The First Day of Spring? … (February 2018 Update)
In Ukraine, March 1st is considered to be the first day of Spring. In ancient Ukrainian calendars, March 1st was celebrated as the New Year – the end of winter and the beginning of Spring. Even today, people here still welcome it with some celebration and greeting each other. But, in Ukraine, it is anything but Spring! Just to remind us, March 1st greeted us with a foot of snow (on top of what we already had) and temperatures below 0 F! But I know from living here the last 7 years that any real Spring weather is still about a month away (and we can even have snow in mid-May sometimes, like last year!). Still, March 1st is a date that everyone in Ukraine looks forward too. It is a reminder that winter is nearly over and that it is time to start getting prepared for Spring.
Preparing to Teach …
Last month was mostly a time of preparation. Much of February has been spent getting ready to teach my classes in March. First, I will be teaching a class on the Theology and Practice of Prayer for the pastors and church planters in our seminary in the middle of the month. I will also be involved in an evangelistic outreach at a church pastored by one of our graduates. I will be teaching some students and workers about prayer and evangelism. Be praying for me as I teach on prayer and as this group of students prepares for some outreach at a local church in Kiev.
Then I will be teaching the Masters in Biblical Counseling group a class on research and writing for Biblical Counseling. There are a number of pre-assignments as the students get ready to research and write about particular case studies. So I have already been grading their reports online. Be praying for me as I teach this class at the end of the month.
I am also working on getting ready for teaching Research and Critical Thinking in May. And I am just starting to grade the Book Reviews (5 pages each) from th3 57 students I taught last month in Lviv. I am hoping that I can get these finished before my class on Prayer begins!
Also, I will be helping out again this year with our Campus outreach through English Clubs. Be praying for this outreach the last two weeks of March. The outreach usually attracts about 500 university students, most of whom are non-believers. I will not be able to do as much as I have in the past because I will be teaching two other classes this March. But I plan to help with interviews and come to help with classes whenever I can.
Somehow, in March, I also need to be working on an on-line class that will begin in April. I have a lot of lectures to get finished as well as getting the class on-line. This is the first time we will have this class on-line. We will be examining 5 difficult passages and helping the students learn how to properly exegete a passage and examine all the alternatives in interpretation. It will be a chance for them to put into practice what they have learned in hermeneutics and biblical studies classes. Pray for TIME to get everything ready for this class.
Preparing for Spring …
As you can see in the pictures, the path to the woodshed is well-worn in the snow and the wood pile is getting really low. This is really good news! It means spring is near and there will be fewer trips to get wood.
We are also preparing to try to get seeds started indoors this year so that we can have strong plants to set out in May. We are in the process of gathering the materials that we will need and hope to get some seeds started at the end of March or early April. We just finished our last can of tomatoes and we are getting low on other vegetables that we canned last fall. But we have really enjoyed going through the winter with garden fresh vegetables! We are looking forward to some warmer weather so we can get started preparing the ground for planting that will come later in the Spring.
Preparing our Children …
Katya and I have been talking about doing more with our family to teach our children about the Lord and also to prepare them for homeschooling. We have started doing some simple, theme-based Unit Studies. This is Katya’s first experience with homeschooling. Debbie and I homeschooled all 4 of our children and we had a wonderful time with them. We are looking forward to doing the same with Kristina and Nadia.
We have also been memorizing verses together as a family. We are amazed at how quickly they learn even difficult passage and often correct us when we get a word wrong! We have started praying daily for a different missionary and we have been combining this with showing them where these missionary friends live on a globe. Kristina now enjoys showing us the different countries where our missionaries live. Finally, we are worshipping together as a family and learning songs. It has really been a great time worshipping and learning together!
Having Fun together
But we are also having lots of fun together too. Kristina is our resident comedian and she is always keeping us laughing. Nadia is beginning to catch on too. Kristina loves decorating (even with her clothes on the floor) and Nadia enjoys playing with cars and dressing up. They both love cooking and playing in the snow. Here are some pictures of the girls just having fun!
Praying for Ukraine …
Please continue to pray for Ukraine. Four years ago in February (2014), Ukraine experienced a major revolution. We were here then and I remember the smells of burning fires as I traveled on the subway past the square to go to language school. We remember being wakened in the night to the sound of church bells ringing to call people to come to the square and help whenever the government forces attacked. From November until the end of February, tens of thousands of people stood against very brutal government forces in freezing temperatures to protest a very evil and corrupt government.
Many saw this as a revolution because people wanted to join Europe to get higher wages. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Everyone knew that linking up with Europe meant that prices would double or triple while salaries would remain basically the same. (That is exactly what happened in the first year after the revolution). But people wanted to be free from one of the more brutal, corrupt governments in the world. They wanted to be under a society that respected law and order. And they wanted a government that would be free from Russian control. Many called this the EuroMaidan Revolution but in Ukraine it was called a Revolution of Dignity.
Often people think this revolution only took place in Kiev. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There were similar uprisings in nearly every major city in Ukraine. Government buildings were taken over by masses of people and corrupt government officials were forced to resign. When President Yanukovych fled from Ukraine, most of his appointed leaders also fled.
Shortly after the revolution, Russia invaded Ukraine claiming while denying they had troops in Ukraine. They first took Crimea and then tried the same in Eastern Ukraine. The battle in Eastern Ukraine still continues and we don’t know when it will end. The result is that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians in the East have had to flee their home and resettle in Ukraine, Poland, and other countries. Many of our students have been helping in the war with counseling, preaching and serving in the military. We have a number of chaplains serving in the east also. Please remember to pray for Ukraine. While there have been many positive changes, there are still many important changes that need to be made to remove corruption from the country. And the war is not only draining Ukraine financially, it is killing and displacing many thousands of people. Pray for people to step in, provide assistance to the hurting and share the gospel.
Thank you for standing with us …
We are grateful for your prayers and for your support! We are grateful that we are able to make an impact in Ukraine by preparing new leaders for tomorrow. The work of preparation is a life-long job of planting seeds and seeing those seeds grow into fruit for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Thank you for allowing us to be part of this work!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya
Kristina and Nadia
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