The Lie
The lie… not always insidious, but definitely always distasteful. The poor sod who believes the lie… not always a drongo, but always deceived… and so always somewhat to be pitied. I hate lies! I’ve managed to break that 9th… probably quite a few times during my days on earth. But I suspect that my love of the truth and hate for the lie has kept me many a time from wading into that morass. God doesn’t approve of it – so neither do I.
To flip the subject: It’s amazing what we will believe simply because we were informed of the “facts” and they fit our political world view or affirm our family allegiance. For most of us in our town of Rzhyshchiv, the Ukrainian army can do no wrong. They are “our boys”. For many in the east of Ukraine, they hear stories of atrocities the Ukrainian army has committed, (including that a Ukrainian fighter jet shot down MH17), and they naturally believe those stories because they “fit their world-view”. In many instances, we believe what we want to believe. The wise man; however, has learned to take note of the details and has been trained to think logically, and will often recognize falsehood.
I don’t feel all that wise at times. Knowing when I’ve been lied to isn’t my weakest suit, but I know I’ve been deceived a lot of times, too. Wouldn’t it be good to carry around a pocket lie-detector? Someone should invent an app for that! Anyone want to be a millionaire?
We’ve entered the hot months of Ukraine’s weather cycle. This week should see us hit 34C. People here feel like they are cooking when it gets that hot. The local Rzhyshchiv beach is absolutely packed with people and it’s remarkable that we don’t see more people drown, (lifeguards are pretty much unheard of).
I was in a building store a couple of days ago when the mayor walked in to get a loan for petrol for the trimmers the council uses. The money is drying up again. It was bound to happen. We hear story after story of “hardship”. I overheard a lady bewailing the amount of her pension. “My pension is so small now. Others get more! How will I live?” The lady she was talking with answered by telling her that she would survive by spending what she has on necessities. But what with the prices of so many essentials increasing by 30-40%… living is going to be hard again. I ordered a truck-load of wood today. Lots of people are buying wood, expecting the gas to be turned off totally for a time or expecting the pressure to be turned right down. (If the pressure is turned down, and the outside temperature is –20 or lower, houses will not heat properly and pipes will freeze.) The local government is urging people to find alternate sources of heat.
Another sign of the times… Last week, some thieves stole Cheryl’s moped. While they were at it, they took Broderic’s broken one for good measure. The majority of people here wouldn’t steal like that. But the minority who don’t have qualms will resort to “easy money”, (particularly during tough times), and we are already seeing an increase in this sort of crime. I’ve long hoped that Cheryl would have the money to buy a vehicle. She isn’t your regular sort of Canadian missionary who goes around raising the sort of finances that mission societies require. She lives carefully and serves generously. If you would like to make a small contribution towards a car for Cheryl, please click on this link: dan@danandpris.com Ask me for banking details. This lady has served the Lord’s church for over 15 years. It would be wonderful for her to be blessed with a number of small sacrifices that if put together would be enough to purchase a reliable car.
We’ve had a major change of plans for the end of this year. Originally, we were planning to go back to Australia over Christmas. But with the situation being as it is in Ukraine at the moment, we feel it would be an unwise choice to leave now. It is somewhat ironic actually, that the same reason that caused us to wonder if there would come a time when we should leave Ukraine ends up being the reason we decide to stay… namely, the conflict in the east and the threat of a full on Russian invasion. We’ll look at our options again next year and hopefully get back to Oz in September. It is a painful thought not heading back. We had allowed ourselves to begin looking forward to it. We’ve Skype-d Jesse recently and just seeing him and the family and even the Australian flora in the background… ahhh! We were close! Naturally, planning specifically with civil war raging and Russia prepping for an invasion is somewhat futile. But you can pray that we’ll be given wisdom when we need to choose a time to leave.
We just submitted our passports for another extension on our Temporary Residency Permits. It should be but a formality and we get another year in country before needing to leave Ukraine and reapply for the TR Permit.
Pris has been diagnosed with strep-throat this last week. She’s been energy-less for a while and the doc’s took a swab and declared her sick. She’s going to go into Kiev a few times next week to get some sort of treatment done. I think four of us actually have strep-throat, but Pris is suffering the worst. Hopefully, the rest of us will be able to treat it ourselves through home-remedies and gargling!
Last Friday, we had a night for singles where some of us “marrieds” served those who aren’t married. We started the evening with about 15 attendees and half-an-hour in, saw it swell to 30. We had two sessions of teaching – an hour long each session with the main subject being, “What to look for in a potential husband/wife”. It was a real joy to share with these young people. We’ve planned a follow-up evening for next Friday and will look at the “divorce questions”, as well as a number of other questions such as, “Does a girl have to wait for a guy to find her or can she do things to be noticed?” At the last meeting, we had a head of people stay overnight. We’ll do the same this time, but will be more prepared food-wise and bedding-wise.
Tomorrow, we are taking the men in the church out to the island for a morning of breakfast, teaching and swimming/wake-boarding. I love my brothers and am thankful for these times. The river, despite all the rubbish that is left by irresponsible picnickers, is full of beauty… especially in the mornings.
It’s already “tomorrow”.
Two photo’s of the men’s breakfast on the island… perfect weather, flat water, time spent with the brothers, good food and a bit of a laugh as Zhenya and Vlad catch a fish with their bare hands. Zhenya does a pretty good Gollum impersonation!
Vlad is enjoying the freedom of being with us. We’re enjoying the pleasure of his company, too. He’s a sharp-witted bloke and is lots of fun. I took his pic on top of “Bald Hill” with an Orthodox cross. (I was standing in what I discovered was an ant hill when I took it… not my most enjoyable moment of the day.) Vlad’s been free three weeks now!