Some pictures

Merete and I trying to bargain for some of our souveniers, but
we needed Torben to step in and charm this lady to get a good
price :)

Another one of the beautiful Orthodox churches here in Kiev. We stepped inside this one and witnessed a baby baptism, complete with incense waving and the priest singing.

Merete

I was going to do a nice long blog about the teaching topic of two weeks ago - Biblical Worldview and the Kingdom of God. It was so entirely interesting and thought provoking and convicting. It really challenged all of us, staff and students alike to take a good hard look at our lives and where we are not living in line with a Biblical Worldview. I was going to write a long blog about it, but Torben beat me to it. It's on his blog and it's really really worth a read. www.torbenriisjensen.blogspot.com I would have my own things to add to or subtract from it, but it is basically a combination of all we have talked about and been mulling over.

On to my topic of choice...Merete!! Torben's sister came here last weekend for five days or so. It was wonderful to have her here! It was supposed to rain the whole time she was here, but it only happened once for five minutes! She got a glimpse of what our lives are like staffing the DTS and all of the craziness that surrounds it and she definately got a taste of what it's like to be in a city where everything is in Cyrillic so you have no chance of finding your way around anywhere unless you know the alphabet!

We took her all over to see the sights of Kiev, even seeing a few things that were new to us. We bought some souveniers, ate some McDonalds, visited open air markets, all sorts of things. But the best part of it for me was having a buddy here. I've been pretty lonely lately because our phone hasn't been working and Skype sucks, so I haven't talked to anyone at home for nearly a month. And I haven't really connected with too many girls here in Kiev, so I've been lonely for some girl time. Merete supplied that in abundance. It was so great for me. She's a great friend.

The first time I went to Denmark, Merete was the person I was most afraid to meet. She and Torben are such good friends and I knew her opinion mattered a lot to him, and having heard more than a few horror stories about meeting the boyfriend's family, I was intimidated. Who knew that two and a half years later, she'd be one of my good friends? Not only was it good to have girl company, she also encouraged us a lot.

Sometimes from the inside it's hard to see if you're making any difference or if you're just wasting your time. It can be discouraging at times. But Merete pointed out all of the ways she could see that we are doing a lot here and making a real difference. So, to sum it all up, it was a great and refreshing visit! Okay, I'll finish my praise song now :)

Uzhgorod

One of the things about being a foreigner here in Kiev is that you have to register if you are here for more than six months. Registering is a long, complicated, expensive project, so most foreigners here on the base opt for the cheaper option - getting out of Ukraine and back in. You get a new stamp in your passport and voila, no registration necessary.
So, we had a long weekend for DTS last weekend and Torben and I are about a month shy of the six month mark, so we took off for the Slovakian border last Thursday. Some friends here at the base told us about a little hotel run by Christians in a border city called Uzhgorod, so we went there.
It was wonderful!!! Fresh air for the first time in months. I hadn't realized just how much this country girl had missed fresh air and fields and forests...I was in heaven. Well, it was just Uzhgorod, but it was close enough. Plus, the trees on the streets were blooming with these beautiful pink blossoms. It was so good to get away from DTS stuff and rest the brain for a few days.
But then it was back into another busy week of DTS! There were several speakers this week with various topics, so it was interesting! On Monday we hooked up with a base in Switzerland through Genesis technology. It was really good. The speaker was saying some great stuff. I've really been challenged this week about my own motivations for serving God in ministry. Is it just because I'm trying to earn his approval or maybe because I want to bring glory to myself? I think sometimes it is one or both of those reasons. I know that my motivation should be love, that I am serving God because I love him and want to bring glory to Him. I want my motivation to be that. I don't want to just serve out of a sense of duty, you know "Oh, I'll read my Bible because that's what I'm supposed to do."
Of course, that's not to say that I'll give up all spiritual disciplines just because I don't feel like it sometimes. I just want to check my motivations. I want to bring glory to God, not myself. That's a lot of what I have been thinking about these days. I'm still processing a lot of this. DTS teaching is just as challenging the third time around!!

Go Germany.....or not....

What a week...we've been trying and trying and trying to get ahold of the German embassy here in Kiev for about a month now. We were wanting to get information about visa requirements for our team members from Uzbekistan, Moldova, etc. And yesterday, they finally called us.

With BAD NEWS!!! In order for the students from Uzbekistan, Moldova and the staff from Kyrgyzstan and Nepal can't apply here in Ukraine, they have to apply IN PERSON in the German embassies in Uzbekistan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and Nepal. Which means, we're not going to Germany after all.

We've been understandably disappointed the past few days. We were looking forward to being a part of a big YWAM outreach to the World Cup and for the students to have a taste of Western Europe.

So now we're looking into our options a bit closer to home. Eastern or Central Europe. We're trying to trust that God knows what He's doing and that He'll guide us to where He wants us to go. Please pray for all of us as we make this decision!