A big event

Hi all,
Jerry here. I'm trying to set a record for time between writing in the blog. Kim encouraged me to write with the words: "If you write a blog, I'll get dinner". So here it is.

We've just returned from an interesting evening called, "Getting to know the Bible better". The basis of the seminar was the reliablility of the Bible as a historical document and as a predictor of the future. In Russia we'd gotten used to the idea that it was useless to try to find a topic, of general interest to the general public, which was also connected to the Bible, as a means of bringing people together. Well, that may be true about Russia but in Kiev tonight more than 750 people were gathered to standing-room-only capacity (Kim and I and our neighbor Galina were among the standers) to hear about topics ranging from Noah's flood to the compositon of stars. And the event is supposed to go on nightly for two weeks so we'll return to see how the attendance holds up, but even if there aren't that many every night, 750+ is still a lot of people.

Well, I guess it's true that God never runs out of people whom He is causing to seek Him. It's exciting to be here where we can see this interest in spiritual questions. We're encouraged by the fact that our neighbor invited us to go since she knows we are believers. Afterwards, while we were on our way home, she asked us if we wanted to go again. We continue to pray for opportunities to meet more and more people- I'll have to write about my trip by public transportation for skiing on Mt. Kiev.
Pray for us also. I really don't have time to write about all the opportunities for ministry which surround us; it's overwhelming and sad to see all the needs, but we are thankful to feel ourselves in the center of a city that God cares about and wants to help.
Thanks for going with us on this journey

Today was a good day

Just last night I woke up in the middle of the night, and began to think and just couldn’t stop...(why does this always happen in the middle of the night?)… We have several people with whom we are building relationships. This is a long process. Last night in the middle of the night, I was getting discouraged. I realized that all I could do was pray. So, I fell asleep praying…asking God to continue to work His plan out through us here in Kiev and for each of our new friends. This morning we woke up and prayed, asking God to encourage us. After we finished praying, we decided to go to the university (the one Jerry had gone to earlier) and talk to the head of the foreign languages department and tell him again of our desire to help students with English language practice. He seemed genuinely pleased with our offer and is to call us on Monday. Please pray that if this is God’s will, he will call.
We also had a really good time talking with our grandma friends. Our friend Pasha’s husband is sick with gallbladder problems. We have been praying for him. Pasha told our other friend Galya that we are praying for her husband and so Galya asked us to pray for her too. When you read this, will you pray for our friends too?
Today was a really good, encouraging day…Thank you God…

(below we have some pics of last week)

A night of culture at the Ballet

While our friends visited, we went to the Ballet.

veiw of the ceiling...would have loved to take one of the Ballet, but it is forbidden.

We sat on the first balcony, in a private booth section.

St Andrews Cathedral on a foggy day

The view as you look up at the ceiling. Do you see Jesus on the cross?

The fog added such atmosphere, we actually witnessed at least 3 weddings that day at the Cathedral.

Our friends Tracy and Twilla visited us this past week. We have known them since our days at Hillsboro, OR. We had such fun showing our city to them. This is one of the beautiful Orthodox Cathedrals that we admired.

Pasha

...just want to write about a conversation we had today with one of our friends while it is fresh in my mind…our friend is Pasha, one of the little older gals that stands outside our building. She stands there with other older gals selling vegetables that they have grown in their gardens or other foodstuffs that they have made. She was all alone today and so we were able to stay and talk for a while. She had promised to bring a book that was published about her village. Well, in her haste this morning, she forgot to bring it with her, but she began her story all the same. She said that several years ago, a correspondent came to her village and asked her why her mother was sent to prison, leaving her children to fend for themselves.
This is the story…
When Pasha was 8 years old there was a famine. This was a result of the general disorder of the war in 1944. She and her family lived in a small village somewhere outside of Kiev. She was the oldest child in her family and had younger brothers. They didn’t have proper clothing and shoes as times were desperate. The village folk worked at a collective farm, it was her mother’s job to weed 2 rows of beets. Pasha went with her mother to work, and had her own row that she weeded. At the end of the day, they received a ladle full of animal feed as pay for that days work. People were dying of starvation in her village. Pasha one day looked at the peas growing in the field next to the beet field she worked in and, unable to resist, she stole 3 peapods. The field boss saw her do this and she was taken to the collective farm boss. She was released, but that night her mother never came home. Her Aunt came and told her to gather her things and come with her because her mother had been put in jail. Her mother was sentenced to 5 years of labor in a mine…basically prison. Pasha went to live with her mother’s father and her brothers were sent to an orphanage. (Her father had never come home from the war; he never would.) Her grandpa said he wanted to keep Pasha, that there was no need to send her to an orphanage, ‘she might as well feed the cows’ was his argument. She also went to school, but she often cried away class time as she felt sorry for her situation.

Her mother was released after 4 years. Someone read the reason why she was sent to prison and decided that she could be released. Her brothers were returned to her mother, but Pasha stayed with her grandfather.
Pasha is now 70-ish years old, she is someone that God loves. She is one of the people we know and are beginning to love in Kiev, she is one of many people with a heartbreaking story. Please pray that we can help our new friends here find Christ and experience His love and healing in their lives.

Today was the Eastern Orthodox holiday, The Baptism of Jesus Christ. People all over the city crowded to the closest Orthodox Church in their neighborhoods to fill bottles with holy water. This holy water is believed to have healing qualities and is also sprinkled in the home to bless it.

Happy Old New Year’s Day!

Wow, it has been a while. Somehow time just keeps ticking away. Today is already Old New Year’s day. (You are probably asking yourself, what is Old New Year’s? This is one of those fun things about living here in the East. It all has to do with calendars and how time was counted long ago. If you buy a calendar today for the year 2009, it is a Gregorian calendar, which means that we have a leap year every 4 years to make up that little bit of time that doesn’t fit. Russians didn’t adopt the Gregorian calendar at first, and kept to the Julian calendar for quite some time. Eventually dates were off by almost 2 weeks. So, here in the East, we have 4 holidays that we celebrate…Western Christmas- December 25, New Years- January 1, Old Christmas- January 7, and Old New Years- January 14.) whew, that is a lot of celebrating!
Time has slowed down here for me today. I am home alone. Jerry took Parker back to BFA, his classes started Tuesday…Beki left yesterday morning at 5am. It has been a wonderful time together, something so great about family and just being free to be yourself all together. I think that saying goodbye this time was harder than it has been for a while, I guess that I have learned through the years how much you miss out in the lives of those you love when you are far from each other and it hurts more now…with all of that knowledge and past experience. Days, moments you will never get back to re-live again. It is important to live the days/times you have with the ones God puts in your lives intentionally, purposefully.
It’s evening and I have just returned from our neighbor’s home. They found out that I was going to be all alone and so they invited me to come and just hang out, talk and drink coffee with them. So, I went upstairs to visit them. It was really nice to sit and watch Galina as she made decorations for the torts that she makes for people. While I was watching, we were talking, ok, I did most of the listening and she did most of the talking. But, this is what I love doing…sitting in the kitchen, talking about life with a friend. Of course the conversation came around to our beliefs. It is really cool how God does that. She told me how she doesn’t really feel any connection with any of the Saints of the Orthodox Church. She believes in Jesus Christ, but doesn’t feel a connection to God, His Father. Wow, you can learn a lot by listening. Hopefully this gives you some idea of how you can be praying for us.
Time…God has a plan for our lives, for all of us and for all those around us too. I want to live the time He gives me to the fullest, intentionally and purposefully.
Pray for us!
~kim

New Year's Evening and bringing in the year 2009!

This was a first for the Rundstrom clan… in all of our years over here we haven’t gone to the city center to welcome in the New Year (this is where the best display of fireworks go off and where tons of people gather to celebrate, similar to going to the park to watch the 4th of July fireworks in the States). This year, since we live in the center and our kids are grown, we decided to go and join in the festivities. We took the subway and found thousands of folks gathered. They were all decked out in their warm jackets, Santa hats, and ready for the New Year party to begin. We listened to the free concert and watched everyone around us dancing and hanging out with their friends. The Mayor of Kiev and the President of Ukraine wished everyone a wonderful new year and other things as well, but, we didn’t understand as it was all in Ukranian. Then…the magical moment, Midnight! The fireworks were impressive and lasted about 15 minutes. Corks were flying through the air as well. After about half an hour, we decided that we were frozen and ready to go home…we headed towards the Metro entrance, we were literally squeezed down the stairs…it was a bit scary, wondering if we would loose each other. We decided that the metro would be too crowded, so we walked to another station about 15 minutes away. It was not too crowded and we got home without any troubles.
We continue to see fireworks tonight as we are home…and probably will continue to for the next few days.
Hope you enjoyed your New Year’s celebration and that 2009 will be a good one for you!
Our love to you…
~kim for us all

This video is minutes before midnight 1 January, 2009. I wanted to try to give you a glimpse of our New Year's Eve experience. We were among thousands of Kiev-ites gathered to welcome in the new year at Independence Square.
below are more pictures of the evening...

The fireworks at Freedom Square in Kiev.