This has been a very fast-paced two weeks. After the worship conference, I got back to L’viv and had a small “church service” with the Pratt family in their house. We listened to a sermon by Charles Stanley. That was really encouraging for us (the Pratt family and myself). A lot of what Stanley was saying correlated with what I was reading in my devotions in Job. I’ve since moved on to the Psalms, but I had a really good time with Job.
I spent the week with the Pratts until Thursday, getting adjusted to jet-lag. During htat week, homesickness really hit me hard. Mike Pratt and I were out eating lunch together downtown once, and we started talking about home, and I couldn’t keep myself from crying. I’ve never felt this way during a trip that I can remember. I think it’s because I know that I’m not coming back for a long time.
After that, Alex, Josh and me were invited to help with a Volleyball Camp over the weekend outside of Kyiv, the capitol of Ukraine. After accepting the invitation, I got a phone call that told me I was going to be teaching a couple of Bible studies at the camp. That was an amazing opportunity. My topics were Salvation and Eternal Hope. We were at the camp from Friday through Sunday and took the overnight train back to L’viv, arriving on Monday.
On the train ride to Kyiv, I met a girl named Natalie. She’s from L’viv. We talked for a little while about different things. She spoke very good English, so that made it pretty easy. During the course of our conversation, I gave her this website’s address. She asked me why I was in Kyiv, and the more I explained, the more she had questions about God and the Bible. It’s funny that, once I got to explaining the Gospel, the train stopped and we had to get out. Please pray for her.
At the camp, the kids that were there were mostly teenagers from the village and orphans from the orphanage where the camp was. It was so much fun, despite temperatures of 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit. We survived by the Holy Spirit and drinking lots of water.
I only expected to teach twice, but I got to be in charge of several games and taught three different times (almost four, because we weren’t sure when or if the pastor on Sunday was going to be there). That was an awesome opportunity.
Please pray for the people of that village and orphanage. They don’t have a church there. There is a man that has a vision to do it, but there are circumstances preventing him right now. As of yet, this camp is their version of church. The Kyiv church is going to try to do it about every month. Please pray also for my involvement in that, as it is expensive for me to travel back and forth.
I immediately began again with the Pratts, looking for an apartment for me to live in. Some of that process was a little frustrating, but God had His plans. It was really cool, actually, how it worked out. Last week, I made an offer on one apartment, and the guy did not accept it, offering a lower price than what he said was non-negotiable. I called him back later, saying that I accepted the lower price, but he had talked to his wife, and the price was hiked back up.
On Tuesday, I was shown another apartment that really suited me, had almost twice the space, and had most of the same features for the price that I offered the first guy. What’s more is that I asked them to come down on the price, and they did. It’s actually a really hard time to buy an apartment for that size right now. A lot of students are moving back to the city, and they are snapping up all of the good deals, regardless of condition. It’s horrible here to try to live in the dorms of the colleges, so apartments are the best option for them.
I’ll be living pretty close to the Pratts, but also close enough to the city’s center to be able to interact with it.
I’m really excited about this. Thanks, God, for saving this one for me.
