But anyways, the deal is that many of you have no clue where Ukraine is. Several of you may be under the impression that it's in Siberia or somewhere up near the Arctic Circle. It's not. Also, you might not know where Odessa is located. I didn't before I first came here this summer. In case you're wondering, Chernobyl is not next door to my apartment, nor is it a 5-minute walk for me to Kiev. Here's a handy map feature you can use to see where I'm at in Ukraine. You can also zoom out if you want a quick refresher on world geography. Enjoy!
Yes, someone actually thought that. I think they got it mixed up with Uruguay?
But anyways, the deal is that many of you have no clue where Ukraine is. Several of you may be under the impression that it's in Siberia or somewhere up near the Arctic Circle. It's not. Also, you might not know where Odessa is located. I didn't before I first came here this summer. In case you're wondering, Chernobyl is not next door to my apartment, nor is it a 5-minute walk for me to Kiev. Here's a handy map feature you can use to see where I'm at in Ukraine. You can also zoom out if you want a quick refresher on world geography. Enjoy!
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Hey Friends!
So yesterday was great because it was Thanksgiving, but it was also great because last night we had our first English Club at Mechnikov University in Odessa. As some of you know, Living Hope Church (the church I attend and am currently working with) has a weekly English Club on Saturday afternoons. However, this opportunity to have English Club at Mechnikov is an answer to prayer for many workers in this area and is such a great opportunity for students to practice their English and make new friendships and a place for me to meet new people to live life with and have conversations about the stuff that really matters in life. About 25ish people showed up, which was really great. Our topic was on the American holiday of Thanksgiving, so we talked about how it all got started, what the holiday looks like, and had discussion groups on the importance of being thankful and different holiday traditions. It was such a fun night, and it seemed like the students really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the opportunity to practice Russian after the club with some students who didn't feel comfortable speaking a whole lot in English. It was a pretty great time of meeting new people and having fun in English. English club at Mechnikov will happen every Thursday night, so pray that it continues to be a good means of meeting people and that much fruit would come of this opportunity. So here are some spiritual thoughts that I had recently and wanted to post before things got crazy this week. Here it is, straight from the journal:
The term cross-cultural ministry has always seemed like a misnomer to me. I get the mental picture of two groups of people divided by a line called Culture with one group throwing some nebulous thing called "The Gospel" across like a football. It just doesn't work that way. You can't really minister across cultures- you can't pass the Gospel off to someone by holding it out to them across some invisible line dividing different cultures, you safely on your side and "them" on their side. You have to cross the border. Crossing the border means leaving behind your definition of "normal". It means casting aside what you've always done how you've always done it for the reasons you've always done it. Cross-cultural ministry isn't toeing the line and reaching across, nor is it quickly sprinting across the line just long enough to tag someone with the Gospel, then run like heck back to "home base" like it's some giant game of Capture the Flag. It means dropping what you know and love and leaving it behind on your side of the line to cross over to the other side. Crossing cultures means becoming a 2 year old child. It means being unable to properly express yourself in anything other than screams or small words like 'yes', 'no', and 'more please'. It means getting laughed at, yelled at, and stared at. It means getting touched, bumped, squished, and bruised. Sometimes it's not the action, but rather the absence of action that hurts- like being ignored, looked over, and misunderstood. Better get ready- crossing cultures isn't for the fainthearted. Leave your pride at the border. Crossing cultures means leaving behind your respectable position and your subsequent rights, what you're "entitled to" as a tax-paying American adult. It means abandoning your fancy education, your intelligent, eloquent speech, and your quick wit. None of that matters here. Now you won't remember the word for socks or teeth, or sometimes you'll forget the way to say 'hello' and say 'thank you' instead. Crossing cultures means choosing weakness over strength. No one embraces weakness well. It hurts. It's painful to go from knowing how to function well in your own world to not being able to properly communicate even the simplest of things. When it comes down to it, no one's a good loser. Nobody's really okay with giving up everything to look ridiculous and stupid for a seemingly endless period of time. No one likes not being able to express an opinion about anything. I only know of one person who's crossed cultures perfectly. He was royalty, the most powerful, knowledgeable, wealthy, famous person ever. He was the elite, having the respect and worship of all creation. But he gave that up. He gave up knowledge to come to a new place as a child, not knowing how to speak or even how to tie his shoes or dress himself. This guy left a life of fame to lead a life of anonymity, and eventually misunderstood, deadly notoriety. This person left a life of perfection, beauty, and ease to embrace a life of poverty, hunger, suffering, loneliness, and pain. His own family didn't even understand him. He was laughed at, scoffed at, teased, ignored, beaten, crushed, and crucified. This man, this god-man, Jesus Christ, is the ultimate example of what it means to cross cultures. He left the richness, beauty, and perfection of heaven to come live in a broken and sinful world. He learned a new language, customs, and so many other things. He left his pride at the border. Philippians 2:6-8 says that Jesus, "though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross". Jesus chose this. He crossed cultures, setting aside parts of himself, to become a part of Hebrew culture. He gave up his rights as the son of God to become a lowly servant. Why? Jude writes in vs. 24-25 that Jesus is able to present us "blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen". Jesus gave up everything so that he could present us as blameless to God. Jesus left it all behind so that He could serve as the proper sacrifice to pay the penalty for all sin for all time, in order to introduce us to God. And I have the same goal: to introduce people to God. Don't misquote me here- I am not Jesus. Really. I'm not. But I am his sister, coheir, friend, and fellow laborer. I'm not trying to be him, but rather be like him and follow his example of crossing cultures. In conclusion, I have one kind of discouraging truth and one-and-a-half really encouraging truths. Kind of Discouraging Truth: I will never be able to cross cultures for ministry as well as Jesus did. Really Encouraging Truth: Jesus is always with me, every moment of every day. Plus, he knows exactly what I'm going through (Hebrews 4:15-16). Humility, service, prayer, and relentless love- that's what it takes to cross cultures like Jesus did. Are you willing to follow his example? This happened just the other day, so I thought I'd share it before I lost it! Here goes:
So I had my first two days of "teaching" this week, which were actually observation days. It was super-helpful to be able to evaluate the students' levels and see how their classes are run. Anyhow, on Wednesday I decided to be classy and wear a skirt. I couldn't find leggings or tights to go with it, so I decided not to wear them. I was planning to leave around 9:00, which is almost the warmest part of the day here this time of year, so I thought nothing of it- it would be a little chilly at the bus stop, but nothing I couldn't handle. No probs. Valiya saw me before I left the house and started telling me that I needed something over my legs. I said it's fine and that I don't get really cold. Valiya would not let it go- generally, Ukrainian babushkas think that exposed skin in cold weather is sure to bring on death or an array of wretched diseases. Furthermore, children without hats in the middle of summer are most certainly being neglected by their parents and will not live to see their teenage years. Knowing this, I gently told her that I would be fine, that I would not be cold or freeze to death. Apparently after I left the house, Valiya called Rochelle and said she was concerned for me and that I would most certainly be sick. Rochelle said it took her a long time to convince her that I would be fine. Anyways... so as I thought, the bus stop was a bit chilly, but nothing scary. I was fine the whole way to school- even in the school it was toasty warm. Until I walked outside at the end of the day (around 2:30). It was cold. I don't think I've ever understood the word cold like I did yesterday. Even in all my years of late-autumn football games with the marching band I've never been as cold as I was yesterday. Except for maybe the first year at giant's stadium... Anyways, it was cold. The wind was whipping and I could see my breath. It was freaking C-O-L-D. I finally got back to the apartment building after my 20 minute bus ride, but my hands were a little pink and my legs were frozen. I knew that if I walked in the door, Valiya would see how cold I was and "advise" me to listen to her next time. My pride didn't want that. So instead, I took the lift up to my floor, hoping I would warm up in it. I didn't really. So I did what any sane, freezing cold, prideful, sinful human being would do- I ran down and then back up about 7 flights of stairs to warm up. I got to the door MUCH warmer, and short of breath, pride intact. I went inside the house and Valiya asked me how my day was, whether I was cold, feeling sick, etc. I said no- it's all good, everything was fine- running down and then up 7 flights of stairs helped out quite a lot. I've made sure to faithfully take my allergy medicine this week, plus a healthy dose of vitamin c tablets so as not to encourage Valiya's concept of disease and health. If I get sick, you know she'll blame it on that one fateful Wednesday when the crazy American didn't wear leggings... Here's where I live! beautiful birthday flowers from Denise So yeah- this is my home. So far I love it and am enjoying the challenge of living in a foreign culture and getting to know my hosts, Valiya and Tanya, in a foreign language. Never a dull moment, that's for sure.
In other news, I went to Эрудит yesterday and today to observe the English classes I will be teaching 2 days a week. On Tuesday I met students in the primary school, and today I met students in the secondary school, some of which I recognize from the English camp I taught at this summer. It was so great to meet the kids and to get a better feel of where I will fit within the school's English program. I will be teaching 2 days a week focusing on the skill of speaking English in conversation. I'm so excited for my first "real" day of teaching next week and all it will entail! It's my birthday on Friday- I'm turning the big 2-2. It's not super-heartbreaking to be away from family on my birthday, as my last 3 birthdays have been celebrated in SC. Rochelle has set up a special birthday dinner for me and some friends with her family on Friday, which I am excited for. It should be a good time :) I'll post more news as it happens- so stay Ever wish you could turn back time? Get back to the "good 'ol days"? I recently discovered that you can turn back time in a sense- you can go back to the 80's, in fact. Just move in with a Ukrainian бабушка. I did. I've been here since Saturday and already have had some interesting moments. I'll show you pictures once I find my camera cord. For now, just picture an old-school apartment and you won't be too far off. I think in order to accurately portray my first few days with my Ukrainian hosts, Valiya and her granddaughter Tanya, I should share the google searches I did upon coming here.
1.) "How to deal with an aggressive cat" Many of you know how my family and I feel about cats. We generally despise them. But I'm actually afraid of them. It's about 60/40 in hatred/fear of cats. I knew going into this that Valiya, my Ukrainian host, has a huge white cat. I've been over here a bunch of times this summer and I would just ignore him. But when I moved in on Saturday night, the cat FREAKED OUT. I had moved into the balcony where he slept and he did not like it. I tried to come out of the door of my room and back into the main living room and he hissed and sprang at me. Thankfully I slammed the door in his face before he could scratch my eyes out. That cat screamed like I've never heard before and scratched at the door for nearly 30 minutes. Valiya eventually had to get a broom and drive him into the shower room (the bathroom and shower room are separate). He's been there ever since. 2.) "How to say 'I'm not hungry'" in Russian Like the stereotypical Italian grandma, Ukrainian grandmas live to feed. Valiya urges me to eat all the time. In the mornings, I generally eat a light breakfast, if I eat anything at all. I had to find a nice way to tell her that I can't eat a whole lot in the morning without offending her. I eventually managed to get the message across, hopefully without too much offense. 3.) "How to know if you can flush toilet paper in Russian homes" Strangest thing I've ever typed into google. But I had to- I couldn't bring myself to ask Valiya and Tanya because bathroom talk isn't easy to bring up in conversation, and I didn't even know how to begin to find the verb 'to flush' in Russian. Some background info about this: I was in Russia the summer of 2010 and in some of the places I stayed, the plumbing couldn't handle toilet paper (which in Russia, and also here in Ukraine, is more like newspaper or grey crepe paper). Instead, you would throw the toilet paper you used into the trash can. Since the apartment I'm living in hasn't changed much since Soviet Russia, it was a valid question. Thankfully I found out that I most likely can flush, as I've been in another apartment in the same building (with the same plumbing) and they can, so I guess that answers that question. So yeah... my first few days with my Ukrainian family have been interesting, challenging in many ways, but so good. I'm praying that the Lord uses me here to encourage Valiya and Tanya in the Lord and to be a help rather than a burden to them. Pray with me that this living situation would be one more way that I can serve others and shine the light of Christ. While you're praying, throw in a quick prayer for my Russian studies. It's really annoying when you can't quite figure out how to tell your Ukrainian grandma that you're going out using the correct sense of the verb 'to go' (in Russian there are so many... maybe too many?). So yeah- that's it. I have internet here so skype's an option, or email. I'm trying to cut back on time on facebook, so email is probably the best way to get in contact with me right now. Thanks for reading! I'd love to pray for- let me know how I can be praying for you As the title suggests, it it nearing the end of my first week back in Odessa, Ukraine. I flew in Saturday night (thankfully ahead of the superstorm Sandy) and got to Ukraine on Sunday night. After being away for 3 months, I am glad to be back! Some things have changed, but thankfully a number of them have stayed the same- if only I could remember how everything works here!
I've been spending the week here at Kurt and Rochelle's house jet lagging like a pro and hanging out with their kids. On Sunday, I'll be moving over to my Ukrainian host's (Valiya and Tanya) home a few blocks from where I am now. I'm excited and a little nervous to be living in a Ukrainian home in every sense of the word. I'll be using Russian every day since both Valiya and her granddaughter Tanya speak only Russian. Hooray for a crash course in speaking Russian! It's a bit daunting, but since the Lord's moving in there with me, it'll be no big deal :) Today I got to meet with the leader of the missionary team that works with my church, Living Hope. I will be working with them in some capacity during my year here, the extent of which will be decided once Kurt and I meet with the director of the school in Sauvignon, Эрудит (Erudit), sometime next week. Regardless, I got to hear about some of the different ministry opportunities exist here, many of which happen in English, so I can be more involved. One such ministry is English club, which happens at the church every Saturday afternoon. I'll be going there tomorrow to see what it's like and get a taste of work there. Also, I'm planning on going to a ladies' Bible study later tomorrow afternoon with some of the women who go to English club. It will be neat to see some more of what goes on ministry-wise here in Odessa. More pictures, funny anecdotes about the culture, teaching, or whatever else, and updates to come, so check back here every week or so to hear more from me in Ukraine! Thanks again to all of you who have supported me both in finances and prayer- I appreciate you! Here are some ways you can pray: 1.) Pray for my living situation. I'm super-excited to be living with Valiya and her granddaughter Tanya, but I am a little nervous about communication. Please please please please pray that my Russian improves and that I'm able to communicate well with my hosts. Pray that I'll get to know them and love them with Christ's love. Valiya is a Christian, but Tanya is not and is going through a rough time in her life. Pray with me that she would know the One who made her and that the Lord would use me in her life in some way, if He wants to. 2.) Pray for me as I teach. I'm not sure when teaching starts, but it will be a few days a week, plus tutoring. I'm excited and have been planning for this since August, but pray that I would effectively teach those kids and that they would understand and be willing and eager learners. Pray that I can make a difference at that school for Christ, both among students and my fellow teachers. 3.) Pray for me as I get involved in ministry at the church. I want to help in whatever ways I can, but I also want to make sure I haven't overcommitted myself. Pray that I can say 'no' to what I need to say 'no' to so that I can say 'yes' to things that the Lord would have me do during this year. More will become clear in this area as the year progresses. If you'd like to skype, remember I'm EST +7 hours. I'd love to talk with you sometime, so email me ([email protected]) |