Sunday, June 12, 2011

::North Star::

“Dear God, You’re the only North Star I would follow this far...for He is the saving grace of the galaxies.” ::Owl City:: (from his new song "Galaxies")

I have been in Ukraine over a week! It’s been an amazing journey already, and I’m so excited about what God is doing here. The missionaries have been so incredibly welcoming and eager to help and show us around. I am so blessed to work with and learn from a mission team who has God in the center of everything they do.

Our coordinator Dougle and his wife Lucy are amazing and prepared all we could need during this first week. I am so thankful that I didn’t have to immediately worry about switching terminals to fly from Kiev to Kharkov, finding an apartment, furnishing and supplying our apartment, navigating our way around town, keeping busy through jet-lag or finding food. They had thought and planned for all of this, and it took so much of our concern and worry away.

Here’s a few of our adventures & what I have learned in one week in Kharkov:
> 8 Hryvnia = 1 Dollar
> We buy our water from a water truck that comes by every day in front of our apartments.
> Our apartment key looks like it could open the wardrobe door to Narnia.
> There’s an ice-skating rink in both malls here, which are a 20 minute walk from my apartment.
> Apartment complexes typically have a very colorful and fun-looking playground.
> The bus routes are much more difficult to figure out than the metro lines. We rode a bus out for over 30 minutes before figuring out where we were and how to get back.
> Always take your shoes off at the door of someone's home.
> My macbook recognizes that I'm in Ukraine and now many websites have automatically changed from English to Ukrainian.
> 30 degrees is actually quite hot if it’s in Celsius, and you don’t have air conditioning.
> No more than 3 adults in some elevators, or you’ll wind up spending some extra time waiting for rescue. This is what happened to our guy teammates Cody and Caleb, one of the missionaries, and a neighbor who all got into an elevator together our first morning in Kharkov.
> Gathering as the Lord’s church is just as encouraging in Russian as it is in English.
> Washing machines typically can’t fit more than 2 pairs of jeans and a few shirts, and there are no dryers.
> Strawberries, “kloobnika” in Russian, are in season right now.
> I can now find my way to all of the missionaries’ 4 apartments, via metro, tram, bus or walking.
> Handing flyers out at metro stops can lead to some fun adventures.

We start Russian classes on Monday!

From UKRAINE,
-ej :)