Big Steps … (July 2016 Update)
June has been a month of big steps for us in almost every area. We made big steps in ministry, in our family and with our house. Here’s a quick update about June and the next steps for us for July.
Big Steps in Ministry …
In May, I finished teaching my last class for this academic year. But I still had papers and assignments to grade before I could officially call it “summer break.” In June, I received 2 sets of papers from nearly 40 students so I set to work grading and evaluating papers from the class. Almost all the papers are graded and I will be working on final grades for this class. Hopefully before July, I will be finished for this summer! Then I will be taking a little time each week to get my classes ready for September. But mostly, I will be trying to get some work done on our house before the fall semester rolls around.
Thanks for praying for me as I taught at a church conference in Cherkassy, Ukraine. I taught on the theology and practice of prayer. Dan Upchurch taught on church planting and outreach. We had a great conference with this wonderful church in Cherkassy.
Big Steps for our House …
June began with a little difficulty. In May, we ran into a number of problems with the workers, including the contractor, not working. Out of 4 weeks in May, they worked only about 1 week! That’s not good when you are building a house. There were lots of excuses (holidays, other jobs, etc.) but none of the excuses were satisfactory. So we had a long meeting with the main contractor and learned that the biggest problem was that he was not able to plan more than a day or so in advance and then he could only manage one task and one crew at a time. So we basically fired him as a contractor and I (Jim) took over as contractor.
This was not something I wanted to do but it was clearly the right decision! Each week, I plan out the work to be done and assign tasks to the crews. Then I estimate materials and purchase and deliver materials for each job. This has been a real time-saver. Previously, the contractor would spend one day figuring out what he needed for a day’s work, then another day collecting materials for the job—while the workers did nothing while waiting for him! I have the materials on site waiting for the workers when they arrive so that they work the entire day. I also usually try to have at least two (ideally 3) separate crews working on different tasks each day. It’s a lot of work for me, but in the last three weeks (of June), we have probably accomplished more than has been accomplished in the last 3 months! And we are saving a lot of money by not paying a contractor. Fortunately, with summer break from classes, I have some extra time!
In addition to managing these projects, I’m also working on the house myself. I usually take a worker or two and work on a project while I supervise other projects. For a few weeks, we worked on planing all the wood for the floors. I had asked the contractor to have the floor wood to be planed at the mill, but he decided to save some money and get (very) rough-sawn wood! So, every day, I worked from morning to evening planning the wood for our floors. The floors (sub-floors) are installed now so I can move on to the next project – painting the walls.
In June, we purchased windows and roof materials that should be installed this week (they were to be installed in May but…). We also have another crew working on building our staircase. It should be finished and installed in a couple of weeks. We are really looking forward to seeing that completed!
We are getting more done and with me supervising, we are working more rapidly than projected. This means that we might be able to get into the house sooner and save on rent. On the downside, we are running really low on money. Please be praying for us that we can keep building during the summer without a lull because of finances. If you want to give a gift of any amount to help just designate it to 1700–Housing and we will use it for completing our house in Ukraine. Any amount would greatly help us out! We have kitchen and bathrooms coming in a couple of months so that will be our next big financial hurdle. We still have a long way to go but we are seeing progress now and that is a really BIG STEP!
Also, pray for us about electricity. We are still having trouble getting the electric company to give us electric. These public utilities are full of corruption and they give services when they are given “gifts.” If you don’t give a “gift,” it could take months to get connected.
Big Steps in our Family …
Probably the biggest news is that Nadia is definitely a walker now! She started walking over a month ago now she refuses to crawl for any reason– even to go under something. She tries to stand and walk through instead of crawling. It’s like she’s telling us, “Crawling is for babies; I’m beyond that now!” She is also running. This is really fun to watch. She wobbles back and forth until she feels stable, leans a little forward and takes off running until she falls. Then she does this again. She’s also starting to say a few words, especially Mama. She also enjoys following her sister around and doing everything she does (Kristina does not enjoy this as much).
Kristina is loving summer because she can be outside most of the day. She loves to walk and to jump on a trampoline. She loves to dress herself and she’s learning how to be a big sister which sometimes is quite difficult. Her language skills continue to amaze us as she speaks and understands English and Russian equally well.
Katya is enjoying her maternity leave and time being a full-time mom. We are also enjoying the beginnings of our fresh fruits and learning what to do with all the fruit—canning, freezing, eating, etc. Right now we have lots of cherries. Apricots are beginning to fruit and soon pears and plums and grapes will be here too. Our apple trees are covered with apples but it will be another 2-3 months before they are ready. It’s a lot of work but we are looking forward to the “fruits” of our labors far into the winter!
Continue to pray for Ukraine…
Every month, I feel like we are saying the same things about the war in Ukraine. It is now a “smoldering conflict” that suits Russian interests. Russia regularly sends men and weapons into Ukraine and seems to be using Ukraine as a testing ground for its military. They attack every day and usually kill 2-3 Ukrainian solders and injure around 30 more every week. It is difficult for Ukraine but also the rest of the world is beginning to forget that Ukraine is under attack by Russian and Russian-separatists. Please pray for peace in Ukraine!
Also, continue to pray for ministries here in Ukraine. We are training leaders here as long as the door of opportunity is open. Every day in Ukraine, our graduates are taking big steps in sharing the gospel and establishing new churches. Thanks for being our partners in the gospel here in Ukraine!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya
Kristina and Nadia
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