Веши and things

     Another short update. I've been noticing on weekends that I'm really tired. More so than during the week. I think I just need to think about something else for a few days. My mom will be here on Thursday. Then I can have a bit of a vacation.

     As I've teased and hinted at over the past few posts, Sunday was the first official, non-holiday worship service for Liberty. Besides the Liberty team, I counted nine others. Some stayed after English to see what it was about. Others had been at the retreat or other Liberty events in the past.

     For a first-time event, I think it went well. It had a few rough spots as far as execution. But on the whole, it was good. Pastor Max preached for about thirty minutes from Mathew 13:44-52. It's the first in a series on the parables of Jesus. This passage has several parables. For this first sermon, he focused on verse 44 and it's lesson about the treasure in the field.
     I didn't have a translator this time. But a phrase that kept coming up that I understood was "смысл жизни." It means "meaning of life." That's a very specific direction to be going in a first sermon to this group. Some of them have come to other worship services. However I don't believe many of them have had a Protestant church background. My involvement in Liberty is very separate from the preaching. I don't know much about the direction Max has in mind for this sermon series. I'll just have to see where it goes.

     And now for something completely different. Here is an example of the work I'm currently doing in my language lessons. These are two pages from the workbook my tutor is teaching from. With this lesson, I had to read, translate, and memorize new vocabulary before the next lesson. That's where I had to retell the story in my own (Russian!) words.

     I also found this little guy stuck to the outside wall of my apartment building. Back in the US, there was a bit of an infestation. Here, not so much.

     OK, that's all for now. I'm leaving in about 15 minutes to go to the office. We're having another sushi meeting tonight. From what I heard, the person who was invited is already a Christian. But he was invited before we knew that. So this will be more of a fellowship time.

P.S. Let this be a lesson. Never assume anything. There is a difference between being spiritual and being a Christian. A person can follow the Ten Commandments and like the spirituality of an Orthodox church. But that doesn't mean they've made a commitment to follow Christ. That's a semi-unique challenge get of preaching the Gospel here in Ukraine. Much like in the US, many people are "Christian by heritage" and not by choice. That can make it difficult to have an in-road for the Gospel. But every once in a while, an interested or open person comes along. Last night, it was a pair of people that had been looking for a very long time.