Friday, March 21, 2008

Plans, maps, details

We have a tentative plan now! See the link over on the side to the Sobies' web site? We are going to move to somewhere near them. We had started looking into other ideas and ministries, but what they're doing is somewhat similar to what we had been doing in Kovrov, and we keep coming back to that. Instead of branching out to something completely new, we're going to try to find something similar (being active members of a local church). The Sobies offered to help us find a place in their region. Scott will be meeting with the head of the Ukrainian Baptist Churches for their region this week, and he's going to talk to him about starting on our visas.

Here's a map that I took from the Ukrainian Baptist Union site, because I liked the way it showed the oblast ("state"):


Assuming we go with what we're thinking now, we'll be in the Zaporozhskaya oblast.

And here's a Google map:


View Larger Map

I don't know why it's putting my marker all the way down at the bottom, instead of centering on it, but that's good, because you can see Moscow (up at the top) and Kiev. You can also move around and zoom in with the controls. The yellow pin is on the town of Dneprorudiy. That's a possible location Scott suggested we could go to. (Their site still says that's where they live, but as I understand it, they're in another village now.) We'll probably head to Dneprorudniy and see if it's a good fit for us when we get there. So far, I know that it's a small town: 23,000 inhabitants. There is a church there, and that's probably where we would mostly be helping out.

Also, here's a good, detailed map of the region, but it's in Ukrainian.

You can go ahead and start with the questions. We might not have time to answer them for a few days, though. Tomorrow we'll be seeing my parents off and heading to Charlotte for the weekend. Goodbye!

6 comments:

e said...

Ukraina!! Zdorovo...i ne daleko ot morja...budet teplee naverno :)
And yes, "verbludnoe voskresene"!! It was a language mistake that's become an inside joke...I mixed "verba" and "verbluda" up....byvaet! :)
GREAT news, Phyllis--how exciting to start planning again!!!!! :)

Anonymous said...

You have no idea how excited I am!!! :O) My children are from oblasts mykolayiv and kirovograd. We have not been to the oblast you are going too yet. (I'm being too lazy to write out that one! lol)We have a large map of Ukraine on our wall and the dc study it every day wondering where we will go next. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we met up in Ukraine?! I cannot wait to show the dc in the morning where YOU will be going!! We will be very excited to watch your travels for sure. =)

Debbie said...

I am so thankful that you are making progress with where you will be going. I am would think it is very exciting to be thinking about your new place of ministry.

Alissa Maxwell said...

Wow! I know it seems to you that you have been in limbo for quite some time, but to me it seems FAST that you have figured out a potential plan. Very exciting! Hoping for SMOOTH logistics.

Marsha said...

Wonderful news! Our God is always faithful. Mike and I will continue to pray for you all and your visas. We'll be at GBC the last Sunday in April. Will you be there or back in FL? Would love to see you all and the children.
Love and Prayers.

Phyllis said...

Marsha, hopefully we'll be in Ukraine by then. :-) If not, we'll be at GBC. We're not planning another trip to FL before we leave.