FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
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Tuesday, January 29, 2008,7:58 a.m.
PROPHETIC MESSAGE FOR YOU TODAY
Just as "sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy" in the summer so do snow days in the winter. School is cancelled today! But since it's just barely 8:00am and I have almost finished my novel already, I thought I'd noodle on the computer before getting a jump on my marking and report cards in an attempt to free up the coming weekend. (There does seem something a little wrong about working on a snow day, but the last time I went out and played in the snow on a school snow day I ended up in the hospital and was on crutches for 6 months! Working sounds so much safer....)
In my browsing around online I found a blog written by Brad Jersak, author of Can You Hear Me?, a book on listening to the voice of God. I thought I'd reproduce his thoughts here for those who might choose to ponder them and use them to facilitate hearing the voice of the Lord today.
1. What message is God sending me? My excellent bride, Eden, recently shared that for those who don’t literally “see” a vision, “hear” a voice, or get a “word” are nevertheless continually receiving messages from God’s Spirit. This often requires that we put words to what we’re feeling or sensing—and then acknowledging those words as God’s message. Even when we do have a clear internal audio or video from heaven, we might still ask, “Okay, so what’s the message? What’s God getting at? What point is he trying to drive home?”
2. What if it’s true? What if the living God really did just say that? What if he really was talking to me / us just now? Just yesterday I was participating in a service at Cityview Church in York, PA. At some point, one member took the handheld microphone and shared a prophetic exhortation. This fellow hadn’t gone to the stage, so I couldn’t see the person attached to the voice I was hearing. Since the message given was worded in first person as if God was speaking (as per 2 Peter), I imagined that we were all hearing God’s audible voice interrupting our proceedings. And then it hit me, “Isn’t that exactly what just happened?” Given that the message conformed in tone and content to the God that Jesus has revealed, what if I were to treat that voice as The Voice. The pastor was having the same experience as I was, which led him to speak out our follow-up question:
3. What immediate response can I offer? Pastor Steve pointed out that we don’t merely listen and smile and give a little “praise-clap” if God has truly spoken. If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct (and perhaps immediate) response? And so right away, he simply asked the Lord what kind of response he wanted? A nod of consent is rarely life-changing. Faith acts on what is heard, even when the message is about what God is doing or promising (Heb. 11). So we pursued the Lord down that path rather than simply affirming the word and moving on to the next item of business. And God responded to our response! It seemed as if he unzipped the roof and began pouring in MUCH MORE. I realized that the words effects were proportional to our response. I.e. when God is pouring our soup, don’t pull away the bowl too quickly.
Sometimes that response is simply to say Yes! and then to posture ourselves to receive, refusing to get up or move on until the Father says “that’s enough for now.” At other times, there will be an attending, “Go!” that finds us following Jesus into his history-making activities.
4. Bonus question: If this were true, how would it affect the way I live tomorrow? What would be different if I KNEW that this was God’s message for me?
Let’s practice: I think I have a prophetic message for you today. You don’t need to send me money to get it or buy one of my books to receive it. But I would ask you to respond by asking God the above four questions as you hear it. This message is a good example because it’s directly from God and directly from the Bible, and might even explicitly tell you HOW to respond. But God must speak to your heart and you must act in order to activate the message. Here it is:
Now I'm not saying, "Ask him for anything and he'll do it," (although Jesus DID say that - Matt. 18:19)... but there's something here for you. Something special about him knowing you by name. Hmm.
My favourite line from this blog:
"If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct
In my browsing around online I found a blog written by Brad Jersak, author of Can You Hear Me?, a book on listening to the voice of God. I thought I'd reproduce his thoughts here for those who might choose to ponder them and use them to facilitate hearing the voice of the Lord today.
1. What message is God sending me? My excellent bride, Eden, recently shared that for those who don’t literally “see” a vision, “hear” a voice, or get a “word” are nevertheless continually receiving messages from God’s Spirit. This often requires that we put words to what we’re feeling or sensing—and then acknowledging those words as God’s message. Even when we do have a clear internal audio or video from heaven, we might still ask, “Okay, so what’s the message? What’s God getting at? What point is he trying to drive home?”
2. What if it’s true? What if the living God really did just say that? What if he really was talking to me / us just now? Just yesterday I was participating in a service at Cityview Church in York, PA. At some point, one member took the handheld microphone and shared a prophetic exhortation. This fellow hadn’t gone to the stage, so I couldn’t see the person attached to the voice I was hearing. Since the message given was worded in first person as if God was speaking (as per 2 Peter), I imagined that we were all hearing God’s audible voice interrupting our proceedings. And then it hit me, “Isn’t that exactly what just happened?” Given that the message conformed in tone and content to the God that Jesus has revealed, what if I were to treat that voice as The Voice. The pastor was having the same experience as I was, which led him to speak out our follow-up question:
3. What immediate response can I offer? Pastor Steve pointed out that we don’t merely listen and smile and give a little “praise-clap” if God has truly spoken. If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct (and perhaps immediate) response? And so right away, he simply asked the Lord what kind of response he wanted? A nod of consent is rarely life-changing. Faith acts on what is heard, even when the message is about what God is doing or promising (Heb. 11). So we pursued the Lord down that path rather than simply affirming the word and moving on to the next item of business. And God responded to our response! It seemed as if he unzipped the roof and began pouring in MUCH MORE. I realized that the words effects were proportional to our response. I.e. when God is pouring our soup, don’t pull away the bowl too quickly.
Sometimes that response is simply to say Yes! and then to posture ourselves to receive, refusing to get up or move on until the Father says “that’s enough for now.” At other times, there will be an attending, “Go!” that finds us following Jesus into his history-making activities.
4. Bonus question: If this were true, how would it affect the way I live tomorrow? What would be different if I KNEW that this was God’s message for me?
Let’s practice: I think I have a prophetic message for you today. You don’t need to send me money to get it or buy one of my books to receive it. But I would ask you to respond by asking God the above four questions as you hear it. This message is a good example because it’s directly from God and directly from the Bible, and might even explicitly tell you HOW to respond. But God must speak to your heart and you must act in order to activate the message. Here it is:
Exodus 33:17:
"And the Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing you have asked,
because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.'"
Now I'm not saying, "Ask him for anything and he'll do it," (although Jesus DID say that - Matt. 18:19)... but there's something here for you. Something special about him knowing you by name. Hmm.
My favourite line from this blog:
"If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct
(and perhaps immediate) response?"
Monday, January 28, 2008,7:19 a.m.
MAKING A DELIBERATE CHOICE
Last night in our church meeting one of the worship leaders heard the Lord talking about choice. Making a choice to follow God, a choice to pursue God, a choice to be deliberate. We have a choice as to whether or not to intentionally seek the Lord or whether to simply ride the wave of the group mentality in our relationships with God. It was an interesting word last night, as it's something that's been ringing in my head for a while.
Choose.
Choose whether to follow or to lead.
Choose, like Joshua did, when he said, "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." (Taken from Joshua 24:15)
Choose whether to ride the wave or intentionally and purposefully pursue the Lord.
Choose.
Choose.
Choose whether to follow or to lead.
Choose, like Joshua did, when he said, "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." (Taken from Joshua 24:15)
Choose whether to ride the wave or intentionally and purposefully pursue the Lord.
Choose.
Saturday, January 19, 2008,9:31 p.m.
RESCUED
I've been pondering the word rescue this afternoon. We often describe what Jesus did for us as "saving" us. I don't really think the word rescue has any more to offer than save except for the fact that it's fresh.
Saved, at least at the moment, immediately sends my mind flying to Jesus and the cross. Rescue, on the other hand, conjures up visions of knights and dragons and damsels in distress. It sends my mind flying to black and white films and that barely-diverted catastrophe where the hero dives in at the last minute to save the girl tied to the train tracks, while the bad guy in his black cloak and top hat twists his mustache in frustration. (How come that's never used anymore, anyway? Such a classic....)
When I think saved I think of the cross, but I usually think of the knowledge of the cross, not always the emotional impact of it. It is useless to say that our faith and relationship with God should not have an emotional part to it - it is a love relationship, it will have emotion. So why when I use the word saved am I so comfortable with it?
When I think of Jesus rescuing me, I am forced to think of what it is from which He rescued me. I think of the quite serious danger from which I was powerless to free myself. I think of the love that He must have for me to make Him not only risk so much but actually give so much in ransom. And I think in some sense I see myself slightly differently - not as an obligation or even as a creation, but as a beloved.
And beloveds are always rescued.
Praise the Almighty God.
"The Wonder of the Cross" (Vicky Beeching)
Saved, at least at the moment, immediately sends my mind flying to Jesus and the cross. Rescue, on the other hand, conjures up visions of knights and dragons and damsels in distress. It sends my mind flying to black and white films and that barely-diverted catastrophe where the hero dives in at the last minute to save the girl tied to the train tracks, while the bad guy in his black cloak and top hat twists his mustache in frustration. (How come that's never used anymore, anyway? Such a classic....)
When I think saved I think of the cross, but I usually think of the knowledge of the cross, not always the emotional impact of it. It is useless to say that our faith and relationship with God should not have an emotional part to it - it is a love relationship, it will have emotion. So why when I use the word saved am I so comfortable with it?
When I think of Jesus rescuing me, I am forced to think of what it is from which He rescued me. I think of the quite serious danger from which I was powerless to free myself. I think of the love that He must have for me to make Him not only risk so much but actually give so much in ransom. And I think in some sense I see myself slightly differently - not as an obligation or even as a creation, but as a beloved.
And beloveds are always rescued.
Praise the Almighty God.
"May I never lose the wonder, the wonder of the cross.
May I see it like the first time, standing as a sinner lost.
Undone by mercy and left speechless, watching wide-eyed at the cost,
May I never lose the wonder, the wonder of the cross."
"The Wonder of the Cross" (Vicky Beeching)
Monday, January 14, 2008,8:33 p.m.
SOME MORE SHOTS OF THE CITY OF KIEV
Other shots of the city.... This is mostly just pictures, since some people only want to see pictures! (That's a little shout-out to my buddy Dan - enjoy!)
These pictures were taken from the window of our apartment. This is the opera house and the square beside it. While in Kiev we were able to see performance of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet and Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly. I was in heaven! (Though reading cyrillic alphabet surtitles made knowing the opera's story line very important! I think I understood more of the Italian singing than the Ukrainian surtitles!)
Same shots but at night (on New Year's Eve, where the fireworks went all night, and I do mean ALL night - until 7:00am!!):
The buildings in Kiev are very colourful, though we were told that until Ukraine's independence (1991), all the buildings in Kiev were black and dark grey. The only building that we saw that still retains its dark grey colour is the former KGB building.
Kiev was never built for vehicle traffic, by the way, so cars park on the sidewalks. It is not uncommon to have to scoot out of the way as you're walking down the sidewalk because a car is driving towards you! Pedestrians don't have the same kind of clout in Kiev as here in Vancouver. We were repeatedly told not to just cross the street without looking the drivers in the eyes, so they don't run you over! We were told that that the number of cars in Kiev increases easch month by 15,000. And nice cars, too! Hondas, Acuras, Toyotas, Lexuses, etc. Not too many American cars, though! I think I only saw about three Chevys, which was interesting.
These pictures were taken from the window of our apartment. This is the opera house and the square beside it. While in Kiev we were able to see performance of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet and Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly. I was in heaven! (Though reading cyrillic alphabet surtitles made knowing the opera's story line very important! I think I understood more of the Italian singing than the Ukrainian surtitles!)
Same shots but at night (on New Year's Eve, where the fireworks went all night, and I do mean ALL night - until 7:00am!!):
The buildings in Kiev are very colourful, though we were told that until Ukraine's independence (1991), all the buildings in Kiev were black and dark grey. The only building that we saw that still retains its dark grey colour is the former KGB building.
Kiev was never built for vehicle traffic, by the way, so cars park on the sidewalks. It is not uncommon to have to scoot out of the way as you're walking down the sidewalk because a car is driving towards you! Pedestrians don't have the same kind of clout in Kiev as here in Vancouver. We were repeatedly told not to just cross the street without looking the drivers in the eyes, so they don't run you over! We were told that that the number of cars in Kiev increases easch month by 15,000. And nice cars, too! Hondas, Acuras, Toyotas, Lexuses, etc. Not too many American cars, though! I think I only saw about three Chevys, which was interesting.
Sunday, January 13, 2008,10:17 a.m.
KIEV MUSIC AND MISSIONS AND THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Some of you may be wondering why I went to Kiev in the first place. Many of you knew that I, along with members of my choir and members of the student choirs from Trinity Western University, were going overseas to perform with the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. This was certainly a major objective to our visit but at the same time, we were going to take what opportunities were available to minister to the Ukrainian people, specifically groups of widows and orphans connected with the mission we were visiting.
Perhaps that sounds like two rather opposite things to do, but in Ukraine, music and the arts are a huge part of life. In fact, as one of the missionaries there said, "Music is life." Missionaries are not yet welcome as visitors to Ukraine, but musicians most certainly are. The organization that we went to work with is called Music Mission Kiev, and the music and the mission are hardly separable. The two leaders of Music Mission Kiev are an American couple named Roger and Diane McMurrin, and he is the conductor of the symphony and chorus. My own conductor, Wes Janzen, has several times been to Kiev as a guest conductor, and this is how we became connected with the organization. If any of you made it to the Christmas at the Chan concert in December here in Vancouver, we performed two of the same pieces (Paul Patterson's Magnificat and John Rutter's Gloria!). And holy smokes can those Ukrainians sing!! (I'll post pictures later of the choirs and symphony and the philharmonic hall in which we performed - I don't yet have them!)
I could probably talk forever about the trip - the music and musicians, the widows, the orphans (teenagers and older, by the way), the sight-seeing (yes, we did some of that, too), the travelling itself, the people I was with, etc., etc., etc. For now I'll just post a few more pictures with captions to give a taste of some of the trip.
This is one of the main church buildings in Lavra, which is a walled spiritual city (similar to the Vatican, but much smaller). Lavra has multiple buildings, including a monastery (there were monks everywhere) and catacombs dating way back. We walked down in the catacombs (no pictures were allowed) and I was one of the few people that didn't have to stoop! I think they made people smaller back then.... (Interesting story - this building was closed for renovation, but for a $20 bribe to the workmen, we got in and looked around! Other people took pictures, so there might be some available soon - I can't believe how many people got pictures of the insides of all these churches when we were supposed to take them at all!)
The main church in Ukraine is the Orthodox Church (both Russian and Ukrainian), by the way. Everything is gilded and extremely ornate. There is still, in every church, a holy of holies separated by a huge altar, but you can see behind, as there is of course now no curtain. Services consist of a great deal of ceremony and ritual (and music) and there are no chairs to sit on during the three-hour services. They maintain that if Christ hung on the cross for three hours, then we can stand for three hours. They believe in the Nicene Creed, but sadly, much superstition and non-Biblical beliefs have crept into their tradition. Both my dad and I were greatly grieved every time we visited a church (either as tourists or for a service) or the catacombs here in Lavra - we were struck by the deadness of the religion and how there is no assurance of salvation whatsoever. Your salvation, according to this tradition, is contingent upon how much your family prays for you during the 40 days after you die. Imagine the despair of a widow with no family - she is almost certain that she will not go to heaven. In the catacombs themselves there were many coffins containing "saints" and there were many people down underground kissing these coffins and praying earnestly to them. It was so, so sad. And so confusing to see a people that believe in the Trinity, they celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ, and yet they seem to miss the point altogether. Roger (McMurrin) says that witnessing is so easy, because it is unheard of news and it offers people an assurance of their salvation. (That in itself, by the way, was grievous to me, as I thought of all the people in North America who have heard the gospel (or even just part of the gospel) and reject it absolutely. It is not easy, and people are walking straight to eternal separation from God.)
Well, so much for just pictures and captions....
Part of the monastery at Lavra:
More buildings from Lavra: (The left cupola - gold top - is original, the right two are new. Almost everything in Kiev has been rebuilt, as much of the city was destroyed by many, many wars.)
St. Andrew's church: (You can also see the souvenir market on the left - it runs the span of that entire street, all little tents full of nesting dolls and fur hats!!)
Perhaps that sounds like two rather opposite things to do, but in Ukraine, music and the arts are a huge part of life. In fact, as one of the missionaries there said, "Music is life." Missionaries are not yet welcome as visitors to Ukraine, but musicians most certainly are. The organization that we went to work with is called Music Mission Kiev, and the music and the mission are hardly separable. The two leaders of Music Mission Kiev are an American couple named Roger and Diane McMurrin, and he is the conductor of the symphony and chorus. My own conductor, Wes Janzen, has several times been to Kiev as a guest conductor, and this is how we became connected with the organization. If any of you made it to the Christmas at the Chan concert in December here in Vancouver, we performed two of the same pieces (Paul Patterson's Magnificat and John Rutter's Gloria!). And holy smokes can those Ukrainians sing!! (I'll post pictures later of the choirs and symphony and the philharmonic hall in which we performed - I don't yet have them!)
I could probably talk forever about the trip - the music and musicians, the widows, the orphans (teenagers and older, by the way), the sight-seeing (yes, we did some of that, too), the travelling itself, the people I was with, etc., etc., etc. For now I'll just post a few more pictures with captions to give a taste of some of the trip.
This is one of the main church buildings in Lavra, which is a walled spiritual city (similar to the Vatican, but much smaller). Lavra has multiple buildings, including a monastery (there were monks everywhere) and catacombs dating way back. We walked down in the catacombs (no pictures were allowed) and I was one of the few people that didn't have to stoop! I think they made people smaller back then.... (Interesting story - this building was closed for renovation, but for a $20 bribe to the workmen, we got in and looked around! Other people took pictures, so there might be some available soon - I can't believe how many people got pictures of the insides of all these churches when we were supposed to take them at all!)
The main church in Ukraine is the Orthodox Church (both Russian and Ukrainian), by the way. Everything is gilded and extremely ornate. There is still, in every church, a holy of holies separated by a huge altar, but you can see behind, as there is of course now no curtain. Services consist of a great deal of ceremony and ritual (and music) and there are no chairs to sit on during the three-hour services. They maintain that if Christ hung on the cross for three hours, then we can stand for three hours. They believe in the Nicene Creed, but sadly, much superstition and non-Biblical beliefs have crept into their tradition. Both my dad and I were greatly grieved every time we visited a church (either as tourists or for a service) or the catacombs here in Lavra - we were struck by the deadness of the religion and how there is no assurance of salvation whatsoever. Your salvation, according to this tradition, is contingent upon how much your family prays for you during the 40 days after you die. Imagine the despair of a widow with no family - she is almost certain that she will not go to heaven. In the catacombs themselves there were many coffins containing "saints" and there were many people down underground kissing these coffins and praying earnestly to them. It was so, so sad. And so confusing to see a people that believe in the Trinity, they celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ, and yet they seem to miss the point altogether. Roger (McMurrin) says that witnessing is so easy, because it is unheard of news and it offers people an assurance of their salvation. (That in itself, by the way, was grievous to me, as I thought of all the people in North America who have heard the gospel (or even just part of the gospel) and reject it absolutely. It is not easy, and people are walking straight to eternal separation from God.)
Well, so much for just pictures and captions....
Part of the monastery at Lavra:
More buildings from Lavra: (The left cupola - gold top - is original, the right two are new. Almost everything in Kiev has been rebuilt, as much of the city was destroyed by many, many wars.)
St. Andrew's church: (You can also see the souvenir market on the left - it runs the span of that entire street, all little tents full of nesting dolls and fur hats!!)
Thursday, January 10, 2008,8:45 p.m.
WELCOME TO KIEV!!
Welcome to Kiev!!
These were the first words we heard upon our exit from the baggage claim area of the Kiev airport. I'd like to say that it was the first words we experienced in Kiev, but this would be untrue. Actually, it would be a blatant lie, since the first communications we received were that most of us had at least one piece of luggage that wasn't finished visiting Frankfurt and had been taken off the plane. Utterly exhausted from the billion hours of travel, we then filled out forms and at least 100 of us from our flight (without exaggeration) tried to talk to the ONE airline representative dealing with the situation. And when I say "filled out forms", by the way, I actually mean we filled out ONE form, we just filled it out again and again as we were told over and over that this wasn't right or that wasn't right. Yeesh. What a mess. Our official "Welcome to Kiev", received from my conductor who was waiting just outside the baggage claim area to greet us, came about 2 hours after we exited the plane itself. I must say I was incredibly glad to have my dad on this trip, who dealt with all the luggage stuff; I simply sat down on the floor and tried to keep the people around me calm and amused (and tried to stay awake).
We then bussed into the city centre, and were escorted to our places to stay. We were put up in apartments around the city, all within walking distance (ours nice and close) to the mission's headquarters. Four of us ladies stayed across the street from the opera house in what used to be an Inturyst Hotel (used to be where you had to stay if you were traveling through Soviet Russia). This is the front of our lovely residence (DTES friends, welcome to the Ukrainian Empress, simply sans bugs - which is a GOOD THING):
(Funny story about the front of this building, by the way. As we were passing it on one of our few bus outings, our tour guide told us to look to the very ugly, terrible buildling to the left of the bus. We did, and four of us surprisingly said, "Hey, we live there!")
This next shot is taken from the front of the opera house - look across the street and you'll see the entrance to our alley. Our door is down the alley and around the corner.
And our alley and doorway:
To be truthful, it was not a bad little place to stay at all. I wasn't kidding when I said there were no bugs. I did not see one bug at all (it might have been too cold for them to live outside, and too heated for them to live inside!). One of the couples on the trip had a mouse, but we didn't even have that. Our place was old with an elevator that sounded like you were plummeting to the ground every time you got into it to go either up or down (I was occasionally forced to sing very loudly to cover the noise. "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away....") and with a shower that took literally 15 minutes for the water to heat up, but it was warm and cozy and very, very clean.
These were my "roomies" for the 10 days we were there (Pat, Eunice, myself and Charmaine):
Once we had all claimed our lost luggage and found our accomodations while in Kiev, we had a quick dinner at the mission and then experienced what turned out to be the most welcome part of the day: being horizontal for the night!
These were the first words we heard upon our exit from the baggage claim area of the Kiev airport. I'd like to say that it was the first words we experienced in Kiev, but this would be untrue. Actually, it would be a blatant lie, since the first communications we received were that most of us had at least one piece of luggage that wasn't finished visiting Frankfurt and had been taken off the plane. Utterly exhausted from the billion hours of travel, we then filled out forms and at least 100 of us from our flight (without exaggeration) tried to talk to the ONE airline representative dealing with the situation. And when I say "filled out forms", by the way, I actually mean we filled out ONE form, we just filled it out again and again as we were told over and over that this wasn't right or that wasn't right. Yeesh. What a mess. Our official "Welcome to Kiev", received from my conductor who was waiting just outside the baggage claim area to greet us, came about 2 hours after we exited the plane itself. I must say I was incredibly glad to have my dad on this trip, who dealt with all the luggage stuff; I simply sat down on the floor and tried to keep the people around me calm and amused (and tried to stay awake).
We then bussed into the city centre, and were escorted to our places to stay. We were put up in apartments around the city, all within walking distance (ours nice and close) to the mission's headquarters. Four of us ladies stayed across the street from the opera house in what used to be an Inturyst Hotel (used to be where you had to stay if you were traveling through Soviet Russia). This is the front of our lovely residence (DTES friends, welcome to the Ukrainian Empress, simply sans bugs - which is a GOOD THING):
(Funny story about the front of this building, by the way. As we were passing it on one of our few bus outings, our tour guide told us to look to the very ugly, terrible buildling to the left of the bus. We did, and four of us surprisingly said, "Hey, we live there!")
This next shot is taken from the front of the opera house - look across the street and you'll see the entrance to our alley. Our door is down the alley and around the corner.
And our alley and doorway:
To be truthful, it was not a bad little place to stay at all. I wasn't kidding when I said there were no bugs. I did not see one bug at all (it might have been too cold for them to live outside, and too heated for them to live inside!). One of the couples on the trip had a mouse, but we didn't even have that. Our place was old with an elevator that sounded like you were plummeting to the ground every time you got into it to go either up or down (I was occasionally forced to sing very loudly to cover the noise. "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away....") and with a shower that took literally 15 minutes for the water to heat up, but it was warm and cozy and very, very clean.
These were my "roomies" for the 10 days we were there (Pat, Eunice, myself and Charmaine):
Once we had all claimed our lost luggage and found our accomodations while in Kiev, we had a quick dinner at the mission and then experienced what turned out to be the most welcome part of the day: being horizontal for the night!
Sunday, January 06, 2008,2:32 p.m.
HOME SWEET HOME
Back from Kiev! In one piece! With all my luggage! (I was not so fortunate upon my arrival in Kiev....)
Stay tuned for pictures and impressions of the city, and the prayer needs for this beautiful people. For a couple of days I will be recovering from the 30 hours of travel on the way home and the mess my new house is still in, but will blog about it soon!
May the Lord bless you greatly. Happy New Year and Merry (Orthodox) Christmas, by the way. It is today, and when Christmas is celebrated in Ukraine.
Stay tuned for pictures and impressions of the city, and the prayer needs for this beautiful people. For a couple of days I will be recovering from the 30 hours of travel on the way home and the mess my new house is still in, but will blog about it soon!
May the Lord bless you greatly. Happy New Year and Merry (Orthodox) Christmas, by the way. It is today, and when Christmas is celebrated in Ukraine.
Новим роком!
(Happy New Year!)