It’s done. You have no idea how long I’ve waited to type that sentence:) The cafe property has been purchased, documents are completed and keys in hand!

Svetlana worked very hard all last week preparing the documents. It ended up being 6 separate purchases, 2 buildings and 4 pieces of land, a lot of extra paperwork for anyone that has ever tried to purchase in Ukraine. We are so thankful this was completed before the end of the year, and can now rest a bit before jumping into the project.

This week the entire church has been busy preparing for the upcoming Christmas Play we are putting on for the town this Sunday.  We have 20 cast members, lights, stage help, sound, and a fearless director in my father-in-law Neil.  It has been slowly coming together, we have a full practice again tomorrow night.  I’ve been in charge of the other aspects of the evening like making sure people come and trying to heat this silly building!  It’s currently about -12 C / 13F, and whatever the temp is outside, that is what it is inside this theater…

We plan to use a new heater that we helped the city purchase (in exchange for a year of rental of buildings downtown for outreach or church).  Together with that special heater, and a few of our own, we’re praying we can get the temp to a bearable state.  If not, we’ll rip up some of the old wood floor and set it on fire, it will be romantic!

*Deb and Mom snuggle during play practice.

Must go, praising God for new building, and aiming prayers toward spring/summer groups to come and help us renovate and provision for all the materials.  God’s got us this far!

Bruce & Deb

“Ukraine was caught between Stalin and Hitler, between planned famines and outright slaughter, to be relieved only by the grinding misery of post-Stalin communism.”

– George Friedman

As foreigners, we’re in a constant state of learning.  Culture is an amazing dynamic isn’t it?  The longer we are in Ukraine the greater the appreciation we have for the freedoms back west.  Totalitarian dictators, devastating wars, and a history of abusive power has seem to all but sniff out the hope of a thriving middle class here in our new world.  This is the first thing that strikes me when I re-visit back to North America; the strength and dominion of the middle class.  A country that lacks it like Ukraine, suffers from the two extremes, very rich, and very poor (and the rich like it that way!).

This is a very well written (in my opinion) article on Ukraine’s past, and current state of affairs.  If you are interested, take a read!

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/opinion/op_ed/detail/91967/

I find the history of Ukraine fascinating because it not only provides a contextual backdrop for the ‘why’ things are here, but it gives hope.  Hope that the reality of God’s love through the coming of His Son is VERY good news to the oppressed, and needy.  The eternal perspective of everlasting life, of the destruction of sin being ultimately destroyed, and justice winning in the end, is a new kind of story here, and one I long to share and live effectively.

I also really enjoyed this speech, it’s on the current state of the European Union, and the freedoms being potentially denied as it struggles to continue it’s authority.  When you hear someone speak like this, doesn’t it inspire you?

Bruce & Deb

Had our first Christmas Play practice last night, the thermometer read 0C on stage!). Here’s a picture of Neil casting the play, and directing everyone. About 6 students came from the cafe nights to be in the play. We have Mary and Joesph both being played by two of the students, integrating them in the center of the play!

Things we could use prayer for with the outreach:
– community support (they’d come!)
– electricity to work
– somehow we could heat up this building
– electricity to work (yes, pray twice!)
– God’s Spirit to move upon hearts on Dec 19.

Property Update!
The money has successfully arrived in Ukraine, and we are paying for the tax portion this week in preparation for the Thursday signing. We’ve blogged about this before, but the whole process of signing is like this native cultural dance. They don’t have ‘title companies’ or those arbitrating services that manage the step between signing and handing over the money… so it’s this whole negotiating process of “we want the money first”.. “no, we’d like to sign first’… This is what we are doing now, they literally want us to drive the sellers to Kiev, to help them deposit the money, with the local notary as a witness. Everyone here is rightly nervous about any sort of transaction involving strangers, corruption is so normative.

Anyway, we’re trying to be open to how they want to do it, at the same time not wanting to put ourselves in an impossible situation if the sellers turn at the last minute. God help us to be gracious, and watch over the process!

Bruce & Deb

Neil Directs Students

We spent the week arranging the international wire transfer for the property purchase downtown. Amazing amount of details to overcome, but we think things are ready now. We sent a test amount and it was rejected, the Ukrainian side is very particular about how exactly the forms are filled out. Anyway, we are re-scheduled to sign on Thursday of next week, and the money should arrive early next week barring hold ups. Svetlana in Ukraine, and April in Texas have been working hard to help this all get organized, what a blessing they are!

Andrei Murzin is coming down this weekend with his family and staying with us. Andrei will share at church, he is a respected teacher and a great friend in Christ.

Temps are hovering around freezing, or a bit below, not bad at all. The pipes are holding up!

We attempted to get to our Russian lessons in Kiev tonight, but the traffic was unbearable and we got trapped downtown. I completely forgot how helpless you are when you get stuck in Kiev, we literally were in the car for 4 1/2hrs today, and all we did was go to the bank and eat dinner. The Indian food was almost worth the trip, almost!

Thanks for checking in, please pray for next week property transactions, we need it!

Bruce & Deb