+ 0 - 0 | § ¶Drunks Need to get home TOO!
A little something about Vodka - it lies to you.
As I was saying in my article below...about manners and birthday parties...first, Birthday parties are HUGE deals...and so when someone (non-Christian) has a birthday, there are a lot of "toasts" and a lot of vodka ingested. Most get wasted. But some get left in the streets to die:( Or so it was about 1 week ago...with a guy I met on his knees and hands in -7 C weather in the snow (around 12:30am). Anyway, first, about manners, it is polite to have 3 shots if you are guest at a birthday party...otherwise you offend the host. I haven't had to do this, since I have been to only Christian birthday parties, where overeating is our only sin:) Back to this story, I passed the guy (driving my car, he was in the street, near the side) and my first thought was, "it's Ukrainian's problem" - I don't speak enough Russian and I certainly don't speak enough "drunken Russian" - but, then I RETHOUGHT that...which was good and turned around. Ukrainian's problems, are my problems...because I live here as a missionary. DUH! So, I picked the guy up out of the snow (note a lot of people just steal from these drunks, and it would have been easy, as he had a briefcase with him) - but, man, his hands were red cold and freezing. I don't know how long he had been there, but it was getting to a dangerous level (I helped a guy last year who was sleeping on the sidewalk...but thankfully, after getting him up, other Russian speakers came and helped him get home) - this time, no one was around. I couldn't understand a word he was saying and was getting frustrated. I kept asking, "where's you home, where's your home" (gde vash dom, in Russian) - I was about to take him to my house, just so he didn't die in the cold, when he pointed in a certain direction towards about 10,000 apartments...and thought it was worth a try. I held him up as we walked a while...but then his wife and son met us...Praise God! And believe it or not, I could understand the Russian that they spoke. However, his home was not there. I offered to drive them home...his wife and son "shoved him" into my back seat...as he couldn't understand or move much. The son went with and directed us to their home. Finally, when I got the guy out of the backseat...he started hugging me, blessing me, and kissing me on my cheek. It was interesting. I took no money of course and told them it was a his birthday present, as that is why he was drunk. Anyway, a long story...longer...I was most surprised as to how much Russian conversation I could have with the son...and actually help someone in the process...I gave them a business card and wait for a call...as they said they would have me over sometime...we'll see. Praise God for his Grace on cold nights in Ukraine!
+ 0 - 0 | § ¶English Club and Oleg's Birthday
Hey friends,
There has been a lot going on, but I didn't update much for a week. First, my trip to Poland has changed a little, but still in the works - partly because I will have a "spring break" week off of school in the first week of April and partly because of Ukrainian law...I must leave the country every six months, briefly, then I can reenter. Anyway, be praying about the trip, I am planning on meeting up with my Swedish friend Krisofer there and maybe meet with my old church friends of 11 years old, that I met on my first mission trip ever in the summer of 1995. Anyway, here are some pictures from March 3rd...English Club and of my friend Oleg's 32nd birthday party...they make birthdays to be about the biggest event of the year, except for New Years. If you want to see what I taught in English Club the last two times, you can click on "(more)" - I have been teaching on MANNERS - as it seems to be mostly an American thing...or depending on what family you come from. However, our first President G.W. was the first person to write an entire book on Manners...so it is clearly part of our American culture. I had some TV shows to explain how "not" to behave and went into the teaching from there. Blessings, Rick www.myspace.com/missionsupport - has a silly new video about "fish" from this English club meeting.
