some good quality time with a couple of my students. At 5:30, 5 of us went to the Family Orphanage and had a good Bible study and tea with the family – we were there for a couple of hours.
Tuesday, February 5
I called Janessa early this morning and got to wish her a happy birthday! Sent out a couple more personal info and references to churches in TX. You can be in TX and still be a long ways away from some other place! I did a lot of personal study today. Did some shopping. Had a good devo with 9 people present. Had good fellowship until almost 10. I love these people so much!
Wednesday, February 6
Oksana is out of town for the week to Poland (left on Sunday and will be back next Tuesday). So Yulya went with me to the village of Bugkivka today to study with our 11th form girls. We had a good reunion – I hadn’t seen them since Nov. – and a good study on what it means to be “in Christ.” We got back about 4pm. Then I finished preparing for my English Club in my house with mostly University Students and we had 8 present. It was a good time and a good study. Lord willing, we will be able to use this time as a stepping stone to bringing these people to Christ.
Thursday, February 7
Had a good personal study and am working on some of my charts to make them better. Also spent a lot of time getting ready for the afternoon classes. The afternoon was spent going to Svetlovodsk (leaving about 1:30 – it is about a ½ hour drive over there) to teach at the orphanage there. This was our first Bible Classes with them and we (Yulya, Ksusha and Olya and I) had 3 Bible Classes. One with 5th and 6th graders – 23; 9th graders – 15; and 7th graders – 13. It was a really good beginning!!! We got home about 5:30. For the first time that I could remember, I forgot my billfold and passport. I had no identification and no money and so I was VERY careful for the highway police will stop you for every and any reason. I could have been in a lot of trouble if stopped without this information. I was fine, but it was a bit of a scary thing!
Friday, February 8
I thought I would try and take part of this day off, since I didn’t have one on Monday. The morning was pretty relaxing, but I had people around all afternoon and evening. To me that is what ministry is all about – being around people, growing closer in relationships with them and helping them grow in their relationships with God. In the evening we had another pizza party with movie – but a lot different from last week. Ksusha came over about 4 and wanted to talk and we had a good talk. Then she helped me make chocolate chip cookies – she did most of it and had a blast doing it! We eventually had 14 people over and ordered out pizza. We went and picked it up and finally ate about 7:30. Then we played a game called “Prince a Paris” that most people love that my dad taught me when I was a kid. There were 12 of us playing and we played it for about an hour. We laughed and laughed! Then 11 of us went to a monster movie at 9:30 called “Monstro” in Russian – different English name where this monster attaches NY (Isn’t this where all monsters attach???) and destroys this poor city – this city has been destroyed more times than any other city in history I think! Well it was done with a hand held movie camera and I got motion sickness watching it and had to leave early. The kids told me I was lucky to leave because it wasn’t a good movie – everybody killed, etc.! I was ok the next day.
Saturday, February 9
I went to the market and store in the morning. We had 7 for our Adult Bible Club again. We had 2 for our Teen one. That was mostly my day!
Sunday, February 10
Yulya, Yura, Artem and Ksusha and I went to Komsomolsk for morning worship leaving about 9 and about 9:25 after I picked up everyone. The service was at 10. With our 5 there, there were 12 in worship. I preached this morning and Sasha translated. We finished at got back home around noon. I took the 5 of us out for pizza – yes again! A lot of pizza lately – but it is the cheapest food to take people out with! At 2 we went to Potoki again and good classes there and were finished about 4. Then at 5 Olya translated for me for the Bible Club, but only 2 came – we are going to postpone this class for awhile. But, Nadya, one of the older adult students that came, brought a tort and candy along, so we had that afterwards. There were 11 of us there and we just stayed, sat around and ate and talked until about 9 – it was really nice!
Monday, February 11
I actually got most of Monday off! Just kind of goofed around all day. (Every day of the week, there is something planned and going on, so it is not possible to have a whole day off – who are you going to say no too that wants to study the Bible and that’s the only time they have to do it???) At 5:30 I picked up Ksusha, Artem and Olya and we went to the Orphan home family. We had some good tea time, a very good Bible study and just relaxing family time with the kids and Inna (mother) talking and sharing her life struggles with Olya. Olya is a very good listener for Inna. I got home about 9:30pm – so 4 hour work day!
Tuesday, February 12
We were going to go to the village today to teach the 8th grade class, but I didn’t have a translator so I of course didn’t go. I took Zhenya to the Dr. and then we went to pickup Oksana. Oksana got home from a week in Poland at 1:30 and then the 3 of us went to lunch together. I worked on lessons and prepared for Devo. We had 13 tonight and a good fellowship afterwards.
Wednesday, February 13
My son has given me good advice that it might be better to not talk about specifics of getting up and going to bed, etc. in this. Probably good advice! So this morning when I got up… Just Kidding! My young people here that have computer access have gone rather crazy over a (for me) new craze in computer contacts with each other called facebook. They really seem to love it! Worked part of the afternoon preparing for English Club at 6. Everyone came late and by 10 after no one – I almost left! But we ended up having 7 and a good time. I’m going to start directing my discussion in here to moral themes and issues.
Thursday, February 14 – Happy Valentine’s Day!
Well, I had my car washed 2 days ago because the weather forecast was for a week of dry weather. Well it snowed today and made a mess out of my car again! We (Natasha, Ksusha, Olya and Yulya) drove to the orphanage in Svetlovodsk in a mild snow storm and had 4 great classes with the kids – it was a lot of fun. I was real proud of Olya and Yulya as they co-taught a 9th grade class of girls together – preparing their own lesson and all! They were great! I was eating supper about 6:45 and feeling a bit blue about spending Valentine’s day evening alone, when Olya and Yulya called and asked if the could come over. I said that would be great! So they came and we spent the rest of the evening together and I took them home about 10:30! It was a nice surprise.
Friday, February 15
I cleaned my house –especially bedroom and kitchen’s were a mess for we are having our Valentine’s party tonight. I made sugar cookie doe in the morning and boiled some eggs, etc. getting ready. I tell you this next thing because it is just so Ukrainian. I have my water delivered. I ordered it to come between 8-10. It came at 12:30. Well, I didn’t want to cook, so went out to eat, then bought candies for tonight and went and paid for my internet. Later I cooked the cookies and made hot tuna sandwiches that everybody loves. People brought candies and sweets. Momma Nadya (My oldest student that comes to my house – 31 with a 6th grade daughter that has been with us since she was really little) brought a big, delicious tort – cake. We had 18 for the party, ate, played games and ate some more. The last went home about 9:30. We had 4 people that hadn’t been with us for awhile so if the party accomplished anything, this was worth it!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Journal for January 16-31, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I don’t think that I have written about the apparent tragedy that took place just before I left for the US. The Director at School 11, where we have had a mainstay in our working in the schools, was either fired or quit. It is not sure what happened. She was replaced by the Director at School #9, who ended our work there. This effectively ends our work at School 11 that has been on going for 11 years! We still have our work in the village school and now three orphanages in neighboring villages and towns as well. The doors in these 3 orphanages are wide open right now and we intended to do our best to step into them. Also if there is time, there is an internot school here in Kremenchuk that we have worked before in, that we will see about entering again. Please continue to pray for these works.
Thursday, January 17, Friday, January 18
I am writing this Journal on January 28th. I know that I have not kept up with it as I should. I intend to do better! Just a couple of notes about Thursdays and Fridays. Our Thursday classes were dwindling down to 1 or 2, so we decided to focus our energy and studies on Tuesday, where we hope to increase our study time and worship/singing time to 1 ½ hours. On Fridays, we have started again our fun night – but that too, so far has been lightly attended. We are looking for the direction that God is seeking to take us in. Please continue to pray for us in these areas.
Saturday, January 19
Yura agreed to open my house for the noon Adult Bible Club, because I needed to take a trip to the airport by Kiev – Borispil and pick up an American friend, Michael Braswell, who is coming in to spend a week with us and the orphanages here in Kremenchuk and surrounding areas. Michael is from TN and is a very caring Christian Brother that cares very deeply for the children here in Ukraine! He became a Christian in January of 2006, made his first visit to Kremenchuk and the orphanages in January of 2007 with Buddy Baker. This year he decided to come on his own and care for the children out of his own pocket. He is NOT rich, except in God’s love and love for the Christ’s Church, the children, the Lord’s work that we are doing here and our young people as well. I left at 9:30 with Olya and Yulya and his flight arrived at 1:30 and we arrived back in Kremenchuk about 5:30. The noon Bible Club had 2, but the evening Bible Club had 9 with 2 new people – a mother and daughter! The last went home around 9:30 and after my travels I was pretty tired. You just can’t compare the wear and tear that driving in Ukraine brings to you to driving in the US. It’s just not the same!!!
Sunday, January 20
We worshipped in the morning, made sandwiches in the afternoon for the prison, and spent most of the time planning the week to come with Michael and our young people. We had a good afternoon together. Then we had 15 for our evening worship. We got Michael back to his room, as he struggling with jet lag and needs to sleep. Just to mention about our Sunday night “sermons/lessons.” I am doing most of them, but I am proud to say that Yura and Artem are taking a more active roll in preparing talks as well. Yura presented the lesson tonight and did a good job!
Monday, January 21
We spent a very busy day visiting different orphanages. First I picked up Yulya and Olya and then met Michael and our 2 local workers Nickoli and Anya (Christian workers that full time sponsored by this orphans work by Buddy Baker and Jerry Morgan). They know the work well and are doing an amazing job in the things that they do for the Lord. We got started at 9:30 and went first to the Baby’s Orphanage and spent most of the morning there. Then I went to the bank and we went to McDonalds where we hand lunch together. Did I mention that we now have a McDonalds in Kremenchuk (I’m sure I probably did!)?? Then we went to Svetlovodsk where we visited the 2 orphanages there, one that we had never been in before and they are thrilled that we want to come and teach Bible lessons there. Of course the one, the Visually Handicapped Orphanage, we have been teaching there, but we hope to expand that work as well. We got back to Kremenchuk about 4:30 and then went to the Orphan family, arriving there about 5:30 (they are in a village about 15 Kil. out of Kremenchuk). We all were very tired and left there about 7:30pm to come back to home, eat supper and go to bed – Michael is waking up very early – jet lag!
Tuesday, January 22
Again with an early start we spent quite a bit of time at the orphanages. In the afternoon, while Michael was buying things for the orphanages that he wanted to give to them, I spent time in lesson preparations that I needed to do. In the evening we had our devotional with 15 present. We celebrated Marina’s 21st birthday and then we went out to Pizza as Michael’s guest. Everyone went home from there around 9pm.
Wednesday, January 23
While Michael was again buying and delivering things to the orphanages I went to pick up Ksusha in Poltava. It is about 1 ½ hour drive both ways and so it took a little over 4 hours round trip. She had been there for 3 weeks of study and had a lot of stuff to bring back! She had to take all her bedding, etc. with her so it was extra. I have to mention a little bit about what Michael is doing with the Potoki Orphanage – the poorest one in our area. The shoes on the kids feet were literally falling off, so Michael took it upon himself to buy a new pair of shoes for every child there! Then he bought 4 new sowing machines and a ton of material for the kids to be able to make their own new clothes! They got really great prices on the material and machines!
Thursday, January 24
In the morning I again had my own work to do and Michael finished up his buying and delivering things to the orphanages. I worked nearly all morning on my newsletter for our kids. I hadn’t done one since I had been back, but now I did and sent it to Anya O. V. translate for me. He has such a great heart for the kids! We met at 1pm at McDonalds, ate lunch with Anya and Nickoli who have worked so great with Michael this week. Then Michael and I left for Kiev arriving at the hotel airport about 4:30pm. Michael had been getting up between 1 and 3 each morning because of jet lag and just wanted to go to his room and rest. I did the same, eating supper about 7 and going to bed around 9.
Friday, January 25
I got up 3 (my internal alarm usually lets me sleep 6 hours – or less if it is not being nice to me) to leave at 4:30 to get Michael to the airport by 4:50 to go through all the customs etc and fly out at 6:50. I got home around 8:30 in the morning. Was in phone contact with several during the day, but mostly rested from the busy week. Vika was the only one that came for fun night tonight but we played cards, looked at pictures on my computer, ate and talked until she left around 9.
Saturday, January 26
Prepared for my Bible clubs for today and tomorrow, did some shopping for food in the morning. We had 4 for our Adult Bible Club. Those that came for this Bible Club, helped me with some translations for tomorrow’s lesson too. I went to the church discussion at 4 and that was good. Then we had 5 for our evening Bible Club with the new mother – Tanya and daughter – Ira with us again. Folks went home around 9:30pm.
Sunday, January 27
Nice service in the morning. Afterwards 4 went with me to Prostor (our local super walmart – sort of) and I bought some more groceries. Then we ate lunch together at a buffet place there. Then we came to my place and talked about the future and of course played some games together. At 4:40, I left and went to the church building for our Parent Bible Club where we had 4 in attendance – it is really just now a beginner’s Bible club and is going fine. Then we had 12 for our evening services and left the building around 8pm.
Monday, January 28
I worked all morning on my Newsletter to mail to the states and also Anya emailed me back my newsletter for here and I printed out 20 of those for our folks here. In the afternoon, I spent some time with some people that needed counseling. Then at 5:30 Oksana, Olya, Ksusha went out to the Orphan family to spend our Monday evening with them. We had a good time and a good Bible Study. We left a little earlier than normal because all 3 girls had other things that they needed and wanted to do. I got home around 8:30pm.
Tuesday, January 29
Much of day was in finishing the newsletter to send to the states. Also I worked on my resume and personal information to give to churches and schools that may be interested in my working with them after I return to the states. I had a real good meeting for about 45 minutes with Sasha R. and Valerie the preachers that I work with from Komsomolsk who are also enjoying the work in the orphanages in Svetlovodsk and are doing a good job there. We had 12 for our devotional. Artem gave the talk and did a really good job! People stayed around until 9:30 this evening and I really enjoyed our time together!
Wednesday, January 30
I spent quite a bit of time cleaning up “corners” in my apartment. Cleaned my kitchen, I cleaned up my bookcase in the living room – I am afraid that I tend to let things kind of get stacked on the book case – not it is neat and clutter free. I took all the Christmas and New Years stuff down – I did have an artificial tree! Finally I cleaned the desks in my bedroom/office. It feels so much better not having so much clutter around – I threw away a lot of stuff! I took a break and went to the bank – it took about an hour here again – I really don’t like that part of banking here, but it is often the way it is. Then went to the drug store for some blood pressure meds, paid some bills, got a couple of things at the grocery store and came home. Then I also prepared for the Evening English Club – we had a record number with 13 people present! We had a good time and had 2 new people.
Thursday, January 31
Just in case you are interested – I still have my 6 hour sleeping habits. If I go to bed at 10, I wake up at 4, etc. So I usually start my day with checking the internet for email and corresponding with that. I check the weather and news on line, have breakfast and do my personal time of Bible Study and prayer. Then I usually get into my study time. I did a lot of study and Bible Study on lessons this morning. I ordered water (I get in 20 liter bottles delivered. It is a lot easier and cheaper this way) and it came at 8:30. I have fallen into a pattern of studying until about 10 and then showering. It refreshes me for more! Then I went back to my study until about noon. At 1:45 Olya, Sasha preacher and Valerie and I went to Svetlovodsk to the 2 orphanages. It is about a ½ hour drive over there. We met with the TB orphanage (children are taken here that have had a family background of TB or are have some tests that show that they have a weakness toward it. None have ever broken out and developed it.) director and visited 2 classes of children – 5th and 6th together and the 7th grade. All were eager to be with us and have classes with us. Everyone of the younger group said that they had Bibles are read them regularly!!! All of us were amazed at this! After visiting the other orphanage and watching Sasha and Valerie teach their class of about 20 kids with puppets, we returned home about 5:30. It was a good afternoon!
I don’t think that I have written about the apparent tragedy that took place just before I left for the US. The Director at School 11, where we have had a mainstay in our working in the schools, was either fired or quit. It is not sure what happened. She was replaced by the Director at School #9, who ended our work there. This effectively ends our work at School 11 that has been on going for 11 years! We still have our work in the village school and now three orphanages in neighboring villages and towns as well. The doors in these 3 orphanages are wide open right now and we intended to do our best to step into them. Also if there is time, there is an internot school here in Kremenchuk that we have worked before in, that we will see about entering again. Please continue to pray for these works.
Thursday, January 17, Friday, January 18
I am writing this Journal on January 28th. I know that I have not kept up with it as I should. I intend to do better! Just a couple of notes about Thursdays and Fridays. Our Thursday classes were dwindling down to 1 or 2, so we decided to focus our energy and studies on Tuesday, where we hope to increase our study time and worship/singing time to 1 ½ hours. On Fridays, we have started again our fun night – but that too, so far has been lightly attended. We are looking for the direction that God is seeking to take us in. Please continue to pray for us in these areas.
Saturday, January 19
Yura agreed to open my house for the noon Adult Bible Club, because I needed to take a trip to the airport by Kiev – Borispil and pick up an American friend, Michael Braswell, who is coming in to spend a week with us and the orphanages here in Kremenchuk and surrounding areas. Michael is from TN and is a very caring Christian Brother that cares very deeply for the children here in Ukraine! He became a Christian in January of 2006, made his first visit to Kremenchuk and the orphanages in January of 2007 with Buddy Baker. This year he decided to come on his own and care for the children out of his own pocket. He is NOT rich, except in God’s love and love for the Christ’s Church, the children, the Lord’s work that we are doing here and our young people as well. I left at 9:30 with Olya and Yulya and his flight arrived at 1:30 and we arrived back in Kremenchuk about 5:30. The noon Bible Club had 2, but the evening Bible Club had 9 with 2 new people – a mother and daughter! The last went home around 9:30 and after my travels I was pretty tired. You just can’t compare the wear and tear that driving in Ukraine brings to you to driving in the US. It’s just not the same!!!
Sunday, January 20
We worshipped in the morning, made sandwiches in the afternoon for the prison, and spent most of the time planning the week to come with Michael and our young people. We had a good afternoon together. Then we had 15 for our evening worship. We got Michael back to his room, as he struggling with jet lag and needs to sleep. Just to mention about our Sunday night “sermons/lessons.” I am doing most of them, but I am proud to say that Yura and Artem are taking a more active roll in preparing talks as well. Yura presented the lesson tonight and did a good job!
Monday, January 21
We spent a very busy day visiting different orphanages. First I picked up Yulya and Olya and then met Michael and our 2 local workers Nickoli and Anya (Christian workers that full time sponsored by this orphans work by Buddy Baker and Jerry Morgan). They know the work well and are doing an amazing job in the things that they do for the Lord. We got started at 9:30 and went first to the Baby’s Orphanage and spent most of the morning there. Then I went to the bank and we went to McDonalds where we hand lunch together. Did I mention that we now have a McDonalds in Kremenchuk (I’m sure I probably did!)?? Then we went to Svetlovodsk where we visited the 2 orphanages there, one that we had never been in before and they are thrilled that we want to come and teach Bible lessons there. Of course the one, the Visually Handicapped Orphanage, we have been teaching there, but we hope to expand that work as well. We got back to Kremenchuk about 4:30 and then went to the Orphan family, arriving there about 5:30 (they are in a village about 15 Kil. out of Kremenchuk). We all were very tired and left there about 7:30pm to come back to home, eat supper and go to bed – Michael is waking up very early – jet lag!
Tuesday, January 22
Again with an early start we spent quite a bit of time at the orphanages. In the afternoon, while Michael was buying things for the orphanages that he wanted to give to them, I spent time in lesson preparations that I needed to do. In the evening we had our devotional with 15 present. We celebrated Marina’s 21st birthday and then we went out to Pizza as Michael’s guest. Everyone went home from there around 9pm.
Wednesday, January 23
While Michael was again buying and delivering things to the orphanages I went to pick up Ksusha in Poltava. It is about 1 ½ hour drive both ways and so it took a little over 4 hours round trip. She had been there for 3 weeks of study and had a lot of stuff to bring back! She had to take all her bedding, etc. with her so it was extra. I have to mention a little bit about what Michael is doing with the Potoki Orphanage – the poorest one in our area. The shoes on the kids feet were literally falling off, so Michael took it upon himself to buy a new pair of shoes for every child there! Then he bought 4 new sowing machines and a ton of material for the kids to be able to make their own new clothes! They got really great prices on the material and machines!
Thursday, January 24
In the morning I again had my own work to do and Michael finished up his buying and delivering things to the orphanages. I worked nearly all morning on my newsletter for our kids. I hadn’t done one since I had been back, but now I did and sent it to Anya O. V. translate for me. He has such a great heart for the kids! We met at 1pm at McDonalds, ate lunch with Anya and Nickoli who have worked so great with Michael this week. Then Michael and I left for Kiev arriving at the hotel airport about 4:30pm. Michael had been getting up between 1 and 3 each morning because of jet lag and just wanted to go to his room and rest. I did the same, eating supper about 7 and going to bed around 9.
Friday, January 25
I got up 3 (my internal alarm usually lets me sleep 6 hours – or less if it is not being nice to me) to leave at 4:30 to get Michael to the airport by 4:50 to go through all the customs etc and fly out at 6:50. I got home around 8:30 in the morning. Was in phone contact with several during the day, but mostly rested from the busy week. Vika was the only one that came for fun night tonight but we played cards, looked at pictures on my computer, ate and talked until she left around 9.
Saturday, January 26
Prepared for my Bible clubs for today and tomorrow, did some shopping for food in the morning. We had 4 for our Adult Bible Club. Those that came for this Bible Club, helped me with some translations for tomorrow’s lesson too. I went to the church discussion at 4 and that was good. Then we had 5 for our evening Bible Club with the new mother – Tanya and daughter – Ira with us again. Folks went home around 9:30pm.
Sunday, January 27
Nice service in the morning. Afterwards 4 went with me to Prostor (our local super walmart – sort of) and I bought some more groceries. Then we ate lunch together at a buffet place there. Then we came to my place and talked about the future and of course played some games together. At 4:40, I left and went to the church building for our Parent Bible Club where we had 4 in attendance – it is really just now a beginner’s Bible club and is going fine. Then we had 12 for our evening services and left the building around 8pm.
Monday, January 28
I worked all morning on my Newsletter to mail to the states and also Anya emailed me back my newsletter for here and I printed out 20 of those for our folks here. In the afternoon, I spent some time with some people that needed counseling. Then at 5:30 Oksana, Olya, Ksusha went out to the Orphan family to spend our Monday evening with them. We had a good time and a good Bible Study. We left a little earlier than normal because all 3 girls had other things that they needed and wanted to do. I got home around 8:30pm.
Tuesday, January 29
Much of day was in finishing the newsletter to send to the states. Also I worked on my resume and personal information to give to churches and schools that may be interested in my working with them after I return to the states. I had a real good meeting for about 45 minutes with Sasha R. and Valerie the preachers that I work with from Komsomolsk who are also enjoying the work in the orphanages in Svetlovodsk and are doing a good job there. We had 12 for our devotional. Artem gave the talk and did a really good job! People stayed around until 9:30 this evening and I really enjoyed our time together!
Wednesday, January 30
I spent quite a bit of time cleaning up “corners” in my apartment. Cleaned my kitchen, I cleaned up my bookcase in the living room – I am afraid that I tend to let things kind of get stacked on the book case – not it is neat and clutter free. I took all the Christmas and New Years stuff down – I did have an artificial tree! Finally I cleaned the desks in my bedroom/office. It feels so much better not having so much clutter around – I threw away a lot of stuff! I took a break and went to the bank – it took about an hour here again – I really don’t like that part of banking here, but it is often the way it is. Then went to the drug store for some blood pressure meds, paid some bills, got a couple of things at the grocery store and came home. Then I also prepared for the Evening English Club – we had a record number with 13 people present! We had a good time and had 2 new people.
Thursday, January 31
Just in case you are interested – I still have my 6 hour sleeping habits. If I go to bed at 10, I wake up at 4, etc. So I usually start my day with checking the internet for email and corresponding with that. I check the weather and news on line, have breakfast and do my personal time of Bible Study and prayer. Then I usually get into my study time. I did a lot of study and Bible Study on lessons this morning. I ordered water (I get in 20 liter bottles delivered. It is a lot easier and cheaper this way) and it came at 8:30. I have fallen into a pattern of studying until about 10 and then showering. It refreshes me for more! Then I went back to my study until about noon. At 1:45 Olya, Sasha preacher and Valerie and I went to Svetlovodsk to the 2 orphanages. It is about a ½ hour drive over there. We met with the TB orphanage (children are taken here that have had a family background of TB or are have some tests that show that they have a weakness toward it. None have ever broken out and developed it.) director and visited 2 classes of children – 5th and 6th together and the 7th grade. All were eager to be with us and have classes with us. Everyone of the younger group said that they had Bibles are read them regularly!!! All of us were amazed at this! After visiting the other orphanage and watching Sasha and Valerie teach their class of about 20 kids with puppets, we returned home about 5:30. It was a good afternoon!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Doug’s Contact Information
Cell Phone: 011-380-96-564-4311
Home Phone: 011-380-536-791-737
Internet Number in the USA: 931-442-0937 This number can be called like any other US number and the cost is the same as any long distance call in the USA. If I am not on the internet at the time you call, you can leave a voice mail and I will return your call. I have very good phone rates on this!
Email: doug_berry2001@yahoo.com
Website: www.ukrainemission.com
Blog: www.Kremenchuk.blogspot.com
USA contact: Steve Jefferson: 931-433-0189
Home Phone: 011-380-536-791-737
Internet Number in the USA: 931-442-0937 This number can be called like any other US number and the cost is the same as any long distance call in the USA. If I am not on the internet at the time you call, you can leave a voice mail and I will return your call. I have very good phone rates on this!
Email: doug_berry2001@yahoo.com
Website: www.ukrainemission.com
Blog: www.Kremenchuk.blogspot.com
USA contact: Steve Jefferson: 931-433-0189
Lord willing, what I will do when I leave Ukraine
Maybe you can help! I would possibly like to live and serve close to some of my children. I am beginning the search process close to where some of my children live in Nebraska (Midwest) and Texas (South central) US. I will be looking for Pulpit ministry, Evangelism ministry or possibly a teacher at a Church of Christ Christian High School. I would hope to find work at a congregation that would allow the plans above to take place!!! I believe that the last 6 years have prepared me to be a very effective minister in the US. This is God’s doing, not mine. If you know of any congregation that might be interested in my working with them, please help us get together!
What is going on now and plans for this summer
Much of what we have been doing continues to go on! The biggest change is at School 11 where the director has changed and we have lost access to the school that has been our mainstay the whole time we have been here. This has been a hard blow, but the Lord continues to open up other things for us. We still have access to 2 schools in town, 1 internot (live in school for ages 1-9th grades), 1 village school and 3 large orphanages and 1 family in nearby villages. We have several Personal Bible Studies on going at this time. Also we continue with our weekly classes and devotions and worship services. For this summer we will do 2 different things for sure. 1. For children 4th grade - 8th grade. Vacation Bible School from 1 to 4pm for 2 weeks. This would include Bible classes, snacks, devotion and games. This would be for 5 days a week. We would offer 1 excursion at the end of the Bible School for those who have attended 75% of the classes.Following the VBS in the afternoons, we will offer an hour long Teen Bible Class and an Adult Bible Class from 4 to 5pm each day. 2. We will have our 6th Annual Bible Camp for 14 days, probably at the Black Sea or possibly at the Azov Sea, which is on the southeastern border of Ukraine.
(This is an excert from my newsletter. If you do not get this newsletter, but would like to read in it's entirety, you can go to my website at:
www.ukrainemission.com ).
(This is an excert from my newsletter. If you do not get this newsletter, but would like to read in it's entirety, you can go to my website at:
www.ukrainemission.com ).
Friday, January 18, 2008
Journal Time again - Dec 2nd - Jan 15 08
Sunday, December 2, 2007 – January 15, 2008
This is going to be a brief writing of a month and a half!
Dec 2 – We had our fellowship at the church after morning services and said good bye to Kelli for the congregation. Then in the evening we had our goodbyes from our group. It is never easy!!!
Dec 3 - Kelli and I and Olya and Yulya went to Kiev to do souvenir shopping. The girls stayed with a friend and I stayed in the hotel by the airport.
Dec 4 -5 – Kelli and I flew to New York JFK airport together and then I continued on to Cleveland, OH and on to San Angelo, TX on the 5th. I was able to attend Jenise’s Art show. The main reason for this trip was to share in Jenise’s graduation and have at least a short family Christmas together with my 4 children. Jenise is graduating as a commercial artist and she is really very good!
Dec 6-8 – With Jenise, I attended a Bible Seminar at the Minda Street Church of Christ in Abilene, TX that was very interesting and good. I was still suffering from Jet lag, but did pretty good! Ben and his girlfriend, Erica, arrived in Abilene on the 7th. Ben will begin graduate school in Missions on January 7th.
Dec 9, 10 – I spent an extra couple of days in Abilene with Ben and Erica. We had a great time! On evening of the 10th, Jon, Jenise’s husband, came and got me and went back to San Angelo (about 90 miles). It was a good trip and time to talk.
Dec 11-14 – I had the privilege of taking care of delightful 9 month old grandson, Malachi or Mali, as Jenise finished up many projects and exams. Jenise has worked so hard and is so deserving of all the honor she is receiving! I am so proud of her!!!!!!!
Dec 15 – Butch, my oldest son and Janessa my youngest daughter with her son Gavin, had flown into Dallas and met my ex and her husband at the Dallas airport and then they drove to San Angelo in the morning. Ben and Erica came over from Abilene. I fixed a BIG breakfast for everyone and we had a grand reunion! Then in the afternoon we went to Jenise’s graduation at Angelo State University and shared in that great joy! Afterwards we had a celebration at Chili’s restaurant and had a nice supper there. Then back to Jenise and Jon’s apartment for the rest of the evening. GREAT DAY!
Dec 16 – We all worshipped together and then my kids and grandkids that were there (Butch’s wife, Erin and my 2 granddaughters Hannah and Ella were unable to come), had a dinner I had made in the crock pot together and then celebrated Christmas together for 3 hours! It was the first time in 10 years that we had all been together for Christmas! It was wonderful! Then my ex and her husband had Christmas with the kids and later invited me to join them too, which I did. Ben and Erica went home late that evening back to Abilene.
Dec 17-21 - Janessa, Gavin and Butch all left at 10am to fly back to their homes. Our time was good, but so short! The blessing is that I had another week with Jenise and Jon and Malachi! We had a great week together!!! Jon has a new job as a treasure for a company that is growing very fast and I am very proud of him too! Jenise is a wonderful mother and wife and striving to being everything that God wants her to be.
Dec 22-25 – My kids all had plans for regular Christmas, so I flew to AR and had Christmas with some friends there. It was a good time, too.
Dec 26-28 – I had about a day in New York that was a lot of fun, but rainy and caught a cold and then flew back to Ukraine on the evening of the 27th and arriving back to Kremenchuk about 6pm on the 28th. My friends had a nice reception and we had a great time together, even though very tired.
Dec 29-Jan 1 - With much help, we prepared for New Year’s celebration. On the eve of the first, we had a great New Year’s dinner at 11pm at Ksusha’s family home that was delicious and opened some gifts afterwards (this is when Ukrainians give gifts)! Afterwards we went to the center about 12:30am and took pictures in front of the New Year’s tree – Yolka – or our US version of the Christmas tree! Then we had 21 people I think at my house for the New Year’s party that lasted until about 8am when everyone finally went home. In the afternoon, we went out to the Orphan family home and took presents from us and from “His Kids Too!” an orphan organization run by members of the Church that had sent clothes and presents to the kids. It was really great!!! Then home and sleep – can you believe it!?!
Jan 2-6 – Getting caught up on many things, including spending a lot of time with people. We are also preparing for Christmas on the 7th. Yes, Ukrainian Christmas is on the 7th and we will celebrate it my American style. On Sunday the 6th, I preached in the morning (and evening) and we made sandwiches for the boy’s prison today with 6 people helping. On the afternoon of the 6th, I took Ksusha to Poltava to get her ready for 3 weeks at the Univ as she is taking most of her University classes by correspondence. She came back to celebrate Christmas with us tomorrow. We had Christmas eve – light dinner – at her home again at evening services – how nice!
Jan 7 – Christmas in Ukraine! We hung 29 stockings around on my walls of my living room and 25 came to open them. First we stuffed them with gifts that I had for the kids, then each of us drew 5 names and put 5 things in those stockings. Everyone came in and opened their stockings. Before the opening of the stockings, we celebrated Yura’s 20th birthday together. His birthday is today! We started at 4pm and ended around 9. It was a great evening together! Maybe my last New Year’s and Christmas in Ukraine for awhile. Joy and sadness mixed together.
Jan 8 - I took Ksusha back to Poltava (about 60 miles) early in the morning to start her studies, getting back around 10am. We had a great singing with about 13 people present in the evening. We went out and had pizza together afterwards.
Jan 9-11 – Spent a couple of days in Kiev with some friends that was very good. Downtown Kiev is very pretty this time of year! They have an awesome Christmas tree – excuse me – Yolka!
Jan 12 – Started Bible Clubs again and had 6 for older and 7 for teen class. Zhenya went with me to the Church discussion time and translated for me in between Bible Club times.
Jan 13-15 – 13th was Sunday and we had a good worship. Then prepared for Zhenya’s birthday celebration after evening services. We had a good worship, then Zhenya’s party with 16 people. Afterwards I took Zhenya home so she could also celebrate with her family. On the 14th, we celebrated – are you ready for this – Old New Year! Really we didn’t do much, but it is the last of the holiday season holidays in Ukraine. On the 15th we had a good devotional with 14 people at my home.
I know that was fast and brief! But it has been a good 6 weeks with family and many friends. We have shared much joy and had great experiences with one and all! I am very thankful for how God is blessing my life and may He bless yours as much and as well as He does mine!
This is going to be a brief writing of a month and a half!
Dec 2 – We had our fellowship at the church after morning services and said good bye to Kelli for the congregation. Then in the evening we had our goodbyes from our group. It is never easy!!!
Dec 3 - Kelli and I and Olya and Yulya went to Kiev to do souvenir shopping. The girls stayed with a friend and I stayed in the hotel by the airport.
Dec 4 -5 – Kelli and I flew to New York JFK airport together and then I continued on to Cleveland, OH and on to San Angelo, TX on the 5th. I was able to attend Jenise’s Art show. The main reason for this trip was to share in Jenise’s graduation and have at least a short family Christmas together with my 4 children. Jenise is graduating as a commercial artist and she is really very good!
Dec 6-8 – With Jenise, I attended a Bible Seminar at the Minda Street Church of Christ in Abilene, TX that was very interesting and good. I was still suffering from Jet lag, but did pretty good! Ben and his girlfriend, Erica, arrived in Abilene on the 7th. Ben will begin graduate school in Missions on January 7th.
Dec 9, 10 – I spent an extra couple of days in Abilene with Ben and Erica. We had a great time! On evening of the 10th, Jon, Jenise’s husband, came and got me and went back to San Angelo (about 90 miles). It was a good trip and time to talk.
Dec 11-14 – I had the privilege of taking care of delightful 9 month old grandson, Malachi or Mali, as Jenise finished up many projects and exams. Jenise has worked so hard and is so deserving of all the honor she is receiving! I am so proud of her!!!!!!!
Dec 15 – Butch, my oldest son and Janessa my youngest daughter with her son Gavin, had flown into Dallas and met my ex and her husband at the Dallas airport and then they drove to San Angelo in the morning. Ben and Erica came over from Abilene. I fixed a BIG breakfast for everyone and we had a grand reunion! Then in the afternoon we went to Jenise’s graduation at Angelo State University and shared in that great joy! Afterwards we had a celebration at Chili’s restaurant and had a nice supper there. Then back to Jenise and Jon’s apartment for the rest of the evening. GREAT DAY!
Dec 16 – We all worshipped together and then my kids and grandkids that were there (Butch’s wife, Erin and my 2 granddaughters Hannah and Ella were unable to come), had a dinner I had made in the crock pot together and then celebrated Christmas together for 3 hours! It was the first time in 10 years that we had all been together for Christmas! It was wonderful! Then my ex and her husband had Christmas with the kids and later invited me to join them too, which I did. Ben and Erica went home late that evening back to Abilene.
Dec 17-21 - Janessa, Gavin and Butch all left at 10am to fly back to their homes. Our time was good, but so short! The blessing is that I had another week with Jenise and Jon and Malachi! We had a great week together!!! Jon has a new job as a treasure for a company that is growing very fast and I am very proud of him too! Jenise is a wonderful mother and wife and striving to being everything that God wants her to be.
Dec 22-25 – My kids all had plans for regular Christmas, so I flew to AR and had Christmas with some friends there. It was a good time, too.
Dec 26-28 – I had about a day in New York that was a lot of fun, but rainy and caught a cold and then flew back to Ukraine on the evening of the 27th and arriving back to Kremenchuk about 6pm on the 28th. My friends had a nice reception and we had a great time together, even though very tired.
Dec 29-Jan 1 - With much help, we prepared for New Year’s celebration. On the eve of the first, we had a great New Year’s dinner at 11pm at Ksusha’s family home that was delicious and opened some gifts afterwards (this is when Ukrainians give gifts)! Afterwards we went to the center about 12:30am and took pictures in front of the New Year’s tree – Yolka – or our US version of the Christmas tree! Then we had 21 people I think at my house for the New Year’s party that lasted until about 8am when everyone finally went home. In the afternoon, we went out to the Orphan family home and took presents from us and from “His Kids Too!” an orphan organization run by members of the Church that had sent clothes and presents to the kids. It was really great!!! Then home and sleep – can you believe it!?!
Jan 2-6 – Getting caught up on many things, including spending a lot of time with people. We are also preparing for Christmas on the 7th. Yes, Ukrainian Christmas is on the 7th and we will celebrate it my American style. On Sunday the 6th, I preached in the morning (and evening) and we made sandwiches for the boy’s prison today with 6 people helping. On the afternoon of the 6th, I took Ksusha to Poltava to get her ready for 3 weeks at the Univ as she is taking most of her University classes by correspondence. She came back to celebrate Christmas with us tomorrow. We had Christmas eve – light dinner – at her home again at evening services – how nice!
Jan 7 – Christmas in Ukraine! We hung 29 stockings around on my walls of my living room and 25 came to open them. First we stuffed them with gifts that I had for the kids, then each of us drew 5 names and put 5 things in those stockings. Everyone came in and opened their stockings. Before the opening of the stockings, we celebrated Yura’s 20th birthday together. His birthday is today! We started at 4pm and ended around 9. It was a great evening together! Maybe my last New Year’s and Christmas in Ukraine for awhile. Joy and sadness mixed together.
Jan 8 - I took Ksusha back to Poltava (about 60 miles) early in the morning to start her studies, getting back around 10am. We had a great singing with about 13 people present in the evening. We went out and had pizza together afterwards.
Jan 9-11 – Spent a couple of days in Kiev with some friends that was very good. Downtown Kiev is very pretty this time of year! They have an awesome Christmas tree – excuse me – Yolka!
Jan 12 – Started Bible Clubs again and had 6 for older and 7 for teen class. Zhenya went with me to the Church discussion time and translated for me in between Bible Club times.
Jan 13-15 – 13th was Sunday and we had a good worship. Then prepared for Zhenya’s birthday celebration after evening services. We had a good worship, then Zhenya’s party with 16 people. Afterwards I took Zhenya home so she could also celebrate with her family. On the 14th, we celebrated – are you ready for this – Old New Year! Really we didn’t do much, but it is the last of the holiday season holidays in Ukraine. On the 15th we had a good devotional with 14 people at my home.
I know that was fast and brief! But it has been a good 6 weeks with family and many friends. We have shared much joy and had great experiences with one and all! I am very thankful for how God is blessing my life and may He bless yours as much and as well as He does mine!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Speical Thanks to our Translators
Psalm 8:5 “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” This is talking about how God honored us as His children. I believe that it is long over do to give special honor and recognition to our very dedicated and hard working people that have served as translators for us “foreigners” over the years! This work is your work as much as it is “foreigner’s work”! I have always felt that you have been a very important part of the Lord’s work! Without you, the work of teaching, encouraging, reaching the lost would not have gotten done! We are so proud to be considered fellow workers in the Kingdom of God with you!!! You have been our constant friends and companions in all that has been carried on in God’s name over the last 6 years! You have been asked to sacrifice your time and lives and you have given yourselves so freely. We are humbled and honored to have the privilege of serving God with you!
Thank you from all of us English speaking workers
With love, Dougchik
Thank you from all of us English speaking workers
With love, Dougchik
Loving Good Bye to Kelli Himebaugh
Kelli first came to Kremenchuk the summer of 2002 as MAP worker from York, Nebraska with several other people! She was here for 8 weeks teaching Bible classes at School 11, teaching English at School 10 and also going to her first Bible Camp at the Black Sea. Kelli came her 2nd summer as a MAP student from York as well in 2003.
Kelli moved away from York in the USA but that didn’t stop her from coming and bring other people with her from Oklahoma! She came again in the summers of 2004, 2005 doing the same fine work that she had the first 2 summers she came. Kelli’s heart was truly in Ukraine and it hurt her every time she had to go home and leave us here!
Then Kelli took a giant step and moved to Kremenchuk in May of 2006 to come and work with us through the AIM program out of Lubbock, Texas. Kelli now joined with the AIM team of Frankie, Jared and James that had come in May of 2005! She came with a dedicated heart and a love and passion for the people of Ukraine!
In the 18 months that Kelli has lived and worked among us full time she has blessed our lives with so very much! She has taught so many children,
And blessed us with her sacrifice and dedication. But most of all she has
shown us how a wonderful Christian woman should live! She has been a
Godly example for all of us, but especially for our Christian girls.
Kelli, we thank you from the very depths of our souls! Thank you for your love, your grace, your kindness, your sacrifices and your service to God and to us! We love you and we hope that you will continue to come often to Ukraine!
Kelli moved away from York in the USA but that didn’t stop her from coming and bring other people with her from Oklahoma! She came again in the summers of 2004, 2005 doing the same fine work that she had the first 2 summers she came. Kelli’s heart was truly in Ukraine and it hurt her every time she had to go home and leave us here!
Then Kelli took a giant step and moved to Kremenchuk in May of 2006 to come and work with us through the AIM program out of Lubbock, Texas. Kelli now joined with the AIM team of Frankie, Jared and James that had come in May of 2005! She came with a dedicated heart and a love and passion for the people of Ukraine!
In the 18 months that Kelli has lived and worked among us full time she has blessed our lives with so very much! She has taught so many children,
And blessed us with her sacrifice and dedication. But most of all she has
shown us how a wonderful Christian woman should live! She has been a
Godly example for all of us, but especially for our Christian girls.
Kelli, we thank you from the very depths of our souls! Thank you for your love, your grace, your kindness, your sacrifices and your service to God and to us! We love you and we hope that you will continue to come often to Ukraine!
Journal for Nov 16 - Dec 1 07
Friday, November 16, 2007 – My 55th Birthday and 6th in Ukraine
I just went back and read what my journal said over the last 2 years. 2 years ago I went to the village as I did this afternoon. This time I made 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies and took about 20 about with me. We had our 4 regular 11th grade girls and 2 of our younger kids came and we shared juice and cookies first and then had a study with the older girls – our last part of our study on the Plan of Salvation. It is so hard to have this kind of study with groups because it is so important to be able to ask the person that you are studying with if they are understanding, what they are thinking, etc. at times like this. However, both Oksana and I felt that the study went well. I came home and had about an hour before my birthday party was to start. We had 30 people come and the brought 4 cakes and many other candies and sweets besides my cookies and donuts that I made yesterday. We played games, ate, opened many wonderful presents and had a wonderful time over all!
Saturday, November 17
We had 2 for our Univ. Bible Club and 5 for our Teen Bible Club. There were 17 (I actually counted today!) at the Church Discussion at 4. Our questions today centered around the church and the Kingdom of God being one and the same.
Sunday, November 18
I woke up ill this morning about 3:30am with a stomach flu and all the yuck that goes with it. I didn’t go to services, but our young people came and got money from me, bought all the needed stuff and made the sandwiches and took care of me through the day. I also didn’t go to evening services tonight.
Monday, November 19
I am better today, but am still very weak and achy. I stayed in and in bed as much as possible all day and we didn’t go to the orphan’s home family for our study tonight. They and us were very disappointed!
Tuesday, November 20
I am getting back on my feet again and had planned to go to the village for our studies out there today, but Oksana had conflicts at her Univ. and couldn’t go, so we didn’t go. I stayed in and studied most of the day. I was supposed to have a 6th grade class at School 11 this morning, but no one came. At our Devo at 6pm, we had 11 come for our singing and Bible study. Afterwards, Kelli and I were invited to go to a private English teacher’s classes (I have gone there several times) to talk to her class conversation style. These were 6th through 8th grade kids – 5 of them. We left there about 9:30pm.
Wednesday, November 21
Today was shopping day for the Thanksgiving Dinner I will prepare for between 25 – 30 people on Friday. I bought 2 turkeys at the market and other things as well. Then I went to our big shopping store and bought the rest, spending about $100 in all for this meal. I also pealed, cleaned, chopped and cooked my pumpkin in preparation for making my pies on Friday morning. At 1:30, we had 10 5th graders at School 11 for a good and fun class! At 6pm, we moved our English Club from the Palace of Culture to my house and we had 9 for our English Club and several of our regulars weren’t able to come – so we had some new people present. The Club was from 6-8pm.
Thursday, November 22 – Happy Thanksgiving!
A Holiday – vacation! I talked to 3 of my kids and my brother and 2 of my sisters this morning and their families and that was fun!!! I did try to make sure that I got most things done before and no cooking today – that’s all tomorrow as we celebrate on Friday night. Kelli had discovered a new restaurant that she said was excellent, so met there about 1pm and ate Thanksgiving Dinner together. This very elegant restaurant and we were the only ones in it! I have no idea how restaurants can continue to exist as so few people go out to eat on a regular basis here in Kremenchuk. That was about the most eventful things that took place today! In the evening I followed the Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions on the Internet! I didn’t watch it, but followed the play by play. Better than nothing! Wow! The Pack and the Cowboys (my 2 favorite teams) are both 10-1 and play each other next Thursday! Who am I going to cheer for? Hmmmmmm as a good friend of mine says! That’s a tough one!
Friday, November 23
The cooking started in earnest at about 7am when I started cooking 4 pumpkin pies from scratch, including the crusts! I do say, I cook a pretty tasty and flaky crust! These were big pies – each 1 ½ times the regular recipe size because my pie pans are so big. While the first of these were cooking, about 9:30am, I went and picked up Zhenya who came and helped me tremendously throughout the day. She said I don’t want to get in the way of your cooking, so I will keep all your dishes washed up and she did a great job! She also helped with several other cooking things, too! Then I made crescent rolls – about 60+ of them. Then we made dressing/stuffing for the first turkey. I cleaned it and prepared it and chopped onions while Zhenya prepared the bread. The first Turkey went into the oven about 1:30 and the 2nd about 3:30. Oksana was also over for awhile this afternoon and help to clean and cut up potatoes for mashed potatoes. I got real tired around 4 and took a short nap (I did get up at 4:30 this morning). My back was really hurting too. This was a lot of cooking energy and stress that I wasn’t used to doing! By 5:30, everything was pretty much done, except cooking the potatoes. Others had come and helped to set the tables, cook the potatoes – Yulya helped to get these finished up. About 6:30 we were ready to set down to eat and only 15 people were here. Everybody brought something like sweets, cookies, salads. We also had black olives to eat – my favorite treat for the holidays. But by 7 we had 29 here! So a lot of late comers and we had enough food plus extra for everyone! About 8pm, we served the pumpkin pie with whipped topping – the spray on variety. Then we cleared the tables away, played some games, and cleaned up. The last person left at 10:10pm. Great evening!
Saturday, November 24
Ups and downs of life. We had 1 person come for the Adult/Univ. Bible Club and 1 person came for the Teen Club. In between, we had 9 of us for the Church discussion time. Also at about 3pm, Artem and Ksusha came over and we had tea and a nice visit. They are both working so many very long hours, we hardly ever see them anymore. Life is hard for Ksusha and her mother. Her mother has a 2nd hand store, but it probably makes very little. Ksusha is working as a server in a pizza place, working 14 hour days and making less that 2 Grievnas (40 cents) an hour. She is having to use this money to help her mother pay for things and for her Univ. studies as well. Very hard!
Sunday, November 25
After worship Kelli needed help with several errands she needed doing and so I helped her out, with Yura’s help too. I spent part of the afternoon working on my evening lesson. We had 11 for evening worship service.
Monday, November 26
It is just a week until I leave for the States and Jenise’s graduation on Dec. 15th. I have tons of stuff to get done, including working on my Newsletter to send to the US as well as my local newsletter, with a special edition honoring Kelli. On Dec. 16th, I will have the opportunity to have a Christmas celebration with all of my children together for the first time in a very long time!!! It will be great! I return to Ukraine on the 28th in time for the New Year Celebration and for our Christmas party on Ukrainian Christmas day of January 7th. In the evening 4 of us went and spent the evening with the Orphan family and had a good Bible Study with them. We found out that the Dad – Victor – his Dad is also dieing of cancer in another city and so he is still under a lot of stress.
Tuesday, November 27 – Kelli H.’s Birthday
I continued working on both newsletters, besides going to the village for our class with 5th – 7th grades. We had 14 today. Then we had 10 for singing and devotional study at 6pm.
Wednesday, November 28
I worked all morning on those newsletters, finishing both of them up. We are also working on a picture calendar and other things for celebration with Olya on Saturday and then her going away “party” on Sunday night. It is so hard to see her go! Today at 1:30 we had 7 5th graders for a class that was lots of fun! What a nice group of kids! We also found out some tragic news! The Director of this school, for as long as I have been coming and living in Ukraine, is going to be leaving this position December 3rd! She has been such a strong, strong supporter of us and our work, I just don’t know what we are going to do!!!! I tried to see her, but she was not in, supposedly “sick”. I would be sick too, I guess! There is no telling what this is going to mean to our work at the schools! At 2:30, I spent the next 1 ½ hours helping Kelli with trying to get things shipped back to the US and finally it was decided that the cheapest way is for her to take it by plane – still it is $100 for each container of 30 Kilograms! Wow! Then at 4 I hurried home to do some straightening up of my place and preparing for our English Club at 6. We had 6 people come and it was good. I invited them all to the upcoming holiday parties that we will have and they sounded like they would like to come! By the time everyone left, I was pretty wiped out!
Thursday, November 29 – Olya’s 18th Birthday
Today was a crazy day of errands, study and preparations for this weekend and for leaving to go to the US. We (I am traveling back to New York with Kelli and then on to TX by myself for Jenise graduation) will leave on Monday to Kiev and then on Tuesday to Fly out, arriving in San Angelo, TX on Wed., the 5th. I will arrive back in Ukraine on the 28th of Dec. There probably won’t be much of a Journal for Dec. because of my travels, even though I will try to give a brief account. Some may not believe that I can do a brief account!
Friday, November 30
There is always so much to do to get ready for a trip! Things to buy, things to prepare for and not leave behind undone. I was already to go to the village for our study with our 4 11th grade girls, when they called and said that they couldn’t meet with us today just before I left. So that was a bit discouraging. Then at 5:30 Kelli called and said that Marina, the young mother of 9 month old Anya, wanted to be baptized! I studied with her before her pregnancy and now Kelli has been studying with her for the last 3 months or so. So we began to make preparations to take her to the Church building and baptize her into Christ! And about 9pm, we welcomed her into the family of God through her faith, obedience and baptism into Christ!!! Marina is our 4th new Christian this year and our 39th addition to the family! Please pray for her and her family! Her brother-in-law, Sasha, was the first to bring her to Bible Studies and Church. Many people have been involved in teaching her about Jesus. About 2 weeks ago, she told us how thankful she was that Sasha had brought her to us! We feel the same way!
Saturday, December 1 – Sasha R. Birthday (preacher in Komsomolsk)
I am going to go ahead and include this in here, too! I woke up at 3:15 this morning! Saturday morning saw a lot more errands and getting ready for a long day. At noon we celebrated Sasha’s birthday with the Bible Club and 5 of us. Then in the afternoon from 2 to 4, I worked on packing, and preparing for Kelli and Olya’s Birthday party at 7 after evening Bible Club. At 4 I went to the Church Discussion and there were 9 of us there, but no translator so I stayed only about ½ an hour for the singing and Tea, but was unable to understand enough to stay for the discussion and left at 4:30. I came home and tried to take a nap – useless! 2 phone calls and 2 people coming to the door – nap didn’t work! Bible Club at 6 saw 9 people present for the class and that was good. Then at 7, people continued to gather for the Birthday party and that was just a lot of fun with 28 people here to celebrate that. The last people left after 10pm. I am very thankful we had this fun and light time as we prepared for Kelli’s good bye tomorrow, which is going to be hard and trying for everyone! She has become such a strength and anchor here, it will be so hard to have her go! To say the least, I was pretty tired at the end of this day.
I just went back and read what my journal said over the last 2 years. 2 years ago I went to the village as I did this afternoon. This time I made 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies and took about 20 about with me. We had our 4 regular 11th grade girls and 2 of our younger kids came and we shared juice and cookies first and then had a study with the older girls – our last part of our study on the Plan of Salvation. It is so hard to have this kind of study with groups because it is so important to be able to ask the person that you are studying with if they are understanding, what they are thinking, etc. at times like this. However, both Oksana and I felt that the study went well. I came home and had about an hour before my birthday party was to start. We had 30 people come and the brought 4 cakes and many other candies and sweets besides my cookies and donuts that I made yesterday. We played games, ate, opened many wonderful presents and had a wonderful time over all!
Saturday, November 17
We had 2 for our Univ. Bible Club and 5 for our Teen Bible Club. There were 17 (I actually counted today!) at the Church Discussion at 4. Our questions today centered around the church and the Kingdom of God being one and the same.
Sunday, November 18
I woke up ill this morning about 3:30am with a stomach flu and all the yuck that goes with it. I didn’t go to services, but our young people came and got money from me, bought all the needed stuff and made the sandwiches and took care of me through the day. I also didn’t go to evening services tonight.
Monday, November 19
I am better today, but am still very weak and achy. I stayed in and in bed as much as possible all day and we didn’t go to the orphan’s home family for our study tonight. They and us were very disappointed!
Tuesday, November 20
I am getting back on my feet again and had planned to go to the village for our studies out there today, but Oksana had conflicts at her Univ. and couldn’t go, so we didn’t go. I stayed in and studied most of the day. I was supposed to have a 6th grade class at School 11 this morning, but no one came. At our Devo at 6pm, we had 11 come for our singing and Bible study. Afterwards, Kelli and I were invited to go to a private English teacher’s classes (I have gone there several times) to talk to her class conversation style. These were 6th through 8th grade kids – 5 of them. We left there about 9:30pm.
Wednesday, November 21
Today was shopping day for the Thanksgiving Dinner I will prepare for between 25 – 30 people on Friday. I bought 2 turkeys at the market and other things as well. Then I went to our big shopping store and bought the rest, spending about $100 in all for this meal. I also pealed, cleaned, chopped and cooked my pumpkin in preparation for making my pies on Friday morning. At 1:30, we had 10 5th graders at School 11 for a good and fun class! At 6pm, we moved our English Club from the Palace of Culture to my house and we had 9 for our English Club and several of our regulars weren’t able to come – so we had some new people present. The Club was from 6-8pm.
Thursday, November 22 – Happy Thanksgiving!
A Holiday – vacation! I talked to 3 of my kids and my brother and 2 of my sisters this morning and their families and that was fun!!! I did try to make sure that I got most things done before and no cooking today – that’s all tomorrow as we celebrate on Friday night. Kelli had discovered a new restaurant that she said was excellent, so met there about 1pm and ate Thanksgiving Dinner together. This very elegant restaurant and we were the only ones in it! I have no idea how restaurants can continue to exist as so few people go out to eat on a regular basis here in Kremenchuk. That was about the most eventful things that took place today! In the evening I followed the Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions on the Internet! I didn’t watch it, but followed the play by play. Better than nothing! Wow! The Pack and the Cowboys (my 2 favorite teams) are both 10-1 and play each other next Thursday! Who am I going to cheer for? Hmmmmmm as a good friend of mine says! That’s a tough one!
Friday, November 23
The cooking started in earnest at about 7am when I started cooking 4 pumpkin pies from scratch, including the crusts! I do say, I cook a pretty tasty and flaky crust! These were big pies – each 1 ½ times the regular recipe size because my pie pans are so big. While the first of these were cooking, about 9:30am, I went and picked up Zhenya who came and helped me tremendously throughout the day. She said I don’t want to get in the way of your cooking, so I will keep all your dishes washed up and she did a great job! She also helped with several other cooking things, too! Then I made crescent rolls – about 60+ of them. Then we made dressing/stuffing for the first turkey. I cleaned it and prepared it and chopped onions while Zhenya prepared the bread. The first Turkey went into the oven about 1:30 and the 2nd about 3:30. Oksana was also over for awhile this afternoon and help to clean and cut up potatoes for mashed potatoes. I got real tired around 4 and took a short nap (I did get up at 4:30 this morning). My back was really hurting too. This was a lot of cooking energy and stress that I wasn’t used to doing! By 5:30, everything was pretty much done, except cooking the potatoes. Others had come and helped to set the tables, cook the potatoes – Yulya helped to get these finished up. About 6:30 we were ready to set down to eat and only 15 people were here. Everybody brought something like sweets, cookies, salads. We also had black olives to eat – my favorite treat for the holidays. But by 7 we had 29 here! So a lot of late comers and we had enough food plus extra for everyone! About 8pm, we served the pumpkin pie with whipped topping – the spray on variety. Then we cleared the tables away, played some games, and cleaned up. The last person left at 10:10pm. Great evening!
Saturday, November 24
Ups and downs of life. We had 1 person come for the Adult/Univ. Bible Club and 1 person came for the Teen Club. In between, we had 9 of us for the Church discussion time. Also at about 3pm, Artem and Ksusha came over and we had tea and a nice visit. They are both working so many very long hours, we hardly ever see them anymore. Life is hard for Ksusha and her mother. Her mother has a 2nd hand store, but it probably makes very little. Ksusha is working as a server in a pizza place, working 14 hour days and making less that 2 Grievnas (40 cents) an hour. She is having to use this money to help her mother pay for things and for her Univ. studies as well. Very hard!
Sunday, November 25
After worship Kelli needed help with several errands she needed doing and so I helped her out, with Yura’s help too. I spent part of the afternoon working on my evening lesson. We had 11 for evening worship service.
Monday, November 26
It is just a week until I leave for the States and Jenise’s graduation on Dec. 15th. I have tons of stuff to get done, including working on my Newsletter to send to the US as well as my local newsletter, with a special edition honoring Kelli. On Dec. 16th, I will have the opportunity to have a Christmas celebration with all of my children together for the first time in a very long time!!! It will be great! I return to Ukraine on the 28th in time for the New Year Celebration and for our Christmas party on Ukrainian Christmas day of January 7th. In the evening 4 of us went and spent the evening with the Orphan family and had a good Bible Study with them. We found out that the Dad – Victor – his Dad is also dieing of cancer in another city and so he is still under a lot of stress.
Tuesday, November 27 – Kelli H.’s Birthday
I continued working on both newsletters, besides going to the village for our class with 5th – 7th grades. We had 14 today. Then we had 10 for singing and devotional study at 6pm.
Wednesday, November 28
I worked all morning on those newsletters, finishing both of them up. We are also working on a picture calendar and other things for celebration with Olya on Saturday and then her going away “party” on Sunday night. It is so hard to see her go! Today at 1:30 we had 7 5th graders for a class that was lots of fun! What a nice group of kids! We also found out some tragic news! The Director of this school, for as long as I have been coming and living in Ukraine, is going to be leaving this position December 3rd! She has been such a strong, strong supporter of us and our work, I just don’t know what we are going to do!!!! I tried to see her, but she was not in, supposedly “sick”. I would be sick too, I guess! There is no telling what this is going to mean to our work at the schools! At 2:30, I spent the next 1 ½ hours helping Kelli with trying to get things shipped back to the US and finally it was decided that the cheapest way is for her to take it by plane – still it is $100 for each container of 30 Kilograms! Wow! Then at 4 I hurried home to do some straightening up of my place and preparing for our English Club at 6. We had 6 people come and it was good. I invited them all to the upcoming holiday parties that we will have and they sounded like they would like to come! By the time everyone left, I was pretty wiped out!
Thursday, November 29 – Olya’s 18th Birthday
Today was a crazy day of errands, study and preparations for this weekend and for leaving to go to the US. We (I am traveling back to New York with Kelli and then on to TX by myself for Jenise graduation) will leave on Monday to Kiev and then on Tuesday to Fly out, arriving in San Angelo, TX on Wed., the 5th. I will arrive back in Ukraine on the 28th of Dec. There probably won’t be much of a Journal for Dec. because of my travels, even though I will try to give a brief account. Some may not believe that I can do a brief account!
Friday, November 30
There is always so much to do to get ready for a trip! Things to buy, things to prepare for and not leave behind undone. I was already to go to the village for our study with our 4 11th grade girls, when they called and said that they couldn’t meet with us today just before I left. So that was a bit discouraging. Then at 5:30 Kelli called and said that Marina, the young mother of 9 month old Anya, wanted to be baptized! I studied with her before her pregnancy and now Kelli has been studying with her for the last 3 months or so. So we began to make preparations to take her to the Church building and baptize her into Christ! And about 9pm, we welcomed her into the family of God through her faith, obedience and baptism into Christ!!! Marina is our 4th new Christian this year and our 39th addition to the family! Please pray for her and her family! Her brother-in-law, Sasha, was the first to bring her to Bible Studies and Church. Many people have been involved in teaching her about Jesus. About 2 weeks ago, she told us how thankful she was that Sasha had brought her to us! We feel the same way!
Saturday, December 1 – Sasha R. Birthday (preacher in Komsomolsk)
I am going to go ahead and include this in here, too! I woke up at 3:15 this morning! Saturday morning saw a lot more errands and getting ready for a long day. At noon we celebrated Sasha’s birthday with the Bible Club and 5 of us. Then in the afternoon from 2 to 4, I worked on packing, and preparing for Kelli and Olya’s Birthday party at 7 after evening Bible Club. At 4 I went to the Church Discussion and there were 9 of us there, but no translator so I stayed only about ½ an hour for the singing and Tea, but was unable to understand enough to stay for the discussion and left at 4:30. I came home and tried to take a nap – useless! 2 phone calls and 2 people coming to the door – nap didn’t work! Bible Club at 6 saw 9 people present for the class and that was good. Then at 7, people continued to gather for the Birthday party and that was just a lot of fun with 28 people here to celebrate that. The last people left after 10pm. I am very thankful we had this fun and light time as we prepared for Kelli’s good bye tomorrow, which is going to be hard and trying for everyone! She has become such a strength and anchor here, it will be so hard to have her go! To say the least, I was pretty tired at the end of this day.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The Future of the Lord's Work...
...In Kremenchuk is VERY Glorious IF… We have the Faith to Trust in God!!!
Romans 8:28-39 - 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
PROMISES IN JESUS THAT WE KNOW:
1. When we love God and accept His call, in all things God will work for our good!
2. That God makes us to be like Jesus, our brother.
3. That we are made to be without sin and we stand in God’s glory.
4. God is for us and no one can be against us.
5. God proves this by giving us, in love, His only Son.
6. We know that God will kindly give us all things through Jesus.
7. When are saved and walk in Jesus no one can condemn us.
8. Jesus is in Heaven interceding for us.
9. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
10. In Everything we are more than victorious in Jesus Christ.
With these promises, we have the guarantee that we can actively live today and tomorrow in faith to carry out God’s work and will in our lives! When we choose Christ and become a Christian, God gives us so much over flowing grace and mercy in our lives that we can be carried along through faith in love and joy!
We cannot live just for people or because of people, for they move in and out of our lives. But when we choose to live for Jesus Christ and His Church, His Kingdom, His Glorious return to this earth and Eternal Life in Heaven with Him, we will have a great future! The future that is this day and the tomorrow that we expect with true promise of hope and life!
Romans 8:28-39 - 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
PROMISES IN JESUS THAT WE KNOW:
1. When we love God and accept His call, in all things God will work for our good!
2. That God makes us to be like Jesus, our brother.
3. That we are made to be without sin and we stand in God’s glory.
4. God is for us and no one can be against us.
5. God proves this by giving us, in love, His only Son.
6. We know that God will kindly give us all things through Jesus.
7. When are saved and walk in Jesus no one can condemn us.
8. Jesus is in Heaven interceding for us.
9. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
10. In Everything we are more than victorious in Jesus Christ.
With these promises, we have the guarantee that we can actively live today and tomorrow in faith to carry out God’s work and will in our lives! When we choose Christ and become a Christian, God gives us so much over flowing grace and mercy in our lives that we can be carried along through faith in love and joy!
We cannot live just for people or because of people, for they move in and out of our lives. But when we choose to live for Jesus Christ and His Church, His Kingdom, His Glorious return to this earth and Eternal Life in Heaven with Him, we will have a great future! The future that is this day and the tomorrow that we expect with true promise of hope and life!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
