Just to mention a couple of things... language classes are going a bit better. I am hesitant to say this, because it is only by the grace of God that I seem to be understanding a bit more these days... Please keep praying that this continues to click. I have a new appreciation for the beauty of the Russian language and the value of each word that they use!
And, oh, how I miss having my own vehicle! :) Public transportation has some benefits, i.e. getting us all around a large city with relative ease, but oh, my it is time consuming!
The weather continues to hover in the low 70's daily. It's been a nice long fall. I'm sure some of you Michiganders are jealous! Just enjoy the football games and apple orchard strolls for me this year!
I miss many people. It is a completely different perspective to be here for several months than when I typically hop over and back so quickly. But, I continue to enjoy new experiences and meeting people from all over the world. Instead of people saying they are from Jenison or Caledonia, it's a lot of fun to meet people from U.K., Central Asia, Russia, Hungary and many other countries just this week! Of course, I am completely in my element as we talk about what they experience there and how they see Kiev through a different lense.
Thanks for your continued prayers of encouragement!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Sunday
Today was another great day at Bucha Church. After the service, Victor came up to me and said, “Amy, I’ve been gathering information and everyone wants to know why you did not sing today?” HA! We will be here for 4.5 months and I brought 3 songs to sing. Hmm. There may be a lot of repetition happening if they expect me to sing every week.
My compromise is that I think I will join their choir. This will mean getting to a couple of practices, but it will be fun. I’ve always enjoyed listening to them, now I’ll get to sing with them! Oh, yeah, I have to sing in Russian and Ukrainian with them. I think my Russian teacher will be happy to hear this!
The service was very interesting. The first sermon was preached by Victor and then the second message was by the associate pastor (so Victor translated for us) and it was about civic involvement and about voting and politics. It was particularly interesting to me and also very interesting to hear a Ukrainian perspective.
My compromise is that I think I will join their choir. This will mean getting to a couple of practices, but it will be fun. I’ve always enjoyed listening to them, now I’ll get to sing with them! Oh, yeah, I have to sing in Russian and Ukrainian with them. I think my Russian teacher will be happy to hear this!
The service was very interesting. The first sermon was preached by Victor and then the second message was by the associate pastor (so Victor translated for us) and it was about civic involvement and about voting and politics. It was particularly interesting to me and also very interesting to hear a Ukrainian perspective.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Some new pictures!
The heel sticker is a caution woman driver sign! HA HA HA! You can bet that if I was driving here I would NOT sport one of these!
I love Kiev in the fall!
I love Kiev in the fall. Maybe because my first memories are from coming here mid October… People are excited to be outside enjoying the sunshine, just like in Michigan we appreciate the nice weather while it’s there to be had!
We had another good week. The language classes make everything go by very quickly. It feels like I’ve been studying Russian for three years, not three weeks! LOL! I wish I had the knowledge of three years of studying this difficult language!!! Please pray for me as I continue to struggle with this process. This week there will be a special 3 hour lecture on Russian grammar in English. I am hoping and praying that some of this craziness will make a little more sense after Wednesday.
Some of you have prompted me to be more consistent in my blogging. Sorry about that. I will do my best.
Here are some additional updates:
My teaching is going well. I particularly enjoy challenging my students in the Missions Overview Course I am teaching. It is great to discuss God’s holiness and how He reveals Himself. We have talked quite a bit about contextualization and had some great discussions about how diverse Ukraine is. Eastern Ukraine is much more blue collar and the people are typically much more aligned with Russia, while Western Ukraine is more independent, speaking mainly Ukrainian now and holding on to their heritage. It is great fun. I am enjoying it immensely, hopefully they are too! I ate lunch with some of them on Friday. It has been a great pleasure to get to know them out of the classroom too.
Language. We talked about that. I am grateful for the opportunity to be immersed in Russian. I remind myself of this periodically!
Church. It has been a joy to see my brothers and sisters from Bucha Church on a much more consistent basis than what I have ever had the privilege of previously. They are such a blessing and encouragement as they greet us with their smiles and are excited when we speak even broken Russian to them! I continue to be overwhelmed with the love I feel and the joy that is expressed towards me when I see my dear brothers and sisters. I am excited to get more involved with the youth program there. Many of the students hang out with me after services to practice their English. I hope to get to know them much better and be able to challenge some in their spiritual journey.
We also had the privilege of visiting a new church plant in Kiev last Sunday afternoon. In Ustka this summer I walked away feeling like I had just seen God, like Moses on the mountain. Last Sunday afternoon, I left that church service feeling like God was standing in our midst. I felt His breath and touched His hands as we took communion together. The new congregation is made up of about 30 people, all under the age of 30 as well. They are from all over the world. We met a very nice woman from Cuba who immigrated with her family several years ago who translated for us. They are all new believers. It was such a blessing to hear their stories both during the service as they shared how God had provided for them throughout the week and also after the service as Rustam, their pastor invited them to talk with us more because we had ‘much experience with God’. We met people from all over the world who are in love with Jesus. I will refer to them generally and not use specific names or countries to protect them. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
We are getting to know our way around the city better each day. I am grateful that we have had such pleasant weather. As I become more comfortable with getting on the right mashrutka and going the right way on the subway it is fun to see what new things I notice. There are little grocery stores everywhere. Little being the operative word there… Today I noticed a protestant church and another more ornate building just down the road, I will assume it’s a Russian Orthodox church. It is such a fascinating place with so many new discoveries to be made. The most exciting part to me is the friendships; many that I’ve started to build several years ago; and some newer relationships just starting. Some of the high school and college aged students that I’m becoming reacquainted with are young children that would smile and giggle with us when we came 8 – 10 years ago. Now they are actively serving God in their church and in their community. Please pray that God would continue to open up doors for us to challenge their spiritual walk and use us in some way to make Him real to them.
I affectionately refer to Ukraine as the country with many stairs. There are stairs going down to the subway, going under the roads – they seldom cross the street at road level, they have underground walkways, which of course you use stairs to get down to and back up to the street. My ankle has held up remarkably well. Please continue to pray that it remains strong, particularly as the weather gets colder.
I’ll end with another humorous mashrutka story. I have avoided the smaller vans because of the ridiculously high volume of people that are typically crammed in these vehicles. However, this past week I visited a youth ministry class at the Kiev Christian Seminary and the easiest directions to follow were for me to ride one of these mashrutkas. So, as I got on, I inadvertently stepped on a man’s foot. He yelled at me in Russian for what felt like half of the ride, but was actually only a couple of minutes. And, I would like to point out that I had my feet stepped on three times before exiting the vehicle, and, no I didn’t yell at any of them. Those who know me well will be surprised and impressed that I just said excuse me in Russian and sat quietly. Never mind that I couldn’t really say anything else, otherwise he would have been yelling at me in one language and I at him in another…So, later this week someone was asking me why I wanted to learn Russian. Because I want to communicate… this is obvious, isn’t it? But then I was reminded of the mashrutka incident and how I wanted to say something back to the man chastising me. And, then, I was reminded of the many people that I want to encourage in their faith; the many that I want to explain how much God loves them; the children who wonder why I would come here; the other English speakers that I want to help and keep safe in their travels in the future. I guess the language learning is worth the effort after all.
Well, I think this is probably more than enough information for one blog! Thank you for your prayers. It has been interesting to adjust to living in a city of 4.5 million people and be dependent on public transportation. God is good. We see His hand of protection and provision daily!
Here is my snail mail address:
Ukrainian Center For Christian Cooperation
16 Ivana Kudri Street
Kiev, 01042, Ukraine
I’ve been told that mail is quite reliable and typically reaches Ukraine in about a week.
And, for those a little more impatient and who have an international phone card: my cell phone is 011-38-096-468-1614…just remember that there is a 7 hour time difference, when it is 4:00 at home, it is 11 pm here!
We had another good week. The language classes make everything go by very quickly. It feels like I’ve been studying Russian for three years, not three weeks! LOL! I wish I had the knowledge of three years of studying this difficult language!!! Please pray for me as I continue to struggle with this process. This week there will be a special 3 hour lecture on Russian grammar in English. I am hoping and praying that some of this craziness will make a little more sense after Wednesday.
Some of you have prompted me to be more consistent in my blogging. Sorry about that. I will do my best.
Here are some additional updates:
My teaching is going well. I particularly enjoy challenging my students in the Missions Overview Course I am teaching. It is great to discuss God’s holiness and how He reveals Himself. We have talked quite a bit about contextualization and had some great discussions about how diverse Ukraine is. Eastern Ukraine is much more blue collar and the people are typically much more aligned with Russia, while Western Ukraine is more independent, speaking mainly Ukrainian now and holding on to their heritage. It is great fun. I am enjoying it immensely, hopefully they are too! I ate lunch with some of them on Friday. It has been a great pleasure to get to know them out of the classroom too.
Language. We talked about that. I am grateful for the opportunity to be immersed in Russian. I remind myself of this periodically!
Church. It has been a joy to see my brothers and sisters from Bucha Church on a much more consistent basis than what I have ever had the privilege of previously. They are such a blessing and encouragement as they greet us with their smiles and are excited when we speak even broken Russian to them! I continue to be overwhelmed with the love I feel and the joy that is expressed towards me when I see my dear brothers and sisters. I am excited to get more involved with the youth program there. Many of the students hang out with me after services to practice their English. I hope to get to know them much better and be able to challenge some in their spiritual journey.
We also had the privilege of visiting a new church plant in Kiev last Sunday afternoon. In Ustka this summer I walked away feeling like I had just seen God, like Moses on the mountain. Last Sunday afternoon, I left that church service feeling like God was standing in our midst. I felt His breath and touched His hands as we took communion together. The new congregation is made up of about 30 people, all under the age of 30 as well. They are from all over the world. We met a very nice woman from Cuba who immigrated with her family several years ago who translated for us. They are all new believers. It was such a blessing to hear their stories both during the service as they shared how God had provided for them throughout the week and also after the service as Rustam, their pastor invited them to talk with us more because we had ‘much experience with God’. We met people from all over the world who are in love with Jesus. I will refer to them generally and not use specific names or countries to protect them. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
We are getting to know our way around the city better each day. I am grateful that we have had such pleasant weather. As I become more comfortable with getting on the right mashrutka and going the right way on the subway it is fun to see what new things I notice. There are little grocery stores everywhere. Little being the operative word there… Today I noticed a protestant church and another more ornate building just down the road, I will assume it’s a Russian Orthodox church. It is such a fascinating place with so many new discoveries to be made. The most exciting part to me is the friendships; many that I’ve started to build several years ago; and some newer relationships just starting. Some of the high school and college aged students that I’m becoming reacquainted with are young children that would smile and giggle with us when we came 8 – 10 years ago. Now they are actively serving God in their church and in their community. Please pray that God would continue to open up doors for us to challenge their spiritual walk and use us in some way to make Him real to them.
I affectionately refer to Ukraine as the country with many stairs. There are stairs going down to the subway, going under the roads – they seldom cross the street at road level, they have underground walkways, which of course you use stairs to get down to and back up to the street. My ankle has held up remarkably well. Please continue to pray that it remains strong, particularly as the weather gets colder.
I’ll end with another humorous mashrutka story. I have avoided the smaller vans because of the ridiculously high volume of people that are typically crammed in these vehicles. However, this past week I visited a youth ministry class at the Kiev Christian Seminary and the easiest directions to follow were for me to ride one of these mashrutkas. So, as I got on, I inadvertently stepped on a man’s foot. He yelled at me in Russian for what felt like half of the ride, but was actually only a couple of minutes. And, I would like to point out that I had my feet stepped on three times before exiting the vehicle, and, no I didn’t yell at any of them. Those who know me well will be surprised and impressed that I just said excuse me in Russian and sat quietly. Never mind that I couldn’t really say anything else, otherwise he would have been yelling at me in one language and I at him in another…So, later this week someone was asking me why I wanted to learn Russian. Because I want to communicate… this is obvious, isn’t it? But then I was reminded of the mashrutka incident and how I wanted to say something back to the man chastising me. And, then, I was reminded of the many people that I want to encourage in their faith; the many that I want to explain how much God loves them; the children who wonder why I would come here; the other English speakers that I want to help and keep safe in their travels in the future. I guess the language learning is worth the effort after all.
Well, I think this is probably more than enough information for one blog! Thank you for your prayers. It has been interesting to adjust to living in a city of 4.5 million people and be dependent on public transportation. God is good. We see His hand of protection and provision daily!
Here is my snail mail address:
Ukrainian Center For Christian Cooperation
16 Ivana Kudri Street
Kiev, 01042, Ukraine
I’ve been told that mail is quite reliable and typically reaches Ukraine in about a week.
And, for those a little more impatient and who have an international phone card: my cell phone is 011-38-096-468-1614…just remember that there is a 7 hour time difference, when it is 4:00 at home, it is 11 pm here!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Kiev 2006
What makes you smile?
This week as I was teaching my missions class, I asked them, 'What makes you smile?' Then I asked, 'What makes God smile?'
We, in our humaness, focus on the physical and circumstances. I think our motives make God either smile or bring tears to His eyes. We looked at passages in Isaiah and Psalms to remind us what it means to bring God glory. It was a lot of fun to talk with people from a totally different background and perspective about this. We have so much to learn from each other and to challenge each other with.
Psalm 51:10-12
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me."
It's been another good, busy week. Fall weather is coming to Ukraine. It's been beautiful and sunny all week. We are looking forward to visiting a multi cultural church plant in the heart of Kiev on Sunday afternoon. It is so wonderful to serve a God who loves the world!
This week as I was teaching my missions class, I asked them, 'What makes you smile?' Then I asked, 'What makes God smile?'
We, in our humaness, focus on the physical and circumstances. I think our motives make God either smile or bring tears to His eyes. We looked at passages in Isaiah and Psalms to remind us what it means to bring God glory. It was a lot of fun to talk with people from a totally different background and perspective about this. We have so much to learn from each other and to challenge each other with.
Psalm 51:10-12
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me."
It's been another good, busy week. Fall weather is coming to Ukraine. It's been beautiful and sunny all week. We are looking forward to visiting a multi cultural church plant in the heart of Kiev on Sunday afternoon. It is so wonderful to serve a God who loves the world!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Kiev 2006
Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck...
Sarah and I were walking the other day, as we do everyday, and she stops abruptly and picks something up. She excitedly proclaims that she's found 1 KOPEK on the ground. I begin laughing histerically... doubling over in laughter because the exchange rate is 5 greaven per dollar. There are 100 Kopeks in a greaven. So because of my hysteria, Sarah is on a mission. She wants to find a greaven before we leave in January. The moral of the story is that you can take the girl out of Grand Rapids, but you can't take the Grand Rapids out of the girl!
Sarah and I were walking the other day, as we do everyday, and she stops abruptly and picks something up. She excitedly proclaims that she's found 1 KOPEK on the ground. I begin laughing histerically... doubling over in laughter because the exchange rate is 5 greaven per dollar. There are 100 Kopeks in a greaven. So because of my hysteria, Sarah is on a mission. She wants to find a greaven before we leave in January. The moral of the story is that you can take the girl out of Grand Rapids, but you can't take the Grand Rapids out of the girl!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Kiev 2006
Kiev 2006 On Saturday Sarah and I ventured down Kreshatick Street. It was a pretty fall day. We had errands to run, and when you are trying to figure out which store carries what, the errands take a little longer than usual!
A couple of cultural observations: right away we saw a young man in Levi's with an ipod carrying a man purse! That's globalization...
Everywhere you go here, in the subway stations, anywhere there's a line or a wait pretty much, they are playing music or fashion videos. It struck me that there is not BBC news or CNN or Ukrainian news. In talking with friends here, my suspicion is that the general populous is fed up with hearing news and then finding out that it is skewed or untrue or biased because of influences. Interesting contrast to the states where we have news everywhere, with very few people concerned with the influence or bias. Perhaps we (the states) should be more concerned... and Ukraine, well, I pray for the day to come soon when they can trust what they hear.
It was a good day. Time to relax and be outside and get some things done. One of the revelations that is sinking in, is that to be a 'missionary' is to simply live life wherever. "As you are going,..."
A couple of cultural observations: right away we saw a young man in Levi's with an ipod carrying a man purse! That's globalization...
Everywhere you go here, in the subway stations, anywhere there's a line or a wait pretty much, they are playing music or fashion videos. It struck me that there is not BBC news or CNN or Ukrainian news. In talking with friends here, my suspicion is that the general populous is fed up with hearing news and then finding out that it is skewed or untrue or biased because of influences. Interesting contrast to the states where we have news everywhere, with very few people concerned with the influence or bias. Perhaps we (the states) should be more concerned... and Ukraine, well, I pray for the day to come soon when they can trust what they hear.
It was a good day. Time to relax and be outside and get some things done. One of the revelations that is sinking in, is that to be a 'missionary' is to simply live life wherever. "As you are going,..."
Saturday in Kiev
This gate with the sunshine behind it reminded me of God's light that is penetrating the darkness here in Kiev and around the world... You can't see the hammer and sickle detail all over the arch... makes the analogy all the more symbolic. 
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Photos from the week
walking into the orphanage in Bucha
waiting in the lobby, patiently...
Sunday morning was communion at Bucha Church
Victor casting his God given vision to me as we stand in the entry of the dormotory building at the Village of Hope. 
waiting in the lobby, patiently...
Sunday morning was communion at Bucha Church 
Victor casting his God given vision to me as we stand in the entry of the dormotory building at the Village of Hope.
Kiev 2006
Kiev 2006
This week has flown! The team from Calvary has been busy with school visits, orphanage presentations, working in the Village of Hope, and a medical clinic. They are all serving whole heartedly and doing a great job. We've had a lot of fun spending any extra time we can manage to find visiting with them. Yesterday we got to visit a local school and orphanage with them. It was great to see the whole team, ages 8 - 40 sharing the gospel with a skit and then speaking to the children. I was reminded of Romans 10... "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news..."
This week I started teaching my missions overview as well as English composition. Both are challenging and will hopefully serve to be rewarding at several points throughout the semester. Today while chatting about holidays I shared with the missions class how strange it will be to teach on Thanksgiving. Maybe we'll have to have a cultural party on that day and I'll invite them all over for turkey! :) We'll see.
We also started Russian classes this week. Hmmm. Where to start. For my friends who have struggled through learning another language, you feel my pain! It has been intense. I know it will prove to be refining and rewarding, but today it was just plain overwhelming. When my teacher and the other 2 students in the class are waiting for a response and there is simply NOTHING there to regurgitate, it's stressful! Oh well, what doesn't kill me will make me stronger, right??? I'm trying to smile...
And, speaking of smiling, the mashrutka fiasko. On Monday we were getting a little haughty on our way home, proud of all the maps we've read and metro stops we've manuevered successfully. I cautioned that it was only a matter of time... and then within minutes we got on a mashrutka that went the opposite way of where we needed to go -- home. So, now we joke that we are making friends with the public transportation workers, who speak no English, but now are very concerned everytime we get on one of their little busses that we are heading in the right direction. And, yes, we see them every day, so our mistake is a constant reminder to be careful. I think the other riders in the mashrutka are jealous of our newfound friendship with the drivers and their assistants. The story of the two crzay American women has traveled quickly.
I hope I've adequately conveyed that there have been tears of frustration and a lot of laughter this week! Thank you for your prayers!
This week has flown! The team from Calvary has been busy with school visits, orphanage presentations, working in the Village of Hope, and a medical clinic. They are all serving whole heartedly and doing a great job. We've had a lot of fun spending any extra time we can manage to find visiting with them. Yesterday we got to visit a local school and orphanage with them. It was great to see the whole team, ages 8 - 40 sharing the gospel with a skit and then speaking to the children. I was reminded of Romans 10... "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news..."
This week I started teaching my missions overview as well as English composition. Both are challenging and will hopefully serve to be rewarding at several points throughout the semester. Today while chatting about holidays I shared with the missions class how strange it will be to teach on Thanksgiving. Maybe we'll have to have a cultural party on that day and I'll invite them all over for turkey! :) We'll see.
We also started Russian classes this week. Hmmm. Where to start. For my friends who have struggled through learning another language, you feel my pain! It has been intense. I know it will prove to be refining and rewarding, but today it was just plain overwhelming. When my teacher and the other 2 students in the class are waiting for a response and there is simply NOTHING there to regurgitate, it's stressful! Oh well, what doesn't kill me will make me stronger, right??? I'm trying to smile...
And, speaking of smiling, the mashrutka fiasko. On Monday we were getting a little haughty on our way home, proud of all the maps we've read and metro stops we've manuevered successfully. I cautioned that it was only a matter of time... and then within minutes we got on a mashrutka that went the opposite way of where we needed to go -- home. So, now we joke that we are making friends with the public transportation workers, who speak no English, but now are very concerned everytime we get on one of their little busses that we are heading in the right direction. And, yes, we see them every day, so our mistake is a constant reminder to be careful. I think the other riders in the mashrutka are jealous of our newfound friendship with the drivers and their assistants. The story of the two crzay American women has traveled quickly.
I hope I've adequately conveyed that there have been tears of frustration and a lot of laughter this week! Thank you for your prayers!
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