What a week! This is going to be a long post.
Thursday night, we had our first reader party. We have parties with our readers to show them that christians can have fun and to introduce them to the church members and missionary here. We had a game night with Uno and Spoons which we played for about an hour before splitting up into groups for team pictionary. Twenty of our readers showed up, mostly the secondary school and university students. Our younger students had such a great time, they invited us to play baksetball with them Saturday and to show us their school and the city. We got up early Friday to take a Marshutkra (a van with a crazy driver!) to Kiev. Our Missionary, Kostya, and one of our readers, Roma took us to many of the sights including the Lavra, St Sophia and St Michael Cathedrals. We learned much about the orthodox church and the challenges the church faces here in Ukraine. Most of our younger readers don't attend church except for Easter and Christmas. They seem to be most open to learnign about how we worship. Our last stop in Kiev was the University Student Center that is sponsored by Highland Park Church of Christ in Memphis, Tenn. They have a great set up with a good size library of both academic and (mostly) christian books in Russian, Ukrainian and English. They have a conference room and smaller classrooms where they hold bible studies and language clubs. We met a Nigerian medical student while we were leavign who was joining several students for a bible study. I wish we could have spoken with the student more but you could see how at home they felt at the center.
Saturday morning we met our new friend Oleg. He is one of the students who meets with Kostya and is ready to think more about his faith. He took us on a tou of Bila Tserkva's pride, the river and Park Alexandria. The River is just a few minutes from the chruch and we walked along it for 45 min before entering the park. Now this is not a city park as we know it in Houston. It is probably close to 10 time the size of memorial park (or at least seems to be, converting kilometers squared to square miles is confusing). We spent 2-3 hours walking along its paths and seeing the ruins and very beautiful bridges. Wa walked to the top of the "mountain" which probably is what a Texans think of mountains as well. There is what looks to be a fort that over looks the river. The Park was created several hundred years ago and the ruins are 200-300 years old. The best part about the par is that they sell ice cream. The hospitality in Ukraine is amazing and everywhere. Oleg bought my ice cream for me since he suggested the flavor. It is delicious. Oleg is a very and funny young man who cracks jokes when he can. He went home after the park since his hand was swollen and bothering him. He suffers from haemophilia and can only take certain pain medicine. After a few hours rest, we met my reader Alex at the church and she showed us which marshutkra to take to the city center. We then walked to her school and met some of our other secondary school readers, Kris, Anya and Helen. A few of their male friends who do not read with us joined us as well to play basketball for abotu an hour. Then we walked around the city center (downtown type area) and visited another part of the river. We walked through what to us would be a permanent children's carnival with rides and a ferris wheel. Why do we not have one of these in Houston?
Today is a very big holiday in the orthodox xhurch. They celebrate pentecost or "the Trinity." People buy long plades of a plant to put on their floors in order to receive a special blessing. We asked the kids about other traditions and holidays and discussed a few of our beliefs with them. The kids don't seem to believe too much or even know why they do certain things as part of their traditions and holidays. I look forward to reading with them this week.
Please continue to pray for our young readers and for Oleg to heal quickly.
Thursday night, we had our first reader party. We have parties with our readers to show them that christians can have fun and to introduce them to the church members and missionary here. We had a game night with Uno and Spoons which we played for about an hour before splitting up into groups for team pictionary. Twenty of our readers showed up, mostly the secondary school and university students. Our younger students had such a great time, they invited us to play baksetball with them Saturday and to show us their school and the city. We got up early Friday to take a Marshutkra (a van with a crazy driver!) to Kiev. Our Missionary, Kostya, and one of our readers, Roma took us to many of the sights including the Lavra, St Sophia and St Michael Cathedrals. We learned much about the orthodox church and the challenges the church faces here in Ukraine. Most of our younger readers don't attend church except for Easter and Christmas. They seem to be most open to learnign about how we worship. Our last stop in Kiev was the University Student Center that is sponsored by Highland Park Church of Christ in Memphis, Tenn. They have a great set up with a good size library of both academic and (mostly) christian books in Russian, Ukrainian and English. They have a conference room and smaller classrooms where they hold bible studies and language clubs. We met a Nigerian medical student while we were leavign who was joining several students for a bible study. I wish we could have spoken with the student more but you could see how at home they felt at the center.
Saturday morning we met our new friend Oleg. He is one of the students who meets with Kostya and is ready to think more about his faith. He took us on a tou of Bila Tserkva's pride, the river and Park Alexandria. The River is just a few minutes from the chruch and we walked along it for 45 min before entering the park. Now this is not a city park as we know it in Houston. It is probably close to 10 time the size of memorial park (or at least seems to be, converting kilometers squared to square miles is confusing). We spent 2-3 hours walking along its paths and seeing the ruins and very beautiful bridges. Wa walked to the top of the "mountain" which probably is what a Texans think of mountains as well. There is what looks to be a fort that over looks the river. The Park was created several hundred years ago and the ruins are 200-300 years old. The best part about the par is that they sell ice cream. The hospitality in Ukraine is amazing and everywhere. Oleg bought my ice cream for me since he suggested the flavor. It is delicious. Oleg is a very and funny young man who cracks jokes when he can. He went home after the park since his hand was swollen and bothering him. He suffers from haemophilia and can only take certain pain medicine. After a few hours rest, we met my reader Alex at the church and she showed us which marshutkra to take to the city center. We then walked to her school and met some of our other secondary school readers, Kris, Anya and Helen. A few of their male friends who do not read with us joined us as well to play basketball for abotu an hour. Then we walked around the city center (downtown type area) and visited another part of the river. We walked through what to us would be a permanent children's carnival with rides and a ferris wheel. Why do we not have one of these in Houston?
Today is a very big holiday in the orthodox xhurch. They celebrate pentecost or "the Trinity." People buy long plades of a plant to put on their floors in order to receive a special blessing. We asked the kids about other traditions and holidays and discussed a few of our beliefs with them. The kids don't seem to believe too much or even know why they do certain things as part of their traditions and holidays. I look forward to reading with them this week.
Please continue to pray for our young readers and for Oleg to heal quickly.
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