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 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.
1 comment:
Thanks for the update... sounds like you and Tonya have been gloriously busy... I'll be praying for a safe, enjoyable trip home for her... love you, brother...
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