A busy week

Since we last posted a blog, we have kept busy and on the road too much. On January 9, we went to visit Pastor Andrey from the Morningstar Church that we attend. We enjoyed getting to know him better and his wife, Nadya and their three precious daughters. We spent most of the afternoon getting to know each other better and learning how the Summer English Institute (SEI) played a significant part in him coming to know Jesus as Lord and Saviour. SEI is doing conversational English and this was what Shannon was a part of in July 2017. Lives are changed through this ministry and if you are interested in considering this ministry, contact us and we will give you information to contact Daryl Porter who is the EFCCM Director for Europe. You would be committing to four weeks in July and preparing 15 lessons to share with upwards of 80 people this summer. There are many different ways to present the English classes. Listen if God is tugging on your heart!

Later in the week, I was back in Dnipro to get a wheel alignment on our car. When I put the winter tires on, two of the summer tires were worn badly and I didn't want my winter tires to follow suit. Turns out the alignment wasn't too bad, but I also learned that rotating your tires is not a common practice in Ukraine, or it is limited to changing them seasonally. The amazing thing with the wheel alignment is that it cost me $150 Hryvnia (greevna). That works out to about $7.50 Canadian. Wow! I am curious as to what an oil change will cost me.

The next day we were back in the city helping Tatiana with an English quiz. We found out the night before, as she was looking for English speakers to talk with her students since Garry was sick. The kids were nervous. Most of the ones we helped were 13-14 years old. We were also nervous as we didn't know what we were volunteering for. It went well and was fun. We will attach a picture. Tatiana is the lady in black to Scott's right.
 

Tatiana's English quiz

The next day we were back in for church and then we met with Leana who is going to tutor us in the Russian language. We will begin with Sunday lessons after church and as time goes on we may add more to the schedule. The first assignment seemed daunting, specially to Scott. As the week goes on, it is coming together, slowly but surely.

Here are some illustrations:
I have a pencil.       У (Oo) меня (menya) есть (yest) карандаш (karandash).

Н = n; я = ya; с = s;  р = r; д = da; ш =  shah

 

We have a dog.    У (Oo) нас (nas) есть (yest) собака (sobaka).

б = beh; к = ka; ь is silent but softens the preceding consonant.

 

So who wants to join us in learning the Russian language?

 

Monday we worked at the assignment that Leana gave us. With the smart phones, we were able to record Leana going through the assignment. Our pronunciation and speed are improving. We need to persevere. Scott is finding it much more challenging than Shannon, as she remembers what she learned in High School taking French classes and uses it in our learning. Scott always said he got out of High School to forget English classes. That is challenging him today.

 

Monday evening Scott was back in Dnipro meeting with the preaching team at Morningstar Church. Scott has been asked to join them and will preach twice in the first four months. It was great to chat with others and discuss the preaching plan and the roles that we take. We are preaching through 1 Thessalonians over the next few months. Scott's first message will be from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.

Tuesday, we were back in Dnipro working with Victor. We received our temporary residency visas and then we also had to register an address while we are living in Ukraine. They were completed by early afternoon although  the visa needs to be renewed on a yearly basis. We really appreciate Victor and all the work that he does in getting our documents organized and completed. I cannot imagine doing them without him, especially at this point when our Russian is so limited. We went to a near-by restaurant for lunch. (The pizza looks big and we ate it all, but it is very thin compared to Canada and not a lot of toppings. It was very good!)


Pizza with Victor after our Visa was finished

We are attaching a photo of a song that many of you will know. The song is Oceans by Hillsongs. We really like this song, but it is so hard to sing in English when no one else is. We are looking forward to when we can join in fully in the song service.


Oceans in Russian