Holiday Snowflakes In Uzhgorod

Amidst our ministry activities we like to share scenery, cultural experiences, and other things of interest here in Ukraine. It has been very cold here in Ukraine, the kind of weather where the clouds are dark enough to seem to be desperate to spew out their load. But the extreme cold seems to make it even difficult to snow. But yesterday it did spit some light snow most of the day and we were very amazed upon inspection to what type it was. On our window ledge it looked like we had been visited by hundreds of microscopic, intricate, white starfish! Upon magnification we discovered more of the amazing beauty of God's creation. Okay, we realize you folk from Alabama, Georgia, and Florida are not too amazed at something so cold and are reaching for the coats and sweaters as you get a chill from just thinking SNOW! But looking at the photo below you must admit the beauty God has created in even something so cold. The photo was taken with the contrasting background of our black truck. The flakes themselves are about the size of a small pinhead. The photo was magnified to a point of clarity and resaved in the form you see. Here you can see a dozen or so, but other places thousands of the little, frozen visitors gathered.

Holiday Season in Uzhgorod

The holiday season in Ukraine is in full swing and the holiday of supreme celebration will be New Year's. Christmas still figures in the festive season as most will observe a traditional Christmas on January 7th. So, yesterday while Cheryl and I were out on some business in the center (yes, it was cold-not making it above 22) of Uzhgorod, we witnessed numerous people buying their Christmas trees and carrying them along their way. In this season we had a surprisingly beautiful, sunny day yesterday in the midst of a long series of snowy, overcast days. So, it was cold, but very beautiful. The photos are shot from our apartment in Uzhgorod toward the north. Most of the buildings in the photo are associated with the Uzhgorod State University or the Electrical Technical Institute. Apartment buildings mostly house dorm students for the university.

Uzhgorod on a Beautiful, Cold Day

Parts of Uzhgorod Stat University and Electrical Technical Institute

We wish you a Blessed New Year, 2011!

Sunday Preaching at Kamyanitza

The cold invaded Uzhgorod again today with some snow in the morning and evening.
In the afternoon we traveled to the village of Kamyanitza and went with Stopa to the church there. Tim was invited to preach and offered "What I Should Know About the Power of the Holy Spirit" based from Acts 2. Soon we will be teaching some classes with the youth at this church and thank the Lord of opportunities to minister to youth on various levels.

Christmas was a Wonderful Day of Ministry

Leah, Cheryl, and Tim had a quiet Christmas Eve together. We enjoyed some home made pizza and salad. Afterward, we opened a few gifts and contacted the other half of the family (Lalia, Laura, and Timothy) in Hobe Sound via internet phone.
Christmas day was less than a traditional, routine holiday for us. Our normal day of ministry with the youth and children at Perechin is on Saturday, and since Ukrainians do not typically make Dec. 25th a celebrated day, we maintained our scheduled ministry time with the youth. However, we did make it special. Instead of having the typical service in Perechin, we brought the youth and children to Stephen's and Vita's home and there had a meal, party, games, and a Christmas devotion. For Tim it meant much driving because the only way for the children to come is to bring them from Perechin--about 13miles round trip. And our Nissan will not seat but five, so numerous trips were required to bring them all. Unfortunately, the weather had warmed and instead of snow, we had a heavy rain most of the afternoon, making it very difficult to get the kids home.
The day was very special, though, as we had thirteen young people--two boys and eleven girls. The girls helped Vita and Cheryl make pizza and snacks for the party. You may see in the photos below the girls making cupcakes, etc. The children won some prizes for some games they played and then later gifts were offered to them through the kind and thoughtful help of the people at Stanton Bible Methodist Church, Stanton, Alabama. Thank you Stanton folk!
Tim offered a short devotion encouraging the youth to realize that the coming of Christ makes their lives special and that Jesus came that they might have a life related to God.
Our day of Christmas ministry was very special and we hope you rejoice with us in what God is helping us to do in the lives of these young people. Please pray for God's guidance to help us do more.

Leah, Ira, and Valya getting Pizza ready

Maryana and Yula decorating cupcakes

Our Christmas Youth Party

Cheryl Presenting the Gifts to the Children that Stanton Bible Methodist sent

Ira, Yula, Leah, Karoleena, and Valya

The children with presents from Stanton

Zhana, Volva, and David getting the "Pin the Ornament of the Tree" game ready

Adriana, Natasha, and Yula decorating cupcakes

Leah, Cheryl, Ira, and Valya making pizzas

David and Volva trying to outwit Stopa at checkers

Vita and girls getting the pizzas ready

The Pizza is so good!

Zhana exploring her presents

Children & Christmas in Ukraine

Though the last several weeks certainly looked like, and felt like, Christmas, the last several days have warmed considerably. While Kiev, on the east side of the Carpathian mountains still has freezing temperatures, here in Uzhgorod there have been temperatures reaching into the fifties the past several days. All the snow of the past weeks is gone revealing the nasty black mud below.
Children in Ukraine experience quite an extensive holiday period, but not always with the long school break that many students in America enjoy. Children will enjoy some toys on Dec. 18-19 as Saint Nicholas comes and then many Christian families will observe Christmas on Dec. 25th. But it is observed with far less festivities and presents than in Western Europe and America. Most Ukrainian children celebrate Christmas with more festivity on January 7th, a shift of date from the traditional date of Dec. 25 by the former Soviet government. Within the holiday period is New Year's, which might be considered the most celebrated occasion. Unfortunately, drinking alcohol is a huge part of the celebrated holiday experiences.

Below are photos of children enjoying the winter season. Both pictures were taken in the village of Kamyanitza at the school and on a street where the children have made a tradition of packing the snow on the street to ice and making a downhill ice slide. It was tempting to try. We are told that drivers are pretty angry at the children because, as you may see, the ice makes the uphill street pretty slick!
Merry Christmas!

Investigation for Evangelism in Village of Chornoholova

Getting Info in Village of Chornoholva

Stephen (Stopia) and Tim traveled about 30 miles northeast of Uzhgorod today to revisit the mountain village of Chornoholova. This village is about 12 miles beyond Perechin, where we have our regular youth and children ministry. We thought that it would be a decent day with the typical overcast. However, since Chornoholova is a few hundred feet higher than Uzhgorod, the snow there generally more significant. In Uzhgorod the temperatures the last day and one-half have been such that most of the snow we had in the city has melted. But not at Chornoholova! The further we went on the narrow, winding road, the more snow there was. Little had been done to the road since the snow. One man at the village stated that the snow had been knee deep when it finished several days ago.
It was still a sloppy day there at the village as the temperature was about 33 and it was drizzling. There was a thick fog at times making it hard to discern the steep mountain slopes ascending up around the village.
Chornoholova is one of many villages targeted in our ministry vision because it has no evangelical church whatsoever. There is one Christian lady there, Stopia had learned, and maybe some Christians some years ago.
Our objective today was meet a few people and see what property might be for sale to develop some place to launch evangelism there. It is critical to have some place established so that we do not appear to be some kind of transient religion. We looked at four different places. One was a nice piece of property along the river, but adjacent to the Orthodox Church. That might be tricky. The next place was out of the village a little making it too inaccessible for youth and children. And the man courageously asked $10,000 for literally a shack and some land. The next place we only looked at but did not get any details. Its roof was totally collapsed. The last place was decent and the price sounded fair.

The "Roof Collapsed" house

House adjacent to Orth. Ch

The $10,000 house!

The "Decent" house

Perhaps one of the greatest victories God gave us on this excursion was that Stopia befriended the village policeman, who showed us the last house. It was beside his! But the astonishing thing is that the young policeman was nice, helpful and promised to help us in anyway he could to get official business done in the village! Wow! Praise the Lord! Considering how most of the police are crooked and cause everyone much frustration, we were so grateful. Then, while we were departing the village a woman was waiting beside the road. Stopia requested we stop and see if she needed a ride. Chornoholova is a village off the main road about five miles and there is literally and absolutely nothing between it and the main road but wilderness. So giving the woman a ride was a huge blessing to her. But the blessing for us was that she was one of the school teachers in the village and meeting her for connection with the children was very encouraging.

Perechin Youth at Their Saturday Service

This is the video of the Perechin children we wanted to share with from Saturday. They were asking Stopia and Vita questions about Adam & Eve and the Kingdom of God, etc.

Our December 19th Sunday

We awakened to several more inches of fresh snow to brighten up and add depth to what had previously fallen. I was afraid that we would not be able to get out of the driveway again (it is uphill from where we park), so we did not try to get out for the morning service. I went out during the early afternoon and cleaned off the new snow so that it would not get packed and turn to ice, making things worse later. The snow was powdery since it is so cold--teens. At three o'clock we prepared to leave, backed out the driveway, and onto the street. That's where we usually have trouble, but thank the Lord, we got going up the street and on our way.
We attended the service at the village church at Kamyanitza where Stopia and Vita attend regularly. There I preached from Galatians 4:4--"...when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son..." I challenged the folk to realize that Advent season was a huge leap forward in what God had promised to do in making full salvation possible. Everything is now ready, complete. In a future sense, fullness can imply, that what John said (I Jn 2:18 about the last time; and what Peter said (I Pet. 4:7) about the end of all things is at hand; and what Paul said about (Rom. 13:11-12) the time is near...the day is at hand; and what Jesus said often about watching, will be certain and that all is prepared and ready for the next major event in God's wonderful plan--His return. So, he service was blessed with God's anointing and we always thank God for opportunities to share His word
Stopia and Vita were to meet with the youth at this church afterward to discuss with them more about the opportunity for us to share in some Christian classes there. So, we are waiting the outcome of that meeting to see how many young people would like to journey along with us in some Christian learning.

Children's ministry at Perechin

Adrian & Zhana

Our children's and youth services at Perechin had lower today because it is a holiday.  Tonight it the night that Saint Nicholas comes and leaves some presents under the child's pillow or in a sack. It is not what they would term Christmas but comes from an observance of an Orthodox tradition. Tonight is also an exciting time in Perechin because they officially light the village "Yulka" or Christmas tree. This ceremony is done in the village center where there are also other activities to make the evening festive. We can certainly tell you that the weather is cooperating with making it feel like Christmas. Temperatures have not gotten above 22 F for about a week and we are receiving additional snow.

David &  Friend

We had hoped to insert a video, but it did not cooperate. Today the children were asking Stopia and Vita questions. Their questions are often quite serious and they surprise us how inquisitive they are about serious Christian subjects. Today, they had gotten on the topic of paradise and wanted to know where Adam & Eve might have gone when God commanded them to leave the garden. They then asked about ghosts and what would the kingdom of God be like. These are 9-11 year olds! Adriana, a girl who is usually the quietest, did not speak much and then at the end stated that the biggest matter was that God gave His. Praise the Lord for these children. Next Saturday is Christmas for us, but here it is not so significantly observed on December 25th. So, we will keep our Saturday ministry with the children anyway, but we will have a party and combine with it a time for the girls to learn some additional baking and cooking skills from Cheryl and Vita.

Since the video did not work, we will insert a couple of pictures of the children today.

Investigating Neighborhoods in Perechin

It has been our goal to investigate and learn as much as possible about the village (town) of Perechin. We want to try to spend a good portion of one day per week there walking, meeting people, getting to be known, etc. When we go on Saturdays for the children and youth ministry there is generally not time to do investigation. Yesterday Stopia and I enjoyed the brisk teen temperatures to foray out into some neighborhoods we were not specifically familiar with. Our walk took us down some streets as in the photo to the right, and up some steep streets toward he mountain behind which Perechin is nestled. As we neared and then passed by houses we were almost always greeted by some pretty ferocious dogs. Many were German Shepherds or pit bulls. A couple jumped up on their fences and it was easy to see that the fence could easily be surmounted by them. Maybe we should keep some kind of deterrent with us? But one place we were not greeted by dogs, but by the little tyke in the photo at right. He was curious to see who was walking by. He was bundled up so that he could not walk but only waddle!
Later, we met some of the youth we minister to as they were walking on the street coming from school. The day was time well spent in learning more about the environs and people of Perechin.

Developing Christian Education Ministry

Today I met with three young men to discuss offering to them the possibility of Christian college education. Jason, an American missionary laboring in Uzhgorod with Roma (Gypsy) people desires to enhance his ministry abilities with some Christian studies. Stephen and Kolya, the other two fellows, I have had as students either in Kiev or here in Uzhgorod. To maintain some possibility to advance these young, Christian men in Christian education we have had to search for flexible options. Our discussion today informed them of a program that we are excited about and will soon be launching into some classes.
Also, on a little different level, we soon hope to be teaching a group of six to ten young people in a village basic Christian themes on Bible or theological topics. The encouraging and exciting thing here is that these young people approached us and asked us if we could offer some classes for them. I did not even expect such a possibility and should be chastised for not having the faith or the creative thinking to have considered such a possibility. So, all this means is that there have suddenly opened to us more opportunities for Christian education ministry than we ever expected. Thank God for these opportunities and we ask you to pray and help us.

December 16th View from Boyd's Apartment

The wintry view to the southeast includes the snowfall from last weekend, and a heavy, frosty residue from the eerie pogonip which wafted in last night like an icy specter. The gray building in the upper left corner of the photo is a part of the Uzhgorod State University. The buildings in the foreground are neighboring houses or utility buildings. The grayish overcast of the sky is a typical weather experience here during most of the winter. It is even more common across the Carpathian Mountains at Kiev in the central part of Ukraine.

Wintry Monday in Uzhgorod

After the busy and fulfilling weekend of ministry at Perechin and Kamyanitza we spent the day catching up at home. But that meant first waking up to more snow over night to add to what had fallen since Saturday evening. We cared for some things in the home and then Snizhana came for our Russian language lesson at one o'clock. Afterward, we thought we needed to go out to get some things to finish a few projects in the apartment. We needed to cross the city to a building supply store, but we barely got out of the driveway! Uzhgorod does have a crew that cares for the streets, but they typically wait as long as possible to do anything. But the little street we live on is not in the area to be cleaned. Consequently, the traffic that has made it up the hill has packed the snow down to an icy sheet. When we backed out of the gate and onto the street that was it! We tried several times, unsuccessfully, to get going on the street, but it was like ice with silicone on it! We finally got to the side of the street in front of the landlord's house and abandoned that transportation for now. So, to get to town we resorted to the good 'ole marshrutka (van bus) method. They are old, always crowded, and not reliable, but after waiting on several that were too crowded to get on, we got on our way. Thank the Lord for a vehicle when it is possible to go without icy snow.

Two things in the picture below that always spell cold are snow and Siberian Husky. For those of you warm-weather lovers, be blessed it is only a picture. The dogs belong to our landlord and the picture is in the yard. The other photo was when Cheryl and I were out on a walk today nearby.

Stephen & Vita Kohutka at the baby shower, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010

The Youth ministry at Perechin. It was a special birthday observation for Valya (in front in gray jacket), Natasha (first on right in photo in black sweater), and Caroleena (at Natasha's right). Thank you for praying for these youth as we minister to them.

Vita and Cheryl Boyd at the baby shower. Other girl friends added a nice time of fellowship. This was a new experience for the girls as this is not a typical experience in Ukraine. They all decided that they like it.

Perechin "Ground Level" December, 12, 2010. A nice snowfall added to the beauty of this little park in the center of the village.

We launch into the blog info world with this post. Report of ministry events Saturday & Sunday, Dec. 11-12, 2010.

 Our Saturday morning began with the 15 mile trip to Perechin for the children's and youth ministry. It was a beautiful, sunny, but very cold day. In mid-afternoon we had the service with the children and then afterward the youth. It was a special day as we celebrated birthdays for three of the youth girls. We were encouraged with 14 youth and children who came.
 Before we were finished at Perechin the snow was falling. Our drive back to Uzhgorod became more difficult and we decided to go through the city instead of around it because the good road going around the city goes over a mountain which we assumed would be treacherous to drive on.
Sat evening was a special baby shower for Vita. Ladies from our home church had sent things and other girls from the church brought things and made it a special time. Tim would not have ordinarily come to such an event, but came to make pictures.
Sunday was preaching at Perechin Church. Snow made it difficult as we almost did not even get out of the driveway at the apartment. God's help was encouraging preaching from Matt. 25 on Jesus' parable of the ten virgins.