July 12, 2010

What a weekend!  I’ll give you the bullet version with some pictures, but first, check out this quick video of how we spent our Saturday night!

– Friends Yura & Lilya from Latvia with their two children visited (driving 16hrs for a 5 day visit).
– Took a group of 15 to Kiev for a Third Millennium day conference, Dr. Richard Pratt (author and seminary professor).
– Got stuck in a severe wind/thunderstorm which knocked down trees/branches.
– Hosted a Children’s Ministry Meeting (mostly for camps) to hear from Norry (from Scotland here visiting Simeon & Asia) and Yuri and their experiences with kids camps.  Norry in particular was great to hear from, he’s volunteered/led in over 200 kids camps, an interesting and very down to earth fellow that encouraged us.
– Played in a concert for the city (our makeshift country western band!).
– Dinner with the City officials and a group of professional choir/singers (about 30 of them, and they sang the entire time at one long table, it was a true cultural experience).
– Electricity went off in our town Sunday night, just in time for the World Cup Final game.  We didn’t care, but our friends did.. so we fired up the generator and had them all over to watch it. Latvian, 2 Scots, Kiwi (New Zealand), Ozzie, and a Canadian American transplant.. watching ‘futbol’ in Ukraine, cheering for Dutch or Spanish teams.

Phew.  Now it’s Monday, and time to get to work!  For some pictures.  Today is the start of Camp 120, where half the church pretends they are from the dark ages, lives on a sandy island for a week without electricity, running water.. Broderic and Bronwyn have gone this year with the Gollan crew.  We would go if it was for a few days, but an entire week… as one missionary said last week, “being in Ukraine already feels like we’re camping.’