A different kind of revolution…

David2 Comments

20131209-163944.jpgImagine being on a trip and staying over at a friends house… You wake up late, roll out of bed with your wife, walk into the kitchen to find your friends already waiting for you with a plate full of eggs and a mug full of strong, black breakfast tea. After rousing conversation about recent events and finishing the contents of the aforementioned plate and mug, you get changed and walk outside to the sight of snow falling softly on the ground, people making there way to work, and the normal hustle and bustle of a large city…

That really sounds like a typical morning on a visit to a city in the middle of a revolution, doesn’t it?

No! What the heck is going on here?

20131209-164122.jpgJust in case you missed the news, Ukraine is in the middle of a literal political revolution, but it’s a different kind of revolution. Now, as a foreigner, I try to stay completely out of any and all politics here. I don’t think it’s my place as an American missionary to comment, protest, etc.; however, I think it’s the responsibility of every Christian to pray for the country where they live and the politicians that lead it.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and
all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful
and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is
good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.
– 1 Timothy 2:1-3

I’m currently based in a city in Western Ukraine called L’viv (the “i” is pronounced “ee” like “bee”). It’s a wonderful city full of life and culture, and it’s far away from the capitol city, Kyiv (pronounced in English as “Ki-yeev” with the first vowel like the “i” in “kid”). There have been protests, riot police, and all kinds of crazy things happening here since the trouble started, and that’s all we see on the news all the way over in far-away L’viv. I was a little scared to come to Kyiv actually. (Katya and I were there to get her visa to America, so we had to make the trip either way.) My father-in-law even gave me a small can of pepper spray “just in case”.

All that to say, just like any other revolution, I expected stuff like:

  • Pickpockets and a rise in crime
  • Problems with transport and infrastructure like buses or the subway working poorly or not working
  • General unrest and tension in the people there
  • Businesses not working

Wouldn’t you expect the same? In America, when we hear the word “revolution”, we think AK-47’s and Che Guevara or something. This is totally different.

One of the things that really surprised me and changed my perspective about this revolution was our friends, Andriy and Katya. They were Katya’s small group leaders in L’viv, so we have known them as close friends for a long time. They were so peaceful and so sure in their positions. They were able, in love, to even explain, without fighting, their positions to others of opposite views. This is all in the middle of a real revolution.

20131209-164103.jpgAnother thing I have been impressed with is a prayer tent that has been set up downtown on the square where the riot police beat a bunch of protesters about a week ago. The ministry there has been amazing – people coming and going, prayer around-the-clock, people even spending the night in the winter on the square downtown to pray for others and for Ukraine.

(Here I took a day or so break from writing this article…)

Unfortunately, as I’ve been in the middle of finishing this article, a lot of the situation has changed. The riot police have come out again in Kyiv and they are just standing in ranks next to the people downtown. We all have our eyes glued to the TV to see what they are going to do. Please, please, please be praying for all that is happening in Kyiv right now. It looks like they might be trying to make a siege of the main square, or they could be preparing to storm the square.

20131209-164148.jpgI also really want to encourage church leaders to step up and pray, call your churches to pray, and take this opportunity from God to preach the Gospel to the people around you! When people go through hard times like these, they realize that their hope has to be in something other than themselves and their government. People are hungry for the Truth and hungry for Jesus. Let’s answer the call.

Saying “Goodbye” to a dear friend…

David2 Comments

Every once in a while, God sends someone along in your life that is more than just someone to hang out with, more than just a friend to say “Hi” to when you see in church… I’m talking about those people that God uses to help you dig deeper in your heart, see what He is doing, and follow Him more closely. Our friend, Pam Nelson, is like that for us.

Pam is a good friend. She’s got a gift of telling you what you need when you need it – and I don’t mean telling you what you need to hear. She’s always been encouraging, though.

When Katya and I have had a “bad day” (read “when we had a fight”), she was there to tell me that I need to be a loving, understanding husband and give all kinds of other good advice. She even helped me clean up my apartment before our wedding so that Katya came home to something better than a pig sty. (Thanks, Pam!!!)

Today, we said goodbye. What I actually mean is – today, we said, “See you later.” On Thursday, Pam is flying back to the States, and she won’t be coming back to L’viv… at least, not as a full-time missionary. She (and we) hope that she will come back to visit sometime, of course, but her work here is done.

A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.
– Proverbs 17:17

Pam, you’ve been a real friend, and we will all miss you. Please be praying for Pam in her transition to her new life and other ministry opportunities, etc. when she gets back in the States.

P.S. – This Thursday, Katya and I are going into Kyiv for her visa interview. That will tell us whether or not she can get a visa and go to the States. We are confident that she will get it, but the staff at the embassy told us to not even buy plane tickets until after the interview, just in case something happened. Please continue praying for this whole process. God has given us a peace that truly “surpasses our understanding“, and we are very thankful for that.

Shish-kabobs and New Perspectives

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I love shish-kabobs. I particularly love Ukrainian shish-kabobs (called “shashlyk” here in Ukraine). Usually the only thing that goes on them is pork or chicken and onions. The marinades are often a special family recipe that’s handed down from father to son through generations.

At my bachelor party, a bunch of friends and I got together to have shashlyk. We all gathered around a fire out in a field one afternoon, hung out, threw a frisbee around, and watched the meat cook. I particularly enjoyed that last part of the activities. 😀 There’s not much better than fresh meat, a fire, and friends. As I was poking the fire and adjusting the skewers, a friend of mine told me to “pereklady” them, which means to turn them over.

I followed his instructions and noted the word he used, because that’s the same word for “translate”. So, in a way, when Ukrainians ask you to translate a word, there are literally asking you to turn it over and let them see the other side.

Another thing that I love is reading my Bible. I love to take the Bible and share it with other people in a way that is enjoyable, sensible, and practical. That way, they can take the Word of God and apply it directly to their lives. It’s a lot like being able to cook shashlyk for a bunch of friends and watch their eyes glisten as they enjoy the savory meat before them.

One of the things that I’ve noticed with reading my Bible is that, when I read it in Ukrainian, it often allows me to “see another side” of what the Bible is saying. I love comparing the different languages (English and Ukrainian) and trying to get the most of the rich meaning that I can out of them. The way Ukrainian flows is a lot closer to Greek, so there are some scriptures that I didn’t fully understand until I read them in the Ukrainian translation.

That translation, that “pereklad”, helped me to “turn the Word over” and see it from another perspective. It’s the same Bible, but I’m getting to see it from another cultural side in another language.

What do you love? Have you ever been to another country? How has that changed your perspectives, your paradigms?

Katya should get her passport TOMORROW…

David2 Comments

…hopefully!

*UPDATE* – Katya has her passport! 😀 😀 Now we’re just working on the VISA! Keep prayin’, guys! 😀 😀 😀

Katya and I have been waiting a LONG time to just receive her international passport. We had to change it because of her change in last name. Man – that was a pain! I *LOVE* it that she is now “Katya Snead”, but there have been a lot of headaches along the way…

Anyways – please keep praying for this process! A week ago tomorrow they said it would be ready in a week, and we’ve already been waiting for over a month. After that, we are going to apply online for Katya’s visa to the U.S. with the United States’ government, and they can deny the application for whatever reason they choose, even without telling us what that reason is. That’s one of the reasons we’re buying a two-way ticket, even though we don’t know exactly when we’re coming back.

Please pray for this whole process! It’s exciting, an adventure, stressful, painful, and puts you on your knees. I’ve grown to really hate documents, especially paper documents, because of this whole thing. You go here, get this signature, go there, get that stamp, go back, get everything translated, go to get it stamped and find there’s a translation error… yech! It kinda makes you look forward to Heaven, where God’s Law is written on our hearts and the Holy Spirit is our signature stamp of His ownership! AKA – NO MORE DOCUMENT HUSSLE! 😀 😀 😀

Anyways – this is one of the last steps in the process of getting ready to see all of you in America! I have this almost strange peace that it’s all going to work out just fine. When I’ve come to situations like this in the past, I’ve had a hard time trusting God, but I’ve seen Him come through so many times… It just makes sense to trust Him this time.

I think that’s what James was talking about when he said “count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials“. A friend of mine and I were talking about my experience here in Ukraine compared to Bible college, and I told him, “You know… when I was interning at Bible college, I learned more in those 3 years than my 2 years in college, but my 3 years here in Ukraine have taught me more than all 5 years at CCBCi combined.” I wouldn’t trade this time in Ukraine for anything.

Wasting Bread

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Evernote Camera Roll 20131119 095255When was the last time you threw away a piece of bread? Have you ever though about what it means to do that? We as Americans have a very interesting perspective on food, clothing, etc., and I didn’t realize how different it was until I threw away a piece of bread one day here in Ukraine.

My friends an I were out one day playing music in downtown L’viv. No surprise – I got hungry. I went to go buy a hotdog. Now I like hotdogs, but I don’t like hotdog buns, so, after I was don’t eating half of the whole thing, I slurped out the dog, and threw away the bun.

Now – my first mistake wasn’t throwing away the bun but not noticing two grandmas sitting next to the trash can. They started to yell at me like you wouldn’t believe. I had no idea what they were saying (I’d only been in Ukraine for a few months), so I simply figured they were talking to someone else and walked away.

A friend of mine finally explained to me what was going on, and I went back and apologized to them. It was a lesson to me in waste and in culture.

The culture here has, in many ways, been shaped by the events since the Communist Revolution in 1917. In the 1930’s and 40’s, there were a couple of forced-famines here in Ukraine, where the government took everyone’s food. I know people here with stories of digging moldy potato skins out of trash cans to eat them, and much, much worse that I won’t describe. From that time on, food was basically holy to them.

When a grandma sees you throw away bread, guess what her mind goes to?

All that to say – that changed a bit the way I look at food. I try not to be as wasteful. Even of bread is beyond me eating, I try to give it to the birds. I confess, I don’t always do this, but I think it’s a good thing.

We waste a lot of things in America. We throw away things that could be fixed. We spend money to buy things that we already have.

Let’s pray about the wastes in our lives, and ask God to show us how to be better stewards.

(The picture is from a piece of bread that I accidentally left in my backpack for a few days… It was still good so I ate it! :D)