Author: David

There is a team of folks from Georgia that is serving with our church this week. We are having a blast with them and praising God for them. They have helped us and another Baptist church to build stronger relationships with the community here. We got to visit and serve in a school, teaching them some English, including the song below.

Thank you guys so much for being here with us!

David is back from the hospital! He was there for 10 days total. They found some new things for him to be aware of health-wise. It was basically a normal treatment and tune-up for his rheumatic fever. Thank you all for your prayers! He actually had a really good time in the hospital, thanks to having a lot of books and friends coming to visit.

The bed above is where he stayed. It was his place to sleep, eat, and work all of that time. The hospital stay itself was free, but the medicines were all out-of-pocket, which added up pretty quickly.

Please be praying for his roommates there. He was in a hospital room with 5 other men: Adrian, Michael, Roman, Vasyl, and an older gentleman that he forgot to get the name of. They had a lot of different conversations, some of them turning to spiritual things. Please pray that they would all get to know Jesus. Vasyl was the one that David spent the most time with. He actually has the exact same diagnosis. David prayed with a couple of them before he left.

Please also be praying that we will be able to find Bicillin-5, a drug that’s only imported from Russia around here. It’s been a little hard to find recently. David is injected with that antibiotic every three weeks to prevent another Strep infection that would then cause his joint pain to come back.

Tomorrow, I’m supposed to go into the hospital for a few days for a completely normal treatment of my joint diseases. Please be praying for me, but don’t worry – one of the differences between American and Ukrainian medicine is that things that are normally done at home in America are done in a hospital. In a way, that’s a good thing, because the doctors can monitor me while I’m on their medications.

Things do get a little more complicated, though, when it comes to an extended stay in the hospital. I’ll be there for 10 days this time, and that presents some very interesting challenges.

Here’s my packing list for the hospital stay:

• Notebook, Bible, pen, etc.
• Toiletries
• A towel or two (the hospital may or may not supply you with one)
• Extra, warm clothes (they may not have turned the heat on yet in October)
• Slippers
• Plenty of wet-wipes (there are no showers)
• Plenty of cash (you pay for all of your medicines yourself, out of pocket, up-front)
• Extra food (they feed you three times a day, but very light food)
• An electric tea kettle (there’s no other way to make coffee or tea in the morning)
• Tea, coffee, cup, etc.
• Cell phone, charger, books, movies on my phone
• Reading lamp (there won’t be one next to my bed)
• Power strip

That’s just what I’ve thought of so far. There are some other things that I will probably ask Katya to bring to me. Please be praying for her and my mother-in-law during the time that I’m in the hospital. I really just want them to be kept safe – not that they can’t take care of themselves… I just love my wife and family.