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!!