I won't be posting every day this weekend. I just don't have a lot of time between the end of activities and sleep time. Last night I was playing THIS game until almost 1AM. It's like someone crossed Four-Square with soccer. It's fun and a little addicting.
This weekend, starting yesterday, morning is the Big City Church retreat. We're at a camp north of Kiev right on a part of the Dnipr river called the Kiev Sea. The accomodations seem fairly standard for camps here. No AC but the weather has been beautiful. No need for it. Like most retreats, this is designed to give the church members a chance to relax without the demands of daily life. Classes were organized for them to learn while having fun. As I'm writing this, there is a break-dancing class going on nearby. Yesterday, there was shooting (just airsoft) and makeup. There will also be cooking (making blini), kite making (taught by me), disc - golf, and water games. After the stress of two camps (for some people), they need a break. The food hasn't been bad either. Maybe I'm just getting used to it. I managed to finish the plate of plain buckwheat that was served for breakfast.
Pastor Jerry, who was teaching the elder class this week, is also the featured speaker for the weekend. Friday night he spoke about the church and some of the attributes it should have. Things like family and worship. He'll be continuing that theme through the time here. Today he spoke about compassion and patience and the need for the church to be attractive to non-believers.
On the English front, it's also been a good time for people to practice. I didn't realize there were so many people in the church who could speak it. At this point, I think there are more who can than can't. But being here is also forcing me to learn Russian too. Just listening to people, I hear words I recognize but I can also make guesses at other words.
We finished off the night with an un-talent show. One thing I've learned here is that Ukrainians love to perform. If it's just a silly little skit or song, they don't have much regard for getting laughed at. The point is that other people are laughing and having fun along with them.
I don't know if mentioned the challenges at Liberty camp. Yes, there were difficulties but this is different. The students got a challenge on a piece of paper that they had to complete. The person with the most points at the end of the week was Kostya. The game was continued this weekend. I'm convinced that the point of a lot of the challenges was to laugh at the Americans. But it's all in good fun. Four of us got to stand in front of the group and sing a children's song in Russian. Trainwreck is a good way of describing it. But they liked it so it must have been ok.
Included for posterity is a photo of the break-dancing class.
This weekend, starting yesterday, morning is the Big City Church retreat. We're at a camp north of Kiev right on a part of the Dnipr river called the Kiev Sea. The accomodations seem fairly standard for camps here. No AC but the weather has been beautiful. No need for it. Like most retreats, this is designed to give the church members a chance to relax without the demands of daily life. Classes were organized for them to learn while having fun. As I'm writing this, there is a break-dancing class going on nearby. Yesterday, there was shooting (just airsoft) and makeup. There will also be cooking (making blini), kite making (taught by me), disc - golf, and water games. After the stress of two camps (for some people), they need a break. The food hasn't been bad either. Maybe I'm just getting used to it. I managed to finish the plate of plain buckwheat that was served for breakfast.
Pastor Jerry, who was teaching the elder class this week, is also the featured speaker for the weekend. Friday night he spoke about the church and some of the attributes it should have. Things like family and worship. He'll be continuing that theme through the time here. Today he spoke about compassion and patience and the need for the church to be attractive to non-believers.
On the English front, it's also been a good time for people to practice. I didn't realize there were so many people in the church who could speak it. At this point, I think there are more who can than can't. But being here is also forcing me to learn Russian too. Just listening to people, I hear words I recognize but I can also make guesses at other words.
We finished off the night with an un-talent show. One thing I've learned here is that Ukrainians love to perform. If it's just a silly little skit or song, they don't have much regard for getting laughed at. The point is that other people are laughing and having fun along with them.
I don't know if mentioned the challenges at Liberty camp. Yes, there were difficulties but this is different. The students got a challenge on a piece of paper that they had to complete. The person with the most points at the end of the week was Kostya. The game was continued this weekend. I'm convinced that the point of a lot of the challenges was to laugh at the Americans. But it's all in good fun. Four of us got to stand in front of the group and sing a children's song in Russian. Trainwreck is a good way of describing it. But they liked it so it must have been ok.
Included for posterity is a photo of the break-dancing class.
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