Category: Bruce Posts (Page 209 of 211)

Autumn, our wonderful office manager at Cypress informed me today that they’ve spotted our container floating in the Atlantic! June 29th it was in Kingston, Jamaica, now heading toward the port in Odessa. The new arrival date has been pushed to August 20… which is the exact date the Perhai’s (apartment we are renting) return… co-incidence everything could come together at the same time?? We can’t wait to sleep in our own bed!

“In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thes 5:18

PS our bathrooms are functional at the house, and oven installed… almost there!!

“What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?”  Psalm 8:4

We’re giving God thanks this week for caring for us, here’s a few ways He has:

• Apartment in Kiev while our house is finished.  Complete with toys for the kids.
• Money to rent a car while our 40ft container (with my truck) is somewhere on the Atlantic.
• Delaying our container now 2 months and teaching us to surrender.
• Russian lessons we’re having 3x’s per week while in Kiev.
• Knowledge of public transportation in Kiev and familiarity with the big city.
• Keeping us all healthy.
• Blessing Cypress with an amazing group of friends and brothers in Christ.
• A church body in Texas that is investing in our family with love, prayer and finances.
• Friends like you that check in and send prayer our way.
• A harvest all around us and the privilege of co-laboring with Christ, for His glory.

It’s so easy to start complaining.  I feel the tempation every day.  This has been a difficult transition from the former life we had, we had it so very easy. But in difficulty or trial God’s word and comfort is often the clearest.  God help us all to be quick to spot Your loyal hand in our lives and praise you for being mindful of us!

My cultural thought for the week is on communism.  I’m convinced that they purposely devised inefficient models of government and business to control the masses.  The hoops we are forced through for menial tasks leave us baffled. Many procedures are in response to the corruption and lack of Christian ethic, but this can’t answer for all of them. For example, below is a picture of the receipts from ONE trip to their large, modern home improvement store.  Don’t let the modern exterior and shiny new products you see when you first walk in fool you, you will be put through the ringer with every large purchase. It really tests the ultimate price you are willing to pay!  12 separate checkouts required resulting in another 6hr shopping extravaganza!  A special thank you to Yura from Khagalyk who saved me at least 3hrs.

Anyway, the only explanation possible for the amount red tape, signatures, and circular procedures you face on a daily basis, is that of genius!  Mad genius.  There is a job for everyone in an inefficient model; a signer, a stamper, a security and yet another stamper.  With so many lines and procedures to accomplish anything from paying your utility bill to buying produce in the super market, people don’t have any time left in the day.  If you know it will take you all day to do 1 or 2 tasks, you literally can spend your life serving the system simply for survival.  It’s sort of like the SIM series of video games, you create a world for your characters (we like SIM Amusement Park), and then watch them function within it.  Except the goal here was to keep everyone busy, not necessarily amused.  This is obviously my own limited observation, but there remains a strong remnant of communism in this part of Eastern Ukraine.  You feel the former USSR effect the most when you are running in circles for no apparent reason.  Many foreign companies are investing here, and western influences continue to change the cultural landscape bit by bit.  The government run institutions will be the last to adapt I’m sure, the successful transition of Ukraine into a western modeled democracy is an event of great interest. 

Check out this article if you are interested in learning more about Ukraine and Russia’s interest in it – click here

Having lunch with a CEO of a Commercial Property firm here in Kiev, his name is Oleg.  Pray for our lunch, it’s on Thursday.  We met in the line at the bank (maybe Jesus would take advantage of these lines!), and he spoke English very well.  We discussed the economy and some politics.  I talked a bit about what my business does in the states in regards to commercial property databases, he seemed interested to meet so we exhanged cards and set up a lunch date.  Actually, he said, “let’s get together for a beer”, won’t my dad be proud!  We’re meeting at a nice restaurant along the river downtown, I hope I can scrape up some business attire for the occasion, we’re still living out of a couple suitcases (4 months deb and I counted since packing our stuff in Texas).  I hope to break into some business networks, and build some relationships with people like Oleg, I believe the Lord opened this door. 

Purchased kitchen counter tops this week, although one piece was not ‘standard’ and will take a month to receive.  All major appliances are purchased and have been delivered to our house this week! Hopefully in the next 2 weeks we’ll see them installed and functional, it will be wonderful to spend a few days in Rz again.  Speaking of Rz, I have a conference call Tuesday with the Kilgore newspaper, they are going to do a story on the Sister City program, I’d better get moving on this end!!  Also met with Viktor from Lviv, our Cypress programmer (above pic) I hadn’t met yet, we had a nice time with Nadya (Andrei’s daughter) helping with translation.  We were able to share our testimony and pray together, as well as learn about Viktor’s background.  He’s a young fellow, in his 20’s, and eager to help us grow our Ukrainian office.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You: because he trusts in You.”  Isaiah 26:3

PS- picture of the boys is from a few weeks ago, they were desperate for a bathroom, this was the only thing we could find.. Brent is not quite sure!

We have been in Ukraine 7 weeks, it feels more like 7 months.  This weekend we drove our sweet ride to Rz again, and stayed over in our house for the first time.   We don’t have any appliances yet, so it was camp central in the master bedroom, sleeping bags and all.  The kids enjoyed getting out of the city and breathing the fresh country air, so did the parents.  Our house is coming along, day by day.  We have running water now!  The upstairs bathroom is mostly complete, in fact the entire upstairs is in good shape, needing only some closets, bathroom cabinets and carpet.  The main floor however is 2-3 weeks away from being finished, the cabinets are being installed/setup now, Deb and I are running around picking out counter tops and appliances that will fit the smallish standard sizes. 

I guess with family sizes being under 2 kids for the most part, you don’t need large ovens and refrigerators.  Their standard size appliances are tiny in comparison with the US.  They are starting to get what we would call ‘family’ size appliances, but they are imports from germany and some from the US, and they are 30-40% more in cost than the US.  Needless to say our appliance budget has gone up in smoke, but we don’t have much of a choice, these little boys are starting to eat like men, and they love to play in the dirt. 

Our yard however is a complete nightmare. The trees are overwhelmed by 4ft high weeds, and every other step is a pile of wood, glass, rusty metal somethings, and concrete.  It’s amazing how much came ‘out’ of this house over the course of the project.  I’ve been trying to get some person(s) to come and work in the yard, we’ve even agreed on a rental price for a bucket loader and dump truck to haul it off to the dump, but the guy never shows up.  Kolya has been trying his best to get some students or anyone that is looking for a few bucks to help clean the yard up but he’s informed me that this is not common, nobody in Rz has probably EVER payed for yard work…. but we’re rich americans that expect to pay for these services… maybe that will be the boys first business (Calixto, will you come and train us on the art of landscaping?!).  Actually, I would love to spend the week getting it ‘play safe’ for the kids, but we’re in Kiev during the week and won’t be going out for another two weeks.  Anyone want to come over and work in our yard?  Could that be a missions trip?  It would certainly be a mission. 

Deb and I can’t wait to be living in our own place.  The first thing I’m going to do is buy (if we can find a decent one) a BBQ, and have all the workers over for a big Texas Style outdoor grilling.. I’ve yet to find steak here, I guess it’s really expensive and not as popular as pork, but they will taste some steak over a BBQ and forever be changed.  Maybe that will motivate a speedy finish!  Only 4-5 more weeks and we HAVE to move in, ready or not, here we come RZ!

On July 5th I have Viktor from Lviv (Western Ukraine) coming in by train to visit, he’s a programmer that has been with us for over a year, will be the first time I get to visit in person.  I hope to expand our programmer base here in Ukraine, I’m going to meet with my lawyer friend Alex hopefully this week to discuss registering Cypress as a legal entity here… could be a very good way to get visas, rent buildings (for ministry and/or work), own vehicles, and get a membership to the largest grocery store in Kiev (currently we can’t get in).  The more I consider it, the more interested I am in continuing on a business premise, I think it will open more doors for ministry than a direct ministry/religious approach.

This week I’ve been considering eternity.  As much as we hope and work toward a settled ‘home’ here in Ukraine, we’re really just passing through.  I’m glad we’re not living in tents like Abraham, we have it easy in comparison.   He was ‘looking forward’… maybe that is a key.  Ponder this verse!

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”  Heb 11:10