I would like to encourage you to please post your comments and questions here. This will help me very much to be interested in keeping this blog updated.
I know that there is somebody who visits it, and who cares, so please reaveal yourselves :) It really makes a difference to me!
It's been so long since i posted any news here - and i apologize for that, and hope you'll forgive me for the lack of news. Since my camera is definitelly dead, there will be no pictures for now, untill i get a new one (i wish to get myself Nikon D80 or Canon EOS Rebel XSI, but that will most likelly have to wait till next summer - it's not the major need right now, anyway).
Many things had happened since summer - we had a very good, though not very successful in terms of numbers LST compaign. There are few observations to this, which i will post later. Nevertheless, we were able to set up good relationship with quite a few readers. First of all, these are Sasha and Maksim, two young men with special needs. Also, through them and also due to the connections with Shans center for disabled children we have contact with many more. Currently, i am teaching two classes a week in the center. Last Thursday there were 7 people in the class, and hopefully they all will keep coming. We are reading Gospel of John (easy-to-read English), using the material developed by Dave Phelps (Dave, i hope you don't mind :)) Each class lasts for about 1.5h and we stay afterwards to fellowship.
Initially i was hoping to have these classes in the church building, but then we realized the building has accessibility flaws that will make it impossible for the kids on wheelchairs to be in the class. First of all, it's the lack of ramp on the porch, and also the tiolets are not good enough to serve the people with the special needs. We don't even have estimates for remodelling yet - i am trying to arrange for the director of Shans to come and see our facilities, then he'll give us techincal data for estimation.
Also, in October i was working on the translation of Manual for parents of children with the special needs. This 65 paged paper was developed by Maria Noyes, Peace Corp. volunteer, who works with Shans and School #2 (where Dave Phelps used to work). Maria will have it printed and distributed among parents and people with disabilities in our community.
Also I have started marriage councelling classes with Oleg Ratushny and Ira, they are planning to get married in December (note for Betty Cannon: I can't believe you gonna miss this one too :))
Two weeks ago they finally turned on the heat in town. But not for our church building - there was a major leakage (in several spots) in the pipes (outside the building, thankfully). Finding someone to fix it (it took replacement of 20 meters of pipes and valves) was suprisingly not an easy job - it actually took us a week to find a plumber who was not overloaded with jobs. (Seems like plumbing is the major problem in our apartment buildings too - during this year we had to leakages in the pipes in our own apartment). Last Sunday we were forced to have a church meeting in the children's room, which is much smaller, but can be heated with just one electric radiator. Since the problem is solved already (actually, on Thursday), we won't be limited by space on Sunday. The whole repair cost us 2000 hryvnya (about 350$), so far we paid 800hrn (all we had at the moment on our account) , and the rest will have to be paid next week on Monday or Thuesday. We'll have a special contribution announced tonight and on Sunday.
Our weekly contributions now are about 400hrn, and we'll have to be giving more to be able to cover all the expenses. The monthly estimates are:
heat - 2000hrn
electricity - 250hrn
other utilities and services - 200hrn
with total of 2450 hrn a month (about 400$) . If this winter proves to be cold, we'll have to pay more for the heat, or a litlle less, if the winter is as warm as it was last year.
