Today was really busy! Luckily we did not have to be anywhere till 12. Today we met with one of Hannah's unbeliever friends that she had been in contact with. We had lunch with her and had a great time. Hannah stayed with her most of the afternoon. Erin and I went to Ira's to help with english club. We had 3 girls, Ina, Vlada, and Nina. We had one lone boy named Artchom and a young man our age from the church came to help, Kolsta. We studied the good Samaritan and even acted it out, which the kids loved. Erin and I stayed for Tanya's small group. There were about 13 of us. It was a long evening and I got language overload. Nastaya is so sweet to translate but still sitting there for 2 and 1/2 hours not really understanding anything does a number on your head! So we came home and Hannah was really sweet and made dinner. So we then settled in for the night.

9/30/09 - Today was a really light day, not much to do. We only had one class to teach at the Transport school. We then came home for a day of leisure. Hannah went in the afternoon to work on some english with Pasha. We got some rest because we were expecting Maya, Ira and Tanya over later in the evening. The came over after their choir practice at about 9:30. We had some great conversations and then headed to bed.

Thursday = Saturday. Today was our day off. We slept in late and we had a grand adventure to McDonald's. It does not sound like much but to get to go to McDonald's was such a treat. There isn't really fast food here and we had to go all the way across town to get to McD's. But it was so worth it! So after our American food fix we went to the bazaar, which is kinda like a flea market. Lots of booths set up and everything real cheap. Like I got a Versace purse for $20. Ok so it's not real but who cares! Then we did some looking around and decided this is where we will be getting our souvenirs, they do have nice things for decent prices. That took up most of our day and we headed home to rest before prayer meeting. Prayer meeting went well and it was nice to meet more people from the church. Tomorrow is going to be extremely busy so we are going to get plenty of rest tonight!

So today we actually had to get up early. Sveta, a young woman from the church, asked the director of her college if we could come and teach. So we had a meeting with him this morning and Ira came along to translate. The director was very kind and said he would have no problem with us being there. God definitely paved our way into this school. We then went to the building next door to meet one of the English teachers and she said she would be so glad to have us there. So that is where we are headed Friday morning. The only other things we had today was our English club in the evening. We were all a bit nervous about how it would go. There were about 15 students that came. We did introductions, a game, grammar, and then discussion time. We divided into two groups for discussion. The topic was hometowns but my entire group was from Poltava so we also discussed other topics. They loved to hear me try and speak the little Russian I know. Sasha asked me if we (English speakers) laugh at them when they try to speak English and I said no. He then preceded to tell me that they DO laugh at me when I try to speak Russian. Now how encouraging is that? One of the people that came was the English teacher from Ira's school, she came to practice speaking English. After the class she mentioned that she is going to speak with the director of the daughter's school to see if we can go there as well. God has opened so many doors and I know it is because of all the prayers from you guys. Thank you so much for the prayers because we are seeing results!

Yesterday 9/27/09: Hannah and I got to go the Transport college all by ourselves and teach. Erin was suppose to at the Co-op college but she has to get registered so she had to cancel her class. So Hannah and I were left to teach, poor kids. We managed to get on the right bus and were even early. It was a new class of kids so we got to go through all the introductions which took up time. The only problem was that the class was an hour and twenty minutes long! So after introductions thank goodness some asked about holidays. They asked mainly about Halloween but to take up time we told about every single one of our holidays. It was a great opportunity to bring in Christ like when explaining about Christmas and Easter. They also learned about 4th of July and even Veteran's Day. I never realized how some of the things we do at holidays is quite ridiculous till I had to explain in to someone. Like at Easter with the Easter bunny, I mean really! But we finally made it through the class. We met Erin back at the apartment and she had a rough morning with getting registered. That afternoon we had a meeting with Vova to discuss what we were going to teach in the English club on Wednesday. In the evening the church has SMS meetings which are like our youth meetings. Erin had to get one more thing taken care for her registration and had to walk down a creepy street so I went with her and then we met Hannah at SMS. Hannah and I get to look forward to being registered in April. Yep, in April I will become an alien, congratulations Mom. But SMS went really well and there was a large crowd. There is a muslim boy from north Africa, "Steven", who Erin says comes to SMS every week. Please pray for him because God is most certainly working in his life.

Laundry: We put a very tiny load into an extremely tiny washer and then hang it on a line that is over my head on the enclosed balcony. The washers here have an extreme spin cycle that ones in the states don't so clothes dry fast once on the line.

Our first assignment of the day was to teach a class at Transport at 12:20. Which was good because Hannah and I stayed up till 3:30 AM talking! Today we taught a different class and I recognized about 8 of the boys from classes I taught in March. Our lesson was on the education system in America. How do you explain something that you yourself don't really understand to someone who does not speak English and to whom most of the ideas are foreign? Here they do not study every subject when they are young but focus on Ukrainian literature. In college they go to a certain college that pertains to what they want to do, not go to college and then figure it out. After class we rode the buses and trolleys around to learn some of the routes. Then it was home. Hannah and I were in charge of dinner, we cooked mac and cheese with chicken thrown in. The only problem was we had to add our own cheese and it did not melt the way we wanted it to. So it did not look pretty but it tasted good! Nastya came over later and brought a friend named Dasha. We just talked for several hours. Tomorrow should be fun because we were asked to teach another class at Transport but Erin already teaches a class at the same time in the Co-op school (business college). So Hannah and I are going to be going and teaching on our own. That could be fun and dangerous at the same time. Please pray about the Co-op college, normally groups in the past have had no problem getting in but this time they won't let anyone in who doesn't have an English and teaching degree. Luckily Erin has both, just pray that God will open more doors and opportunities at this school. Also tomorrow Erin has to fill out some forms for the Ukrainian government so she can be a legal alien. I can't help but laugh when she says that! But it is off to bed since I did not rest much last night.

I finally uploaded some pictures.

First this is our Soviet teacups that came with the apartment. Tons upon tons of them were made during the Soviet era so everyone has them.

Hannah is in the brown and Erin is in the blue.

These are some of the girls from the English club. They are Vlada, Ina, and Kate.

We had church today for about 2 hours. The only black shoes I have here have heels on them and I was not excited about wearing them. Erin helped me to not slip on our way to church. I had been doing so well when some of the boys from the church came up behind us. The boys have this horrible game of pushing the girls down in the snow. I figured Erin and I were safe because it was Sunday, no such luck. Pushkin grabbed me from behind and pulled me to the ground and Roma got Erin. Luckily we were not down for long so there was not a lot of snow on us. Nastya translated for us so we knew what was going on during the service. After the service is family time at the Christian Center next door, just time to eat and fellowship. We were invited to go on a youth trip so we went to the informational meeting. But we can't go because we would miss too many class. We were suppose to have girls night but everyone was too busy. So we went to the grocery to get food and came back for dinner and a movie. It has been nice in the evenings to spend time together and get to know each other.

We got to sleep in this morning and I slept till 10. It was so nice to get some rest. Around noon we left to go to Ira's where she hosts an English club for middle school girls. It took an hour to ride the bus across town and to walk. We had 5 girls come today and they were so incredibly excited to be there. Erin does grammar and English lessons using Bible stories, genius I know! Today we did Jesus feeds 5000. The girls went over some new vocabulary that was used in the story and went over past tenses that were used. They then read the story and translated it into Russian so that Ira could be sure they understood. These girls have not been exposed to scripture before so this is a great opportunity. Tonight the church's young people have several small groups that meet. I had planned to go to one with Hannah but my cold has continued to progress. So I came back to the apartment with Erin to get some rest before our crazy day tomorrow.

To Erica: The ovens over here do not cook like ours and do not have a temperature setting. You have to light the gas under the coil to get it to heat up. There is a thermometer in F in the oven. It also does not stop at a certain temperature either it just keeps heating up. So you have to put in when it gets to your temp and then keep a CLOSE eye on it. So we cook more on the stove top.

Today we started teaching in the Transport College. Other groups have worked in this college including me. The teacher, Ms. Margarita, was so excited to have us although she missed having my uncle Scotty there. The class today was 10 boys and one of the directors of the school, Igor. Igor joins in on the classes because he too wants to learn english. We started off by introducing ourselves and telling about our families. The students were then free to ask us questions and they wanted to hear interesting stories about our lives. Which I don't have any that would really be good for a class setting. Hannah then reviewed body parts and I reviewed personality traits. I absolutely loved being back in this school. Ms. Margarita has asked us to come back and to teach 2 more classes. God has opened the door here just pray he opens the doors in other universities. For lunch we went to a pizza parlor and it was so good. I got a 20 cm pizza and coke for about 3 dollars, jealous? We then came back to the apartment to rest before our evening schedule. Erin tutors a young man from the church on Fridays named Pasha. So we went with her to help. He is a really great young man who is eager to learn. We also met with Ira who is a very active church youth who is a teacher. She invites middle school age kids over to her home for English on Saturdays. She asked us to help her so we met with her to go over what Bible story we would tell. The kids are suppose to be building a snowman tomorrow but Erin said that my cold sounds like it has moved into my chest and that it would be wise if we didn't participate. Then home for rest and dinner. We made a chicken and broccoli alfredo casserole. During dinner we watched Psych which is one of Erin's favorite shows. We are expecting quite a few guests tonight, the youth from the church want to come and visit. Youth here can be from the ages of 13-30, so most of them are only a few years young than we are. Oh! By the way I have been given an Ukrainian name so I am now Nadia! But I am so excited about all that we are getting to do and I thank God for all that he has prepared for us.

So the internet has been figured out thankfully. There is way more snow here than in Kyiv. It is piled so high on the side of the road. The train was long and we were so tired when we got here. Erin is fantastic! God has really blessed us with her. She has gone through so much like figuring out where things are so we don't have to. The three of us are going to get along great. Today Mike took us shopping and we got everything we might need like food, blankets, and other things. That took up most of the day. We had prayer meeting tonight and it is NOTHING like our prayer meetings. First, Ukrainians stand when they pray and tonight we prayed for over an hour. In the beginning I hated what we were doing, I could pray just fine sitting at home. But then I remembered a song Ken Wilson played about what if his people prayed. Prayer is so powerful and I realized this is what it's about, coming together and talking to God. There were a large amount of people there and we first all prayed together and then in small groups. There were a good number of people that I remembered from the week I spent here last March. The Ukrainians here want you to know Russian SO badly! So Erin has started teaching us and I know most of the Russian alphabet that has 31 letters to our 26. We are also learning objects, Erin has labels on everything! We are jumping straight into our work and are teaching tomorrow. We are going to my favorite school, the Transport College. Here they have separate colleges for each vocation. The students at the Transport College are mostly boys and their English is usually poor. But they are the most eager to learn. So there is not slowing down now!

We made it safely to Poltava. Wireless is on the fritz so will try to write more later.

Today was my last day in Kyiv. I leave tomorrow at 5 PM for Poltava. Mike, the missionary I will work with is coming into town to ride the train with us. Today we went over safety and insurance issues. I learned that if I break a bone it doesn't cost me anything. So I guess that means that I will be trying any crazy stunt! This evening we all went to different missionaries homes for dinner. Mary Ann and I went to Charles and Bonnie's home and Elizabeth was there also. Elizabeth and Bonnie both work with teachers and try to teach them Christian ethics so that they influence the kids that they teach. I was so excited to talk to them about this because this something I could do one day. I learned that Mr. Charles was at the New Orleans seminary at that same time my Papaw was, not sure they knew one another though. Ms. Bonnie loved the gift I brought her, it is customary to bring a gift to your host. My Mamaw had made me some tea towels to bring and she loved it and thought it was really special when I told her who made it and how much Mamaw had meant to me. They fed us Mexican soup, cheese bread, chips, cream cheese brownies and ice cream cream. We all watched Obama's inauguration. I must say that he is a wonderful speaker! It was strange though to be watching such a historical moment in America's history and to be in a completely different country. After dinner we met up with Sarah and Joanna to go to the grocery and get things for breakfast. We were walking back through the park when I decided I wanted to slide down the ice. It quickly began a big game and was so much fun.

I can hardly believe that I have been here a week and now I have to leave all the friends I have made. Sorry Mom, but I can already tell that I am not going to want to come home in May. Please be praying for all of our safety as Hannah and I leave tomorrow and the others leave for Prague on Thursday.

Today was a down day where we got to rest. In orientation we discussed more on personalities and then types of ministries we could have in our cities. We were going to go shopping but we all looked so tired that Darrel decided we should go home and rest. Which it was so nice to get a nap because I have developed a sore throat. Yes to all the moms I have taken medicine! The boys were in charge of dinner tonight. They first brought out appetizers that included apples, carrots and turkey hearts. I just could not pass up the great opportunity, I mean how many times would I be offered turkey hearts? They are small and tasted just like the dark meat of a turkey. Now I did not eat the vein portions at the top but the bottom of the heart (ventricles) was quite meaty. The main meal was chicken, potatoes and a cabbage salad. For dessert they had made brownies. The rest of the evening was spent visiting with each other as our time in Kyiv (Ukrainian spelling) comes to an end.

It has snowed heavily all day today! This morning the four of us girls went to Transformation church with Darrel. This morning also marks the first time I fell from the ice. And when I do something I do it well, I put on quite a show! Luckily I am fine and I know it won't be the last time. Service here lasts for a good 2 hours and the church does not have in-door heating. Almost everything was in Ukrainian in the service except for a few songs that were in Russian. The pastor of the church was not there so we had a guest speaker. It happened to be a man from Poltava and it turned out to the first person I heard preach when I was in Poltava. Isn't God funny! I could not recall a name but I certainly recognized him. I was able to follow along with the Bible verses and God showed me my own sermon. It is amazing how I can sit in a 2 hour service not understanding anything anyone is saying and come out filled by God's word! We then went out to eat and I tried some new food, I had a piece of cake that tasted like BBQ. I have no clue how you cook a cake and it turn out like BBQ! And yes Erica it was disgusting!!! I was then dropped off near my apartment and went back and got some rest. This evening we all went to a small plant church that met in a library. It was made up mostly of Americans that are missionaries so we had someone to translate. We then all decided to go to McDonald's for supper. On the way back on the metro we all made such a scene being loud Americans. But it was so nice to be able to goof off with each other and laugh!

It was so nice to sleep in this morning and get some much needed rest! Hannah's cousin came to Ukraine 3 years ago and met a girl here that she really connected to and has stayed in touch with. So she gave Hannah her name and number so we could try and meet her. Hannah was able to set up a meeting with her today at Gloria Jeans (Starbucks of Ukraine). The four of us Hands On girls went, so no one who really knew the city. We had coffee with Oksana and spent a good hour and a half talking with her. She asked us where we were going to go to church tomorrow and we told her a church named Transformation. She looked so surprised and said my father is the pastor of that church! Only God could have us having coffee with the pastor's daughter out of the blue. We then tried to get to some of the cathedrals, we got lost. Not completely lost though we did make it home... eventually. We had dinner at Darrel and Kimberly's (our supervisors) and they fed us soup and grilled cheese. It was so good because today was the first time I actually felt cold. We then watched the film The Ultimate Gift, so good but a tear jerker. Walking home we pass through a park where kids have slid down a small hill and made it extra slick. Sarah and Mary Ann were attempting to go down and we attracted a small crowd. We left but when we turn around we saw many of the adults who had been watching us trying to slide down. One large guy went down and completely wiped out! It was so funny, the guy was fine and actually tried again. It was nice to see some adults having fun, not something one sees around here.

It snowed today! It was so beautiful and came down like mist. We had a morning session on just what we would be doing for the next 4 months and how we were feeling, like a good check up. We then headed to the Famine Museum.

This is the entrance to the Famine Museum. In 1932-1933 Stalin created a famine in Ukraine. He told the people that there was a famine everywhere (not true) and that they should give up portions of their food. Stalin created the famine to force the people of Ukraine to join the Soviet Union.

More people died in the famine than all of the others killed in WW2 on both side combined. I was told (don't quote) that roughly 20 million people died during the famine.

This evening was our turn to cook, thank goodness my roomies are good cooks! We fixed baked potatoes and a cabbage salad. There were many toppings: a garlic and cheese sauce (great!), shredded cheese, mushrooms, pork (we thought the package was bacon), and onions. Here in Ukraine you must make almost everything from scratch, no Betty Crocker or Hamburger Helper. For dessert we fixed apple crisp and it was served with ice cream. I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and having a day of rest. See, for missionaries Sunday is our busy day so we have to make another day our day of rest.

Personality. The personalities of people can make or break a group. It is good to know how your team members react to different situations and what pushes their buttons. This morning we spent time telling about our personalities and what to do if we are upset. This way our team members know how to help the situation and not make it worse. God has always blessed me with great team members. But I have seen some groups fall apart and ruin everything they were working for. In the afternoon we were joined by Roma and Svetlana and went to the Ukrainian WW2 museum, they were there to translate for us. I did not know that there were concentration camps here. They had tons of pictures (good thing since I can't read anything) of people and I was surprised to see so many women that served in the forces.

These are my journeywomen roommates Mary Ann and Sarah. We are in front of the museum that is under "Big Mama". No kidding, that's what Ukrainians call her!

This is a view of Kiev showing a cathedral in the background and one of their eternal flames. The walk way leads out from the museum to the city. By the way the flame it not on and we decided it is because of the natural gas crisis, but really we don't know.

This is their smaller eternal flame (which is on). If you stand back and squint it looks like the Washington Monument in DC. So close to home, yet so far away!

That evening Mary, Hannah, Joanna, and Whitney were in charge of cooking dinner. They fixed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, peach cobbler, and there was even sweet tea! It was a great southern meal, bet you thought I wouldn't find anything normal to eat!

This morning we had a session on Orthodoxy and Catholicism. It was very interesting to find out what the main religions here believe and how active the people really are in their faith. They believe that if they belong to the church then they have salvation, that God has no active part in their lives, there is no personal relationship. We then had free time for lunch and a bit of a walk. These are the girls, minus Mary Ann and Sarah. It's Hannah, me, Mary, Joanna, and Whitney. Hannah is going to be working with me in Poltava, Mary in a journeywoman and Joanna will be here in Kiev, and Whitney is going to Prague.

We then had a session and brainstormed on ideas of how to teach English. We had to consider different levels of English ability. Then we got to go back home and I got a nap! In the evening we went to a church to help teach English. There were 3 students that came (it was the first week after a break, usually there are more). Our group did not teach because we did not want to scare the kids with so many people. But we are getting ready to go to bed and looking forward to tomorrow.

These are pictures from my window in the apartment. Most of the buildings were built during communism. Ukraine has been freed from communism since 1991. The apartments are mostly two bedrooms and maybe a living room that at night is used for a bedroom. Families of all sizes from 1 to 6 or more live in these. As you can see there is plenty of snow!

This is St. Michael's Cathedral.

This is St. Sophia's Cathedral.

In the center of Kiev is a statue that has the distances to many different cities in Ukraine from Kiev. This marker is for Poltava, where I will be shortly, and it shows that it is 304KM away.

Today was our first day of orientation. We rode the transit to the IMB office, thankfully not at rush hour. We spent the morning getting to know each other and telling our stories of how we chose the Ukraine. We went to a Ukrainian restaurant, I had chicken and rice wrapped in cabbage, yes mom I had cabbage! After lunch we had Metro Orientation. This was to get us familiar with the metro (like a subway) and teaching us how to switch lines. We went to the down town area to do a bit of touring. We saw St. Sophia's Cathedral and St. Michael's Cathedral. They are both so beautiful and decorated with gold on the inside. But the people that are there are lighting candles for prayers and kissing pictures of Jesus. It makes me wonder if they have a personal relationship with Christ. They all seem like they have no hope. It gets dark here around 4:30PM so we headed back to make supper. We are also celebrating Caleb's (journeyman) 21st birthday. Please pray for his family, his mother is very ill. But other than that it was pretty warm today, about 38F. Wrapped in all of these layers I can't really tell how cold it is on the outside of them!

I MADE IT!!! No problems getting to any of my gates, thank God. I got into Kiev round 4:30 but did not get out of customs till about an hour later because of long lines. There was a journeyman (a person who serves two years) there to pick me up. I was the last hands on person to arrive. So the guys took me to the apartment where I would be staying. I am living with two journeymen or journeywomen names Mary Ann and Sarah. The entire group of 15 (hands on and journeypeople) went out to dinner. Then the girls and I took the metro back to the apartment. But the real fun starts with orientation tomorrow!

I will be leaving tomorrow at 4:30 PM and should get into Kiev about 4:30 PM local time on the 12th.  That would be about 8:30 AM central time here in the states. I will be at orientation for about one week and I am not sure if I will have access to the internet. But I will post again as soon as I can. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Here is a map of where I will be. Click on the map to enlarge.

Well, I leave tomorrow for the Ukraine. Today will be busy with packing and making sure that I have everything.  My passport and visa should be coming this afternoon thankfully. I have also received an email from a friend already in the Ukraine that heat will not be an issue. Although Russia has stopped supplying natural gas (which my apartment runs on) to the Ukraine they have a supply that should last till April. By then it should be warmer and heat should not be needed as much. So I will not freeze, well at least once I am inside my apartment.  I found out Friday that I have to take the Alabama Prospective Teacher's Test before I can get into South's Grad program. The only date that I could take the test and get my score back in time is May 16, I am suppose to come back May 20.  If I miss this test date I will not be able to start Grad school until the spring. So it looks like I will be coming back a bit early. I am praying that God works it all out to what he wants for me. It is out of my hands and into his. I checked the weather report for Poltava and it looks like a warmer day of a 32F (although it feels like 22F) with a light snow shower. Good thing I love the cold!