May Flowers

May Flowers

We had a huge thunderstorm yesterday and last night. It dumped a large amount of rain that was desperately needed around here. I was surprised to see that it looked as if everything turned green overnight. Flowers seemed to have sprung up and bloomed as soon as the sun came out. Dominic and I headed out to investigate this morning and take a few pictures. He took me to a place that the kids around here have nicknamed Dinosaur Valley. We hiked through fields of knee high wet grass to find this strange looking area. We finally came to a spot where the land seems to fall away sharply and is dominated by randomly scattered mounds of earth covered by flowing green grass. The entire area is concealed by a dense covering of flowering trees that add to the mystery.

Dominic sitting at the edge of Dinosaur Valley.

Looking towards the village of Palfa.

So what do you do when your pants are soaked and your shoes are muddy and the only way into the house is past a wife who has a passion for cleanliness?

You bring flowers of course.

Yura

Yura

Yura is a young man who works for Nita at God's Hidden Treasures. He works in the wheelchair shop helping to assemble and repair wheelchairs, walkers, and canes. He has become an expert at setting up the wheelchairs at the homes of people who receive them. I personally watched him give patient instruction to the disabled and elderly on the proper use of their new wheelchairs. I had the pleasure of visiting Yura at his home that he shares with two other young men, Zhannia and Ruslan, who also work for Nita. He gave me a tour of their garden and showed me all the painting he had been doing around the place since the weather warmed up. Yura has an old Soviet motorcycle that he fixed up, but on the morning I was there, it didn't "feel" like starting. I discovered that Yura can not only play the accordion, but seems to really have a talent for it. He played a song about Jesus for me and I was impressed at how easy he made it seem. He told me that he taught himself how to play by sitting in front of a mirror so he could see where to put his fingers.



The amazing thing about Yura is that he was sentenced to a life of confinement in an institution where he would have been until he died. He was labeled as "retarded" by the state and deemed unfit to ever function in society. Yura, along with Zhannia and Ruslan, were rescued from the retarded boys home. Nita bought a house for them and taught them the skills that they would need to live on their own. She gave them jobs and eventually required them to completely support themselves. They no longer receive any type of aide, but have learned to be independent and very productive adults. The people in the village of Forcee, where they live, all take a part in looking after them and have accepted them as part of the community. Yura invited me to go fishing with him when we get back so I'm excited to see what we can catch.

Here's a picture of Yura after showing a man named Pavel how to use his new wheelchair.

Edna and Nadia in front of Yura's house.

This is Yura's Soviet motorcycle that he has been "Ukrainianized".

Mobile Medical Clinic

Mobile Medical Clinic

During our trip to Bila Tserkva we were able to participate in a Mobile Medical Clinic run by God's Hidden Treasures. The Mobile Medical Clinic goes out to villages and provides free medical care to people who otherwise wouldn't be treated. It's a chance to meet the physical as well as spiritual needs of the people from the villages. Each person is examined by a nurse and a doctor from GHT who then treats, writes prescriptions, and makes recommendations for further treatment. After this, each person receives prayer and has the opportunity to have the Gospel shared with them. A Russian or Ukrainian bible is offered to them and they are encouraged to read it.

During our visit, not a single person refused prayer. Often they would tell us about their family members who they also wanted us to pray for. We were saddened by some of the situations that some of the women were living in. Some were struggling widows, some were beaten by their husbands, and some were suffering from diseases that left untreated would be fatal. Everyone was so nice to us when they found out we were Americans and were planning on living in Ukraine. One woman told me that she had never met an American before and was so happy that we wanted our children to learn the Ukrainian language. She started crying and told us how beautiful it was to be able to hear Ukrainian spoken. She said that our boys were welcome to come to her house any time and drink milk from her cow.

The building we were in is normally used for emergency medical treatment, but was not set up to treat patients on a regular basis or provide routine treatment. As an emergency center there were a few nurses and staff standing by, just not for treating non-emergency patients. It was when we were packing up and leaving that one of these nurses walked up to us. She looked around nervously at her co-workers who were standing nearby and then asked if we could pray for her. She said that she had seen how our prayers affected the patients and that she was in need of prayer too. She cried as we prayed for her and then asked if she could have a Russian bible to take home and read. The whole situation took me by surprise and made me realize that our actions can often be a greater witness than our words. It was a perfect end to an amazing day.

Nadia and Tamara preparing to do examines.

Everyone taking a lunch break.

Bila Tserkva, Ukraine

We returned on Saturday from our outreach trip to Bila Tserkva, Ukraine. We were blessed to be able to work with Nita Hanson, the founder of God's Hidden Treasures. She gave us an opportunity to experience several different areas of her ministry there. We were so busy that the time flew by faster than we wanted it to. Over the next few days I'm going to try and share about some of the amazing experiences we had. We met so many wonderful people eager to hear about Christ and share their culture with us, but it was on Friday that our hearts were really burdened for the people of Ukraine.



On Friday we were invited to help teach two groups of children at the Voloshka orphanage about Jesus. The first group of children we met were between the ages of 3 and 5 years old. When we walked into the room and saw their faces light up, Edna and I both felt our hearts break for these little treasures. We couldn't believe how happy they were just to sit with us and hear about how much Jesus loves them.



When it was time to go, we didn't want to leave. The children didn't want us to leave either. One little girl in particular gave Edna a big hug and kept touching her hair and telling Edna how pretty she was. This same girl, named Veronika, threw her arms around my neck and kept kissing my cheeks. Veronika had been watching me and Edna the entire time we were there, smiling at us and trying to get our attention. It really broke our hearts to leave. I was at least able to tell her in Ukrainian that Jesus loves her. Being with those children gave us a big incentive to learn Ukrainian since they don't speak Russian like most adults do. We feel that learning Ukrainian is vital to the ministry there.

Me and 5 year old Veronika.

Edna with Slava and Veeka. The second group of children were between 5 and 7 years old and were excited to meet us and tell us their names.

The children are singing a song about how Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be tomorrow.

We were invited to come back every Friday so please keep these children and the open door there in your prayers.

-Greg

Random Pictures

Random Pictures

Today is turning out to be another warm Spring day and I really can't think of anything to write about. Next week we will be in Ukraine so I'm just trying to get all my homework finished up and figure out what we need to pack. I was looking over some of the pictures we have taken and I thought it would be fun to share some of the more interesting ones.



Judah and Joshua up in a deer stand.



Dominic with a new friend.



"My what big eyes you have Grandma!"



"Does this mean we can't go camping here?"



Joshua and Grandma making fish soup (Yes, Joshua is using a hammer to help loosen up one of the fins).



"Watch your step!"

Just For Fun

Just For Fun

We all know that things are always more fun when you don't use them the way they were intended, especially swings. The fact that two adults were encouraging (maybe instigating is a better word) this behavior makes it all the more fun. You don't have to worry about getting in trouble for misusing playground equipment when your dad and your friend's dad are both trying to see who can spin their kid the fastest. These pictures are dedicated to my First Grade teacher Mrs. Sergeant who always benched me for spinning on the swings.




Joshua and Judah spinning out of control.



Judah's dad, Phil, putting a spin on Joshua.

Spring

Spring

This weekend was beautiful and it finally seems like Spring is here to stay. All sorts of creatures were out today. Joshua and I went for a long walk and saw everything from butterflies to deer. We decided to explore some deer stands along the edge of the woods. Aside from hunting deer, they make great spots to just sit and take in the view. Joshua thinks they make cool forts too. We weren't even in the first deer stand 30 seconds before a deer ran right by us. We ended up seeing quite a few deer before we made it back home. The best part was that neither one of us picked up any ticks. (Just in case you were wondering, Mom.)


Yesterday, we spent some time visiting the kids at the orphanage (Their ages range from 13 to 16). We try to go every Saturday and spend a few hours playing games, doing our best to communicate, and basically just witnessing to them by how we live our lives. We always leave feeling blessed and looking forward to the next week. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent our time there playing on the swings and kicking around a soccer ball. The kids there don't speak English and we go armed with only a few Hungarian words, but somehow we always manage to have a good time. We are constantly amazed at how we all seem to understand each other. Language is never a barrier when it comes to God's Love.

We learned the hard way that Hungarians play the card game Uno a little differently and more aggressively than we're use to. They really get into it. We still aren't exactly sure what the rules are but they let us know if we put the wrong cards down and we always end up laughing til our sides hurt.





(From left to right) Monika, Jordan (from the college), Sylvi, Allison (from the college), Cheela, and Edna.

A Darker Side

A Darker Side

While we were visiting Edna's grandmother in Osijek, it was hard not to notice the scars of war that still remained. We were told that at one point the Serbians were launching mortars and artillery rounds into the city on average of about 5,000 rounds a day. Edna's grandmother told us how she had to live on the floor of her apartment as she cared for her dying husband. As she did her best to describe the fear of the explosions that blew out all her windows, we could still see the marks where shrapnel had skipped off her ceiling and embedded in the wall. She told us stories about how people would be killed just trying to run across to the store to get food.


There wasn't a building around that didn't show signs of the battle that took place during the War for Croatian Independence. Even some of the playground equipment still has holes from shrapnel flying through it. Zlatko, Grandma's neighbor, told us that they try to forget about the blood and the fear, but the reminders are all around.


Zlatko shows Joshua where a round exploded just outside Grandma's window.


The red bricks mark where high-explosive tank rounds tore into the building only two floors above Grandma.

Osijek, Hrvatska (Croatia)

Osijek, Hrvatska (Croatia)

Last night we got back from Osijek (Oh-see-ack), Croatia where we spent the weekend with Edna's grandmother who lives there. It was only about a two hour drive so we were able to spend a lot of time with her learning Croatian. Croatian is very close to Russian and Ukrainian, so with the help of her wonderful neighbor Zlatko who spoke perfect English, we were able to communicate. Joshua had never seen his great grandmother before and Dominic had only seen her once when he was three years old. It was such a blessing to spend time with her. We thought that we would never see her again, never dreaming we would one day be living so close to her.




Edna even got to meet two of her cousins that she had never met before. Zlatko, his wife, and daughter were an amazing help to all of us and were so good to us. They were always so willing to go out of their way to make sure we were comfortable and had a chance to see the beautiful city of Osijek. They were an incredible blessing to all of us. They even took us to church on Sunday and had us sit next to someone who interpreted the entire service for us. The kids had a great time in Sunday school and discovered that a lot of Croatian children speak English (Engliski).



Joshua and a boy named Phillip that he met on the playground who spoke English.




Grandma or Baka as we called her, was always making us something in the kitchen. She was constantly worried that we weren't getting enough to eat.




Dominic in front of the towering brick cathedral downtown.




Osijek just after sunset from the foot bridge on the Drava River.




The foot bridge over the Drava.

Budapest

Budapest

On Sunday we traveled to Budapest to attend the Calvary Chapel church there. Before the service we had enough time to visit The Great Synagogue in Dohany Street, the largest synagogue in Europe, the second largest in the world. The inside of the synagogue was beautiful, but the Holocaust Museum was a sober reminder of the ugliness that had occurred there during World War II. When it was time to leave, we realized that they had locked us in and we were surrounded by two bus loads of Israeli soldiers who were getting a private tour. We had to track down the security guy to let us out.








In the court yard of the synagogue there was a weeping willow tree made out of steel. Each leaf had the name of a person who had died in the ghetto that surrounded the synagogue during the war. Over 2,000 victims who starved to death or died of disease are buried near the memorial in the court yard. Many people had left small stones in memory of the victims and survivors.





Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

Joshua 4:21-24

We were thinking of you the whole time Uncle John.

Eggs

Eggs

Well we've been in Hungary about a month now and things have begun to feel normal. We've gotten use to people saying "see ya" when they meet us, "hallo" when they leave, and a few other things unique to Hungary. So what does that have to do with eggs? Well, normal people can go to the store and buy eggs, so we decided that's exactly what we needed to do.

Yesterday, after morning classes, we walked into the village armed with our limited Hungarian vocabulary determined to come back with eggs (tojast). What makes this difficult is that they keep them in the back and you have to ask for them and tell the storekeeper how many you want. The first two stores were out, but the third and final store in the village had eggs. I asked for ten because that was about what I thought we needed (and I didn't know how to say twelve). That worked out because a full carton holds ten. The best part was the fact that they had just been gathered from the chickens they keep behind the store.

Edna and I walked home with our eggs feeling a sense of normalcy and accomplishment. This morning we had fried egg sandwiches. Life is good.