Sweet relief!

The bags are on their way! Hallelujah!! Praise Jesus (and Eva)!! Eva is a missionary in Budapest. We sent her the information for our suitcases, and she is having them taken to a Methodist pastor in a town near the border. Now, we just need to see if someone can get them into Ukraine for us. The blessing of this is that, instead of being 5-8 hours away (depending on how fast you drive), they will now be 1 hour away!!! Maybe I'll have clean clothes tomorrow - or at least cleaner than the ones I hand washed in the sink tonight....

It is officially 4 a.m. here in Uzhhorod. Susan and I both have a case of the wide awakes. Very frustrating, as we start work bright and early at 9:30. This should be the latest that we begin all week.

We went to church at Sergei's "First Methodist Church" in Uzhhorod tonight. I am truly amazed at how quickly language skills come back to you. At the beginning of the service, I caught enough words that I could understand about half of what Sergei was saying. However, he is a very passionate man, and when he gets going, Vova can't even keep up to translate for us!

We also met Joseph, the man who runs the soup kitchen in Uzhhorod. He shared with us his story, and I caught about 60 percent without the translator. It's an amazing story, and he's doing wonderful work with children and young adults who have nowhere else to turn.

Everyone here has been so gracious and forgiving of my poor Russian skills, and I have enjoyed being able to practice after 2 years. Unfortunately, my dictionary is in my suitcase.... Which is on its way (did I mention that?)!!! And, for those of you who have had the pleasure of experiencing the cuisine, we have had wonderful food so far. I walked into the cafe for dinner, and behold, BLINY!!!!

Ok, that's enough prattling on for now. Maybe I will be able to get a little bit more sleep before our big day tomorrow. Keep praying!

Ah... Paris in the Fall...

We went through Paris yesterday. What a beautiful city! Here's a picture of the Eiffel Tower:

Unfortunately, I didn't take this picture. In fact we didn't even see the Eiffel Tower. But we did see the inside of the airport. It looks like a lot of other airports- except everything's in French.

First things first...

Ok, I have to get this out of the way - Hi Mom! We're safe. I'm being good...mostly!

What gorgeous scenery we've seen so far. Just look at the Swiss Alps from the plane! I'm so excited to be here! We came in the long way in - from Hungary we went into Slovakia (for less than an hour) and then on into Ukraine. By the time it was all said and done, I believe that most of us had been up for close to 30 hours straight. I know that I didn't get much sleep on the plane, and the crazy Ukrainian drivers (Hungarian drivers, Slovakian drivers.....) didn't help much on the bus either. We're taking today to rest and recharge before jumping head first into work tomorrow. I've been able to use a little bit of my Russian so far, and have convinced Vova to teach me some Ukrainian and his wife Carmen to teach me some Romanian. So far, I've learned the word for pen (Ручка in Ukrainian which is the same as Russian and pix in Romanian). It's made some interactions easier, as many Ukrainians speak Russian as well.

This group of people is amazing! Susan, our fearless leader, has put together a great team who I believe are going to be a blast to get to know. We're keeping each other on our toes, that's for sure! I'm not sure, though, if Vova and Carmen quite know what to do with us....

Last night, in Hungary, we had the pleasure of eating at a fine dining establishment - Buffalo Bill's Western Restaurant! With saddles instead of barstools, Native American dreamcatchers on the walls, a mounted bison head, and fried fried fried food (except for the Hungarian goulash), it was almost as if we'd never left Oklahoma! The language barrier, however, was an even wider gulf than going from Woodward to Idabel.

I still haven't heard from the airline in Budapest. Hopefully, they will find my suitcase quickly and we can get it to Ukraine so that I have clothes. Thankfully, I listened to my wise team leader and packed an extra set of clothes in my carry on. I'll just have to use the Nehemiah Center's laundry service and switch off from day to day, washing what I wore that day each night.

Just keep us all in your prayers - Susan especially, as she has to keep us all in line, and I think she has her hands full!

Now we have more time

War Eagle! Woohoo! I just found out that my beloved team won - way to go, guys.

Anyway, our mission team is doing very well. Our flights were non-eventful. We didn't get time to see any of Paris, and couldn't have seen it if we wanted to because of the heavy fog and rain. Oh well...

The bus trip this year was completely different from last year's (when Stan, Karen and I came). Last year we travelled at about 90 mph the entire way, double passing every car we met. This time, I think we went about 40 mph, and it seemed to last forever. and we travelled through Slovakia, so we have an extra country on our passports! It was only a few hours more, but I think every car in Hungary passed us. even the trucks were passing us! Plus, we went through passport control about 4 times. It was about 12:30 a.m. when we finally arrived at the Nehemiah center, so we were quite tired.

We've started working on finding a way to get Jennie's and Ralph's bags here with us. Poor Jennie and Ralph, with very little clothing here. We stopped at a store last night and got them some basic toiletries and underwear.

But, we are here now, and we got a good night's sleep. The Nehemiah center is wonderful and we're settling in nicely. We've already had lots to eat here. We'll go to church tonight at Sergei's church in Uzhhorod, and then start work tomorrow.

and the weather is perfect! I don't think we could have come at a better time! Beautiful and sunny today, probably about 70 degrees.

Pictures, and more posts to come soon.

We are here! It was a long journey, but we made it to the Nehemiah center okay tonight. We'll post more later, but all is well. Except Ralph's and Jennie's main suitcases are still in Paris, or maybe now in Budapest, but not with us!

many blessings, and we'll let you know more.

Susan

Today is the day!

Well, everyone is about packed and ready to go. We'll meet at the airport in a few hours, and then we'll be off! When we arrive in Budapest, or wherever we get our first chance, we'll let everyone know that we're there.

Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers! We couldn't be going without those.

good news!

We have good news! not specifically about our upcoming journey, but about the ministers we are going to see. There's a consultation in november in Kansas City (Church of the Resurrection) for the "Russia Initiative". We were asked to try to bring "our" ministers over for that, which of course takes some cash. The good news is that we have found the necessary funds to make that happen! now comes the fun part- finding the plane tickets and arranging all the travel plans. but the ministers are available and happy to come, they have been officially invited through the Initiative so they can get visas. The consultation is November 15-17, and we'll have them back in OKC after that. They will even get a chance to speak to Church of the Servant on November 18! (That's the plan, at least). here's the link to the consultation information, in case you're curious what this is all about: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/work/initiatives/russia/consultation/

So that's all good!

We leave in two days. Plane tickets are on hand. Everyone has a passport. the rest is just details! :-)

We'll keep in touch.

6 days to go!

Today we got together to pack our donations. That's Ralph, Pam, David and Sarah. (Sarah is David's girlfriend. We like her).

Here's everyone else that could come today:

(Pam, Sharon, Jennie, Ralph, Susan, David, Dixie, Ray, Rick and Betty)

Don't we look great?? It's a great team.

Packing

It's a little over a week to go before we head to Ukraine. I have the airline tickets (real tickets, not e-tickets!), and have been working at sending money ahead of time to pay for things like our hotels and some transportation. The less money I have to keep with me, the better.

We're getting together on Saturday to pack our second suitcases. I have a lot of wonderful donations in my office just ready to go. Thank you to everyone who have contributed items! If you want to know what else we need, leave a comment and I'll reply.

Help us build a church!

This past Sunday at Church of the Servant, the congregation generously contributed around $15,000 toward the construction of this new building for the Shalom UMC in Perechyn, Ukraine. We've been working hard at raising money for this project since we landed back in the USA a year ago.

Another $25,000 was granted to this project through the Woodworth Foundation here in Oklahoma. This was an incredible gift, made possible through a missionally-minded couple who lived in Oklahoma years ago. Their intentions for their estate was to aid in building new churches around the globe, among other mission projects.

You too can contribute toward this project! Help us help the Shalom UMC bring Jesus Christ into their community. Every dollar contributed will buy another concrete block or roof tile or light bulb. The Shalom church will use this church structure as an outreach post into the greater community. Your gift will make a difference for the greater good of furthering God's Kingdom into our world.

The total cost of the building will be around $100,000, of which we have raised 40%. If you would like to contribute, send a check to Church of the Servant, 14343 N. MacArthur Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73142, with "Ukraine mission" on the memo line.

Thank you for your support!

Owen

I am sad to say that we found out today that Owen and Susan Sutter will not be able to join us in the Ukraine on our team after all. Owen was recently diagnosed with melanoma, and the first day he can see the oncologist is the day we leave (Sept 28). He's wanting to treat this cancer aggressively, which is definitely the right thing to do, but it means that going with us takes a back seat.

So please keep Owen and Susan in your prayers as they prepare for their upcoming challenges, and the rest of us prepare for this upcoming journey without them. They're still a part of our team though!