Drinking tea while we wait...

Well, Jerry and I have been praying that God would use whatever means He wanted to have us meet people. So, maybe in answer to that request, this afternoon at about 2:50pm our electricity went out. I didn't think much about it cuz in Russia that is a common occurance. I was just settling down to read a book, when I thought that I could go outside, find a bench to sit on and hopefully strike up a conversation.
So, I went outside. And as I came out the door, a little grandma came over to me and asked me if our radiators were warm. We talked for about 10 minutes, she said that she noticed that we were walking around before. Her name is Emma. You can pray that we will meet again.
There were no other conversations for the next 1/2 hour, so I came back home. Once it started getting dark and I noticed that others had lights, and we still didn't have ours. So, when Jerry came home, he called our landlady. Our landlord came over on his way home from work. He couldn't find out what the problem was. He said that he would call the electician and have him come over in the morning.
So,... we were home in the dark and it was only 7pm. There isn't much to do in your home in the dark with only 2 candles, no games, and no electricity! So, we decided to get on the metro and go downtown and see the city at night all lit up. So, we went...
We just got up top from the subway when our phone rang, it was our landlord. He told us that he was back at our apartment waiting for the electrician to show up. So, we hurried back home and sat in our kitchen drinking tea with our landlord for almost 2 hours waiting and talking.
The electrician came and turned on our lights with nearly a snap of his fingers and said that he would be back on monday to finish updating the electrical system which was dated from 1963.
It was such a great time talking with him. Maybe this is part of His plan for us? dah, do you think?
So, would you please keep praying for us to meet people? Would you pray for our landlords, and Emma? And would you pray that God keeps arranging for us to meet the people He has in mind for us to meet?

A look at our place!

Ok, I am so excited! I have made a very simple video tour of our apartment here in Kiev. Remember that I am a novice at video-ing. And remember that we don't have our things yet, so it is quite empty. But, we really love our place. It is beginning to feel like home. I will make some more videos from time to time so you can see glimpses of our life! ~Kim

A look at Kiev!

Yesterday we decided to go to the Hillsong church here in Kiev. What a great, exciting young church.! They did a great skit on the prodigal son.

The pastor spoke on how we need to think of our city, Kiev, as our home and that we need to reach out to all of the people around us as if they were our close friends and relatives and tell them about the hope they can have in Christ! Wow! great inspiring words!

Please keep praying for us as we try to meet people around our neighborhood. It is getting colder out and the time of just hanging around outside will be coming to an end soon, so time is valuable.

We took the long way home as we are still trying to orient ourselves around town.

I am including a couple of pictures, as we finally have our internet connection here in our place!

Just hanging out

So, how does one go about meeting neighbors? That is the question of the day for us. We are praying each day for God to give us "divine appointments".
We go out each day for various reasons expecting something. Keep praying for us as we meet store clerks and market people. This is a start...
We sat outside yesterday hoping that we would meet someone. I have noticed through the years that if one has a baby, young child or a cute dog that complete strangers will have the courage to strike up a conversation with you. Well, after some discussion, we decided that these were not the options that would work for us... So, what to do? Jerry said that maybe we should be the complete strangers that strike up the conversations with the folks who have a baby, young child or cute dog. So....that is our plan for now. Will you pray for us as we go about meeting our neighbors? All we need is a couple or two.

So, for now the plan is to hang out and meet people.
~Kim

Kiev the beautiful!

Yesterday was a great day!

We woke up quite early, (still getting over the time difference) and were able to get on line and check our mail. Do you realize how wonderful it is to read letters from your family and friends? I am so thankful for all the encouragement and love you send us!!!



We are so thankful for this apartment! We were able to move in with only our suitcases, there is an assortment of dishes, pans and utensils. I am reminded again that God is a God of tiny details too, He made sure that there was a Turkish coffee pot! If you know us, you know that we LOVE our coffee. And, we didn't have a coffee pot in our suitcases. This place even has bedding.



Ok, back to yesterday... We decided to get aquainted with our new city. We walked 3 minutes to the corner and got on the subway. It reminds me of the Moscow metro, only more crowded and deeper!!!! I have to tell you, downtown Kiev is a beautiful old european looking city. We had such fun, I felt like a tourist taking a ton of picutres that I will be sharing soon.



Yesterday I was also reminded that we live in a city where other faiths are trying to find disciples too, we saw a group of Hari Krishnas singing right at our subway entrance.



What can you pray for?

~ opportunities to meet our neighbors, it is colder than I thought it would be and folks are not just hanging outside in the evenings

~pray that our bodies will adjust to local time

~pray that we will be keen observers of the needs of the folks here in Kiev

~pray that we will adapt to the culture here

Thanks for your prayers! we need them!!!!!

~Kim

Trains, automobiles and walking sticks!

We are here in Kiev!!!!!
We arrived by the overnight train at 8am. We were met there by a friend, Dima (who looks like Owen Wilson's twin). The 3 of us, the driver and 6 suitcases crunched into a small taxi. Jerry and Dima sat in the back seat with 2 of the suitcases on their laps. After we arrived at our new place, we sat in our new apartment kitchen enjoying some Russian conversation and a cup of tea with our friend.

After Dima left, we were free to explore our new apartment. We have a entryway with a coat closet and glass doored bookcases and cupboards. There are wooden parquet floors all throughout the place! The room to the right of the entryway/hallway is our bedroom, to the left is Parker's bedroom, straight ahead is the living room and farther back and down the hall is the kitchen, toilet room and bathroom. We have 2 balconies! what fun!!!
I will post some pictures when we finally get our internet hooked up. Jerry was able to find a card that allows us to do dial-up from our phone line, but this is really too slow for pictures.

After discovering that we didn't have any TP, we decided to take a stroll around our place and look for the shopping places. We didn't have much success (but, we did find TP), so we came back and Jerry decided to look at the city map! He found a market and supermarket only 3 blocks in the other direction from where we had explored. We have been shopping several times now, as we buy food and necessities here. I have forgotten how heavy grocery bags can get. We sold our car when we left Krasnodar, Russia. Now we are urbanites and think that we will not buy a car. We will see.....

I am not sure how much to write before you may get tired of reading, so I will stop for now, in hopes that you will want to read more the next time you check. The saga will continue...but I will leave you with some prayer items....

~we are hoping to have a wireless connection, this week if possible! please pray about this...

~my shopping list now includes a Russian/Ukrainian dictionary, we realize that we will need more than shopping terms for everyday language. Pray that we can find some language helpers for Ukrainian language learning.

~please pray that we have divine meetings with our neighbors, and that we understand clearly what God wants to do here with us.

~pray for us as we continue to trust God for all the aspects of our lives.

~pray that we will adjust to this time here, we are 10 hours ahead of pacific time, US. We keep waking up at about 2am.

I think that should cover it for now...we are pretty excited about all that the future holds,
~Kim

Survivor China in Moscow!

Wow, we are in Moscow! I thought that I had sent a new posting and looked and found out that it didn't go through.

We made it here without any big hitches or glitches. I could tell that you were praying for us, my tears were not as many as I had thought. I saw that our girls and son in law were doing quite well and that they would continue to do well with or without us. We will be calling to see how our son Parker is doing tomorrow. He is at a class party tonight.

We slept pretty well, until about 4am. We decided to watch a couple of episodes of survivor in China. OK, we are survivor junkies. We really like that show and the whole socialogical implications of it all. Have you watched it?

We also went on a mad goose chase for a computer plug for the Russian outlets. I think all in all it will make for better sleeping tonight.

Please pray for us as we leave for Kiev tomorrow night, we go by express overnight train. It will be nice to finally get to our apartment and unpack! It has been a long time since we have had somewhere to actually put our things. We saw pictures tonight of our new place. It looks really nice and we already know that we will like it.! thanks Bob! We will post pictures of it as soon as we can.
Please pray that we will meet our neighbors. We are really excited to begin our ministry there, and we are waiting on God to know what that is and how to do it.

Thank you for your prayers, I knew that people were praying for us yesterday, it was tough, but God is really good and he gave us a great day of travel.

We will let you know what is happening all around us as soon as we can!
our love to you, ~Kim

Bittersweet Symphony

Well, we are sitting at the Eugene Airport waiting for our delayed plane to land. The fog is just beginning to burn out, so our flight will be leaving only about 45 minutes late. This ws nice. it gave us more time for goodbye-ing!
I have been trying not to think too far into the future about saying goodbye to our dearly loved ones, and about our new adventure in Kiev and now I find that I am not very prepared for the day ahead...tears are ready to pop out of my eyes.
Yesterday went by too quickly. It was Trent's 21st birthday! We are so happy that we could be there to help celebrate with the Wagners! It was such fun to stay at Laurel and Trent's place along with Beki too. Life can be really sweet when extra little joys are given when you aren't expecting them. We were able to spend time all together with Jerry's mom and step-dad, and had a birthday feast of roasted veggies, and steaks with Jerry's sister and husband! We were able to talk to all of my family too on the phone, thanks for calling!!!!!!!
We are so blessed, and I am remembering that God has a plan for each of us, one that He has already written out even before we were knit together in our mother's womb, and that I can trust Him because He knows the end of this story of our lives and it is all for the good for those of us who love Him. This is what God has been teaching me for many many years and I still am learning.
Pray for us as we begin these days of adventure. Pray for our kids in Eugene, OR and BFA, Germany. Pray for us!
Thanks! ~Kim~

Out in the cold

Hi all,
I'm finding that my wife has an elife all her own. When I begin stories people are often telling me, "I know, I read your blog" to which I reply, "I need to start reading that!"

Well, Kim's doing a good job of updating things so I won't go into too much detail about our tour. We are now in Missoula, on our way to Hamilton, Montana, it's 37f outside and the forecast is for snow. We realize that in only a few days we'll be packing up all of our summer clothes in Eugene and then in a few more days, moving to Kiev for winter. We'll be wearing fur hats with our shorts. That's a pretty classic tourist look.

Our friend and colleague, Bob Merrill, found and rented an apartment for us. He writes that it "is located ONE MINUTE from metro [subway station] Pecherskaya. It is three rooms [livingroom and two bedrooms] on the 7th floor. It has taller ceiling then a normal apartment. I tried to write down things to tell you---metal door, 2 balconies, plastic windows, wood floor, tiled bathroom/toilet room, Samsung washing machine, refrigerator, microwave, Sony TV, lots of storage, couch, table, beds--all just what you need. There is a McDonalds at the metro stop and a Coffee House in front of your building."

So there, you know what we know. In the next months we will be working to get residence visas. When that happens we can have all of our stuff shipped from Russia. We'll need to find an unfurnished apartment then.

Now people can tell Kim they read it already in the blog.

In God's Country!

This week has found us in Helena and Great Falls, Montana. I think that this is some of the most beautiful country in the states. Wow! The birch trees have turned brilliant yellow, some bushes are firey red and the pines give the green and browns. Autumn has always been my favorite time of the year. I am loving it!
We have been able to catch up with some old friends that have been a part of our lives for many years and have had the opportunity to meet new friends that will be a part of our lives from now on , for this we are very thankful.
Jerry has had plenty of exercise this week, playing raquetball, hiking mountains and fishing. I have enjoyed many conversations with women over coffee and tea.
We have felt so loved and welcomed into your churches and homes. Thank you for joining us in prayer. We are relying on your prayers as we leave for the Ukraine, now in just a week!
We just received word that they found an apartment for us! We are really excited! We don't know anything about it yet, but we will let you know.
We are at a conference right now for ministry people. We are feeling pampered and have had time to relax and rest. This is just what we needed. It has been a busy, full summer with almost no down time.
Thank you Rocky Mountain District for asking us to come to your TLC conference.!
Kim

A day of rest

Well, here I am again after only writing a few days ago. We are enjoying a day of quiet together while on this mini-tour, yes, together! It is really nice.

We have really enjoyed the opportunity to connect with so many great people here in Montana and Idaho. We would love to squeeze you all in our suitcases and take you with us. It is so good to be back home here in the West!

This day has been quiet and I have had time to be still and think. It is becoming real to me that we are moving to Kiev in just a short while. (we leave on October 15) It is a bit overwhelming when I think of all the changes that will happen very soon. And so, I am asking you all to help by praying for us. We are ready to do whatever God has for us. We want to know what that is and how He wants us to do it. Would you please pray that He makes it clear to us? When we first get to Kiev, we will be meeting neighbors, making friends, filling out paperwork and all that goes with moving. We need your prayers.

Would you pray for our family too, this is also on my mind as I think about moving. We will be spread all around the globe. This will be a time of growth for us all, and it will be good.

thanks for checking our blogspot!

we rely on your prayers and are encouraged by you!

serving Him together,

Kim for us

Planes, Buses, different cities....

Well, this week has been a good one. We were able to travel through YellowStone on our way to the next place. I have to say, it was so beautiful. I took pictures just like any tourist, and I used to live in Wyoming.

We were on our way to Idaho Falls. I joined Jerry for a few days of his tour, we had a really good time with our hosts, talking with the kids club and each of the adult groups.

Then, I took a shuttle bus for a few hours drive to the next city in my tour, Boise, Idaho. I got to ride through Twin Falls, Idaho. What unique beauty they have in that area of the world.

Boise had many good events planned, one was a cultural night of learning all about Russia, the foods, music, dress and games. A few men of the church invited their friend who is from the Ukraine to come to church. Peter and his son came to the meeting and we were able to speak Russian together! I discovered that the church in Boise has opened their church to immigrants who move to the area to have orientation classes which are held there at the church and at Thanksgiving time, they invite all of these immigrants to a Thanksgiving dinner. I was quite impressed at their community service. Another event this week was a dinner at a Russian Cafe with real Russian food. It was fun.

God has richly blessed me in my travels, I have found such kindred hearts everywhere I have gone. And, everyone is interested in what is going on in Russia, of course I just can't stop talking.

Today I got on a plane and flew to Great Falls, Idaho. I am looking forward to what God is going to do this week, Thanks for praying for us and loving us and supporting us.

Would you remember to pray for me this Sunday as I speak twice. Yes, I am a bit nervous, but that is ok. Posted by Kim