Small Group

So, just a quick update. I had my English group tonight and I had so much fun! I make them work! I only had four people tonight, but that was just fine. I do better in small groups anyway. Two weren't Christian and two were from another church, but I don't really split hairs about that. They are encouraging some of their friends to come, so please pray that God will give them courage to invite people and that people will respond and come! I'm happy with my small group, but people need Jesus.
One of the Christian girls is proving to be quite helpful to me. I pretty much refuse to speak Russian during small group (since the lure is that it is English), but I have no problem with her translating and explaining things in Russian or Ukrainian as needed. It is actually quite a blessing because she is able to convey some of the spiritual thoughts that way that might not be understood if we only talked in English.

I had to laugh today as I was so tired when I got home I could hardly think and certainly not in any one language! I am picking up a lot of Ukrainian words, but having difficulty separating them from my Russian, but today whenever I opened my mouth I spoke a terrifying mix of English, Russian and Ukrainian! Hopefully my brain will defog over the next few days, so that I can communicate clearly in at least one language! lol

Up, Up and Away!!!

Well, mum and dad got off to Kyiv last night on the train. I've talked to them several times this morning already, just trying to cover a few last minute details about the office and those kind of things. So glad they have this day in Kyiv before flying off to the States! Makes it easier to wrap up these little loose ends.
It's a relief to get them off as there were lots of last minute projects in relation to this trip of theirs (they'll be in Ohio for a month, until the beginning of Dec.); now hopefully we can get back to "real" work. :) I'll miss them of course, but I have a feeling that the month will absolutely fly by, esp. as I am going to my sister's for a weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving (Nov. 10, go figure).
The weeks really do seem to just tumble by. I just realized last night that I only have four or five weekends left to do my Christmas shopping (because of being gone or other weekend events)! Panic.
Anyway, back to the original thought, now that my parents are gone for the month it means that I am in charge here at the office. Not that I won't be able to contact them, but all the daily decisions will rest with me. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. lol Seriously though, I would greatly appreciate your prayers for wisdom and understanding as I deal with different things and also as I plan out our work for the next few months.
In addition to dealing with the office work flow and answering people's questions (which can take many hours in a day), I also need to complete some of my own work. It's beginning to become urgent as within the next two weeks I have two different translators that I need to give my finished work to. Two different projects and I've been trying to work on them for a month with no luck. I suppose I will make it work out now, but I shudder to think of the other tasks that will have to be pushed to the back burner while I do that!
So pray that I'll be able to give priority to those things which need priority and keep the office as well as myself afloat for the next month.

Orphans

Did I mention that last week on Monday I went to visit an orphanage with one of the girls from our office? They had a special celebration and I just went along to see what they are doing. They go there every week and lead Bible studies with the kids. Basically like a kids club. On Tuesday part of the team goes to a different orphanage in another town and I think on Thursday as well. They go to a fourth orphanage on Saturday.
None of the orphanages are here in Rivne, so it usually means a 45min. to 1 hour drive one way for the team, then anywhere from one to two hours there with the kids. Many of the kids are orphans, but some just come from poor families or alcoholic or drug addict families. The orphanage that we went to was quite large, one of the largest ones I've been too. There must be a well over 100 kids there possibly 150 or so. It has it's own school on the grounds. Sad that they are so segregated from normal society.
On holidays those that have parents or families often take them in, but many kids are left behind. Lilya (my co-worker) and her team try to arrange some special events and for church people to take them in. She has such a burden for them! They have been collecting money to buy shoes for the kids that don't have families or whose families are obviously too poor to take care of them. Later this winter they want to buy them hats.
And here I sit in my two bedroom apartment with a computer, internet, more food than I have been able to eat in a month and clothes for that matter! I would like to take one in for the holidays or for a weekend sometime, they are just crying out for love. But then I am so silly as to not want to put them on my couch because it isn't a proper bed. Somehow I don't think they would care. So why don't I?! I'll have to talk to Lilya about that.

PS

So, I discovered that if I post first thing in the morning and then later in the morning or afternoon my posts come up as on separate days! I love that. Means that I can post twice in the same day without appearing completely rabid.
What I was going to say is PRAISE THE LORD I have heat AND hot water in my apartment! So far three out of the four rooms that have heaters in them have heat, which is wonderful and plenty for me right now! Such a blessing. And hot water too. So nice to be able to get up and take a shower without having to think about heating the water on the stove for it. So PTL.

Internet at Home

So, I finally got internet set up at home again. :| Did I mention that I had a trojan horse on my computer? My brother was so helpful as to suggest that I gather some sticks and light a fire under it. This is the kind of family I live with. So, since I wanted to keep my computer alive I simply reinstalled windows and a good portion of my programs and connected to the internet and promptly got a worm. So, in between that and another snag I ran into I decided it would be easiest to just reinstall Windows again. I think if I ever go back to the States and need a job I'll hire myself out as a computer person. The sad thing is that I could. It's amazing to me how little people know about computers. But I suppose not everybody lives on theirs or has two or three brothers who are fully immersed in that world.
Anyway, suffice to say that I have learned a lot about computers and the internet and worms and trojans and viruses and all manner of other things in the last ten days or so.
But I'll try to quit blowing my own horn now.
Maybe tomorrow I'll post a picture of my computer. Spores of happiness. (that's a Sims 2 reference for all of those of you poor people who don't immediately recognize it)

Language Learning

Oh, did I mention that I have been leading devos at the office in Russian every day this week? It has been quite fun and quite a challenge at times. Thankfully I have several able helpers who supply words that I don't know. It has certainly encouraged me to keep my devotional thoughts short and to the point. :D

Small Group

So, on Wed. I had my first English evangelistic Bible study. It was...interesting. :D Actually it was a ton of fun! Short and sweet, but since that suits me just fine I enjoyed it. Right now I have a mother and her twin sons (college age) in my group and then a variety of other "comers and goers". That's my guess at least. Right now I don't have any helpers from the church to befriend people, but hopefully that will get sorted out soon too.
It was really a fun evening for me. Just relaxing and enjoyable and got to read the Bible with some people who really didn't understand what they were reading about! I would certainly appreciate prayers for me and these people. There are three other English small groups going on this year as well, so you can pray for all of us.

So many things

So many things to think about.
So many things to do.
So many things to be grateful for.

I was just browsing a couple of websites from a couple of different friends and both of them were talking about eternity and God. I feel like my life is all a muddle of busyness right now. And I wonder what place God has in it. When I stop and think I know that He is front and center, the reason that I live and even want to live. But what about in the daily spending of my time. I think I need to work on that. I can't imagine a person who is more precious to me, but yet I set aside so little time for Him. But then again I talk to Him all the time. I don't know, I think there is always more room in our lives for us to express to those we love that we love them. And that includes God.

Funny, when I started this post I was going to tell you all about what is going on in my life right now (and I will), but just at the moment I am caught up with God. I just love him sooo much. It defies expression in words. I wish I knew better how to communicate this to other people. This passion that I carry so dear in my heart. I want to let them know that they too can have this...but somehow I fail miserably when I try to tell them. I have heard of people who were "so heavenly minded that they were no earthly good" and I wonder sometimes if I fall there. Of what earthly good am I to the perishing?


On to other thoughts:
I need to quickly update you on life here so that you can pray for me and praise with me.
First off, work is insane! :) I am super flat-out busy at the office and there are a variety of situations there that I could use your prayer for. We are restructuring the office, and with that comes changes for certain people and change can be hard. So please pray that we would have wisdom in dealing with these things and that they would be accepting of the changes and have good attitudes. With the restructuring process comes lots of work and meetings for me which take up my time as well.
Beyond that, I am working on a cd presentation that needs to be shipped to Canada for duplication, but I am having trouble arranging the duplication with the company in Canada, which is becoming stressful as I had meant to have this sent out a week ago and the whole process needs to be completed inside two weeks. So please pray that God will expedite that process.
Then too there is the normal editing that I need to get done, which is completely at a standstill at this point. :} Besides the extra projects that I have from dad that need overseeing so that they are completed before he and mum leave for the States next week!

At home I got a nasty Trojan Horse on my computer so it looks like I'll be reformatting that one (again, this is becoming a bit of a habit with me) and setting it up from scratch again.

The good news and therefore praises are:
I couldn't have gotten the Trojan without internet, and yes I did finally get internet connected at home on Friday! Yipee!
In other breaking praises, I have hot water. Such a blessing. I'm such a wimp. :D Life is so much easier and more pleasant with hot water. So that is a huge praise.

I think that's all for today. I need to go and get ready for the staff meeting that didn't get finished last week! :{
Oh PS. please pray for me as I lead devotions over the next month, but esp. during this next week as I am talking about faith and the promises of God and there are a lot of challenges in regards to that.

Brrrrr--Blue with Jealousy

That's me! My friend Kos and his wife have heat AND hot water in their apartment already and they live on the same block as me, but do I have hot water or heat??? *whimper
I don't know what I'd do without my space heater. I'm sure my electric bill will be through the roof this month. At night it is getting close to freezing outside and inside it is about 62F or 17C. Let me tell you: 17 degrees may be fine for a fall day, but indoors 24/7 it is stinking cold!
I'm worried that they will take it into their heads not to turn the heat on until Nov 1 in my building. So pray that they get their act together, ok?

Ooops, pictures...

I didn't forget...completely.
So here is a pic of my carpet that I bought on Monday. It was a trifle more costly than I had really hoped for, but worth it in my opinion because it was what I really wanted. I don't know how to describe the carpets that are really in style here: they are very "formed" or manicured. I wanted something more relaxed and homey like, but not too patterned (the other style that is in is the oriental rug which is highly patterned). So I am very happy with this one. As soon as I saw it I knew it was the one for me.
You know, one thing that cracks me up when I go shopping here, esp. when I make a bigger purchase, like this, is that you have to ask for a receipt. They give receipts out for the piddliest little things, but when I bought an office chair I had to go back to the store and ask for a receipt and I had to ask for one for the carpet too!

This pic is just of the momo's that I made the other day. They weren't as good as the ones I had in India, but they were pretty decent! They took about 4-5 hours to make. But it was a fun Saturday afternoon activity.

All work, no play.

:D Right now that is what it feels like here. I am in the process of reorganizing the office here. It's not my fault! It was really just something that I fell into being as I am something of an organizational freak.
Right now my days are filled with acquainting myself with the editing process and each individual's tasks and responsibilities as well as reassigning some of those tasks and responsibilities. I love organizing and I am sure that in the end things will run smoother, but right now it means a bit more stress for me and my mum (and my dad consequently--to say nothing of his upcoming trip to Russia and then to the States). It also means a lot of meetings and sorting things out and that means that I am not getting my "real" work done! :)
Of course, the fact that I am presently doing a power point for my dad in addition to helping manage the office and reorganize it...
Really though, I do enjoy the organizing and planning; I'm just finding it a trifle stressful at the moment as I still have other responsibilities that need to be taken care of.
But another up is that my apartment is really coming together! I don't have anyone coming over to do work on it anymore which is a relief after having workers over 3-4 nights a week and most Saturdays. Now I get to "make it pretty." :D That does NOT mean frilly! I'm still debating about having green or yellow curtains in my living room, but have already begun working on the ones for my bedroom and intend to finish those up sometime this week. I also bought a rug yesterday for the living room which I am very excited about! I'll post a pic tomorrow! And maybe of the office too.

Coke and hot water

...not mixed preferably.
In my opinion they are both gifts from God. Unfortunately at this point coke I can get, hot water...not so much. They turned the hot water off in my apartment (well actually on my whole block and probably in my whole area--which translates to probably 50,000 people at least) and have informed...somebody (certainly not me!), that it will be turned on again when they turn on the heat. Probably around October 15--if we're lucky! It may be as long as Nov. 1 till they turn on the heat!
Thankfully my parents, with great foresight, donated a space heater to me when I first moved in. Otherwise I just try not to sit still for too long! :P
The coke is just a lovely aside as it has kept me running for some time and enabled me to get so much more done than I would have without it. I love caffeine. But I'm trying to cut down and am making some good headway there. Hopefully nothing will come in to upset my life in the next month and I should be down to zero soon (okay, so it'll take the rest of the month, but slow and steady keeps the migraines at bay).
Actually, I have had much fewer migraines and headaches in general over the last two months.
Now it is only once or twice a week that I take meds for a headache, compared to only once or twice a week NOT taking meds for a headache.
Life is good. Even if I'll have to heat up water to do my dishes since I can't just leave them for ten more days in the hopes that they'll turn the hot water on sometime during that time! :D

Elections

Well, the elections have made things about as clear as mud. Sigh. Both the "good guys" (Timoshenko and Yushenko) and the bad guy (Yanukovich) are claiming victory. Keep praying! It'll probably take at least the rest of the month and quite likely several months to unravel this all. It is not necessarily a simple thing, the choices are between evil, not so great and mostly unknown.
That there is really any real thought for the Ukrainian people is doubtful (and that is taking a very optimistic view of things) for any of the parties, but ...
So, keep praying.

Political Aspirations

So, we had the parliamentary elections here in Ukraine yesterday. So far, from what I can discover we're still in limbo. Sigh. I really think this is a state of being for Ukraine. The way the voting looks now (they've counted about 40%) Timoshenko and Yushenko could come out on top--if they can set aside their differences and form a coalition. Otherwise it is quite possible that Yanukovich could form a coalition with some of the lesser parties and still pull off the necessary majority to gain control of parliament.
So, if you are a praying person--pray. And if you aren't a praying person--pray.
I don't know what to ask you to pray for precisely, but pray. God knows, and He alone knows, how to work this situation out for the good of the people.