I haven't written anything here in a little bit. So I guess it's time for me to put words in front of one another, punctuated by punctuation, and make a coherent series of thoughts.
I've had a busy three days. Thursday was my regularly scheduled language lesson. That went well but I had an interesting experience on the marshrutka. It was packed. As in, there couldn't be more people in there unless they sat on each other's laps. There wasn't even space for "standing room only." For the first two stops I was standing in the stairwell until some people got off. But I made it to the lesson with no trouble. After the lesson, things got interesting. My tutor rode with me for a few stops before getting off. At the second stop after she got off, the marshrutka broke down. Being the <sarcasm ON> high-strung, easily-excited, panicky <sarcasm OFF> person that I am, I immediately thought, "huh." It was OK. I didn't have anything other than dinner planned for that night.
I just followed the crowd. I was the last person off the marshrutka. By then I had about 15 cases of precedent to go by. I tried waiting for
the next one to come along but it and the second were packed. So I walked
about half a mile down the road to get to another stop. By then another come along shortly and I got on with no problem. I learned that day that if you
go in the back doors, just pass the money to the front. Make sure it's the exact fare. Less chance of anything being stolen. I even met one
of the staff from Kiev Christian Academy after I got back on. He was
heading home from work.
Earlier on Thursday, I had lunch with David Purvis. It was a introduction/planning/explanation meeting to help me get a little more acquainted with what all I'll be doing. He had wanted to do a get-to-know-you meeting for a while now. Finally after a month, we got to do it.
During Thursday afternoon, I got a message about the activities planned for Friday. A small church team is here from Manchester in the UK to learn about the Protestant churches here and possibly start a partnership with one of them. I was part of the group going with them sightseeing around the city. It was mostly places I've already seen before. But I think my ulterior motive (that I wasn't informed of ahead of time) was to be an outside voice from Big City. They are here to learn about the church and I guess they would want an opinion of someone who isn't a member. But it was good to be with them. It's interesting meeting other Christians from around the world.
The team is from a church called City Church Manchester. Theirs is a small church of about forty members. It's relatively young but has a strong vision for missions. They want to partner with another church to send regular trips.
Saturday was much of the same as Friday. Walking around, seeing the city, dodging crowds, and enjoying the weather. After the fun, we all headed back to the church office. I and Dasha split off from the group to get some things for dinner. She and Yuri are the geniuses behind Walking English.
David Purvis leads a group of new believers that meets occasionally. Dasha and Yuri are both involved in this group as part of it's ministry. Tonight was the first meeting since summer started. It was dinner, a game, and a lecture about the Bible. We actually had a surprise. One of the new believers invited a friend of his that had been at Liberty camp. To the best of our knowledge, she hasn't made a profession of faith. But she seemed interested in the lecture and didn't shy away from participating in the game. I think that's an encouraging sign. Please pray for her and this group. Her name is Alina. This group is one of the tasks I'll be helping with while I'm here. Being a friend, possibly mentoring, and just being there to talk. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.
Oh, I saw two familiar faces in Kiev today. The kind with seven slots and JEEP decals in the middle. One was even driving with all the doors off. That makes the Jeep tally for the week a grand total of four. A TJ and three JKU's.
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