"Like cold water to a weary soulis good news from a distant land."
Proverbs 25:25
Mt. Juliet Church of Christ
1940 N. Mt. Juliet Road
P.O. Box 248
Mt. Juliet, TN 37122-0248
(615) 758-2274
Fax: 615-754-2351
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Final Post - Friday/SaturdayEarly Friday morning we traveled from Donetsk to Amsterdam where we spent the night at the Ibis Hotel. We all had an opportunity to see the city in the late afternoon and early evening.The Hotel had a shuttle to the airport where we could take the train into downtown Amsterdam. The train was fast and comfortable. Part of the group went to the flower market to check out the Tulips. The rest of us went to see the Anne Frank house. It was a moving experience to actually walk up the narrow stairways and visit the "hiding place". The rooms have been maintained in their authentic state but are empty because the furniture was carted away directly after the arrest. Salvaged documents and objects belonging to the eight people who hid there are on display. Videos are played in many of the rooms that tell the story. Even Anne's father was on film telling about her and why he wanted her diary published. We also managed to walk around the city, visit the souvenir shops, and stop and eat some Weiner Schnitzel (an Austrian dish). We all were supposed to travel from Amsterdam to Nashville via Detroit on Saturday afternoon. But David and I ended up out of synch again and had to leave mid morning for Nashville via Minneapolis. Everyone arrived home safe and sound Saturday evening. This was a tremendous trip. We stayed busy every day imparting the good news of the gospel to both young and old. We met old friends and made many new ones. We give all the glory to God and thank him for allowing us safe passage. posted by Bob Schmitt Labels: Final Update 
Friday, July 25, the next to the last dayWe made it all to Amsterdam fine. Long day- up at 230 and after two flights and a little site seeing we are ready to hit the hay. More later when we are coherent.Buddy
The last day, Thursday July 24, Our work ............is complete and tomorrow "Turns again home".Today we finished our work in Ukraine. This morning was double VBSs and double ladies classes. Sissy taught at Bujonski and Pat taught at Prolatarski. I was wrong yesterday when I said that Pat taught. They swapped and Connie taught Wednesday and Pat today. This split team thing makes communication difficult. David taught the VBS at Bujonski and Tony was due to teach the VBS at Prolatarski. I am really beginning to get frustrated with those guys who built the Tower of Babel. If we all spoke the same language things would be so great. Little children or grown-ups approach you and start talking in Russian or Ukrainian and you don't have a clue what they are saying. It is really frustrating. Tonight we had a great lesson on Barnabas by Matt. When David led the closing song he made mention of Matt's age the congregation just oohed and ahhed, amazed at a talented young man. I am, too. Dasha translated for him and she is only 17. We are so blessed to have Tansy (who can speak more Russian than you can believe and knows all the songs and motions in Russian as well.), Matt, Dasha, Lera, Eugene and, of course, Kostya on our team. Great contributors. Yesterday while at Good Shepherd, Doug had suggested we use a skit to teach the story about the lost sheep. Matt was the shepherd, Doug was the narrator (being the creator has it privledges), the rest of us were sheep with Tony doubling as a lion and me as a bear. After we acted out the story, Doug asked some review questions. One of which was "How many sheep did the shepherd have". One little boy decided to cheat and he counted us!! Of course his answer was right but cute! Well, the bus comes at 3 am for us so I better pack and get some sleep. More later from Amsterdam, time permitting. We are due back Saturday night so please pray for our safe return and all the Christians here in Ukraine. They have a hard work and a hard life. Love to all, Buddy
Day 11, sigh. the end of our trip is coming sooo fast!Well, things are beginning to wrap up for us here. We had another busy day today. Sissy, Susan, Matt, David, Buddy, Eugene and Dasha went to Bujonski for the first time. Susan, David, and Buddy taught the kids. Matt went with one of the ladies from the congreagtion to get snacks. The kids are getting hungry and we are too. We hope they come back in time for tomorrow's lesson. Just kidding! Seeing if any of the Browns were reading the blog. Matt also helped teach the kids and Sissy taught the ladies. It was a little disappointing to have only 3 kids and 3 ladies today at Bujonski, but that is the way it goes.The other team went to Prolatarski. Pat taught the ladies of which there were 10!!! Doug taught the kids and there were TEN kids as well. Great day there. At lunch we all went to Prolatarski where Ray and the congregation had prepared chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes. Some of us are just picky eaters, but I ate everything they put in front of us. It was delicious. Tansy had plenty of chicken and Matt consumed enough mashed potatoes and chicken to hold him to supper time. Tony even went back for seconds! After lunch we went to the Good Shepherd orphanage for our last teaching session with the kids there. I think we had about 16-20. It is hard to count them as they move around A LOT!. We all have our favoriates. Like Little Dema, AKA little DEMON and the Ukranian terrorist. Yesterday as we were loading the bus we had a few of the kids on the bus with us. Yes, little Dema, all of four years old was leading the pack. He is precious. Today he was doing all the motions to the songs (a half of a step behind, but he did them all. We went to Good Shepherd last year. This year only Vitya and Daniel looked familiar. The rest were new to us. This place is doing an amazing work. We went back to our respective congregations for evening service where we had 20 in attendance at Bujonski. Bob delivered a fine lesson on where the Church worships the way it does. Matt did an excellent job leading singing. Still tough for 5 Americans to sing loud enough to be heard over 15 Ukrainians. Tony taught the class at Prolatarski that evening. We had our team dinner with thank you gifts for our great translators. I think I have mentioned them all in one of the blogs except for Kostya. He has grown a lot in the last three years we have worked together. He has that sense to take care of things before we think of them. These "kids" are really fine examples of youth in any country. Kostya leads the pack. They have great senses of humor. For example, we were talking about how the taxi drivers seem to know that we were Americans. I suggested we should keep our mouths shut and maybe they wouldn't know. Dasha said, "They'll know." "How?", I asked. "Your backpacks" came the answer "But you are wearing a backpack", I said. "Yes, but I am young" came the smiling reply. I guess "older" people here don't wear backpacks. Come to think of it, I don't generally carry one at home. Tomorrow we have morning VBS's and then evening services. The afternoon is free for us so maybe we will get some sigthtseeing and shopping in. The van comes for us at 3 am Friday morning. All 11 Americans, 4 translators, Ray, the driver and all our luggage will be loaded on a 9 passenger van. You get real close to people on these trips. At least it won't be 90 degrees and all sweaty at that time. I'll try to update you sometime on the way home. This is Buddy signing out. By the way, last night's blog was submitted by Matt. There is no end to that young man's talents. C'ya, Buddy
Day 10Hello from the Ukraine! We have had a very busy week so far, despite the fact of us being busy and having hot weather much good has been acomplished. Today was each team's last day at their first congregation, Matt and Tony taught the childrens lessons this morning and we had Tansy and the translaors to help in our singing. Not to mention many attempts from the fellow troops from MJ. There were 4 kids at Prolatarski and 5 children at Bajamaski. Then for our ladies classes taught by Sissy and Connie each class had 10 people.This afternoon was our second day at Good Shepard. We were able to spend some time with the kids as well as sing, have a lesson, and do crafts. There were about 25 children there and we will go back tomorrow for our last day with those children. It has been mostly younger kids from about 3-7 so we have had our hands full to say the least but have still been able to tell them stories about Jesus. Tonight Doug spoke to Bajamaski and gave a great lesson about edification. And Buddy gave a lesson on the birth, death, burial, and ressurection of Jesus at Prolatarski. Both congregations have been very acceptive of us as well as they have shown us great love and hospitality. One evening Tony lead singing at Bajamaski and asked for request. So someone from the church said a song but Tony did not know it. So the preacher had to step in in relief. But we appreciate the efforts given by Tony as well as everybody on this trip. Throughout this trip David has gotten many new nicknames. With his handyman expertise and mr.fix it abilities he has been call the Dr. the wizard, mcgyver, the professor. We have been very glad to have him on our trip, he is always able to get us out of 'sticky situations' or figure out easy ways to put air in an air matress. I'm sure everyone has many stories to tell about the trip as well as eachother. And we Can not wait to Be home and tell everyon our stories. We love getting post on the blog as well as all the prayers given back at home. We miss you all but we will back before long. Well that is all for day 10.
Day 9 and Day 8 revisitedI can't believe that I left something out of yesterday's report. In addition to the feast the ladies at Kras had for us, they presented each of us with a gift. I think you would call it a table runner. Very pretty and each was picked out for us individually. For example, they gave a special wedding runner for Doug and Connie. There are a couple of traditions regarding the wedding runner. One involves bread. The other says that they put the runner on the floor and the first one to step on it is the boss of the family. It was clear that they had thoughtfully considered each gift and look at each of us as individuals and not just those people from America. Again, wonderful people at Krasnoarmeysk.Today, we took taxis to the congregations that we are working with. Sissy, Susan, Matt, David, Dasha, Eugene and me went to Prolatarski in the morning and Bob, Doug, Connie, Pat, Tony, Tansy, Kostya, and Lera went to Bujonski. We had a children's VBS and a ladies class at each place. We then met together for lunch at Prolatarski, prepared by Ray and Lynn. Again, another set of wonderful people. From there we went to Good Shepherd for a modified VBS with the kids there and then back to our respective congregations for Bible studies. Matt led singing for our group. First time he has ever led singing in English and all he heard was Russian. We had about 27 there. David taught the lesson and did a great job as you would expect. We are doing double duty by splitting the team. The up side is we are covering more ground. The down side is that we are not together all the time. We will deal with that to expose more children to the life of Christ and edify the congregations here. Eugene, one of our translators, is doing a great job for us. Turns out this is his first translating job. You wouldn't think it by the job he does. He ate at his first McDonald's today! Can you imagine that!! Also he was right in there gluing and coloring with the kids at the orphange. Time to go shopping for the daily necessities and down the hill for the a good night's sleep. More Later, Buddy
Sunday, Day 8The day of two cities.Dimitorv this morning with about 27 people not counting the children. Sasha preached and seemed to have a good sermon. The ladies of Kras put on a feast for us. Ira made pizza for us.There were salami and cucumber sandwiches, tomatoes, cucumbers, several pastries. Not a meal for a diabetic. Compote and water to drink. They are really wonderful people. By the way Vera 1 really should be Vera 2. Vera who speaks English was taught the gospel by Nancy Hackney. The other Vera was baptized later, I think. Anyway neither Vera went to the hospital. Vera 2 (non English Speaking Vera) was checked out by an ambulance crew and she was released. Both were at church. Vera 2 doesn't look good. I know she needs cataract surgery on both eyes but there is something else wrong with her as she does seem to be herself. Please continue praying for her. Young Ira, actually the middle one as there is an Ira who is 5-6 (call her #3)and one who is married to Roman (call her #1), who was baptized at the camp this year, is still in the hospital with injuries as a result of her beating. Please pray for her as well. We really worked Dasha over today. The other 3 translators had to go to their University to take an exam to see if they will be accepted into their masters program. They left early this morning and made it back in time for evening services. Little ole Dasha had to keep up with her 11 Americans all day. When we to services at Prolartarksi, she translated for one of the Sasha's who preach at Prolatarski. The tough one to understand. She did a great job, but struggled with understanding him at times. Also during the visit with the folks at Kras, they performed some skits for us. Ira #1 and Roman got into their roles so much that they didn't give Dasha a chance to translate. But she did the best she could. Chip off the Masha block. While at prolatarski, there was a baptism of an elderly lady who needed a wheel chair to get around. Good work is being done at that congreagtion also. Half of the group went to Prolatarksy and the other half went to Bujonaski. Then we all met at Liverpool for dinner. Tansy and Matt ate at booth with the translators. The rest of us at a big table. It was marvelous seeing these "kids" enjoying time together. Busy day tomorrow so I will head down to the river to rest my bones. Keep the posts coming. More Later. Buddy
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content © 2005 Mt. Juliet Church of Christ
Worship Services:
Sunday Early Worship: 8AM
Sunday Bible Study: 9:15AM
Sunday Late Worship: 10:15AM
Sunday Night Worship: 6PM
Wednesday Bible Study: 7PM