First Winter Snow

Kiev is under a fresh, thin blanket of winter snow tonight. As I was browsing in one of the main department stores this afternoon and observed that there was one person looking in the women's shoe department and about 60 in the women's boot area I couldn't help but wondering if this was approaching sooner than later.

It is a very fine snow so the roads are slick, but everything glows. Again, a reminder that just as the dirt and grime of the city is covered in a fresh blanket of snow, so Jesus' blood covers our sins and and ugliness of our lives to make us white as snow.

Many envision a Dr. Zhivago scene when they think of Kiev in the winter and tonight was the closest to that picture that I've seen. We got all excited -- because we were driving in a car -- not walking around in it and wanted to start listening to Christmas music. It makes me laugh because I know sooner than later I will complain about the snow, but it's good to appreciate it from the inside looking out at the winter wonderland.

This week has flown by. After returning from our retreat excursion we continued with our language classes and ministry commitments. I had another guitar lesson! And, I sang with the Bucha church choir on Friday night at their rehearsal. It was fun, but took a lot of concentration. I had to sing songs I had never heard before in a different language. My friends on both sides of me were impressed that I could read the Russian. I was worried that the Alto section was going to be reprimanded for not enunciating clearly when I would stumble through sections of the words! It will come. And, it was great fun.

And a quick update on language school for those who have been praying for me: please continue to pray for me. My teacher told us last week that she has taught us everything about the several cases, so if we don't know something it's our own fault. Ha hA Ha. I think her timetable for me to speak fluent Russian is just slightly different than my timetable. By the grace of God I continue to grasp more and more of this beautiful and extremely difficult language.