Day Eight in Ukraine

Good morning from the third floor of the Kiev Theological Seminary where it is 43 degrees this morning (I had to put on an extra blanket last night) but sunny (so far anyway).

Pray for the Marriage Retreat that begins tonight and ends at lunch Sunday. This is the third year Bro. Joel and Mrs. MaryEllen have done this retreat for the church planters and their wives. The husbands are here in school for two weeks at a time but once a year they bring the wives here for the weekend for this retreat. Most of them will come quite a distance like and all of it is provided through the mission.

We are going to a “ritzy” place to pamper the couples, especially the wives. Since Roxanne could not come, they have enlisted Mrs. Linda Ray to come to speak to the wives. Mrs. Linda and her husband, Mike, are IMB missionaries here serving southeast of Kiev. She is from Mississippi and he is from Arkansas. Check out their web site here.

I got to meet Mrs. Linda last night and share ideas about what God was speaking to her about for the retreat. The Ragains hosted us in their home for dinner, fixing gift bags for the wives and talking about the retreat.

In fact, on their web site they already have pictures of that “bagging party” last night. See it here. Thanks CrossRoads for your investment in this ministry. Love ya

We were on the same page – interesting? I am planning on speaking from the book Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs and she was thinking of the same topics but from a book for women (For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men) by Shaunti Feldhaha. Guess what – Nancy Leigh DeMoss just featured her this week on her programs and I read the manuscript. You can too here.

One other web site you might be interested in that I looked at for material here this weekend. Most of you are familiar with Dr. Gary Chapman’s book The Five Love Languages. At his web site you can take the 30 second assessment to see what your love language is.

Today is a shortened day of class for the students due to us leaving early for the retreat. But it is mid-term exam and a paper due today. So this is a mixed day of blessing for the students. We all love shortened days of class time but not tests.

There is a new movie coming out today in America called “Expelled.” There is a lot of talk about it in Christian circles so you might want to check it out. I believe the closest place that it opens for us is in Decatur at River Oaks.

Blessings to all and much love.