Category: David’s Posts

I really scared my babushka neighbor, today…  I’m sick with a really bad sore throat, and Anya came to the door to ask me a question about my water bill.  I didn’t come to the door immediately, because I had slept in and my hair was all messy.  After she kept knocking, I quickly wetted my hair down and came to the door.

When I opened the door, she started to ask me about the bill, but then asked if I was sick.  I told her I was, and she got this horrified look on her face.  She immediately began to scold me for coming to the door barefoot and told me to get something on my feet.  I left the door to go get the information she needed for the bill and immediately put on some big thermal socks.  When I returned, she had some flu medicine for me and explained to me how to take it.

I’m very thankful for her.  I think she’s going to keep me alive through the winter.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a little on how to build new relationships with Ukrainians outside of the church.  Relationships are a very important part of evangelism here, as the people here are much more receptive to the message of Jesus from a person that they’ve begun to know and trust rather than some complete stranger.

One of the issues with this “Relationship Evangelism” is where to actually meet Ukrainians.  Imagine yourself in bustling downtown L’viv, with people busily walking here and there and taking care of their daily tasks.  How would you reach out to them on a daily basis?  Where would you go to meet Ukrainians?  One of the things I’m trying to do is nail down a couple of restaurants to frequent where there are people that I can build relationships with.  Now, this can get a little expensive, but I believe that it is worth it.

Another obstacle is language.  Please be praying for this for all of us.  We’ve stopped language lessons because of the holidays, and it’s taken its toll on my comprehension.  Imagine trying to build a relationship with a complete stranger that cannot understand a word that you are saying, and neither can you understand the thing they say.  It’s pretty difficult.  There have been many times in cafe’s and such that I have been blessed to have a waiter/waitress that spoke English, but it’s often limited.  I’m praying for more opportunities to reach out to those folks, though.

Relationships are so important here.  The culture is entirely based upon it.  If you have relationships with people, you are able to do business, to travel, to stay at hostels, or to buy groceries for a good price and ensure they are quality goods.  Everything is based on knowing people here, so how much more the Gospel.

Please pray for my neighbor, Anya.  She is a very sweet Ukrainian grandmother that reminds me a little of my grandmother on my dad’s side.  I’m building a good relationship with her.  She’s helped me a lot by showing me how to pay my bills and giving me pointers on different stuff with the apartment.  She’s an excellent neighbor.  I got her a Christmas card and had a friend translate a message for me to write in it.  She seemed surprised to get it when I handed it to her.  Please pray for more opportunities to reach out to her and her family.  I don’t think her husband has much time left with us, and her daughter lives in the U.S..

I’m working on the New Horizons website, and I’m actually making a lot of progress.  Please be praying for a translator, as all the material on the entire thing will need to be offered in two different languages.

I’m getting a little sick… but that’s ok.  I use these times as opportunities to perfect my soup-making skills.  This is what I just came up with yesterday.  It’s pretty good.

Basically just boil everything together…

Get-Well Soup
2 liters of water
1 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 packets/4 bullion cubes chicken broth
100-150g of small raw beef cubes
5 whole garlic cloves (yum!)
fistfull of minced cilantro (Yes, I found cilantro here!!!!)
1 lemon worth of lemon juice
1 hot red pepper, sliced
2 medium potatoes, cubed and fried (careful not to splash oil in your eye like I did… ouch)
2 tablespoons ground basil
1 cup of lentils (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (before you add the raw beef so you CAN taste it)

Boil forever, then simmer for a long time… let it sit on your back balcony overnight to cool, and then reheat on the stove in small portions… at least, that’s what I do.

I went to a conference called “Speaker’s Week” this month at the Bible college in Vajta Hungary.  I was very blessed and encouraged.  The teachers spoke on things like Jesus being your sufficiency, being faithful in the small things, and letting God take your meager resources and allowing Him to do what only He can do with them.  I felt like the teachers were listening to my prayers.