A Cultural Short Story

Julie and I went out with some friends to one of the malls. We decided to eat at the food court, and I wanted a baked potato, and yes they do have them here. So we went to the counter to order, and my friend Elizabeth ordered in Russian for us just a potato with butter, cheese, sour cream, and salt. You should have seen the look on the man’s face. He was confused at first because he thought he misunderstood her, so he asked her to repeat the order. She did again, and he thought she was confused because she wasn’t ordering any of the toppings, and no, for the record, toppings are not chives, sour cream, bacon bits, and all the good stuff. Toppings consist of various mayonnaise salads, for example, little mushrooms with mayo and dill, or another salad was mayo with corn and cheese oh and of course dill. As you can see from my dilemma, I did not want their toppings, just give it to me plain! For all my brave friends, come to Kiev and try one of these baked potatoes with the mayo salad toppings and let me know how it is. If you can't tell from this story, I passed on that culinary dish!

Oh and I will be sending out a newsletter soon! If you aren't on my email list, send it to me so I can add you to receive prayer and newsletter emails!

Leaving

Wow I am leaving the country in less than 48 hours! The time has finally arrived and I have such mixed emotions. I am very ready to be on that plane heading overseas, but I also am finding my niche here at home. This summer our church has the opportunity to work with 24 Moldovan college students and I've been hanging out with them for the past two weeks and I love spending time with them! It's hard because my ministry has been brought right to my front door, I don't have to go around the world to find it! I've had great conversations with several of the guys and I believe that God has brought them here to find Him. I am praying for the Father to reveal Himself to each of them this summer and that they will have a desire to know Him.

So it's hard to leave because what I feel called to do is finally here in my hometown. But, I do know that come September they will all be on planes on their way home to Moldova and I will be getting settled in Russia and speaking my newly acquired Russian. So to wrap up my mixed emotions for you, I am sad to be leaving family and friends, yes even new friends, but I know that God has something great for me just through that next door.

Oh and for those of you who do not know this, I am no longer going to Khabarovsk, but will be traveling to Kiev, Ukraine for language study until August. Then I will travel to Vladivostok where I will continue studying Russian as well as begin teaching English courses. These have been pretty big changes, but again, I can see God's hand upon each change.

I leave Thursday afternoon for Ukraine and I would appreciate all the prayers on my behalf to the Father!

An Invitation

All this time I've been waiting on an invitation. Well the invitation has arrived! I knew it would in God's perfect timing, but it's a little frustrating to have to wait with nothing to do. :) I still have a little more time of waiting while my visa is being processed, but at least now I know that I have been invited to the country! :D

Today I was running errands and I was about to change the radio station when this song came on. I can't tell you if I've ever really heard the song from the beginning to end, but God allowed me to today, and He spoke to me through it. Here's the song by Downhere-Here I Am.

Sometimes your calling, comes in dream.
Sometimes in comes in the Spirit's breeze,
You reach for the deepest part of me,
And call out for the things of eternity.
But I'm a man, of dust and stains,
You move in me, so I can say,

CHORUS:Here I am, Lord send me,
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is part of your plan,
Here I am

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans,
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands,
Are you not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that you will finish what you began.
These broken parts you redeem,
Become the song, that I can sing

(chorus)

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness,
And the fear that I'll fail you in the end,
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together but you can.

Photos from Home

This is actually an old pic of me and Bri at my going away party. I told her I would post it on here!

This is Noah getting baptized! I'm so proud of him!!

Brinks and I had a photo shoot, I don't think he really liked it...what do you think?

Harrison and I attended Ranger's Opening day..it was so much fun but cold!!

Jodi, Gage, me and Addi at Granny's house. Jodi and I look so much like sisters, but we're only cousins! This is what I've been doing while home, just trying to fill the time before my visa comes in for Russia. Hopefully, I'll be able to leave within three weeks!

Home

Well, my time at home is going to be a little longer than originally planned. I was supposed to leave yesterday, the 9th, for Russia, but I've yet to receive my invitation so I'm still here in Texas. I'm trying to make the most out of my time, and so far I have. I've gotten to speak to several groups, and I've been able to take care of extra paper work, like obtaining a 2nd passport. Yes, I said a 2nd passport, which it is legal by the way to have two active passports, but it's a pain to figure out how to get a second one issued!

Words that I've heard a lot and I've said this a lot the past two weeks are about this all being a part of His plan. I know this is all a part of God's plans. He has a purpose for allowing me to stay longer in Texas than originally planned, but I'm ready to go! :)

So, I do NOT ask for prayers on patience, because I believe that I am already experiencing enough situations that are teaching me patience. I would rather ask that you pray for me to use this time wisely, and that when I do finally leave, I will be completely ready to go, without any unfinished business or things completed half way. Please also continue to pray for the three people that God has for me to initiate and cultivate relationships during the next two years. Pray that I will be able to determine who those people are, to find the ones that are truly seeking from those who only want an American friend to teach them English (aka English Leeches).

BTW, if you are close to me in Texas, and you have a group that you would like for me to speak to, within the next two weeks, please feel free to email me southernbelle_729@yahoo.com.

The End is Near...for training anyway

Here are just a few pics from training, I have like 100 pics, but too many to post on here. So these are the ones that make me laugh or remind me of something good. These are friends I've met here at training, and there's also a photo of when it was really cold with snow and ice on the lake!! Yay for coldness, ice and snow!! Oh and the photo of just myself was one of the pics I took for my p cards...but it didn't make the cut.

Habits

I realized just the other day that I only have 2 and a half more weeks of training and I could stay here for longer than that! I do want to get to Russia, but I love it here. Our Father has shown me so much the past couple of weeks, and I have been watching and listening.

Something He revealed to me is that this time has been a chance to break old habits and start new ones. It's not that I had any bad habits(ie:smoking, drinking, drugs), just not ones where I used my time productively or ones that helped me grow, you know things like vegging out in front of the tv, spending way too much time on the internet, or reading my fictional books. Those things are fine, but when you spend too much time on any of them, it's not good. So these past few weeks have been a great time of evaluating my habits, changing them for the good.

Overall, I am ready to come home for a few weeks, but I could stay here for a while longer. God has been good, and to tell the truth, the person I miss the most, is my dog, Brinks. Yes, I did say person. :) I can easily make it through the next two plus weeks, and I am still asking for prayers to help me continue to be focused and listening.