All good
It is Wednesday afternoon. I’ve finished preparation for the Bible study tonight and am somewhat free. We are going through the Book of First Peter and tonight will be looking at the subjects of serving in the church and what it means to love fervently. Should be good.
I’m healthy. To tell the truth, I was surprised to hear the doctor inform me that I’m healthy. I went in last Wednesday and gave blood for a series of tests. They called me the next day and asked if I could come back in and give some more blood. (The natural assumption was that they needed to double check a reading that came up that was worrying for them.) As it turned out, they just hadn’t taken enough blood for all the tests on the first try. Anyway, the cardiologist gave me a cardiogram, looked at the results of most of the blood tests and told me I was all good.
Things are proceeding towards spring at a comfortable rate of knots. We’ve had a few days of sun this week and even though we are still experiencing minus temperatures, warmth on face can’t help but bring the hope of spring! Yesterday, we took a visiting family to the memorial nearby. All the kids immediately ran for the soldiers and climbed up onto their shoulders and capes. This was the site of an enormous battle towards the end of the Second World War. The Soviet troops were retaking their land from the Germans who were entrenched extremely well in their defensive positions. Thousands of Soviet troops were killed. Hundreds of Germans died. There are still tunnels and trenches all up the coast of the river. The climbers in the photo below cause me just a twinge of nervousness as I remember the granite base underneath the cast iron soldiers. Granite and heads don’t mix.
This weekend, we will see three nights of interaction with students. Saturday night is what has annoyingly been referred to as a men’s breakfast. The gospel will be shared and testimonies given. May God have mercy and open the eyes of the blind.
I was down on the river Monday and stopped for a quick walk on the ice. It was beautiful! If you look closely in the middle of the photo, you will be able to see a man pulling something over the ice. I’ll leave it to you to guess what it is and type the answer at the end of this post. Angel and Gaven amused us as they ran from point of interest to “next” point of interest while feeling the rock hard ice under their feet. Yesterday, as I stood on it, I could feel it cracking and hear an irregular bass beat as it shifted slightly along the cracks. Beautiful!
The kids’ Ukrainian language is coming along real nicely. Jesse and Marie have lessons in Kiev once a week and feel like it is filling the gaps. Angie and Elle are studying with Nika, a neighbour. They love both her and the lessons.
As I preach and teach each week, invariably I will ask my audience for the correct word at least once during the message. In spite of that, I am feeling very free and attribute much of that to the hours I spend listening to sermons and to the workers talking as we work on the building site. It sunk in.
Enjoy your week. The man is pulling a boat. It is easier pulling it on the ice than rowing it in the open water in the middle of the river.