Category: David’s Posts

About a month ago, I met some guys in town while I was walking with Joshua Pratt.  They seemed like really nice guys, but I could tell there was something “interesting” about them from the start.  The name of the one that seemed like the leader is Alex.  He is a young Ukrainian man.  The other’s name is Michael.  He’s a student from Nigeria.

Through the course of the conversation, they asked about our church and the Calvary Chapel organization (if it can be called that… haha) and eventually tried to give us some literature.  They also tried to get our phone numbers.  In order to keep them from getting Josh’s, I gave them mine and got theirs.  I used to have a lot of Mormon friends when I was Josh’s age, and they did their best to dissuade me from my faith.  I didn’t want the same thing to happen to Josh with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Eventually, Alex, the older one, called me and asked if we could meet in town sometime.  I was genuinely busy most of the times he would call until this last time.  We met at a coffee shop and sat down to a 2-and-a-half-hour discussion, mostly over whether or not Jesus was God.

Not having dealt with Jehovah’s Witnesses before, my original thought was it would be just me and Alex over a cup of coffee, getting to know each other as Ukrainians are accustomed to doing.  Seeing Alex bring his books and younger disciple with him (Michael), both of them ready for a theo-philosophical war, was a little surprising for me.  I was very thankful that I had my Bible with me that day.

I’m really concerned for these guys.  I really doubt many are willing to witness to them around here.  I feel that I held myself pretty well against them (thank God!), especially considering that I came with no study or preparation except for prayer.  I don’t know if they will invite me to meet with them again after that, as I told them my disappointment as I was expecting a friendly get-together and received an hours-long debate.  Please pray for Michael in particular, the younger Jehovah’s Witness, about this.

I’m praying for more opportunities to witness to them and to be ready, not just to answer and try to prove them wrong, but to serve them, love them, and show them that God loves them.  It seems that every time I open my Bible, I find a new verse that I want to show them.  Please pray for me in this way.  Please also pray for the African students in the church, as many of them have a Jehovah’s Witness or two in their dorms.

That’s a picture of me and my friend Jullio when we went to go see a movie with some friends.  Jullio is from Cameroon, a country in Northwest Africa.  He’s studying at one of the universities here in L’viv.  There are a few other students in our church from Cameroon and Nigeria.

Please be praying for the African students in Ukraine.  I personally think they have it much harder here than we do adapting.  First of all, Ukraine can be a very racist nation.  The police here often seek out Africans to extort money.  I’ve been in a store and seen one of my African friends be discriminated against right in front of my face.

Secondly, it’s sometimes harder for them to learn the language in school.  Two friends of mine from Nigeria are having a terrible time with that.  Teachers also often expect bribes from students.

Lastly, many students that come here to L’viv loose their spiritual heritage.  Please be praying for this especially.  Timothy, a friend of mine, was talking about others in his dorm that don’t go to church anymore since they came to college.  A big part of that could be that they can’t find churches that have services in a language that they can understand.

All that to say, please be praying for our African brothers and sisters here in Ukraine.  Ukrainian universities do a lot of advertising in Northern Africa, but they don’t tell the students of the hardships awaiting them here.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I actually honestly forgot today was the 14th…  I guess I really don’t care much about this holiday… haha.  I don’t think I’ve actually given someone a Valentine’s Day card for… a long time.  The last one I remember was when I was in Jr. High.  I’m sure there’s been a few since then, but…  none come to mind.

I think today is a great day to remember God’s amazing love for us.

This is a picture of (from the left) Shane, Evan, Alex, and me two days ago playing at a church Valentine’s Day party in southern L’viv.  The church’s name is Bozhe Lyubov (“God’s Love”).  It’s a Baptist church in a busy region in the south of L’viv.

The party was really cool.  From music, to skits and games, to short films – everything was themed after the great love of God towards us and what real love is.  The pastor did a really good job at explaining that worldly love is really just simply loving yourself.

Please be praying for those that came to the party, that they would receive the True Love of God in their hearts.

From Christmas, to New Years, to the Orthodox Christmas, to “Old” New Years, the Ukrainians in L’viv really know how to celebrate between December 24th and January 14th.  You never know what businesses will be open, what streets might be closed, and what amazing, traditional performances will be showing out on the streets for free downtown.

With random manger scenes and stages set up with kids singing traditional Ukrainian carols, I never really knew what to expect while I was walking through downtown for the past few weeks.  The streets are almost always packed with people talking, walking, and laughing.  There’s even a few times I’ve seen people walking around in costumes for the Orthodox Christmas.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that.  Because I normally don’t like to look like a tourist, I don’t usually take pictures of everything around town, but during these past few weeks, I’ve felt free to, because there were so many people out doing the same thing.

The new years celebration with our church was a lot of fun, too.  I had about 13 people over at my apartment.  We did everything from Bible studies and worship, to a scavenger hunt, random party games that would take too long to explain, watched movies, and the boys brought over their X-Box and we played some video games.  We also had home-made egg nog and s’mores!  That was the first time any of them had either one of those.  There were fireworks at 12:00am, and the activities stopped at about 4:00am, but there were already a few people asleep by then.  All in all, it was a big success.

I was talking to a missionary friend of mine named Levi Brinkerhoff today (I’m actually still talking to him as I’m writing this) about the different emotional pressures of being a missionary and how I’ve had a hard time with that during the holidays (Christmastime can be difficult far from home in a strange place… who knew?  Haha).

Levi started talking about a teaching that Ben Morrison (another missionary) gave today.  Levi and I go to different churches in different cities, so I didn’t hear the teaching.  He talked about how Jesus was a missionary.

That’s a concept that I don’t think I’ve really ever thought about.  Jesus was a missionary.  He is the ultimate example of a missionary.  In Philippians 2, we see how He left His culture and way of life for something far less accommodating.  He gave up so much for us, and became like us so that we could be saved.

I wonder how often Jesus got homesick?  I wonder if He ever called home (prayed) and said, “Hey, Dad!  Things are going well down here.  The boys are still getting in trouble, and I have to watch Peter’s mouth (and sometimes his sword…), but they’re growing, learning, and ministering.  Miss Ya’!  I’ll be home soon!”  I think He did, based on the scripture in Hebrews that says that He was “tempted in all things as we are.”