8 Jan 2010
Vacation Pictures

Here are some pictures to go along with the post from yesterday. I am sorry if they don’t seem organized. I have trouble figuring out how to lay out lots of pictures on the blog.
Missionary to Ukraine
8 Jan 2010

Here are some pictures to go along with the post from yesterday. I am sorry if they don’t seem organized. I have trouble figuring out how to lay out lots of pictures on the blog.
7 Jan 2010
It has been a month since I last wrote, but most of that time I was away. My vacation started on Dec. 4 with the Bardwells and me traveling to Budapest, Hungary and then on to Baia Mare, Romania the next week and staying with the Henold family, who are missionary friends with Dan and Laurel. Our overnight trip to Budapest went smoothly, and after a little trouble meeting up with our escort to the resort, we got to our lodging on the west side of Buda around noon on Saturday. Since we had no personal vehicle for transportation we bought week long passes for the public transport and didn’t have to worry about getting tickets for every ride we took. It was gray and cool most of the week, but not uncomfortable, and we did a lot of walking and riding. We scheduled a personal tour of the city on Monday and capped the day off with dinner at a restaurant that caters to tourists and provides food and entertainment with an authentic Hungarian flavor. Highlights of our week in Budapest include visiting the Winter Christmas Fair and Advent window in the city center, visiting the Palace of Wonders Science Center (highly recommended), eating at the American restaurants like Burger King, KFC and Subway, and swimming in the resort pool. Our accommodations at the resort were very nice and homey, and it was a blessing to just kick back and relax and not feel that we had to be somewhere at a certain time.
By 8:30 a.m. the following Saturday we were out of our resort and on the road again to catch the cross-country train to Debrecen that would eventually connect us to Baia Mare, Romania. We got to Debrecen with about 3 minutes to get the connecting train to Romania, and we jumped in the train and found an open compartment to settle in before taking our second breath. When we handed the steward our tickets she informed us that we had only paid for the tickets and not the reservation fee. The ticket agent never even told us about that fee, so we had to shell out some more money to make peace with the steward and be allowed to stay on the train. We are pretty sure it wasn’t a bribe, like is so common in this part of the country.
We were greeted at the train station in Romania by the Henold family, and grabbed a bite to eat at McDonald’s before going to the house and crashing for the night. During the week we had 3 opportunities to pass out John/Romans; twice in Baia Mare and once in Sighet after we visited the Communist Resistance Memorial Museum, located in a former prison where the resisters were held. Our first Sunday in Romania we went to the gypsy village where the Henolds are trying to get a church started. We had a good turnout the for the service, and a solid gospel message was given. It snowed hard the second weekend we were in town, which made the mountain roads difficult to traverse. Dan was looking forward to preaching that week, but instead of going to church we listened to Pastor Sowell’s message on the internet.
Other than Silas getting his foot caught under the car at the science museum, our trip home proved to be the most dramatic part of the entire vacation. We weren’t sure what kind of connections we could make at the Romania/Ukraine border, so we thought our best bet was to take a train back to Debrecen, Hungary and then up to L’viv. So our journey started at 3:30 a.m. Monday morning, the 22nd. By 9:30 a.m. we arrived at Debrecen with no trouble, but through a series of events we ended up having to hang out at the train station all day and wait until midnight for the next train to the Ukrainian border town. To make a very long story short, in the dead of the night, with 6 sleepy children and lots of baggage we changed trains 3 times, until finally, at 5:30 we caught the train (almost missed it) for the final leg of our journey. God blessed by allowing us to have the compartment mostly to ourselves, letting everyone stretch out and get some real rest, and giving us some beautiful scenery through the Carpathian Mountains. Just about 40 hours after we started our return trip from Romania we finally arrived in L’viv. A taxi driver gave the Bardwells a great deal to take them home from the train station, and I had a quick and easy trip home on the bus. Overall, I think our trip was a success, and I praise the Lord for an opportunity to “come apart and rest awhile.” Check back in a couple days and I will have added pictures to the story.
4 Dec 2009
Well, part of it anyway. I will be leaving today with the Bardwell family for a 17 day vacation. We will be boarding the evening train to Budapest, Hungary and will be staying at a resort there for a week. Laurel and I have spent many hours surfing the internet for interesting things to do and see in Budapest. At the end of next week we will get on another train and ride east to Baia Mare, where we will be staying with Bob and Tina Henold, missionaries in Romania. We look forward to the time away from home, meeting new people, and trust God for health and safety along the way.
22 Nov 2009
It was reported to be everything from biological warfare, to the pneumatic plague, to simply a campaigning ploy by the top political leaders. After the smoke has cleared and the information looked at, it appears that Ukraine, especially the western part, was hit by 3 different strains of the flu virus, including the swine flu, or California flu, as they call it here. One of these viruses quickly attacks the lungs and it can take a life very quickly if not attended to immediately. At this time of year and in this part of the country the death toll is higher than usual. It seems that everyone you talk to has family or friends, or knows someone, who was sick or died from the flu. Just this week my next-door neighbor was found dead in his apartment as a result of the flu. By the grace of God, none of the missionaries in L’viv have fallen sick, and we are taking measures to stay healthy. We didn’t have kids’ club or English club for a couple of weeks because of the quarantine, but school is back in session next week and our ministry schedule will be back to normal. It has been a blessing to hear our church members testify how they have been able to speak of Christ and the peace he gives in these times of life’s uncertainty.
8 Nov 2009
25 Oct 2009
24 Oct 2009
Last week Bible Baptist Church had its first service at my apartment, its new location for the winter months or until we find another building in which to meet. We had a full house with 19 folks, but we are praying that we will burst at the seams and have even more. Pray with us for this outcome. It was also a good week for our Kids’ Club on Saturday. We had a good group and a great time learning the books of the Bible. The kids and leaders split into two groups and raced against the clock to put the Old Testament book cards in order. It was lots of fun and a great learning experience.
10 Oct 2009
Strange as it may sound, I have always wanted to dig potatoes with Ukrainians. I thought it would help me accustom myself to the people and their culture better, and understand first hand the physical hardship it involves. I suppose, if you have done this every year since you were 9 or 10 years old, you would be used to it, but for a first timer, it was pretty tiring and painful. Most families don’t have modern equipment, so it means taking a horse-drawn plow row by row, gathering the potatoes that have been unearthed into buckets, and then emptying the buckets into 70-80 lb. sacks that the men will load onto a horse-drawn cart and take home to store or sell. There is a hand tool used to break up dirt and find any potatoes that aren’t seen on the surface. It involves a lot of bending, reaching, and lifting. Don’t get me wrong, I really did enjoy doing it, and it was a good time and a testimony to the Bardwell’s unsaved neighbors. Four of the Bardwell kids, Laurel, Olena, and I all came out to help them that day. And next year? We’ll see.
25 Sep 2009
Our Tuesday evening English club continues to go well. We are regularly having at least 10 young adults each week, and they seem to be relaxed and enjoy our tea and cookie time after the sessions. Last week one of the girls asked what we do besides the English club and we had the opportunity to explain the correspondence Bible course to her. By the time I showed her a lesson the whole group was listening and we ended up giving everyone there a starter packet with lesson one. Praise the Lord for an open door.
25 Sep 2009
I continue to work with the youth ministry at Greater Grace on Saturday afternoons, and we have been having a good number of kids come each week. We have a wide range of ages, and many more girls than boys. We are praying and working on improving our time together, and including more scripture memorization as well as theme- related Bible lessons. We try to include some English in each of our meetings, as this seems to be an incentive for some to come. I have been trying to put verses in Psalms to music and teaching them to the group as one more way to learn the Word of God. Thank you for your prayers for this ministry.