Sunday - December 24, 2006

We arrived at the airport in time to catch our planes. It was hard knowing what to do since all the signs were in Russian and the driver didn’t know that much English. Phoebe’s plane and mine left at 6:45. Dr. Ashworth’s left at 6:50, but poor Justin T didn’t leave until 1pm. He had to sit in the airport and stare at the ceiling for a long time.

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Saturday - December 23, 2006

We got up and were ready to leave at 7am. I was feeling terrible and wanted to stay in bed. Mrs. Hadley told me to get up but not to get dressed, because they would leave me at the pastor’s house where we were going to eat breakfast. We left at 7:15am and saw little bit of snow. We ate at the pastor’s house. Then they all left except the pastor’s wife and I.

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Friday - December 22, 2006

We got up, packed our bags, and were gone at 8am. We took Katya with us, whom we had met the night before. This time we took the bus and a car to Kharkov. Helen also went with us. It was very good that we took another car because 17+ people in a 12-passenger bus is a tight squeeze. I was a lot worse that day. My sinuses were draining and my head was killing me.

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Thursday - December 21, 2006

Today was our day to “play.” But it was not our day to sleep in very late. We got up at 9am and ate breakfast. The guys split up into two groups to take showers at different people’s homes. The girls stayed at Pastor M’s house. The boys who went to one house got to watch a movie, eat chocolate and food, and receive presents. The owners of the house also burned the DVD off for them. The boys were very excited when we picked them up.

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Wednesday - December 20, 2006

In the morning, the pastor came back and picked us up. He had his three little girls with him. He dropped Mary off at the bus station so she could catch a ride to work and then we went to the church. There the cooks had breakfast prepared for us.

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Tuesday - December 19, 2006

We got up, ate, and boarded the bus for Zaporojie. We had to pack our bags again because we would be spending the night. We arrived there later than Pastor M liked, which didn’t put him in a good mood. We had the typical night meeting with introductions and Justin T’s sermon. The church had two stories with a balcony. The kitchen, fellowship room, restrooms, and office were downstairs along with the ABC. Upstairs was the sanctuary and balcony. We ate supper and then split up into homes.

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Monday - December 18, 2006

We got up at 10am and felt like it was 10pm, which shows how hard we were pushing ourselves. We ate breakfast and then went to the church. The first person I saw was Lubasi. I ran to him and gave him a big hug. The others followed suit. It was so great to see another of our team members.

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Sunday - December 17, 2006

We got up at 6, ate at 7, and left at 8 for Krivoy Rog. We thought we would be gone for four days, but it turned out we would only be gone for one night. On the way to the church, we sang songs, played games, and talked. We also stopped at a restroom. Nadya left to pick up Lubasi at the airport. We traded her for Helen who would be our translator for the afternoon. The boys took many weird pictures while we all took turns in the one-seater restroom, which was a flusher.

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Saturday - December 16, 2006

We went back to Dnepropestrovsk. This time we went to a rented hall for church. The choirs they have sang beautifully. I began to wonder if the choirs in heaven sounded like Ukrainian choirs. So often in America we focus on what music we think is right or wrong, but when I was listening to the choirs, I thought, “I think this is what God intended music to sound like. We shouldn’t focus on the style, but on playing and singing the best we can for God. This is what life is all about. When you put what you have in the hands of God, marvelous things will happen.”

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Friday - December 15, 2006

I was the first American up. Anna had been up before me. She and I asked questions about each other’s country. She had fun using her English, which was very good. It was rather funny because Anna would often correct our English. Her English was better than ours because she didn’t use slang or other such things.

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