Broken Things

It's funny how things over here are made to be disposable.  Ok, so things in Canada are becoming more disposable as well, but, it seems like everything here is made to break, or at the very least, break soon after you buy it.  We bought a fan, mainly because I am too cheap to pay the 50 cents per kilowatt hour, and this fan, the first time we used it to oscillate air around the room smelled like burning.  We discovered that there is too much resistance for the fan to move the propellers and the head and will burn out the motor so it is a stationary fan.  Also, the Lada, a wonderful Soviet car that is made to fall apart after 1 year and need fixing.  One such car needed repairs outside of our apartment and Colleen enthusiastically told me to bring the camera, I did, and this is what we saw.

Who needs jacks or tire ramps, just get a bunch of your buddies together and tilt it to the side and prop it up with a stick.  This kind of reminded me of my father-in-law, Les, as this is right up his alley, you don't have to pay for a tow truck, or a mechanic, or jacks, or anything else, just invite some friends over for a "car tilting" party!

Onto my subject of broken things.  Have you ever had a child that breaks everything?  Maybe all children do, but Ellianna is especially brilliant at said task.  I set up building blocks and she destroys them, I build a sandcastle, decorate it and she doesn't even think about the time and effort I put in, all for her, but all she sees is something to destroy.  Anyways, we have these wonderful shelves on either side of our bed and they are nice because they hold the alarm clock, glasses, lamps, etc.  Well, the problem is they are made of glass.  So Ellianna, my wonderful monkey of a daughter, thought it would be great to use this shelf to support all of her weight.

Needless to say, it doesn't, so if anyone knows where I can buy a glass shelf like this in Kiev, that would be great!  I was taking a shower, reflecting on the recent events and saying to myself, "Man, that kid breaks everything!"  Then a Casting Crowns song came to mind.  (I just googled how to add it to my blog, so hopefully it works!)

(I think it worked)

Well, the song mentions how our sinful self gets in the way of God's work and in essence "breaks the ministry."  Man, I get upset at my daughter for not listening and breaking things when I do the same thing to His work.  (Where should the finger really be pointing?)

I guess I just am getting frustrated with all this cultural mumbo-jumbo.  Like, if I want to give cookies to someone out of the kindness of my heart, they shouldn't be offended or think "now I owe him one" but just be grateful for the gift.  But culturally, that is not how things work here, if you do something for me, then I owe you one.  I will scratch your back, but you will have to scratch my back down the road.  We took in Bible School how education brings responsibility.  In other words, if you have the knowledge, you will be judged more severely, like if I know cultural no-no's and do them anyway because I just want to be me and not culturally respectful, that is not a great testimony for Christ.

I was venting my frustration to one of my friends and he mentioned to me 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 -

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.  I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

So why would I try to be anything else but culturally sensitive?  (Keeping in mind of course that the Gospel is counter cultural, in that it demands grace!)

So, a huge prayer request from this side of the Atlantic is patience for us as we adjust and try to learn how to not have people stumble over us on their way to His Kingdom!

A Month In

Wow has it already been 1 month since we left Canada?  It sure hasn't felt like it, probably because we still do not know the language and everything is still surreal to me.  Maybe I state this every post, but I am still in awe that God has called us overseas and opened the doors to get here.  I don’t know if I should or will ever lose that feeling or at least the amazement that God is ultimately in control and not that we need to sit back and enjoy the ride, but be living in His presence and keeping in tune with Him.

So, those of you who know, and those who don’t as well, I am a photography nut.  I love taking photos and as I was having a photo session with Jolen, we received an auspicious email, well kind of, it was more like one of those things you look back on and say, “Wow God, you were in control.”  Anyways, I will use some of the  pictures with Jolen to tell my story.

It all starts with the week we were leaving for Kiev.  Our house conditionally sold. Right before we left

The condition date for the sale to close was June 24 and that day came and went without any word

So, we signed an extension and then waited, but, rain came to southern Alberta and the process got stalled because all business down south stopped because of all the flooding

So we waited, and waited and waited.

Then, we got surprise email from our Realtor that the documents we had signed to sell our house were missing a zero on the price.  So instead of selling our house in the hundreds of thousands bracket, we sold our house for tens of thousands!

So, with us in Kiev and our house back in Bow Island, we were looking at quite a big deficit!

However, because everything was taking so long, we were able to correct the price

So, As we look to the future,

we know God is in command, our dates for possession have changed and hopefully the deal will close by the end of the month, but God only knows and we pray for Him to be glorified!  And keep smiling as we truck on in this life!

P.S.  Apparently clothes pins are not only good for hanging up clothes, they can work as hair berets too!

Settling In

So Colleen posted this picture on our email we sent out regarding the sale of our house.  For those of you who do not know, we are in limbo of our house sale as the prospective buyer is trying to procure financing.  So we wait on the Lord and pray for His will to be done, and hoping it is in His plan for it to sell as it is difficult to be a landlord and a few hours away by plane (oh ya and there is a big ocean between us too!).

Back to the picture, many people have asked if this is a picture of our house in Kiev.  Well, it is not, it is a picture of a landmark in Sumy, Ukraine, where we were helping at camp for a few days with John and Leanne Paetkau.  Those wondering what our place looks like, you can see the picture below.

Although to be fair, the door has been painted in the last couple of days.

On with the title, "Settling In"  Life has become quite normal for us, where things were once new and exciting, they have become commonplace as we live life here. For example, today, Sunday, we went to church.  This means getting up early and out the door at 8:45 so we can catch a marshrutka (bus pictured below) to go to church.

We waited for approximately 30 minutes for the bus to come, which was packed, but thankfully people on the bus give up their seat if you are holding a small child.  Paid our 5 grieven (62.5 cents) and rode the packed bus (35 people or so) 45 minutes to church.  (pictured below)

This church is very interesting as they are building a new building behind this structure.  So to avoid building permits for another structure, they set up a tent and that is where we go to church.  A typical service has singing and 2 sermons and then we had a little rain pouring on us as we walked back to our bus stop to wait another 20 minutes, soaking wet and hop on the bus and travel back 45 minutes home.  We stopped at a restaurant and picked our food, which ended up being 1 chicken dish and 1 fish dish, with a piece of pizza for Ellianna.

Speaking of Ellianna, this is a typical playground in Ukraine.  The buildings form a sort of square around the playground and she goes out to play on swings, slides and see-saws.  

Shopping is quite simple because there are about 100 stores just down the street from our apartment and a market just up the street.  The market is easy as you can tell what you are buying because they have everything in front of you, but the stores, you can't read the writing on the outside so you just have to go to each of them to find out what they are selling.

I guess that is life from this side of the pond for us.  I start at the school next week and am excited and scared as we went to a couple's house who has a grade 8 student I will be teaching me and the first question he asked me "do you believe in predestination or free will?"  Seriously, kid you are in grade 8, you should be asking yourself if girls are still icky or not.  I have my work cut out for me and we definitely are not in Kansas anymore.

God is great and He teaches me everyday I must rely on Him because in my own strength we cannot do this, but in Him, everything is possible.  Thank you for your emails and prayers, it is encouraging to know we are not forgotten as you are all dear to our hearts and are constantly in our thoughts and prayers.