Hello family and friends!
We have had a great day in Kiev! My Aunt Debbie, from Columbia, had written me several weeks ago that a former youth pastor, Tom Ragsdale, from her church in Columbia now lives and preaches here in Kiev and that we should look him up while we are here. Well, I thought that would be hard to do in a town of close to 4 million, but I had contacted him by e-mail when we were in the states and he had given me the phone number to reach them once we arrived here. I called him last night and this morning Igor, our facilitator, drove us to his church, International Chritian Assembly (From the Assembly of God Church in the US). We got there around 10am and sat in on the end of the Sunday School class (everyone was speaking English...whoo hoo!!). After Sunday School they have fellowship where everyone stands around talking and eating cookies. We talked with Tom for a while. He is a very nice guy. We met another American couple, Vince and Debbie, who are in the process of adopting an 8 year old boy. They have been in the country almost 5 weeks and have been held up since the boy's father hasn't signed the parental release form. They are hoping to go to court on Friday, but will still have the 10 day wait after that. I feel bad for them, and hope we don't end up in the same boat. The orphanage was nice enough to let the boy stay with them over night and we got to meet him (he was very handsome). They were really struggling with communication since he only speaks Ukrainian. They had bought and showed us a little device they had where you type in a word and then push the 'Ukrainian' button and it will spell the word in Ukrainian and even say it out loud. Too cool! She said it would cost around $100. We are learning some words, we can say yes, no, thank-you, water, good-bye, please, excuse me, how much?, and beautiful. We are learning their alphabet, so we are able to translate their signs (but we are very very slow).
Anyway, back to our neat church experience this morning....after fellowship we had the church service (again all in English). Tom had visitors announce what country they were from, so we announced we were from the US and they wanted to know where exactly. I wanted to say "the best place on God's green earth!" but figured I might offend them, so we told them we were from near St. Louis. The couple above that are adopting are from Kansas City, on the Kansas side. Tom Ragsdale and his wife were from Columbia (they moved here in 1999). There was a guest speaker who was from San Digeo California and another couple from Washington. All together there were people at this church from over 10 different countries. It was pretty awesome as it was obvious that there were many people of many colors. And we were all there in this foreign land worshipping the same Lord. Very awesome feeling! I recognized some of the songs (again, the whole service was in English) and it was great to hear and speak English ;-)
After the service, Igor was helping with another American couple, so he couldn't pick us up and it was too far to walk, so we asked Tom R. if he would call a Taxi for us (we were going to the underground mall from church and then would walk home ~ at least our temporary home, lol! ~ from there). He said he was going the same direction as us, so he offered to give us a ride. We learned that he got his masters from University of Columbia (go Mizzou!!) and he toured Russia in 1996 and he felt this is what the Lord had called him to do. His wife was studying to be a nurse, but with the move here and then 4 children (and she is expecting the 5th) she is a full time mother now, but may finish her degree when the kids are older. His wife was out of town so it was him and his 4 children ranging in ages from 11 to 2. We piled into his big van and we were off down the street when he saw some of his church members walking so he offered them a ride, so we loaded 4 more people into his van. Tom is a very nice man and very easy to talk to. He is doing quite a ministry here in Kiev and I have no doubt that many lives will be altered because of him. (Aunt Debbie, thanks so much for getting us in touch with each other!) After dropping us off, we were at Independence Square (by the way, Tom fixed my camera [YEAH!!!!] and we were able to take good pictures which we'll try to post tomorrow). This place was awesome with so many people there they actually close down the street every weekend. We ate at McDonalds (which is very funny because normally Tom doesn't like McDonalds, but he sure likes it here as it is the closest thing to American food we have found, ha!) and then we went to the underground mall. It was huge and very expensive! We did not buy anything and we didn't stay too long. I was hoping to find some souveiners, but so far this town really doesn't seem to cater to tourist.
After we left the mall, we looked at the map I had gotten yesterday (one with better details) and found our way to "The Brothers" statue which represents 2 men, one for Russian and one for Ukriane. This statue is beneath what looks like a minature St. Louis Arch (again, I got pictures, will try to post them tomorrow). It was right on the Dnypenr River so the view was beautiful with the fall foliage. We then made our long trek home. It was a beautiful day and we really didn't even need our coats and the sun was even out some of the time.
We went back to the apartment for awhile and watched a western in Russian and then hiked here to the Internet Cafe. We weren't sure if they would be open on Sunday and I was afraid I would go into withdrawal if I didn't get to hear from home :-) Thank goodness it is open. We are also thankful that our camera is working now and we are able to capture our experience to share with everyone in Missouri and someday with Elizabeth.
We love you all and hope that everyone in the good old US is doing well. Keep us posted as we LOVE to hear from home and we miss you all. If you see my son running around, give him a big hug from us!!
Tom and Valerie
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