Well, I am back at school, sadly fall break is over. It was really wonderful. I tried to not run around as much as I have on my last few visits home, so I actually saw fewer people, but was able to spend a little more time with each of them - which was so nice. I am looking forward to even more relaxed visits as I am able to go home much more frequently than I have been able to the last couple of years.
Last night when I arrived at school, I realized that I had brought a cold back with me; it was very difficult to get out of bed this morning and even after taking Dayquil, my stuffy head, sneezes, and congestion are getting the better of me. So, I am going to finish my homework for tomorrow so I can go to bed early.
Well, off I go.
In Him,
Shushan
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
a full inbox
A fun praise. I like to say "praise the Lord!" and I mean it. God is so good to me, and I like to give Him praise. We had a lady here on campus for a week and she is not a Christian. I had the opportunity to spend some time with her, she is a really great person, we had a lot of fun. Anyway. The day she was leaving, she shared with me that she was trying to use her computer that morning and the Internet wouldn't work. When it finally came up, she said, "Praise the Lord!" She told me, "I don't even know where that came from." and that I was "rubbing off" on her. How amazing! I pray that God will use the time she was here at KMBC to continue to cause her to think of Him. Since this conversation, I have prayed several times from Psalms 19:14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." I so desire to always be used by God.
I only have a minute, but I need to send a quick update. I am only checking my email about twice a week. Today, I had 68 messages in my inbox - a wonderful and blessed thing, but I am so far behind in my responses. So, sorry. I do so appreciate the notes and truly praise the Lord for the love and support each email represents.
This week we are having missions conference, I am really looking forward to the speakers and the WGM representatives, Frank and Sharon Martin, that are coming. I have been helping with the advertisements, we have been drawing with chalk on the sidewalks - it has been great fun.
Classes are going well, I have a test and a quiz this afternoon and I need to participate in the online discussion board for one of my classes (that is why I am in the computer lab right now actually).
My job at the library is still great, though as the semester is progressing, I have less time for study as more and more other students are coming into the library and need help.
A quick praise, so far, I have been in America for two months and I have not gained any weight. I have actually lost an additional five pounds, which I really praise God for! I have an accountability partner here at school and we meet once a week and talk about our quiet time, our eating, and exercise. It is a wonderful blessing.
I only have a minute, but I need to send a quick update. I am only checking my email about twice a week. Today, I had 68 messages in my inbox - a wonderful and blessed thing, but I am so far behind in my responses. So, sorry. I do so appreciate the notes and truly praise the Lord for the love and support each email represents.
This week we are having missions conference, I am really looking forward to the speakers and the WGM representatives, Frank and Sharon Martin, that are coming. I have been helping with the advertisements, we have been drawing with chalk on the sidewalks - it has been great fun.
Classes are going well, I have a test and a quiz this afternoon and I need to participate in the online discussion board for one of my classes (that is why I am in the computer lab right now actually).
My job at the library is still great, though as the semester is progressing, I have less time for study as more and more other students are coming into the library and need help.
A quick praise, so far, I have been in America for two months and I have not gained any weight. I have actually lost an additional five pounds, which I really praise God for! I have an accountability partner here at school and we meet once a week and talk about our quiet time, our eating, and exercise. It is a wonderful blessing.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
a new update
Hi All,
I have been planning to post for more than a week, it is amazing how time gets away from me. I actually have a notebook with four blogs written, but I failed to bring it to the computer lab, so I will plan to send those later. I took a test today that I don't think I did very well on. So far, I have earned A's on all my tests, but the one today in Christian Education wasn't so great, I would be really happy with a B. I truly am enjoying all of my classes, probably my favorite is Minor Prophets - I really find everything I am learning to be remarkably interesting.
Just FYI, I am taking 17 credit hours -
English Grammar - mainly because this will help me to teach English
Minor Prophets
Acts
Intro to Missions - I am enjoying this class a lot
Intro to Christian Education - you would think this class would be easy, but lots of theory
Foundations of Faith - which is a first level theology course
Spiritual Worldview Formation - you will be happy to learn I have a Biblical Worldview :-)
A of course, my Thursday night Russian lesson - I am so encouraged by all that I am remembering, I am blessed to have a tutor - God is so good!
I am also working 10 hours per week in the library, cooking for a couple of hours on Saturday, and picking up cleaning hours when I can fit them in my schedule.
In other news, I have fall break October 24-27. I have found a ride home. One of the other students lives in Michigan and he drives straight up I69 to get home. I was explaining to him where I live and he said he often stops at the Gas City exit to eat, I am praising the Lord. Me riding with him will be a help for him too, because I will help cover the cost of his gas. I have promised I will not talk continuously on the way home, so I hope I will have a ride to and from home for all of my breaks - again, God has provided in an amazing way.
What else, we have been participating in the "Concert of Prayer". Every night at 9:05pm a group of students has gathered in the parlor of one of the dorms for a prayer time for the country featured that day. It has been a wonderful time. Each night a different person leads the time and shares about the country, praises, and prayer requests. It has been a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer, but even more a time to really focus on what God is doing in the world.
Well, I am going to run. I need to go to the library before it closes, I have overdue materials - that is not a good thing when you are a library employee.
Hope you are having a wonderful day. May God bless you!
In Him,
Shushan
I have been planning to post for more than a week, it is amazing how time gets away from me. I actually have a notebook with four blogs written, but I failed to bring it to the computer lab, so I will plan to send those later. I took a test today that I don't think I did very well on. So far, I have earned A's on all my tests, but the one today in Christian Education wasn't so great, I would be really happy with a B. I truly am enjoying all of my classes, probably my favorite is Minor Prophets - I really find everything I am learning to be remarkably interesting.
Just FYI, I am taking 17 credit hours -
English Grammar - mainly because this will help me to teach English
Minor Prophets
Acts
Intro to Missions - I am enjoying this class a lot
Intro to Christian Education - you would think this class would be easy, but lots of theory
Foundations of Faith - which is a first level theology course
Spiritual Worldview Formation - you will be happy to learn I have a Biblical Worldview :-)
A of course, my Thursday night Russian lesson - I am so encouraged by all that I am remembering, I am blessed to have a tutor - God is so good!
I am also working 10 hours per week in the library, cooking for a couple of hours on Saturday, and picking up cleaning hours when I can fit them in my schedule.
In other news, I have fall break October 24-27. I have found a ride home. One of the other students lives in Michigan and he drives straight up I69 to get home. I was explaining to him where I live and he said he often stops at the Gas City exit to eat, I am praising the Lord. Me riding with him will be a help for him too, because I will help cover the cost of his gas. I have promised I will not talk continuously on the way home, so I hope I will have a ride to and from home for all of my breaks - again, God has provided in an amazing way.
What else, we have been participating in the "Concert of Prayer". Every night at 9:05pm a group of students has gathered in the parlor of one of the dorms for a prayer time for the country featured that day. It has been a wonderful time. Each night a different person leads the time and shares about the country, praises, and prayer requests. It has been a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer, but even more a time to really focus on what God is doing in the world.
Well, I am going to run. I need to go to the library before it closes, I have overdue materials - that is not a good thing when you are a library employee.
Hope you are having a wonderful day. May God bless you!
In Him,
Shushan
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Language
Well, I think everyone knows that I want to be able to speak Russian. Well, honestly, I want to be able to speak Russian well. I already speak some. On a side note, I use to always say I wanted to be able speak Russian like a second grader - that was my goal. After 2 years in Ukraine, I honestly believe, God blessed me and I reached that goal. When I was still in Ukraine, I was expressing my frustration with my many grammatical mistakes and my friend Sasha told me that I should have prayed that God would help me to learn to speak Russian like a fifth grader.
At any rate, after so much prayer, time, and effort, I really want to retain the Russian I have learned and it would be great if I could learn more during my time here in America. Then, when I return to Ukraine, I can learn Ukrainian. So, before I came home, I began praying for a native Russian speaker to tutor me. Now, keeping in mind, I did not move to a metropolitan area. I am living in the hills of Eastern Kentucky. But I kept praying. When I arrived here at KMBC, I asked people, if they knew any Russian speakers. They all looked at me like I was perhaps crazy and said no. But God gave me a confidence He would provide. To one person, I actually replied, "well, don't be surprised if a Russian speaker moves here".
Anyway, I was invited to share about Ukraine at a boarding school about 10 miles from KMBC. Before I presented, I played a game with the students using the Russian alphabet and I was informed that the game wasn't really fair because they have TWO students that were adopted from Russia so they already know the alphabet. Praise the Lord! One of those students, a sixteen year old girl named Ana has agreed to be my tutor. The coolest thing of all, she wants to return to Russia when she finishes college and serve God there. She is so excited to have someone excited about speaking and learnign Russian.
God is SO GOOD!
On another note, in my excitement of sharing this praise, one of my professors and his wife asked me how I will go the 10 miles each week for my lessons. Well, to be honest, I hadn't thought that far ahead and when they asked I said, I am not sure how God will provide that yet. They answered, you can borrow our car to drive to and from your lesson. Again, praise the Lord! I am so amazed by His provision and His goodness to me. What a wonderful confirmation that He is preparing me to return to Ukraine.
At any rate, after so much prayer, time, and effort, I really want to retain the Russian I have learned and it would be great if I could learn more during my time here in America. Then, when I return to Ukraine, I can learn Ukrainian. So, before I came home, I began praying for a native Russian speaker to tutor me. Now, keeping in mind, I did not move to a metropolitan area. I am living in the hills of Eastern Kentucky. But I kept praying. When I arrived here at KMBC, I asked people, if they knew any Russian speakers. They all looked at me like I was perhaps crazy and said no. But God gave me a confidence He would provide. To one person, I actually replied, "well, don't be surprised if a Russian speaker moves here".
Anyway, I was invited to share about Ukraine at a boarding school about 10 miles from KMBC. Before I presented, I played a game with the students using the Russian alphabet and I was informed that the game wasn't really fair because they have TWO students that were adopted from Russia so they already know the alphabet. Praise the Lord! One of those students, a sixteen year old girl named Ana has agreed to be my tutor. The coolest thing of all, she wants to return to Russia when she finishes college and serve God there. She is so excited to have someone excited about speaking and learnign Russian.
God is SO GOOD!
On another note, in my excitement of sharing this praise, one of my professors and his wife asked me how I will go the 10 miles each week for my lessons. Well, to be honest, I hadn't thought that far ahead and when they asked I said, I am not sure how God will provide that yet. They answered, you can borrow our car to drive to and from your lesson. Again, praise the Lord! I am so amazed by His provision and His goodness to me. What a wonderful confirmation that He is preparing me to return to Ukraine.
just silliness
God has really blessed me with the dorm situation here at school. It was something I was REALLY dreading, but honestly, it is great. I am in the "older" dorm. The new dorm is airconditioned and the building is nicer. Several of the rooms have carpet and multiple windows, truly, it is very nice. The dorm I am in is not as nice, but much less populated. There are only five girls in my dorm (the first floor houses the student center and the book store), two on the second floor and three on the third. The two other girls on my floor are also non-traditional students, which has been really great for me. One is a junior and the other has also been out of school for a while and this is her first semeser back in college. She is also not from Kentucky, so we have had a lot of fun experiencing new things here.
We very much enjoy the accents we hear, honestly the other day neither of us had any idea what was being said to us. We are enjoying the long winding roads (she has a car) that narrow to one lane and seem to be headed no where and then suddenly come out at either a highway or a driveway, you never no which it will be. We found a well marked quicksand area and bridges that seems to go everywhere and nowhere. Two of our favorite things are the little houses built on the edge of the road for school bus stops, which more than once have also held a sign stating "Beware of dog" and the fact that the hardware store has a pet section with dogs, cats, bunnies, fish, everything.
We very much enjoy the accents we hear, honestly the other day neither of us had any idea what was being said to us. We are enjoying the long winding roads (she has a car) that narrow to one lane and seem to be headed no where and then suddenly come out at either a highway or a driveway, you never no which it will be. We found a well marked quicksand area and bridges that seems to go everywhere and nowhere. Two of our favorite things are the little houses built on the edge of the road for school bus stops, which more than once have also held a sign stating "Beware of dog" and the fact that the hardware store has a pet section with dogs, cats, bunnies, fish, everything.
a praise
God is so amazing to me. I am amazed how much I have grown and how much He has changed me. I remember when I attended college before and I HAD to work two jobs. I remember crying about it, struggling over it, and failing. Why, did I have to work two jobs - I had to have a place to live and a car to drive and bills for myself and helping others. I am intelligent, but I could not do it all, and failing in college before has always been a difficult subject for me.
Returning to school now, at 33 years old, I see that those things I struggled with and that compelled me to work the way I did, really come down to pride in myself and a failure to trust God. So, humbly and trusting, I am attending Kentucky Mountain Bible College. I am living in the dorm, eating cafeteria food, I have no car and no income, and so much joy. Before I came, I prayerfully struggled with returning to school, and now I am so excited about how I can see God at work here. I am amazed at the plans he has for me and I am so happy to be here in this place. And I am trusting Him to provide for me while I am here.
Returning to school now, at 33 years old, I see that those things I struggled with and that compelled me to work the way I did, really come down to pride in myself and a failure to trust God. So, humbly and trusting, I am attending Kentucky Mountain Bible College. I am living in the dorm, eating cafeteria food, I have no car and no income, and so much joy. Before I came, I prayerfully struggled with returning to school, and now I am so excited about how I can see God at work here. I am amazed at the plans he has for me and I am so happy to be here in this place. And I am trusting Him to provide for me while I am here.
Monday, September 15, 2008
a quick note
Hi all,
Sorry it has been so long since I posted. I have a lot to say, but not a lot of time to say it. So, a quick summary. School is going well, I have made new friends and I am enjoying my classes. God has provided in amazing ways, I can so see Him at work in me, and I have some amazing answered prayers that I need to share in another update. I am still missing Ukraine (a lot) and adjusting to being in America but not at home (unbelievably, I have still not seen all of my family and friends and I have been in this country for more than a month)
I have not kept in touch the way I should and I am embarassed to admit I am remarkably behind in sending out "thank you" cards. Please forgive me and grant me a little more patience.
More and better posts soon.
Shushan
Sorry it has been so long since I posted. I have a lot to say, but not a lot of time to say it. So, a quick summary. School is going well, I have made new friends and I am enjoying my classes. God has provided in amazing ways, I can so see Him at work in me, and I have some amazing answered prayers that I need to share in another update. I am still missing Ukraine (a lot) and adjusting to being in America but not at home (unbelievably, I have still not seen all of my family and friends and I have been in this country for more than a month)
I have not kept in touch the way I should and I am embarassed to admit I am remarkably behind in sending out "thank you" cards. Please forgive me and grant me a little more patience.
More and better posts soon.
Shushan
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