Sunday was pleasant enough. I enjoyed preaching. Monday we had a nice day of work at the UEC. I met with two KPIU students who come for English practice. I learned they are going on the Work and Travel program this summer to Utah. So they will be gone for four months!! Frustrating but I think they will have a good time. I told them a little about the Mormons. I did invite them to come to Student Night. We also had our Psalms group though two people didn't come. It went till almost ten o'clock and then I picked up Lena from Anya Zubkova's b-day party. I've also been writing a transition plan for the UEC as we are going to have several staff changes this summer. We are re-working our brochures (always fun) and are now raising money among our patrons. Well, we now can legally receive donations, and so we just told the 1,300 people on our e-list that if they would like to make a donation they can. Several people have. One guy just walked up while I was at the desk and wasn't even sure how to say that he wanted to give some money. It's pretty interesting to watch this happen since there isn't much of a tradition of philanthropy here. Some church members have agreed to help. We hope to raise enough to cover costs like kitchen expenses, cleaning supplies, toliet paper, etc. We go through a lot of toilet paper everyday! Not me, personally, but the 120 or so people who come through the UEC each day.

Today I worked at the Center a lot since Lera is sick and Lena is preparing for her marketing class. I also had the Soup Group and the questions for today focused on evolution, intelligent design, young earth creationists, a supposed discrepancy between Matthew and Acts in how Judas died, and why Jesus told us to hate our families. Yeah, it's in the Bible. Sometimes, I feel like Soup Group is: Let's ask Chris the hardest Bible questions in the world and see him get out of that. But what's interesting is that those who come ask not because it's some game to them, but because they are discovering the Bible for the first time or have genuine questions about what they read in it or something they hear about Christianity. Unfortunately, all of them are going to the US this summer on Work and Travel. I am starting to see that almost everyone we are working with now is leaving in May and will be gone for four months. What to do? What to do?

Oleg and Oksana are coming over for dinner Thursday. I love to have an excuse to cook a nice meal. I should do it more often for Lena but I seem to never make myself do it. I stink.