Well, not exactly. It has been hot, very hot! But almost all of our time has been spent in the country and in National Parks rather than the city. But is has been hot! Arkansas especially has been experiencing the worst drought and heat wave since the 1930s.
And our summer has gone by so quickly! We are just a few days away from heading back to Kiev and we are a little tired from the whirlwind summer. But we’ve had a great time and been able to spend some wonderful times together with friends and family.
We began our summer in June in Arkansas. We spent a few days in Cabot watching kids for Joy and getting supplies together for our 3 week summer camping and visiting trip. This year we headed east. We drove 12 hours for our first stop near Cincinnati, Ohio to see Jim’s boyhood home and school (and Katya got to try a famous White Castle’s hamburger). Then we headed farther north to Lake Erie with a stop on the way to visit the Air Force Museum in Dayton (along with tasting some famous Cincy Chile at Skyline – notice the food theme :)). We stayed at a beautiful campground on right on the Lake and enjoyed listening to the waves from the tent.
Then we headed to Allegany National Forest in Pennsylvania. From there, we visited Niagara Falls and then went to church and small group with Wes and Darlene Myers in New York. The next day, we were off again, and this time headed to Connecticut stopping to visit a Shaker, Village in Massachusetts. We camped for 3 days in CT while visiting Boston, Plimouth Plantation, Newport, Rhode Island, Mystic Seaport, and the US Submarine Museum in Groton. Then we spent 3 wonderful days with the Ongs and Shepaug Valley Bible Church (with a one day excursion to the Bronx Zoo – wonderful! But not enough time to see the whole zoo!).
Then it was time to start the long drive back home. But we had some wonderful times camping in the Shenandoah National Park and in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park on the way back. From those campsites, we also took some trips to visit Jim’s college (Cumberland College) and nearby Cumberland Falls. We finished our trip with a day at the Space Museum in Huntsville, AL on the last day driving back to AR. Like last summer, it was a great trip with lots of great wildlife and history along the way. And it was great to see many friends that we have not seen in a few years.
We returned to AR to help Joy by watching the kids each day so she could work. I began teaching the Life of Christ class on Monday nights. Near the end of July, we drove to Florida with all of my kids and grandkids to visit Debbie’s parents in Sarasota. We had a wonderful week with them (even though my time was shortened by have to fly back to Little Rock to teach and then fly back to Florida again so we could drive home). Back in Little Rock, we are continuing to watch the grandkids and I am continuing to teach the class at John Brown.
The class at John Brown has gone great. The students have been excellent and classes have been a real joy. There have been many great discussions, especially about the gospel and the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Please continue to pray for me as I teach the last two weeks of class.
During our time in the US, we have also had the joy of being in at least 6 different churches. In each church, we had a great worship time and clear teaching for God’s Word. Our biggest difficulty is trying to choose which church to go to each week! We were also blessed with a new song that we had not heard before. Surprisingly, it was sung in every church we attended this summer! The song was “Ten Thousand Reason” by Matt Redman. We have constantly found ourselves singing the chorus over and over again, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul. I worship Your holy name!”
As we return to Ukraine, we want honoring the Lord to be the theme of our lives and the passion of our souls. When we return, we will get ready to receive new students and preparing for classes. We are also looking forward to getting back to our church, “Open Hearts.” We miss everyone there and we miss the ministries that we are part of in the church, especially ESL Club and small group. Be praying for us as we transition back into life in Kiev and the ministry there. Thank you for your support and prayers that enables us to be ministers for Christ in Ukraine!
