And the river meets...

Spring has come!! For days I've gotten up from bed, looked out the window and have been overjoyed to see the Dniepr river melting more and more! And now, as of yesterday morning, the final pieces melted in the middle, making streams meet! Of course, there's still ice along the edge and the crazy ice fishermen are still there, but it's happening! And today I only had one layer of stockings on under my skirt rather than three! Yay!!!

And the weather isn't the only thing changing lately. This past Wednesday marked the beginning of the Discipleship Training School! Most of the students arrived on Wednesday, with one coming Thursday and another to come tomorrow. So, the final count is 8 staff and 15 students - 8 Belarussians, 2 Ukrainians, 1 American, 1 Moldovan, 1 girl from Uzbekistan, 1 Polish guy, and possibly a girl from Cameroon if her visa comes through tomorrow (Pray!!). So very diverse. So very Russian speaking...oh dear. The one American studied Russian in university, so she's fluent. Good times.

So, we've got quite a challenge before us. I've gone back and forth a lot this week with my feelings about it. What was God thinking bringing us here? How can I possibly be of any use? How can my gifts and abilities be used in this school? Lots of those questions swirling around in my head. And though I have so many moments of frustration and doubt, the one thing that is constant is that I know God is in this. I know He has brought us here. I know there is a purpose in it even though I can't see how there possibly could be. But it's hard. Please pray for Torben and I. God's placed us in a difficult position, but I can already feel that He's not going to leave us alone in this.

Already, He has sent us both different encouragements. Bringing verses about perseverance and depending on Him to our minds. The speaker in our base meeting Friday night was speaking about perseverance and keeping on running the race. One of the best speakers from our own DTS, Val Smith, randomly happened to be in Kiev this weekend, so we've had the chance to hang out with her a bit and be encouraged by her. God's not leaving us alone even though He's brought us to a difficult place.