Time to Plant...or at least try

Well for any of you still following this blog, I haven't updated in about a month so I have a few things to say. First of all I would like to thank anyone who prayed for my travels to Poland. I was there a little longer than I wanted (11 days) waiting for documents I needed to make my Visa, but all in all it was a good trip and God kept me safe and guided my feet as to where to go and which buses to take and so forth. I couldn't wait in Ukraine any longer because without Visa you have only 90 days. And unfortunately for me it was 27 minutes into my 91st day so I had a fun time on the border getting singled out, called forward, and then questioned by a few guards (in Ukrainian of course) as to who I am, what am I doing in Ukraine, and where am I living and stuff like that. Miraculously after about 5-7 minutes of this, they said I need to count better my days that I can stay, and asked me what are they going to do with me...but finally ended up giving me my passport and stamp. I think they understood I wasn't going to give any bribes or anything, so they just let me go without having to pay something. So now I have visa for 45 days in which time I must register to live here for the year. So please pray for this as it is an even more complicated process than the visa application.

Also I want to thank those of you who have been praying for baby Liza, a small 1 year old girl with many health problems. We are ministering to her and her family of 7 children and have a good relationship with them. My mom's wonderful class and parents of children in her class generously gave money for us to use to help some poor children and families here in Ukraine so we used some of this money to take Liza to the hospital to check what exactly is wrong. It was some discouraging news so I ask for even more prayers for her please. She has some slow reaction times with her brain,(including no reflexes), blood in or around her brain, and she is 1 year and can't sit on her own. Also, the doctor believes that the nerves in her eyes have atrophied and she maybe can see only silhouettes. She will have another checkup sometime this week. It will be more intensive, like a full examination of everything. Please pray that God will heal her or at least that we will get a more encouraging report. I included here a picture of her and her mom, Yana.

And lastly just want to tell you of my interesting time last Saturday in a village not far from here. We went to the house of some of our friends that minister and meet with us sometimes for Bible Study and other activities, to help them plant their potatoes. So with two hand plows pulled behind a small tractor we plowed and then planted maybe 20 large sacks of potatoes. There were about 15 of us and we planted the whole field in 1 day...which was no small feat...My friend Andriy said such a field and so many potatoes usually takes 3 days. Also we had to cut the potatoes in a certain way so they would grow, which I also learned to do. Anyway, it was interesting for me to learn how to plow a field, and plant potatoes, and we had fun afterwards playing games,singing, and eating some grilled hot dogs. However, it was an exhausting day and I slept very well that night! We will see in a few months how our potatoes turned out, and I have a feeling it will be even more "fun" to harvest them... but that will be another story for another day.

Thanks, if you are reading this, for your interest in my blog, and in my work here. Thank you for your prayers and support! God bless you and your family! Don't forget to pray for baby Liza when you can! See you next time.