Back in the USSR

HI out there,
Jerry in here.
I had to go back to see that September 10th was the last time I shared the responsibility to update the blog. Kim has turned into The Great Communicator so I know you haven't missed much. We were in Red Lodge, MT, on Sept. 10 and talking about going to Kiev. Now here we are...

So, Kiev? My impression is that it's like Moscow, Lite. Subway the same, but smaller. 2/5 as populous. Pace, slower and people 2/5 as gruff. Language the same, sort of.

We're doing Ukranian lessons now. We'd planned starting to study for several weeks, even bought books. Today I got to see how important it would be when at a big supermarket the clerk only spoke to me in Ukranian. Hey, you want some survival Ukranian gleaned from our first language lesson? "U mene nemai roochki. (I don't have a pen)" Now, get out there and survive.

Snowed today. First of the season and not enough to actually SKI on, not to mention that the nearest real mountain to the whole country is in Slovakia, but nice to see. I feel bad for all the commuters who jam up on our block every night; this can't be a help to them.

Kim and I have started some earnest prayer for direction. We've pretty much determined that all of our efforts, these 31 days, have been about our own good ideas. We prayed yesterday, asking God for direction. When we debriefed after our prayer we both thought we heard God say, "Keep building relationships with your neighbors and RELAX A LITTLE." Wish I'd thought of praying for concrete direction before putting up all the "English Conversation" ads, meeting the director of a university language program to offer our services AND putting up more ads.

Well, we'll see where it all goes. Thanks for reading along and for your prayers.