A recap of the last three months…
On such a day as this – sunshine, warmth in the air, and peace and joy in the home, how could this not be a beautiful day? Confidently stated: we love spring!
Several weeks ago, we had a week-end at a camp-site up near Chernobyl. It was a great time… blessed by the Lord. 17 of us took 15 guys who don’t know the Lord away and we played paintball, volleyball and numerous indoor games around the talk times and four “lectures”. Several of the guys responded on different levels to the presentation of the gospel and I met with four of them afterwards to answer question – of which there were many. Three of the guys seem to have already made decisions while one of them, Max, is wanting to, but recognizes the repercussions on his relationships if he goes ahead and that gives him pause. It is my hope and has been my prayer today that God shows him grace and tips the scales in his mind so that he doesn’t worry about the repercussions, but just goes ahead with faith.
The church seems to be doing well. I’ve been encouraged by different people as they accept more responsibility and show initiative in finding creative ways to love and serve people. Vladislav and Tom recently got a group of kids together who are from homes where the parents are alcoholics or very poor. They plan to feed them and simply show that there are people who care. Igor organized a group of students to go to another town for a soccer tournament. Jesse enjoyed himself. The opportunity to spend more time with guys who are slowly changing their perception of Christians is a good one.
Pris and kids are well. I regularly pray with the little girls at night and often find myself thanking God for the health He has given us and then reflecting on how grateful I really am for this unnecessary blessing. Last week, we sanded off the deck together. Even Elle helped!
The house we were building last year has gone ahead and is nearing completion. It looks 
great. I’ve had basically no involvement since Simeon and Asha took it over, but it is going to be a beautiful place for foster kids to come and live - that is for sure.
I thought you might be interested in a couple of pictures of our small store we often shop at. The alcoholic problem is not helped that one of the four walls is nearly entirely taken up with cheap alcohol. Our staple bread is the heavy white “baton”. It stays fresh for a day… indicative of the amount of preservatives missing, and costs the equivalent of about 50 cents – or 30 minutes “salary”.
We recently bought another house… and will again use the students as labor in demolishing and then building. May this too, bring forth some more spiritual fruit in the student population here! The house is amazingly old and based on the height of the lintels between rooms, was built during the era of hobbits in Ukraine - quaint, indeed.
Easter was celebrated by 99% of Ukrainians. It is incredible how a nation can celebrate the resurrection of a man they are willing to say is God but aren’t willing to submit to. “Incongruously,” 99% of Ukrainians will enthusiastically affirm that Christ is risen, but when it comes to reading the Bible or praying, well… “the priests do that for us”. I still enjoy this time of year, however. And we as a church celebrate it with joy and praise. The buns in the photo (in cellophane) are traditional Ukrainian “Paska” (Easter bread) - very pretty; very tasty.
I write you on a computer that has been “touched” by Oleg. Oleg is the guy on the telephone in this picture. I enjoy being with him and he is an old friend. He runs a computer business out of a small two room office and seems to have a lot of customers. We’ve talked about God before and I would really love to see him in heaven one day. Interestingly enough, he just had a stroke scare. Each time I see him, I feel for him and I recognize that often, the older one gets, the harder it is to make the decision to give Jesus your life. Due to a power surge recently, which took out our microwave, modem, printer and computer as well as about 10 light bulbs, Oleg is going to be getting more work from us!
We celebrated Vladislav’s birthday recently. (His judicial problems 
continue over the accident. The courts have decided to start the whole procedure over again.) Anyway, he made some great marinated meat which we cooked over the fire and then he somehow managed to convince us to play an old Slavic game where four (or more) people make an “elephant” and attempt to carry the other team of four people who have jumped on them to a certain point. If the elephant manages the task, they win. We laughed a lot. Enjoy the unusual picture…
Gav has left Ukraine. After five years of Rzhyshchiv life, he is returning to Tassie to live, leaving behind a heap of people who love him and have appreciated him. We’ve enjoyed so many times over the past years just hanging out also enjoyed talking cricket. He’s the only one here who can fully appreciate the nuances of a 60-ball hundred by Shaun, son of Geoff Marsh, the stodgy but effective Australian opener.
The posting of some of the above was interrupted by a stroke. I woke up one morning feeling like I’ve seen many people look after waking up – like a sick camel. My head was unsteady, my speech was thick and my walk was clumsy. I went down to the market and felt like every time I opened up my mouth, I revealed that I was a secret alcoholic! I actually found it interesting. It didn’t take me long to come to the conclusion that I’d had another stroke and so off to the clinic I went with Bruce driving. Since then, I’ve had numerous MRI’s and other tests on my heart and neck in an attempt to discover the root cause of the stroke. The highly qualified neurosurgeons and neurologists couldn’t find any cause. So after a course of intravenous drugs and the introduction of some more tablets, I’m back on my feet and looking to once again hit life with “gusto”.
God is good... good to have allowed us this experience and good to have blessed us all the way through it. The benefits of being his child are enormous!!
With much love,
Daniel and Priscilla