We just got back from the YWAM Jubilee Celebration: a conference to celebrate the 50 years of YWAM. It was quite awesome. We went to a place called a sanatorium. It’s really hard to explain what a sanatorium is because we don’t have them in the US. But, basically it’s a camp with dorm-like buildings. There are swing-sets and playgrounds and a soccer field. Loren and Carol(?) Cunningham, the founders of YWAM spoke quite a bit, but we also got to hear from the YWAM base leaders from all over Eastern Europe. It was very exciting to hear what all is getting done in other nations. Mr. Cunningham also spoke about the future of YWAM. There was some awesome technological stuff that YWAM has. Apparently YWAM is on the same level as the US military when it comes to technology. Impressive, eh? He talked about this one video conferencing system that is specific to YWAM. Using this system, people from all over the world work together to make a movie. It could be filmed in the US, directed in Australia, and edited in South Africa. It’s really quite incredible.
So, everything was completely awesome, but most of us were exhausted. We had a hard time staying awake during some the long sessions, but it was all good.
The worship services were wonderful! The singers would alternate between Russian and English and the lyrics were in both languages. It reminded me of Costa Rica a bit, when we sang in both Spanish and English. It’s super cool when you can hear many voices and different languages worship the same God. It makes me happy. :D
There were a couple downsides. There were horrible squatty-potties. Ick. I can’t stand the things. But, ah well. I’ll just have to get used to it. Apparently when we’re on outreach, it’s the only toilet we’ll be able to access. But let me tell you, we were quite thankful when we got back to the apartment. We actually came in and sighed, “We’re home!” It’s neat.
It was also very cold. We hadn’t quite prepared for the chilliness. The weather required a jacket, but we all just took hoodies. Bad plan. But we had hot tea all the time, and Lance brought us nice warm sleeping bags, so it was good.
I got to talk to a lady who is running the YWAM Hope here in Kyiv. (YWAM Hope is an orphanage ministry). She and her husband were from Germany, so that was cool. We talked about the spirituality in Germany. It’s very postmodern, and the church has not grown very much there. THAT made me sad. But this whole conference has been showing me stuff like that. There are SO many needs, but there is progress! And that’s awesome. There just needs to be people to go.
So, yeah. I have a bunch of friends. :D They’re great. Yesterday, I walked around with Petya and Nikolay. They are pretttty great. Petya doesn’t speak much English, but he know a bit. Nikolay is usually the translator. He’s from Kyrgyzstan and, like Svinge, which is actually spelled Sevinch :D, he speaks multiple languages very well. On the way to the sanatorium, Sevinch, Nikolay, and I played word games. I won all the time because I knew more words in English, but they still did pretty well.
Pretty much the entire DTS group is becoming great friends already. We’re made of mostly Ukrainians, but there are four Americans: Jessica, Erin, me, and Mr. Ed. Ed is 48 and is the only other American who can’t speak much Russian. AND it just so happens that it was him and me who got lost when we all played the “run around the city and answer some questions about places you see” game. Heh…yeah. I COULDN’T FIND THAT BLASTED ROAD. Maps can be deceiving, you know? :D From Ukraine, we have Oksana, Elvira (Eilla), Ksenya, Marsa, Marta, Petya, Ruslan, and Rustam. Then Sevinch and Nikolay are from other countries. Our leaders are from a variety of countries, too. Andrew and Oksana Ford are from Australia (Australian accents, ftw!) and Ukraine. Lance is from Oregon, and Kate is from Michigan. Tanya is from Russia and Senya is from Ukraine. And they are all awesome. :D
So, little Oksana is here now. She doesn’t really understand everything I type. ;) But she is AWESOME. I love my Oksana. :D (She just squealed and gave me a hug. Haha!)
But, yeah, so there are some awesome relationships and I’m learning a bunch. So, obviously, this is awesome. I wake up every morning at 6:00 or 6:30 and walk a mile or so to get to the base. While we were at the camp thing I just walked around the camp. It’s gorgeous here. And I’m kind of falling in love with Kyiv. Even when we get lost, it’s a great city. It’s so different, but a good sort of different. On the side of the road, people sell food from their gardens or farms. There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE, but they’re all nice. Sah-bah-ka. That’s dog. :D I can read more, too! Yay! Now if only I can understand what some of those words mean…
Alright. I better go work on that homework…lol. Procrastination is THE BEST.
…And the homework is coming along. Let me tell you, this is the best homework EVER. It’s all creative artsy stuff if you so choose to do it that way…so….Yay!! This makes for happy Arielles. :D So, yeah, I’ll show you all my projects when I’m finished. They shall be B-E-A-utiful!
I also started laundry today. Heh…yay, right? So, we have laundry detergent and a bathtub. That’s how we do it. I almost feel like a regular pioneer woman (this said while typing on a Macbook. Oh, the irony!) And it’s getting late and I’m getting ridiculous (and I love the fact that the clock says 0:18 right now.)
Tomorrow is church! I’ll be going to the international church that is in English and serves tea and cookies. The worship is phenomenal and the sermon related extremely well to things we talked about in DTS. So, yay! Good night, everybody! I hope you enjoyed this extraordinarily long post.
So, yeah...that was a couple days ago. I'll get something better soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment