leaving today

We will be leaving nikopol tuesday eveneing - our flight leaves early thursday morning, and arrives thursday evening (local time) in minnesota.

On the Ukrainian Christmas (Jan 7th) We had our Christmas/New Year program. First, the children performed a short "play" - a five minute nativity skit. They concluded with a song (in Russian) which Benjamin also sang. After the skit I gave a slideshow presentation of the events of the last year. Some of you will probably see this presentation.

Joseph and Mary - Adele and Benjamin

The angels, Naturally - Veronica and Alina

our shepherds, Ephraim and David

We had a number of visitors for the play. Nastia's mother came and enjoyed our program very much.

New Sister!

Lena was baptized this afternoon after services. I had to arrive before 8 to start to fill the baptistry. There were some difficulties getting warm water, as our electric service to the building is only 20 amps! This makes it dificult to decide what we want to heat. We finally got it filled, but a few of the ladies thought it was inhuman to baptize at anything less than 80 degree water. Fortunately, Lena was not one of those women! Since it was so cold, and she has health problems, we did not waste any time with formalities, but did everything ahead of time and baptized her promptly as soon as she sat down. She will have to go to Dnipropetrovsk for surgery, and so it may be a little while before we see her again. please pray for her.

hot water - sort of

I installed an in-line water heater this week. unfortunately it cannot handle a large volume. Still it, should serve our needs. I put in a hookup so that we can fill our portable baptistry, although at a gallon a minute, it may take a while!

urgent prayer for Lena

Lena is a contact through Galina. She had a few studies with Stuart and Valerie, but didn't seem to progress very far. She has had numerous foot surgeries and is permanently lame. I have been informed by Galina that she has hepatitis B and C - probably contracted through unsanitary conditions at the hospital during surgery. Hep. B is not serious, but unfortunately hep C is. From what I can understand her liver has stopped functioning, which is a death sentence in Ukraine, if that information is accurate (I am not a doctor, so I don't know if it is a temporary thing while the body fights infection). I am trying to resume bible studies with Lena.

spring cleaning?

It was sunny and about 55 degrees for our workday. We got the garage cleaned out, about half of the burnable debris is gone. We also pruned the grapevines and raked. This week we have to have a truck haul all the stuff off.

Legal snafus

There is a possibility that we are going to run into some extra expenses in the near future.  When we did the property registration we were assured that "for a small fee" we would not  have to do some of the requirements that most commercial properties are required to do.  We understood this under the context of not really being a major commercial property like a business.  Now an official has told us that the main bureau in dnepropetrovsk is going to do an audit of the local fire and water departments to make sure properties are in compliance with zoning laws.  This official has said for another "small fee" he can make all of this go away.  I am extremely uncomfortable with these "small fees".  Currently, it appears we would need to install a fire alarm system, and put in a second exit (windows don't count here).  This will run in the neighborhood of $2500 (we are currently checking with a friend on prices). There may be legal fees to do the work and work permits that have to be taken out for the work, driving up the cost.  we will keep you posted on the developments

preparing for the future

With the events that have transpired over the last few weeks, we are preparing to identify and delegate duties to people in the congregation. The urgency is doubled, as we have not only lost a great worker in Stuart Merrill, but Katie and I will be travelling to the states in late January to prepare for the birth of our third child, as well as another tour. Everyone seems willing to step up and take some responsibility. Even with the extra help, there is going to be a need for teaching help. There are several potential solutions, but the two most likely possibilities seem to be either one preacher coming to do the teaching, or coordinating a series of preachers who could each come for at least three or four weeks. One person has already tentatively volunteered for one month, if we decide to go that direction. Eugene will be prepared to handle youth group once Adrian returns to the States. Adrian is currently taking care of the Merrill's property concerns. Anyone interested can reply here, or Contact Mike Locke at milocke@paulbunyan.net

Update

Stuart does not have actual paralysis. although he has very limited movement in his right side he has sensory perception.  Travis reports that he is showing emotional response.  The surgeons in Dnipropetrovsk are trying to arrange a transer to Kiev. That is the news as of 4:00p.m. (9:00 EST).

I have posted a link to Travis's blog to the left.

Stuart Merrill update

I'm sorry I haven't posted on the blog until now. i have been using my facebook to give updates, but here is the information in case you aren't a facebook member (although I would suggest you subscribe - it's free and a good way to stay in touch with Christians across the country).
Stuart Merrill suffered a hemotoma yesterday approximately 1:00 pm Thursday afternoon while working on the roof at the church building. Fortunately, he must have sensed something and held on to the roof with his right arm. He suffered paralysis on the right side, which actually probably helped him stay on the roof long enough for Adrian and Zack to arrive and help get him off the roof. He had remained conscious the entire time. Services here are not adequate for surgery, so this afternoon he was transported to Dnipropetrovsk, where a neurosurgeon will operate on him shortly (if not already). Valerie reported that he was more alert this morning, and his color was better, he was also more responsive, able to move his right side a little more than yesterday. This is what I know as of 5:00 our time (10:00 EST). Kyle and Justin Merrill will be arriving in Dnipropetovsk in one hour.
Thank your for your prayers and keep them coming.
Andrew Green

Interesting acquaintances!

We have had a few people visit this month. Nikolai (in the blue sports coat) with his wife in the corner, and a friend of his, Sasha. They actually sought us out, having gotten our address from a church of Christ they visited in Crimea. I am not sure exactly who they received the address from, but apparently someone we have met. It is possible that a preacher from Donetsk, who knows Igor fairly well. They meet with a nondescript group of 'believers'. we are going to have a discussion with them, as they are currently meeting in a home. hopefully it would be possible to bring them into the group. From what we have learned so far, they are fairly well acquainted with the church of Christ.

Anton Andreivich Tovpinets

That is the name of the new addition.  In Russian culture, the middle name is a derivative of the father's first name (whether boy or girl).  

it's a boy!

Actually, we already new that it was a going to be a boy, but Anne had her baby early Wednesday evening.  They have not named him yet. More to come...

Good news for Zhenya

It appears that Zhenya will get his disability pay at the end of next month. There were a few legalities that we were concerned about that will not seem to be a problem. as a part of his disability his medical treatment and prescriptions will also be free.

Mom here for two weeks

Actually, my mother has already returned to the states, but our internet wasn't working for about two weeks. She really enjoyed her time here, meeting the Christians, and spending time with Adele and Benjamin. It was in the 80's when she got here at the beginning of September. The day she left it was about 45-50 and rainy. She is planning on coming again when she retires in a few years

Debris Removal

We removed the debris from the wall, loading it into a "state-of-the-art" WWII era trailer. Several people from the neighborhood even came to help!

concert and visitors

the day before our visitors from minsk returned home, the yong people put on a concert.  We had about twenty visitors.  a band from another church's youth group also did a special number at the end.  with the departure of the Minsk Christians, we were expecting a little drop off, but we haven't really noticed that.  We are averaging between 8-12 visitors each week.

New ceiling!

We finished the ceiling at 11:15 Friday night. The accoustics were noticably better Sunday morning!

As Moldova turns...

This is starting top feel like a bad soap opera (which i recognize is a redundant phrase). We were denied our opportunity to open religious visas for katie and the kids. the explanation was that there was already a valid visa in their passports, and since the valid visas were issued in the N.Y. consulate office, Moldova could not invalidate them. I did show her my passport, where she did exactly that only two months ago, but she only replied that it was a mistake that she wouldn't make again.
The result is that we will have to renew the visas once more in three months, and then we will leave for the united states sometime in late January. and try to resolve this issue there.
In other news, we have found out that katie is pregnant. The baby is due sometime in March.

Moldova and other things

Once again we have to make a trip to Moldova. Hopefully we will have nothing 'exciting' to report.
Today we had close to 30 people in church, Galina is in the hospital recovering from her surgery. We also celebrated Benjamin's 5th birthday today.