Treading water, day 3

One of the benefits of having absolutely nothing to do, is that I am sleeping better.  For a long time, I have not been able to sleep much past 5:00 am, but I did not wake up today until after 7:00 am.  It is wonderful!  We seem to have lost our nail clippers during the trip.  I don't know if you have ever considered this, but having a way to trim your nails properly can sometimes become critical.  Now that I am learning my way around town a little better, I knew exactly which store to go to, and sure enough, there were nail scissors.  Success!  The Foxes and we went on a group hike to the store to restock on groceries.  We had some light rain on the way, but nothing like an Alabama rain.  The kids made a point of stomping in nearly every puddle, of which there are a considerable number, so they stayed entertained during this chore.  

The clothes are finally dry, although Libby hit a few of them with the hair dryer, just to make sure.

We have no way to cook in the room, but Jill set us up with a way to at least heat some water.  We have a small metal container and a heating element that we stick in the water.  This allows Libby to have her coffee in the morning, or to heat water for instant soup.  We are moving up in the world!

This reminds me of a few of the ingenious things David has done in Odessa to make life easier for them.  The first is brilliant, and after trying to dry clothes our way, I really appreciate it.  The ceilings in their flat are very high - maybe 14 feet or so.  David rigged up a clothes drying line that is low, so Jill can reach it, on one side of the kitchen, but as it travels to the other side, it also rises up near the ceiling, so it is both out of the way, and above the stove and water heater, so it reaps the benefit of all that wasted heat. It is a very efficient way to dry the clothes.

The other thing is their hot water.  They do not have very good water pressure in the flat, and it seems that if the pressure is bad, their water heater also does not work well either (it is essentially an instantaneous water heater).  So they have diverted the water into a water barrel, purchased and installed a pump, which pumps through the water heater, and on to the shower or sink.  Brilliant! And they have all the hot water they need.

Don't forget to pray for our missionary friends.  Many things we take for granted, that are easy for us, are a bit more challenging for them.

Treading water, day 2

Just hanging out in Romney, killing time.  Today, the sun came out in the morning, but it is raining again this evening.  After today' sweltering high of 52, the temperature will steadily decline.  By the middle of next week, the high is supposed to be in the low 40s and the low near freezing.  Even though I tease Libby about it, there is a real life chance we will see snow before we leave.  The heater in the room is adequate to moderate the chill, but our clothes have been hanging up for a day and a half and still are not dry.  They better dry soon - I need underwear!

We went walking around the market today with the Foxes.  They met a young (single) man who just graduated from the university with a degree in Physics, who is working on his English, so he has been hanging out with the Foxes.  We got to meet him today - very nice.  His name is Andrew.  I did not bring a hat with me, not thinking it would get quite this cold, so Andrew took me to the market booth with hats.  Now I can keep my ears warm. We also ate at a tiny roadside food kiosk that made something like chicken wraps, with cabbage, cucumbers and tomatoes in it.  Very yummy, especially since I had mine made with no tomatoes.  We wandered into the old Orthodox Church.  It is in pretty bad condition on the inside.  It would be beautiful if someone had a couple of million to invest in it, so it is not likely to be restored soon.  The outside has been mostly repainted and maintained, so the exterior looks nice.

We met with Julia again today.  She is very anxious to get to Alabama.  She and Inna keep asking what the timeline is every time they see us (as does Virginia every time I talk to her).  I took Julia shopping today to get a coat, some shoes, and some jeans.  I don't mind buying her clothes, of course, but this is one more area that it is hard to get a straight answer.  Does Julia have clothes or not? Can she leave the country with them? With some of them? Will someone steal the clothes I just bought?  I really don't know.  I just keep smiling and trying to show love to this poor girl, and trust that even if I waste a few hundred dollars, the investment into her will far outweigh whatever gets lost in the shuffle.

This has gotten long enough.  Here is a picture, just for humor's sake.

First of many days in Romny

We had a quiet day today.  We finally went and met the Fox family.  There is Mom and Dad and three children ages 6, 4, and 2.  It was fun to finally get to meet them after several months of "talking" on Facebook.  They unfortunately have to move out of their current small apartment this weekend, so they went to look at a new place today, and we went with them.  Then the Dad and I went to get a few things for lunch, and we shared lunch together.  It was a lot of fun.  I think they are pretty brave being here with little kids.  They are staying the entire time, without returning home, so they will be here a couple of months or longer.  We went up,to see Julia, but she had plans to go,out with her friends, so they all walked us back to the hotel and continued on their way.  Libby and I went for a walk in the brisk air - it was only about 45 today, but had a cold wind blowing so it felt colder.  Forecast is 40s and 30s for the foreseeable future.  We upgraded our clothes washing technique.  The Foxes loaned us a small wash tub, so we set it in the shower to wash, rinsed in the sink, and hung the clothes on my rope strung across the room.  Now the problem is that it is so cool, nothing is drying very well.  The Internet connection is painfully slow, so we have not been able to communicate very well with family, so we are feeling cut off.  I may roam around the building tomorrow and see if I can find some better spots than our room.

The new washing machine.

Back in Romny

We started the day today at 4:45, caught a taxi at 5:30, and on the bus and headed out of Odessa by 6:00 am.  Our play time with the Martins is over.  We were scheduled to arrive in Kiev at 12:30 pm, but we got there an hour early, so we went next door to the (believe it or not!) McDonalds, and had lunch.  Stas arrived around 12:30, and we started on our way to Romny.  Stas hates traffic, so he is constantly trying short-cuts to go around it.  On today's shortcuts, we went through several deep puddles, that we could feel hitting the bottom of the car, had to loop around and go back once, and essentially found ourselves going the wrong way on a one way street, and so had to turn around in heavy traffic.  But we made it to the outskirts of Kiev, and from then on, it was the pedal to the metal. I've described this before, but the worst time for me today, was during light rain, so the pavement was wet, going (flying) around a blind curve, in the wrong lane.  I peaked over Stas' shoulder and we were doing 160 km/hr, which is right at 100 mph.  I was praying hard for my soon to be orphaned children.  Amazingly, we made it to Romny safely, bought some groceries, walked up and got Julia for a little while, and then had a light supper.  So a little over 9 hours of travel today.

Here are a few leftovers from Odessa.  This is an Orthodox Church that has been rebuilt in the last 15 years.  It was only a hole in the ground when the Martins first arrived in Odessa.

Jill humored me by taking me to the beach so I could stand in the Black Sea.

Back in School

We participated in the Martin's school this morning.  I taught a brief pre-calculus lesson for the high school, and Libby helped with the lower school.  There was a lot going on this morning, in a very dynamic teaching environment.  At one point, Jill was teaching the lower school, David was working one the school's wifi router, one of the missionary fathers, who teaches once a week (he has been a seminary professor) taught Bible to some of the students, the advanced Russian tutor was teaching two of the junior high girls (they were singing a folk song in Russian when I stepped in), and the beginning Russian tutor had a few of the younger kids working with them.  I know these kids probably don't appreciate the opportunity they have been given, but what a great experience they are enjoying!

Libby reading to one of they elementary girls.  This is the "home room" and primary room for the younger children.

Jill working with one of the girls, after having done a math lesson on the board.

Several of the high school kids working in the high school room.

One on one instruction with the advanced Russian tutor.

The primary Russian tutor teaching by playing the matching game.  The kids are required to name the object in Russian, and count the number of pairs they acquire in Russian.

Sunday in Odessa

Since it is Sunday, this post is going to be a little (or a lot!) preachy.  We had the great privilege of worshiping in the Reformed Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine, the church that David and Jill attend.  Odessa is a city that had been occupied by the Nazis during WWII, then taken over by the Soviet Union until it ceased to exist.  During that time, the church building had fallen into terrible disrepair, and was taken over by various groups, most recently a puppet troupe.  The MTW group that has been working here in the city since the late 1990's to help plant a church, worked with a group of local people to reestablish this facility as a church again.  Right around 2000-2001, the building regained it's original identity and was rededicated.  Now it has been renovated and is beautiful.  The sermon today was taken from several passages, starting in Revelation 1:1 - 2:7, with much emphasis place on verse 4: "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first."  The church in Ephesus, the church in Odessa, and my church in Montgomery all need to hear this message - return to your first love! If we come to Sunday morning and our entire focus is not on praising God and worshiping him, then we are sinning.  If we are out of fellowship with each other, and pretending to be okay with God, we are sinning.  Every other concern, be it legitimate or grumbling in our hearts, are not welcome in what should be a sweet time of fellowship with a Holy God who gave his own Son for our salvation.  The singing was wonderful in this old/new church, with joyful expressions on the faces of the small choir.  It reminded me how precious and cherished an experience it is for them, to again be able to meet and worship God.  They value this - do we?  Then we moved to Romans 5:1-5 

"1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Here is where we should return as our first love. We should rejoice that we have been justified by faith, that we have peace with God, that we have hope of the glory of God, and the Holy Spirit has been given to us.  Let's revel in this, and put aside the things that so easily entangle us.

Walking around Odessa

Just walked around town a little bit today.

The side of the Opera House.

The archeological museum, showing early settlements in southern Ukraine

The grand stairway that leads from the harbor, up to the high ground on which Odessa is built.  It is called the Potempkin Stairway.

The Black Sea, as seen from about halfway up the stairway.

The harbor area.