Unpacking a Busy December

Ever since arriving in Ukraine in January 2012 I've kept a daily "log" of the main stuff I've done that day.  This December has been CRAZY busy.  Here's my log for this month!

Dec 1- Sunday- Church; Led worship at Youth Club

Dec 2- Monday- Met with ICA Mission Team; Band Practice

Dec 3- Tuesday- Chaslivtsi Orphanage with Kyiv Team

Dec 4- Wednesday- Lunch for Kyiv Team at my house; Visit Chaslivtsi Orphanage; Band Practice

Dec 5- Thursday- Long Day! Staff Meeting; Retrieve letter at Nehemiah; Trip to Svalyava Orphanage; Pizza with Orphan Team.

Dec 6- Friday- Slept Late!!  Shopping. Led worship at Night Prayer.

Dec 7- Saturday- Early morning to Krasna Dontsiv Bazaar; Hosted Messianic kids at home for dinner

Dec 8- Sunday- Led worship in am and youth service.

Dec 9- Monday- Slept late; cleaned house; Band Practice. Saddened by protest in Kyiv.

Dec 10- Tuesday- Met with Doug about Radvanka; Doug and I met with Lola Kulchar And Volodya Sergochov.  Met with Sydney about Chaslivtsi; Going away get together for Anka and Sven, Bowling.

Dec 11- Wednesday- RD Staff Meeting; Trip to Svalyava Orphanage.

Dec 12- Thursday- Met with Anya and Rudik and Katya to sort clothes.

Dec 13- Friday- bought furniture; led worship for Alpha Course Conference.

Dec 14- Saturday- Went to Kiev for Euromaidan

Dec 15- Sunday- EuroMaidan Day of Dignity in Kiev.

Dec 16- Monday- Returned from Kiev; Band Practice

Dec 17- Tuesday- IT Staff Mtg; Toured Lola’s Ministry Center in Radvanka; Met with Orphan Team

Dec 18- Wednesday-Met with Andrey and Sasha about Apt; Staff Mtg; Met w/Orphan Team

Dec 19- Thursday- Met with Dima at Apt; Met with Orphan Team to look for Christmas gifts; Saw Sonya dance; met with Dima again.

Dec 20- Friday- Met Stephen and Heidi at train station; Band Practice

Dec 21- Saturday- Showed Stephen and Heidi around town a bit.

Dec 22- Sunday- Led worship. Lunch with new kids; youth service; bowling.

Dec 23- Monday- Shopping, Banking, Cooking and Staff Christmas Party at my house.

Dec 24- Tuesday- signed apartment contract; shopping; Katya’s house for Orphan Team get together.

Dec 25- Wednesday- Hallenbacks, Stephen and Heidi, Kent and Inga, Jason for Tacos at my house.

Dec 26- Thursday- Trip to Svalyava Orphanage and then pizza afterwards.  Long day.

Dec 27- Friday- Packed stuff; Finally got the key to the apartment.

Dec 28- Saturday- Moved two taxi loads of stuff; bought a bed; waited all day for furniture.

Dec 29- Sunday- Led worship; lunch at Vertep with Katya, Anya, Roma, Stephen, Heidi; Youth Worship.

Dec 30- Monday- Got more stuff for the apartment; long day!

Dec 31- Tuesday- early morning at Krasna Dontsiv Baraar; Meet ICA Team at Train Station; Chaslivtsi Orphanage; Youth All Night New Year's Eve Party (leading worship at midnight).

I love you. Goodbye.

We were blessed to visit the Regional Baby Orphanage again today.  A newlywed couple- friends of a friend- went with us.  They got married about a month ago and apparently it's a Ukrainian "thing" to receive lots of flowers at your wedding.  But instead of receiving all those flowers, they requested that their guests bring stuffed animals that would be delivered to needy children.  How cool is that?  So today we went with them and presented the orphanage with probably 50-100 new, stuffed animals.

And since we didn't get to see the children last week (see the last couple of blogs- last week we just met with the Chief Doctor to iron out some protocols for visiting) this was the first time we've seen the kids in 2 weeks.

For the first several minutes we were missing this one little boy- Pasha.  We were wondering if he had been adopted.  We keep hearing that it could happen any day now.  He finally showed up but we were again told that it could happen pretty soon.  We absolutely rejoice in that.  It's what we want.  It's what I want.  I want these kids to find forever families and if they are Ukrainian then I think that's even better.  Praise the Lord.

But that doesn't mean we won't miss them when they're gone.  On the way out I kissed my little favorite girl on the forehead and told her I love her and that Jesus loves her.  I've been doing that for at least 3-4 months with this one particular kid.  She never responds in-like.  She doesn't say, "I love you, too" or thank you or anything.  That's ok- I don't say it so I can hear it in return.  I say it because someday she'll understand what it means and she'll remember.  Someday she'll start hearing about Jesus and she'll remember that Uncle Clinton always told her that Jesus loves her.

And then on the way out today it really hit me that every week when we leave...it could be the last time we see some of these kids.  They'll either go back to live with parents or other family, or they'll be adopted, or they'll eventually "age-out" of this particular orphanage and move on to another one for older children (and by the way, we have been working on getting into the next-level orphanage so we can effectively follow these kids through the system).

But any given week presents the possible last time to see some of these kids.  That makes me not to ever want to forget to tell at least one that I love them and Jesus loves them.  It makes me want to remember to earnestly pray for them and over them.  It makes for a hard goodbye.

And it helps me understand what it must be like to be an Orphanage Worker.  It APPEARS sometimes that some of them are stern- cold- hard.  Of course we're not there except for an hour or so a week- but it seems like we never see them in the floor loving on the children. I would almost bet they didn't start that way. I bet some of them get as attached to the kids as we have but they've watched those kids leave for whatever reason over and over and over and over again.  It must be hard on them.  Unless they really are that stern and hard and cold.  But after spending the little bit of time that I have with these kids I'd have to say, "no". No one can be that stern and hard and cold.  So I pray for myself and for them to not be hardened by the process.

How about this sweet guy?  He's in the "invalid" room; I'm not sure what his diagnosis is for him to be there but he is one sweet, little dude.

Well, that worked out pretty good!

Here's an update on last week's post about what happened to our team at the regional children's orphanage.

There are some details I won't share publicly to keep from embarrassing anyone.

Last Thursday night I wrote a 2-3 paragraph email to the Chief Doctor at the Orphanage.   I thought it was pretty tactful (my friend who translated it told me she could tell that I was "mad".).  In any case, it had the desired effect.  Yesterday the Doctor called one of our team members and expressed a desire to continue having us visit the children.

Today one of our regular volunteers and I met the Doctor for coffee.  It was a good meeting.  We agreed to some protocols that should protect him and us and make the relationship a little more formal than it has been.  If we can meet the simple protocols then we should have no problems in the future with any of the other staff.

Among ourselves...the volunteers... we've already discussed the need for us to work harder at building relationships and serving the staff- especially the nurses that spend the most time with the kids.  There's no doubt the nurses are underpaid and under-appreciated and probably over-worked.  We'll try harder to love them from now on.

We hope to resume our visits next week.  Thanks so much to everyone that prayed about this situation.  There was a lot of of heartache on our part last Thursday at the thought of not being able to visit those kids regularly.  Today the Doctor told us he thought one of the things we do is help the children learn to interact with people (people not wearing white lab coats and being constant disciplinarians) and that helps them when they eventually transition into a real home.  I like that his outlook is that he expects them to find families eventually.

Thanks for holding the ropes for me

A Ukrainian friend asked me tonight about how I raise support and how I can live here and do what I do.  I gave her the short answer...that friends back home give me monthly financial and prayer support. I told her that my list includes family and of course, friends...and even kids that grew up in the youth ministries I served.  So tonight I came home and did a little math and here's what I found:

In this chart you can see that 77% of my support is monthly.  Monthly giving is the life-blood of a missionary.  To be fair, some of my "one time" supporters give large amounts which is pro-rated and distributed on a monthly basis.  One-time support accounts for 9% of my supporters and then 14% of my supporters give occasionally- ie, not every month but throughout the year.  Again, some of that is pro-rated and distributed monthly.  The frequency of the gift doesn't reflect the amount...I didn't check to see how much of my budget I receive monthly or occasionally etc.  I will say this: My biggest supporter so far this year is a "One-Time" supporter. Also, the amount of money that comes in every month has no bearing on my "salary"- it is determined at the end of each year and will remain constant regardless of monthly intake (unless of course it drops to a level that won't support my salary...which hasn't happened so far).  It's a lot cheaper to live here than in the States but in case you're wondering...I take home about 1/4- 1/3 of what a Mississippi School Teacher takes home...and I pay US Health Insurance rates!

This is where it gets really fun!  The largest group of supporters this year (23%) are either kids that grew up in one of the youth ministries I served or the parents of kids I ministered with.

The next group is old and current church friends...but mostly friends that were church members in either Aberdeen or Gulfport, MS (20%).

Family accounts for 18% but that includes money that is given every month in the name of ALL of my great nieces and nephews.  But let's just say my immediate family- parents, brother and sisters, and nieces and nephews all help me serve in Ukraine...and they take care of a lot of "business" for me back home!

11% of my Support Team is former World Racers- people I served with back in 2007.  That's pretty huge!

10% is from friends of friends mostly or people that I've really only recently met- maybe someone that heard me speak in a church or something.

9% is former and current ministry friends- mostly my old youth minister buddies.

9% is friends I went to college with at Mississippi State.

And I currently have 1 church back in MS that sends monthly support.

I probably should have saved this post for later in the month...for Thanksgiving...because I'm definitely grateful to them and to God for these friends and family.  I pray often that their trust in me is well-spent.

That didn't work out as planned...

Today we experienced a "relational" setback at the regional baby orphanage.

We've been going almost every week since January.  I think we have a good relationship with the Chief Doctor- he's the one we call every week to confirm if we can visit.  In fact, we were just there this past Tuesday and we had a brief, sit-down meeting with him in his office to a) ask if there was anything we could do to help/serve/provide for them as the Christmas season approaches and b) to ask if we could come back today with a little bit larger team.

He told us a) about multiple options for helping them- most of which included pretty significant outlays of cash- such as providing a month's supply of Pampers, and b) he said yes, of course we can bring a team.

The team today included some new volunteers from one of our churches.  The Pastor at the church I attend asked us to start including some other church members, especially some of the young people, because we need more "missions" outlets.

So today we packed up a van and went to Svalyava.  Instead of getting to spend a hour or more with the children that we see EVERY week we were met by two or three well-dressed but fairly rude nurses- at least 2 of them none of us remember ever having seen or met. They told us they didn't need or want us there.

They told us they were offended by the idea that we "missionaries" acted like we could bring them a package of diapers every now and then and expect them to let us do whatever we wanted.  (Note: one of our new volunteers brought diapers today, but that's the first time we've done that).  They said it was one thing in the summer when we could play with the children outside but that now it was too cold to go out and it posed a health risk for so many of us to be in a closed room.  They told us our presence gets the kids hyper and they're the ones that have to settle them down after we leave (which, by the way, is probably true).

Whenever we peek through the doors upon arrival the kids are almost always orderly and relatively quiet.  I understand the nurses and caretakers are overworked and underpaid.  They appear to be very strict.  They appear to do a good job caring for the childrens' basic needs.  What I don't EVER see is one of them sitting in the floor holding a child like my friend Katya in the picture above. Maybe they can't do that and maintain discipline...I don't know.  But I feel pretty strongly that these kids...all kids... need someone to hold them and play in the floor with them, and tell them they are loved. That's what we bring to the table (that and potentially a $1000 worth of Pampers- that's what the Doctor said they wanted for Christmas!).

The Chief Doctor finally showed up in the middle of all that and semi-smoothed things over.  He confirmed that it is a health risk (for Colds, etc) with us all being indoors and that it would be better if we come in the summer months.  But he also said we're welcome to come back for Christmas and New Year.  In the end he agreed to let us visit today but only for about 15 minutes.

So we don't know where we stand.  I've heard of this happening with other workers in other orphanages before for all sorts of reasons.  I'm going to email the Chief Doctor tonight and try to acknowledge their concerns but also try and explain why we do what we do.  I told our other volunteers tonight that we should plan to go next week...we'll call the Doctor just like we do every week and see what happens.  And in the future we can try to minister more with the Nurses/Staff as well...but a couple of the volunteers told me tonight this is not the first time some of the nurses have been rude and acted like they resented us being there...but this time they were very vocal and got the administrators involved.

So... there's something you can pray about.  I just preached this past Sunday about Spiritual Warfare and I think today we saw a bit of it.  Today was the first time to take the team from church to begin a more official partnership with the orphanage- we don't want to be one-hit wonders- we're in this for the long-haul and we want to serve the kids and the staff and maybe that's something the Adversary opposes.  

Birthdays

Birthdays tend to be a big deal here in Ukraine.  Last year when my team leader turned 50 he rented a hall and held a 50's themed party complete with costumes and dance lessons.  His wife had a western themed party a few weeks ago with costumes and bbq.

An introvert by nature, parties typically aren't my thing.  In the weeks leading up to my birthday last week, if someone asked me about it, I tried to blow it off and indicate that I really didn't want to do anything big.  I don't want to be all "bah humbug" about it.  When I was younger I looked forward to every birthday- for years I couldn't wait to be 15 and get a drivers license.  And then it was 18 so I would be "legal".  And then 21 so I would be "legal-er".  And then 25 so my insurance would go down (they lied, it didn't!).

40 was fun.  Almost everyone in church wore Black.  It was quite a coordinated effort. I turned 43 in China and my mission team planned a weekend long excursion that was amazing.

And then last week was 49.  49 isn't 50.  It isn't a milestone per se.  It's not a level I've been trying to unlock.  Honestly, 49 is a reminder that the next one is 50 and 50 makes me remember that many of my friends are grandparents and watching their now grown children launch into their lives and here I am.  This time next year I might be married with a baby and eating my words...but right now I don't see it and I don't know how I feel about it.  Some days I obviously lament the fact that I am where I am; I'm not a daddy and I don't see it happening.  Other days I'm ok- I trust that God knows what He's doing even when I don't see it.

But I do want to give credit where credit is due.  My 49th Birthday turned out to be very special.  My co-worker Christina and I left Uzhgorod on Halloween morning to spend a night with ministry friends in Lviv before going to Kalush where we've been coaching the youth ministry team at Grace Church for more than a year.  Our friends in Lviv are wonderful and their home is a like a very godly Bed and Breakfast.  They spoiled me with good home-cooking including sausage and eggs and muffins on my birthday.

When we arrived in Kalush that evening (my birthday) the kids in the youth group had planned a party- they gave me an awesome cake and a bunch of small, thoughtful gifts.  When I say "thoughtful"  I mean they wrote little notes to accompany each gift.

On Sunday night we returned to Uzhgorod.  I was sort of thinking that some of my friends in town might do something; I knew Tanya- my friend Katya's mother- was making a custom Vishyvanka (shirt) for me but I didn't know when I'd get it.  I figured either upon my arrival Sunday night or maybe at band practice on Monday.

Well- Katya, Ira, Anya, and Rudolf- all wonderful friends that I work with quite a bit doing some of the orphan-care and worship ministry- met Christina and I at the train station late Sunday night singing happy birthday and carrying a Mississippi State birthday cake!  How awesome is that?!

Then Rudy offered to give me a ride home.  I suspected then that something was up because everyone else piled in the car too.  When I asked if they wanted to come in for cake they declined...which I also thought was suspicious.  So I wasn't too terribly surprised when I went into my house to find more surprises.  What did surprise me was how many people were there and the gift they gave me.  (A few minutes later the aforementioned car load of friends joined us).  Inside my dark kitchen were a few kids from the youth group and several of the other missionaries- with the car load that brought me home, there must have been 15 people.  They bought me a new grill...a big, heavy one.  They like my cooking!!  We had cake and tea and some of them stayed and played on the playstation.  Mind you, it was after 10 pm when I arrived at the train station.  I got my Vishyvanka- it's beautiful!  And a nice card signed by a lot of friends.

I should also mention that the little youth group from the Messianic church gave me a poster with pictures and some encouraging words the weekend before my birthday.

So all in all, 49 was very memorable.  I mean, I still have thoughts about life passing me by in terms of having a family and all that but... I have friends that care.  And that means a lot.

The Olympics

It still hasn't sunk in, and I'm not sure I'm really, Really, REALLY gonna believe it until I have an airline ticket and a valid Russian Visa in hand...but if nothing strange happens then yes, I am going to the Winter Olympics.

Actually, I'm going to the Paralympics, which begins a week after the regular Winter Olympics.  I will serve as a Volunteer in "Village Management" working in one of three Olympic Villages through most of the month of March in Sochi, Russia.

I first learned of the 2014 Winter Olympics back in 2010 when I was studying the Russian Language in South Carolina.  I thought back then that I'd be fluent in Russian by now and it would be easy for me to go to the Olympics since it's right next door, in Russia.  In 2011 I took a Phonetics and Linguistics Class at International Teams' headquarters and I used the Olympics as one of my "motivational milestones" for language learning, ie, I set the Olympics as a goal for me to be at an advanced intermediate level by then.  

Well, I'm not anywhere near "advanced intermediate" yet.  If anything, I think my language ability is about the same as when I got here just a little more fluid, that is, I can say what I could already say, just better...if that makes any sense.

But as it turns out, the Olympics is more concerned with English ability than with Russian ability...so I'm IN!  

Here's some fun facts: There will be about 25000 volunteers at the Olympics and Paralympics with about 15000 at the Olympics and 10000 at the Paralympics.

The ages of volunteers range from 18-55ish.  The median age is just 22, that means a TON of volunteers are at or below 22 years of age.  70% of the volunteers are girls.  Only 8% of the volunteers are foreigners (like me).  To me that's pretty interesting- in other words, Russia is providing about 17,500ish 18-25 year old girls. My experience here in Ukraine is that a lot more girls speak English than guys- ok, so that's probably the case in Russia, too.  And maybe there's an expectation over here just like back in the States where young men "work" and do jobs that preclude them being able to take time off to volunteer (one of the purported reasons why you don't see so many young men doing missions in America).  

But you also have to wonder if there hasn't been some sort of a push to put 17000+ young girls out front in a venue that has a reputation for being a trafficking magnet (the Olympics, and all major world sporting events like the Super Bowl or World Cup).  At the last Winter Games, in Vancouver, the median age of volunteers was in the 40's I think.  

As far as I know, both Red Cross and The Salvation Army will be there doing Anti-Trafficking work and both will receive some training from my friends at A21.  I should have access to some of that training, too and will have my eyes peeled while I'm there.  

I hope to blog a lot from the Olympics and maybe about once a week between now and then just to talk about preparations.  

Trust Falling

Last week many of the kids we regularly visit at the regional baby orphanage in Svalyava were sick and the Director didn't want us to visit.  Today we enjoyed an unplanned visit (another orphanage visit fell through at the last minute so we called the Director in Svalyava and he said we could visit today).

These kids are funny.  We were picking on our friend Katya today because one of the kids (my current favorite) gave me a really sweet goodbye hug and then initially just waved goodbye to Katya- like, "yeah, whatever, see ya".  (She eventually relented and gave Katya a proper goodbye hug).  Katya reminded me of the very first time we visited when NONE of the kids had anything to do with me.  It was disheartening to say the least.

But for the last few visits there's one kid that has latched-on to me.  Her name is Kristina.  She loves to run into my arms and sit in my lap and play contentedly for a few minutes with one toy or another.  Like all of those kids, she has a 30 second attention span.  She'll play contentedly for that long and then go find something else to do.  But then she'll come running back to me with arms wide like Billy Graham giving an invitation.

Today we all entered their playroom- at least 3 of the other volunteers were in front of me.  I could see Kristina looking for me.  As each volunteer entered the room, Kristina would almost jump in to their arms but then back away at the last second.  She was looking for me.  Finally, when I entered the room she jumped into my arms for a big hug.  Just as quickly, she was back down on the floor and running around.  A minute later she started running to me again, again with her arms wide open.  I did what any sensible person would do and immediately knelt down so I could receive the impending hug.  She ran right up to me with her little arms as wide as can be and at the last second just stopped, did a 180, and fell backwards into my arms.  At first it felt like, "psych, you just thought you were getting a hug".  But upon a little reflection I think it was an awesome display of trust.  She turned her back to me and plopped backwards knowing full well that I would catch her in my embrace.  She did a little trust fall.

I think about trust-falling into God's embrace.  In my head I know He CAN catch me; even that He WILL catch me.  But more times than not, I just don't choose to turn and fall.  Ah, to have the faith of a child.

Pictures...just for fun

Early last year while looking for ministry opportunities for visiting World Racers I learned about the abandoned babies at our local children's hospital.  We were able to hook the Racers up with a regular gig of just going to the hospital and holding babies every day.  If you are there at the right time you usually get to feed them, and if there are diapers available then you can change them...otherwise they sit in it all day!  The babies are almost always under-stimulated and sometimes under-developed, at least in terms of building muscle and coordination that comes with being played with and challenged.  We probably all know about those studies that indicate how babies need to be held...and I can definitely see a difference between these kids who aren't cuddled and played with versus children I know who are growing up in loving families.

So, we go.  It's a ministry that's grown from something we do with "teams" when they are in town, to something several of us do on a weekly basis.  There are as many Ukrainians that go every week as there are us American missionaries.

Naturally we grow attached to the babies.  So much so that several months ago one of our young (college aged) Ukrainian volunteers decided to track down what happens once the kids leave the Children's Hospital. Some of them are returned to their families, some enter foster care or perhaps are adopted here in Ukraine (they aren't available for international adoption until after their 5th year and in accordance with a handful of other conditions).  If they don't find families, then they go to a sure-enough Baby Orphanage.  Our intrepid Ukrainian volunteer (I'll call her Anna...because that's her name) found out where and how we could go visit the children there.  Since then a growing group of us (a new volunteer almost every week here lately) has been making the almost 90 minute trip by bus or train about once a week to spend a few hours with a group of 2-3 year toddlers.  We love it.  You would too.  And you know what? None of this is in my "job description"; this all falls in the category of personal ministry...and it's the favorite thing I do.

Finally, another blog

Once again, I've been more than a month remiss in writing a blog...and so much has happened in the month!

To begin, a friend from the States was here all of August to hold babies and go to the baby orphanage with us.  To be honest, there really wasn't a whole lot going in August in terms of being here for a "mission trip".  Ukraine kind of shuts down in August.  Families go on extended vacation to the Sea and to other cool places.  A lot of my regular "contacts", the Ukrainians I work with and rely on to translate and get me in and out of jams, were on vacation leaving Amy and I to fend for ourselves.

In addition to that I spent the last week and a half of August near Stuttgart, Germany at a retreat/conference with many of the International Teams workers in Europe.  The conference itself wasn't quite restful enough to be a "retreat" and maybe not "meaty" enough to be the kind of conference that exploded my brain and sent me home telling everyone that I learned "so much"... but it was nice.  The highlight was getting to visit with some of the friends I made in Chicago back in 2011 during our initial Access Training with ITeams.  They are serving in England, Spain, Rome...and I got to meet workers in maybe 10 other countries.  It was exciting to learn about their ministries.

At the conclusion of the conference I rented a car and spent 3 days in the Alps.  I love mountains and I got to spend a few days not only being in the mountains of Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and France... but I got to DRIVE.  A Stickshift!  In the Alps!  I hit it perfectly- cool weather, NO CROWDS at all.  Just me and some of the finest mountain roads I've ever seen.

Another highlight was that my sweet friend Thuy from St Louis (originally from Long Beach, MS and formerly a kid in my youth group in Gulfport) was in Geneva on business and I was able to spend Sunday morning with her.  What a treat!

Finally, I returned home a couple weeks ago and I've been trying to get caught up on some rest and get back into a routine.  I'm trying to put more effort into language study.  I really want to whittle down my weekly schedule to just my obligations at church and language study...with at least a day a week either at the baby orphanage or the baby hospital and of course my IT obligations.

I have another blog in me...about going to the 2014 Winter Olympics but I think I'll wait a few days before I write it.

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, and Exhaustion and Stress, Oh My!

I want to convey somehow just how exhausted and stressed I am.  Why?  So you can pray for me I guess.  So I can just vent for a few minutes.  So I can give all 7 of my regular readers a glimpse of the glamorous life of an overseas missionary/American Ex-Pat.

It seems like I've been going hard at least since April.  I traveled like crazy that month!  In May I hosted a World Race Team and they were great and really didn't require much from me; still, you feel responsible for your kids, right?

In June I went to America for 2 weeks.  That was a whirlwind trip- not exactly restful.  Upon returning with a month-long volunteer in tow we hit the ground running working at 2 Summer Camps.  By Summer Camp, I mean camping in tents and using outhouses.  It was rainy and cold the first camp.  It was hot and cold the 2nd camp.  Between camps it seems like I was involved in a higher number of social events than usual.  Social events drain the life out of me.  I really do like cooking and hosting friends...but it's work!

I escorted Tonya (our volunteer) back to Budapest and then returned to Ukraine for yet another camp- this one hotter than the first two and I taught classes every day.  Oh yeah, I spent the week before trying to prepare for teaching.

A few days after that Camp I returned to Budapest to retrieve another volunteer. A few days later I coached and preached at a church that takes all day to get to via a HOT, uncomfortable train and an even hotter, more uncomfortable bus.

Have I mentioned yet that I started the process for the renewal of my VISA back in April and it's still going on.  It could be resolved finally in the morning...but then again, it might drag on.  If the process isn't finished in 10 days then I'll be in some sort of violation probably resulting in a fine but possibly resulting in being deported (although no one knows of anyone that has happened to).  Still, it's stressful.  This should have been completed MONTHS ago!

I'm going to Germany at the end of next week for a conference.  I originally envisioned it being a retreat.  Since then I've learned it might be a rather serious conference where I'm expected to attend the sessions.  Actually, I brought some of that on myself - for some reason I volunteered to serve in the worship band when I registered several months ago so now I'm stressed about learning a dozen or more new songs and being prepared to play the guitar and maybe sing twice a day at the conference.  After the conference, I'll meet my friend who is currently volunteering with us back in Budapest and make sure she gets safely back on her return flight home.

And dude, I am tired.  I am wiped out.  September should slow down except that our church's worship leader will be gone that month and our worship band will probably be leading every week.

I've actually thought of moving to Kiev for the Fall and taking up formal language lessons again but right now it's just an idea and something else to stress over.

Some of you may have read on Facebook that I received an invitation/acceptance letter to be a volunteer at the Olympics.  The initial excitement was tempered quickly by the fact that there's about 500 pages of Russian background material to read and some tests to take.  I really didn't have time to stress too much about that though because the next day (yesterday) I got an email informing me that the acceptance letter was a technical error and they'd let me know later if I am accepted or not.  I'm not sure which is more stressful- knowing I'm going and knowing how much I have to do to prepare, or not knowing at all if I'm going.

So I'm tired and stressed and you can probably guess that prayer and meditation and resting in the Lord hasn't been my mainstay for most of the summer.  Funny how that happens isn't it?  You're busy doing good stuff that you know requires a lot of spiritual preparation, a lot of knee-time...but you're so busy you don't have time to prepare (I know, I know...it's really more about me not making the time).  In fact it feels like all of time is completely in everyone else's hands- like you (I) have no control at all over what I want to do or need to do.  I know I need Sabbath, I know I need rest, I know I need to pray and just be with and seek God.  I want to take the evening off- nope, I'm needed at a meeting.  I want to go hold babies- nope, there might (or might not) be a meeting about the VISA.  I want to take a couple days off and just sleep late and do brainless stuff and eventually get around to some long-needed prayer time.  Nope, stuff is going on that requires that I be "on" and engaged.  And all that is just exhausting and stressful.

And on top of all that, when I go back and re-read this little post I feel like a whiny baby because I know people right now that are experiencing real stress: A friend is having brain surgery any time now.  A friend is signing divorce papers.  A friend is learning to cope with a severely handicapped child.  That makes me feel like a punk because I'm not getting enough "Me Time".  And that's stressful, too.

The Prodigal Father- Part 5

Luke 15:20- But while we was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

And so we finally come to the last of those verbs in verse 20- the father KISSED him.  What pray tell might be the antonym, the opposite of the verb "to kiss"?

Some of my young Ukrainian friends suggested the opposite of to KISS might be to HIT.  We tossed a couple of other ideas around and we settled on this.

The opposite of to KISS is to withhold affection or withhold love.

You see, in trying to come up with an antonym for the verb, to kiss- we sort of necessarily had to deal with the noun, kiss.  We decided that a kiss is in many ways a symbol.  It's symbolic of affection and love.  Or at least it should be.  In our world today a kiss is casual; it has lost so much of it's meaning, so much of it's value.

I told the kids a story from my college/post-college days.  I liked this girl named Karen.  We were pretty good friends my last year in college.  After college she was probably the first college friend I knew that bought a house!  Whenever I was in Starkville I would hang-out with her.  We didn't really "date", but we did spend quite a bit of time together and we talked on the phone a few nights a week.  So...there was this budding relationship.  One Saturday night after we had cooked dinner and listened to Mississippi State beat USM on the radio I got ready to go home and mustered the courage to ask her if I could kiss her goodnight. I was really proud of myself for being such a gentleman!

She said no.

I was crushed.  I thought there was something there.  And I was mad at her.  And I was mad at myself for even asking her in the first place.  I stewed and brewed until Sunday morning.  I don't have a clue what the Pastor preached about but the Holy Spirit spoke to me about my expectations and about the meaning of a kiss.  I wanted to kiss her because I felt like I deserved it and because it seemed like the next logical step in our "relationship".  But what the Spirit told me is that a kiss should be a reflection of love from the heart and not an exclamation point at the end of a date.  So I vowed from that day forward that if I ever kissed anyone again it would be an expression of love.

Now, it's interesting that Paul encourages the church to kiss one another with a holy kiss- a form of greeting-and of course a display of affection.  I'm sure he's not talking about a passionate, full-on, tongue-in-mouth kiss.  But what really caught my attention when looking at those passages is that on every occasion (I think) where Paul instructs the church to kiss one another, the verb is coupled with the adverb "holy", i.e., "greet one another with a holy kiss." When Peter wrote his epistle he instructed his readers to greet one another with a "kiss of love".

Do you see a trend?  If this greeting, this brotherly and sisterly expression of affection was intended to be "holy" and a display of "love", then how much moreso a romantic kiss?

And if a kiss is a holy thing, a sacred thing, a powerful expression of love and affection...then how much more tragic is the fact that Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss?

So the father kissed his young son in an entirely appropriate, holy, with-love kind of way.  He didn't withhold love or affection.  He certainly didn't hit his child if that's an acceptable opposite of "to kiss".  And God our Father doesn't withhold his love and affection, either.  If you feel like that's what He's doing then I suggest one of two things is happening: 1) You are out of fellowship with Him; you've turned your back towards him and you don't know he's looking for you and full of compassion he's running after you, eager to embrace and show affection towards you.  Or 2) You're believing a lie from the pit of hell that says God is hateful and vindictive and is just looking for a time and place to crush your spirit.  That's not what this narrative tells us about God.

The Prodigal Father- Part 4

Luke 15:20- But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

So today we're looking at the 4th incredible verb in that passage- here of course it says "threw" his arms around him, but in another version it simply says EMBRACED and that's what we'll go with today.

I asked my young Ukrainian friends what they thought the antonym for EMBRACED would be and they almost unanimously thought the opposite of EMBRACED is REJECTED.  There was at least one response of "pushed away" which is pretty good too and really, says the same thing.

How hard is rejection?  It's something we've all dealt with and I think it's one of the most powerful tools in the enemy's arsenal.  I've struggled with it all of my life.

While surfing the internet in preparation for this sermon I ran across an atheist website that presented a terribly negative commentary on this parable.  In the writer's opinion the whole story is "jacked up" because everything about it is "unfair" in his view.  The writer felt like God (represented by this father) is weak because he let the boy off the hook and the outcome is unfair to the older brother.  I'd like to ask that writer a series of "what if" questions.  What if it were your son?  What if it were you!?  Would you really be that hardcore and reject your own son (assumed dead but now discovered to be alive!!) and tell him, "nope, sorry son- you had your chance and you blew it.  Depart from me because I never knew you"?

Now that phrase reminds us of something, doesn't it?  In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus describes how, at the end of it all, many who call Him "Lord" will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but the ones who do the will of God will enter.  He goes on to say that they will attempt to justify their lives by saying, "hey, we called you Lord, we did great things in your name"...and He (Jesus) will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me".

Chilling words, indeed.  I think the key though is in Jesus' first phrase (at least in this version), that is, "I never knew you....".  Those who will enter are those who are known (and know) Jesus.  The ones in relationship with Him.  Get that? It's more about who we know than what we know (or did, or didn't do).

What the young son did with his inheritance; how he obtained it in the first place (which is pretty despicable if it really means that he's wishing his father were dead already as a lot of sermons suggest); the kind of disgusting life he led and how that reflected on the good family name............. all that is irrelevant because of the relationship!  It's the relationship, dummy!  This is the father's son.  That's all that matters.  That's why the father EMBRACED him instead of rejecting him.

While thinking about this verb, EMBRACED, I thought of another verse in Matthew- this one a little off the wall, maybe:

Matthew 23:37 says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

You are NOT rejected by God the Father.  He wants to embrace you.

In Rembrandt's famous painting, The Return of The Prodigal- notice the father's hands- one is larger and more masculine looking, the other smaller, softer and more receptive...suggesting both mothering and fathering.  Our Heavenly Father wants to gather you like a hen gathers her brood under her wing!

The Prodigal Father- Part 3

Luke 15:20- But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him,; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

We're looking at these 5 awesome verbs tucked away in Luke 15:20- almost centrally located in the narrative commonly known as the story of Prodigal Son.  SAW.  FILLED (with Compassion).  RAN.  EMBRACED (threw his arms around him).  And, KISSED.

Again, when I was preaching this sermon (both times) I asked my audience of junior high and later, high school, Ukrainian kids to tell me what they thought the antonym for each of these verbs would be.

RAN is pretty simple I guess and all the answers I got were pretty interesting.  

They said the opposite of RAN (to his son) is to run away from his son.  Another good idea I thought was "hiding" and yet another was "to NOT be moved".  

The first idea is perhaps the most direct "opposite", ie, to run away from.  But that last idea resonated with me more I think.  The idea of "not being moved" is haunting.  I don't know about you but I want what I do and what I say- especially as it relates to "Kingdom work"-  to move people.  What if what you said and did failed to "move" people?  Would you feel like you have no voice?  Would you feel like what you do doesn't matter?

What would that young son had felt and thought if his return failed to move his father?  What if there was no restoration? No party? No acknowledgement whatsoever.  What if the father had treated his son as if he were "dead to me".  

But that's not what the father did and it's not what our Heavenly Father does.  He RUNS toward us. I had this random thought while preparing for this sermon: A lot of people don't get the concept of God looking for us much less RUNNING toward us.  Why is that?  Well, until we repent and turn towards God ourselves then we don't know what's going on behind us.  God is pursuing us but we're too busy running away from Him to notice.

Stop it.  Quit running.  Turn around and see who's running toward you!

I mentioned at the close of yesterdays blog that there's a link between being "FILLED (with Compassion) and RUN".  Here's the link: Running is related to being filled with compassion because compassion is not a passive idea, it's not a feeling.  When you walk by a hurting person and feel sorry for them but fail to do anything about their pain, that is a feeling I suppose but it's not really, truly, compassion.  Compassion is active.  Compassion moves you to action.  Being "FILLED with Compassion" demands movement.  That's why the father RAN.  

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention what you've probably heard in a 100 sermons about this story: Don't leave here without getting this absurd picture in your mind.  This, probably well-to-do father, probably up in his years, probably dressed in a long robe with perhaps a layer or two underneath....RUNS.  He lifts up the layers and maybe ties them about his waist or just holds them with one hand- flashing his old, pasty white legs to everyone...get the picture?  This is conduct unbecoming a respectable businessman/father.  This is undignified.  

And he apparently doesn't care what it looks like.  And we have the audacity sometimes to be ashamed of Him!

I wanted to use the song, "When God Ran", somewhere in my sermon but it's in English so I opted not to use it but I couldn't help but think of it when I was preparing this part of the sermon.

"When God Ran"

[Verse 1:]
Almighty God, The Great I Am, 
Immovable Rock, Omnipotent, Powerful,
Awesome Lord.
Victorious Warrior, Commanding King of Kings,
Mighty Conqueror and the only time,
The only time I ever saw him run,
Was when...

[Chorus:]
He ran to me,
He took me in His arms, 
Held my head to His chest,
Said "My son's come home again!"
Lifted my face, 
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in His voice He said
"Son, do you know I still love You?"

He caught me By surprise, When God ran...

[Verse 2:]
The day I left home,
I knew I'd broken His heart.
And I wondered then, if things could ever be the same.
Then one night,
I remembered His love for me.
And down that dusty road, ahead I could see,
It was the only time,
It was the only time I ever saw Him run.
And then...

[Repeat Chorus]

He caught me by surprise.
And He brought me to my knees.
When God ran... I saw Him run to me.

[Bridge:]
I was so ashamed, all alone, and so far away.
But now I know, that He's been waiting for this day...

I saw Him run to me,
He took me in His arms, 
Held my head to his chest,
Said "My son's come home again!"
Lifted my face, 
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in His voice 
I felt his love for me again.
He ran to me,
He took me in His arms, 
Held my head to his chest,
Said "My son's come home again!"
Lifted my face, 
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in His voice 
He said "Son"
He called me Son.
He said "Son, do you know I still love You?"
He ran to me (When God Ran)
(I saw Him run to me) 
And then I ran to Him 
(When God ran)
When God ran

The Prodigal Father- Part 2

Luke 15:20: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

We're looking at those 5 verbs: SAW, FILLED, RAN, THREW (EMBRACED), and KISSED.

My sermon was supposed to address "the Father-Heart of God" and while perusing this familiar passage I was drawn to these 5 verbs and incidentally, to their antonyms.  I know a lot of people "project" onto God the Father their own ideas and experiences with their earthly Father so I asked my young Ukrainian audience what they thought was the antonym, the opposite of, "FILLED with Compassion".

Let me say first of all that it's difficult to separate this verb, FILLED, with the object, ie, filled with what?  Filled with Compassion.  So I'll address both of these words a little bit as I did when I preached and when I asked my audience for help.

My friends suggested that the opposite of FILLED is simply EMPTY.  The opposite of Compassion drew several responses but one was Hatred.  EMPTY HATRED.

Others were "no mercy" and simply "no compassion".  Someone else suggested the opposite of FILLED with Compassion is "Filled with Resentment" and that's certainly the vibe we get from the older brother in the narrative.  Good thing it was the Father that was on the lookout for the young son rather than the elder brother!!

A few weeks ago when I was preparing to preach a picture came to my mind that I think illustrates this idea of "NO Compassion".  It's a picture I've seen with my own eyes in Cambodia.  In fact, I've seen the TREE that is depicted in this picture.

In the mid to late 1970's Dictator Pol Pot nearly annihilated all but the agrarian working class in Cambodia.  Entire families were slaughtered.  An artist who survived the ordeal captured on canvas the atrocities that he saw with his own eyes.  One such picture is of soldiers killing babies by holding them by their feet and slamming them head first into a tree.  They weren't even worth using a bullet.

If that's not a picture of "NO Compassion", then I don't know what is.  That is NO Compassion.  Zero Compassion.  A Complete and Utter Lack of Compassion.  Get the picture?

If you're reading this, then you are alive and if you are alive then you've probably never encountered anyone with NO Compassion.  You may not have had the best father or mother, but I bet you didn't have the worst!

But let's get back to the antonyms and go the other way!  If there's such a thing as ZERO COMPASSION, then the opposite must be MAXIMUM COMPASSION.

And MAXIMUM COMPASSION is who God the Father is!

Psalm 116:5 says: The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

See that?  Our God is FULL of Compassion.  He is maxed-out on Compassion and He is OUR FATHER.

Are you beginning to understand why it's called "The Good News"?

Join me tomorrow when I write about RAN and how it is inextricably linked to Compassion.

The Prodigal Father- Part 1

Life here in Ukraine often throws me an unexpected curve ball.  For example, I'm the lead male vocalist for our Church's worship band.  How in the world is the American with a 2 year old's vocabulary and diction skills singing worship songs in Russian and Ukrainian?

Here's another: Last summer I was asked to speak about The Father Heart of God at Camp.  Ok, that's not a terrible stretch- He's my Heavenly Father and I've known Him now for 30 years.  But I've never been a "Dad".  Why am I the one talking about "Fathering"?

And here's another: I was asked to address the topic again this summer at camp.  Last year I drew heavily upon an old sermon (brochure) from Last Days' Ministries and John Dawson.  I remembered reading it many years ago and so I adapted it for use here.

A couple months ago when I was asked to speak about the Father Heart of God again, I knew almost instantly that I wanted to go with Luke 15- what most of us know as the story of The Prodigal Son.

Upon doing some internet research I discovered that Louie Giglio had preached a sermon about The Prodigal Father.  (Apparently the word, Prodigal, which we (I) have associated with wanton wastefulness can also simply mean, "lavishness").  Ie, the young son was "lavish" in wasting his time and money, but the Father was equally (moreso!) lavish is extending mercy and grace.

So anyway, as I prayed over and studied the familiar passage my eyes were drawn to verse 20.  You've had that happen before, right?  Where something you've read in the Bible a hundred times jumps out at you with newness that can only be attributed to the Holy Spirit?  Maybe it's the "language learner" in me that I find myself more attuned to sentence structure and such...but do you see what I see?

In the ESV it says: v 20- And he arose and came to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

See it?  Five Verbs in that second sentence... his father SAW him and FELT compassion, and RAN and EMBRACED him and KISSED him.

So I shared the narrative and I explained some of the background (going back to chapter 9 we see that Jesus has already "set his face" towards Jerusalem...that adds extra weight to everything he says and does thereafter) but then I came back to Verse 20 and camped-out.

The thought occurred to me during my study: What are the antonyms to those five verbs?  Many of us have good, Godly men to father us here on earth but certainly not everyone, not in America and not here in Ukraine.  Our personal experiences are often the opposite of good and Godly and how we experience our earthly father affects how we experience our Heavenly Father.

I asked my "audience" of young Ukrainians to help me out with those antonyms and here's what they came up with for the first verb- SAW.

The opposite is that no one is looking for you, no one sees you, the result is that you feel invisible. 

Unfortunately, a lot of people you and I know have felt that way before.  Maybe all of us have.  But to feel that from a father- or any parent-figure or loved one, obviously, is devastating.

That's not what the "prodigal son" felt when he returned home.  His father SAW him!  Not only did his father see him, he was LOOKING for him.  Do you remember the movie, Avatar (aka, Dances with Wolves in Outerspace)?  "I See You" was an important concept in the movie that meant something akin to, "I see the real you and I love you".

In Genesis 16:13 Hagar assigns the name El Roi to God meaning "The God who sees me".

That's our God- that's our Father!  He Sees Us.  We are never invisible to Him.  We are never lost to Him.

Tune in tomorrow for the verb FILLED (Filled with compassion in NIV, Felt Compassion in ESV).

Me preaching (with Christina translating) at the first Camp.

Yikes, it's way past time for a blog

Yeah, nearly 2 months since I last wrote something!  A lot has been happening.

I went to America for 2 weeks!  Talk about a quick trip.  But it was productive and I enjoyed my time to the fullest and I think I squeezed a lot out of it, including co-officiating the wedding of a dear friend.

When I returned to Ukraine I did so in the company of Tonya Teasely, a recent high school grad from my church back in Mississippi.  At 18, she's already logged 3 trips to Mexico and a trip to Costa Rica.  We were delayed getting into Ukraine by a couple days since it's also that time of year for me to renew my Visa/Temporary Residency.  We arrived in Budapest on Tuesday, June 18 with intentions of entering Ukraine the next day after I dropped off my new Visa Application at the Ukrainian Embassy in Budapest.  When I did so, they informed me that it would be ready in just 2 days- on Friday, so it just made more sense to stay in Hungary until the Visa was ready than to go to Ukraine and then turn around and come right back.  So we stayed with long-time friends and IMB Missionaries, the Hathcocks, for a couple days.

Tonya and I finally arrived in Ukraine that Friday night and went to our first Summer Camp the next day!  It was a long 7 days of tent camping in chilly, rainy weather with about 20 middle schoolers.  The following week we did the stuff I usually do on a weekly basis- we visited the local children's hospital to hold abandoned babies, and we went with some friends to visit toddlers at our regional baby orphanage.  Aside from that we saw some local sights and visited Ukrainian friends while preparing for the next camp which just wrapped up this morning.  This time we had near perfect camping weather with about 50 high school kids.

I took one day off of camp to attend a meeting with the Regional Chief of Immigration (still working on getting my new Residency Permit).  The meeting was a success- my petition was approved and I think all that remains now is a 3 week wait while my internal passport/residency permit is prepared.

Tonya and I will enjoy Shashlik (sort of a cook-out) with the members of our worship band and some other friends tomorrow, she'll catch-up on some last minute souvenir shopping, and then first thing Sunday morning we'll head back to Budapest.  She'll catch her flight home early that morning and I'll try and catch a couple of summer blockbuster movies in English before returning to Ukraine.

Next week I'll be at one more camp and then a few days later I'll welcome another friend to Ukraine for the month of August to explore ministry options with our team here in Uzhgorod.

I feel like venting

This is a rant.  And also a prayer request.  (See how I got all spiritual there?).

It's time to renew my Temporary Residence Visa to live here in Ukraine.

Last month, you might recall, I left the country for a few days to visit Kyrgyzstan.  At that point, I had already begun the process of renewing my Visa by leaving my Temporary Residency Card with my Attorney.  Now...I took a picture of it so I'd have a copy, but guess what?  I accidentally deleted it.

So, upon trying to leave the country, the Ukrainian Border Guards claimed I had "overstayed" my Visa (the 90 Day Tourist Visa).  That was absolutely not true, of course- I just didn't have my Card with me indicating that I was good for a whole year.  You would think it would be as simple as typing my name and US Passport Number into a computer to realize that I was completely legal and had not overstayed my welcome!

That's what reasonable, normal people would do.  They weren't reasonable or normal.  They fined me $100 US and then let me leave the country without further ado.

Fastforward to ...yesterday.  My Attorney informed me that the Immigration Officials here pulled my "file" and saw that I had been "fined" and "charged" with overstaying my Visa last month.

Funny.  The computers don't work at the nations biggest airport to check my Immigration Status, but they work fine here in the hinterlands of Ukraine.

I was told by my Attorney that an unnamed government official indicated the situation could be expedited for a "fee".  I declined.

Furthermore, and this is mostly my fault, apparently there was an "appeal" procedure I could have taken to prove that the fine was bogus...but of course, I missed the deadline.

So there's my Attorney speaking with the "Director" of some Govt Agency...he's looking at my VISA which clearly shows that I was NOT in violation last month, he's looking at the "citation" that was bogus.  But because the deadline for appeal has passed he says he can't do anything about it.  Sounds like a "Director" that doesn't have the authority to "Direct" to me!

So we're are starting the process to receive a Visa all over again.  Just like last year.  I will have to go to the Embassy in Budapest all over again.  I'll have to spend all that time and money and energy all over again and this is a really bad time for me to be caught up in all of that.  I go back to the States in 2 weeks (for 2 weeks).  I'd like to get it all done before then.

Oh Ukraine.  You model of efficiency, you!

At least I can blog freely about it.  If I had written this in a letter home I would have to go to the Post Office and the clerk would have to record the purchase of the Stamp and the destination of my letter on three forms that require official stamps in duplicate.

A nice little excursion

This is my best little bud, Rostik.  Turns out he must be everyone's best little bud (among those of us who regularly visit the abandoned babies at the local children's hospital).

His story is a little unusual.  Babies end up here because they are out and out abandoned; sometimes they are given-up by a parent or parents that can't take care of them.  Sometimes the "State" removes them.  One kid had a single parent being treated for TB so they had the baby for the time being.  Little Rostik is caught in the middle of a custody dispute and so he's a Ward of the State until the issue is resolved.

He's not overly emphatic but then again a lot of the babies here are fairly lethargic, I think due to lack of stimulation, at least until they start to approach being about a year old at which point they ship them off.

Anyway, he was removed a couple weeks ago to everyone's dismay.  In the year or so I've been visiting the children's hospital, it's pretty much unheard of to know whatever happens to them when they leave, until now.  Apparently some of the girls have been questioning the hospital staff and they were sympathetic to our cause and told us how to go see him at the Regional Baby Orphanage (for kids up to 3 years old).  A church here in town also had some connections with the Orphanage and they put in a call on our behalf.

Yesterday my friend Anya called and invited me to go with her and some other girls today to try and see Rostik.  We left town at 8 am on public transportation to Svalyava, about an hour and a half away.

We had an amazing time.  It's a bear to get there and back, being almost 2 hours away, but worth every minute.  There are about 100 kids at the facility.  If you think holding babies is fun, try chasing a dozen toddlers!

I will say this: the toddlers LOVED the girls and took to them instantly.  No so much with me.  My guess is that they don't have too much interaction with men.  I don't know if I'll be able to visit often enough to change that, but I'd sure like to.

One kid in particular stuck out to me: Her name is Bogdana and she has a cleft palate.  I didn't get a chance to question any of the nurses about it.  I suspect it's something that be surgically corrected pretty reasonable over here plus I know at least one American Dr that might be able to point me in a direction.

Oh, and we didn't find Rostik.  They said he is in the Hospital in Mukachevo, so maybe we'll see what we can find out.

I didn't want to pull my camera out on my first visit, but one of the girls, Maria took a few pictures.

Here's Anya, one of the child-magnets that went with us.  She's the one that invited me to go.

This is the only one that seemed to really like me on the first visit.














Thanks Anya and Tonya, Maria and Katya for letting me tag along today!

Central Asia

This has been a BUSY month!

• April 2 I returned from a week in London (via Debrecen, Hungary).
• April 5 I was on a train headed to Kalush, Ukraine to coach our church for the weekend.
• April 7 I was on a bus to Lviv where I spent the night with new ministry friends.
• April 8 I was back on a train headed to Kyiv.
• April 10 Doug and I met a small team of Americans here for a Vision trip.
• April 11 we drove all day to Ternopol where we visited our ministry partner Ternopol Mission Institute.
• April 12 we drove all day to Uzhgorod- arriving about 10 pm.
• April 13 we toured areas of Uzhgorod where ITeams is engaged in a "Transformation" Project with our lead church.  Later that day we were back on the overnight train to Kyiv.
• April 15 we flew to the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan where we met with a multi-national team of Christian workers- many of them Ukrainians, most of them in their 20's. They are fantastic young people working in a beautiful but challenging environment.
• April 18 we flew back to Ukraine via an all day layover in Istanbul where I spent some time with some fellow Mississippians.
• April 20 Doug and I were back on the overnight train to Uzhgorod.

I have been sleeping and keeping a low profile ever since!

This weekend I'll preach at our Spring Regional Re:Fresh Youth/Youth Leaders Conference.

Next week a World Race team arrives for the month.

Some thoughts about our trip:  

One of my personal goals for coming to Ukraine was to assist Ukrainian believers carry out the Great Commission; ie, to help churches here catch and implement a vision for doing missions at home and abroad.   Actually, a lot of  workers here are working toward that end and that's the primary goal of International Teams-Ukraine (a separate but related entity- I work for ITeams-US).  In partnership with Ternopol Mission Institute, IT-Ukraine and TMI have sent about 80 Ukrainian believers to the Nations.  They are in Africa, India, Central Asia and here in Ukraine.  It's relatively unheard of!  No one else is sending Ukrainians abroad like TMI and most of them are supported by Ukrainians and not US dollars!

So while in Central Asia we met with some of those workers.  Most of them are Ukrainians but some are "native" workers from the various "Stans" that have come to TMI for training and then returned home.  At an average age of 25 years old, they are planting and pastoring fellowships and making disciples while living in often difficult settings.  They are constantly under spiritual attack and sometimes in danger of physical attack as well living in predominately Muslim areas.  They are heroes of the faith.  Pray for them and for the truth to be made known throughout Central Asia and the Caucasus.