teamnebel.org Blog

This is for those who didn’t get the map on the newsletter or who just want to see where in the world we live.  Simferopol is the city we live in which is at the bottom of the map on the Crimean peninsula, on the Black Sea.

I was just forwarded an article about Ukraine that is well worth the reading.  Check it out at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/januaryweb-only/105-22.0.html  The part on page two about Ukraine being a training ground/launching pad for the equipping of post-soviet Russian speakers to evangelize their own countrymen is phenomenal.   Pray for us toward this end!

Well, this is our second Saturday in Ukraine, and we are starting to find our way around town and feel a little more at ease.  We have a car we can use but I need a power of attorney to drive it and when I went to get it from the man who holds the paperwork on the car it was discovered that his registration in his passport had expired so he needs to renew his registraion before we can meet again and then I can get a power of attorney and legally drive the car – whew!  Okay, that might seem really complicated but that is just an example of everyday life in this part of the world.  So you just go with the flow…

There are raised top vans that drive all over the city called ‘marshrutkas’.  We can get on a marshrutka not far from where we live and go anywhere in the city.  It is a normal part of everyday life for most who live here, but public transportaion is definitely not a part of our midwestern, independent nature.  Another good lesson in patience and cooperation.

I am currently reading/studying Hosea in the Old Testament, and today I finished 1 Corinthians in the New Testament and started 2 Corinthians.  Wow.  In 1:8, Paul talks about being in this part of the world ‘…pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:”  But notice he ends the phrase with a colon, and here comes the bomb – “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raised the dead:  (v. 10) Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver:  in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;”  We have nothing to worry about as far as what to do or where to do it – God is God and He is sufficient, to initiate, to supply need, to work out every unknown detail.  Our only response is humble obedience – sometimes that means action – and sometimes it means waiting.  But God is always right on time.

Here is a picture of Anita and I in front of the King’s home and the church.  We had went out for a little exploratory stroll this afternoon and Lydia took this of us.

Have a blessed weekend!

Here we are on the boardwalk in Yalta.  This is about two hours from where we live in Simferopol.  Yalta is where Stalin, FDR, and Churchill met at the end of WWII to discuss borders in Eastern Europe.  They met at Livadia Palace.  It is a beautiful place with the snow on the mountains in the background and shore of the Black Sea.

We spent the day driving along the coast of the Black Sea.  The weather was almost springlike!  Yesterday winter returned – frigid wind and snow.

We seem to be swimming in a whirlpool of uncertainty, but the water is just fine!  What does it truly mean to live by faith and not by sight?  Is the Word of God true and can we put our complete trust in it?  Or just trust in it partially and rely upon our own logic to work things out on our own? 

We had a good time at both the Russian church service and the international (english speaking) church service yesterday.  I had a meeting with the Russian pastor this morning (Andrei) and we are having the Chinese pastor (Tommy – probably not his real Chinese name…) over for dinner tomorrow night.  Anita is with the other ladies grocery shopping by herself right now – yikes!

It is Saturday afternoon, and we arrived here in Simferopol Wednesday afternoon.  We are staying in Al and Dolly King’s home.  It is really comfortable – they have been here for ten years.  The internet didn’t work for the first few days but it got fixed last night.  I heard it has been snowing in Kansas City – it has been cold in the mornings here but heats up to the upper thirties in the afternoon.

I just had a meeting with a deacon in the Russian church here in Simferopol.  The Tatar church pastor, Misha, called me this morning and he and his wife are stopping by this afternoon.  Annabelle and Lydia are making cookies.  Life is underway….

We have a lot to do but since our lives have been so hectic the past month or so we are taking some time to wind down and rest.  The girls are doing their home school work and I have my seminary work to do.  Anita is already working on another Bible study.  I need a power of attorney to drive the King’s car.  I met the man who carries the paperwork for the car yesterday and we were going to do this, but he found out his passport registration had expired so he has to renew this before we can proceed. 

We are all looking forward to the church services tomorrow.  I will blog something about the services afterwards. 

Hello, we are ready to go over to my sister’s for our annual Thanksgiving gathering and foodfest.  I hope you are getting to spend the day with people you love.  As I wrote in my last newsletter, remember those today who are able to be with their family in the US – missionaries and servicemen who are in other parts of the world.  May you all have a blessed time of fellowship today!