this week

Grady, Lena, Joseph, Phillip and Ruslan have been wonderful hosts.



I'm keeping a doodling journal, a Russian language journal, a food journal, and trip notes (devotional thoughts, Bible reflections, mission notes).
Doodling is just an iconic journey of our trip. We have begun studying the language word by word, letter by letter. The foods are so different, we don't want to forget what things are-- getting some really good recipes.

Wednesday: We finally arrived in Kiev around 2pm after leaving on Tuesday at 1:15pm. One of my suitcases was not with the other luggage, so Brett went to the lost and found, where they spoke english and located my luggage at the Paris airport. It took at least an hour to do all of that. We breezed through customs and found Grady and Lena waiting for us.
We rode about an hour to their apt in a rented van with a driver. (alicia)





Thursday: We left the apt and caught a trolley to get to the metro. We rode the metro(like a subway) for the first time. All of this was quite an experience. People pack into trolleys and metro cars like sardines at times. It is inappropriate to step on someone's toes, but it is almost impossible the way people are so close together. If you come to Kiev, get used touching people you don't know.
We got off the metro and got our first real look at the city of Kiev. People are walking everywhere; there were also political rallies going on because their election day is on Sunday.
We went in a mall, which looked a lot like what I am used to. There was American music playing in many places we went; also many american stores.
On the way home, we went back on the metro, and then walked the rest of the way, which felt like forever. We went to a grocery store and through the outside market. The grocery store was very similar to ours; we bought some vanilla coke, kit kat bars and snickers. We were very very tired at the end of this day.(alicia)

Friday: Brett decided that he and I should go on the metro today by ourselves just to say we could do it. I was not agreeable at first, but as a few hours past, I decided he knew enough to get us back home. He already knows a few letters in Russian from a trip many years ago which helped him understand more than me.
We found the stores Grady took us to and bought a hair dryer for myself because mine is not supposed to be used with converter we bought and Brett bought a gift for Grady and Lena. Grady had liked it the day before when he was with us.
Of course I had to go to the bathroom, so we found the Mc Donalds and had to make a purchase to use the bathroom. Brett just said Coca Cola and that was good enough without speaking russian. There was a code on the receipt to go to the bathroom, but someone ended up opening the door for me any way.
So, our outing was successful. We went out and made it back to the apt. I was relieved. (al)


Finally got Alicia's bag back from the airport late today.

Saturday
Supposedly the worst day of jet lag-- and I beleive it! At about nine pm, I feel dead. Getting up with the sun is fun, though. Did you know they have daylight savings time here, too? Starting tonight. (I woke up two nights in a row wide awake for an hour or so but was able to go back to sleep. I think the combination of walking so much and the time change kept us worn out for several days. alicia)

It was family day with the Bryan's... first we visited the pet market with Lena and the boys. (There were dogs, cats, bunnies, fish, roosters, etc, all outside of course under awnings on top of tables. alicia) Then we all met Grady to go to McDonald's. (We had to wait on a table even though this was a 2 story McDonald's; it was hopping. alicia) There was a church on adjoining property. Grady said the McDonald's was there first! We took an incline up the hill into the park. (this was a very cold and windy day) From this view we saw the entire city of Kiev. All the sidewalks are slushy with the melting ice. We are here at a unique time to see it fully icy, then melting, and before we leave, Lord willing, we will see what Grady calls the "resurrection" of Ukraine. (spring time) That's Easter language. Every Saturday and Sunday the main street, Kryshadyk, is closed off to traffic and made a pedestrian stroll.


Sunday
Brett's reflections upon Sunrise:
I will stand here and praise you my righteous God
I will wait while the sun rises on this foreign land we dwell in
I will proclaim the Lord's faithfulness,
call upon His Spirit
for he is the one who leads me
the one who must guide me
lest I be overtaken by everything in this world
But His Son covers everything.

God Bless your Glory
and renew us with your brightness
We know it has been here before
but we want to see it again!

A monument to praise will not do
A statue to a saint will not satisfy
As surely as the monuments may outlast our lives,
Surely they will not outlive our faith!!
When joined with your holiness
our trust in your promise will remain for generations
When your promise comes to fulfill
Our faith is eternally founded
and made into statues in heaven

Redeem our time here
Make sure the works of our hands
Come now Lord Jesus and shine upon the sleepers


Surely we would cry out and remember you if our plans were to fail!
Better to walk every step in the sunshine of your love

So bless our feet
bless our hearts
bless our faces
bless our hands
bless our words
bless this journey we call our own
may it be yours





Church was in Russian, which we don't know yet. But the most pleasant surprise of the day was so many people knowing English during tea time (after church tradition). Alicia and I recognized about 80% of the tunes (I am Mine No More, More Precious Than Silver, With all that you've done I will thank you, Jesus Holy and Anointed one, I surrender all, I am Mine No More, I will Call Upon the Lord, This is the Day, From the Rising of the Sun).

Example of the Church being a small Kingdom: Igor (who preached) is a newly graduated pilot looking for work. Last month, he was in California at a friend's wedding. He mentioned the friend who worked for Hilton-- I said I know some people who worked for Hilton (Robert Machen and Vicky Green) and mentioned the Hilltop Church. Igor's eyes got big and mentioned that he had been to the Hilltop church! We discovered that he had met Rick Machen, from Hilltop of Slidell, who had to eventually move out to Cali after the hurricanes of 2005.

That afternoon, we accompanied Grady and Lena on a date-- their first double date! We walked down the oldest street in Kiev (Andreyvsky's Spuyusk) which is now an artisan's marketplace, covered in stone, and draining water from the ice from the top. The main street downtown's name is Kruschadyic, we approached it from the backside. One of the main civic buidlings is from the Stalin era, Roman type architect Grady said, but I thought it thumbing it's nose at Roman architecture, it was so regal. Roman architecture had one column, Stalin used the people's money to build THREE on each corner.

(After we visited the marketplace, we ate a Ukrainian restaurant; it was a buffet. Lena and Grady explained some of the food to us as we decided what to put on our plate. Even though i wasn't sure what most of it was, i enjoyed it very much. My favorite was chicken inside a crusty looking roll. The dessert was very good. One of the things Brett tried was the Borscht (cabbage soup). It was also good. I know Dad would enjoy the food! After dinner we went to the opera. alicia)

The Opera we attended was called MOSES... besides varying way off the original text, the playwright took great liberty in making the story not about freeing Israel from the bondage into the promised land, but Ukraine breaking away from the old ways of the Soviets into the new freedom of the pride of their homeland. Propaganda meets art.


It's sinking in that we are going to be here a seemingly long time. It seems longer not knowing the language.
I've never seen such solid ice to walk on. I do believe we are here at precisely the right time of the year to see it melting. Sloshy sidewalk


To our people:
Check your emails for personal messages... send one to us if you haven't heard from us yet!
We will rely upon those of you reading this to tell us what you want to hear!

We had a habit in Lousiana of telling "where I saw Jesus"-- and I have seen Him here in Kiev.