One Body

Last Sunday our church, Дім Милосердя (House of Mercy), couldn't meet in the usual place due to the national elections going on. Instead, we met together with two other churches (one from Bila Tserkva and one from the town of Fastiv) at the Invalid Center across the street. We had a combined service with lots of different worship and the sharing of testimonies to the Glory of God. The service was held on the second floor so we needed to carry the people in wheelchairs up the stairs. It was encouraging to see how God is working here among the Ukrainian people to foster a true sense of community and brotherly love for each other.

A husband and wife from Fastiv


Maria's mom playing a bandura, a traditional Ukrainian instrument

After the service, the head of the Bila Tserkva City Association of the Children-Invalids and Their Parents, asked if I would be interested in getting involved with the children they work with. I'm looking forward to setting up a time to meet with him and see how I could be a blessing and more importantly, encouraging other Ukrainians to help serve God's children. In a place where so much darkness and hopelessness seems to hang in the air, it's a true blessing to witness God's church advancing as One Body.

Dominic & Joshua enjoying tea and cookies after the service

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:12

Acceptance

When we first came to Bila Tserkva, we were only greeted with stares and suspicion. Even the children avoided the strange looking American boys. So it's nice to finally feel accepted and even more than that, to feel trusted. Parents don't mind if their children are over at our place playing Uno until well after dark and the children outside will often offer to help carry our groceries for us. We regularly trade baked goods and fruits and vegetables with our neighbors. We know that because our building and the buildings around function much like bee hives, nothing we do or say goes unnoticed. It's nice to know that we have somehow managed to give the right impression.

(l. to r.) Zhenya, Olena, Vika, Joshua, Masha, Veronika, and Dasha

Today was unusually nice and sunny so Joshua decided to take advantage of it by hosting a picnic. He took down a deck of Uno cards and threw down a blanket. He barely had his picnic set up before Olena and Veronika joined him. It didn't take long before word got out and Joshua was mobbed by the neighborhood girls. (For some reason none of the boys were out today. Probably for the same reason that Dominic was camped out on the couch. TV and computer games.)

The little babusya with her bread

Dominic went downstairs to check out Joshua's picnic and he said a strange thing happened to him. He said that a little old woman (babusya) that he didn't know, gave him some money and asked him to buy her some bread from the store. She knew that he was an American so she spoke slow and was patient with him. Dominic bought the bread she wanted and gave it to her. She thanked him and waved good bye as he came back upstairs. He was so surprised that this woman, that he didn't know, trusted him enough to give him money to buy bread. It's such a blessing to know that by all of us doing our best to reflect Christ in how we live we have earned the trust and acceptance of those around us.

Chernihiv Conference

This weekend Dominic and I went to the church conference in the small village of Shestovytsya near Chernihiv. It was hosted by the church in Chernihiv that’s pastored by Jake Knotts.

Edna and Joshua stayed behind as Joshua was just getting over an ear infection and Edna was just starting to get a bad cold. Dominic and I had a good time meeting new people and hanging out with people we hadn’t seen in awhile. We met lots of Ukrainians and foreigners from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and even our home town of San Luis Obispo. Except for being a little cold, the weather was beautiful and Yura from Kaharlyk kept us well fed.

It was great to be encouraged by all that God is doing here in Ukraine and to have fellowship with others who desire to see God’s Kingdom grow. (It was also cool to see the Napoleon Dynamite skit at the talent show.) We ended our time at the summer camp/conference center by getting a ride from Yura in the yellow Kaharlyk biodiesel van to Kyiv.

You can check out Danny Foote’s blog to see more pictures of the conference.

Dominic trying to get warm.

Dominic inspecting the food.

Some of the kids fighting over the only source of fresh water, until...

the water pressure suddenly rose and Conor dashed in to save them.

No conference would be complete without a bonfire.

Maia and Jake. Please pray for Maia. She had to go into the hospital that night with a viral infection.

Give a Hoot

Ukraine is a very beautiful country rich in natural splendor and open spaces. That’s why it’s so disheartening to see it spoiled by trash and pollution. Just about everywhere you go around where we live, you see trash littering the ground. The worst places seem to be the most beautiful and the most popular areas to picnic. Plastic bottles, plastic wrappers and bags, and broken glass are scattered everywhere. The river is clogged with floating debris that washes up on its banks as far as you can see. You can try and ignore it and clear a spot to have a picnic, but you can’t really get away from it.

Every time I see a beautiful spot that has been spoiled by people just throwing their trash on the ground or in the river, I’m reminded of the “Crying Indian” in the 1971 public service announcements. Woodsy Owl also comes to mind. I wonder if places in the United States once looked like they do here.

The answer to most of the problem is just getting people to care. Sadly, most people don’t. The catch phrase, “People start pollution. People can stop it.”, couldn’t be more true here. I regularly see people drop wrappers as they open something or just toss their trash within feet of an empty trash can.

Some people do care, but not nearly enough. I was sitting next to a playground that was littered with trash one morning. An old man started picking up the trash and putting it in a pile outside of the playground. I started to help him and together we at least put a dent in the problem. As we were finishing, a woman came up and told us to stop. She said it was a waste of time because there would just be more trash the next day. The man just replied that trash was no good and kept working. The woman again told me to stop and that it didn’t matter because it wouldn’t make a difference. I told her that it made a difference to the man I was helping and I kept gathering up the trash. She told me I should stop and go wash my hands. I ignored her.

There is also the idea that it’s someone else’s problem. One day we decided to go out as a family and cleanup the trash around the playground where we live. A few of the neighborhood kids even helped us, but some neighbors of ours called us over to the bench they were sitting. They wanted to know why we were picking up trash. We said we just wanted to keep the area where we live clean and to teach the kids not to litter. They told us that we should stop because there are people that get paid to pick up the trash. We tried to explain that those people only come once a week and don’t do a good job. The general thinking is, “So what if trash litters the ground? Eventually someone who gets paid will come along and pick up most of it. Why bother?”


Unfortunately, we live at the edge of the city where the preferred method of waste disposal is burning, plastic and all. This brings up yet another issue, air quality. Evening seems to be the magical time when everyone comes out to burn their trash. The smoke usually rises to about just above the roof tops and seems to spread out under an invisible glass ceiling. The first time I saw this effect, I thought it was fog. Some days are so bad that the weather report actually calls for “smoke”. For people like me and Joshua who have allergies, this can be a problem. (I can’t imagine trying to live here with asthma.) Joshua is currently suffering from an ear infection brought on by all the drainage he has been having. The cure is almost worse than the ear infection. Joshua has to endure a week of taking drops, tablets, and a twice a day antibiotic injection that the pharmaceutical company describes as “unusually painful”.

Joshua's treatment plan

I know that people here are concerned about having a factory that belches out black smoke in their backyard and almost everyone has concerns about radiation, but at what point do people start to care on an individual level? What motivates a person not to dump their trash where families picnic and come to enjoy the natural beauty of Ukraine?

Back to School

School No. 16

Dominic and Joshua spent their first day at school yesterday. They both seemed to like their classes and the kids in their classes. Edna met with their teachers and after school she went to a parent teacher meeting. I spent the day at Baba Hanya’s helping harvest potatoes, but I got home just in time to watch Joshua doing his homework. Oksana, from downstairs, helped Joshua with some of his work. Then Edna helped Oksana with her English homework while Joshua and Dominic helped Maxime with his English homework in their bedroom.

What we like best is that both the boys go to the second session of school. They go to school at 12:30pm and get home between 4:00pm and 6:00pm. This schedule seems to work well so far. We are just excited that the school allowed them in and the teachers are being so nice. The only problem Dominic has is a P.E. teacher who refuses to speak Ukrainian and only speaks Russian (even though it is against school rules). Dominic has two foreign languages classes, Russian and English. He seems to be doing pretty good in English. Joshua is also doing quite well in his English class. He's teaching the kids in his class (as well as his teacher) all kinds of interesting new English phrases.

I Say Potato, You Say Kartopla

We spent yesterday in a small village about 20 minutes away from where we live. We went with Maria’s father, Fedir, her mother, Vala, her sister, Stacia, and a neighbor, Valeri to help her aunt, Baba Hanya, and her uncle, Serhiy, harvest their potatoes. (Maria’s aunt and uncle are brother and sister. Neither of them ever married so they live together in their old age.) As we got off the bus to walk the couple of miles to the village, it began to rain. It made for a beautiful walk as we descended into the misty valley below. The rain stopped just as we got to Baba Hanya’s place. We had a delicious breakfast and then headed for the potato field.

Edna and Maria before breakfast

Edna and Baba Hanya

I helped the men dig up the potatoes as Edna and the women gathered them in baskets and then into sacks. The sun came out after awhile, but it didn’t get that hot. It turned out to be a beautiful day for harvesting potatoes. Dominic and Joshua had fun with all the animals. Baba Hanya has chickens, pigs, cats, and a dog named Topeek. Joshua especially liked all the Ukrainian songs that Valeri would sing as we worked in the field.

Fedir, Dominic, and Edna

When it was time to go and we were all cleaned up, they made sure we had plenty of fresh vegetables to take home with us and of course some salo (salted pork fat). Needless to say we were all pretty tired by the time we got home. We took some of the freshly harvested potatoes and made Deroony (Ukrainian potato pancakes) for dinner.

Valeri, Joshua, Vala, and Serhiy washing up before lunch

Click here for more pictures.

Deroony (potato pancakes)

Deroony (or Deruny) is the word in plural, however it doesn't have a singular form. The last syllable of the word is stressed. Deroony are savoury potato pancakes common for Ukrainian national cuisine. They are eaten both as main course and as a snack, and sometimes even as a starter.

1 kg of potatoes
2 eggs
a bit of black pepper and salt
2 tbsp of oil
sour cream

Grate the peeled potatoes on the grater with small holes. Add eggs, salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly (better with wooden spoon). Put with the spoon small pancakes on the warm frying pan with oil. Fry both sides till pancakes are ready. Deroony are served with sour cream. Sometimes they serve as a garnish for the meat dishes.

Brothers

For those of you who have children, especially boys, you know how hard it can be for them to get along. Long car rides can be a nightmare and don’t even get me started about 25 hour long train rides. The Bible is filled with stories of brothers treating each other horribly, Cain and Able, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph and his brothers. So it is a cherished moment when we as parents can sit back and watch our children not only getting along, but actually working together to achieve a common goal.

Joshua and Dominic working together

Dominic stopped laughing at Joshua collecting scrap metal when he realized that Joshua was walking away with money in his pocket simply by picking up what others have discarded. Now the boys are working together to locate and retrieve scrap metal together. They have actually found pieces so big that it took both of them to carry it. They split the money and so far haven’t had any arguments about it. I was so impressed with their business skills (Dominic is keeping a log on the computer of how much money they make, for tax purposes I think) that I went along with them to help out. I freed up some large pieces that were under some rocks and concrete and helped them get it to the scale. The man and woman who buy the metal are a very nice couple. They get a kick out of the two American boys who sell them scrap metal. They are impressed by Dominic’s and Joshua’s determination to hunt down scrap metal so they can buy ice cream and chips at the store.

The scrap metal man laughing as he weighs the boys' scrap metal

As we were leaving the scrap metal place, an older boy walked up to Joshua and asked him for three Hryvna. I asked Joshua why this kid was asking him for money. Joshua replied, “Well, do you remember that place where there was scrap metal, but you said I wasn’t allowed to climb the fence and go over there? Well, this kid was really nice and for three Hryvna he picked up all the scrap metal and threw it over the fence for me.” Well at least he didn’t go where I told him not to.

Dominic is thinking about buying a small scale of his own because some of the other kids have expressed an interest in selling him scrap metal. He reasoned that if the other kids bring him scrap metal and he buys it at 25 kopeks per kilogram, then he can sell it for 50 kopeks per kilogram without having to do any of the work of finding and collecting it. I almost signed off on this little business venture but decided that storing scrap metal in our apartment might not be such a good idea, not to mention the steady stream of kids knocking at our door. I can’t complain though. Dominic is trying to find ways to be self sufficient, at least when it comes to extra spending money.

The boys sold more than their combined weight in scrap metal today, but before you think about getting into the scrap metal business here in Ukraine, you should know that they made a whopping $5.40. That works out to be about 4 ¼ cents a pound, but the average ice cream cone costs about 12 cents. So who cares, right? All I know is that our boys are working together and aren’t fighting over who made faces at who.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.” Ecclesiastes 4:9

Politics in Ukraine

Elections are scheduled to take place on September 30th so everywhere you look there are pictures of the three most prominent political figures. I can't even begin to try and explain it all so I have listed some recent links that explain their positions.

President Viktor Yushchenko

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych

Yulia Tymoshenko

Danny Foote

As foreigners, we try not take sides when it comes to politics, but I think you can guess where Danny stands. (Danny, you knew this photo would eventually surface.)

Independence Day

Joshua and Anya sporting their Ukrainian colors

We celebrated Ukrainian Independence Day (16 years) today by going to the amusement park in the center of the city. We took a neighbor girl named Anya with us and let her talk us into riding some pretty scary rides. The first ride looked tame enough, but Joshua and Dominic wisely decided to sit it out. When the ride that I thought looked like a kiddy ride began to violently fling us up in the air and side to side, I remembered something. The emphasis here is on fun, not safety. As I clung to the thin bar across my lap that was supposed to keep me from being flung to the concrete below, I realized how much fun I was having. Unfortunately I got carried away with the moment and let Anya talk me into going on "Storm". The ride took us high up into the air suspended by chains and various cables and then dropped us, not once but twice. Thanks Anya.

Me and Anya on Storm

Joshua and Dominic thinking I was crazy for listening to Anya

We went on a few more rides, but I stayed away from the ones Anya recommended. I talked Edna into riding on the giant Ferris Wheel. She regretted that. As she put it, she has an irrational fear of heights. After peeling Edna's hands free from the metal on her seat, we watched some of the youth that were singing and performing in the middle of the park. We stayed at the park until the heat and humidity wore us out. We're looking forward to all the fireworks tonight.

Joshua and Edna on a little coaster

Anya and Joshua on the spinning swings (Edna and I were on there too)

Bila Tserkva

"I love Bila Tserkva"

Many people have asked us about the city we live in, Bila Tserkva. We thought that it was time to share a little about where we live as our city celebrates its 975th anniversary and Ukrainian Independence Day tomorrow. Bila Tserkva is located about 80 km (about 50 miles) south of the capital city of Kyiv, about an hour by car. Since Ukraine became an independent nation (Ukraine declared its independence on August 24th 1991) and is no longer part of the former Soviet Union (most of Ukraine officially became part of the U.S.S.R. in 1922), the cities have all reverted to their Ukrainian names. Kiev became Kyiv, Belya Tserkov became Bila Tserkva, and so on. The official language is Ukrainian. Schools are taught in Ukrainian and everything is written in Ukrainian, but about 25% of the people in Bila Tserkva speak or prefer to speak Russian. As you go east of here, more people speak Russian and west of here, more people speak Ukrainian. Most people speak both or a mixture of the two. It can be a bit confusing at times.

The city was founded in 1032 and called Yuriev by Yaroslav the Wise, whose Christian name was Yuri. The present name of the city, literally translated, is "White Church" and may refer to the white-painted cathedral of medieval Yuriev that no longer exists. The story we have heard is that the city was attacked and everything was destroyed except for the white church. Since that time it has been referred to as Bila Tserkva.


Since 1363 it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and since 1569 to the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. A peace treaty between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Ukrainian Cossack rebels under Bohdan Khmelnytsky was signed here in 1651.

After the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 Bila Tserkva came into Imperial Russia. It was a significant market place in the 19th century. During the Soviet times it became a large industrial center (machine building and construction industry). The city was occupied by the Germans during WW II and saw heavy fighting when it was liberated by the Soviet Army in 1944. Bila Tserkva suffered from the German’s “scorched earth policy” as they retreated.



Today Bila Tserkva is a city of approximately 215,000 people according to the last census in 1998. The river Ros runs through the city and along the city’s largest park, Oleksandria. The city has large open air markets scattered across it where you can find just about anything. We prefer to do our shopping this way. You get the freshest foods fresh from the farms there. Large Soviet style apartment buildings dominate the city skyline, but they are in sharp contrast to the small village like communities that are sometimes just across the street. Mud and wood constructed homes without running water can often be seen standing in the shadow of modern buildings and businesses. Cows and goats grazing along parkways within the city are a normal sight. The line between city and village is sometimes a blur.

Ukraine has a long history of changing borders and being invaded by foreigners. Its rich fertile land has long been recognized as one of the most desirable places for agricultural production. People have told us that the Germans shipped the rich soil back to Germany by train while they occupied Ukraine. Our favorite joke is about an old man living in a village in Transcarpathia. When asked about his life he said, “I was born in Austro-Hungary, went to school in Czechoslovakia, served in the Hungarian army and then went to prison in the Soviet Union. Now I live in independent Ukraine!” “Oh you must have traveled and seen a lot!” “Oh, no, I have never left my village!”

Scrap Metal is Money

Joshua leaving after completing his transaction (you can see the scrap metal lady in the top of the photo)

We questioned Joshua one day as to how he had money to buy ice cream from the store next door. He explained that he saw some metal laying in the road one day and decided to sell it to the scrap metal dealer across the street. He said it was easy. You just ring the buzzer, the lady comes out, weighs your metal, and gives you your money. He has reasoned (and we can't come up with a good argument against it) that selling discarded scrap metal is a good honest way to make extra money. People will often discard metal by just leaving it by the side of the building or throwing it out in the street. We've decided to let Joshua continue his entrepreneurial practices as long as we can monitor his transactions. We were able to snap a few pictures as the deal went down today. We're just glad that Joshua is willing to part with all the "treasures" he finds outside. He's a bit of a junk collector and trader of unique trinkets. I guess he gets that from me. You should see all the cool stuff I traded for in Mongolia. (No Ken, it wasn't a booster charge for an RPG, just the container for one.)

Click here to see video of where Joshua sells his scrap metal


Joshua holding up the earnings from his latest transaction

Day at the River

Maxime, Dominic, Joshua, Edna, and Boris

After almost a month, we finally got our computer working. The only issue we have now is that most of our programs are in Russian. No worries though. We need to learn Russian as well as Ukrainian anyway.

Last week we took Maxime with us down to the river to barbeque shashlyk. We all had a great time including our dog Boris who never leaves our side. The best part was the night before we went to the river. We had invited Maxime to go with us, but we were still waiting to hear back from him. We were sitting in our room when we heard a little voice from outside call up to us. We looked outside and there was Maxime and his mother. We were having a hard time understanding what she was saying so we told them they could come up to our place. We were all shocked at how friendly Vera, Maxime’s mom, was. She came in and hugged each of us and told us how happy she was that we had invited Maxime to go with us. We hope that Maxime will get to hang out with us more often. We all love having him around and he has been helping us with our Ukrainian. Maxime has even picked up a few words of English. The only words he knew when we met him were “jingle bells”, but it came out as “chickum bells”.

Maxime couldn't wait for the shashlyk to be done

Swimming with Boris