"At 7 PM a main hatchway caved in...

...He said, 'fellas it's been good to know ya!'" Well....that's not really what happened. On the ship or here for that matter.
     I actually got really lucky today. My language tutor had a teacher's meeting and we decided to postpone the lesson until tomorrow. It gave me some more time to study and also prepare for the study. I'm beginning to see why being a missionary is a full-time job. With all the studying, meetings, classes, and teaching, it's extra work just to find personal time. I can imagine it's even harder with a family and the duties that entails.
     The study went well, I think. There are a lot of little details that I can improve on as the weeks go by. I need to rephrase the questions to make them more simple. Many of the people from the study are not believers. I'll need to tailor some of the questions to make it easier for them to understand. Also, the food needs improving. We had enough this time (barely) but I learned a valuable lesson with that. God created women to be great logistical minds. They know a lot more about preparation and quantity than I do.
     I'm using a study guide created by Intervarsity Press. It has twelve chapters that each take a section of Ecclesiastes and focus on it. The first chapter focused on the first eleven verses of the book. It's a pretty bleak section to start off on. But it sets the tone for the rest of the book. The study guide is written for college-age Christians. So I have to cut and edit on the fly to help make some concepts and points clearer to a person who hasn't had the same background as me. But I just walked them through the questions, with Marina translating, and tried to get them to answer what they could. I'll have to start picking on them by name to get some of the quieter people to talk. Ultimately, I left them with a question to think about until next week. If there is nothing that brings meaning, what resources can you rely on to bring hope to your situation? I got some interesting answers like "hope" and "a positive attitude." But I'd like to see what they come up with over the next week.
      By the way, it wasn't 7PM that my "main hatchway" caved in. Nor did it cave it. But I was surprised at the number of people who showed up. I knew ahead of time that a few members of Big City would be there. Like normal, they are there to facilitate things (logistics, translation, etc). Marina was my translator for the night but Yuri and Dasha (from Walking English) were there as well. In total, we had thirteen people, including me. I was only expecting four or five. Two were people who I had not met before. The rest were veterans of Liberty camp either from 2014 or 2015. 
     That's about all I have for now. We'll be meeting again same time, same place one Thursday the 8th. And for those who are interested, here is the advertisement (badly translated by Google) that Pastor Max made for the first Bible study.

Hello, hello! Tomorrow at 19.00 we attack first apartment and the refrigerator and Brian at st. Lviv, 22, kv.53, 12th floor (see the map below and tell the concierge that you are in 53rd for an American to visit). In the program: Deep Dive Brian in Ukrainian reality - a flash mob to surprise Brian: Remember! !!! Everyone who comes immediately excitedly asks Brian "Where is your food?" He goes to the kitchen (not Razuvious) and looks in the refrigerator. Then indignantly says Brian: "Yeah, you got a mouse hanged. Well, go read Ecclesiastes!" Tea and sandwiches start at 19:00 - do not be late! Then we discuss the book of Ecclesiastes. - EDIT 10/2/15: "Razuvious should actually read "without taking off your shoes."

      And enjoy this photo I took. From left to right are Yuri, Olya, Alina, Dasha, Bogdona, and Zhenya. This was taken before we started.