Fire wire transfer

Our American dollars have run out. It’s time for our first wire transfer… we’re a bit nervous. There’s a flat charge on the U.S. side, there’s a percentage charge on this side… and we aren’t sure we have all the right transfer numbers. But it’s what we’ve got, so we’re going through with it. Keep us in your thoughts.

Being on the spot

How does it feel to be called upon to share your t’mony in a foreign language? That’s a great question. And I can honestly answer it now. On Sunday during B!ble study, the pastor called on me (without any preparation) to share my t’mony with the 20 or so people in the room. I got up, shared for about 7 minutes (I was given 5-10) and then sat back down. I made several mistakes (of course). Then they proceeded to grade my t’mony. The good news is, most folks thought it was good. It’s a typical format that Vadim (the past0r) is teaching. He’s been teaching how to share your t’mony for the past 3 weeks. Life before J, accepting J, life after J. It’s nerve wracking to try to stumble through all that grammar in front of so many people. I mean, if you can move a comma to the wrong place in Russian and have a sentence mean that the person should be executed, cannot be forgiven instead of you cannot execute the person, the person should be forgiven – imagine the terror of grammar. That was just a moved comma.

We’re working on getting adjusted again. I can’t believe how much Russian I’ve forgotten. It’s really ok – I’m just really critical about it. I feel like I’ve hit a plateau and I really need to push through it. I didn’t expect to experience any culture shock or difficulties in coming back after being gone for only a year, but the adjustments are here all the same. One of the hardest things is not being asked to help out or to participate. Just being expected to be everywhere all the time. We’re pretty tired, I haven’t been sleeping all the well – probably a manifestation of stress. I think I’m taking a lot on myself and feeling overly responsible for Amy. She’s doing great, but since I lived here before, I think I’m taking on unnecessary stress.