The Holidays in Ukraine!

Christmas
After we got back from our trip in South Africa, we all got together to celebrate Christmas as a team. We were especially excited to give all the pressies we got for our teammates in South Africa. Since they couldn't see all the animals with us, we brought them back wooden sculptures! We had a great time exchanging gifts with everyone. We also shared some soup that Denyce had prepared along with buckeye balls and peanut butter pie... yumm! It was a great time together. Although we were celebrating Christmas "late," Ukrainians would have considered it early. That's right, Ukraine sees December 25th as just another ordinary day. Their Christmas decorations are just going up around that time because they celebrate New Years, then Orthodox Christmas on January 7th. Hopefully the longer we're here, the more we'll learn about their Christmas traditions! Here are a few pictures from the main square (which is just a couple blocks from our house). There are lights everywhere, a huge Christmas tree, ice sculptures, and ice slides! They certainly went above and beyond to make their square festive for the holidays!

New Years Eve and David's Birthday

On the day we moved into our new place, we had everyone over for a New Years Eve/David's birthday meal and celebration. Our whole team and our two friends, Vetali and Galina came over to celebrate with us. We all ate pizza together, shared some birthday chocolate cheesecake and David opened his presents. He got some nice gifts, including this angel from Galina and Vetali. The angel is our first Ukrainian gift, so it will always be very special to us! Vetali and Galina and the McDougles had to leave before midnight, but the Hindmans stayed and we watched the fireworks together on our balcony at midnight. Our balcony is not heated, so we all were bundled up in our coats and shoes... it was cold! (See pictures) Fireworks went off for the rest of the night as everyone was celebrating around town. New Years is really Ukraine's big holiday of the year. The next day Kharkov was a ghost town. Almost all the shops were closed for New Years Day and the few people who were out were in the square celebrating and enjoying the holiday as families.

Visit from Brandon and Katie Price
Our friends from Lubbock, Brandon and Katie Price, came to see our team over the holidays. We spent quite a bit of time with them while they were here, soaking up every minute we could with them. They were able to stay at our new place for a few days which was heaps of fun. Brandon and Katie have worked here in Ukraine in the past and hope to come back to do mission work here in the future. Right now they are currently living in Lubbock, Texas, working with the AIM program and an after-school outreach program at Central Church of Christ. We really enjoyed hearing their dreams for this country and are excited to see how God will use them to spread His Good News here in Ukraine. Please keep them in your prayers as they will be making decisions over this next year about their future and possible work here in Ukraine.

South Africa Part Two

Well, this is almost embarrassing it's so late. But, the second week in our South Africa trip must be talked about on our blog, then we will move onto what's been happening in Ukraine recently. We had such a wonderful time with everyone and everything while we were there. Time went fast and we didn't get everything done we wanted to get done (David thinks this is an excuse to go back), but we did A LOT. :) The picture to the right is at Cape Point near Cape Town.

Xhosa Celebration
One Saturday while we were there we were invited to go with the other AIMers and their coordinators to a very special Xhosa celebration. Their housekeeper's son, Cry, was coming back from his rite of passage in the bush... it was a time of celebration as he left boyhood and became a man. He had spent an extremely hard 3 weeks in the bush that included not being able to drink water or eat salty foods for the first whole week. During his time in the bush he was also circumcised, with no anesthetics. We were all invited to the family's celebration, in fact, we were honored guests which was very humbling. We were greeted by all of them coming out and singing and dancing us into their homes... and the singing didn't hardly stop until we left! Cry was given many gifts since all his possesions were burned as a part of his transition. It was amazing to be a part of such an important African celebration.

Safari Trips
We were able to go to several different parks in the Port Elizabeth area and see lots of animals. We saw giraffes, elephants, bok, wildebeest, baboons, monkeys, rhino, buffalo, lions, tigers, warthogs, tortoises, ostriches (baby ostriches in the picture to the left), etc.. etc. It was really amazing to see so many different animals out in the wild... and so close. For most of the animal reserves we were in the car driving through, but on one trip we got on horseback and went to see rhino, wildebeest, buffallo, and zebra. That was a neat experience because we were a lot closer and a little more vulnerable. We were also really blessed because we went at a time when there were baby animals everywhere. David had fun playing with lion cubs. We saw some that were just 3 days old, some that were about 3 weeks old, then played with some that were 9 months old. The 9 month old cubs were pretty big already and David did a good job of getting them excited and playful. So much so, in fact, that one of them bit him in the side and left a pretty good mark. He also had several rips in his shirt and scratches from them. The lion trainer kept warning David that they were wild, they weren't tame. The picture above is him playing with the cubs before they bit him.
Besides the game trips, we also were able to see about 6 whales playing in the water. I also saw dolphins and penguins for the first time, which was thoroughly enjoyable. I had asked to see a whale for Christmas... that's all I wanted and God was nice and gave me my wish! (See the picture of two whales to the right.)

Encouragement from the Christians
David, as we mentioned before, spoke at three different congregations while we were in South Africa. It was really nice to meet so many Christians and be encouraged by them and what they are doing down there. Some even invited us into their homes, fed us, and just took time to get to know us. We knew we could go there and be an encouragement to them, but we really walked away more encouraged by them. It's so neat to see how God is working all over the world, using His servants to be His light.

Christmas in South Africa

The day before we left was Christmas day... so we had Christmas for the first time in South Africa! It was summertime, so we enjoyed a sun-filled day and it felt a little more like home for David. The AIM coordinators, Ken and Judy Kendall-Ball had us and all the AIMers over to their place for Christmas breakfast, a time of opening presents, then later on that night for Christmas dinner. Judy did all the cooking for the day and it was fabulous, plus she sewed each of us a stocking and we all made sure each other's was filled. We had such a good time with each of them and were even able to play some games that evening. All of us were away from our families, but we were together and it was special!

So... moral of our blog post: go to South Africa if you get the chance. Yes, see all the animals, pet sharks, go bungee jumping, and even get mauled by lion... but make time to get to know the people as well. It was a trip we'll never forget and will cherish for a long time!!!

Part One of Our Holiday in South Africa

We are having so much fun we have been neglecting our communications with people! :) I know most of you don't mind, though I'm sure a few of you are wondering what is going on with us.
For those that need a quick update here you are. We are currently in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. We were gifted this trip earlier this year, and the earliest we could go was during these Christmas holidays. This situation worked out great for us, because it is cold in Ukraine right now! But here in SA it is warm and sunny. I got a sun burn the first day out here (don't worry mum, I am not forgetting the sun block).
We have had some good time seeing the sights of SA, the uniqueness of the country, and the people. But some of the best parts of the trip are the opportunities we have to be involved in encouraging the workers and Christians here. As we are visiting the AIMers here, we are also getting to tag along with them in some of there work here. I have had opportunities to preach and teach and we both have spent time encouraging our brothers and sisters. We are so grateful that we could meet other Christians here and spend time with them! It's a good reminder of what we will be experiencing together in heaven one day... something we can't have now because of the huge land masses and bodies of water separating us.
But on top of that we have been able to participate in some God's creation here in South Africa. We took a short trip to Cape Town and along the way stopped at a bridge to jump off! I have now jumped off of the World's tallest bungy jump. I have a little certificate to prove it. I have a little video below of the jump as well. (The scream you hear is one of joy and excitement, not fear).

After the jump we continued on to Cape Town where we stayed the night before jumping on a boat the next morning to look for Great White sharks. On this trip we saw hundreds of seals, a whale with her calf , penguins, and .... GREAT WHITE SHARKS!!
My wife was nice enough to brave seasickness and she also allowed me to jump in a cage to watch Great Whites! It was amazing. At first I didn't think the trip would be worth it, but as soon as I jumped in the cage a White Shark showed up and hit the bait right in front of the cage. It came so close that you could touch it! I'm not exagerating it at all, I know it was close enough to touch because after it missed the bait, I reached out and touched it! You might think I'm crazy, but it is probably your jealousy because I touched a 2.5 meter White Shark. This is a short video of the second time it showed up. (I'm in the cage you briefly see.)

There are many things that we can tell you about our trip, but we need to stop for now and get this posted. Thanks to all for your prayers... we've been safe and are really having a wonderful time here. We'll update you again soon on more adventures we're having!

Enjoying Life!

Hello to you all! It's been awhile... we've been busy! But, it's time for us to update you on what's been happening around here. Life has been good here in Kharkov-- God is so good to us!
It's hard to believe the holidays are already upon us. We went out a couple weekends ago and shopped for a Christmas tree and decorations... it turned out great! I'll have to post a final picture of the tree later, but here's a few pictures of the process. As you can see, our nephew Canaan helped us out. My parents sent us a few decorations from the states as well with the Jarboes, so that helped make things more festive around our place.
Last Saturday we had a bunch of people into our home for Borsch soup. It's a very common Russian soup that's delicious (main ingredients are cabbage and beets -- see picture below). A good friend of ours, Valeri, came over and cooked everything for us! Valeri is a chef (see picture to the left), so it was the best borsh we've had yet! Here are a few pictures of that day. That same weekend, our team was blessed to have a visit from Eileen Ench, a missionary in Rostov, Russia. We were able to visit with her about her work and just encourage one another. She even taught us a few children's songs in Russian, so we look forward to implementing those into our Bible Classes on Sunday morning! Further down are a few more pictures of our guest that day. We had the whole team over, plus Andre (in the picture with Eileen and Dougle) and Luba (in the picture with Eileen). Our house was packed, but we had a wonderful time together. :)
We are also excited to announce that we've found a permanent apartment! It's a very nice place, nicer than we were anticipating, in fact. We signed the agreement and will move in on December 29th. We're so thankful for many of you and the prayers you offered up for all of our apartment searches. Our whole team has now found apartments and are within about 10 min walking distance of one another, plus we're in the center of the city. God truly blessed us with exactly what we were hoping for! Please be praying for us and for our new landlords.
We're leaving today, Thursday, and going on holiday to South Africa! We were gifted this trip back at our graduation and are finally able to go on it. We'll be visiting a friend, Lindsay White, who is working down there with the Adventures in Missions program. While we're there, we'll be doing many touristy/holiday stuff, but we'll also be spending time with the local congregations in Port Elizabeth. David will be speaking at 3 different congregations while we're there. We're excited about going and spending Christmas there. We will return to Kharkov on December 27th.
We hope all of you are doing well. We appreciate all the comments, encouragement, love, and support you send our way. God bless!