A Weekend of Giving Thanks
Thursday was the big day in America but in Ukraine, it was just another day. After we finished working, Lena and I decided to go to the only restaurant in Kyiv that serves Thanksgiving dinner. We trudged there through some of the most horrible weather--several inches of icy rain had fallen during the day, had partly melted and was partly frozen. Then we realized there prices had gone up about 40% since the last time we were there about two years ago (Arizona Barbecue for those of you in the know). I had some turkey. Lena had a cheesecake. We had had our Soup Group outreach earlier in the day. We spent most of the more than 2 hours discussing the differences between Christianity and eastern religions. We finally had to leave because someone had the room reserved. Guess I will reserve it for 3 hours next time.
Lena woke up sick on Friday. She had been fighting it for a week and finally it broke through. She has just about finished her major paper for her ethics class. It traces changing attitudes toward abortion in the US over the last 100 years. I learned several things.
Saturday, our Monday spiritual training group organized a Day of Thanksgiving for the church. People gave money to help fund the food and activities. Many people invited friends. I showed up about 3 to open the door and start cooking. Lyuda then brought a huge Napoleon cake. Lyuba brought in some pyeroshki (with meat and cabbage). Others brought in drinks, salads were made, Egyptian rice was cooked at the UEC nd brought to the church building. What a feast was prepared. We had close to 50 people with many guests. We had several different activities besides eating. We also wrote thank you notes to people for good things they have done in our lives, we played games, had a special worship session, and saw an 18-minute "show" of images from this past year's church life. It was a lot of fun to put that together Friday night with Sergiy. Bogdan and his fiance Cassandra showed up and brought some American goodies.
While they were setting up the projector, I gave a speech in Russian about where the American holiday of Thanksgiving came from. Overall, it was a great evening.
Sunday I preached about being thankful, and how thankfulness is not simply done once a year but a spiritual habit that must be nurtured--during good times and during bad times. It's not something that should be left for one time a year.
Lena woke up sick on Friday. She had been fighting it for a week and finally it broke through. She has just about finished her major paper for her ethics class. It traces changing attitudes toward abortion in the US over the last 100 years. I learned several things.
Saturday, our Monday spiritual training group organized a Day of Thanksgiving for the church. People gave money to help fund the food and activities. Many people invited friends. I showed up about 3 to open the door and start cooking. Lyuda then brought a huge Napoleon cake. Lyuba brought in some pyeroshki (with meat and cabbage). Others brought in drinks, salads were made, Egyptian rice was cooked at the UEC nd brought to the church building. What a feast was prepared. We had close to 50 people with many guests. We had several different activities besides eating. We also wrote thank you notes to people for good things they have done in our lives, we played games, had a special worship session, and saw an 18-minute "show" of images from this past year's church life. It was a lot of fun to put that together Friday night with Sergiy. Bogdan and his fiance Cassandra showed up and brought some American goodies.
While they were setting up the projector, I gave a speech in Russian about where the American holiday of Thanksgiving came from. Overall, it was a great evening.
Sunday I preached about being thankful, and how thankfulness is not simply done once a year but a spiritual habit that must be nurtured--during good times and during bad times. It's not something that should be left for one time a year.
posted by Kyivmission at 11:42 PM
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