Life has been very busy here in Kiev over the past few weeks. The last 10 days of July, my mom (Jan Rainey) was with us. She was our first visitor to Kiev, and wow, did we have a great time! During her time with us, we gave her the whirlwind tour:

     -     We visited churches and worshiped the Lord with many brothers and sister in Christ here in Kiev.

     -     We took an excursion with our Russian language instructor, Olga, and Dr. Fletcher Tink (a visiting professor from

           Nazarene Theological Seminary) to see many of the history religious sites in the city.

     -     We visited the Kiev Zoo.

     -     We had lunch in the home of Al and Natalie, some of our Ukrainian friends.

     -     We visited our Russian language instructor’s home in the forest.

     –     We had fun one day at the water park in Dream Town.

     -     We entertained a group of 18 (mostly teenagers) in our home for an evening of fun and Bible study.

     -     We visited a monastery and were able to have mom enter the catacombs where many monks lives for years.

     -     And my mom watched the kids so that Jenni and I could go on a date.

My mom’s heart was visibly moved by the people of this country. She loved on our friends… and she loved on complete strangers… in the way that only my mom can do. What a great memory for us, for her, and for Bekah and Sarah!

One of the highlights of our time together was our excursion with our Russian language instructor, Olga, and Dr. Tink. Olga led us to an area of the city where two churches (St. Michael and St. Sophia) stand facing each other at opposite corners of a street. What we discovered was that the day we had chosen for our excursion was the anniversary of the Christianization of all Russia. In 988 AD, Prince Vladimir I made Christianity the religion of the land and marched the inhabitants of Kiev to the river. Everyone, by order of the prince, threw his/her idols into the river and was baptized.

So, here we were in the midst of a grand celebration. We climbed into the bell tower of St. Michael’s where we had a great view of the procession. At the same time, the bell ringer began to do his job as the procession marched from St. Sophia’s Cathedral to the river. During the procession, the young man who was ringing the bells motioned us into his cubical. He invited us to ring the bells WITH HIM! What a great experience for us all!

This past Sunday, the church plant (in Pozniaky) where we have been attending on Sunday evenings moved its service time to the morning. The first Sunday service with the new time was held outside at a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) camp. We had 45 people in attendance and had a great day! Many in attendance are brand new to the church and many are new believers. It is exciting to see God building His church and to see God’s people reaching out in love. Many of these people at Pozniaky originally met our church through mission outreach teams from Nazarene Universities this summer. Through their ministry input, in addition to effective and loving follow up from the Ukrainians at the church, the church is growing! Praise God for partnership in ministry!!!

We praise God for receiving our one-year residency status this past week! This part of life here has been quite the journey. We have learned much in the way of patience and trust in the Lord. There are still some details we need to work out with Bekah and Sarah’s status, but we know that God will help us navigate these roads in the days ahead.

I am preaching at Kiev First Church this coming Sunday and am excited to share God’s Word again.

I also have some upcoming trips to Armenia, Germany, and Russia in the month ahead. Please pray for God’s grace and wisdom as I visit brothers and sisters in Christ in each location.

I was exercising this morning in Kiev and studying Russian flashcards as I walked. I pulled out my phone and used google translate to clarify something I was studying. Here is what I discovered…

To wash (like dishes or a car) is the Russian word “Мыть”.

So I google translated the past tense for “I washed the dishes”. The translation that I was given was “Я мыла посуду”.

I then proceeded to google translate the past tense for “I washed the car”. The translation that I was given was “Я мыл машину”.

Notice that there is an “a” added to the end of “мыл” when it is dealing with the dishes and the “a” is missing when it is dealing with the car.

The “a” is added to make it clear that a woman is doing the action.

Therefore, google translate has made it clear for all ages… “Women wash the dishes and men wash the cars!”

Just sayin…

As I start this week’s blog, I was thinking about the many things that Jenni is now making in the kitchen rather than buying in a store. Some of the things we have not been able to find in Kiev. Other things are priced so high because they are not made in Ukraine that we simply don’t want to buy them. Just to give you an idea… Jenni is now making breadcrumbs (drying the bread in the oven and grind them up), ice cream, cream of chicken soup, miracle whip, maple syrup, chocolate chips, and tortillas. She is amazingly creative. I think that she should earn a minor in culinary arts for making this transition! She really enjoys looking on the internet for “substitute” ingredients when we can’t find something here.

Well, we completed our 45 day visa process in Krakow, Poland, a couple of weeks ago. The next (and hopefully last) step in the process is to apply for a 1 year residency permit. The process involves multiple trips to government offices, translation of passports, background checks, registering our living arrangements for the apartment, securing “acceptable” health insurance, a trip to the US Embassy in Kiev, etc. Last week was very full with such activities and the coming week will be more of the same. Thanks for your prayers. We have been working through the details and are surviving (barely) the paperwork involved.

One week ago today, I went to Gidro Park in the late afternoon to play basketball with a new friend of mine named Aiden. Aiden is my new barber in Kiev. He is in his mid twenties and is from Azerbaijan. He speaks a little English… about as much as I speak Russian. So, conversations can be “interesting”. He loves basketball and invited me to play. We had a great time. It was basically pickup basketball like you would find in any park in America. You don’t need to speak much Russian to play basketball because the rules are the same. So, I felt right at home… until the next morning when I woke up to an aching body… oh, to be in my 20s again!

Yesterday, Jenni, Bekah, Sarah, Lonnie/Connie Norris, and I traveled to Zhytomyr, Ukraine. We visited a children’s camp for disabled kids that was being conducted by Mission to Ukraine. We met Dr. Ken Ney, a physician from Indianapolis who has a Nazarene heritage. We are longtime friends with Dr. Ney’s parents, Mel and Lunda Ney. Ken is one of the founding board members of Mission to Ukraine (www.missiontoukraine.net). It is designed to minister in two primary areas: Crisis Pregnancies and handicapped children. We met many workers in this excellent organization and we blessed to see all of the smiling faces of the children who were being loved on during the camp. We were very impressed and blessed to spend the day with everyone. Partnerships in ministry are vital to successful mission work so we are excited to serve alongside such quality people in the days ahead!

I am preaching this Sunday evening at Poznyaki church plant. Some have asked me if I miss preaching every week. I certainly do. I am always excited to preach here in the CIS whenever the opportunity arises. At the same time, I must admit that I don’t miss that burden of the “Sunday is coming” feeling that I had every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

On Friday of this coming week, we will pick up my mom, Jan Rainey, from the Kiev airport. She is our first visitor to the field. We are so excited to have her come to our new home. We have a ton to show her. We already have more on our “to do” list than we can get done in the 10 days she is with us.

On June 24, we left Kiev, Ukraine, for an 8 day “adventure” in Krakow, Poland. The purpose of the trip was to obtain our “45 day visas” to re-enter Ukraine. We were required to leave the country to obtain these visas. The closest Ukrainian consulate outside of Ukraine is in Krakow. So, off we went…

The process for obtaining our visas was more stressful than I had anticipated!

The long and short of it was that we came prepared with everything we needed to obtain our visas… we thought! The Ukrainian Embassy is open in Krakow from 9 AM – noon for inquiries. Then, you come back from 2-3 PM to get your documents. Our hope and plan was to go in on Monday morning, deliver our pre-prepared documents, return at 2 PM, get our visas, and enjoy the rest of the week in Krakow. We planned to be in Krakow the whole week… just in case.

On Monday morning, we found the embassy and talked with the agent. He gave us information that enabled us to go a Citibank to pay for the four visas. We returned in the afternoon (thinking we would get our visas then). The man told us that we needed documentation to prove we had health insurance. Day one was over… No visas!

We also discovered that Thursday and Friday (June 28-29) was the Ukrainian holiday for signing their constitution and that the Ukrainian embassy would be closed those two days. Our five day week just became a three day week! Our return flight for Kiev was set for Monday morning, July 2. We knew that we could NOT go back to Ukraine without the visas, so we were left us with Tuesday and Wednesday to complete the job.

I contacted the Global Ministry Center for the Church of the Nazarene in Lenexa, KS. They were very helpful and quick to respond. They provided a notarized document, scanned and emailed to me, that said we had health insurance through United Health Care HMR. It gave the policy number and stated that the coverage was good for us in Ukraine. We returned to the embassy on Tuesday morning, with proof of insurance in hand. They received our documents and told us to return at 2 PM. When we returned at 2 PM, we fully expected to receive our visas without a problem. NOT!!! The gentleman said, “This does not constitute proof of insurance because it is on the letterhead of the church, not the insurance company.” Day two was over… and NO visas.

We returned to the apartment and I began the process of trying to get something from UHC UMR. I was on the phone (thank the Lord for MagicJack… allowing me to make US telephone calls for free) with United Health care for a few hours trying to get this accomplished. We had to get this documentation from a huge organization (UHC) in one working day (not an easy task). My first conversation was not promising. The man from UHC told me, “This normally takes 3 days. I can’t guarantee anything.”

I finally was transferred to a woman who was so helpful. She gave me her direct phone line and email address. She took all our needs as her own and helped us completely! I have already written a glowing email to her supervisor telling of her help to us. At the end of Tuesday, I had proof of insurance from UHC UMR in hand.

On Wednesday morning, we headed back to the embassy. We knew we needed to receive our documents on Wednesday, or we were going to have to make many adjustments to our plan. When we gave the embassy our documents showing proof of insurance from UHC UMR, the man said, “This does not state that you are covered with health insurance while you are in Ukraine.” I stood there speechless… I think. Thankfully, Glynda Wesley, a worker at our headquarters, I had sent me a 116 page policy description from UHC. I slid it under his window and said, “Please look at page 12 where it gives the details of our coverage for outside the US.” He took page 12 out of the package and said, “You can come back at 2 PM and we will make our decision.”

We returned to the office at 2 PM on Wednesday. The office was already full of people. It was warm, and we had just had lunch. I sat down on a comfortable chair next to a desk in the lobby. I put my elbow on the desk and my fist to my cheek, and can you believe it, I fell sound asleep! Who knows, I could have even been snoring… LOL

All of a sudden, I heard this man say, “Wake up!” I looked up and everyone in the office was looking at me! I stepped up to the window and the man gave us our four passports, stamped with our visas. At 2:30 PM on Wednesday… literally the “11^th hour”, we left the Ukrainian embassy with our visas in hand! Thank you, Jesus! He has delivered us, and we praise Him once again!!!

We spent the rest of the week in Krakow learning about the history of the city. We were also joined by Dave and Mary Beth Giles (and daughter, Makayla). They are missionaries in Poznan, Poland. It was great to see them and be with them for the weekend. Together, we visited Schindler’s factory and Auschwitz concentration camp. The stories of this region of the world and the atrocities done by the Nazi occupiers are just horrendous.

I saw two signs in Poland that I found very moving. One was on the gate as you entered the concentration camp in Auschwitz. It said (in translation), “Work Brings Freedom.” The Nazis wanted the Jews to believe that if they worked hard, it would produce freedom for them. The Jews came to understand that the work and living conditions within those gates would result in their death. Their understanding of the sign took a deeper meaning.

A second sign was just inside the gates of the camp. This sign was not up during the occupation but came later for the tourists. It states, “If we forget history, we are doomed to repeat it.”

We are back in Kiev this week and have started our Russian studies once again. God is helping us daily as we grow in our understanding our His plan for our lives here in the CIS. Thanks so much for your continued prayers. We love and miss you all!

We have had a great week here in Kiev! God is directing our steps and continues to increase our ministry and influence. Praise Him!

God is providing a growing list of people we have met who need to know Jesus. We are praying daily for this list of friends and are looking for God’s open doors in conversations. God is also opening more doors for me to interact with pastors here in Kiev. At the same time, I have had some initial conversations with other pastors outside Kiev. Our call to the CIS is wrapped up in the pastors across these countries. We are called to discipleship, leadership development, and theological education (with the focus of all three areas being the pastors).

Our grasp of the Russian language grows daily. I have to admit it seems like we are moving at a snail’s pace, but when we realize that we have only been here for 2 ½ months, it helps encourage me. I called a taxi driver yesterday and ordered a taxi for Sunday morning. He does not speak any English. I was able to tell him our names, where we needed picked up, when we needed the taxi, where we were going, and ask about his prices. I understood him, and he understood me. So, we are celebrating the “little victories” daily.

This past week I had the fun privilege of attending an international soccer game that was a part of the Euro Cup 2012 tournament. The Euro Cup (and soccer) is a huge event each year and is being held this year in Poland and Ukraine. The government built a brand new soccer stadium in Kiev to hold some of these matches. On Tuesday night, with three other men, I was able to attend the Sweden vs. France game. France was the favorite, and since I didn’t have a favorite team, I decided to root for the underdog… Sweden. Sweden came out on top… 2-0! It was an incredible experience and a great time with new friends!

This week also involved a miracle on the metro! We wanted to go to a particular store that is a few metro stops from our home. I decided to make it a daddy/daughter date with Sarah. The physical journey is an interesting one for people from the States. We walked about 10 minutes, boarded a marshrutka (mini-bus) for a 5 minute ride to the Metro station, got on the Metro green line for two stops, transferred from the green line to the blue line, took the Metro blue line for three stops, and then finally walked 10 more minutes to reach our destination (total one-way trip of about 1 hour)!

On the way back, Sarah and I were transferring from the blue line to the green line. This transfer includes a ride on an escalator. There are many people in the metro stations with many potential dangers, and so we always are extra attentive with the kids. Sarah and I were on the downside of the escalator (about 30 feet from the bottom of the track) when all of a sudden Sarah began to scream. I looked down and her tennis shoe had become lodged between the metal of the moving stairs and the wall of the escalator. As the escalator continued to move, it seemed that her foot was going deeper. My only thought was, “Sarah’s foot is NOT going to still be stuck by the time we get to the bottom of the escalator!” I reached down and grabbed Sarah’s calf and pulled. Her foot came right out of her shoe… leaving the shoe lodged between the metal stair and the escalator wall… Sarah still screaming.

It all happened so fast. I was unaware of how things looked around me. There must have been a lot of movement of others because the operator stopped the escalator quickly. Soon there were about 7-8 officials surrounding me, of course speaking Russian. In the moment, I didn’t even think to speak the little Russian I know. Only English came out! Within one minute an official with very good English came to see if Sarah was ok.

I later realized that her foot was uninjured, but she continued to scream thinking that all of these officials were doctors and were going to hurt her… LOL. Everyone was very nice and very relieved that we escaped without injury. It could have been very bad. We thank God for the miracle He performed that day!

On Friday of this week, I helped a team of about 10 people unload an entire semi truck load of Crisis Care Kits and School Pal Packs from the Church of the Nazarene in America. These supplies will help show the love and compassion of Christ to orphanages and underprivileged children across Ukraine.

For the past 18 years of ministry, I have been on the other end of this… preparing these bags and boxes for the mission field. This week I was on the receiving end. I have no idea how many boxes we unloaded, but they filled a large room at the church (floor to ceiling)! I was overwhelmed as I looked at the mailing addresses of these boxes… Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, California, Indiana, New Hampshire, and on and on. One box was from Ossian Church of the Nazarene, a small church not far from our hometown in Indiana. One box had the name, Sonya Nixon, on it… a childhood friend of mine. What a blessing to see the church loving the church across the miles!

This coming week is an important week for us in our visa application process. We would greatly appreciate your prayers!

Wow, so much has happened since my last post, so I am going to do a rapid fire delivery of this blog to “catch up”.

On Pentecost Sunday, I was asked to preach at Kiev First Church of the Nazarene. As I prepared to preach, I was thinking about the first Pentecost in Jerusalem where the 120 followers of Jesus were filled with the Spirit of God and came out speaking the languages of the many foreigners who had come to Jerusalem for the holy days. I have to admit, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if God did it again and all of a sudden I started speaking Russian!?!” Well, the Holy Spirit was present, but I used a translator in the service.

We also took a trip to the forest near Kiev. We visited the home of our language teacher, Olga. We were able to meet her husband and mother as well. It was a great trip with so much to see. Her forest is in the same area where the “real life” Fiddler on the Roof lived.

Joseph and Ree Sumi arrived in Kiev as the newest missionaries. Us, well-experienced missionaries (insert sarcastic grin here), are enjoying getting to know them and sharing our experiences with them. Joseph and Ree are a young couple from the Pacific Northwest who bring many pluses to our missionary team.

Last week, we moved from Lonnie and Connie’s apartment to our new apartment. We have been so excited for this day to come. From January 10 through June 1, we have been living with other people. Our friends and family have been so, so gracious to us. Thank you, again, for your hospitality! But now, we have unloaded and unpacked into our new home. Our apartment is beautiful. It is on the third floor (no elevator). We are a corner apartment so we have windows on three sides of our apartment. It is approximately 1,100 square feet of living space. Three bedrooms (we will use one as the office and spare room), two baths, kitchen, and living room. We have recently received approval from the Eurasia Regional Office (ERO) to make some needed purchases to really settle in. We have received great support from both our CIS field leadership and the ERO, and we thank God to be a part of a great team.

Have you ever been surprised by the loving gift you have received from someone… and then you look at them and they give you a wink? Well, we experienced that in our new Kiev apartment. When we left Houston, Texas, we sold all of our household belongings to make this transition to the mission field possible. We don’t hold tightly to things on this earth, but there was this one thing…

In September of last year (2011), for Bekah’s birthday, we bought a bedroom set for Bekah and Sarah. It was a set of bunk beds and two matching wardrobes. They LOVED them and were so happy to stay in the same room together. Well, it was October (the very next month), that God called us to come to serve in Eastern Europe. I have to say, it was kind of sad to say goodbye to the brand new bedroom set with bunk beds.

When we entered our new apartment in Kiev, guess what? The kid’s room is decked out with bunk beds and wardrobe space to match! “I stand and lift up my hands… for the joy of the Lord is my strength.” Isn’t God good? In that moment, I just thanked Him for noticing all of the details of our lives… and I sensed His wink… like that from a father to his son. Thank you, God.

Our Russian language study is moving right along. I have started a new endeavor to keep me motivated and learning… I received a contemporary Russian translation of the Bible, and I have begun to translate the Book of John. I have to say that it is pretty fun. I am enjoying it. And, God reveals some very special truths when you study His word in different languages.

As a small example of this, the Russian word for “testimony” is свидетельство. That same Russian word is also translated to mean “evidence”. How cool is that? Our testimony is evidence of who God is!!! In fact, it is the only evidence we have that cannot be refuted by an atheist. Who can argue with a life transformed?

If you are unaware, the Euro Cup 2012, a soccer tournament of the European countries, is being held this year in Poland and Ukraine. We have some games right here in Kiev. It is pretty exciting around here right now and the city is abuzz with it all. On Tuesday night of this next week, I have purchased tickets to see the France vs. Sweden game with 3 other men! The game will be televised on ESPN 2 at 2:45 PM Eastern Standard Time. If you tune in to the game that day, it might be fun for you to know that I am in the crowd. I will be cheering for Sweden!

Today is Jenni and my 19^th wedding anniversary! What a wonderful gift I received the day Jenni said “yes” to me. She is a remarkable woman who is godly, courageous, gentle, kind, and beautiful!!! I am blessed, and I know it! We enjoyed waking up to our special day to celebrate our first Kievian anniversary.

We have had another great week of life and ministry here in Kiev.

It was our privilege to be a part of the ministry of a traveling short term mission team from Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) this past week. The team was led by Dr. Dan Lawrence, a Physics professor at the school, who has led 9 teams to the CIS over the past 9 years. When they come, they stay for 3 weeks and do many different things to help the field.

Each night last week, I (and sometimes the whole family) spent four hours with the team reaching out to the local community children near Poznyaki Church. On the final night, the NNU team divided into four groups and gathered with the kids to share a more specific witness to the kids. What a wonderful sight to see them sharing Christ after having spent a week building relationships with these children! Praise God!

I was impressed with the team members and their leader, Dan. The church can be proud of the godly young people that are coming up through our universities!

I was also blessed to see the Poznyaki Church leading so well. They planned, prayed for, and participated in the outreach with skill and passion. We are blessed to be a part of this church plant and believe that God is building His church through them!

On Saturday, our whole family traveled with the team to two different tourist sites: the WWII memorial and the Chernobyl museum. Both of these sites are extremely moving and telling into the lives of the people in Ukraine. World War 2 claimed an estimated 60 million lives. Most people don’t know this, but 30 million of those lives were Soviets. Imagine that, 30 million people (mostly young men) killed in 5 short years from one nation!

Chernobyl was the sight of the nuclear explosion in 1986 that is considered the largest unintentional nuclear disaster the world has known. The world still does not know the total effect this disaster had on the people of Eastern Europe.

At one point during the WWII memorial, I notice a concerned look on Bekah’s face. We were hearing and seeing pictures of the horrible actions of evil and deceived men from the war. I asked Bekah if she was ok. She asked me, “Will this ever happen again?” I knelt down and told her that the Bible says that it would in fact happen again in the last days. But I also had her quote one of her memory verses from Bible Quizzing last year (Matthew 28-19-20) which ends with Jesus saying, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” What a blessing to know this promise is true and God is faithful!

Later that day, Bekah was skyping with Jenni’s parents. They asked her about her day, and she began telling them about the two museums she went to. They said, “What were the two museums?” Bekah said, “One was for World Word Two and the other was for… uh, uh, uh, World War Three”.

God is giving us many new opportunities to witness and disciple. Please pray that we don’t miss any chances God provides for us to make Christlike disciples in the nations.

This week, there is another Work and Witness team from Point Loma Nazarene University in Kiev. We are excited to spend time with them as our study schedule allows. They are serving during the day at a children’s hospital for kids with endocrine problems. Each evening they will be doing outreach in a park near Kiev First Church.

One other prayer request for us… The month of June will be an important month for us with regard to our visas. The process of acquiring a visa is complicated here. The process is basically: Come to Ukraine for 90 days without a visa, leave the country at the end of the 90 days and travel to a country that has a Ukrainian consulate, apply for a 45 day visa, return to Ukraine when this is granted, and then during the 45 days we apply for the 1 year, resident visa. In the month of June, we will travel as a family from Ukraine to Poland where we will visit the Ukrainian consulate in Krakow. Please pray that all the details of this trip and receiving our visas go well.

Finally, this coming Sunday (May 27), I am preaching at Kiev First Church. Thanks again for your prayers! They are much needed and effective!

We have had another wonderful week in Kiev, Ukraine. The week was filled with learning experiences, fun, and challenges.

Let me begin with a learning experience at the grocery store. As many of you know, Jenni is a wonderful cook. But, cooking here is different than cooking in Houston, Texas. We actually can find most everything we are used to eating. The challenge is “finding” it.

We have been on the search for regular sausage, like what you would find on pizza. At a store this past week, we thought we had found it. It looked LIKE sausage. It was packaged LIKE sausage. It even said sausage (in Russian). We thought we were good to go. BUT, then we read more of the small print. Under the Russian word for sausage, the package said “для собак” which means “for dogs”.

ALWAYS read the small print!!!

We love our time with our language instructor, Olga. She is a wonderful lady and a very good teacher. It is very challenging to us and we are exhausted after our two hour private lessons. Every other week, we are taking one of our study times with Olga and going on a city excursion with her. This past week we visited the botanical gardens.

While visiting the gardens and the beautiful plants there, we were on the top of a hill near a fence overlooking the city of Kiev. There was a gate in the fence and a woman from the other side of the fence beckoned us to come through the gate and visit the monastery on the other side. With Olga’s there with us, we were glad to follow. We visited a place called Архангедо Михаиловский Зверинецкий Монастырь в Киеве or “Archangel Michael Zverynets Monastery of Kiev”. It was a beautiful 11^th century monastery.

We discovered that there were catacombs within the hill near the monastery and we were given a guided tour through the catacombs! It was one of the most excited experiences of my life. There were monks who lived in the catacombs for 30 years without ever coming out to the light of day. There was a very small sanctuary in the catacombs and many places were the bones of the monks were placed and still visible. Later we found that the monastery only does tours for orthodox pilgrims. We were blessed to have seen it.

This past week, Jenni and I had our first date night in Kiev. There is a very nice young woman at Poznyaki church named Natasha that came to our apartment to watch Bekah and Sarah while Jenni and I had our first time alone together in Kiev. What a blessing to us! We asked Natasha to only speak Russian to the girls. Bekah asked us, “How can I ask her for water if we only speak Russian?” LOL… It all worked great. Bekah got her water, and Sarah said her first Russian words that night!

Jenni and I walked through Babi Yar Park. We had planned to stop and sit on a park bench to just talk. As we walked through the beginning of the park, the benches were full of people. We kept walking and soon were on some interior paths within this very large park. We ended up walking for a little over two hours! We ended up collapsing at an Italian restaurant for dinner. It was a great “exercise date” and one we won’t forget.

One of the hardest things for us to adjust to here is the time of worship through music in the churches. Don’t get me wrong, the music is beautiful at the churches we are attending and the people sing with passion. The problem for us is that we can’t sing the words. They are “foreign” to us. We can read the Russian letters now and try to sing along, but we don’t even know what we are saying. So it has been hard to “feel” the sense of worship if that makes sense. Some of the tunes are familiar, and are songs we sing in the States, so one option is
to ignore the Russian language during this time and sing in English. But that doesn’t feel right to me either.

On Sunday, as we were singing I sensed God speaking to me. I realized that while I don’t understand the words I was singing yet, God understands my garbled Russian. In fact, my struggle is a part of my worship of Him! Wow, how freeing to me. As I struggle to sing, God is glorified and honored! Praise Him! Until I understand the language better, I will struggle with joy in my heart to praise Him.

This week there is a group in Kiev from Northwest Nazarene University. They are helping Poznyaki Community Church plant with a community outreach. Each evening this week from 5-9 PM, we are playing with the kids of the neighborhood and those at a nearby school to build relationships with more families near the church. Last night (our first night) there were probably 50 kids who came to the school grounds to see what was going on. We are hoping and praying for more children each night. I am specifically praying that at least one family would come to faith Jesus and begin attending this church through this outreach.

Well, our past week has included some funnies and some challenges. First the funnies…

You have probably seen the Russian souvenirs call matryoshka dolls? They are the “stacking dolls”… they get smaller and smaller as you open up the outer doll. Matryoshka is a challenging word for English speakers to say. Once you get it, you feel like a Russian. The problem I had this week is that the word for taxi in Kiev is marshrutka. Notice how close these words are to one another. Make a long story short, I accidently said that we wanted to take a matryoshka to the market. Everyone started laughing, and I didn’t know what I said. After Jenni told me, Jenni said, “The taxi just keeps getting smaller and smaller until the only person in it is the driver!” LOL

Jenni, the girls, and I walk a lot on the streets. It is really a part of our learning right now. Bekah and Sarah hear us asking each other, “How do you say… in Russian?” The other day, we were walking down the street, and Sarah (our three year old) just blurts out, “How do you say fence in Russian?” You maybe had to be there, but we died laughing.

One final funny… When you are leaving a group of people, one common word to say here is “poka”. It is pronounced “pawkaw”. Earlier this week, Sarah asked Jenni why everyone keeps saying “Bekah” when we are leaving. LOL

This past week I tweaked my back on Wednesday afternoon while I was exercising in the park. It was pretty painful for three days. For those of you who have back problems you will completely understand. I basically didn’t leave the apartment Thursday through Saturday. I put a notice for prayer on facebook and many of you prayed. Thank you. I have improved greatly. It may take a couple of weeks before I am fully recovered, but I am able to function relatively normal now. To top off the back issues last week, I also developed, let’s just say, an intestinal issue at the same time. I tend to be a little adventurous in sampling the local street delicacies when I travel, and I usually “pay” for it. I am doing much better on that front. Please note that I did not ask for prayer for this on facebook. LOL

About three times a week, Jenni and I walk through a park near our apartment. The park is called Babi Yar Park. It is a huge park with many walking paths and trees. There are always hundreds of people throughout the park having picnics and meeting with friends. We have noticed that there are many Jewish monuments in the park. This past week, I googled “Babi Yar” to see what I could find. Wow, was I in for a history lesson! Here, I had been walking in this park multiple times every week, and I had NO idea the significance of this area in Ukrainian history and world history, for that matter.

Nazi forces occupied Kiev on September 19, 1941. Within the first ten days of occupation, the German military leader in Kiev made the decision to kill every Jew in Kiev. Pamphlets went out requiring the Jews of Kiev to gather together in Babi Yar ravine on September 29, 1941. On September 29-30, the Nazi army killed 33,771 Jewish in what is now this park that I walk in every other day. The “Babi Yar Massacre” was the largest single massacre in the history of the Holocaust! In the days that followed other massacres were conducted there with a total death toll reaching over 100,000.

Today, May 9, in many countries of the former Soviet Union, is a holiday known as “Victory Day.” Late in the evening of May 8, 1945, Nazi German surrendered what it had conquered within the Soviet Union back to the Soviet Union. There will be great celebrations, parades, and fireworks throughout Kiev today.

This Sunday will be my first time to preach since arriving in Kiev. I will be preaching at Poznyaki Community Church of the Nazarene… the newest church plant in Kiev. I am looking forward to sharing God’s amazing grace and love with His people here.

We can’t believe how time is flying by. Three weeks ago today, we arrived in Kiev. What a great experience we have had so far! We are very much in a “discovery” mode in ministry… asking more questions than providing answers or advice… seeking God for how He wants to use us here. We have so much to learn before we feel like we can truly make a consistent, solid impact. We are committed to the process and know we are in the center of God’s will for our lives. We love the people here already and desire to share Christ’s love with everyone we meet.

Jenni and I have both started back into a regular exercise schedule again. Over three months of traveling from city to city across the US (January through March), I put on about 12 pounds. So, we are in “reduction” mode right now. While exercising here in Kiev, we often are stopped by someone on the street who asks for directions (or something). Of course, we don’t know enough Russian to keep a conversation much passed the basics. So, we have learned, “Я говорю на русском языке немного,” or “I speak Russian a little.” We say it quite regularly.

The other day, Jenni, while on her exercise walk, had a very interesting encounter with a babushka (grandmother). The older woman REALLY wanted to talk with Jenni. She understood that Jenni was a foreigner but made it clear that she wanted Jenni to sit with her. They did their best to communicate some basic things. The babushka had been feeding the birds in the park with bread that was stored away in her purse. After a while, the babushka reached into her purse to give something to Jenni. Jenni thought that maybe she was going to give her some bread to share. When she brought “the gift” out of her purse, it was a bottle of rum! She tried to share some of it with Jenni… LOL… Jenni kept telling her “no” and the babushka put some in the cap and moved it close to Jenni. So, Jenni got up and smiled and waved “bye bye.”

Last week we started our Russian language study. Our teacher’s name is Olga. She is a wonderful lady who has been a professional teacher for many years. She actually did language study with former Nazarene missionaries in Kiev so she comes with much experience. Our plan is to meet with Olga three times a week for two hours each meeting. She gives us homework to do before our next meeting. We are also still doing an hour each day on Rosetta Stone. So, our language learning continues. I am surprised (at times) how much we are catching in conversations. At other times, I can’t believe how confused I am. LOL

May 1 and 2 are Ukrainian holidays… “May Day.” It is basically a couple of days where everyone leaves the city and goes out to their country homes/land to visit family and plant their  gardens. Today (May 1), we went with the Poznyaki Church plant for a church picnic. We met at a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) campground that sits right on the Dniper River. It was really fun. We swam a bit in the COLD river. We played with Bekah and Sarah who are getting to know the other children as much as they can without understanding each other. We also ate shashlik (Russian BBQ). Great day overall.

On Thursday, our Russian language study will include an excursion to the city center! Olga is very knowledgeable with the history of Kiev, Ukraine, and Russia. She will prove to be a huge blessing to us.