A Certain Woman in Eastern Europe

Volodya and Oxana, MJ and Richard and Anya meet together to look over the 2008 schedule. Welcome to Oxana (Volodya's wife) who joined the team this month. We had a very busy time of ministry over the weekend and God blessed our time together. As a team, we had a coffee morning, a visit to Alla and the girls and boy at Pavlova, and an evening meal on Saturday. Anya translated for me as we did a ladies meeting for The Church of the Living God in between those times. Besides the Shabbat service, she also translated for me at Slava and Jessica's church in Perechin on Sunday. We also had time for coffee and prayer with Bishop Vasili and his wife Natasha after the service. I will return to Perechin mid February to meet with the ladies. We are also really looking forward to Pastor Marlow coming in February when Hope and Life will host a 3 day Pastor's retreat. We expect more than 30 pastors and wives to attend. We have a wonderful team in Ukraine and we are blessed to be ab...

I was so blessed to be a part of the Friday evening Shabbat service in Uzghorod. As a frequent visitor, I am often asked to be available to pray for the dear members of God's Pearl, but this time I was asked to speak to them, too. They were so open and loving. God's wonderful presence was with us and I was deeply touched and honored as they also asked me to light the Shabbat candles. The Holy Spirit immediately enlivened the scripture from Galatians 3.28 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." As we prayed together over the candles, I knew that oneness that God wants and it was a holy, solemn moment that forever touched, and deeply marked my heart. Now, I read, Gal 3.29 "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." And I know why my heart feels this way, we are Heirs, heirs together!!

To clarify, my grandchildren are now 9, 10 and 11. See Jan 8 post for their pictures - I borrowed this baby :-) These baby girls are first-borns, like me and my roommates. Please see Tammy's recent eye opening blog on this subject. See "Certain Friends" on the right side of this blog and just click on Tammy.

There is something about January, a new year, a new start. An opportunity to access last year and consider goals for this year...and try a new hairdresser :-). This is actually the 2nd visit to Milan, (the first is pictured on the right side of the blog). He is The haircutter to the english speakers - a brilliant advertising ploy, and a great place to meet all the international students. Please pray for me as I travel by car into Ukraine tomorrow. I will be ministering in prayer for a Shabbat service Friday in Uzghorod. Visiting our Alla at her new home in Pavlova Saturday morning then a Hope and Life team lunch and late afternoon I am speaking at a ladies meeting for The Church of the Living God. On Sunday, I am the guest speaker for our Pastor friend Slavik and his church in Perechin. Should travel home by train on Monday. My roommate Tammy is driving back to her other home near Kiev and will be on the road for 12-13 hours. We have just heard that there is a big police push to cat...

Syble's McDonald's - John Deere birthday New missionaries Mike and Nancy enjoy a latte and hot chocolate. Reunion is Szeged of Zsuzsa, Iren & Gyorgy and MJ and Erin (Lydia prayer ladies & english teachers) "ICF" Worship team (Tanya, Arden, Erik) Pastor Csaba prays for Dan Smith, "ICD" Pastor Ed stands by while Eva translates Jim and Bethany share a "dad" moment at "ICF" Edith enjoys the party Sherry and Mary Jill ready for church Tammy in her new sweater & scarf

Sage is one week old today! Congratulations to my niece, Meghan and Jason in Baltimore, MD. Photo by another niece, Sarah

You just never know how the conversation will go. This morning Sherry, Tammy, Edith and I got on the subject of "red sky in morning". It turns out that not everyone says .."sailors take warning". For instance in Edith's homeland (or at least her home) in NZ, you say.."shepherds take warning". Sherry confirmed that is true in Scotland,too. But what is the warning about? Lena, (Tammy's pastor and the family she lives with in Ukraine) says the red sky warns (sailors) of strong winds. So, being cyber literate, we checked http://www.ask.com/ . Very interesting, they too mentioned, storms, winds, sailors and shepherds and then quoted the "expert" and basis of the proverb...the Bible, where in Matthew 16.2 Jesus says to the Pharisees, "When it is evening you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning, It will be stormy weather, for the sky is red and threatening, Hypocrites, You know how to discern the face of the ...

Arden and Erik showing off the new sound system, mixer & mics Sara sharing her testimony I decided that I would introduce you to some of the people that come to ICF so last Friday evening I went around taking pictures and asking folks where they came from and will take some time over the next couple of blogs to tell you who's who and where they are from. First, we have Erik and Sara. Erik is a 2nd year medical student in Szeged and Sara is in her 3rd year. Please pray especially for her now as the 3rd year is the most critical and hardest of the 6 years. In fact, she is about to take a Pathology test next week and if she does not pass it this time, she must return home and start 3rd year over next September. That is unacceptable for all of us! So join us in praying for her as she dilligently studies. Thank you. Although, Erik and Sara are both Swedish they never met until 2 years ago and find their friendship blossoming into something deeper. We considered advertising ICF as I...

Today is, according to Ukrainian and Russian tradition, the celebration of the Old New Year. Which reminded me to show you what Tammy and Sherry brought us for Ukrainian Christmas. This gift basket was filled with some very well known and loved Ukranian food and drink items. Not pictured is one of my favorite things from Ukraine - chocolate butter which was in the refrig already. See the yellow can? It is the famous fermented bubbly drink - Kvas - it should be in the refrig. The basket was filled with things that are sweet so you always have sweet things in your life, spicy things to add spice to your life, salty things to season your life and pig fat (and Kvas) to be uniquely Ukrainian. Thanks ladies!

After a 2 week holiday, we started "Friday at 7" for 2008. Many of the university students are very busy now preparing for exams, or are still back home so we weren't sure how the Jan 4 turn out would be. We were blessed with about 25. Jim shared a dramatic testimony and I taught from John 4.

Here is a recent picture of Michael, Raelene, Bryce, Austin and Mikhaila Ackerbauer, my son, daughter-in-love and grandchildren. Bryce is 11, Mikhaila 10 and Austin 9. The kids are growing up soooo fast. I got the idea to order them gift cards for Christmas. I ordered from I-tunes, Best Buy, Legos, and Outback. Can you guess who got the gift from Outback Steak House? I sure am looking forward to their visit to Hungary this summer.