Day 13- Even People in Ukraine Think I Look Like Jim Carey

Today I went with Tim to the section of Lviv where the Euro 2012 will be held. He had to go over to a store there to get some curtain rods at a place similar to our Lowes or Home Depot.

The cranes are where they are building the new stadium. Also, the road we were on at this point was the nicest road we have been on the whole time I have been here.




This across the street from where the new stadium is being built. It looks nothing like the rest of Lviv. It is similar to a mall in the United States. The store we went to is right next door to it. They built this mall just because of the Euro 2012, so that Lviv would be more accommodating for tourist.

Tim and his family will be hosting family this weekend and next week another team from Alabama will be eating at their house each day. They are doing a camp here next week similar to the one that we did in Ivano-Frankivsk last week. Originally Tim thought that the camps were back to back weeks and I would get to work at both of them. He got his dates mixed up and so instead I have got to see some of the behind the scenes prep work this week. Tim has been busy catching up on emails, phone calls, and paper work that is all part of the job of being a missionary and a team leader of other missionaries. Yesterday we talked about that fact that there is the perception that missionaries are always out on the streets doing evangelism and aiding the poor, but in reality there are times when you can’t do that or where other preparations are needed to be done in order to prepare for such things. I told him I understood because a youth ministers’ job has a similar perception. People often have a perception that a youth minister is paid to always be playing games with and hanging out with youth. When in reality youth ministry also requires a lot of preparation and time spent in the office. Tim’s work has also been put on hold a couple of times this week do to a faucet being messed up earlier in the week and the tub was leaking today. Again part of being a missionary often requires you to take care of your house and family and if something is wrong, you can’t just neglect the problem. Tim told me about a few other things that come with being a missionary team leader but, I will move on to the main event of the day.
Tonight we had an English club/bible study at the art studio in which the Love of God Church meets (the same church we went to on Sunday). We got there around 6 PM and had a time of gathering. Tim and I went upstairs with the youth while Donna and a couple of other ladies played games with the children downstairs. While upstairs Tim said they normally practice their English through some type of conversation. Tonight he told the group that I was the special guest and that I would introduce myself and then they could ask me questions. They asked me some questions about where I was from, how I got to Ukraine, if I liked Ukraine, etc. One girl asked if I liked Twilight. I told her that I have not read any of the books or seen any of the movies and I thought she was going to flip out haha. She asked why not? Has someone invited you to watch one of the movies and you turned them down? I said that actually no one has asked me to watch one of the movies and that I would consider watching them when I got home. She thought that would be a good idea. Then after a few more questions they told me I looked like Jim Carey. I said that I have been told that many times, but I still don’t see it. Some of the youth at this English club asked questions in English, but some asked in Ukrainian and had someone translate. After we did this we went downstairs to the main room.
When we got in there we had Bible Study. We went around the room and each person would read a verse in English and then a verse in Ukrainian. We were reading the passage in Mark about Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman. After we read the passage, Tim asked the youth what did they understand from the passage, what did they not understand, what does the passage tell us about Jesus, and what does the passage mean for us today. We had a good conversation about the passage and a few people gave illustrations to help us understand certain parts of the passage. I got some good pictures after we finished the Bible Study so you can get a glimpse of what it was like:










Some of the people sitting in the back came in late because they were having a meeting about next’s week camp at the same time.


Donna and Vika.


Me and Ola,The girl who was shocked that I have not seen the Twilight movies…


I am holding the English Bible we read out of (actually it is just a New Testament) and Even is holding the Ukrainian Bible we read out of.



The outside of the Art Studio…



Some of the youth got in our way as we were driving away….




I guess they did not want us to leave 


Thought of the Day: Every youth at the Bible Study read a verse both in English and in Ukrainian and I did not hear a single one of them complain about having to read. When we were discussing the passage though it was a lot of what I have faced in Bible Study, one or two dominated the discussion. It was a good discussion though and I was blessed by sitting in with them.