This last week has been crazy. We had a wonderful time in Poland. If you ever get a chance to visit Krakow, take it. The people are friendly and courteous (something that is badly lacking here in Ukraine), the food is terrific, the sites are beautiful, and it is rich in history.
Unfortunately their history is, in large part, about the horrific treatment the Poles and the Jews received from the German army in WWII. We spent an entire day visiting the death camps in Auschwitz. Call me naive.... I honestly had no idea that mankind could be so cruel. The German's killed 1,500,000 people in these camps in 5 years. That's over 820 people a day, every day, for 5 years. Most of them had done nothing wrong; they were just simply Jewish. We also spent a day visiting a pharmacy that was in the heart of the Jewish Ghetto that the Nazi's established in Krakow, as well as a tour through Schindler's factory. Fascinating, and sobering.
Our trip back to Ukraine was a long one. We started at 3:00 a.m., caught the hotel car to the airport at 4:00, and then sat in the airport for 3 1/2 hours because our flight was delayed. After arriving, we caught a cab to go get our car, and then had an 8 hour drive to Kherson. After 16 hours of travel we were "home".
Since we were unable to obtain our Visas in Poland, we've searched our hearts, and prayed for God's direction. It has become increasingly difficult to accomplish much of anything here because of the resistance we face from the house parent (who also happens to be in charge of all of the houses). He clearly resents the fact that we are here, and has tried to impede our influence on the Agape ministry. We learned to deal with that weeks ago, and decided that as long as we could continue to love on the boys we would stay. Unfortunately, he has now made it almost impossible to do even that.
So, we believe that our work here is nearly done. We will leave the day after tomorrow for Kramatorsk, to visit the house that the Green children own. We hope to meet with a builder there, and get a comprehensive bid to remodel the house for its future use as a transition home for orphans. We will then drive to Berdyansk and spend a few days at Mel's and Ruth's houses. We've been told by Alex that they are completely different than the Joshua house we now live in. We certainly hope that's the case.
We will then drive back to Kherson where, after a day or two, we will catch a train ride to Kiev, and then find a flight home. This should get us home by Easter Sunday, which we look forward to spending with our family and friends.
Sorry this is so short. I'm not nearly as long-winded as my bride. That being said, I'm sure Karen will post some good stories in the next day or two.
God Bless,
Bill
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Poland
Bill and I booked a flight to Krakow Poland a couple of weeks ago because we were told that it is easier to get Visas here. One key to getting our Visas was to get a couple of letters of invitation, one for where we were living and the other for what we were doing in Ukraine. Well, two weeks later, when we left for Poland, we did not have any letters.
Bill and I had been praying for the two weeks before we left that the results of the Visas would be our answer from God as to what we should do; stay until July or go home in April. Not having the documents before going to Poland we knew that we were going home in April, so our to trip to Poland became a holiday. We have never been to Poland and we knew nothing about it, but the moment we got to the city center and saw all the activity, restaurants, the cleanliness, etc..., we extended our stay before we even unpacked. We have found out since being here that our friend of Grace Place, Karen Springs, was unable to obtain a Visa as well. She has been here for 7 years and this is the first time they did not give her an extension. The new Visa regulations are making it harder and harder to stay in Ukraine.
We landed in Katowice Poland early Sunday morning. We thought that we had booked a bus to Krakow (1 1/2 hours away). We got on our bus and realized that the bus only went to the train station in Katowice. There was a gentleman sitting in front of us on the bus that heard our concerns and offered his help when we got to the train station. As it turned out, at the train station there were mini-busses that could take us to Krakow, so the gentleman helped us change some money for tickets and we were off. It was amazing to see so many helpful, smiling faces. In Ukraine it is very rare to have someone approach you and offer their help.
The bus ride opened our eyes to Poland. We saw beautiful buildings that were not in disrepair. The streets were smooth, they even had white lines for lanes. And people were actually following the traffic rules! We saw green grass in yards, dogs as pets, laughter, and much more.
We arrived at the Krakow train station and got directions to our hotel, which was only supposed to be a 10 min. walk. Well, I thought I had the directions good enough to get us to where we were going, but as it turns out I did not. We were supposed to go out of the station and turn right, okay that was easy. Then we were supposed to come to some kind of circle. I assumed it was a round-a-bout; nope, that is not right. We were supposed to go under two tunnels. Well, we found a tunnel that was the tunnel for the trains, but it ended in an amazing underground mall. We started getting excited because we were seeing food that we recognized; signes for McDonalds, KFC, steak, mexican, WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!
We knew we were lost so we asked another lady for directions. She said to go out of the mall, head straight and go under the tunnel and follow the signs for "Old Town". Okay we found the tunnel, but there were no signs that we saw for Old Town. We were walking through a beautiful park and in the middle was an information booth. Yep, we asked for directions again. He gave us a map and drew where we were supposed to go. Yeah! We got to the city center plaza; another WOW. There were people everywhere. The sun is shining, there are outdoor cafes everywhere, there are clowns on stilts doing balloon art. We see families playing, kids are running around chasing pigeons, we got to watch flocks of birds flying up into the air then swooping back down to the plaza. I felt like I was watching a movie.
At this point we knew the name of the street that our hotel was on so of course we asked for directions again. We had to walk through the plaza and continue on for a couple of blocks and there is our hotel. It is a nice quaint hotel. We have a porch where we can sit and watch all the activity. The only problem that we are having is the internet is very hit or miss, even if the computer is plugged in. So today we are moving to a different hotel for the last two nights.
After we checked in we went walking. Our main goal - EATING. I think Bill and I are going to weigh 10lbs more when we leave than when we got here. At our first cafe (outside of course) we drank a bottle of wine, ate beef carpaccio, vegetable soup, and pasta. Oh so yummy.
We walked around the plaza for a bit, but then exhaustion crept in. We had been awake since 2:00 a.m. so we walked back to the hotel for a quick nap; well Bill napped and I read. We left the hotel again and went walking around the plaza. We were trying to find a spot at a table in the sun to relax, have a drink, and people watch. All the restaurants were packed, but we got lucky and found a table, and sat facing the sun watching people. The most fun was watching the 10 or so horse drawn carriages taking people on rides around the plaza. When we got back to our hotel for the evening I realized that I got a little sunburned on my chest.
Tomorrow I will tell you about our excursions. For now, God Bless and happy dreams.
Karen
Bill and I had been praying for the two weeks before we left that the results of the Visas would be our answer from God as to what we should do; stay until July or go home in April. Not having the documents before going to Poland we knew that we were going home in April, so our to trip to Poland became a holiday. We have never been to Poland and we knew nothing about it, but the moment we got to the city center and saw all the activity, restaurants, the cleanliness, etc..., we extended our stay before we even unpacked. We have found out since being here that our friend of Grace Place, Karen Springs, was unable to obtain a Visa as well. She has been here for 7 years and this is the first time they did not give her an extension. The new Visa regulations are making it harder and harder to stay in Ukraine.
We landed in Katowice Poland early Sunday morning. We thought that we had booked a bus to Krakow (1 1/2 hours away). We got on our bus and realized that the bus only went to the train station in Katowice. There was a gentleman sitting in front of us on the bus that heard our concerns and offered his help when we got to the train station. As it turned out, at the train station there were mini-busses that could take us to Krakow, so the gentleman helped us change some money for tickets and we were off. It was amazing to see so many helpful, smiling faces. In Ukraine it is very rare to have someone approach you and offer their help.
The bus ride opened our eyes to Poland. We saw beautiful buildings that were not in disrepair. The streets were smooth, they even had white lines for lanes. And people were actually following the traffic rules! We saw green grass in yards, dogs as pets, laughter, and much more.
We arrived at the Krakow train station and got directions to our hotel, which was only supposed to be a 10 min. walk. Well, I thought I had the directions good enough to get us to where we were going, but as it turns out I did not. We were supposed to go out of the station and turn right, okay that was easy. Then we were supposed to come to some kind of circle. I assumed it was a round-a-bout; nope, that is not right. We were supposed to go under two tunnels. Well, we found a tunnel that was the tunnel for the trains, but it ended in an amazing underground mall. We started getting excited because we were seeing food that we recognized; signes for McDonalds, KFC, steak, mexican, WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!
We knew we were lost so we asked another lady for directions. She said to go out of the mall, head straight and go under the tunnel and follow the signs for "Old Town". Okay we found the tunnel, but there were no signs that we saw for Old Town. We were walking through a beautiful park and in the middle was an information booth. Yep, we asked for directions again. He gave us a map and drew where we were supposed to go. Yeah! We got to the city center plaza; another WOW. There were people everywhere. The sun is shining, there are outdoor cafes everywhere, there are clowns on stilts doing balloon art. We see families playing, kids are running around chasing pigeons, we got to watch flocks of birds flying up into the air then swooping back down to the plaza. I felt like I was watching a movie.
At this point we knew the name of the street that our hotel was on so of course we asked for directions again. We had to walk through the plaza and continue on for a couple of blocks and there is our hotel. It is a nice quaint hotel. We have a porch where we can sit and watch all the activity. The only problem that we are having is the internet is very hit or miss, even if the computer is plugged in. So today we are moving to a different hotel for the last two nights.
After we checked in we went walking. Our main goal - EATING. I think Bill and I are going to weigh 10lbs more when we leave than when we got here. At our first cafe (outside of course) we drank a bottle of wine, ate beef carpaccio, vegetable soup, and pasta. Oh so yummy.
We walked around the plaza for a bit, but then exhaustion crept in. We had been awake since 2:00 a.m. so we walked back to the hotel for a quick nap; well Bill napped and I read. We left the hotel again and went walking around the plaza. We were trying to find a spot at a table in the sun to relax, have a drink, and people watch. All the restaurants were packed, but we got lucky and found a table, and sat facing the sun watching people. The most fun was watching the 10 or so horse drawn carriages taking people on rides around the plaza. When we got back to our hotel for the evening I realized that I got a little sunburned on my chest.
Tomorrow I will tell you about our excursions. For now, God Bless and happy dreams.
Karen
Monday, March 19, 2012
Mixed Feelings
Today is Sunday, March ???. I have no idea what date it is, but I do know that we missed St. Patricks day. We did not even know it until Pastor Clay sent us a picture and a greetings. Pretty weird. I wish we would have remembered so we could have greened up the house for the boys.
A lot has happened since the last time that I wrote on the blog. First of all I realize that I really don't like writing a blog. It is like a journal, and even though I know that journals are supposed to be a good record of your life, plus a way to release energy, I still struggle with it because of a trigger I have with my past. But that aside I will catch you up on our happenings.
I was away for awhile visiting my friend Tiffany in Nikopol Ukraine. Tiffany's husband had to go home to the States and she was struggling with staying here by herself. I had only met Tiffany one time at church before we came to Ukraine. I believe the Grace Place Family bond is an amazing thing. We became fast, close friends. Please continue your prayers for the Degnan family. Their quest here has been a very difficult one.
Bill and I had planned to visit Tiffany on Sunday, but after calling her on Thursday night we left the next morning and I stayed with her for the next 5 days. I would not say it was all fun and games, but I know we both needed each other at that exact time. God's timeline is not to be questioned. I have to save all my thoughts regarding this visit until after their time here is done. But, if you would like to visit their blog go to degnangirls.blogspot.com
I do know that while I was in Nikopol Bill had 33 extra teenagers from the church at the house on Sunday night, and I am pretty sure he told me he went and read pretty early that night.
In the meantime, Bill and I are in Poland. We decided a couple of weeks ago to come to Poland to try to obtain our Visas, and we asked Alex to get the documents that we needed. Well, he was not able to get them, so Poland has turned into a wonderful vacation.
I have been thinking about it and I am so torn. Am I supposed to be disappointed that we cannot get the Visas, or be overjoyed that I get to come home. Bill and I have spent many hours talking about it. At first, when we started this endeavor, we said prayers to God to please make the Visas happen. Then we changed them to; "Please God, let Alex get the documents that we need for the Visas." Then the prayers finally came to; "Well God, we are going to Poland in two weeks. If Alex gets the documents we know we are supposed to stay, and if he cannot get the documents we know we are supposed to go home by the end of April." We have our answer now, but we have very mixed feelings about coming home sooner, rather than later. We know that we have had an inpact on the boys lives, but there were things we were hoping to accomplish while here and now there is no way to accomplish them. It must be God's way of saying "Karen and Bill, you are not supposed to build a greenhouse here."
Way back when Alex came to Grace Place, and said that they would love to have some Americans come and be house parents, Bill and I both got the call at the same time. We knew that this was what we were supposed to do. We had no idea how long we would be here, but six months kept coming into our heads so we went with that. I wish sometimes God would yell just a little louder for me to hear. Or maybe I just need to be a little quieter.
Well it is now Monday the ???? I still don't know the date. We are having a great time here in Poland. Tomorrow I will tell you some amazing things we are learning about Krakow Poland.
Hugs and Blessings,
Karen
A lot has happened since the last time that I wrote on the blog. First of all I realize that I really don't like writing a blog. It is like a journal, and even though I know that journals are supposed to be a good record of your life, plus a way to release energy, I still struggle with it because of a trigger I have with my past. But that aside I will catch you up on our happenings.
I was away for awhile visiting my friend Tiffany in Nikopol Ukraine. Tiffany's husband had to go home to the States and she was struggling with staying here by herself. I had only met Tiffany one time at church before we came to Ukraine. I believe the Grace Place Family bond is an amazing thing. We became fast, close friends. Please continue your prayers for the Degnan family. Their quest here has been a very difficult one.
Bill and I had planned to visit Tiffany on Sunday, but after calling her on Thursday night we left the next morning and I stayed with her for the next 5 days. I would not say it was all fun and games, but I know we both needed each other at that exact time. God's timeline is not to be questioned. I have to save all my thoughts regarding this visit until after their time here is done. But, if you would like to visit their blog go to degnangirls.blogspot.com
I do know that while I was in Nikopol Bill had 33 extra teenagers from the church at the house on Sunday night, and I am pretty sure he told me he went and read pretty early that night.
In the meantime, Bill and I are in Poland. We decided a couple of weeks ago to come to Poland to try to obtain our Visas, and we asked Alex to get the documents that we needed. Well, he was not able to get them, so Poland has turned into a wonderful vacation.
I have been thinking about it and I am so torn. Am I supposed to be disappointed that we cannot get the Visas, or be overjoyed that I get to come home. Bill and I have spent many hours talking about it. At first, when we started this endeavor, we said prayers to God to please make the Visas happen. Then we changed them to; "Please God, let Alex get the documents that we need for the Visas." Then the prayers finally came to; "Well God, we are going to Poland in two weeks. If Alex gets the documents we know we are supposed to stay, and if he cannot get the documents we know we are supposed to go home by the end of April." We have our answer now, but we have very mixed feelings about coming home sooner, rather than later. We know that we have had an inpact on the boys lives, but there were things we were hoping to accomplish while here and now there is no way to accomplish them. It must be God's way of saying "Karen and Bill, you are not supposed to build a greenhouse here."
Way back when Alex came to Grace Place, and said that they would love to have some Americans come and be house parents, Bill and I both got the call at the same time. We knew that this was what we were supposed to do. We had no idea how long we would be here, but six months kept coming into our heads so we went with that. I wish sometimes God would yell just a little louder for me to hear. Or maybe I just need to be a little quieter.
Well it is now Monday the ???? I still don't know the date. We are having a great time here in Poland. Tomorrow I will tell you some amazing things we are learning about Krakow Poland.
Hugs and Blessings,
Karen
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Another Week......
It's Saturday evening, and I can't believe another week has gone by. The last few days have been fairly busy, but for the most part, it's been o.k.
Karen and I each had our massage Thursday. That was a real treat. I've never had a 2 hour massage before, and certainly not for $37.50. I tipped the masseur 100 grevna ($12.25), and he was so appreciative I thought he was going to cry. Nice!
Yesterday, Karen and I drove to a town about 2 1/2 hours from here, to visit Tiffany Degnan. On the way there, I was pulled over by a policeman. This is the first time I've been pulled over without someone in the car that speaks Russian or Ukrainian. He started asking me questions, and I just played really dumb (obviously that was easy for me to do). I kept saying "no Russian, English". He eventually got tired of this and waved us away. No harm, no foul.
Today was frustrating, in that both of the house parents took off for a few days without telling me that they were both going, and left the kids here with no supervision and very little food. Half of my "day off" was spent driving kids around, and buying them groceries for lunch and dinner. On the bright side, I bought each of the boys a new table tennis racquet, and they are having a great time with them. I even bought a good one for myself, and was surprised that it actually improved my game considerably.
Blessings from Ukraine,
Bill
Karen and I each had our massage Thursday. That was a real treat. I've never had a 2 hour massage before, and certainly not for $37.50. I tipped the masseur 100 grevna ($12.25), and he was so appreciative I thought he was going to cry. Nice!
Yesterday, Karen and I drove to a town about 2 1/2 hours from here, to visit Tiffany Degnan. On the way there, I was pulled over by a policeman. This is the first time I've been pulled over without someone in the car that speaks Russian or Ukrainian. He started asking me questions, and I just played really dumb (obviously that was easy for me to do). I kept saying "no Russian, English". He eventually got tired of this and waved us away. No harm, no foul.
Today was frustrating, in that both of the house parents took off for a few days without telling me that they were both going, and left the kids here with no supervision and very little food. Half of my "day off" was spent driving kids around, and buying them groceries for lunch and dinner. On the bright side, I bought each of the boys a new table tennis racquet, and they are having a great time with them. I even bought a good one for myself, and was surprised that it actually improved my game considerably.
Blessings from Ukraine,
Bill
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Stari Zburivka Orphanage
As many of you know, the Degnan family is in Kiev trying very hard to adopt a 6-9 year old girl. They have run into may problems. I know that at one point Tiffany was ready to go home (boy I know that feeling). They are staying with Karen Springs (I mentioned her in our last blog), and Karen is doing everything she can to help the Degnan's find a child. While Karen was here in Kherson filming the Joshua house she mentioned that there was a 9 year old girl at the Stari Zburivka orphanage.
The orphanage is only about 1 hour away from Kherson, so Bill and I volunteered to go there and visit with this girl. Karen called the director of the orphanage to make sure it was okay for us to visit and evaluate the girl. We took Andrey Kisorets (American Andrey) with us to translate and we had a wonderful time. Not many visitors go to Stari Zburivka so even the teachers were curious about us.
We were ushered into a classroom that was very small (probably about 12' X 20'). We started with at least 20 kids and one teacher - that would make 25 people, 8 desks, and 18 chairs. It got crowded quickly. We were trying to not make it obvious that we were there to see one specific child. We started off putting dominos onto 6 desks that were pushed together. All the kids grabbed some and hesitated. It seemed as if they did not know what to do with the dominos. The teacher showed them how you put them end to end with the number matching, but they did not seem very interested. Instead we stood them up front to back etc... and knocked them down, lots of laughing.
I had decided to stand next to the girl that we were there specifically to see, while Andrey, Bill and Natasha (Andrey's girlfriend) stood at various spots around the table. At first the kids were barley talking to us; well that lasted all of 2 minuets. After about 5-10 the young girl we were there to see pulled me over to a different desk and wanted to play with Barbie dolls. I realized that I was spending all my time with her and decided I had better play with some of the other kids. The girl (sorry I cannot say her name) followed me and even though I was playing and talking with other kids she kept a hand on me. She is very affectionate. I would say she was a little passive, but it is better than some of the aggression that we witnessed. It is so sad to see the damage that has happened to these young kids. By the time we were ready to leave the little girl that we came to see was hugging me tight and telling me niet, niet (no, no). She desperately wanted me to stay. Natasha had two children hanging on her and Andrey had a couple on him as well. Once we got the car turned around Bill had to put on the gas and drive out of the gates quickly because the kids were running after the car and we were afraid that we might run one over. It was so sad to look back at 20 or so faces waving at us and knowing they did not want us to leave.
It is so heart breaking I just asked Bill if we could visit the Kherson orphanage on Saturday morning and then the Stari Zburivka orphanage in the afternoon. It will be up to Andrey, since he is the one doing all the translating.
Today is Sunday and we had a great day as well. House parent Andrey took three of the boys to another city in the van, so to get to church we squished four boys into the back seat of our little car. Bill and I decided to cook another american meal; a beef roast and mashed potatoes. We got a beautiful 5lb roast for $17.00 U.S. (136 grevna).
As you know it takes a while for a roast to cook and most of the boys got impatient waiting so they took off for town. Kola is the only one that waited around with us, so when it was time to eat the three of us sat at the table and had a very wonderful, quiet, pleasant, YUMMY dinner. I am upstairs and I can just hear all the other boys coming home. We will have to see how they enjoyed the dinner.
The orphanage is only about 1 hour away from Kherson, so Bill and I volunteered to go there and visit with this girl. Karen called the director of the orphanage to make sure it was okay for us to visit and evaluate the girl. We took Andrey Kisorets (American Andrey) with us to translate and we had a wonderful time. Not many visitors go to Stari Zburivka so even the teachers were curious about us.
We were ushered into a classroom that was very small (probably about 12' X 20'). We started with at least 20 kids and one teacher - that would make 25 people, 8 desks, and 18 chairs. It got crowded quickly. We were trying to not make it obvious that we were there to see one specific child. We started off putting dominos onto 6 desks that were pushed together. All the kids grabbed some and hesitated. It seemed as if they did not know what to do with the dominos. The teacher showed them how you put them end to end with the number matching, but they did not seem very interested. Instead we stood them up front to back etc... and knocked them down, lots of laughing.
I had decided to stand next to the girl that we were there specifically to see, while Andrey, Bill and Natasha (Andrey's girlfriend) stood at various spots around the table. At first the kids were barley talking to us; well that lasted all of 2 minuets. After about 5-10 the young girl we were there to see pulled me over to a different desk and wanted to play with Barbie dolls. I realized that I was spending all my time with her and decided I had better play with some of the other kids. The girl (sorry I cannot say her name) followed me and even though I was playing and talking with other kids she kept a hand on me. She is very affectionate. I would say she was a little passive, but it is better than some of the aggression that we witnessed. It is so sad to see the damage that has happened to these young kids. By the time we were ready to leave the little girl that we came to see was hugging me tight and telling me niet, niet (no, no). She desperately wanted me to stay. Natasha had two children hanging on her and Andrey had a couple on him as well. Once we got the car turned around Bill had to put on the gas and drive out of the gates quickly because the kids were running after the car and we were afraid that we might run one over. It was so sad to look back at 20 or so faces waving at us and knowing they did not want us to leave.
It is so heart breaking I just asked Bill if we could visit the Kherson orphanage on Saturday morning and then the Stari Zburivka orphanage in the afternoon. It will be up to Andrey, since he is the one doing all the translating.
Today is Sunday and we had a great day as well. House parent Andrey took three of the boys to another city in the van, so to get to church we squished four boys into the back seat of our little car. Bill and I decided to cook another american meal; a beef roast and mashed potatoes. We got a beautiful 5lb roast for $17.00 U.S. (136 grevna).
As you know it takes a while for a roast to cook and most of the boys got impatient waiting so they took off for town. Kola is the only one that waited around with us, so when it was time to eat the three of us sat at the table and had a very wonderful, quiet, pleasant, YUMMY dinner. I am upstairs and I can just hear all the other boys coming home. We will have to see how they enjoyed the dinner.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Evil Spirits
I guess it has been a while since our last blog.... the days are going by quickly.
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior about 3 years ago and was baptized in July of 2011. During that time I've heard many stories in church, from a variety of people, about how they were being attacked spiritually. They've told us how they would pray and tell the evil spirits to leave them. I really did not know what to think about this, and it felt very foreign to me.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been feeling very depressed and lost. I could not figure out why I was in Ukraine. I was irritated at Bill all the time for some really silly things, and all I wanted to do was just come home. I was teary eyed all the time and could cry at the drop of a hat. When Bill and I would talk there were times I would have to tell him we needed to change the subject because I could not handle the discussion. Then there were times I just did not want to be in Bill's presence, and many times I did not want to be around the boys. I would go up to our room as soon as I felt I could get away with it. I would absorb myself into my book to be somewhere else.
Bill and I decided to go away for a few days to recoup and I thought that would make me feel all better. Well, I was still getting very irritated with Bill, for no reason. It was now Saturday and I knew Grace Place would be taking prayer requests, and I wanted to get on the list. I e-mailed Pastor Clay my request and he not only put in the request, he sent me a wonderful e-mail back. It was full of encouragement and some helpful advise about being spiritually attacked. One of the things that Pastor Clay said to do was to verbally tell the evil spirits to leave.
I had to ask Bill what this really meant. Am I just supposed to say a prayer? I'd been doing that and I did not feel better. Did it mean to yell at the devil, or what? He said no, just talk out loud, and tell the evil spirits to leave. I still felt very foolish. I know I shouldn't feel that way but I did. I waited until Bill was in the shower and I started telling the devil to go away. At first I was timid, and then I realized I was getting angry at the evil one for even being there. It was not until we had been back in Kherson for a couple of days that I realized I was at peace again.
While I was growing up one of the arguments that I had with religious people was that I wanted proof. This week I got proof. My plea to anyone reading this blog is to use the gifts that God has given us to maintain your Christian course, and if yelling at the top of your lungs to get the evil spirits away from you is what you feel like you need to do, then DO IT.
I am very thankful everyday that Bill and I found Grace Place and that the pastors and everyone that I meet is helping me to become who God wanted me to be all along.
Now that I was feeling better the evil spirits decided to attack Bill for a while. This week has been extremely hard on him. Today he is much better and our relationship is thriving better today than it has ever been.
We have four new boys at the house. One of the boys (Arteom) goes to college in Kiev so we only see him every few weeks. The other three boys are Kola (not pronounced like the soda), Losha and Vlad. All of them are great boys. Kola and Vlad both speak pretty good english and it is fun talking to them because when we are all laughing we all know why.
Other than what I've shared, things have been pretty normal around here. Normal for Ukraine any how. Karen Springs from CBN has a film crew here to do some filming of the Joshua house and we were informed that she wants to film Bill and I teaching English. Boy I hope I don't make any bad mistakes.
Karen is a wonderful lady, and everyone coming here from Grace Place usually gets to know her. Part of her ministry is a hospitality ministry. She opens her home up to anyone that is coming to Ukraine to adopt or work with orphans AND she speaks English. She is from Seattle, and has been in Ukraine for 7 years. Karen has a huge heart for people.
To end the blog today we are attaching some pictures from our Odessa trip.
God Bless,
Karen
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior about 3 years ago and was baptized in July of 2011. During that time I've heard many stories in church, from a variety of people, about how they were being attacked spiritually. They've told us how they would pray and tell the evil spirits to leave them. I really did not know what to think about this, and it felt very foreign to me.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been feeling very depressed and lost. I could not figure out why I was in Ukraine. I was irritated at Bill all the time for some really silly things, and all I wanted to do was just come home. I was teary eyed all the time and could cry at the drop of a hat. When Bill and I would talk there were times I would have to tell him we needed to change the subject because I could not handle the discussion. Then there were times I just did not want to be in Bill's presence, and many times I did not want to be around the boys. I would go up to our room as soon as I felt I could get away with it. I would absorb myself into my book to be somewhere else.
Bill and I decided to go away for a few days to recoup and I thought that would make me feel all better. Well, I was still getting very irritated with Bill, for no reason. It was now Saturday and I knew Grace Place would be taking prayer requests, and I wanted to get on the list. I e-mailed Pastor Clay my request and he not only put in the request, he sent me a wonderful e-mail back. It was full of encouragement and some helpful advise about being spiritually attacked. One of the things that Pastor Clay said to do was to verbally tell the evil spirits to leave.
I had to ask Bill what this really meant. Am I just supposed to say a prayer? I'd been doing that and I did not feel better. Did it mean to yell at the devil, or what? He said no, just talk out loud, and tell the evil spirits to leave. I still felt very foolish. I know I shouldn't feel that way but I did. I waited until Bill was in the shower and I started telling the devil to go away. At first I was timid, and then I realized I was getting angry at the evil one for even being there. It was not until we had been back in Kherson for a couple of days that I realized I was at peace again.
While I was growing up one of the arguments that I had with religious people was that I wanted proof. This week I got proof. My plea to anyone reading this blog is to use the gifts that God has given us to maintain your Christian course, and if yelling at the top of your lungs to get the evil spirits away from you is what you feel like you need to do, then DO IT.
I am very thankful everyday that Bill and I found Grace Place and that the pastors and everyone that I meet is helping me to become who God wanted me to be all along.
Now that I was feeling better the evil spirits decided to attack Bill for a while. This week has been extremely hard on him. Today he is much better and our relationship is thriving better today than it has ever been.
We have four new boys at the house. One of the boys (Arteom) goes to college in Kiev so we only see him every few weeks. The other three boys are Kola (not pronounced like the soda), Losha and Vlad. All of them are great boys. Kola and Vlad both speak pretty good english and it is fun talking to them because when we are all laughing we all know why.
Other than what I've shared, things have been pretty normal around here. Normal for Ukraine any how. Karen Springs from CBN has a film crew here to do some filming of the Joshua house and we were informed that she wants to film Bill and I teaching English. Boy I hope I don't make any bad mistakes.
Karen is a wonderful lady, and everyone coming here from Grace Place usually gets to know her. Part of her ministry is a hospitality ministry. She opens her home up to anyone that is coming to Ukraine to adopt or work with orphans AND she speaks English. She is from Seattle, and has been in Ukraine for 7 years. Karen has a huge heart for people.
To end the blog today we are attaching some pictures from our Odessa trip.
God Bless,
Karen
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