Poltova - Day Two

After a breakfast which included chicken, of course,and a time of prayer, we divided into four groups and went into the city.  Micah and I joined the "miracle chair" team.  There we literally prayed for miracles for people.  At first just the children came, with their parents standing nearby.  

Then Ben prayed for Robert, a man from California who had had a vision that while he was in the Ukraine his knee would be healed.

Max, our interpreter, and I prayed for Ludmilla who had just been diagnosed with an inflammation in the lining of her lungs. When I finished praying, she and Max began a rapid fire conversation in Ukrainian.  It turns out that Ludmilla"s daughter had been murdered sixteen years ago and she had been bitter and angry toward God ever since.  Max prayed with her and she received forgiveness for her bitterness and anger and gave her life to the Lord.  The look of peace and joy that came over her face was absolutely radiant.

When we weren't praying, I was speaking with the Ukrainian team.  They are young and single and desired to be married.  We prayed for that.  We talked about praying specifically for a spouse and how I had prayed for and met Sam.  Then I taught them that old Larry Norman tune, "Lookin for a man of God, a man with a righteous heart . . ."  It was a lovely afternoon.

Chicken and potatoes for dinner (surprised?) and we were off to meet the band!  Sadly, no one had put the air conditioning on in the hall and we were all sweating bullets.  However, several good things happened.  I ran into Gena (use that accent!) who brought me to Marina. She had brought me a pair of earrings that she had designed.  So not my style but so absolutely beautiful because they were a gift of the heart.  I will wear them with joy. We were able to spend some time encouraging Andy, a Ukrainian believer.  Micah and I spent some time with Ben, the leader of No Longer Music.  What a gracious godly young man.  We were honored.  Then it was off to our hotel for a good night's sleep.

Interesting note: While talking with Marina that night, I found out that she met Jesus at the first No Longer Music tour in Poltava five years ago.  She had helped with their concerts ever since.  I told Kippy, our crazy drummer and Marina was interviewed by NLM to potentially be used in the future.

Second interesting note:  When your systems become corked in Ukraine, you can go to the pharmacy and purchase a package of magnesium.  Pour it into a litre of water, drink down that nasty metallic tasting stuff and within four hours, everything's all gone.

Poltova

After McDonald's for breakfast (sad, but true), we boarded the bus for Poltova.  Another chicken and potatoes lunch was followed by inviting people to the concert that night.  I was able to go to a park with a lovely young Ukrainian woman from Poltova, a jewelry designer named Marina.

After the concert, one of Marina"s friends, Eugene (or Gena as he prefers - say it with an accent!) came with me as my interpreter.  We were able to pray with and for several people. Seeds were planted.

Then it was off to our first hostel. The four American ladies were put into the same room. It was a lovely night with my best sleep ever - all six hours.

Vyshneve - Day 2

We met back at the church for a delicious lunch of chicken and potatoes, of course!  Spent time in prayer and then had our first "meet the band" party with NUTEKI.  It was excellent and followed by a spaghetti dinner - with a chicken and potato sauce!

Somewhere that day I found my calling and began to reach out to the Ukrainian missionaries.  They were young single adults and they wanted to talk.  Since talking is one of my spiritual gifts, I began to minister to them.  It was a neat experience.

Sadly that night, even though we had gotten home early and had the possibility of a good night's sleep, the electricity had gone out in our room and it wasn't until 11:30 p.m. we were given a new room.

Interesting note: God heard your prayers and we were able to live and love well with no sleep.

It was a long and crazy night . . .

We boarded the bus at 11:00 p.m. to go find our hotel.  It was 11:23 p.m. when the train crossing closed the road.  The bars were down and we sat there for thirty minutes watching a train go by in each direction.  Little did we know at that time that there were two roads in that town with the same name and we were on the wrong road.  The bus couldn't make it down the narrow alley (should have been our first clue!) so we grabbed our bags and headed down a dark alley full of potholes and barking dogs to nowhere.  It didn't take us long to figure out we were in the wrong place so back down the dark alley filled with potholes and barking dogs where the bus was waiting, back over the railroad tracks where fortunately there were no more trains and on to the right hotel where . . .

Micah and I were given a room with three beds.  Lucky us!  However it didn't take long for our three men to figure out they only had two beds and a switch was made.  Praise God we did not have to get up early the next morning!

Vyshneve

Sunday morning while waiting for the bus to arrive, I began speaking with one of the Russians.  Little did I know that I was speaking with the lead singer from NUTEKI!  What a godly man with strong family values!  It was a pleasure and a joy to work with, encourage and pray for the Belarusian who formed NUTEKI.

After setting my hopes low, we got on a wonderfully air conditioned coach bus and traveled to Vyshneve where these absolutely delightful church ladies had prepared chicken and potatoes for us, of course.  After lunch, it was prayer, pass out flyers and another concert with NUTEKI and No Longer Music.  We talked to people again afterward and those we found were all believers.
It was another excellent day, even with squatting potties.

Interesting note: Someone tried to attack David Pierce that night so our NFL football player began a new career as soundboard body guard.

Zhytomyr

We arrived in Zhytomyr in time for lunch with our team.  It included our group from Berean, the No Longer Music team, the Belarusian band NUTEKI and the Ukrainian missionaries, a group of mostly college aged students who came to share Jesus.  Lunch was chicken, potatoes and coleslaw - soon to become a common theme! After lunch we prayed together in many languages and tongues (English, Russian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Spanish, Indonesian, and Finnish to name a few), then hit the streets to invite people to the "free American concert".  It was amazing, fun and tiring all at the same time!

NUTEKI hit the stage around 8:30 p.m. and we were off and running!  I can only describe the No Longer Music portion as Billy Graham on steroids, designed by someone with ADHD.  Feel free to go online and check them out!

After the concert, we walked up to people asking them what they thought of the concert, what was their favorite part, and what did they think of the Jesus story at the end.  People were very open. Hannah on our team was able to pray with two girls who asked Jesus into their hearts.  It was an awesome and late night.

Interesting note:  At the concert the previous night, all the electricity in the city had gone out. The city brought in a generator so the concert could go on!  Isn't God faithful? The only light shining that night was His light! t

Greetings from Ukraine!

With a bit of time and working Wi-Fi, we are able to send greetings from Ukraine!  We arrived in this lovely country as expected last Friday evening.  Even our luggage joined us in full!

Our hotel was lovely, our first night early - as was the morning!  Max, our 22-year-old Ukrainian translator, joined us after breakfast, and we headed to the bus station. Or we would have had the taxi arrived! Fortunately the hotel desk clerk had taken a liking to us and when her husband picked her up after her night shift, they called an Uber for us so we could get to the bus station two minutes before the bus left!