Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Good and the UGLY
Life in Ukraine lately has been a mixture of very good and very bad and today it was very UGLY.
The Good! We were able to purchase a used van from Germany. It is a 2002 panel van. We take it in next week to have windows and seats put in. I am having a difficult time finding seatbelts here to put in the back. I asked the people who do the refurbishing to put them in but they didn't have a source. Go figure! We actually have WORKING ones in the front. (If you try to put on a seat belt in a taxi or when riding with others it is an insult to the driver who feels that you don't trust his driving.) We are excited. The experiences with the Lada were enough to make us decide that we needed something safer. I told God how scared I was in the Lada and an hour later we got a call that they had finally located a van for us that we could afford. We will use it for the ministry as well although it is our own and not part of the Smile Alliance family. We are asking God to bless it and the people who travel in it. 
Now we are looking for insurance-liability. It is expensive here.
Our new home is mentioned in the Smile Alliance blog. We are very excited about it and moved in two weeks ago. We are having fun being creative, making shelves out of cardboard boxes, using the large kitchen cabinets for storage, etc.. It's almost like having our first home. The picture was taken on our first day in the house. I am too heavy for Richard to carry across thethresholdd but he bought me lots of flowers. Also today I received our new couch and chairs that we ordered from the factory last week. They said the order would take three weeks but it only took one. No THAT would not happen in the US. It is much faster here.
Richard was gone to Zhitomer for three days on a dental mission. Pictures and story are on the dental ministry blog. It was interesting being by myself here for two nights. It seemed like a lot longer. Monday, our electricity was out for 5 ½ hours and there was snow outside. It got kind of cold, not miserable though. The people who had purchased the former owner's couch and chairs, satellite dish, and other things (before we found the house) came and picked their things up so I had no place to sit and no TV to watch. BUT I had our smaller TV and my Gilmore GirDVD'sVDs so I watched them while sitting on cushions on the floor. It was really kind of fun, just me and the beasties, the mice, mosquitoes (I don't know where they are coming from this time of year), and the spiders.
I did go to Kyiv by myself on Tuesday. (Did you know that the US has officially changed the spelling of Kiev-which is Russian-to Kyiv?) What an experience! I will write about that later. Suffice it to say that I spent over four hours on a train, four buses, and in a taxi. I was proud of myself but not sure I want to repeat the experience again any time soon.
I mentioned the bad in my last blog and don't want to dwell on it. Then today things turned UGLY and brought an end to our hopes that our winter things were still at Mostysche. We noticed that things in our stored boxes had been rifledriffled through. We picked up a bunch of boxes with the moving van and went through them last weekend. I found one wool coat and my good boots, two sweaters, two tops and one pair of warm boots. There were three or four shirts of Richards and that was all. We went back today to get the rest of the boxes and even more things had been taken. NONE of our winter things are left except the things I just mentioned. We had purchased lined jeans, sweaters, coats, robes, etc. to get us through the next few years and we sent them over. Also, every dress, winter skirt, winter pair of pants, hats, wool dress jackets, party dresses etc. is gone. So far I have added up how much it would cost us to replace the things we can think of and it is several thousand dollars at original prices. (I bought most of things on sale and over the years but there was a lot there.) What makes me even sadder is that a lot of the shoes for the kids, beautiful winter coats, socks, and other things have been stolen. And we are just beginning to realize that many of the things for Smile House are also gone.
I don't understand how people can be so cruel and ugly. We feel like we have been kicked in the stomach. I have prayed and prayed that God will help me not to hold it against the orphanage since it is not the kids fault. But I look at the people there and wonder who has my robes, my coats, my other things. I brought extra to share but this is not how I planned to share things.
Yet the kids helped us take the boxes to the van. Some came up and hugged and hugged me. It is not their faults. They are the ones who are being used and abused by someone's greed. The director is on vacation but I am going to let her know about this. I know it will disturb her because she has a kind heart.
This country has many wonderful people in it but there are many, many who are selfish and just down right mean and dishonest. It goes to show that there is a great need for God's love and mercy. I am asking Him to help me show mercy. Please pray for these people and specifically for the ones who had stolen these things. Pray that God will be able to save them from themselves. And pray that forgiveness will fill our injured hearts.
S0. . . an added note. It's interesting how God puts people in our lives who can encourage just when we need it. Last night after writing this we went into Kyiv for a couples study group. It was the first time we went. After prayer, I shared with the ladies what had happened. One gal that I had just met shared a story from I think it was Albania. They were with YWAM several years ago and one morning people came in and destroyed the YWAM base and looted all their personal things while they were fleeing. Everything was taken-all their wedding presents and special things-everything except one suitcase of things they grabbed on their way out. She said that the night before it was as if God spoke to her and asked her if she had given everything to Him and she had replied "I am trying Lord. I really want to." Wow! That's really what I have been thinking about all this. Perhaps I was holding on to these things, trying to do it myself (again), and not letting Him be Lord of my life. When we moved here, we committed ourselves and everything to Him and this is all His STUFF. We will be fine without it. We will survive. And hopefully we will grow closer to Him in the process. We came here for the children-those who need love-those who are hurting and don't know anything better. We are still here for them.
The Good! We were able to purchase a used van from Germany. It is a 2002 panel van. We take it in next week to have windows and seats put in. I am having a difficult time finding seatbelts here to put in the back. I asked the people who do the refurbishing to put them in but they didn't have a source. Go figure! We actually have WORKING ones in the front. (If you try to put on a seat belt in a taxi or when riding with others it is an insult to the driver who feels that you don't trust his driving.) We are excited. The experiences with the Lada were enough to make us decide that we needed something safer. I told God how scared I was in the Lada and an hour later we got a call that they had finally located a van for us that we could afford. We will use it for the ministry as well although it is our own and not part of the Smile Alliance family. We are asking God to bless it and the people who travel in it. 
Now we are looking for insurance-liability. It is expensive here.Our new home is mentioned in the Smile Alliance blog. We are very excited about it and moved in two weeks ago. We are having fun being creative, making shelves out of cardboard boxes, using the large kitchen cabinets for storage, etc.. It's almost like having our first home. The picture was taken on our first day in the house. I am too heavy for Richard to carry across thethresholdd but he bought me lots of flowers. Also today I received our new couch and chairs that we ordered from the factory last week. They said the order would take three weeks but it only took one. No THAT would not happen in the US. It is much faster here.
Richard was gone to Zhitomer for three days on a dental mission. Pictures and story are on the dental ministry blog. It was interesting being by myself here for two nights. It seemed like a lot longer. Monday, our electricity was out for 5 ½ hours and there was snow outside. It got kind of cold, not miserable though. The people who had purchased the former owner's couch and chairs, satellite dish, and other things (before we found the house) came and picked their things up so I had no place to sit and no TV to watch. BUT I had our smaller TV and my Gilmore GirDVD'sVDs so I watched them while sitting on cushions on the floor. It was really kind of fun, just me and the beasties, the mice, mosquitoes (I don't know where they are coming from this time of year), and the spiders.
I did go to Kyiv by myself on Tuesday. (Did you know that the US has officially changed the spelling of Kiev-which is Russian-to Kyiv?) What an experience! I will write about that later. Suffice it to say that I spent over four hours on a train, four buses, and in a taxi. I was proud of myself but not sure I want to repeat the experience again any time soon.
I mentioned the bad in my last blog and don't want to dwell on it. Then today things turned UGLY and brought an end to our hopes that our winter things were still at Mostysche. We noticed that things in our stored boxes had been rifledriffled through. We picked up a bunch of boxes with the moving van and went through them last weekend. I found one wool coat and my good boots, two sweaters, two tops and one pair of warm boots. There were three or four shirts of Richards and that was all. We went back today to get the rest of the boxes and even more things had been taken. NONE of our winter things are left except the things I just mentioned. We had purchased lined jeans, sweaters, coats, robes, etc. to get us through the next few years and we sent them over. Also, every dress, winter skirt, winter pair of pants, hats, wool dress jackets, party dresses etc. is gone. So far I have added up how much it would cost us to replace the things we can think of and it is several thousand dollars at original prices. (I bought most of things on sale and over the years but there was a lot there.) What makes me even sadder is that a lot of the shoes for the kids, beautiful winter coats, socks, and other things have been stolen. And we are just beginning to realize that many of the things for Smile House are also gone.
I don't understand how people can be so cruel and ugly. We feel like we have been kicked in the stomach. I have prayed and prayed that God will help me not to hold it against the orphanage since it is not the kids fault. But I look at the people there and wonder who has my robes, my coats, my other things. I brought extra to share but this is not how I planned to share things.
Yet the kids helped us take the boxes to the van. Some came up and hugged and hugged me. It is not their faults. They are the ones who are being used and abused by someone's greed. The director is on vacation but I am going to let her know about this. I know it will disturb her because she has a kind heart.
This country has many wonderful people in it but there are many, many who are selfish and just down right mean and dishonest. It goes to show that there is a great need for God's love and mercy. I am asking Him to help me show mercy. Please pray for these people and specifically for the ones who had stolen these things. Pray that God will be able to save them from themselves. And pray that forgiveness will fill our injured hearts.
S0. . . an added note. It's interesting how God puts people in our lives who can encourage just when we need it. Last night after writing this we went into Kyiv for a couples study group. It was the first time we went. After prayer, I shared with the ladies what had happened. One gal that I had just met shared a story from I think it was Albania. They were with YWAM several years ago and one morning people came in and destroyed the YWAM base and looted all their personal things while they were fleeing. Everything was taken-all their wedding presents and special things-everything except one suitcase of things they grabbed on their way out. She said that the night before it was as if God spoke to her and asked her if she had given everything to Him and she had replied "I am trying Lord. I really want to." Wow! That's really what I have been thinking about all this. Perhaps I was holding on to these things, trying to do it myself (again), and not letting Him be Lord of my life. When we moved here, we committed ourselves and everything to Him and this is all His STUFF. We will be fine without it. We will survive. And hopefully we will grow closer to Him in the process. We came here for the children-those who need love-those who are hurting and don't know anything better. We are still here for them.
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Vicki,
First of all you need to go back to your settings and change it to where people have to type in the letters. This stops the advertising from taking over your blog. Kim taught me this. I also have been blogging. Sure enjoyed your story and what a witness to all of us about giving ALL to our Lord. So easy to say, but so difficult to do. Just when you think you have given Him your ALL, you find out that you have a hold(sometimes a choke hold)on some things. Thank you Lord that you will teach us along the way. We love you.
Sherry
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First of all you need to go back to your settings and change it to where people have to type in the letters. This stops the advertising from taking over your blog. Kim taught me this. I also have been blogging. Sure enjoyed your story and what a witness to all of us about giving ALL to our Lord. So easy to say, but so difficult to do. Just when you think you have given Him your ALL, you find out that you have a hold(sometimes a choke hold)on some things. Thank you Lord that you will teach us along the way. We love you.
Sherry
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