Readjusting

Things are different. It's interesting. The eight months we spent in the Ukraine went by very quickly but at the same time it has felt like a long time. This past week has been mostly recovering from the jet leg and getting things in order with our car and my school. We have our car again which is a nice luxury. Our friends Brett and Rachael had our car while we were gone. They came by and hungout with us Friday and Saturday. We went out to Canmore with them to do a short hike and to catch up. This was very pleasant. To walk and visit. In Ukraine we walked a lot and had gotten used to this but here we have become lazy with our car. And then visiting freely with our friends was quite a treat as well. Not just visiting but talking about spiritual matters as well. I found this quite refreshing. To visit about everything and anything and being comfortable to do so. Sadly though they have moved to Lloydminster so we will only get to see them once in awhile.




Our first Sunday back to Journey church brought mixed feelings. We enjoyed seeing everyone again and catching up. We enjoyed singing in English and having Canadian pizza afterwards. Oh, I have forgotten how soft and tasty our pizza is. But a part of me was sad as well. My thoughts would linger to our congregation in the Ukraine and our friends there. A part of me wishes I could be with them but I know our time is to be here now.

Today, Laurie and I went to Ambrose to visit with a counselor there. The lady there has had many experiences with missions work and moving around so she was able to help us speak through our experiences. She helped us work through some emotional aspects of our leaving and readjusting. Its interesting. Our emotions are connected with everything we do...even if we don't realize it.

This week we are taking a trip. I have a new nephew, Alexander. So we are going to Camrose to see him and the family.

I am procrastinating. I have two more assignments that need to get done for my school in the next couple of weeks. But I plan to focus much attention on them when we get back. Until then...

Final Goodbyes

Our last week in Donetsk was a pleasure, stressful, sad and exciting. And all of these emotions at once were quite overwhelming. On Wednesday the students at UBI held a program and a lunch for us. It was quite a treat. They sang a song in English for us and we played some games. The first game tested our Russian skills. They gave us a bunch of pictures and we had to tell them what they were in Russian and if we didn't know then we had to act it out. I let Bruno do most of the acting. Then Bogdan had three of the students play the chubby bunny game except instead of saying chubby bunny they had to say, “Bruno and Laurie.” It was funny but ended up a little messy. Another game we played they had Bruno and I blindfolded and holding hands while people tried to sneak through us as we tried to catch them between our arms by squatting down.



These two little girls, Regina and Masha won that game as we didn't even move when they walked through because they were so quiet. It was a fun game, but with all that squatting we were quite sore the next couple of days. Then of course was some nice speeches and a gift and afterwards we enjoyed a hotdog lunch together. Now you might be thinking, “hotdogs aren't that great," but I must let you know that a Ukrainian hotdog is a little different. Its more like a hearty salad in a bun with a fat hotdog. They treated us so kindly.




Friday was a very busy day for us. In the morning we sorted through the Journey Church donations of t-shirts and stuffed turtles because we had planned the day before to give them out to children at the TB hospital. The younger kids loved the turtles and were especially excited about the notes that came with the turtles. They kept coming over to us and asking us what they said. With our limited Russian skills we translated them all to say that 'God loves you' and that the children in Canada who made them hope that you enjoy your new toy. That wasn't entirely an accurate translation of all the notes but it was the best we could do on the spot. And the kids were thrilled and showed us their new chillipakas (turtles) and little notes over and over.





There were also several young teenagers present when we were there also. They each accepted a turtle, but there was a drastic change in their attitudes when we brought out the t-shirts. It was quite amusing actually because there was not enough t-shirts for everyone but the teenage girls loved the shirts so much they were begging to each get one. They pulled them on immediately and were just so excited and giggly afterwards. They seemed a little shy about their excitement at first but I showed them a picture of how I had already been trying on the shirts too as you can see in the picture below.



After we delivered these things we went back to UBI to share one last borscht meal with the staff and students at UBI. It was fun to have one last fellowship with them all and then we started in on all our goodbyes. That evening we went out with some youth from church for a final goodbye too. Then Saturday we walked around town with Bogdon and then along with Bogdon, Lena and Marina came over to our house for a meal. And we sent them home that evening with bags of stuff from our house that we didn't want to transport back to Canada. It'll be interesting to hear if they figured out what to cook with our strange Canadian spices and condiments.

On Sunday Bruno preached which was a little more challenging to do with all that he had on his mind that morning. But he still delivered a very encouraging message from 2 Peter. And then we got to say our goodbyes at church too. Several of the babooshkas (grandmas) there had knitted us some little things to take home. I'm trying to explain to Bruno what a doily is, but he's having trouble understanding why anyone would use such a thing. I tease him but in all honesty there is one item that these grandmas gave us that I can't figure out either. Maybe it's a pin cushion. It was very sweet of them all to go to such effort. It was wonderful and challenging to so many goodbyes. Wonderful to have one last visit with so many and challenging to say goodbye not knowing when or if we will see them each again this side of heaven.

Our final goodbyes at the airport were the most challenging I think. With Bogdon and Nazar especially who have truly become like brothers to us. We truly hope that someday we will get a chance to go visit them again and see what God is doing in their lives.

Our flights home went very smoothly and the view from up high was breathtaking. We very much enjoy Lufthansa and all the food and services they provide. In the Munich Airport we found that they have free cappuccinos for their quests. It comes from machines but you can get sorts of different lattes and mochas and such... I think there was like 12 options to choose from. We were a little shocked at first and trying to figure out if they were free or not. But a man overheard us speaking in English and assured us it was all free. This was a little shocking to us as we are quite used to speaking freely in English to each other without being understood by anyone around. We'll have to be conscious now that our conversations can be understood around us.



So now we are home and experiencing a lovely case of jet leg. I have been up since 2am and Bruno since about 3:30 ... it'll take us a few days to adjust. But it is nice to start seeing all the people we love here again. We hope to catch up with all you in the near future.

Rest, the circus and wrap up.

Our past week was quite quiet. The staff and students at UBI had their fall break last week and many of them took this time to have a break from Donetsk. We didn't have much to do either so we shopped, walked and hung out with our friend Nazar for pretty much the whole week.



I bought a pair of jeans in the open market and made Laurie laugh. This is because I was changing behind a curtain and apparently I wasn't using the curtain properly. She said my butt was hanging out pretty much the whole time!

On Saturday we treated ourselves to an outing to the circus. Quite affordable actually, only about 15 bucks for the two of us to go. Our expectations were fairly low at first thinking it would be an animal show more than acrobatics but the first act made us realize we were in for a treat. There was high flying flips, swinging from poles, lots of humor and a live band. The good definitely out weighed the bad. Afterwards though our ears craved silence...sooo many kids having sooo much fun.





This week is our last and it is filling up quickly. Today we did some errands and visits. Now everyone wants to see us before we leave. Tomorrow we think the students at UBI are doing something for us. We were asking Lena earlier today if her and Vova wanted to come over for a visit and a meal after classes tomorrow but Lena laughed and said we couldn't have guests tomorrow because we ARE the guests at UBI tomorrow. That was the first we had heard of that ... so I guess we'll see what thats all about tomorrow.

Last Friday we found out that the postal office has two packages for us. We assume they are the boxes from Journey church VBS program. They have shirts and stuffed animals in them. We were hoping they would be delivered today but not so far. We were told that they could come at five or even tomorrow so we are hoping for sooner rather than later. If we can we will deliver these donations before we go but it all depends on when they get delivered and if we can organize where to take them soon.

This will be our last post from the Ukraine as we leave on Sunday and our time is quickly being booked up this week. We will of course post another when we get back to Calgary. I'm sure there will be plenty to share from this week and our trip home. Thank you for following our journey thus far.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone back home is enjoying a good Thanksgiving Day holiday with all the good turkey and pie. Thanksgiving is not celebrated here so it's business as usual for all of us. The students at UBI, though have this week off for fall break. So life around the school is a bit quieter right now as many of the students are home with friends and family for the week.

Our past week was fairly quiet. We went with Jay Don and Mary Lee to a cardiac children's hospital where we were served a little lunch with a couple of the doctors there. Doctor Natalia, whom we had met at the Christian conference in Crimea a few weeks ago gave us a tour of the hospital. It was a little shocking as there were several beds in each room and not a single heart monitor in any of them. There was one room that she was very excited to show us as it had all the new equipment that Christians had donated to them. This was a nicer room and it had a treadmill and another machine that you can do some heart testing/monitoring with. It also had one portable defibrillator machine. It was a little shocking to see how little they had for all these children with heart conditions and yet Doctor Natalia and the others were obviously excited by these great new equipment pieces they had recently received. We also learned that this is also a teaching hospital so they have a few research rooms as well but we didn't see them.

On Wednesday we decided to take Jay Don and Mary Lee out for a nice meal as a 'thank you' for all that they have done for us here. We've really appreciated them letting us tag along with them and showing us around the Ukraine and their ministries here. So we went to a nice restaurant that we hadn't been to in a while and we had a great time visiting with them. But at 2:30 in the morning Bruno got out of bed and began a very restless night for the both of us. Bruno had food poisoning!!! I have never seen him so sick. I felt so bad for him, but there really isn't a whole lot you can do for someone that sick. He spent most of Thursday in bed and sleeping. And I went to the school for a bit to cancel some of our plans. We were supposed to have a friend over Thursday evening and Bruno was supposed to be doing the chapel talk on Friday, but his illness made both of those impossible. But by Friday evening he was almost 100% back to normal. I say 'almost' because his stomach obviously shrank through this ordeal because he has been eating far less than normal and far less than I am for 4 days now. I hope he gets his full appetite back soon ... I'm not too fond of out-eating my husband at every meal. :)

Yesterday Bruno preached at church again and I think he is now also scheduled to preach the morning of the 25^th right before we catch our flight home. That's right ... two more weeks and we'll be coming back to give many of you a big hug. See ya soon!

Why did the chicken cross the road...?

To meet death. That is, the tire of our taxi! I think our taxi driver was proud of himself he chucked quite a bit. Yesterday was an interesting and tiring day. Our plan was to visit and speak at a small congregation about two hours west of Donetsk and then to join in their fall harvest celebration lunch. Last time we went we had a friend drive us in his van but this time he was unavailable so we rented a taxi instead. The village we were heading to is called New Gregory. Jay Don had been there many times before but wasn't sure how to get there exactly. Our driver had a map and found the town on it so we figured we would head out. We also had another option of following a van that was taking another congregation there as well but we were early and they were late so we decided to go on our own. That was a mistake.

About two hours later we find ourselves on a rough looking road in the middle of nowhere. We were suppose to be there then but in fact we had no idea where we were. Our translator called the Pastor at the New Gregory congregation and through him we learn that there are three villages/towns in our province named New Gregory!!! And of course we had set out towards the wrong one...in fact we drove almost 100 kms in the opposite direction of the town we were trying to get to.

Five and a half hours later we made it to our destination. Everything was finished, the celebration lunch was over and many people had already left. So we just visited with a few there and they were gracious to us and fed us. We had to rush though because another small congregation about an hour away was hoping to see us. We arrived there near the tail end of the service but in time for Jay Don to give a message. We visited and took time to see the Pastor's house. The Pastor and his wife recently bought a big home with the intention of having a congregation meet there.

We then headed out to Slavic's rehab center. Which is basically three homes being used communally for addicts trying to get dry, away from the city. Slavic is a graduate from UBI and had a vision to help addicts recover. When he inherited his grandma's home and bought the next door house he invited addicts to come live with him to recover. He sets them up with a program of work, study and devotionals to keep them busy during the withdrawal. I don't know how long his program is or the details of it but he has had a fairly high success rate from my understanding.

It was interesting to visit the center because it is in its primitive state right now. The buildings are old and they are in the process of remodeling them to better suit their needs. I think we saw it at its worst but I'm sure it will be a lot nicer when the work is done. We would have liked to stay longer but we still had another two hour drive back to Donetsk. In total we spend almost eight hours on the road and had some excitements. We saw many chickens cross the road and one that didn't make it. While we were lost we passed a big truck hauling a John Deer tracker and because we kept pulling over to read the map or trying alternate roads, we passed that same truck and tractor four times. And we saw many...many farm fields. It was quite the scenic tour, but we feel like we have seen quite a lot of the Ukrainian country side now.

The rest of our week wasn't as eventful. On Tuesday we went and delivered some toys we bought for a children's AIDS hospital. Our timing wasn't so great because we arrived during nap time but there was one group of toddlers who hadn't gone to bed yet. So we visited with them and gave them the toys. They were very cute and you could tell some of them were confused while others were happy to have new toys. This hospital currently has eighty two kids from six years old to newborns. Half of them have been confirmed to have AIDS while the others are tested continually because the disease sometimes takes up to 18 months to show up in the tests. If the child is found to be free of AIDS they are given back to the parent or placed in an orphanage. They said they have fourteen kids there who were true orphans with no relatives at all. Laurie and Mary Lee would have stayed there all day with the kids but it was their nap time so we had to leave.

We also continue to open our home to the teenagers and college age people we have met here. We had several of these friends over Wednesday night for dinner and games. And on Saturday we had a small English class and then hung out with some of our students afterwards. I have been making progress on my assignments but I also have been asked to speak in chapel and church this week so I'm being occupied with that and planning our last few weeks here as well.

Pleasantly Surprised

Ordzhonikidze is a small town on the East coast of Crimea and the landscape is beautiful. We arrived there Wednesday night around 11pm after an eight hour bus ride. We were all tired and went to bed shortly afterwards. We drove down with Jay Don and Mary Lee, 4 other American missionaries who helped organize and fund the conference, and 3 orphans. We were put up in a local motel that was quaint. It gave us privacy but had a few let downs. Thursday was a free day for us to explore the town and recover from the long drive. Laurie and I spent our time walking and hiking. The area has many hills and peaks to discover from which you can take beautiful pictures.



Then on Friday the conference began. The costs of the conference are covered by Eastern European Missions (EEM). EEM produces a weekly local television program on faith. Often they have people who call in to their response center asking questions. So this conference in Crimea is an annual event in which EEM tries to bring together many of the Christians around the Ukraine along with many of these people who have called in to their response center. The goals of the conference are to be evangelistic in answering questions and encouraging faith in those who are searching for Jesus and also to equip existing believers with resources and encouragement to start home churches so the Word of God can spread even further.

Saturday was the giving of resources and baptisms. For about an hour Sasha would talk about a book, CD or Bible and then they would hand them out. I was quite impressed. There was a lot of good resources that were available for anyone who wanted them. Then watching the baptisms in the Black Sea was very interesting because the locals were very interested in what was going on. As the twenty two people were baptized I could see people coming up and asking others about the event. It was a good warm day and the sea was all calm and perfect. I was happy to be apart of that.


The speakers did an excellent job in reaching both new and seasoned Christians through their messages. Or I should say that God did an excellent job of reaching out to these people. I know it was God speaking through these other men because one of the main speakers got quite sick and was unable to do much of his sessions. So other speakers had to jump in and fill his spots. Jay Don spoke three times on the weekend and was only originally scheduled to do a Q & A session. Nevertheless he did an excellent job of bringing Scriptures to life in a new way even with the short notice.



Here's a funny moment from the weekend. So what's the last thing you would ever expect to see at a Christian conference? A grandma in her bra!?!?! Well, that was one embarrassing surprise. Laurie and I sat down in the auditorium for one of the talks. In front of us was a mother and grandma we knew from a congregation we have visited before in Donetsk. The next thing I see is the grandma taking off her sweater and revealing her bra! I then quickly realized that she was hot and was trying to just take off her sweater but her under shirt was stuck to her sweater. I turn to Laurie, put my hand to the side of my face to shield me from her exposure and say to Laurie, “I can't help her, I...I can't help her.” After a few seconds of this the grandma puts her sweater back down but her daughter turns to her and says, “what are you doing?” She then helped her mom take off her sweater and then they turned around and looked at us. I said, “better, yes” and then we all burst out laughing pretty hard. She was so embarrassed but laughed at herself with us.

Next Sunday we will be traveling once again. Laurie and I with the Rogers will go visit a congregation about two hours away located in a small village. Afterward we will go and see one of the graduates of UBI and his work. He started a drug/alcohol rehab center and is doing great work there helping many men and women recover.

Good Conversations

This is Olga and her new washing machine. Back in May the Rogers and us went and visited with her and her coworkers. She is the director of a sanatorium that is about an hour south of Donetsk. Back then she asked if we (Church of Christ) could help buy them a new industrial sized washing machine because their two older ones (over 25 years old) had recently broken and they couldn't get parts for them. They had been washing all the staff and kids clothes along with the 80+ bed sheets by hand. When Jay Don said we would be able to help they were quite excited. So the ladies did their research and found a company in Poland that build good machines for a decent price and bought from them.

When we went and visited last Tuesday, they were soooooo appreciative and happy. They told us over and over again that no one would help them at all except us and they were so thankful that we would visit them. They showed us the machine, went over receipts and such and then served us a lovely meal. Jay Don informed them that much of the money spent on this machine came from donations from the Calgary Church or Christ. Olga told Laurie and I over and over again how appreciative we were and that we had to pass on her thanks. So I want to say 'Spaseeba Bolshoi' to everyone at the Calgary Church of Christ. We are getting a first hand experience of enjoying the company and food of all those you are blessing. And it is good food and good company. During our meal with Olga and some of her staff they kept on telling us of how thankful they are for Christians. They told us they know God is with us because we are helping them and others. Olga then totally opened up and shared her frustrations and confusions of religion. Jay Don did a good job explaining that we just try and follow Jesus and the Bible and not traditions. Unfortunately though traditions sometimes interfere with following Jesus. She had many questions and we spent an hour or so discussing faith and prayer and such. Time well spent in my books. Afterwards, Mary Lee told us that they have been working with that sanatorium and those staff members for 8.5 years and this was the first time they have really opened up to deep faith conversations. Thankfully, God is patient and keeps working on hearts even when we don't see it.

The rest of our week was fairly quiet. I had some free time to work on my assignments. Not done yet though. Laurie and I took on another project for Jay Don that is keeping Laurie happy. A Church from Texas...I think, donated some money to buy toys for an AIDS hospital. And we are in charge of buying the toys. We have visited fives shops and spent all our money so far but Jay Don mentioned that he might have more money for us so we may get to buy more soon. Personally, I don't like spending money (Laurie calls me cheap) but when it is someone else's money... I'm finding it not that hard.

We have also had our friend Nazar over a couple of times this week. He is an 18 year old boy who grew up in orphanages here. We met him through the church we attend. He was baptized there just shortly before we came to the Ukraine. He is still fairly new in his faith and has many questions. And his living situation with other orphans doesn't always provide the best influences for him. But lately he has been starting to ask us more and more questions about Bible passages and concepts. It's exciting to see him growing in his faith. And it's a challenge to us to try to figure out how to answer some of his questions with our limited Russian skills. But thankfully between his Russian Bible and our English Bible we have been able to show him passages that answer some of his questions.



Sunday was an interesting day in that all the Churches of Christ in Donetsk came together for a service at the downtown drama theater. This is quite an extravagant theater so it was a pretty special event. It was packed out and they fund raised over 5000 Hryvnia for an orphanage, so it was all good.



Now we are getting ready to head to Crimea one more time. This time we are going with the Rogers and others to attend a conference of some sort. I don't know the details but I have been told there will be around 500 people there with lots of speakers and such. So I don't really know what to expect but hope it will be a time of learning and worship.

A change in plans

About a month ago Alexander, a preacher from Mariupol asked me if Laurie and I would be interested in going there on a regular basis to follow up on an English program that was started there this summer by a short term missions team. We couldn't give a quick answer at first since we are involved in other activities in Donetsk. We decided that we could go once or twice before we head back to the homeland and planned to go for the weekend of Sept. 12-13 to teach English. Alexander though was away doing camp ministry for a awhile. When he got back and talked to our friends Yacov and Alona who are our connection to him we discovered he had a different plan for us. He now wanted me to teach a Saturday youth class and to speak in the service on Sunday. Oh...we were told this on Tuesday and we planned to leave for Mariupol on Friday afternoon. Well, it wasn't what I was expecting but hey, its an opportunity to share Jesus with others and so I'm glad to do that.

Mariupol is almost a two hour bus ride south of Donetsk. It has a population of around half a million and has lots of industry there. Its located on the coast of the Azov Sea and we have been told that the water there has changed because many of the factories use this sea for cooling water. The water looked pretty nice to us though.



The Church of Christ in Mariupol is blessed to have their own building. It used to be a kindergarten school so it is quite big with a large playground area. A portion of the second level has been made into an apartment. This is where Alona and Yacov and their daughter Masha live and also where we stayed for the weekend. This was really nice as we didn't have to account for commuting time all weekend. We just had to walk down a flight of stairs.



They are also using about half of the building as a transitional living center (TLC) for orphans. Many orphans that graduate from school are left on their own to adjust to adulthood. But statistics show that many of these teens/young adults struggle to have a healthy lifestyle once they leave orphanages. So this TLC is helping them to learn life skills and have healthy support available for their transition.

On Saturday we were Alexander's guests ... its funny because he is known as the preacher with a beard. He had us over for lunch and visits. Yacov and Alona's daughter Masha was with us and Alexander's grandson also joined us. The toddlers kept things interesting. I find it funny that no matter what culture you go to toddlers all act the same. They think everything is theirs and if you are having fun with something they want what you have.

That evening they had a youth class and I was the guest speaker. I shared my life story with them and then held a group discussion. Afterwards we had tea, snacks and visited. And had fun outside with the boys playing volleyball.



Yesterday was a long day for us. We slept in a wee bit but needed to be ready by ten for service. The service is organized into two parts. Singing and a sermon in the first hour and then more singing, testimonies, communion and a short sermon in the second hour. I spoke first and believed I held the majority of their attention for 30+ minutes which is an achievement for any speaker so I was happy with that.

After the service we visited with some of the members there and the next time I looked at my watch it was 2 o'clock. It was Yacov's grandpa's birthday so they went to have family time with them. Laurie and I stayed behind to have a nap and relax. By the time we had the place cleaned up and everything packed it was 8 and the last bus usually leaves at 9 so we were in quite a hurry. We did end up catching the last bus to Donetsk at 920 and this got us into Donetsk at 11.

On another note we have good news our friends Vova and Lena are doing better. Lena came home last week and I think is doing better. We don't know for sure because we haven't seen them for awhile. We have been busy this past week with being guests, hosting or preparing for the Mariupol weekend. This week I am hoping to do some “homework” but like every other week there seems to be something more urgent to work on or prepare ... so we'll see what this week brings.

Food, food, and more food ...

Hi, it's Laurie this time. Bruno is off at UBI and I decided to take over the blog this week. I think I have had a more interesting week this week than Bruno ... or at least a more tasty one. For the past three weeks I have been attending ladies class at UBI. This term ladies class was on hospitality. It is a pretty easy class because it is the first one of the year. We learned about Biblical principles on hospitality and some good tips from the female staff at UBI and some guests from churches, but I think one of the main objectives of the class is also just to build a closer community among the women at UBI. And I think the class was a great success! For the last three days of the class we simply cooked, decorated, had fun and fellowshipped together.



We were divided into two teams so on Wednesday the first team cooked and decorated and served the rest of us a delicious little meal of fruit salad and banana bread. Then on Thursday that team sat back and relaxed while my team decorated and cooked for them. I wasn't too much help for my team as they had decided to do a traditional Ukrainian theme for their meal. I had very little idea about what that was so I let them handle it and mostly just ended up being their cheerleader. I am very proud of how well they did.



Thursday, of course, was my wonderful husband's birthday. So we celebrated in true Ukrainian fashion. Meaning that the birthday person has to throw their own party and buy their own cake. Bruno announced in chapel that everyone was invited to join him at the first morning break for cake in the kitchen. Then we ran with Vova to the market to buy some cakes. We got it all cut up and dished onto plates just in time for the break. And then we had a nice time just visiting with everyone for a while. Sasha Maluga, one of the teachers, made a nice speech thanking Bruno for all his help around UBI and presented him with a Shaktar hat and scarf. (That's the Donetsk soccer team for anyone who didn't know.) And a couple of other students gave him little gifts as well.

Then in the evening we had a quiet celebration with a movie and a good Alfredo pasta meal for my Italian husband. We finished it off with an ice cream cake I had made. I was about ready to burst by the end of the day. But it was all so tasty.

On Friday, we finally let the boys in on the fun and food. They had been quite jealous on Wednesday and Thursday when all the girls were eating without them. So on Friday both the teams joined together and cooked a wonderful meal for the whole school. The girls had gotten together and planned a great meal, but were having a tough time coming up with a dessert idea. I jumped in and offered to make apple crisp for dessert.



It was a lot of fun with all of us working together in the kitchen. We were so busy with the food that we almost forgot about decorating the room in some fun way. Marina was quick to solve that problem when she ran outside to gather some leaves. We borrowed a few other decorations from Mary Lee's office and ended up with a very festive fall kitchen. And in the end we had a school full of well fed students who ran off to write an exam and ... a very dirty kitchen for Bruno, Mary Lee and I to clean. Oh well, we had a good visit while cleaned.

On Saturday we had a small English class with only 3 students. But they were students that we are pretty close with and we had fun playing a Pictionary type game with them. Afterwards, Nazar walked home with us and was asking if he could come visit us soon. He asked if Sunday or Monday would be better. Bruno has been feeling a little worse this week so he's been quite tired again. Bruno went to say that Monday would be best but in his tiredness he got his Russian words mixed up. Instead of saying, “Paneedeelnik lootchye” (meaning, 'Monday is better') he said, “Parasonic lootchye” which means 'pork is better.' Nazar and I had a good laugh about that one.

Bruno was on for preaching in the second hour on Sunday. He spoke about prayer and shared the story about praying for a 50 kopeckee on our way to Amstore many months ago. (We wrote about it in our March 15th entry if you want to read it again.) Well, when he shared this story there started to be a little bit of a giggle in the congregation and then more people started giggling at his story. This may not sound like a big deal, but we have been here almost 7 months and I don't think I have ever heard that before. Ukrainian culture is very reserved and it is very abnormal to smile in public (even in church) and especially strange to outright laugh. This is one of the cultural results that carries over from communism. Gradually the younger people are becoming more and more expressive in public, but change takes time. So to hear an audible chuckle throughout the church congregation was such a nice treat. I'm so thankful that God invented laughter. It's one of my favorite things in life.

Oh, I forgot to share a story from Wednesday. I went with a visiting American teacher, Tyetseeya and Katia to the TB hospital for a visit. In one room there was one little child alone in a crib. So I snuck in there and started tickling her tummy. She smiled and giggled at me especially when I told her in Russian that she was beautiful. I played with her for a few minutes and then waved and said 'Paka' (goodbye) as I started to walk to the door. She started crying so of course I went back to play with her some more. A nurse came in then and through our translator explained to me that she was recently dropped off at the hospital by the militia. She is a newly abandoned baby so I am guessing she didn't like it when I said goodbye. The next time I had to leave the room I didn't say goodbye, but I did leave a little piece of my heart with her. Isn't she cute?



On another note, we would like to ask you to join with us in prayer. If you have been following our blog you know that Vova and Lena are good friends of ours. They are expecting a baby that is due about the end of November. On Thursday evening Lena started having pains in her back and stomach and they called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. So far she seems okay and so does the baby, but the doctors say there is a chance the baby may come early. Lena is still in the hospital and we went to visit her yesterday and she is able to walk around and all. She is just very uncomfortable and at times in a lot of pain. With the language barrier it is hard for us to understand exactly what is happening, but please add her and her baby to your prayers. Hospitals here are not well equipped to handle premature babies so the longer she can carry the baby the better.

A Ukrainian Wedding

Being from Canada Laurie and I just assumed that the wedding ceremony would take place in a church building. Oh, how naive of us. We had forgotten that Ukraine had once been a communist society and religion was seen as negative. Back then, marriage was purely a legal arrangement performed through the government and that history still plays a part in weddings today. So, all weddings legally performed in the Ukraine are still done through the registration office. This might not sound all that great but the office building is in nice shape and even decorated with stained glass and such. The ceremony itself was simple and pleasant. Of course we didn't know what the lady was saying but the ceremony had two interesting traditions. One was for the newlyweds to toast to one another with their arms intertwined. And the other tradition was to step on a beautiful cloth that would be a family memoir. Traditional says that whoever steps on the cloth first will become the leader of the family.

Another fun wedding tradition played out before the wedding. Prior to the ceremony everyone met up at the bride's place where she hid from her groom. All the doors in the apartment were closed. Then the groom has to search for his bride. For every room he opens without finding her, he has to pay a fee of 20 greevna. Dema, Larissa's hubby found her on his second look so he had a minimal fee.



After the ceremony the wedding party went around the town to take pictures. We were told that traditionally wedding parties go to parks and monuments to toast in memory of the monuments. We were not part of the wedding party so we went to get a bite to eat and walked around until the reception. The reception was quite nice. It was done at a restaurant that I think does wedding receptions frequently. There was a live band and a MC that was provided by the restaurant. It was all good with lots of food, drinks and wedding games. The funniest part was when all the guys and gals were put on opposite parts of the restaurant and than had a dance competition that was directed by the MC. The MC would holler out a body part and everyone had to dance making sure to use that particular body part. The group that got most into it was the winners. The boys definitely won that competition. Similar to receptions in Canada there was much dancing, eating and visiting. Vova, Lena, Laurie and I left a little early. As the reception went on it became a dance celebration and we were not into that so we said our congratulations and goodbyes.

Back in Donetsk we hung out with Vova and Lena some more. They are leaving next month to a new town to work in an orphanage so we are taking time to enjoy their companionship. Yesterday was Miner's Day. It is a huge celebration here in Donetsk but I'm not sure if it is celebrated in other provinces. I was surprised that this Miner's day was a bigger celebration than independence day which took place last week. But coal mining has been the livelihood of many here in the Donbass province so I can imagine how it can be viewed as more important.

Laurie and I walked around with Vova to see the city's festivities. Scherbakova Park was crazy busy. Look at the bridge in this picture and you can just see the multitudes. We strolled around looking at people and flowers. There was a stage there and when we arrived there was some traditional music being performed. Then out of no where this grandma and grandpa start dancing...it was quite cute. Vova wasn't feeling too great so he went home but Laurie and I were curious to what was going on in the city center. Again it was crazy busy there but we hung around for a bit to watch a rock band perform. It was very loud and crowded though so we decided to head home before it got too late.



This week we are continuing to take a few classes at UBI. I need to prepare a message for this Sunday and we need to prepare for Saturday's English class. We are also planning to do another English ministry in Mariupol next weekend and need to prepare for that as well. Mariupol is a fairly large city about 2 hours south of Donetsk. So with having guest over as well we are keeping ourselves busy. Not to mention my nagging assignments that I just can't seem to finish off.

We are also feeling better this week. Our energy is returning and we are feeling healthier, Slava Bogu!

Saturday Dating Service.

For the last two Saturdays we have had our friend Bogdon over to use our Internet. He is currently involved in a long distant relationship and asked me awhile back if he could Skype on our computer. So he has been having good conversations and now he can't get enough Skype. We are going to have to limit his use a little though because Saturday night is prime time for us as well to Skype.

This past week was unexpectedly busy and left Laurie and I very tired. Monday through Saturday have been filled with classes and visiting. Monday evening was a dinner and program held to honour the new students at UBI. Homemade pizza, cake and a live skit...good times. On Tuesday we had dinner with the Rogers who had Ron Fox over as well. Ron is here for three weeks teaching a preaching class and 1 Corinthians. This was also a good time. I'm always excited to have dinner with the Rogers...Mary Lee makes the best desserts, honestly she could easily open her own restaurant here if she wanted.

On Wednesday we joined our friend Katia in visiting her mother who is in the hospital right now. I sort of invited myself but we have visited Mama Katia before at her home and thought maybe a surprise visit by the weird Canadians would cheer her up. She didn't remember us at first but it was fun to see her face light up when she did. We were over at their place before interviewing Katia about life in the Ukraine and her mom offered to show us some of their pictures. It was so very interesting. She had pictures from the 1940's and older that were still in good condition. We didn't stay too long at the hospital though. Mama Katia needed to rest and we were happy to have a quick visit with her.

On Thursday we helped Bogdon and some of the other students from UBI move a couple huge cabinets from the Boodyornovski church building (the congregation we currently attend) so that new cabinets could be installed. And wow, what new cabinets. I have never seen such big cabinets in my life. I forgot my camera but I will take a picture next time.

Friday morning we had our last Russian lesson for the time being. I completed my required hours early in the summer and right now we feel we need to have more free time to work on other opportunities with the time we have left here. I must admit our relationship with our tutor has been a pleasant surprise for me. She has always shared openly with us and we have learned many cultural lessons from her as well. The first half of our lesson was purely visiting and catching up with talking in Russian. We have become friends and plan to see her again before we leave. We then had Nazar over for dinner and visiting. He has been super happy lately because he was given a laptop this summer so he wanted to show it off to us and all the pictures he took while he was in Kiev this summer.

Saturday was a long day. We had a good English class with our regulars and then we hurried off to Ludmilla's house. She was hosting the UBI staff bbq. Upstairs the kids played while the rest of us all visited downstairs. Again, I had forgotten my camera at home so I have no pictures to post. Afterwards, Laurie and I came home to find Bogdon Skyping. Earlier, we lent him a key to our place because we didn't know how long we would be at the bbq.

And then...Laurie cried and I was brain dead. I know I was tired because Sunday morning I went to wash my hands and I just stared at the facet for about 30 seconds... all of a sudden I couldn't remember which tap was the hot and which one was the cold. When I'm drained my brain works about ¼ of capacity and when Laurie is tired she becomes emotional. This is not a good combination so we decided to not allow ourselves to get overly drained on a regular basis. Sometimes its unavoidable but this week I'm making an effort not to get too busy.

Yesterday was a good day. It was a holiday here, Ukrainian Independence Day. So we slept and rested. In the evening we strolled to the city center because we were told that there might be some sort of celebrations going on. We were lucky, as soon as we got to Lenin Square a concert began. It started off really cute but then got weird. The opening act was young girls dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothes and dancing traditionally. But my favorite part was the young boys (5/6 years old I would guess) who were dressed like little soldiers who marched around singing with little girls dressed like nurses (I assume). It got weird though when older kids came on dressed like carrots, corn, and beats and danced and sung about carrots, corn and beats. Eh, it was still pretty entertaining. But again, no pictures...you see the problem is Laurie and I are getting lazy. We just like to walk around without carrying anything. But this weekend we will take pictures. We are going to our first Ukrainian wedding.

A prayer request. Laurie and I are not healthy. We have been sick ever since we have come back from the Black Sea and are beginning to be tired of being sick. We would appreciate your prayers.

32 plants, 3.5 months of growing, 1 tomato...unbelievable

Ukraine has fertile soil and is know for being able to produce large amounts of wheat. Regardless, Laurie and I have failed to produce any bountiful crop. All our lettuce died as with our beans and peas. We did though get a small crop out of the peas before they went yellow. We have had one tomato and a hand full of potatoes also but I think we will leave the farming to the farmers.

This past week has been draining for us. I have been fighting a sinus/ear infecting for the past two week and Laurie a cold. Amongst this we have been entertaining her brother, sister and nephew along with some of our friends. We tried to give them a complete Ukraine experience with showing them the pretty and not so pretty aspects of Donetsk. The pretty parts were the parks and a couple nice restaurants. The not so nice pretty parts was visiting the TB hospital and taking them outside of downtown to the church building where our congregation meets.

The TB Hospital was fun. There the children were expecting us so they planned a short performance for us. Sadly I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures of the dancing and singing. The children were aged from 3 to 12, I would guess and they are all so very cute. The workers there really appreciate Jay Don and Mary Lee because through the Churches of Christ in America they have helped out the hospital significantly.

One of the guest teachers at UBI was giving a seminar on the Trinity at the church we attend and so we had the opportunity to take our Canadian guests to the church building midweek and show them that. I must admit I was most pleased with the interacting that was going on. Our friend Ella took a liking to Ethan and while we all were walking home she grabbed his arm and pulled him in close to visit and practice her English on him. All of a sudden our energetic nephew got all shy and quiet...hehe. I wonder what he will remember most about the Ukraine.

They left us on Friday and now we are back to our quiet house. On Saturday we helped with the VBS program that was being held at our congregation. Here on the sidewalk the kids wrote, "God is waiting for you" and then they drew arrows heading towards the VBS.



There we did games, crafts and learned about the story of Esther. They even acted it out...that was pretty funny.



Afterward we had some friends over for a bbq and visiting. Then on Sunday we crashed. I'm still sick, so I slept. Laurie's introverted nature needed a break from people so she read and had quiet time.

This week we are attending a few classes at UBI and preparing for our English class. We also need to figure out what opportunities we are going to act on. We have the opportunity to help a congregation in a nearby city, to go to a wedding in Dnipropetrovsk, go to a conference in Crimea, help our friends Vova and Lena in a new job working with orphans that they will be starting in October, distribute some donations from Canada and USA or even help renovate a building that is going to be used as a transitional house for youth. So there are many opportunities around us and we need to figure out what we want to do with the time we have left here.

Picnic and Company

The few days following our return from the Black Sea were spent resting and catching up. Resting because Laurie and I came down with colds. I fared a little worse than Laurie. I had a sinus infection that carried into my right ear and now I'm in the tail end of it...I think...and hope. I haven't taken any antibiotics but have taken some natural extracts to strengthen my immune system. And with school starting up we have been catching up with the staff and students.

Last Sunday we had a Church picnic which resembles anything you would find in Canada with bbq's, games and good company. The only difference that I really noticed was the boys scavenging the park for fire wood (fuel for the bbq), grandma's off to the side singing hymns and an area marked off as a toilet with the use of blankets hanging off of trees. Laurie was extremely happy having the opportunity to hold and visit with a 10 month old baby. The walk to the park was fifteen minutes away from the church building through a rough path that was not stroller friendly so Laurie volunteered to carry the child while Bogdon carried the stroller. Here is a few pics of that event. Is it just me or is Laurie just radiating.







After the picnic I sent Laurie off to pick up her siblings at the airport. Right now we have the pleasure of entertaining them with some of Donetsk's attractions: a tour of UBI, the new soccer stadium and some of the nicer parks in town. We took them to the old park we found awhile ago. Here, Ethan is getting his picture taken with an old crocodile...I don't think he quite knows what to do with it.



With exploring, we happened to get a little lost and found ourselves being restricted by a huge concrete wall.



This wall is a mystery to me. Its in the middle of forest and makes me wonder why its there. It looks very old and neglected, it must have had served some purpose in the past.

Today, we planned to do a shashlik (bbq) and since many of our Ukrainian friends LOVE shashlik we had Bogdon, Sergei and a new friend Peter over for an early dinner. We were excited to learn over the meal that Peter has decided to get baptized this Sunday. Clava Bogu! (Praise God!) Afterwards we headed out to the church building for a seminar/Q&A with a guest American preacher who is here for a week teaching at UBI. I was excited to take them to the church building because it is outside of the city center, about a half hour tram ride. Greg found the movement a little disturbing and had a little motion sickness...ha, I guess the LRT is a little smoother of a ride.

Tomorrow, we are taking a trip to a TB hospital to give out some donations and visit with the children. This is the hospital where Vova and I moved the tonnes of sand and so I'm curious to see how it is doing now.

Yield to jumping cars.

Seeing this sign made me think maybe this was a common occurrence but thankfully we never did see any cars jump into the Black Sea. Our time at the Black Sea was fun, sometimes awkward but all in all good. To get there we took an overnight train at 8pm and arrived at 7am. From the train station we jumped on a trolley bus that dropped us off at the passenger ferry port. A ten minute ferry ride put us on the other side of the inlet. From there we hired a mini taxi bus to take us to our hostel that was 25 km away. A quick unpack and change and we were off to the beach.



The Black Sea is clean and warm in my opinion compared to the Pacific. The beach that we spent the majority of out time at was touristy with many activities there. You could play ping pong, air hockey, volley ball, pellet guns or rent paddle boats or go on rides. What we all really enjoyed was the mobile concession people. They walk back and forth on the beach selling corn on the cob, sweet breads or our favorite – potato pockets. These are like pizza pockets but filled with mashed potatoes and dill, yum yum. It was very noticeable though that Laurie and I were foreigners. This is because I was apart of the 1% of men who was not wearing a speedo and Laurie was apart of the 1% of women who was not wearing a bikini. My farmers tan was also an oddity among the multitudes of perfect tans. On one of our first days on the beach a babooshka (grandma) came over to me and started talking quite sternly at me. When she finally walked away our friends were giggling and told me that she had come over to tell me that I needed to put a shirt on so that I wouldn't burn. Bogdon later nicknamed me klubnika, which in Russian means strawberry because my pasty white skin turned pink by the second day.

We spent most of our time at the beach but we also made some trips into the big city of Sevastopol. Here we went on a boat ride around the inlet and saw many big ships and submarines.




We found a historical site called panorama. It is a museum built in memory of a great battle in 1855 where Russia fought off the invading troops from Great Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia. I was impressed. We also did a trip to the Avka(aqua) park with some of the youth. This was a nice park but it only had one flaw...no hot tub and since it was a cooler day Laurie and I decided to leave early to warm up. However our money was not wasted. The Aqua Park had hot showers...oh yes and we took advantage of them since this was our only hot shower while we were gone.




The hostel we stayed at had a summer shower, which means they fill a big water tank on the roof and let the sun warm up the water. This is a good idea and I'm sure saves a lot on energy costs but for some reason the water decided to stay cool, which on hot days is a blessing but on cool days is a challenge.

We had the opportunity to get to know some of the youth better. The ones that spoke a little English were easier for us to visit with but we also did some activities that involved little communication, like playing Twister, Uno and Chess, or singing and eating together. Here, Pasha and I are getting to know each other a little too well.



However the language barrier did become a little bit of an issue. Laurie and I felt a little on the outside since we could not speak freely with everyone. Sometimes we were a bit clueless on what was happening around us but this is not a new experience for us being here in the Ukraine.