Saturday, January 8th Ministry

Here in Uzhgorod yesterday we had heavy snow for about an hour which whitened the soot-tinted accumulation from days gone by. It was very wet snow on a warming wind from the south. By this morning (Saturday) temps had warmed to the upper 30's (+3 C) and the snow had disappeared very rapidly. Our street was still frozen, however, and very slick.
It is still Christmas here in Ukraine. It is the 2nd of three days of celebrated Christmas and the mood is still festive. We will share more about that in a bit. Being faithful to the children and youth at Perechin, we traveled there with Stephen with the thought that our attendance would likely be very disappointing because of the continuing holiday period. We certainly did not have as many children, but had six altogether with a little girl visiting for the first time. So, we thank the Lord for those who came. We had a good time sharing with those there about Christ being born and bringing to us new life and hope.
The festive mood continues in this holiday period. We had two offerings today, but not the kind you are already presupposing. The first was a real delight as we were offered a wonderful dinner by Stephen & Vita at their home before we went to ministry at Perechin. It was a special time to fellowship, especially since Stephen's parents were there also. The second offering was to Tim only and it happened while he went to give our landlord the month's rent. When entering the landlord's home Tim realized that he and his wife had company and from the looks of the dining room table it was a festive time with guests. The guests were dressed up and the male guest (about sixty) had a nice, traditional, Ukrainian shirt on. Tim knew he was interrupting a festive occasion. However, the landlord insisted that Tim enter, probably because he knew that the only time he goes to his house is to pay the rent. Once inside and the rent paid, the guests insisted he visit a bit--an extremely, extremely, essential cultural experience that cannot be neglected. Tim began to sit and the second offering of the day was presented. Do you know what it was? What might you suspect? The table was decked out with all kinds of treats and was really pretty, but it was not the food which was offered initially. The landlord's guest (I found out in the process of the visit it was his first cousin), being completely and kindly hospitable began to pour the clear liquid and with kind insistence offered to Tim a beautiful goblet full of the stuff from a bottle which was labeled Medoff! Yes, the second offering was to share and enjoy with them a toast of vodka. Uh ooh! Well, fortunately the landlord came to the rescue as he knew previously that we do not drink any alcohol. He told his cousin to refrain, but the cousin still insisted to the point that it seemed there would nearly develop an argument. Finally, the cousin relaxed and was satisfied that Tim was offered a plateful of white mushrooms and onions. Well, mushrooms on Tim's list of favorite foods would be near the group included to eat when starvation was a threat, but they were a much better sacrifice in place of the vodka!