[ Deb and I at Andrei’s birthday party, northeast of Kiev, it was also Indendance Day ]
During our 2.5hr drive to the party, we came across 3 fatal car accidents. 2 of the wrecks literally had bodies on display from the accident. This being Ukarine and the amount of alcohol consumed on a regular basis (especially holidays), the accidents weren’t a surprise, but the lack of prompt emergency assistance was truly sobering. Who knows how many lives are lost because of the inefficient and outdated systems here. The kids were given real life examples of what happens when you drive like a maniac under the influence of alcohol. I was very thankful we made it home safely, and didn’t hit any of stumbling hitchhikers on the way.
On a positive note, remember Dema our friend that was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year? He was at the birthday with his wife and kids. He looks great. The doctors have told him the cancer is not growing, and they believe (much to their disbelief) he is going to be fine. We are praising God with him, and he sends his appreciation to those that joined in prayer for him.
[ After eating, the group headed off to the woods for a game of soccer.. pronounced ‘fuutball’, it made for quite an obstacle course.. that’s Broderic in front of me, and tucker with the red pants. ]
[ On Saturday I went with Alyosha to my first ‘AutoBazaar”, where literally 100’s of people show up, sit in their cars (or sleep) and wait for someone to come and inquire. It was pretty interesting, sort of like an auto trader in real life. Alyosha found and bought his first car, I was pretty excited for him.. and glad that he can now go to the hardware store without me! ]
[ All church meeting this weekend, we weren’t allowed to rent the normal hall, but we were given this old theatre/disco place, it was smaller, darker, a bit smelly, but it worked out really well. Jon on stage posing with his air guitar, and Broderic setting up the mics. ]
[ Cheryl, Sveta and our friend from the city social services department.. can’t remember her name… inviting the kids for tomorrow handicapped day camp. Cheryl and Sveta have been preparing all week for this day, they have horse rides lined up, food, a movie, and a solid crew of volunteers from the church ready to make this day a special one. Pray for the kids and the parents that come, that they would be blessed and God honored with our efforts… Oh, and please pray for safety.. I tried to convince the city they needed a liability waiver form signed from the parents (silly westerner!) but they replied, “But, you ARE responsible if anything happens, who else would be?”… whoa horsey! ]
Kids loving the final few weeks of beach weather! Especially Noah.
This weekend we met some new friends from Kiev, Mike and Rebecca Klein from Washington State. They have been teaching in Kiev while adopting Luba their daughter (who is now legally theirs). They were looking via facebook to get out of the city and took me up on our offer. It’s a blessing to be able to give people a break from the city, their two kids have been running wild with ours in the great outdoors. They came down Saturday afternoon, stayed for church Sunday and will be leaving Tuesday morning.
This week pray for some banking issues to resolve. We have money ‘stuck’ in the national bank of Ukraine, being held hostage. Also, pray that our guys (Alyosha, Greesha and Dema, our new construction team extraordinaire!) make good progress on Cheryl’s place, everyone’s chipping in to help complete her apartment in time for Simeon and Asia’s return.
Picture of Deb reading during ‘school time’ to Bronwyn in the yard.
Noah, Noby, Knowbster, Doba, Doby, Nobi-one-kanobi.
Our eldest son Broderic wrote a poem today, and sent it to me by email. I thought I would share it. It’s amazing to watch a young man develop, grasp the realities of this world and by God’s grace turn to Him. He’s not a writer, those of you that know Broderic would expect poems only from his sister:).
‘I live in a world of darkness, all the hope is shattered.
All the people lost will to live, so all of them have scattered.
I was walking in fields one day looking among the lost world, everybody did no good.
Robbing and killing was their doing, there was always a new evil brewing.
As I fell asleep on the steel streets a dream occurred in my sleep,
A shining being told me about a great king, told me to do no evil.
Right after that he spread his wings and with a mighty stroke of his arm destroyed the world of evil and welcomed me to a new world with light and song and happiness.
I awoke with a start, and thought about my future and what I had in store,
then I turned my head to the heavens and said my trouble’s are no more.’
– broderic crowe
I’m hoping the shining being was Christ, otherwise we have some theological work to do:)
Here’s an article posted this week on our family and the July team that came over – click here to read
[Paratrooper Brent, with his sidekick Clark watching on]
Hello again friends and family. August has been a beautiful season in Ukraine thus far, our family is enjoying the open windows (free AC!) and fresh produce. Speaking of produce, we have several fruit trees in our yard which has been a real treat. I accidentally cut down Deb and kids favorite tree a few weeks ago (seriously, I didn’t know those red berry looking things were editable!), they were collectively upset and I’m concerned they have begun plotting some sort of revenge. Have you ever listened to the Pineapple Stories by Otto Konning? They are a series of wonderful messages from a retired missionary couple who planted a church in the jungles of Papau New Guinea many years ago.. among cannibals no less. Anyway, he tells the story of how he learned to ‘let go’ and trust God with their belongings, especially his beloved pineapples in his garden. We’re very thankful that only a few things have been stolen (that we know of), but the other day I saw some new kids in our yard, stealing my pears! MY PEARS! I don’t really care about the apples and the walnuts, they can eat those all they want. To make matters worse, they aren’t even ripe yet, they bit into them, then threw them on the ground. I kindly asked them to not eat God’s pears:) We have kids over all the time, well, we don’t really ‘have them over’, they come unannounced and in herds. We’ll be eating supper at the table and watching kids from the neighborhood jumping on the trampoline outside which is only a few feet from our dining room window. They come to the window like a drive through restaurant and ask “can i have some juice or a cookie?” We find it amusing and try to love on the kids in different ways, but I do get more nervous when older kids (teens) start showing up and stealing my pears. They lose their sweetness (the kids that is) around 11 it seems and have that glimmer of mischief in their eye…
Had a great lunch with some friends in Kiev today, they are from two different churches. They’re both from California, serving as missionaries for the past 5-8yrs or so. They share a hunger for God and appetite for biblical teaching, especially in the area of discipleship here in parched Ukraine. Jake has started a publishing company here in Ukraine and has successfully translated and printed several of John Piper’s books, and about to publish a book by Wayne Grudem. Much needed material that will greatly bless the believers in this part of the world. We talked together about the possibility of hosting a regional Marriage Conference, designed specifically for missionary and church leader marriages. It would be a very fruitful endeavor I believe, to host such an event, pour back into the lives of those who are serving here, and may not have many resources or opportunities to sit back and be taught/encouraged. We talked about possible speakers, churches we knew back in the states, and businesses that may want to help sponsor such an event. It would be very cool to film the conference and make DVD’s for the leaders to take back to their churches. In Ukraine, there is VERY little material translated into print, and even less in a multimedia format. Pray with us about this would you? If God is in it, we want to see Him clearly exalted, and His church built up… especially in this most crucial covenant foundation. Deb and I have a heart for marriage and family, and it’s very easy to get excited about pouring time/effort/money and prayer into this.. but we also want to be careful with our time, too many irons in the fire and we will start to drop the ball on things… know that feeling?!
[Nescafe instant coffee is sold in plastic sealed containers (those kind you can’t open without a hammer), it’s not just coffee, it’s gold!]
On a sobering note, Deb’s grandma is very ill and near death. Her grandparents live in England (formerly of South Africa) and Deb’s parents from NYC flew over today to be with her in the potential final hours. This is something that is sort of sudden for the family. Appreciate any prayer for her family, especially any unbelieving family members present. Deb’s grandma loves Christ so we rejoice in that.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the rest of the month for us:
– August 23rd: All Church Meeting in RZ. I’m supposed to be sharing at this however I may have been demoted to the role of MC… that means more liberty to showcase my comic ability? Please pray for these services, this is the last one we had planned in advance, where to go from here? One church said, “we should meet more than once per month together…” I doubt the denominational churches will agree to more than once per month, however God has done a miracle thus far with this, so who knows!
– August 24th: Ukrainian Independence Day. We’re meeting with Andrei Murzin and some friends for a BBQ.. we’re having burgers (sounds American to me).
– August 26th: “Special Children’s Camp” Our church is hosting an all day camp for the handicapped children in town. The city asked us a few months ago if we would be willing ‘as a church’ (that is a big deal!) to do something special for these neglected kids. They are literally outcasts in society here, no school provided of any kind for handicapped children. Often scorned and the parents blamed for their condition I’m told (a curse etc.). Cheryl and Sveta are leading up the day, and have some really neat ideas for this including some horses. This is also a great opportunity for us to reach into these various families, pray for this outreach please. The city has asked if we would do something regularly as well, we have not committed but consider this to be a great request of ‘trust’ and opportunity to continue becoming assets to this community, and vehicles of Christian love.
– August 29th: “Home Group Kick Off” We are planning to host a BBQ/Outreach outdoors at Jon & Ruth’s down the street. This will mostly be a way to rally the church again around Home Groups and get excited about starting again for the fall, but also a way to invite neighbors and we hope to build some bridges particularly in our area of town. I’m going to invite my neighbors and folks on my street to it. We’re also going to bring in a gifted musician from Kiev that writes very poetic and Christ-centered music, plays the guitar and sings, that’s the plan anyway.
-August 30th: My parents, uncle and aunt, and cousin from Canada are arriving for a week or so. What are you planning to do dad? Do you want a tractor or something ready? We may go an visit Chernobyl actually, I’ve heard that it’s quite the tour, it really sticks with you.
