A Very Long Weekend

We had a long weekend. That phrase usually implies vacation, but for us it was a lot of meetings. We had our combined Friday cell meetings at the church building and introduced the spiritual training groups to a few people on Saturday at the UEC. Upon request, I made white chili (which turned sort of red thanks to the odd bean-vegetable combo I bought). After the planning meeting, we ate and watched a movie, a sort of postmodern version of the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde story. Lena continued talking with several people which made the event seem much longer. Then when we got home, discussions continued well into the night.

Sunday we visited Lyuda to look at the progress on their renovations. The kitchen is almost finished, the shower is working, a new toilet has been installed, and new tile is being put in the bathroom. They also covered the roof with some better tiles. We then had a congregational meeting after the assembly and that caused another flurry of conversations. I guess anytime a church considers some changes it brings out all sorts of odd things. Mostly the question we are looking at now is whether to recombine the Sunday assemblies, and as for now, we have agreed to go back to our schedule as for now.

Lena's mom also came on Sunday and we were finally able to take her out for her birthday that was this summer. She missed coming to Kyiv because of the birth of Polina. Lena and she went to Zhitomyr today to visit Polina. Polina is big enough to wear the duck outfit we bought her. I have a particular fondness for ducks.We had our first spiritual training group tonight and it went well. I then had a long talk with Sergiy about several things. He was just elated about the money we received to improve our computer center--he bought 6 new flat screen monitors today. It sure has made a huge difference in the desk space we now have. I think our UEC patrons are really going to like this. The new computers may be ready tomorrow. Thanks again to the UEC board, David Ralston, and others for these funds.

No one knows yet of what to think of the Ukrainian government crisis. Nothing much happened over the weekend. A leading Ukrainian newspaper today printed an article about Yushchenko's strong religious faith and that his faith is what has been shaping his decisions, at least in part. It was interesting that a leading newspaper would print such. Hopefully there is something to it.