So much to say, so little time

My apologies for not blogging over the past two weeks. We've been pretty busy and unfortunately, my blogging habits don't seem to be consistent yet...

I'll do my best to give you an overview of the past couple of weeks. We had the opportunity to attend the Franklin Graham Evangelism conference here in Kiev. It's always great to hear messages in your native tongue! It was also fun to see Ukrainians encouraged in their faith and excited about going home and sharing what they've learned with their church. Interestingly, we met in the large auditorium in Kiev. It's quite an old building with ornate fixtures. Victor told us to explore the building in our spare time because it was originally built as a prison where they held many Christians during communism and then used as a school, and now open to organizations such as the evangelism conference that we attended. Praise the Lord! There is such interesting history here.

We are staying with 3 mk's while their parents are in the states. It's great to have a little more space and also nice to get to know the girls better. The dog, which there is a picture of with Sarah keeps us on our toes. They live a short 10 minute mashrutka ride away. So, I am certain when we traveled with all of our stuff, there were many raised eyebrows. And, as we walked up to their building in the pouring down rain, we were reminded of the fact that we are not used to taking taxis.. WHAT were we thinking, not taking a taxi with our suitcases, etc? We made it safe and sound.

It's been fun to get involved with the youth group here. The youth pastor and his wife have had a discouraging year, and so we are praying that we can be a blessing and encouragement to them during our stay. The junior highers in particular have been really excited to start a fresh new year! The youth pastor is finishing up seminary this year. Pray that God will direct them as they decide what He wants for them in the coming years.

Once again, transportation continues to be a challenge. This past Wednesday morning, we needed to travel from the home we are staying at back to KCU to teach English composition. We waited for the mashrutka, only to be passed by a couple of times because it was so full... By the way, I didn't know there was such a thing as no more room on a mashrutka... ha ha ha; and there was a traffic jam, so we decided that we could probably walk just as fast, or faster. We intended to walk a little way and ten when the traffic cleared to catch another bus. We ended up walking the whole way--about 45 minutes. You just never know here. All the more reason to always wear comfortable shoes! :)

We have enjoyed having some friends over for dinner and also being invited to many Ukrainians homes for meals. Yesterday was the highlight. We had dinner with some people that I've met on previous visits and they had a couple over who are friends of theirs. The husband is Ukrainian and the wife is from the middle east. She came to Kiev to study architecture. She met her husband and stayed here in Kiev. They started attending a local church here and she became a christian about a year ago. After dinner we sat around the table and she fired questions at us about our faith and God and the christian life in general. It was great! We are going to get together with them again in a couple of weeks.

There are days when I think, I want to stay here for another 6 months; then there are days when I want to come home tomorrow. I guess that's part of living life an ocean away. It's hard to believe that our stay is almost half over. I wish I could transport many of you over here. I want to share the sights, the tastes, and even the smells with you. I miss processing so much of my experience with you all. I've learned so much -- about God, about Ukraine, and even about myself.

I haven't met with the parliament members yet about the street children. There were several members ill the day we were supposed to meet. So it is being rescheduled. I am still looking forward to this dialogue.

I had my first guitar lesson!!!!!!!!!! Yeah! I can play the melody from Yesterday and 2 chords!

Thanks for all of your prayers. I am doing well. Enjoying many new experiences and facing new challenges. I have a nasty cold. Please pray that I can quick get over this before the weather gets much worse.