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Our biggest service of the year was Sunday – Passover here in Ukraine. We had our Passover Seder. It was great. Again God filled the room. We had approx. 22 attending. Seven have never been to a Passover Seder before. Hilda, from Uganda, was one. Please keep praying. She is still going through the Chron. Bible lessons. She still struggles with the fact that “good” people are born separated from God.

The Lord provided for my MRI needs here in Ukraine! I could not postpone my departure date from Louisiana due to the airline disaster that you all read about in the papers (all those cancelled flights). When I came back to the MRI office here it was to find out that they have just put in a state of the art, brand spanking new, MRI machine. It’s even better than the ones I was having in the USA!!!

Elizabeth Troyer flies back to the USA tomorrow. We will miss her greatly. Brittaini will escort her to Kiev via airplane so Please pray for both girls. Elizabeth will be mailing off the MRI to my doctor in the States. Pray for that please.

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I have just returned home safe and sound from a quick trip to Louisiana where I saw two neuron surgeons for my accident injuries that I received from our car accident while we were on furlough.

They have me wearing a special brace now while we are wait for more of the test results to come in. At this time they are recommending back surgery for my injured disc which has not healed. We will wait till all the results are in though before making any final decisions.

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HI!

The Lord gave me the great honor of being the guest speaker for the combined deaf and hearing banquet for Simferopol Bapt. Church down in Simferopol, Ukraine. Bob and Judy Vansant are the founding missionaries there (David and Joleen Sloan work there with them along with two other missionary couples). Judy invited me to come and speak and so I did. 84 women came. 10 men were their posing as the very finest waiters and singing. It was a beautiful banquet. Judy and Joleen put a ton of work into the planning of it and were aided by several of the women there with all the decorating, cooking, and cleaning.

While I was in Simferopol, the ladies here at our church were also doing a banquet for March 8^th. Natasha took charge of organizing it, Luda oversaw the work, Natalia and Zhenia were to bring the devotions and Brittaini and Noelle were in charge of the games. I sure missed being with them but a missionary’s job is to train nationals and then give them opportunities to serve. They were well ready to handle a banquet without me and they did so very well. Only one picture was taken by digital camera here (thank you Elizabeth) so it is attached.

As John prepared to drive me to the train station, we received a call from Pastor Troyer and his daughter Elizabeth who are here for a visit. They were supposed to come in on Wednesday but the plane had mechanical problems which delaying their flight and caused them to miss their connection in New York. They were there for a day and then were flown to Kiev but while they were filling out their documents there, their second connecting flight took off without them. Very exhausted and without their luggage they borrowed a cell phone from another passenger and called us. John was able to direct them to a bus that runs from Kiev to Kharkov so they would not have to spend another day and night at the airport waiting for the next days flight out. They were dropped off not far from our house and again thru borrowing a cell phone for one phone call, they contacted us. They finally reached our house, on FRIDAY at midnight! That is a long trip! Pastor Troyer said, “I prayed that God would show us what missionaries REALLY go through here in Ukraine. I didn’t really mean for God to show it ALL to me. J. Hahahah”

They have been a tremendous blessing and though Elizabeth has no clothing (both her bags are still “lost” ) and is making due with clothing from our daughters, they are in excellent spirits and are joyous to be around. We are very glad to have them here with us! (picture attached)

Below is a picture of the group of women who were at the March 8^th, “Women’s Day Banquet”.

The picture below is Judy (L), me, Joleen (R). Both ladies are dear and sweet and I am so blessed to be in their company. They are some of God’s very best servants on the foreign field !!!!!

Yes, that is me speaking. Look! I just can’t talk without using my hands J. I had to force myself to remember that if I used my hands then the deaf would look away from the deaf translator (who was standing on the left but isn’t in the picture) and watch me instead so it was a real challenge for me to talk and hold still. These pictures are evidence that I slipped a few times J.

I was very impressed with how the missionary men, pastors, (deaf and hearing) and the deacons all enjoyed waiting on these women. It gave a very special touch to the banquet and really made the “women” feel special as they celebrated their special day. It’s a HUGE holiday here.

Thank you for your prayers.

Joyfully in Jesus,

Cathy!

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THANK YOU for your prayers. God is still in the miracle business here and is keeping us safe by HIS hand. This morning John arose early to pick me up at the train station. When he got out of bed he was greeted with the strong smell of smoke. He thought, “Oh, the neighbors are already burning their leaves.” But once he opened the door he found the house was filled with thick smoke. Someone, I won’t name who J, was making chicken stock in the kitchen and left the stock pot full of water and chicken bones on the stove with the burner on low all night. They had forgotten to turn it off and no one else realized it hadn’t been turned off. The water had all boiled away and the bottom of the pan was now burning. John was able to get the pan out of the house and open the doors and windows. It was all GOD! Monday’s are our days off and usually we sleep in on Mondays. If I had not been on the train, we would not have known about the pan for at least two more hours. That would have been tooooo late.

The smoke from the burning pan was so bad that it is like embedded into my cabinets now. You can not walk into the kitchen without getting a headache from the smell in the kitchen now although we have had the windows open all day. What a praise that God was watching over the family!!!!!

Please pray for Elizabeth. Her luggage is still “lost” somewhere between Pennsylvania and here. She would like to have her own clothing and still soon. You understand. She has a sweet spirit about it though.

Deaf Tanya and I will be leaving by train back to Simferopol again this week for the Deaf Conference there. Please pray that Tanya will be richly blessed in her spiritual life through this conference and that I will be richly blessed both spiritually but also with sharpening up my sign language that God might be able to use me more for translating for the deaf.

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Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus!

This morning for church we had all our regulars plus one lady who was saved in our children’s church and then strayed. I do not know if she will return next week but it was sure good to see her again and have her sit with her Bible open and listening to the Word of God being preacher. Her name is Tanya, please pray for her.

Bagdon has become very attached to our church. He is there on time each week and very studious from start to finish. He comes for Sunday School, Church, and then the Bible lesson after. (10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) He answers the review questions very well and pays good attention. Please be praying for his salvation.

Yura (urah) was in church again sitting beside his mother. At the beginning of the Bible lesson he was having a hard time paying attention until John mentioned how God created all the fish of the sea. Yura asked why God created the sharks to be so ferocious. It seems like a silly question, but to him it was a very serious one, and so John took some time to talk about what the Bible says about it. It always amazes me what it is that the Lord will use to capture someone’s interest. From that point on Yura paid close attention.

Bi-chin, Makx, Vin-vin (she is the new girl I wrote of on Friday), all came for the lesson. PLEASE be praying for them. Bi-chin is a huge advocate for evolution and today as we studies thru Gen. 1 it seemed as if we hit a wall with him. He became VERY quiet and that is not his normal self. I was surprised to see that the Chinese struggle so greatly as do the Russians with evolution vs. creation. Why is it important? Because if they can not understand GEN. 1, that God is the creator and therefore the owner of all, then they will never understand or accept the fact that God therefore has authority over his creation and their created soul. It is a HUGE part of cross-cultural teaching. They must understand that God is there creator. Please pray for Bi-chin. Pray that God will open his eyes and show this truth to him. Several of the Ukrainian men that have been saved in the past have said that the lessons on creation were the very hardest ones for them to accept. All of them say that they wanted to quit coming to the Bible lessons because it opposed their belief in evolution, but by diligent prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit, and a careful teacher, those men came to accept God as their creator and eventually accepted Christ as their Savior. That is our prayer for all these Chinese students.

Something special that happened today was that after the lesson, John asked if anyone had a question, any question, about the Bible or about what they are learning. Then it was like a pan of pop corn. First there was one hand in the air, then another, and soon questions were coming from all over the room, even from some that were there just in support of the students. It was precious.

Thank you all for your prayers.

We love you and thank God for you.

Joyfully in Jesus,

Cathy!

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We had six Chinese students out to our home in the village today/night. They were soooo much fun and sweet as sweet can be. Two were new to John and I. These are all classmates of Brittaini and Noelle. The two new ones both said they would come to church on Sunday for the Bible lessons!!!!! The two boys who are already attending the Bibles lessons were here and both said they are “VERY much enjoying” their Bible lessons. They do not say that with as to only please us, but rather they say it with great expression and joy. One of them, Bi-Chin told me as we worked together in the kitchen: “Where I live – China – there is no chance to know the Bible. NO chance. Here, I have a chance. A chance!” He is the sharpest of the first year students and I have been surprised to see how he and Makc (the other boy) have just dove into learning the Bible.

Our female doxin was severely bitten in a dog fight and the Lord helped us to find a new vet clinic where a doctor is on call 24/7. The doctor was a younger fellow but EXCELLENT. We were so thankful to God. There are as many quack animal doctors here as there are quack human doctors here so to find one that is “excellent” is like a needle in a hay stack. We have been praying for a “good” vet for several years. After her exam the doctor said that we will not know for five days IF our dog will keep her eye or lose it. It is her right eye. They believe the bite only penetrated through the tear duct and ripped that open inside but only time will tell. The entire eye & eyeball are filled with blood. We thought she had a tear from her eye down to her nose but the vet said all that blood and swelling was from the eye injury. So for now we are to give her five shots a day and cleaning and etc. Please pray with us that she will make a full recovery. Noelle has had this pet since her ninth birthday. Thank you.

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Greetings in our Savior’s name!!!

Thank you for praying for our Bible lessons on Sunday. God did hear your prayers and bless. Thank you.

Bagdon (Ukrainian man) came for lesson #3. He is doing very well. His mother had a relative stop by just as they were leaving for church so she couldn’t make it. Satan uses that trick all the time here in Ukraine to keep people away from hearing God’s Word.

Two of the four Chinese boys returned. They have said some pretty interesting stuff!!! One thing is that one of the boys said to Brittaini on the phone, “We missed lesson 2. Lesson one was “who is God?”. As your Dad explained, each lesson builds on the previous lesson. Since we did not get lesson 2 (they had final exams during that time), how will be understand lesson #3 and how can we learn what lesson #2 was?” GREAT understanding of how important each piece of the lessons is to a right understanding of God’s message of salvation. John did a thorough review of #2 turning it into a mini lesson of #2 to get the Chinese boys up to speed since they came Sunday for lesson number three. The second amazing statement was after the lesson was over and we were taking the guys back to the Metro. One of them said, “In China I heard about God and I heard about Satan and that they were like not friends. But I thought it was like a fairy tale. I did not know they were real. I did not know why they were mad at each other BUT now I know EVERYTHING from the beginning. I know who they are and why they are enemies!”. He was very happy with himself that he could not explain who they were to others and why they are “not friends at all”. Sweet and precious.

On Friday we (via the girls) have invited 11 of the Chinese students to come out to the village (they rarely leave their little dormitory area) and have dinner with us. Please be praying for that. Since there is a major language gap (they are only now learning Russian and that is very limiting) so we will need them to SEE Jesus IN our deeds since they can not understand Jesus through our words. So far, we are having a positive impact on them from comments they make and things they do. Oh how I would like to see them all saved and see them go back inside closed China as missionaries for the gospel there!!!!

Several members of the church seem to be doing better than they have in the past few months. We have been doing a lot of work to teach them how to forgive one another and heal their relationships with one another. Both times we have had to leave Satan has used the same tactic to try and destroy the church here: brother offending brother. They survived, that is a huge praise, but there were many wounds that needing tending and healing. Praise the Lord that we are seeing that come to pass and they are growing from it and coming out stronger.

Luda, huge praise, found an apartment to rent and we helped her move out of our house to her own place yesterday. She is so excited. We are so excited. J. God has given her the desire of her heart as it is extremely close to the Metro and has a balcony which for her was a major “need”. Hard for me to understand how important that is, but that is because I’ve never had to walk in her shoes. I am glad that SHE received from the LORD all that she desired. She is a WONDERFUL sister in the Lord and servant unto our Lord Jesus. Rejoice!!!

Thank you for your prayers.

Joyfully in Jesus,

Cathy!

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Special prayer please for us tomorrow. Again we are having a mix of Ukrainians and Chinese for the Bible lessons. We have learned some Chinese (how to count and say a few sentences) and have worked out several of the kinks (like where in the Chinese Bible are the books of the Bible. Everything looks like chicken scratch!).

The lessons are taught in Russian so it’s quite a mix of languages. Please pray for John that the Lord will truly bless through him as he teaches. He is VERY good teaching this group. He would like to divide it up but for now they are coming together in one single group so it takes all of his wisdom to explain things in a way in which is clearly understood by everyone in the group.

Praise, Bagdon is returning for lesson #3 and His mother is coming to take the lessons as well. We were not sure if she would come back, but she is. PRAISE!!!

We have an architect drawing up the church floor plans. We had a real good meeting with him this week and then he came to the property today to take pictures of the landscape. I am soooo excited! Praise to all those who have pray with us for this and have helped provide for it as we raised up funds on furlough.

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Hi!!! I’ve been sick so I haven’t written but now it’s time to catch you up a little if you have some time.

Our new Bible student Bagdon did come back today. He had his second Bible lesson and he did bring his mother, Rita, with him today and she also sat in on the Bible lesson. Both of them really seamed to enjoy the lesson. Bagdon was much more interactive in the lesson this time and on his review of last weeks lesson he did VERY well. At different times during the morning services different ladies in the church would talk with Rita and each gave her a tract or paper for her to take home and read. Everything was evangelist of course :-). Please pray that she reads it, understands it, and comes back to study the Bible more.

Urah, Alla's son, had to be at work this morning so he missed out on the Bible lesson and the Chinese are all having final exams this week, as are our girls, and so they asked please if they could have more Bible lessons, but not this week :-). Totally understandable. Urah did make it to church tonight and I am very pleased to see how faithful he has been in his attendance since his profession. That is a BIG change in his ways already.

Please pray for our girls. The schools here do not calculate "church" time into their study time for their final exams and so our girls who were away from their studying for five hours this morning, (due to travel plus an urgent need one of the members had that required some counseling after the Sunday School + morning service + Bible lesson hours). Then tonight we had evening service and then a Birthday fellowship for John & Luda and Sasha so we didn't get home till 10 p.m. Praise the Lord that for our girls, no matter how hard it makes the load, they still put and want God to be first, especially on the Lord's Day. They never even suggested or hinted of skipping any part of the Lord's Day for their studying needs. I am confident that our LORD who is beholding all, was well pleased at their devotion to Him and will well reward them for their faithfulness unto Him. He is faithful! They will be up late tonight trying to make up the time. So far they have done very well on all their tests and during prayer and praise time in church today they asked that we pray more specifically for them to have a good testimony before their teachers and fellow students, than for good grades. They have such a strong desire to be HIS light there at the University. Please pray for them and for the Lord's abundant blessings.

I am VERY excited: Last Tuesday Luda met with a lawyer about the zoning for our Church building. I was very sick and in bed so I did not get to go. He was very helpful and gave us the green light to proceed with building. Then on Thursday I dragged myself out of bed, still sick, and went with John and Luda to see the architect because I am the one who has made the drawings and I had to be there to explain them. The architect said if we get the drawings started then she expects that we can start laying the foundation down in March-April!!!!!! We were soooo excited to hear that. Praise, praise, praise!!!! It will be an unspeakable blessing to have more than one room to work with. Right now everything just has to line up one event after the other and so we are there for a LONG time to accomplish what can be done in a fraction of that time if we were able to divide up into different rooms. I think it will especially help with the children and deaf ministries.

F.Y.I. John just turned 41 and Luda 31 on Saturday the 26th. Sasha turns 39 (?) tomorrow. That was why we had the birthday fellowship. Our home church in NC and Pastor Baker made a special “Happy birthday” video clip, with the whole church singing Happy Birthday to John and they put it on their web site and emailed us the link. That was the first thing John saw when he got up Saturday morning. It was soooooooo sweet. It really touched John’s heart. Our church has done so much to reach out to us. I can not thank God enough for them. They define the word, “ENCOURAGEMENT”, by their walk. Even our Ukrainian believers are noticing that and making comments. They have even asked us if we have a pictures of pastor and wife to put up in the church here. We do have one the Regina took of us and them together so we have it framed and it’s going up there. Then pastor and wife, Vicky, called and wished John a happy birthday and then they talked to Luda and wished her a happy birthday.

One last thing, I have a special unspoken for wisdom in how to proceed with the care of my back injury from the car accident last Feb. I am totally opposed to surgery but that is what the neuro-surgeon in AL. is recommending at this time. John and I are both seeking God about it. Thank you for praying with us about it.

Love you and miss you. Please tell everyone I said, "Hi!".

Joyfully in Jesus,

Cathy!

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Tomorrow we are expecting several visitors in church. We could use a lot of prayer about the service tomorrow.

The service will be VERY challenging as one man coming tomorrow, Bagdon, is a mentally challenged man who came and asked for Bible lessons last week, and praise be to the Lord he is returning tomorrow with his MOTHER who will be a first time visitor.

In addition to Bagdon and his mother, we will have, IF they keep their word, FOUR of the Chinese students from the University coming with our daughters. Three of these Chinese students have never come before. The one that has been before, named Edya, is the girl who Brittaini was able to give the gospel to, by using the crystal bead bracelet that I gave to Edya when she visited our church. Brittaini and Noelle say that Edya ALWAYS has the bracelet on and often points to it and says, “I remember what each color means”. Edya, has been telling all the other Chinese about her bracelet and so it opened the door for a young Chinese man to come and ask Brittaini to explain “the meaning” to him because he could not understand what Edya was trying say about the meaning of the colors but he could tell that that they were very important to understand. Brittaini spent 45 minutes giving this young man the gospel. The difficulty is that the Chinese are here to learn Russian and they are first year students. They are full time students and speak better than I did after four years but still they only have a basic understanding of words in Russian and they only speak little English, and of course we do not speak any Chinese at all (the girls are only now learning J). So it’s a difficult thing to minister to your regular people, a visitor who is slow, and a visiting group that is extremely slow with the language. But all things are possible with God and we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.

Thank you for your prayers. I’ve been sick with a cold as had Kendon and John. The guys are doing better but I caught it by taking care of them so now it’s my turn to be sick. Keep up lifted up please as we continue to lift you up.

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1/2/08

Greetings in the name of Jesus! We hope and pray that your New Years was a happy one and that PHIL. 1:9-11 will be our prayer for one another for this new year.

Kharkov was an exciting place for the New Years. Here is why:

We had such a battle with the Devil this weekend. We just got our microbus out of the shop In time for the New Years celebration on Monday. We always do New Years up in a big way to give the believers a place to celebrate together and to keep them out of harms way by the drunken members of their homes. New Years is the biggest holiday here in Ukraine.

We pick up the elderly and young and one invalid with our van and run a bus route to help all come. We start the service at 8 p.m. and then have preaching, prayer, games and food until we pray in the new year and then we have a fireworks display. We brought in a deaf preacher from southern Ukraine, Slava, who is the preacher of a huge deaf Baptist Church which was started by American Missionaries. We asked him to come and preach and talk to our visiting deaf to discern the needs of this group that is coming to our church. He is a precious preacher! We had 8 deaf come and one of our Bible students from the University plus all our members that could. The deaf preacher, Slava, did a great job, he preached 4 times between Sunday and Monday. God revealed much. One of the deaf ladies desires to be a preacher herself and at one point told one of the unsaved deaf men who was very open hearted to the preaching, to stop listening and just get up and walk out. I was shocked. She is 100% against “eternal” security, we’ve come to find out. She is the one that smiles the most, and invites all her friends. I thought after Sunday she would never come back. She was shaking her heard “NO!” during the preaching several times and was very upset at the preaching of the gospel. But, not only did she come back, but she brought two more visitors with her on Monday. Though the other seven all were listening, this one lady sat with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face the whole time. (FYI: Two of the deaf are saved members of our church. Five there were new deaf to us.)

The morning of Monday, I was running the van into town to get supplies for the service. But to our surprise the brand new battery in it was dead though no lights were left on. So we charged the battery for two hours and then let it run for a while. While we did that it ran out of gas because it is parked up hill. That killed the battery again. Again charged the battery and then John Steven and I with little gas in it drove up to the gas station at the end of the road. As I drove into the gas station it ran out of gas again (though we put a liter and a half of gas in it at the house) and the engine died. No battery again. So they filled our tank with gas and pushed us to the shop down the hill. Waited there for 20 minutes but they were too busy to help. Flagged down a van and the man jumped our battery for us. We drove down to our usual gas station to fill our low tire and buy a tube cap but as we pulled up the van started backfiring like crazy and though I tried with all my might I could not keep the engine running and it died. No battery again. CRAZY!!!! Called John he came in the Niva, jumped it and drove it home. As he drove it home it died as he pulled into the yard. So we called everyone and told them the van is down and we would not be able to take people home after the service at 12:00 midnight as planned so many did not come.

Three of us have to take the walk +bus+metro+tram+walk route (2 hours) so the other five with all the stuff could cram into the 4 passenger Niva to get to the church. We all get there. God really blesses. Everyone has a great spirit about them and all recognize Satan is fighting against the gospel being preached tonight. Services were great. Four of the deaf say they liked what they heard (the BIBLE) and saw and will be back on Sunday for our new DEAF ONLY services. (Now we have Sunday School, followed by Morning RUSSIAN services, then DEAF services, then a tiny break and then ENGLISH evening service, and finally Russian evening services.)

At the end of everything the plan was for 3 of us to go the metro route to the last stop there and then wait. All the busses stop running to our village (30 minute drive) earlier in the evening. So they will wait there while John drives four of us home and then returns to town to pick the other 3 up at the last metro stop. Sounds great. The three (Luda, Brittaini and Kendon) leave on foot. We stay and clean up some but there is too much to do and so after 30 minutes we decide to leave the rest for Tuesday and just go home. It’s now 1:30 a.m. We bring a lot of the stuff to the Niva, which I parked under a street light two houses down, only to find when we are finished packing everything into the back that someone has SLASHED two of our tires on the drivers side!!!!!! Several of the neighbors are awake and come to see what is up. They all brainstorm and one uses a bicycle tire to see if he can pump up the tires but to no avail. It was touching to see their compassion for us.

After finding no solution we pile out of the car and walk to the street. Now it’s 2 a.m. All the taxi’s fly by us and will not stop. Trams stopped running and so frozen and tired we start walking towards the metro which is about an hour walk by foot. I am feel bad for my husband who is suffering from severely chapped feet, our deaf preacher who isn’t used to cold weather at all, and my children who are extremely tired as they never stay up past 10 p.m.. Finally a car stops and gives 3 of us a ride to the metro. Then John and John Steven get a car ride there too. It’s now close to 2:30 a.m. The Metro is only running one wagon and so there is a long wait between pick up times. The 3 that left earlier have no idea what has happened and are probably waiting on the road freezing thinking, “What is taking them so long????” All our cell phone batteries are dead but Noelle’s so there is no way to contact them and let them know what is up. As a Mom, I am worried to death about the 3 that are not with us. There are drunks looking for trouble all over the city.

Finally the wagon comes after standing there a long time and watching several people who are way, way, way too drunk to control themselves, display the foolishness of drinking. We get ton the wagon and ride for 40 minutes to the last stop. PRAISE, our other three are there and fine. They helped one of the girls home from church and so they were never out on the street in the freezing cold. PRAISE. A great relief to my heart. (It was -10 outside with terrible winds).

God GREATLY blesses and Luda and John are able to flag down an empty van which drives us the 30 minutes to our front door. It’s after 3 a.m. now and we are BEAT!!!

So, though we have 3 vehicles, we are axle bound!!! One is in the shop from the car accident the kids were in, the van is down with what we suppose is a bad alternator and now it’s so cold (-16 today) the engine will not start anyways, and the Niva has two slashed tires and is sitting in town. CRAZY!!!!!

Today John and John Steven hitched rides to get here and there to try and get the tires off the Niva and get them patched. The good thing is that Niva tires still use tubes! The bad news is that John has to cancel going to the Men’s conference in Simferopol with John Steven and a man from church because the van has to be prepared to leave to go pick up a package down in Odessa, Ukraine on the eighth.

Wow. Many trials right now. Pray for us. All this stuff comes at huge unexpected and unprepared costs. We are all in great spirits though and just know that God is doing great things and got us home despite all Satan’s attempts to discourage us. God is bringing good out of it and the neighbors which normally ignore us there near the church are all upset that such a thing was done to our vehicle. They all know how far away we live and how difficult it would be for us to make it home at that time of night. They all know how we have helped many in the neighborhood and they are rallying around us with support. PRAY please that God will use this to open their hearts to hear HIS Word.

Hope all is well there.

Enjoy your days off during the holidays.

The servant of Jesus,

Cathy!

12/30/07

Wishing you the very best of new years. May 2008 be a year of tremendous spiritual growth for all of us. Maybe 2008 is the year of our Lord’s return!

Please be praying for our special DEAF conference that is going on right now. We have a special deaf preacher from Simferopal here preaching the conference/meeting. We asked him to come up and preach and discern for us what their needs are spiritually because the deaf could not give us sufficient answers to even some of the most basic spiritual questions. Two came to the services today. The others are out of town for New Years or working. Tomorrow they have all promised to come. Through the meetings tonight we have found out that one of these two is most sincere in his desire to learn of God, though admittedly unsaved as of yet, and the other is a woman that desires to be a Bible teacher and does not have an interest in learning anything from the Bible at this point and was constantly disrupting the preaching with her arguments to the gospel of grace. Pray for our meeting tomorrow that she either has a change of heart or that the Lord is able to keep her away or keep her quiet so that he can work in the hearts of the other deaf which will come tomorrow.

Our four kids were involved in a serious car accident today. All are well, THANK GOD!

Brittaini had come up to a yield sign and there was a large trucker blocking her view of the street. She slowed down didn’t see anyone and proceeded thru. She said she never saw the taxi that hit them. He just slammed into the drivers side of the engine and the two cars careened across the intersection and the taxi’s car slammed into an older man who was walking on the sidewalk. John Steven was in the front passenger seat and when the taxi hit them and spun them his head was thrown and his head slammed into Brittaini’s cheek. OUCH! He has a sore head and she has a very sore and red cheek with a bad headache. They will probably be black and blue tomorrow. The Taxi driver was not hurt at all and the pedestrian was at the hospital with Brittaini and I and he wasn’t in any pain there and even left before us, walking home, so I guess he is fine though he was completely plowed (drunk).

The kids were in town shopping for my birthday. John and I were enjoying a quiet Saturday morning and sleeping in. We got the call from Noelle and though we could hear here shouting, “Dad! – Dad!, Dad! – Dad!” She could not hear John. There is just something about a certain tone in your child’s voice, especially if they are yelling, that already tells you what has happened. By her fourth shout of “Dad! – Dad!”, I was not only up but had my skirt on and both socks and throwing a sweater on to run out the door. John was trying to get her to hear us and tell us where they were. We got to them in record speed J. Brittaini was taken by Ambulance (remember the old hearse ambulances?) to the hospital and they let me go with her. They not only were checking out her head injury, which at this time seems minor, but also it is law here that all drivers in an accident be tested for alcohol. Everyone at the hospital was polite and they have done MAJOR renovations there so it is no longer the dark dirty place it was just a year ago.

The kids new car, a Russian Lada (cheap but cute), which we saved all year to buy for the girls while they are in school this winter, is really beat up. We do not yet know if it is fixable. John was telling me that it may have a sub frame because it is such a cheap made car (it’s Russian what do you expect? ha-hah). If it does than we will not be fixing it at all. If it just has a frame and that is bent then we will try to find a way to get it straightened. If not, who knows what we will do. We put all our pennies into buying that car and so there are no funds for this. Our insurance only covers the other guy. The financial burden will be heavy on John but I am just thankful that God spared our children. That is all I care about. If Brittaini had pulled out any faster than she or Noelle who was sitting in the back seat behind her, would have been killed or badly hurt. God was so good to make sure that only the car was hurt bad. I can live without the car, it will cause us a lot of problems but I can but I can not even think of losing one of our children and I am so thankful that God didn’t bring that kind of a trial into our lives. I can not thank God enough for that. HE was watching over the children today. PRAISE HIM, PRAISE HIM!

On the police report the accident is Brittaini’s fault. She did not realize that, though yes, the other guy SHOULD slow down too and watch for oncoming traffic, legally he does not HAVE TO, and though she did slow down and he didn’t, she had the yield sign and so it was her fault. She had thought that his sign was also a yield sign but it was a sign that looks like a “yield” sign but is only an “intersection” sign. Hard way to learn that. She was really upset to hear that it was HER fault and not the taxi’s. She really thought HE was the one at fault.

I’d appreciate it if you would keep them in your prayers for a few days just to make sure no unseen wreck injuries appear later like they did when we were in the States. I am already giving all four of them ibuprofen just to keep their muscles from cramping up. Hopefully that will work.

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Hi! What a day we had today. We just walked in the house and I left on the counter all the dirty dishes we just brought back with us and rushed back to my computer to write you all about it. I am so excited to see what the Lord did today!

John and I had planned a BBQ fellowship for our church members for today. Then we got to talking and decided it would be good to use the BBQ to try and round up many of those who have fallen by the wayside while we have been home in

America

. If we could just get one straying sheep back into the safety of the fold it would be worth all the expense and effort. Then the girls who are making many contacts at the University asked if we could open it up to include new people too (evangelistic) as they have 4 to 6 co-students that they wanted to invite and we decided it would be a good idea.

For the last several weeks we have had nothing but bad weather. So cold that people are all in winter jackets and rain, rain, rain. I was concerned about the timing of our BBQ. It would be a flop if the weather was bad. The girls and their Dad though had the utmost confidence that God would give us good weather. Two days before the BBQ the clouds rolled away and the sun came out briefly. Yesterday was very hazy all day but today it was sunny, warm and gorgeous! ONLY God could give perfect weather on the one day we needed it. The weather forecast here is COLD and snow by Wednesday. Can you believe how God blessed us today with such perfect weather?!!!

Today we had the BBQ. At first no one showed up but our ever faithful members. If no visitors came, we had already decided that it would be okay, as the most important part was that our members have a great time of fellowship one with another. When Zhenia came, the one who just had the operation on her eyes, she was glowing as she had two friends that came with her for the first time. She has tried and tried but they would never come before. Yea! Two visitors!

Ludmelia, Sasha’s mom, who has terrible blood pressure and therefore is normally a shut-in, also came! Her husband was not able to (he is in his 80’s) as he is not feeling well but she said he said he would be coming tomorrow if we can pick him up (so we will!). We were so excited to see the two new visitors and Ludmelia there.

Then came in three of our teenagers who went astray while we were gone. Egor (saved & Baptized), his sister Alona (not saved yet), and Katia (saved just weeks before we left for America). It was sooo good to see them again and see them come on their own. Egor is John Steven’s closest friend here in Ukraine and when Egor stopped coming to Church to spend time on his father’s new computer, John Steven told Egor that he, John Steven, was Jesus’ friend, and that if Egor was no longer wanting to be around Jesus then he no longer would be around John Steven either. I was very surprised at John Steven’s stand. I had been worried that as Egor turned away from Christ to the world that he would draw John Steven with him as we have seen so many teens do. I was very relieved and encouraged when John Steven took such a stand for Christ though it would cost him his closest friend. John Steven has tried to get Egor to come back to Christ through phone calls now and then (Egor went astray two years ago) but Egor usually is normal towards John Steven and not interested in anything church related. What a shock to see him come through our gate for the BBQ and to see that he brought his sister Alona and Katia with him. What a joyful sight!

Our two girls were down in the metro (subway station) waiting to meet their fellow students who said they “might” come. Three of these students came to our church a few weeks ago. The girls were like an hour late for the BBQ and I was starting to get worried. Then Brittaini came and with her were NINE of her fellow classmates!!!!!!!!! I didn’t see Noelle anywhere so when I asked Brittaini where her sister was she said, “Oh, there are more (students!) and Noelle is gathering them and bringing them!” Shortly Noelle arrived with SIX more students!!!!!! The girls were bubbling over with joy. God has blessed over and above all their expectations. They had thought that four would come for sure and two others might, but not only did all they invited come, but those who were invited then invited others to come. Fifteen students came. They were all soooo sweet. You can tell that they are lonely and far from home. My heart just aches for them and so I did all I could to make them feel loved and at home. They responded with such gratefulness and one of the Chinese girls even called me, “Mama Katia” (my mom Cathy) as she gave me a hug goodbye. It was sooo sweet.

Then our next door neighbor, Vetalick, who is not saved, also came over for a very short while. He was unable to stay but while he was there Sasha had the perfect opportunity to witness to him and he was listening intently but did not respond. That man is resisting so strongly though his wife and adult daughter have both already accepted Christ. He is holding them back from attending church and so it is very important that we do all we can to see that he is reached for Christ.

We build a fire and BBQ’d up a ton of food. While John cooked up the food everyone played volleyball with the new net we found and bought (John & Sasha built the poles for the net Friday out of tires, cement and 4x4 wood poles) while others played bat mitten or threw balls with our baseball equipment. The alcoholic couple who live beside us were home and the drunk wife threw a brick at the boys who were playing catch with their baseballs in the front yard. She was upset that her dog was barking because of all the activity in our yard. I was not happy hearing that she threw a brick at the boys but Sasha had some firm but meek words with her and she went inside and left us alone. The boys moved to the back to not agitate the dog. We need to build a fence there BAD. Talked to a guy about building one but he said we had to wait till spring due to the weather.

I made chocolate chip and chewy fudge cookies, they were as usual a complete hit with all the guests. To this day it blows my mind that chocolate chip cookies are completely unknown to the rest of the world. Our church folks all brought cookies and young Zhenia who had the operation even made a chocolate cake! The Chinese students all brought food with them and so we were feasting with lots left over. After all the good eating we gathered in our tiny church house. God is such a great organizer, HE always knows exactly how many chairs we have in the tiny building and don’t you know it, there was one chair for each person with not one chair left empty and not one person left standing! That always amazes me to see how exact God is in all that He does. Never too much, never too few.

John asked Sasha to give the gospel SLOWLY with the most basic Russian Words since it was such a mixed crowd. We had souls from America, Russia, Ukraine, China, Uganda, Cameroon, and

Nigeria

present. Some speak English with a little Russian, some speak a little Russian and no English, some speak Chinese with only a little Russian and a little English. So Sasha introduced them to the gospel as slowly and clearly as he could. They all (Russian, and the students) were very attentive. John told them we will have Bible lessons for them if they are interested. Afterwards two Chinese students came up to John and asked to enroll in the Bible study. Others said if we were not so hard to get to (some of them travel almost an hour to get to the church) they would love to come. We will see.

Then when it was all over, the girls professor showed up. He got lost as this is far, far, far away from where he lives as he is not familiar with our side of town. He took the tram (the last part of his journey) the wrong direction and ended up far from us. He said that he would return again to visit our church now that he knows where it is. I couldn’t help but think that it was the Lord keeping him away so that the students would have to mingle with the Christians without their teacher being their mediator as he is not saved (yet!).

Seven of the Chinese students raised their hands saying that they do NOT have a Bible (here or at home). One of the girls, the one from Nigeria, also raised her hand. John told them all that the church would give to them as a gift their very own Bible if they were to return again. They all said they would. We pray they will. Pray that we can locate Bibles for them in their own languages quickly!!!

Alonia – Russian girl 14 years old. Hear the gospel several times but was very young mentally then. Pray that now she is ready to understand it.

Vetalick – Russian man, Next door neighbor – resisting the Holy Spirit at this time but God is working on him.

The alcoholic couple next door – Russian couple (I do not remember their names)

Polye – Chinese boy who was showing great interest and visited our church once before.

Vacia – Chinese boy studying to be a vet and was using a dictionary to look up all the words in the gospel that he did not understand.

Liosha - Chinese boy, only been in Ukraine 5 months, understands VERY little Russian but we tried to shine our light for Jesus as bright as we could for him and he seemed to really enjoy being with us.

Tao E – Chinese girl, visited the church once before, very friendly and respectful. Not very interested in the gospel but friendly and open.

Edya – Chinese girl, visited the church once before also, and wears the gospel bracelet that I gave her when she came the first time. First thing she did when she came today was to show me that she is still wearing that bracelet. J. I asked her if she remembered what each stone meant, she said yes with a smile.

Syao – Chinese girl who is very interested in the gospel. Noelle witnessed to her for 45 minutes the other day. She asked to enroll in the Bible lessons. Has a decent understanding of English and a poor understanding of Russian. She asked if we could give the lessons in English. We need to find a Chinese translator ASAP!

Alex – Chinese man (real name impossible to translate J) here to get a doctorate in Language. VERY receptive. Will come with his niece Syao for the Bible lessons.

Buma Karen – African married lady from Cameroon. Catholic, very religious, thinks all religions are the same. Hope she saw and heard a difference today!

Mabel – girl from Nigeria, has no Bible but wants one. Hope she comes back to get one!

I know this letter is long. I am overflowing with joy in seeing all whom God brought today and all that he did. To think that 12 of these souls have never ever heard the gospel before in their lives, and if they never return they most likely will never hear it again, is a terrifying thing to comprehend. I pray that the seed we planted today will not fall upon poor ground.

Thank you for your prayers and support in helping us to make a difference in this dark world.

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Well, I have finally dug down to my desk through all the mounds of unpacked paper work, school work, church books and etc that were covering it. And behold, here is my computer J! I know that you are wondering why she never writes. Well, I’ll make up for that tonight with a long letter filling you in on everything! Hope you have some time.

Every time I get all the “stuff” unpacked, cleaned up, sorted and put away, another delivery comes. Because our luggage was soooo limited in size and weight we shipped most everything back to

Ukraine

. John and I spent a fortune in Gorilla Tape to try and get the boxes here in one piece. Didn’t work. L. Would hate to see what they would have been like without the Gorilla tape though. Most all of the boxes have been “rolled” from place to place because they do not use fork lifts or dolly’s here in Ukraine for moving and shifting boxes being shipped and delivered. John Steven even watched one of the loaders who was delivering several of our boxes, loaded one of the heaviest boxes, marked FRAGILE (in Russian), onto the loaders HEAD (like they do in Africa), the loader walked with the box on his head to our garage where he then just tipped his head forward and let it come crashing down to the ground. It’s a VERY good thing that I was not the one to witness that or I would have cried or screamed or something! Sooooo much is broken that has been delivered. We shipped 2 years worth of food supplies and 100% of the pepperoni’s shipped and brown sugar have had their seams burst due to the pressure of being dropped. Lots of broken glass. I shipped several Wal-mart oil lamps and though two of them were smashed to smithereens, AMAZINGLY four survived. (God gave those four special angels to watch over them J and I am soooo grateful). So I end up spending a lot of time cleaning (Gatorade, brown sugar, or other powders that cover everything in the box once it is smashed open), gluing, or patching things together. HOWEVER, we do not dwell on what is lost but rather on miraculously what actually makes it through and just praise, praise, praise, praise Jesus our Lord for each item that gets here. Yesterday two boxes came that were soaked thru and thru from rain. I was soooo thankful again that we had wrapped everything inside zip lock bags inside the box!!! Such is life in Ukraine! That should make you feel blessed for having UPS there in the States. J

We are doing well. Good to be back in our own beds again. Not that living out of a car wasn’t fun -- Hahahahah.

The girls are still enjoying the University though it is not what we expected. The girls at this point are learning more Chinese and French than they are of new Russian. They are so far ahead of the one class, and the other class that is perfect for them is only once a week. So they go the rest of the week to use it as review for their Russian and help out the students who are struggling. On breaks they learn Chinese from 10 different kids from China. 3 of them have come to visit us at Church and we are inviting them all to a church cook out Oct. 20. IF we can find a Chinese translator we are already kicking around the idea of starting a Bible Study with 10 Chinese students that are interested. The professor who helps our girls the most, letting them sit in on his classes for review, is a WONDERFUL person. Please be praying for his salvation. The way he cares for the foreign students (he gives his number to all the kids and tells them if they have ANY troubles to call him; they do; and he does help them) makes me wonder how mightily the Lord could use him to care for the Saints in the church. His name is Andrei. Please be praying for his salvation. He claims to not believe in God though his wife does. John gave the girls one of the Kent Hovind films (in Russian) to invite him to take home and watch. He gladly accepted it from the girls so please, please pray that God is able to open his heart.

The boys are doing good. Kendon has a cough that won’t go away. It’s between 40F-60F here in Kharkov each day and rain, rain, rain, & icy wind, wind, wind. I do not remember it being so cool and rainy in September but this year it sure is. Everything is muddy outside so that means lots of mopping as people come in and out of the house J. I am soooo glad that they started importing mops for sale here 3 years ago!!! The rain is knocking down all the walnuts out of my trees so the kids do not have to climb and shake to get them down. I have tons of walnuts to crack and store now. Yeah!

I am getting back into the groove of things. Sooooo hard to go from American cooking to scratch cooking. I got spoiled on dinners only taking an hour or less to prepare while we were home in the States. It’s a real adjustment for me. The constant electrical outages are also hard to get used to again but I am soooo thankful for our oil lamps! I am also thankful that so far the village has not turned the water off one time. That is a shock. Before we left they were turning it off at least once a day and very often they were turning it off for the full day, two, or three days.

A friend in Florida, Kathryn R., bought me (as a gift) a pasta maker. The kind that you put the dough in, then you use this machine to roll out the dough into pasta. Well, Luda and I worked on it together and learned how to make all kinds of pasta with it. Took us about 3 hours to make it all. It was a lot of fun. The first time it was a lot of work but now that I know what I am doing it will not take so long. I am soooo grateful to the Lord and to Kathryn for that little pasta press. It has always been a challenge in the past to find lasagna noodles, and etc. when I needed them. Now I don’t have to worry about it, I can just make it whenever I need it and do it without aggravating my neck, collar, or spine with all that rolling. What a blessing!!!

One of the things that God has put on my heart was to make some salvation bead bracelets for us to use in the church. The year I was home I researched, hunted down, thought out all the ways we could use those beads to give the gospel here in Ukraine. I didn’t have peace about the bracelet because the one that I had before (Judy Vansant missionary in Simferopol, Ukraine had GRACIOUSLY given me several before) I gave to a Ukrainian lady and she wore it every single day until all the silver wore off and then it turned her wrist green. So, as I thought on what to do, God brought me to Kathryn and Ted R. (they own a bead store and are STRONG, active soul winning Christians). They were soooo helpful and joyful about providing all the supplies for it and giving me ideas. It ended up that the beads would be used to tell the gospel in three forms: book mark, phone fob (my favorite), zipper pull. Well, the ladies at the church LOVED them. We all got together and each lady picked out which kind she wanted and then we enjoyed some time together making one for each lady. Because they have never done anything like that before it took a LONG time and a lot of instruction. The results were sweet. Luda made a zipper pull, and instead of putting it on her Bible or purse she insists on putting it on whatever shirt/sweater she is wearing each and every day. J. We plan to make more, next time it should go faster, to give as gifts to visitors in the church and to anyone we have a good gospel contact with out on evangelism. It was such an answer to prayer for God to bring me to Kathryn and Ted. Please pray for them as Ted has some very serious health issues right now!!!!!

The two Chinese girls who came to visit the church (classmates of Brit and Noelle) we gave the last two gospel bracelets to (from Judy again) that we have. Brittaini & Noelle told me that one of the Chinese girls is wearing it to school every day and she is trying to guess what it means. She does not speak enough Russian to understand the gospel yet, so Brittaini just keeps telling her to wait and she will explain the meaning of the colors of the beads to her a little later. The other day the girls said, “I think I know what it means.” Brittaini said, “What?” And she replied, “Is it my horoscope?” Brittaini told her, “NO! Not at all. Remember we told you it is about God.” Brittaini wants to write out the gospel in the most simple Russian but detailed enough to make sure that the gospel is clearly understood through it. She is being very careful not to be hasty but to trust in the Holy Spirit’s leading as she continues to reflect the Light of Christ to this classmate and pray for the right words to best reach this girl’s heart with the gospel in hopes that salvation will be the result.

John and I had to make a trip to Kiev to get my passport filled with new pages. I didn’t realize the pages for visa stamps in it were all used up but John did. Praise for that. You have to bring your passport to the American Embassy in Kiev IN PERSON so we took the train up and back. While we were gone the kids kept smelling plastic burning. They couldn’t locate the source of the smell so they figured it was a neighbor burning something. WRONG!!!! John and I got back in the wee hours of the morning and everyone slept for several hours into the morning. When we woke up there was no electricity on one side of the house. Strange. When John got to checking things out (with a flashlight) he discovered that we had had an electrical fire and that GOD had contained it. I know you will be horrified in hearing this, and NO this is NOT how it is to be done, but remember this is UKRAINE which means nothing is done the right way or safe way, but our electrical circuits are mounted to a block of WOOD. (Not our decision!!!) The owner and the electrician did it that way despite our strong objection. It was a MIRACLE that the wood did not catch fire. The wires were totally burned up. The plastic fuse was melted away. Only way to explain the wood not lighting up – GOD!!! Thank you for your prayers for our protection. They are already being answered!!! We had to use the oil lamps from Sat. to late Monday. Boy was I glad we had those!!!

Our van is in the shop at last. It broke down and left me stranded by the roadside twice since we have been back. The last time was the end for it’s motor which we knew was in bad shape. We knew this day was coming and so while on furlough the Lord raised up the designated funds to have it repaired and so the time has come to do so. It just can’t limp along any longer. So in the shop it goes. They expect it to be at least four weeks to get all the parts (foreign parts). I think they are in for a long surprise because it takes us 6-8 weeks just to get the door handles when they break each winter. We are prepared for it to take up to three months to get it finished and back to us, if it comes sooner, great. We will not be able to run a bus route until the van is done. God knows what He is doing though and HIS timing is always perfect. It is easiest to get people to ride on the bus route when it is COLD outside and deep snow. We should have the van back and in perfect shape just when the deepest and coldest weather hits.

Thank you for all your prayers. We still do not know how badly the Devil’s attack has hurt us with our support but so far we have only had 3 churches drop us. Though that hurts, we feel it is God’s hand pruning and we are just simply trusting in Him to supply all our needs and to keep those supporting this work who are sincerely praying for it. As my friends, you should be aware of some of the false rumors that the Devil is circulating right now. One, that caused one of the churches to drop us, is that we ordained a man into ministry that has been married and divorced twice over. I want you to know, straight from me, that this is a total and complete lie from the Devil. In fact, we have never ordained anyone at all. We have brought more than one man up for consideration, and we will do so with any man who comes to us and says he feels called of God, but up to this day, September 25, 2007, sadly we have never had the pleasure of ORDAINING any of them as none so far have been found to be truly called by God to be a pastor/missionary/deacon. We believe that the rumor is being spread in reference to Brother Sasha who filled in the gap preaching for us for a time while we were gone. Aubrey Mapp had STRONGLY recommended to us that we ordain him so that we could come back and tell the churches we had a church standing on it’s own but John sought counsel from several pastors and the Holy Spirit and decided that it is NOT of God to do so. We do not feel we need to “perform” for the churches, we need to follow the leading, as slowly as He chooses it to be, of the Holy Spirit and make sure that when we do ordain a man it is of God’s will and not man’s. Sasha is a man in the church who joyfully serves his Lord in a layman position as an UNordained servant of Christ. He is not ordained. Plus he has never been married before or divorced. He has just one wife. Lots of holes in that rumor. Please be careful about what you hear and what you believe. Satan is a deceiver and there are some who are willing to believe his lies without checking out the facts. I do want you to know that if YOU hear this rumor, please know that it is false, and tell whoever you hear spreading it that it is a LIE from the DEVIL with only the intent to bring harm to the servant and work of God.

Well, I have written to you a book, but it has been such a long time since I have written that I really wanted to just fill you in a little. Please write to me when you can. It’s good to hear from you.

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Hi! Well, we made it with the Lord’s help and we were even able to get my computer on line via John’s help by telephone.

I’ll make this short.

In Washington one man, immigrant worker at the airport, gave me a horrible time. He was soooooo rude to me and the kids. So I rebuked him sharply and out-loud telling him that in America we do not speak to people as if they are dogs! I repeated it twice to make sure he was understanding what I was saying as his English was not very good. He kind of stopped for a second looked at me than repeated himself and as we followed him to where he wanted us to be he turned and said very apologetically, “Would you …”. John was close enough to add out-loud from the lobby, “PLEASE!”. The man looked kind of frustrated and then looked to me and said, “Please.” (almost made me laugh) I hope that he will treat people more politely now. I understand that he is not saved and does not like his job, at least not that day, but it is very important to me that when others (people visiting the United States) get their first impression of our blessed country, it is a good impression not a bad one, so it is very important that airport workers mind their manners when dealing with passengers. Other than that, the trip was completely blessed.

We checked on more baggage than allowed and ALL but one bag was over weight by approximately 20 pounds according to their scales and yet without one word about it (we were ready to plead for mercy J) they checked it all on and didn’t charge us a penny for it!!!!! We had pooled our cash together before we left for the airport to pay for all the over weight fees. It was a wonderful blessing not to have to pay for the extra weight. Made me feel better about the airline, after being toyed with by them for 3 weeks, about my submitted requests for the extra baggage; and only getting the answer “no” back from them the day before our flight. Another missionary couple flew with the same airline to Ukraine two months ago and they were denied ALL their extra baggage and were not permitted extra weight in any of the bags. That had us scared to death when we had so much to take. All I can say it is must have been the will of God for us to bring this stuff for the flight was packed and our route was the exact same one that this other couple had taken. We even were flying in a worse time of year than them as August is the month all the students fly back to Ukraine. What a blessing!!! No, wait, it was more than a blessing, it was a miracle!!!!

I could not sleep the day before we left or on the plane because I was so concerned about the Ukrainian customs. They have given so many people we know a hard time and I was bringing with me (extra baggage) a copier/printer/scanner that John and I got for me for the kids school & Children’s church use. It was brand new, only used a few times since we bought it, and in it’s original box. I just knew that they were going to try to wheel and deal me for some kind of fee. Once someone sent us some movie discs, the cost for the discs was less than $50 but the customs official (all depends on who you get and how badly they need money that day) charged us $100 for them – so we refused the package and they sent it back. So I was really uneasy about dealing with them myself. Well, when we got to Kharkov again God moved in (I was praying non-stop on the flight). A customs guard came over to me and asked what was in that box. I told him straight out. And he just waved his hand and said, “Take it”. They told us to also take all our bags they would NOT be x-raying any of our bags so we could just go. We were praising God as we rushed out of customs as fast as we could with all our baggage J. They x-rayed every single persons bags that was on the flight but ours. Wow!!!! Saved us like 45 minutes of time as well as money and stress and boy were we tired.

John was expecting Sasha to pick us up with his little car as our van is in the shop. John told me it would take 2-3 rounds of him taking someone + baggage to the house and then turn around and come back to the airport and pick more up. I was NOT looking forward to sitting there with all our luggage, tired kids, tired me, it’s very hot 98 degrees + humidity, 40 minutes per round per trip, before the last person would arrive at home. God knew that, and so without our knowing it Sasha talked the guy at the shop into letting him take our van (has no front or back bumper yet) to pick us up. We fit ALLLL the luggage and all of us with Sasha and his daughter Zhenia into the van (no air conditioning yet) to make it home in ONE trip! J J J J J We were five very happy hot campers.

Luda had supper (borsht soup) ready for us. It’s a Ukrainian thing – HOT soup on a HOT day L. Hahahahahahah. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings and so I did eat the hot soup. I was soooo hot and inside utterly miserable but she was sooo happy to feed us. She is so sweet. She had the house all beautiful and all the folks from our dear church here had been ringing the phone off the hook for almost an hour Luda said waiting to hear if we made it okay. Sweet.

The jet lag for us this time has been worse than ever before. I think it is because it is so very hot and humid right now and there is no air conditioning just fans that blow the hot air on you. Even the kids are really struggling. This morning was the first time Brittaini, Noelle, Kendon and I all woke up in the morning saying we were able to sleep. John Steven didn’t. He said he fell asleep around midnight and then woke at 3 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. It’s a terrible feeling. I got everyone working hard in the yard and stuff outside to try and keep us awake and moving. Hopefully now tomorrow we will all be flipped over onto Ukrainian time and be able to think clearly in the day time. We’ve been here for five days already. Usually it take 2-3 days to wear off the jet lag.

We have a registration meeting at the University on Wednesday for the girls. Pray for that to go well. Their classes will start within days of that registration.

John is doing good. He is so lonely without us. He said he is calling and talking with my Mom a lot. It makes him feel closer to me to hear my Mom’s voice. Sweet. I know that Mom is enjoying hearing from him too. I think it’s great. John is traveling tonight up to Lviv to send off a package from there. Then he will be headed down to NC for his last few days in the States. I will be soooo glad to see him again.

Well that is all for now. Just wanted you to know, that we are here safe. THANK YOU for your prayers for our traveling.

If there are a ton of spelling errors please forgive me. I am still groggy from jet lag.

God is good, ALL the time!,

Cathy!