These pictures were taken inside the van. As you can see it is full, but not as full as it could be. And sometimes we have to get on these with our groceries. So I think a car will be needed. Will you pray with us for the finances to buy a car, which are sometimes 3 times as expensive as in the states?

The yellow bus is a marshrutka van. This is what we ride on everyday to get where we need to go.

This was the place setting for the banquet in Simferopol.

March 8 - International Women's Day

I was invited to speak to the Ladies at Simferopol Baptist Church in Simferopol, Ukraine on March 8. Their theme was "...exceeding great and precious promises." II Peter 1:3-4. They used the rainbow as their theme for decorating. I spoke on "Standing on the Promises of God". I. The rainbow speaks to us of the promises of God. Genesis 9:12-13. II. Why should we stand on God's promises?. Psalm 119:140. III. Promises to Believers. I Thessalonians 5:24 IV. Promises to Unsaved. II Chronicles 25:4, Romans 8:1. God is not a man that he should lie. We can rely on God to keep his promises.

March 7 - International Women's Day

We celebrated International Women's Day at Lighthouse Bible Baptist Church, Odessa, Ukraine on March 7. Jeff preached a sermon on the widow who had great faith and took care of Elijah. After the morning service the men had prepared a luncheon for the women and then served them. also they had a prepared a few games and activities for us. It was a wonderful time of fellowship.

Pictures from the Nutcracker

March 7

Tomorrow is International Women's Day. It is a holiday similar to Mother's Day but for all women, but it started out as a holiday for liberated women.
Anyway we honored the women at church today. Jeff preached a sermon about the woman whose cruse of oil and barrel of meal never ran out. And the great faith she had.
We are leaving tonight on the train to go to Simferopol. I will be speaking to a group of ladies tomorrow. So I would appreciate your prayers.
Helen
PS sorry so short gotta get ready to go.

"Nutcracker"

Friday I went with some friends to the Odessa ballet. We went to see the Nutcracker. This was my first time to go to the ballet. I enjoyed it very much. We went to the Steak House restaurant for dinner then to the ballet. Dinner, the ballet, and an eclair after cost me a total of $45 dollars. It was a very enjoyable evening. Will try and post a few pictures later this week. They really didn't want us to take pictures, so I only took a couple of the sugar plum fairies.

Hello again! Today is Thursday, we have Thursday evening services at church, so looking forward to church tonight. Jeff has been working on a Power Point presentation this week to show in churches when we go home. He has our schedule all filled in. I was wondering why we needed a place to stay when we go back to the states. We will only be there 3 days out of the month. I suggested we just rent a motor home and take home with us so we didn't have to pack and unpack so many times. :) Once the schedule is all finalized I will post it so you can know where we will be and when.
Monday is International Women's day and I have been invited to speak to a group of ladies in Simferopol, Ukraine. So pray for me as I prepare and study over these next few days.
The men here at the church in Odessa have something planned for the ladies on Sunday - scary thought men cooking and decorating....

Why Blog?

Eventually I will use this blog to tell you some about our ministries here in Odessa, Ukraine, but right now I will just acquaint you with day to day living. What things are hard to do, what things are easy to do, what we can find in the stores, and what we can't find in the stores. Since most of what I do is at home I will concentrate on that. Also in April we will be going home to the states for a short time for some very important events in the lives of our older children so I will be writing about our travels. We have one son graduating from Pensacola Christian College in May, and then getting married in October, and our daughter will be having our second grandchild in July. So we are excited for these times in their lives.

Car - yes or no

Somedays I really wish we had a car other days no. Like today we did our grocery shopping for the week and then had to bring it all home on public transportation. I will have to post some pictures (after I take some) of what we ride in. Let's just say sometimes I know how a sardine feels. The vans seat 21-24 people and they say with standees maybe the vans hold 43-45 people. Yeah, like that is ever going to happen. Closer to 60 people. 1 person gets off 7 people get on. Certain times are worse than other times. So yes a car would be nice.
But then there is trying to get downtown. Can you say parking lot. There is one street that is just that, so you get off and walk to where you want to go and beat the van. So no who wants to sit in a car for that long.
The vans are called marshrutkas or routes. The drivers drive like they are hauling cattle (well not all of them). Makes you not want to go anywhere. We do have buses and trams but they don't go everywhere, because they need electricity to run. So they are only on the main streets.
You have to keep in mind Odessa is an old city, the streets are narrow, the sidewalks wide and the houses close to the streets. The streets cannot be widened for more traffic. You can't put a subway in because the city would collapse (there are catacombs running everywhere under it). So everyone puts up with the traffic.
So now I have rambled about the traffic and transportation.

Once I figure out what I am doing, I hope to let you know what I am doing. HeHe.

It's just the beginning.

So I thought I would check out this blog thing, seems everyone is doing it, and since I am such a good follower...I thought I would do it. Yeah, I know. If everyone jumped off a bridge would you too? Sure, someone's got to save them. But anyway I am good at rambling on and on about absolutely nothing so I thought I let everyone read my rambling.