Update on Jessica and Deb

I got an email this morning from John saying that Deb came through her surgery just fine. Jessica is still unconcious, but stable. They are beginning to reduce her sedatives. She is scheduled for another surgery next week to replace some of her skull, but there is concern over infection.

Thank you for keeping this family in your prayers.

Please also pray for my parents as they head out tonight on the train to visit my sister and her family. They will spend a couple of days with them and then go on to Russia. My younger brother, Matthew, is also traveling this weekend. On Sunday he's flying here to spend a few weeks with family and friends in Ukraine. It's been over two and a half years since he's been here.

More for Prayer

I received an email this morning from my mission director, John. He was asking for prayer for him and his family as his daughter had severe brain trauma on Saturday.
Just over a week ago John's wife, Deb, was diagnosed with cancer and scheduled for surgery this Tuesday (tomorrow). Now on Saturday their oldest daughter, Jessica, suffered severe brain trauma from a burst blood vessel or artery in her brain. She was in surgery when John wrote.
Please pray for this family who are really just trying to serve the Lord.

Praises and Prayer

Apparently some of you were praying yesterday! I had a great visit with Lika in the evening. Carmen didn't come so I was able to just catch up with Lika for a little bit and enjoy spending some time with her. It was a great chance to reinforce our friendship for which I am grateful. Please continue to pray for her. She has a lot of burdens to bear as a single mum and sole provider for her family.
Another praise is that the large sum of money that went missing from the mission bank account a few weeks ago has been returned. I'm not sure what all the details are, but PTL!

On the prayer side, we are facing some spiritual battles here. I just feel like we've been under spiritual attack for several months. I'm not sure why, maybe God is on the verge of doing something great or maybe there is some sin someplace that needs to be revealed. Either way it is for God's glory, but in the mean time we continue to need prayer. We've had a number of financial upsets--other than the one mentioned above--some of which are still not sorted out. Personally I have also felt under attack and it is showing in exhaustion and pain primarily. I've been fighting carpal tunnel syndrome for a number of years and am in the middle of the worst flare up I have had in ten years. Beyond that I am just utterly exhausted to the point where I am falling asleep on my office floor several times a week because I just can't keep trucking. I've also noticed that some of our office staff are struggling with health issues again and/or are just a little emotionally unbalanced at the moment (nervous, easily upset, depressed, etc.).
There are five important meetings coming up in the next two months. The first starts today and is with some key men here in Ukraine about building up the church here in Ukraine. It goes through tomorrow. The second, third and fourth (and there might be another one, it gets a little much for me to keep track of) are in Russia starting June 2 and going through about the 15th or 16th. These are one to three week training sessions with key leaders in Russia who are taking over the CBLT ministry there. The last meeting is for one week with all the Ukrainian missionaries who have been working in Russia over the last couple of years. Those meetings will be back here in Rivne from July 19-23.
Please cover these things in prayer and just ask Go to show us what we need to do about these other "little" problems that keep popping up. I'm not sure if it is just spiritual resistance or if God is trying to tell us something. In either case, we need to get as close to God as we can.

Prayer Request: Lika

Please continue to pray for Lika.
I was reminded by a friend last week that her resistence to salvation may have more do to with a spiritual battle than anything else. He has been helping out with some of the repairs/remodelling that is still going on in their apartment and he commented how difficult it is for him to be there because of Lika's mum, Luba. Luba is, well, difficult to describe. I wouldn't go so far as to call her out right crazy or mentally unsound, but by appearances she leans that way very strongly. However, another friend had suggested that it is a spiritual issue more than psychological. I think there is truth in that. But I think that she has psychological issues too. Anyway, I do feel that there is some spiritual force holding Lika back and I ask that you would join with me in prayer for her and Carmen. That God would get them, not the devil!
I do try to maintain regularl contact with Lika, but have been discouraged lately. I feel like she is just using me for internet access and computer help. But after listening to my friend I was convicted that I need to make a greater effort with her again. Please pray that I'll find a way to chat with her privately without Carmen as she will never talk about anything unpleasant in her life in front of Carmen. Pray that I'll be able to continue to build a bridge of friendship with the wisdom of a serpent and the innocence of a dove.

Doctor Follow-up

So, I went back to the doctor today. You know, cause that's what he told me to do. I don't generally go in on Mondays because he has staff meeting, but he just told me to come in at 9am instead of 8am. Being an obedient and conscientious person, I did. I even recruited a friend and fellow missionary, Julie (you should check out her blog too for some great insights into life here), to go along for the experience. :D
We arrived at about 8:45 to make sure we were first in line, then waited and waited and waited. Finally, at 9:45 I asked a nurse's aide that I am acquainted with if the doctor was around. She replied that he would be available at 11! That's when I got up and walked out. I only wait so long.
The up side is that I don't have to worry about getting protseduri done this week!

A Visit to the Doctor's

I wish I had pictures to go with this post. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I'm sure some of you would feel that if you saw pictures of the hospital I go to see my doctor at!

The doctor that I am talking about here is actually more of a chiropractor, although on his door the sign says "Manual Therapy". It's something between massage and chiropractic. I started a few years ago because of herniating a disk in my back. Now I go back periodically to get re-aligned and if anything else is wrong--like my ankle that still hasn't healed up--and he helps me sort those things out. It so pays to have an acquaintance in the medical system!

Generally, my trip to the doctor starts around 7:45am when I call a taxi to take me to the hospital (usually if I am going to see the doctor I don't feel up to going by public, or I am running late; taxis cost about $2 at this point in time, here in Rivne). I have to get to the hospital by 8am or else there is a good chance that I will end up waiting in a long line (like today when I got there at 8:15 and ended up waiting till 9:30 before I got in). My doctor, Dr. Vazhovski (although if I addressed him by name I would probably say Peter Rastislavovich--using the patronimic is the polite form of addressing someone), works in the City Hospital, in the clinic. That means you can walk in and if you know where you are going you just go and get in line in front of the appropriate office door. It also means there are aptekas (pharmacies) ALL over the place in the building (cause you have to buy your own needles and gloves and cotton and alcohol and medicine and anything else you may possibly need and bring it to the doctor--why is it that people think that socialized medicine is such a good deal?).
Dr. V is on the second floor, so I trundle up the steps and go around the corner and down the dimly lit hall--lights are off because presumabley the windows at the one end let in enough light for us all not to fall all over each other... I tap on his door and try the handle. Generally it is locked, a good sign, as it means that I have beaten him to the hospital and he'll see me before the cleaning lady gets in (we have a friendly war, she and I, even if I am sitting there she'll set her broom and bucket and the vacuum on the other side of the door and see if she can sneak in before he lets me in). If I have to wait for the cleaning lady that adds 15-30 minutes waiting time. And on occasion, I am not the first one there and so I have to wait for someone else and that adds about 20 minutes waiting time. This morning, I was late, so the cleaning lady was already in and there were two people in line.
Now, once you get in to see the doctor it is not unlike a chiropractic appointment in the west, minus all the fancy equipment. You lay down on his table (well, okay you normally have to undress here, cause doctors can't work on you if you have clothes on--doesn't matter what the ailment is), and he manipulates you. For me, since he is my only acquaintance in the medical system here I also go to him for questions like dizzy spells and sprained ankles and broken limbs (that would be my nephew, not me). He sorts us out and takes us personally or arranges for us to be taken to the correct doctor, where he smooths the way before us. I appreciate the personal touch. Naturally, there is a cost involved. Generally, at the end of the session I give him somewhere between $10 and $20. A normal Ukrainian would only give $3-5 typically, but being a foreignor and not really under the socialized system... But again, who wants socialized medicine when you have to come during the pre "working hours" and pay anyway in order to get decent treatment!?
Normally, a trip to the doctor takes about an hour if things go smoothly. This morning it took over two hours. I did take extra time because I fell yesterday--one of those lovely things that you hope no one else sees--and must've wrenched my back a little, and of course my ankle took extra time. I've been told that if it isn't better by Monday I need protseduri (literally=procedures; actually means therapy). I'm hoping to avoid them, just on the basis that I am not sure what electro-magnetic therapy will do for it or ultrasound therapy for that matter. But maybe it will just ascertain that my ankle really isn't pregnant.

How to Fail a Breath Test

My sister-in-law pointed this video out to me yesterday. It is actually in Russian and sadly is a not innaccurate depiction of the alcohol problem here; but it's also just really funny.

Paying the Bills

I've been reading a book by an American about living in Russia. It's just a humourous look at some of the idiosyncrasies of life here in this part of the world. Reminded me of how certain things, like paying the bills, are considerably different here than in the West.

In the States, when I had a bill to pay, I typically dug out my checkbook, made out the check and sent it off. Usually with a premade form filled out with all the pertinent information and often in a pre-adressed envelope which I only had to affix a stamp to.
That's not what happens here. Every hozayin (the responsible person in the household--typically the owner, but in my case me, as the renter in charge of paying the bills and all other household maintenance) has a set of books that have to be filled out on a regular basis, taken to the bank and examined by the teller who then enters your information on the comptuer, tallies it all up and gives you the grand total. You then pay her, she prints out the receipts, stamps them to show that they are official and gives them to you. You take them home, cut them apart and paste them into your booklets to show that you have indeed paid for your bills.
Now that all seems relatively simple. But we all know that real life just isn't that simple. Here's a pictures of the books that I have to fill out. I have one for electricity, one for gas (for the stove), one for water, and one for heat and hot water (I have to pay extra for the heating of the water). Oh, and of course, there is also the telephone bill which is separate and doesn't have a book. You just have to remember to tell them your number when you go in and pay or your phone will be cut off on the 20th of the month! (speaking of which, I need to take care of that!)
As an example, lets take the heat and hot water bills. These ones are extra fun because I have to go to the accountant of our building to find out what I owe on a monthly basis for my heat. She's at the buiding office on Monday or Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:00, generally. Once I get the correct amount from her I fill it in in my book. With each book I also have to fill in the landlord's name and apartment address (all in Russian, of course, and if you think my English handwriting is lousy...!). For the hot water bill I read my hot water meters and figure out how many cubic meters of water I have used in the past month, enter that in the little booklet then multiply that by the latest charge for hot water. To find out what the latest charge is I just have to run down to the building door and see what has been glued up. After I've entered in the right figures I just tally it up and write it in the right boxes. Now, all of these booklets have to be filled out in duplicate form, so taht there is one for the bank to keep as record of your payment and one for you to keep as record of your payment.
Having correctly (hopefully) filled out my four little booklets I choose an afternoon and trundle down to the bank at the end of my street. Generally there are not less than six people in line when I get there, and often 10 or 12. At an average of five minutes per person I have an easy half hour to an hour of waiting in line. When I finally get to the front of the line and pass my booklets (opened to the up-to-date page) through the window to the teller, I can generally expect to be yelled at. In my case, I am usually yelled at for not speaking loud enough (even though I am raising my voice and bending down to speak through the little hole)--in reality it is just that they don't understand my accent. Naturally, my inclination is not to speak up because I don't want the whole world to know that I am a foreignor, but after two years of fighting this I am gradually coming to the realization that that is a hopeless dream.
After sorting everything out with the teller and clarifying that I do indeed want my phone bill paid, I hand over my cash and she hands me back my receipts and change. Then I go home, cut my receipts apart (they are always printed on one very long paper) and staple them into my book to prove that I have actually paid my bills. Usually the teller also stamps my copy of the form in my booklet, but you gotta include the receipt just in case there is any question in the future. Being a practical foreignor, I find it much easier to staple my receipts into the book, but we all know that that is almost sinning since normal people glue their receipts in because a stapled in receipt could still be ripped out.
I've taken to paying my bills every other month when I can (except that dratted phone bill, but sometimes mum pays it for me when she pays hers) because it is such a thrill....

Sewing!

I got to sew last night! It was great. On Sunday and Monday (since it was a long weekend) I was finally able to pull out my birthday gift--my new sewing machine--and try it out. It was so much fun! It has all these cool stitches and it was fun to just relax and try them out. I had forgotten how much I love to sew.
I also started working on Myriam's curtains again. Poor girl, she'll probably get them about the time she moves out. *blushes
I'm looking forward to using my machine a lot more of the course of the next few months. Thanks family!

Another long weekend

Yes, May really is the month of holidays. Well, actually April/May. Between Easter and May Day and whatever May 2nd is and May 9th (which is Victory Day) we have a ton of holidays at this time. It is a nice break from the routine for me. It is a great opportunity for people to be able to get out in their gardens and do some of the work that needs done there without having to take extra days off work. Interestingly, these are government required holidays, but some government run factories work around this by giving people the day off, but requiring them to work the following Saturday to make up for it!
For me, this weekend I'm staying home. I came down with a migraine yesterday and I've noticed that my pain levels have spiked recently, probably in conjunction with weather changes and fun things like that. But, possibly, also in relation to being a little too active lately. So, I'll use my long weekend to just rest at home.

Long Weekend and a Note

We had a four day weekend this last weekend: May Day and Victory Day (or Freedom Day? or some other war-ish holiday--can't remember, just know we had to give the office a day off for it), May 1 and 2.
I used the weekend to "escort" Cheryl to Kyiv, where I dumped her at a friend's place (I know, I'm a good friend) and then went on to my sister, Priscilla's, place in Rzhishv. It was a great weekend. Lovely to get away for a few days and just relax and spend time with the kids and Pris (and Dan too). I played legos and tried not to burn my hair off roasting marshmallows and in general just had a good time.

On a side note: I changed the settings on my blog for comments, so hopefully it should be easier to make a comment now. ;) Just choose "anonymous" from the settings if you don't have one of the other id's to sign in under.