Random Kiev Factoid

Crossing the street in Ukraine (even at a crosswalk) is strongly reminiscent of the arcade game Frogger.

In other news, this week has gone well so far. I am filling in on guitar for the teen worship service this Sunday so that has given me more songs to learn and rehearsals to attend and has helped keep me busy. Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to help the teen and young adult teams with running the sound equipment and that has helped make a nice difference in the overall sound of the worship teams and assisted in making the environment more supportive of worship.

I will be attending a training camp Sunday through Tuesday for volunteers working with Radooga this summer. That is the ministry my church partnered with when I came to Ukraine the first time to work with orphans. I will be able to go to the same camp again this year (and it will only cost me about $100 instead of $2400)! I had hoped to also work with one of Radooga's English Language Camps this summer but it looks like New Life's camp schedule will have an overlapping issue.

Well that's the news for the moment. Thanks to all who have helped to put me here.

Update and Prayer Needed for This Week

Things have been going quite well so far. Home here is great. My roommates continue to be amazing and helpful friends. They both just left tonight to go to a nine day conference though so I could use some prayers over the next week or so. I have not been lonely yet but a lot of that has been because of them being around. This week will be harder.

I'm still finding where exactly I fit in here. There are lots of opportunities with the worship teams but I think I need to focus on one or two teams to apply myself the most intentionally with those and to leave time for other opportunities. The English language small group is still taking shape but looks like it will be a valuable thing for missionary kids and others whose English/American parents work in Ukraine. I met one of the teens a week ago and I realized that he has nowhere to fit in. He hasn't lived here long enough to fit it with Ukrainian kids and he doesn't seem to have enough other people like himself. The other intern and I are talking about how we can create a community for him and others in similar situations.

I am at the point where I realize I'm not sure what I'm doing and that's a little scary. But I can fall back on knowing confidently that I was supposed to come here, though I haven't figured out all the reasons yet. I need to apply myself diligently but be patient knowing that I may not see an impact for a good number of months. The other thing I am having to remind myself is that if I don't make this trip be all about God, then it just will not work.

Joel (the American youth pastor) has been very helpful in the process of getting settled and is always available to provide moral support. He had me, the other American intern, and some other people over to his place for Easter dinner. He has also had encouraging things to say about the turn we are making with the young adult worship ministry. Things are moving forward, it's just hard to see the impact so soon.

Video From My Church In Nashville

Here is a video that was shown at my home church in Nashville (Midtown Fellowship) right before I left. It tells a little about what I'm doing and why. The video was done pro bono by a guy named Josh Carter who is also involved with Midtown's missions trips to Ukraine. Check out his website at www.joshbcarter.com. If you need any work done and would like to contact him via phone, let me know and I can provide you with his number.


Meeting Midtown: Josh Ingram from Joshua Ingram on Vimeo.

Blog Overhaul

I have given this blog site a bit of an overhaul today. I have updated information on relevant pages and added new Prayer Requests and Contact pages. Please feel free to contact me just to keep in touch or to find out more about what is going on!

Моя Квартира (My Apartment)

I have taken a few photos of the apartment where I am living. Take a look here. This residential area is a new suburb on the northeast side of Kiev. The building is a large U shape and I estimate there are well over 1500 apartments in this building alone. Identical buildings stretch down the street. In true Ukrainian style, there are many entrances to the building, each with access to only a small number of apartments on each floor.

This building is very new. It was built only about four years ago. It is a relatively nice building but the trade off is that it takes about one hour to get to any major parts of the city. Because our building is new, the hallways are comparatively well maintained. In other buildings I have been in, the mailboxes are falling off the walls, half of the flooring tiles are missing, the light bulbs are either missing altogether or sparse, dim and flickering. Many walkways and passageways are straight out of spy movies.

I have purchased a few items to make my year more comfortable. I got a desk chair which I can wheel out into the living room for additional seating and speakers to make learning tunes each week more enjoyable. I am debating whether or not to buy a new bed or mattress. The mattresses in my room are cot size and have some very defined gullies in the center. Flipping my bed frame around last night helped a lot after I discovered the bottom is made up of two pieces of plywood which met with a crown right underneath my ribs!

Overdue For An Update

This week has been one of adjusting and settling in. Two of my evening meetings (for the teen and young adult ministries) were canceled this week. I have had time to get out of the apartment with my roommates and learn how to get around a few places by myself. I can handle grocery shopping as long as the picture on the box looks like what's inside the box. Although I have discovered this technique can cause the purchase of some unusual flavors!

I am able to get a few of the essential places on my own now and I will learn the others soon. Typical memorization for transportation routes involves things like "get off the bus after the third traffic circle, when you see the big 24 sign" (buildings here look the same for block after block) and "count two stops and exit the metro station on the side without the television screen." I try not to step on too many toes (literally) or get too many angry glares, but this can be difficult when the buses and subways are crammed during busy times.

Next week will be a lot busier since the meetings will be back to normal and I will have three different worship services to prepare for, each with their own rehearsals. I am still trying to feel out exactly what my place is and how to best communicate with people. There are some ideas I can implement that will help the teams I am working with but I need some time to feel out what they are ready to hear. I am starting with little things, one at a time. Every team and every musician will be different, so this will take some observation and patience.

Service Online Tomorrow

NOTE: I HAVE CORRECTED THE TIME. I ORIGINALLY MADE A MISTAKE WITH THE TIME DIFFERENCE.

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that the "youth" (university and young adult) service will be streaming online Saturday at 11:00 AM East Coast Time, 10:00 AM Central Time. The web address is http://www.nlc.kiev.ua/105410851083107210811085.html

I will be playing bass guitar with the worship team tomorrow since the usual bass players are out of town. It's not exactly my specialty but it will be a lot of fun :)

I'm Here!

Sorry for just now posting this. I am safely in Ukraine! I had no problems with any flights. My passport arrived in New York a few minutes before I did, giving me time to pick it up between my arrival in New York at Laguardia and my departure from JFK. I've been in Ukraine for about 30 hours so far but this is the first time I have had working internet and free time at the same time.

I took a taxi from the airport to go straight to a worship team rehearsal last night. Things there are going to be a challenge but in a good way. The language barrier is certainly a big one. The musicians have a lot of talent but getting them all together in one nicely structured unit is going to take some organization and discipline. However, I think this is an area I can help over time and I look forward to sharing some techniques and leadership in this area. Please pray as I feel things out and devise a bit of a plan.

Today was a settling in day. I let myself sleep in to compensate for a zero-sleep night before the flights. I think I am already adjusted to Ukrainian time. Joel Brown, the American pastor at New Life Church who is in charge of interns, took me shopping today for any necessities I needed and for things to make my room feel a little more like home. Overall, it was a great day spent adjusting and getting time with Joel, his wife, and the other American intern. Truthfully, this room is probably already homier than my room in the States! My roommates here made sure there was a bed and a table and a couple little things to make it comfortable when I arrived!

Some of my friends greeted me last night at rehearsal with a "Welcome Home Josh" sign. Thanks guys. I was too tired to really express my appreciation, but thank you.

Friends Made It Happen

There is absolutely no way I could have been ready to leave the country if it were not for the help of friends. Forrest Layton and Derek Gibson especially deserve honorable mention. They kept working when I had to stop packing and moving stuff to make phone calls and backup plans for backup plans! They got me up early and kept me up late to make sure everything got done. Derek pulled an all-nighter to help me get packed just in time for my flight out of Nashville this morning. Without their energy and motivation I would have been at great loss. All the extra time going into passport issues and replanning every day would have kept me from making it out of the country when the opportunity actually arose. Thank you guys.

The last few days in Nashville proved the kind of friendships I have there. Even if that was all I learned out of the passport hassles and flight changes, I suppose it is good enough reason for it all. That's important to know going into a year where I need the support of friends who are far way.

Writing From JFK

It took hours and hours of phone calls. It cost expenses for brand new flight tickets to compensate for the late mailing of the passport from the embassy. It came with a lot of uncertainty due to a change of tracking number (not relayed by the embassy) and no ability to contact the embassy to follow up. But I am sitting at JFK airport awaiting the check-in time for my international flight and I do have my passport. I am so thankful for this!

I can say that I had more peace about all of this the last 24-36 hours (although it really looked just as uncertain as before) than I had earlier. I came to the realization that the timing which I think is important is not necessarily the timing God sees as important. And if God knows what is truly best (and I do believe that He does) He will make sure things work out. I need to be flexible. I need to be willing to put the time and extra phone calls and effort in. And most of all, I just need to learn not to be frustrated by frustrating circumstances :)

I should arrive in Kiev at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon, which is 9:00 AM EST. I will be running straight to a rehearsal so I won't have a chance to update immediately when I get in. But I will try to get something up as soon as possible.

Thank you for all your prayers.

Not Much Of An Update To Share...

Well, I really don't know what's happening at this point with my passport :) I made 59 calls yesterday to the embassy along with a fax and three e-mails. Probably made more calls than that today. I also was able to enlist the services of my US Congressman's office. One of his aides was extremely helpful. She had me fill out some paperwork and write a letter and headed over personally to the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington DC (which is where my passport is at) to see if she could retrieve it. Unfortunately it was closed to walk-in traffic at that point (afternoons are reserved for phone call clientele, although that hasn't worked out for me yet either).

It is looking probable that I will be rescheduling my flight to leave on a later day. I am not sure yet what the fees for that will be. I suppose anything is possible so I am not completely banking on that option yet.

Wish I had more news for you! :) At this point I would like prayers for wisdom to know what to do. If I'm supposed to leave at a later date that's fine. But without knowing that it's difficult to move forward in changing flights and plans. Having either direction or resolution would be a helpful measure.