Settling In

I am in Uzhgorod, Ukraine!

I arrived this past Tuesday after my friend Darrel drove me from Budapest to the Hungarian/Ukrainian border near Mukachevo, Ukraine.  My Team Leader, Doug, drove across and picked me up.  We went straight to his home for dinner and then to a Church Youth Leader's Bible Study before I finally saw my "home" for the first time later that night.

I'm renting the first floor (2 bedrooms, kitchen, bath, living room and balcony) from a couple of youth workers from the church.  They have a 15 or so year old son who speaks a little English.

So that was Tuesday.

On Wednesday Doug took me all over town to buy supplies.  I got my phone set-up.  I exchanged US Cash for Ukrainian money.  I bought groceries.  I bought household goods like towels and pots/pans.  I bought a TV, Microwave, Toaster Oven and a space heater.

On Thursday I went with Doug to a regional Pastor's Network meeting.  I guess it's held in different places and I think they meet quarterly.  There were about 30 men and women there.  A couple of them know Darrel and we hit it off pretty well.  It's a big region though- ZaCarpatia Region (Carpathian) so some of them had to drive 4-5 hours.

Friday morning we had a Youth Ministry Coaches Meeting/Training time.  That was good.  I have some homework I need to work on.  And then I had the afternoon free.  So I walked to the local electronics store- El Dorado and tried to buy a Refrigerator and Washer/Dryer.  Unfortunately my credit cards refused to work on the large transaction.  So I took the Marshrutka (bus) back into the center of the city and exchanged more money at a bank and then went back to El Dorado.  I bought my major appliances and had them delivered to my home later in the evening.

Today- Saturday- I went to the local version of Home Depot to get some plumbing supplies to get my Washer going...I think I have everything I need.  And then I went into the city to take a few pictures.  It's been a mostly sunny, pretty day but still with snow, slush, ice and mud on the cobblestone streets downtown.  I haven't been very strategic in my walking around...I'll pull out my map and get serious about learning my way around in the coming days.

Here are a couple shots of the old town and the Uzh River that splits the town.

Layover Budapest.

Ok, it isn't really a layover.  I flew from Atlanta to London (First Class I might add!  It was only the 2nd time in my life that I flew 1st Class.  Pretty awesome.  And no, I didn't pay for that.  I flew on a Buddy Pass because my awesome youngest niece is a Flight Attendant!)  I had a 12 hour layover in London so I visited the Churchill War Planning Underground Museum, Westminster Abbey and the Tate Britain Art Museum.

The Churchill Museum is pretty cool.  Westminster Abbey is amazing except you can't take pictures.  Really?  Get over yourself!  Anyway, I especially like Poet's Corner in the Abbey where I recognized the names of dozens of writers who are buried there.  I guess my favorite discovery was the tomb of David Livingstone.

I like Art Museums but I don't really "get" art; especially modern and/or abstract art and there was a lot of that at Tate.

At the end of the day I flew on into Budapest where my friend Darrel Hathcock picked me up at the airport at 11 pm.  Since then (4 nights now) I've been staying with his family on the outskirts of Budapest.  I had big plans to see the sights while in town but you know what?  It's just been to darn cold!  It's been terribly windy since I've been here bringing the windchill down into the teens and single digits.  You know what else?  I will be living close enough to here (5 hours by train) that I can come back anytime I like in the Spring, Summer or Fall!  I do plan to spend some time in the National Museum tomorrow though.  It's all indoors!  Darrel is giving me a ride to the Ukrainian border Tuesday.  I should be there shortly after lunch.

I enjoyed two good worship services today.  We went to Calvary Chapel in downtown Budapest this morning.  It was an awesome mixture of English and Hungarian.  Nice diverse crowd...and by crowd, I mean packed house!!  This evening church was more of a fellowship/bible study with mostly IMB Missionaries.  It was good to meet some of them though.  Who knows how our paths may cross in the future.

I'm ready to get on into Ukraine though.  Ready to get settled in to "my place" and start figuring out my job and what I will need to do to learn the language.  I'm glad to be here.

My next post will be from Ukraine.

Post Passion/ Pre Ukraine

January 2-5 I volunteered at Passion 2012.  It was my second time to be a "Doorholder" (their term for volunteers taken from Psalm 84:10 where it says it's better to be a Doorholder in the house of God than dwell in the house of the wicked).  I also worked at the one-night Passion event in Kyiv, Ukraine back in 08.

I served on the Do Something Now team.  Beginning back in 2007 Passion made a decision to be known for more than "Worship".  They believe (and I agree) that our worship is empty if we're not moved to action; to justice.  So every Passion event since then has incorporated an "outlet" to impact the world.

My particular job was to direct the students who gave financially to respond in worship by writing prayers, creating artwork...whatever on items representing those articles that are commonly made by slave labor around the world.  It was really humbling to "handle" those articles and attach them to the statute.  I felt like I was "handling" the Prayers of the Saints.  It was a sacred service.

In past years Passion partnered with a variety of  ministries around the world.  This year the entire focus was FREEDOM for 27 million slaves in the world.  All of this years' partners work in the areas of Prevention, Rescue,  and Restoration.  42000+ College Students (and at least 1 Adult with deep pockets) gave more than $3 Million dollars for 10-12 ministries around the world.

This morning I attended Passion City Church and it was an incredible Post-Passion Celebration.  It was neat to be there this morning and hear some of the stories.  36000 Towels and 156000 pairs of socks given to ATL area Homeless Ministries!  People in downtown ATL with no connection to Passion coming to the Lord because of the influence of these students and the work of the Holy Spirit that permeated the event.

Here's a cool story:  One of the "creative" voices at Passion who worked to develop the DSN theme came up with the idea last summer to fly 27000 White Flags (each flag representing 1000 Slaves).  She shared her idea (inspiration?) with Louie and he just stared at her like he'd seen a ghost.  He then told her that only 2 or 3 people in the world knew that Tomlin was working on a song they thought would (and did) become the anthem for the event...the song was named, "White Flag"!

A Muslim Student came to the conference...who knows how that happened.  He was assigned "randomly" to a Community Group (that's one of 19 groups of about 2000 students!).  He was then assigned very "randomly" to a "Family Group" of 8 students and a leader.  Guess what?  His leader was a former follower of Islam.  That leader led that student to Christ!  Crazy!

The 103 foot artwork.  The Hand.  Here's how it was described this morning in church.  "A Hand of Worship Covered in Justice".  That's awesome!

If this is part of the journey to Ukraine then I'm having a blast so far . . .

Dec 30.  Drive to Birmingham to spend the night with some friends and watch Mississippi State beat Wake Forest on TV in the Music City Bowl.

Dec 31.  Get invited to the Chick Fil A Bowl in Atlanta and watch Auburn thrash Virginia.

Jan 1.  Check-in early at the Marriot Downtown for Passion 2012 and get to have dinner with my awesome youngest niece!

Jan 2-5.  Are you kidding me?  I get to be a Doorholder/Doorkeeper at Passion.  ( Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.)  I get to be a part of the Do Something Now team.  I get to help raise more than $3 Million to combat Slavery and Trafficking.  I get to see a lot of great friends.   I get to hear Giglio, Piper, Chan and others.

Jan 6.  Lunch at Chick Fil A Corporate HQ.  I got to step inside Truett Cathy's Office!  Awesome organization!  Later that night, I had dinner with my friend Jimmy McCarty- my Co-Squad Leader from the World Race.

Jan 7.  I spent the day with World Race/AIM Friends in Gainesville, GA.  I haven't been prayed over and prayed for this much in a long time!

Jan 8- Tomorrow morning I will attend Passion City Church with friends I made at Passion.

And in just a couple days- Wednesday, Jan 11, I will fly to London (on the same flight with one of my former students from the Coast), then to Budapest to spend a couple days with more friends and finally will make it on to Ukraine next weekend.

I'm having fun so far!

Happy New Year!

I have been...(and am still)...bringing in the New Year in awesome fashion.

On Friday, Dec 30 I began the journey to Ukraine via a sleep-over in Birmingham where I watched Mississippi State's Music City Bowl Game on TV with my one of my oldest friends and his family!  The Dogs Won.

Saturday morning I had a great breakfast in Birmingham with another sweet friend, her husband and beautiful kids.  We go pretty far back too...back to my "proto-youth minister" days in Aberdeen.

And then the day got better.  My other friends got free tickets to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta so off we went to see Auburn put a thrashing on Virginia.  If you look closely you can see hundreds of little Chick-Fil-A Cows parachuting onto the crowd!

My friends left me in Atlanta where I spent the night with my sister and went to church with her and her husband the next morning.

Later in the day I checked in to my hotel in downtown Atlanta in preparation for Passion 2012.  Before all that kicked off though, I had dinner with my precious youngest niece.

I'm spending January 2-5 at Passion 2012 at the Georgia Dome with 44000 + College Students/Leaders/Volunteers and some High School Seniors.  Not to mention Piper, Giglio, Beth Moore, Christine Caine, David Crowder Band's LAST Concert, Hillsong United, Tomlin, Nockels, Stanfill, Redman, Hall...and quite a few friends who will be attending.  

My buddy Stik and his sister are bringing students from Zion Hill.  Student/Friends from Mississippi State and South Mississippi will be there.  My buddy Thomas and some of is Aberdeen students are coming.  It's going to be busy, but it will be a blast.  

Lastly- DRUM ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

I'm catching a flight to London next Wednesday (and flying with a former youth group student from the Coast I might add!)  From there I'll fly to Budapest, Hungary and spend a couple days with a friend and his family.  And a day or two later I'll figure out how to get to my destination of Uzzhorod, Ukraine!!!

I hope your New Year is off to a great start too!

Another one of those "Where Am I?" Posts

Can you believe it's almost mid-December already?  My friend Stik made a comment a couple weeks ago that this is the time of year when everything accelerates.

I've been answering questions, especially at Church, all year long about when I'm going back to Ukraine. All year long the answer has been in "x" months.  Now...it's in less than a month!  And really, I'm leaving my "home" with Stik and my new (as of this past summer) Church sometime next week so now when some of the kids ask when I'm leaving, the answer is "next week".  As much as I'm looking forward to going back to Ukraine, it doesn't get any easier to say goodbye!

Lord willing I will fly from Atlanta a few days after the Passion Conference (Jan 2-5).

I'm still raising support but I've reached a level that I can live on.  Additional monthly support that might come in before the end of the year will allow me to increase both my Personal Salary and my Ministry Budget.  One-time gifts will go toward a fund to eventually purchase a used car/minivan.

Speaking of cars.  My Jeeps are for sale.  I've listed the Wrangler on Craigslist in Jackson (and will probably add it to some other sites this week).  http://jackson.craigslist.org/cto/2743035647.html

This is a big prayer request- that at least one of them sells before I leave.  I've been blessed to have a place to live (without moving in with parents) and I've been blessed to have work but it's been a level of income that didn't really cover all the bills so selling the Jeeps will allow me to terminate Insurance payments and pay off other debts before going overseas.

Where I'm At!

A little less than 2 months ago I wrote a blog about where I am in terms of Support Raising and I ended with a cool story about how a STUDENT...a HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT joined my team with a gift of $1000.00!

I wrote that I was only receiving about 15% of my monthly support but that I had nearly 40% "pledged".

Where am I now?  I'm receiving about 50% of monthly support and I have about 80% pledged.  God is Good!

That means I need three things to happen before the end of the year (preferably before the end of November!).

• I need to raise 20% of my monthly support (which is only $600).  
• I need for all my "pledges" to get started by December (if you're giving through a Bank Transfer, you have to start the transfer 30 days before the date of the intended transaction...that is, if you're giving a monthly transaction that begins November 15th, then you must submit the form before the 15th of THIS month in order for it to take effect otherwise it will be December before it takes effect!)
• I need one-time gifts.  My Start-up Account is separate from my Monthly Support Account and I still need nearly $5000 in that account.

Now here's another cool story.  I was in a wedding a few weeks ago.  I didn't really know anyone in that part of the State except the couple and some of their immediate family.  But in the course of meeting some new people that weekend I've already received a $250 gift and I have a pledge for more than $1000 more. 

God is good; better than I deserve...meeting my needs beyond what I can even ask for!