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!