Flower Power

Women's Day card

Mimosa sprig

Pasha's cabbage buns

Pasha's Cherry and cheese Ukrainian Pie

I want to wish all the women of the world a happy International Women’s Day! This holiday is not the same as our Mother’s Day in the States. The 8th of March is a holiday that honors ALL women, whether you are just a small girl, or you are one of the older gals on the block.
On Friday, I gathered a small gift for each of the women we know. I found special 8th of March cards and the traditional flower, a branch of Mimosa. Only 2 of our friends were outside selling their foodstuffs on Friday and so I brought them these little gifts. I was disappointed that Pasha wasn’t there. So, I waited…
She called us yesterday and explained that she had caught a cold and wasn’t going to be out selling her goods on Saturday either, BUT, that she had something that she wanted to give to me for the holiday. She asked if Jerry would meet her as she was sick and didn’t want to infect us. Jerry went to meet her, bringing her gift along. He returned with a bag of home baked cabbage buns and a Ukrainian Pie. How delicious!
We are going to our neighbor’s home later today to wish Galina a happy Women’s Day.

Today our family in Oregon is gathering for a big family dinner…missing those family dinners, grandparents, Aunt, Uncle, daughters, son-in-law…hope they will have a great time of being together, laughing together and the great food! Our son is on a school retreat, enjoying a break from studies, hanging out with friends and being challenged to live a deeper life in Christ!
Happy International Women’s Day, whatever you have going on in your lives!
~kim

Home and the Range

I was just looking at our blog. Mostly I look for comments, but I also look for grammatical errors. I usually find less of the first than I'd hope-enough of the second to be embarasssed...sorry.

Anyway, looking at the picture of Pasha making sauerkraut I noticed the buildings that you can see through the window.
It's a CITY out there.

In the English classes kids ask about American life. One kid haltingly read the question he had prepared, "What life is like in America and how different it is from life in Ukraine?" Don't laugh; learning another language is really hard. Well, my answer was that life is so different in so many places that it's hard for a kid from Wyoming to know how his life was different from kids who grow up in a country's capital city.
And a few days ago, like many other days before, I found myself saying, "Thanks, God, for letting me live here." I don't really understand the dynamic that makes me love the wide open spaces of the western US and still love the pace and the hustle and the sometimes claustrophobic closeness of the Big City.
Except that there is a promise about Abundant Life that seems to explain it: life's richness doesn't have to depend on the circumstances that might appear to dictate how we live and the good life is more than the ideal neighborhood.

I'll be the first to admit that it doesn't always seem this easy, I guess today was one of those abundant days.

Until next time.

How to make sauerkraut, Ukrainian style

Pasha showing Kim how to make kraut

kneading the salt into the cabbage

For weeks my friend Pasha has been patiently explaining how to make several different Ukrainian national dishes. We always buy Pasha’s homemade sauerkraut. It is absolutely delicious! Have you ever tried homemade? There isn’t any comparison to the kraut sold in a can.
Just yesterday Pasha offered to show me how to make kraut (in Ukrainian it is called kvashena kapusta). She told me, “All you need is 5 kilos of cabbage and salt….” Today, she reminded me that we were going to make kraut. So, I bought 2 large heads of cabbage and shredded them. Then as she promised Pasha came up to our apartment and showed me what to do next. I was so excited that she finally came to our place! We had informally invited her several times to our place, and now…success! She began by kneading a HEAPING tablespoon of salt into the cabbage and then the 3 of us, (yes, even Jerry helped…he’s wonderful!) packed it into a 3 liter jar. She said that the juice resulting from this process is very good for digestion. I couldn’t believe that we got all 10lbs of cabbage into the 3 liter jar.
Now we’ll need to let it stand on the counter for at least 48 hours. She said that we need to bring her some on Friday so that she can taste it to see if we are ready for the next step. We will see what that next step is.
I am so excited that our friendship with Pasha has developed to the point that she could come to our place. We look forward to the day when we can meet her husband Ivan. He is still sick. It is difficult to keep asking about his health, instead we just continue to pray for him. Pasha told me that he is feeling pretty down because of his health and the restrictions that it puts on him.

~kim

A Great Time At The Sauna

A great time at the sauna? Yep, I know it's a surprise after yesterday's blog.

I took the subway to meet Yura (a contractor who is out of work) and Alexey, a dentist, and Sasha, a painter of murals in Orthodox churches, at the subway station on the edge of town. We drove from there to the 'resort zone' where the sauna was located. Before we got into the car Yura asked if I drink beer, "Uh, um, not so much" I said, not wanting to say "No".
"Well, you better get one right now", he said.
"It's ok, I have water".
"Oh, okay then" he said and he was really not offended and didn't think it was weird.
Actually Kim was helping me by praying that it wouldn't be a big deal since the sauna experience can often mean drinking. But these guys were cool.
On the 10 minute drive we talked skiing. It was nice, non-threatening.

We stripped down- you can forget bathing suits in a Russian Sauna (Ukrainians call the sauna experience a 'Russian Sauna'; in Russia it's just a sauna)- and went in to the sauna to find the temperature an unacceptable 158F. Yura quickly got them to crank up the heat and by the time of our last dip in the ice-water pool it was in the 200F range, which is still more of a temperature for women (that's what Russians and Ukrainians say, not me) but it was nice.

Well, we talked about a lot of things. I've never had such open conversations about the Bible, politics, religion in general, and of course, more skiing, than we had in the three hours there. It was a very nice time.

Ok, this is a lot. I need to go to a few meetings today and one of those will be early so it's time to scoot. This means I still owe a blog about what the sauna experience is like. I won't forget.

Yura and Sasha, (not the church painter but a guy who came a little later and owns two autoparts stores) begged me to go skiing with them this weekend in Western Ukraine. I'm begging off of this trip due to time constraints but the acutal cost is embarassingly cheap- all travel, lodging and ski passes for 3 days for $100. Lord willing, next season...? Anyway, remember these guys. I haven't had this kind of opportunity with unbelievers ever in Russia and these are some good-hearted guys who I'd like to see make life-changing decisions.

Until next time...

Sweat

So, my ski buddy Yura finally called today, Tuesday, to make sure I was going to the sauna with him and his buddies this afternoon.
Whew! A better missionary than I would find it in himself to love the sauna experience...(I guess I'll write and describe it soon- The Russian Sauna is a cultural event that is unique.) There are plenty of things I do love about life in Eastern Europe- borsch, friendships, hot mustard, the whole "the clock works for us, we don't work for the clock" way of doing business...But for me the only reason to go to the sauna is because it is something you do with real friends and you deepen friendships while doing it.
Meeting people skiing was good but this is definitely taking acquaintance to a deeper level, culturally speaking. How could I say no?

So, while the sauna would not be my choice for getting to know new people, Yura did invite me and this was AFTER he asked me for some written statement of my Christian beliefs (which I had with me and gave him there on top of the slopes) so I'll be putting my towel, slippers, water bottles, toga, and some salty snacks in a bag and catching the subway out to a far side of town where the sauna dudes will meet me with their car.

Whew! again.

While I sweat Kim will be in class by herself at the U. She likes the whole english-thing a lot but would prefer to have me along. I guess today we both get to go beyond our comfort zones.
There is probably a good illustration for the whole 'going beyond the comfort zone' in here somewhere. Maybe we'll have miraculous news to report on the outcome of all of this.

Ok, thanks for reading and remembering us.
Jerry

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

We were getting ready to go to bed at 10pm tonight, and we looked out the window...this is what we saw...How beautiful!!!

Inroads...

HI,
We're back in Kiev and back to work. We've spent some time at the U lately helping students with their English. It's such a big job learning another language that it's no wonder that those people who can afford to hire a native speaker of the target language to be a nanny for their children.
For the students we're helping it's just another subject and I don't envy them, just as they probably don't envy us as we continue to trudge through Ukrainian. We could very much use your prayers for our ability and determination to keep up the pace. (Russian is still a very easy default settting so it's difficult to force yourself to say some small thing in Ukrainian that you understand, only to be answered in Ukrainian with words you don't understand.)
Also remember the students and teachers we have contact with. We want to be useful there.

Well, I guess a while back I said I'd talk about Ski Ministry. NOW, before you say, "Yeah, right!" let me tell you that Mount Kiev (ok, it's not a 'mount' exactly, but Bunny Hill Kiev just sounds unkind) is located about 10 minutes away by public transportation. 10 runs cost a whopping $3.65 by today's exchange rate. If you read the letter I wrote about meeting Taya, it was there on the slope that we met.
This week I rode the t-bar with Yura who invited me to go to the sauna with him and his three friends. He said he'd call this Monday to set up the place near a subway station to meet them as they drove there. In the attempt to make contact this is one that I happen to enjoy the most and also seems pretty effective since, once you get on the lift with someone, their pretty much forced to talk to you for the next 3 minutes that it takes to get up the hill.

So there's that. Thanks for reading. We're encouraged to see our 'hits-counter' keeping track of our readers and are glad you're reading along.