Today's Snapshots from VBS

Waiting for VBS to start

Opening Ceremony

Bible Story Time: One of the Spies and Rahab (Sergei and Nadia)

Game Time

Don't Drop the Potato

Concentration

Cheering for Their Team

Parents Looking On

The Youngest Group Ready for Games

Neighbors Checking Us Out

Crafts

Closing Ceremony

Children Who Came to VBS

Please continue to pray that the gospel message will be clearly heard, that relationships will be built and that both children and parents will come to our church.

VBS in Progress

Tonight marks the second night of our VBS. So far we have had around 45 children come each night. It has been fun and exhausting. I believe this is the first time our church has done such an outreach without the help of a short-term team from America. It has been interesting to see this come together and everyone has done a great job.

Another interesting thing has been the parents or grandparents. A lot have stayed and gone from activity to activity with their child. I am not sure if it is because they don't trust their children's behavior, they don't trust us or they are curious to see what we are teaching. One lady questioned me near the end of the first night asking "What are you teaching that the children are so excited about being here? What organization are you with and what gives you the right to teach children?" I tried to answer the first question but then realized that I would not be able to answer this question with my Russian abilities and found an elder of the church to answer it.

I also saw a lady with anger in her eyes take her child out of the game time yesterday only to come back and ask if she had to do/pay anything to keep the children's workbook. When we said "No" she left and was back again tonight.

Tonight I talked with a grandfather who was there with his granddaughter. He told me that he was a sailor and showed me his driver's license from New York. I saw that the address was Brooklyn, NY and I asked if he lived near Brighton Beach. I told him I was there a few years ago and that my wife is Russian and found some foods she missed there. He then asked me what our church believes. I explained briefly and gave him a little introduction pamphlet to our church. We then talked a little bit about cults, other religions and the Bible. The VBS material we are using is looking at the life of Joshua, and the man asked who Joshua was. After a little explanation, I had to leave and help out, but hopefully he will return tomorrow.

Anna's 5th Birthday

Last week we celebrated Anna's 5th birthday. It's hard to believe she is so big! We celebrated her day after the English club on Friday.

This year we are doing family celebrations. For her dinner Anna chose lasagna and Russian honey cake. I had to get everything ready in the morning before we all left for the English club. I first baked the cake and then the lasagna, leaving it in the oven to cool off. It was perfect temperature when we came back! Anna had fun opening her presents. I think her favorite was her new bike, which I had bought a week prior to that and sneaked into the house.

Here is the Birthday girl!

English Club

Last week the MTW team taught an English Club at the home of a ruling elder. We had a pretty good turn out - about 18 total people. We split them into three groups depending on their knowledge of English. The advanced class looked at the different types of writings found in Bible. The intermediate class read passages of the Bible and learned new vocabulary and grammar from the passages of Scripture. The beginning class learned some basic words, prepositions and verbs and talked about 5 of the "I am" statements found in John's Gospel. It was a good week. Several children, ages 10 to 12, came and are now looking forward to next week's Vacation Bible School. We are praying that 50 children would come during the week. We are also praying for the conclusion on Friday when hopefully, most of the parents will come.

Advanced class
Intermediate class
Beginner class

Registration

It never ceases to amaze me how a rather simple process can become so complicated. We have to register with the local police every so often. The law has changed several times in our time here. At first, it was every 6 months - then 3 months - back to 6 months and now again 3 months. Everytime I have registered the whole family, the required documents have changed. The general list is there: passport, translated copy of passport, letter of invitation, translation of medical insurance policies and application. Last December, I needed some letter of invitation from the local office of the Committee on Religion. This time I did not need it. However, I was told that I needed to buy Ukrainian medical insurance. We talked around and around with the officer but ended up having to pay a little over $125 for emergency insurance. When I registered in December, a different officer commented on how good the insurance is that I have, much better than the Ukrainian!

In the past, it has taken about a week once documents have been turned in. This time it was three weeks. The office is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays and when I asked when I should come back, the officer answered that he did not know. I asked "Next Friday? (One week later)" He replied, "Maybe." I went 10 days later and he asked, "Did I tell you to come today?"
"No, but you said that they might be ready last Friday. Are they ready?"
"No. Come back in a week."

I picked up our passports today. I was told they would be ready in 15 to 20 minutes but waited for over an hour. While waiting, I saw my first bribe take place. A gentleman was getting no where with the officer at the window, when he was able to make eye contact with his superior. The superior came over and the man was talking with the officer but opening and closing a passport in his hand. Inside the passport there was at least 100 grivnah ($21) but looked like 2 or 3 one hundred grivnah bills. The boss saw it and stepped in and took all the passports and documents and processed it himself.

Thankfully we won't even have to register in 3 months. When you leave the country and come back, the clock is re-started when you enter again. We are going to Russia for Julia's sister's wedding in August so won't have to do this until November.