Many of you have already heard that my ministry on the World Race this time around is quite a bit different than it was last year. This time I am ministering mainly to the teams and team leaders of the June 2010 “O”-Squad. Our first month on the Race, we have spread ourselves over the country of Ukraine (with one team in Bucharest, Romania). As Squad leader, I get to visit a few different teams in each month.
I started this month on the far eastern border of Ukraine outside a town called Lugansk. Russia was just over a small stream from where we were staying. I then traveled to a small village outside of Simferopol, Ukraine. I have spent the last couple days in Odessa, one of the bigger cities in the country. It wouldn’t take much exaggeration to say I’ve traveled most of the southern border of Ukraine. On Sunday I’ll start a two-day journey to Bucharest, Romania to spend a few days with our team that is there, before receiving the rest of the Squad for a couple days to regroup before beginning month 2 of the June 2010 World Race. [Above is me with Russia in the background]
I’m so glad that we have begun this journey in 
Europe, now that I realize how much I am to travel. Europe has a pretty awesome train system.
Europe, now that I realize how much I am to travel. Europe has a pretty awesome train system.
On my first train ride, from Kiev to Lugansk, I met a man named Artem who was traveling with his wife and small daughter. We were traveling in the koupe (coo-pay) section of the train. the cars are organized with small cabins that have a door that closes. Inside each cabin, or koupe, are four beds with a small table between the two lower-level beds. Artem, with his wife and child, were in one koupe with me and another Ukrainian woman. Artem was a lawyer, more for documents and contracts that for trial, and was very excited to practice his English with me. He even downloaded a translator on his phone so he could find out words he did not know. [Above is Artem and his family on one of the lower bunks of our
koupe]
koupe]
To everyone’s dismay Artem’s small daughter screamed and cried through the night. In the morning Artem felt terrible and shared his family’s breakfast with me and the other woman in our koupe. He kept saying “Leetle smiley girl become leetle crying girl”.
On my ride from Lugansk to Simferopol I rode in second-class plotzkart, as Simferopol is a popular vacation spot in the Summer and seats (or beds really) are hard to come by. In plotzkart there is also a section with four beds and a table. However, where in koupe there is a door separating those four from the hallway, the four beds are open to a hallway that includes two more beds against the far wall. In this section of the train English was much more scarce. However my traveling companions were able to communicate enough in English to ask my name and to ask about my family. [To the right you will see the hall in the plotzkart section – four beds on the right, two on the left]
As I ride the rails to stay connected with the teams on my squad it is a joy to connect with the people in the country to which we are striving to minister. I ask that you’ll keep me in your prayers as I travel. I also ask that you will pray that God speaks through me as I encounter so many new people with whom I may or may not be able to communicate.
[Below a couple of my traveling companions from plotzkart]
