One Busy Week

Last week was such a busy week. Even though we will be finishing up this Bible series with a few people (Elena, Yuri, and Christina), we plan on continuing Bible lessons with them. We do not believe that Yuri and Christina are saved and are unsure about Elena. We greatly desire to see them saved. Please be praying as we will be finishing the lesson with Elena on Wednesday and Yuri and Christina on Thursday.


Above is a picture of Elena. Here she looks happy and easy going, but she has a very hard life.

Below are pictures from this past Thursday night Bible study in the village. The girls and I went this time and we didn't get home until 11:30 pm! The girls did surprisingly well. (They always go to bed at 6 pm.) The Bible study is held at Yuri's house which is only one room and a kitchen.
Eric, Anna, and Max playing outside after Bible lessons.
Christina and Lina separating cucumbers...YUMMY!
Anna, Lina, and Christina in the kitchen

Anna playing hide and seek
Lydia is looking a little tired. Poor girl.
Max- still FULL of energy
Christina and Yuri

Ukrainian home tidbit: In some of the pictures you can notice a rug hanging on a wall, you also see that in many pictures of Ukrainian homes. Not only do they add some beauty to their homes, but also help to keep them warmer.

Those pictures are from Wednesday and Thursday. We went to the metro to pass out Johns and Romans on Friday. I would have taken pictures, but my camera batteries were dead. Max gets right in front of people so that they can't avoid him and Anna got so tired of people rejecting her that she started giving them to me just to hear someone say "Thank you"!

On Saturday, Lina, the girls and I went to the open air market. One of the vendors we stopped at had a ton of purses. Anna thought that was great. She picked up one of the purses and put it over her shoulder, and went and looked in the mirror-with the encouragement of everyone in the store. She must have done this like 5 times. I REALLY wish I could have taken a video or even some pictures. Lina and I had to try on a few of the purses that she picked up because they looked so cute on her. We were gone about 7 hours and neither of us bought a single thing! (Our husbands were shocked...and probably happy.)

Sunday we had our regular services (we have our morning services, a meal, then our "evening" service). Following that, Eric started up Bible lessons with Vladamir again. Tatiana was also at church and Eric invited her to stay for Bible lessons. While Eric was giving lessons to Vladamir and Tatiana, I took the kids outside (Anna, Lydia, and Max).

I'm supposed to have Russian lessons on Monday and Thursday mornings, but have canceled the Monday lessons for a little while because our schedule is so crazy. It has been so nice to have one somewhat normal day with the girls at home.

Besides the Saturday shopping, that's a pretty typical week for us.

Health

Well, it is now 11:30 pm here and I am exhausted but am again spending another night trying to suppress a cough. After having two really bad nights, I finally went to the doctor's office today (okay, I didn't really have a choice, I have a husband who loves me). They think that I have bronchitis. I have some different things that I am trying and they seem to be making it a little better, but still would appreciate it if you all would be praying for me. I really need sleep, so I guess that I will give it a try.

A Day in the Village

On Friday we went out to the village where we are having Bible studies and spent the day with Yuri. (The Bible studies are in his home.) We brought food for a feast and groceries for him. After stuffing ourselves, the guys went fishing, and us ladies just had fun breathing in the fresh village air...and playing with the cute kids. ;) Anna had SO much fun running around, as you can see from the pictures.

Some of Yuri's green houses (we were actually supposed to be putting plastic on them, but it was too windy).


Yuri's house is one of the houses in the background. Every time I go into one of their homes, I'm amazed at their poverty. I plan on taking some pictures next time.

The river by his house. I plan on putting a verse on this picture and framing it. Just looking at it is relaxing!

Miss Anna

Anna and Max

Eric, Yuri and Max fishing

Lydia


Lydia with our church translator Lina. It's SO nice to have her back!

Happy Helper Proof

2 Cups of WHAT???

Learning Russian has been very interesting, and like everyone learning a new language, I have made my fair share of mistakes.

I felt fairly comfortable talking to her, so when our neighbor asked what kind of muffins I had made her, I thought, 'I can do this. Shouldn't be too hard.' I started out by telling her that they were zucchini muffins. She had a hard time believing me. Well, after I finally convinced her that I knew that I had said zuchini, I proceeded to give her the recipe. So, confidently I started off...I mean, how hard could it be??? I cook with this stuff all the time and see the ingredients in Russian. Piece of cake! ("Pride cometh before a fall.")

2 Cups of flies... Why is she looking at me like that? Let me try it again.
2 Cups of flies... What? Is it different in Ukrainian than Russian??

Well, didn't get past that part. She asked me to have Lina translate the rest.

Quick Russian lesson for you...Mooha is flour and Mooka is fly....or is it the other way around??? Still working on that one!

Child Labor

(I live overseas so I can get away with it. ;))

I NEVER would have dreamed that a 1 and 1/2 year old could be such a big helper! For all of her 1 and 1/2 year old life, Anna has been right there with me. And yep (as Papa would say), she was usually a big hindrance to getting things done. We had fun though! Anna now takes diapers to the trash, loads and unloads the washer (sometimes have to help her with this if it's our clothes), hands me the clothes' pins as I hang out the laundry, and lots of other little things. Now before you try to find a way to call child protective services, let me say that she does this smiling the whole time. Here are the pictures to prove it! (I threw in one of Lydia helping too.)























Okay, so Anna isn't really smiling in this picture. Looks more like she's pleading with you to save her! I'll force...oops...take some pictures of her smiling FREELY later.



(The ones of Anna doing laundry were accidentally deleted, so I'll have to take some more and post them later.)

"But Jesus Didn't Go Through the Metro"

We were shocked to hear these words come from our dear, sweet Valentina! She recently read that being angry with someone is the same as murder in God's eyes. She said that she didn't see how she could love some people. One of the verses that we shared with her was Hebrews 4:15 "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." That's when she said, "But Jesus didn't go through the metro!" (The metro is a subway. It is usually full of people pushing and shoving.)

How often do we feel that way? Me? A missionary wife?? NEVER!

Matthew 22:37-39

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

What a HARD time we have with that! It seems IMPOSSIBLE to love some people, and it is...if we try to do it on our own. If we follow the first commandment and love the Lord with all of our heart, then the second one will just come naturally. Brother Winstead told us before we left for Ukraine, "Keep your eyes on Jesus, not on the people. People will hurt you, deceive you, lie to you, use you, and just be unlovable at times. If you look at them, you'll leave the field. Just keep your eyes on Jesus and He'll love them through you." There have been times when I got discouraged by how I was being treated by "these people," but we didn't come here to be loved, adored, and taken care of by them. We came here to share the gospel with those that are lost (and if they are lost, why shouldn't they be unlovely? We're all unlovely without Christ!), and to train and strengthen the Christians that are here. Without Christ, this is impossible. As long as I keep my eyes on Jesus, and love the Lord my God with ALL my heart, His love will flow through my heart to the unlovely.