Leave at Noon, Arrive after 3

Our return flight is scheduled to leave Warsaw at 12:10 p.m. local time and arrive in Chicago at 3:15 p.m. It looks like a short flight, but we're flying against the Earth's rotation. It's actually 10 hours 5 minutes if I did the math right.

It's flight LO0001 on a Boeing 767-300.

160 Decisions for Christ

According to the figures compiled by Brother Bob there were around 160 decisions made by Ukrainians this past week to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.

While Larry Avery and Bettie Dugger saw the largest and most impressive outpouring of the Holy Spirit with all of the decisions made in the villages where they worked on the northwestern edge of Chernivtsi, all of the teams who went out on home visits saw immediate results.

What won't be known for some time will be the fruits of the seeds planted this past week.

Dealing with the youth this week I was disappointed in not seeing immediate results, particularly when I found out that we were going to be dealing with kids more than teenagers and young adults. I haven't helped with Vacation Bible School since I took part in it as a kid myself.

Needless to say they nearly wore us out, especially the imp on the left of this picture from some of the kids from Anadoly, a small village downriver from Khotyn and about an hour away from Chernivtsi.

We were there most of the day on Monday and Tuesday, playing games, teaching songs, and just generally telling kids about God. It wasn't called Vacation Bible School, but that's the closest description if take a normal 4-hour VBS schedule and triple it to 12 hours.

On the previous Friday and Saturday we went to the home of Brother Simon, one of the assistant pastors at First Baptist Church in Chernivtsi. His family was hosting the equivalent of a Backyard Bible Club in his garage with games at a nearby park down the street.



Like I mentioned earlier, I was disappointed at first when I learned that we had missed the week of youth camps and would be present for a week of kid camps. I didn't feel like what we were doing was as important as the other teams.

No matter how many times Jesus' words kept flowing through my mind - "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Luke 18:16 NIV)" - I still didn't see the connection until we all started comparing notes on the van ride to Lviv yesterday.

Oleta Arnold told of a visit she and my mother Betty Musgrave made to some friends of Brother Simon a day or so after we worked with the kids at his house. After witnessing to the family, including the two kids, repented and accepted Christ.

Later she asked the man of the house who had not wanted to sit down long enough to listen, why he finally did and made the decision he made. His answer was surprising. It was hearing the songs about Jesus and God his children had come home singing that they had learned from us and Brother Simon's children.

Young Adults Sing in Khotyn

The team that has been working with young people this week spent Tuesday evening in Khotyn, Ukraine, which is an ancient city about an hour away from Chernivtsi on the Dniester River.

It's best known for its fortress along the river which we visited last year and had a chance to visit again with the new members of our team on Tuesday. This was the second time for Joe and I at the church at Khotyn, pronounced Ho-Teen.

When they talk about youth in the Baptist churches of this part of Ukraine, they're talking about anyone up to around 30. Most of the people we met with Tuesday night were college age.

Every group can sing. Here they sing a praise song that's native to Ukraine (or Russia). Often times it one we know. Below is one of theirs.

Back in Poland

Our flight out of Lviv was an hour late, but the plane ride was comfortable and smooth. We're now back in Warsaw staying at the Radisson.

Warsaw is a beautiful modern city, and I'm not just saying this because there's free high-speed internet in the hotel room.

We're off now for a walking tour of the old city and dinner at 8 p.m. (two more hours). I plan on uploading some videos and photos later tonight along with an update of our (the Lord's) success on this trip.

Village Update

Jay and Larry Ditty returned yesterday from the mountains so I'm told, but I actually haven't seen them yet.

Larry Avery and Betty Dugger are supposed to arrive around noon today from the village(s) they've been at this past week. I just saw Oleta in the hotel lobby and she said there has been 80 to 90 decisions made in the villages where Larry and Betty have been working.

My team worked at the main camp yesterday at Boyen, ate dinner at our interpreter's house and traveled to another village about an hour away for church services and a meeting with some of the youth.

Tonight we should all be together and I'll be able to get better updates myself. I haven't talked to Bob in days, but we've passed on the streets at least twice.

Aubrey is developing quite a fan club. Some of the same guys from Tuesday night came to the church we were at last night and for some reason I don't think it was for my signing.

Update from Chernivtsi

Sorry for the delay in any updates, but my team has been getting back to the hotel each night between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m.

My team includes Joe Wagner and Kara Baker from DuQuoin and Aubrey Bogle and Matt Davis from Marion.

They've had us busy with younger children at day camps which are kind of like Vacation Bible Schools, except they run about 12 hours a day. Thankfully, we don't have to be there when they start.

We've been operating mostly in the Khotin area which is about an hour away from Chernivtsi.

We're definitely more spread out this this trip. Jay Ditty and his father Larry are in the mountains at a village. Larry Avery from Andulusia and Betty Dugger are at another village not in the mountain (I believe - I actually haven't seen them since Saturday), and Derek from Poland by way of Texas is at another village.

Matt's mother Virginia, my mother Betty and Oleta Arnold have been busy here in the city and Brother Bob has been around just about everywhere where we have people.

Everybody is fine. The food is great (both traditional Ukrainian cuisine and the three pizza restaurants we've tried as well).

My team is getting ready to take off here in a few minutes at 10 a.m. local time. We go back to one of the camps when to a church service tonight.

Keep us in your prayers. We have two more days here in Chernivtsi before we leave for Lviv on Friday where we will fly out of on Saturday.

Welcome to the Cheremosh

These aren't the greatest images but simply the best I could find online.

This is the Hotel Cheremosh in Chernivtsi - our base of operations in the city so far for every mission trip since 1993. It's located on the south end of the city — "not far" from the city center as they advertise, but certainly not close.

It's 11 stories with 326 rooms. Each room as a TV, phone and private bathroom. Other amenities that it offers but which we've never used except the currency exchange is a hairdressers' salon, sauna, post office and secure parking service.

Sometime between our trip two summers ago and last fall it opened a business center on the main floor with high-speed internet which I plan on using to update this blog.

Here's the lobby. The front desk is on the right and the bank of elevators down at the end of the hall.

You can barely see the open staircase on the right side of the picture. That goes up to the in-house travel agency and the currency exchange which overlooks the lobby below.

Between the stairs and the front desk is a hall that goes back to the business center.

Here's the type of rooms that we've used every trip. As you can tell they are pretty basic. They also (usually) include a small refrigerator as well as a private bathroom.

We're cheap and we get the basic rooms. The hotel does provide better accommodations, though they are just as dated.

When I was here last fall I was told they were upgrading some of the rooms and trying to go from a three star hotel to a four star hotel. They even had a red carpet running up the front entrance and the staff were in new uniforms. It also seemed that there were more of them who spoke or at least understood English.

I'll leave with you with one last picture. This is the pool, which I had never seen until I ran across this picture.

We Have Arrived!

We have arrived.

Here's the satellite view of the city.


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Bus Ride to Chernivtsi

Here's the route we're taking from Lviv to Chernivtsi. It's around 190 miles and should take between four and five hours, which is less than half the time it's taken us in the past to drive from Kiev to Chernivtsi.


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We've Arrived in Lviv

Here's a picture of Lviv International Airport I found on Wikipedia. It was taken four years ago, but the exterior still pretty much looks the same.

I flew into this airport last fall. While the terminal is physically impressive it's certainly not designed for the 21st Century.

They're in the process of expanding the airport with plans to triple its capacity from around 110,000 passengers a year in 2005 to 330,000 passengers a year when it's completed, according to Wikipedia.

Here's the satellite view of the terminal.


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Leaving the European Union for Ukraine

Our flight to Lviv, Ukraine is scheduled to take off from the airport in Warsaw at 11:25 a.m. (which will feel like 7:25 a.m. Illinois time) and land at 1:45 p.m. Ukraine time which is an hour ahead of Warsaw.

It should be a hour and 25 minute journey on flight LO765.


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On the Wings of a Prayer, or at least LOT

Our flight is scheduled to leave Chicago at 5:25 p.m. It's flight LO0002 (that's LO as in LOT and 0002 as numbers) on a Boeing 767-200.

We're using LOT Airlines, which is the national carrier of Poland and one of the oldest airlines in the world according to its Wikipedia entry.

The seats are arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration so each of us only has a 1 in 7 chance of getting the middle seat. (Oh, why do I think this will be my lucky day!). The flight itself is 9 hours 25 minutes which means we should arrive in Warsaw at 9:50 a.m. local time.

Use this map. I think it will work to view our progress. It's from Flightview.com. If it doesn't work, or if you want more details such as when we actually took off, to to the website and search for flight LO (airline code) 0002 (flight number).

Off to O'Hare

It's Wednesday morning and time to go. Check-in for our flight begins at 1:25, four hours early, if we so choose to get there that soon.

We might go see something along the way today, or we may not.

Here's our map from Monee to the airport.


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2nd Baptist Team Readies to Leave

Here's what we looked like 9 hours ago. Now, most of us are asleep.

The eight of us from Second Baptist left Marion around 3:30 p.m. and Joe and Kara joined us at Benton.

We made it safely to Monee, Illinois, just south of Chicago, around 9 p.m. this evening.

Earlier we ran into rain a few times on the way up, including a severe thunderstorm at Arcola. We pulled off at a gas station and waited out the storm while eating junk food at the convenience store.

Tomorrow we get up and head to O'Hare to meet three more members of the mission team and to fly to Warsaw, Poland.

Keep us in your prayers.

On the Road Again...

On the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making music with my friends
I can't wait to get on the road again.

Okay, maybe Willie Nelson isn't the best choice to kick off our 2008 mission trip to Ukraine, but now it's here and we're finally on the road again.

Here's a map from Google, which you are free to zoom in or out using the + or - buttons in the upper left, or switch back and forth from the map view, the satellite view or the terrain view.


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Our goal today is the Holiday Inn Express in Monee, Illinois. That will place us at the south edge of the Chicago area and about an hour away from O'Hare.

Women's Bible Study Class Now on YouTube

I've uploaded my first video to YouTube. It was of the banner program presented last night by the Women's Bible Study class who have been studying Beth Moore's, "Stepping Up: A Journey through the Psalms of Ascent".



This is the second time they have presented the program at the church. They also performed during the community service at the Marion Civic Center on the evening before the National Day of Prayer.

I also posted this to the church's blog at 2BRevived.com.

Testimony Handouts

As in past years we are using a special handout as part of our evangelizing effort. It has the plan of salvation in both English and Ukrainian (or Russian in some of the older versions), as well as each one of our testimonies that has been translated as well.

Second Baptist Church - Marion

• Oleta Arnold — [Russian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]
  
• Aubrey Bogle — [Ukrainian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]
  
• Matt Davis — [Ukrainian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]
  
• Virginia Davis — [Ukrainian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]
  
• Betty Dugger — [Russian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]
  
• Betty Musgrave — [Ukrainian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]
  
• Jon Musgrave — [Ukrainian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]
  
• Bob Wagner — [Ukrainian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]

First Baptist Church - DuQuoin

• Kara Baker — [Ukrainian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]
  
• Joe Wagner — [Ukrainian: PDF | Microsoft Publisher]

Chernivtsi Ranked as Best City in Ukraine

I always knew Chernivtsi was special, but Focus magazine has just ranked the city the best city in all of Ukraine, ahead of the capital Kiev which came in second.

The Ukrainian Journal has part of the story.

The editorial staff of the magazine, jointly with the experts, rated participants according to 15 criteria, in particular: the development of infrastructure, the level of criminality, the ecological situation, tourism and investment attractiveness, and the average salary.

Chernivtsi ranked first due to high points on all criteria. The highest marks were given to the city for its business activity.

Just from my time in the city and some of the surrounding communities including Lviv which is three times the size, it looks like Chernivtsi has as much if not more business activity. It's become a city of entrepreneurs and small businesspeople.

And while secular magazines may not notice, we shouldn't miss the fact that Chernivtsi and the region around it is the Bible Belt of Ukraine. Divine blessings play a major role in the life of believers and that area has a bigger percentage of born-again Christians than other parts of the country.

On that subject here's a video from a 2004 Christmas musical at what we refer to as First Baptist Church in Chernivtsi. It was just posted online last week by "bodanik", the soloist in the video who now lives in Portland.

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Why We Go

People ask me why do I keep going back to the same place. To a great extent it's the people. I've spent more time with some of my interpreters and drivers over there than I've seen some of my relatives here in Southern Illinois over the last few years.

This will be my four mission trip with the church to Chernivtsi, my fifth trip overall to the city and my sixth to Ukraine, counting a trip with the People to People Ambassador program when I was in high school.

Here's a slide show of some of the people that we've met, got to know and learned to love.

2008 Trip Almost Here

There's less than two and half weeks to go before the 2008 Ukraine Mission Trip for Second Baptist Church in Marion.

The map below shows our journey to and from Chernivtsi.


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Return Trip Changes

Brother Bob called yesterday and it looks like our return flight this summer has been change. It now looks like we are staying overnight in Warsaw.