Update from our buddy LUKE!!!!!

Hey Guys!!!!! WOW it has been a long time sense I have done an update! Yes I am still alive. ☺ Sorry about the lack of info. To do a quick summery, thing are going awesome but very hard. But God is good and with him through those hard times one can gain wisdom and become stronger.So lets see……… Where to start…….. Ok so 3 weeks ago I had to go to Poland due to a new law in Ukraine that says that foreigners have to leave the country every 3 months. And because the Korean students had to try and get visas we went ahead and went all the way to Warsaw. We left from Ukraine at 5:30pm and arrived in Warsaw at 4:30am. At the border we had to wait for 3 hours to get through ( which is the normal time). But about a half hour before we were done a thunderstorm started off in the distance. And as time went on it got closer. At about 10:30 it was almost right on us and all the power went out at the border crossing. And during the 5- 10 mins it took for them to get the generator working it was amazing. There was complete darkness and then the lightning would make it like daylight for a split second. After we got through the border we drove into the storm and it was the most intense storm I have ever seen. There was lightning almost every 10 seconds and it rained extremely hard. It lasted for probably 3 hours the side of the streets were like rivers and even when my eyes were closed and I was trying to sleep I could still see the flashes through my eyelids. Oh ya and the bus had a small leak right above my seat so that was fun. ;-)Anyway……. we got to Warsaw at 4:30am and had to wait until 11:30am when the same bus would be going back to Ukraine. During that time Conrad (my polish roommate) and the Korean students and their family left to see if they could get a visa. They had to stay a couple days so it was just me and another American student who went back to Ukraine on that bus. The trip turned out to be a real blessing. It was good to get out of the Lutsk culture and to be in a city (even if it was just a few hours) where it is normal if someone is a different nationality. Before the trip I was experiencing a lot of culture stress. I prayed that God would make it relaxing and even though it should not have been due to border crossing and not being able to speak the language, it was! Also it was a confidence builder to be able to navigate back home through the border crossing even though I can’t speak the language.One thing that I was having a really hard time with in Lutsk was just how people acted on the street. After you get over the kind of honeymoon stage of being in a different country things that are different start to really bug you. Like here in Lutsk on the street people are cold and staring is not considered impolite. There is a mentality that goes basically like this “ if I don’t know you and you are in my way then you better move out of my way or im going to try and drive/walk through you. I have gotten more used to it now but it was really hard for me for a long time. On the cross walks in the US (at least in Wenatchee) if there is a crowd of people walking the opposite direction, you can usually walk into the center of them and people will go around you. Here they kind of just walk right into you. Also the driving is the same. Here cars have right of way. Even at cross walks you cant just expect the cars to stop. Especially the black SUVs with dark tint. ;-) But what it took me 2 MONTHS to realize is that this is kind of just a tough guy mask they put on the street. Maybe its left over from when the Communist were in power, I don’t know. People here are extremely FRIENDLY and genuine in personal relationships. It’s just on the street that they seem cold. In the USA I think we try to put on a friendly mask on the street. We don’t want people think we are rude. Here it’s kind of the other way around. Not that its better or worst its just the way it is. Also, here people are very careful about how they dress and look. The standard about how you look is very high in public especially among the younger people to middle age. They always make sure their shoes are clean. If they forget to clean them before leaving the house, they will clean them in a puddle on the street. Another thing that is kind of funny here is that a couple of times me and some of my Ukrainian DTS leaders have been walking down the street and someone will hear us talking English and will be like (this actually happened) “Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! Where are you from?” And one of my DTS leaders said back in Ukrainian. “from here” (because she actually has lived here her whole life) and the guy was just like “oh”. Or sometimes we go running at a near by school and some of the kids hear us speaking English and they will be like “hey guys” because they probably got it off of a English TV program or something and it’s the only English they know. And we will say back in Russian or Ukrainian “Hello”. And you can see they are a little puzzled. Especially because if they think you don’t know the language they sometimes will say not very good things in Ukrainian because the think no one will understand them. So when they find out that some of the people there are actually Ukrainian they get a little quieter. LOL It doesn’t happen very often but its kind of funny when it does. English is defenently almost a universal language. It was great because going into Poland you could tell the polish guard was practicing a little of his English with me. Im guessing they don’t see many Americans go from Ukraine to Poland. And even in Poland some of the parking signs were in English and I think a lot of the younger people there speak at least a little English. In Lutsk there aren’t a lot of foreigners so very few people speak English. Yep yep… that’s pretty much it. 2 weeks ago our DTS hosted a mission conference. God really blessed it! It was about 4 hours long and it went flawlessly. We told God that we were doing it for him and that even if only one person showed up it would still be a success because we where being obedient to him. And actually only about 16 people came. But afterwards everyone one was excited and I think even though we had a small turn out, everyone saw how God blessed it and it built our confidence and faith in him to see him at work. Last week, we are learning how to do an Inductive Bible study. Its pretty cool. We are practicing on Titus because it is small and it is amazing how much more is there then what first meets the eye. Also studying the bible this way prevents lot of wrong ideas and taking the bible out of context so its very cool!Oh and I almost forgot. Last week we found out that our DTS is breaking up into 2 groups to go on outreach. One to Israel and one to Georgia. And I am going to Israel. I can see God is already working. Our leaders prayed whom to put in what group and God showed me why he put me with the people he did. So I know its going to be hard, but by the grace of God, this is where we get to test out our new knowledge on the road and see how it handles. Kind of a big practice mission to see how all our training at boot camp can be applied to real life situations before we go to the front lines; home. Also, I have been blessed to have my second cousin Jason (we are related by law in a weird roundabout way LOL) come over to help out with worship and help our base with their web site for 3 weeks. It has been great to hang out with him and to relive what it is like to come to Ukraine for the first time. Ok so that pretty much how its rollen over here. I pray that God gave you grace to read this far into the letter. ;-) Congrats if you made it this far you are almost done! Hope it was at least a little understandable. I know my grammar/ spelling would make an English teacher cry. ☺ I love and miss you all!!!! I have realized more and more that for many people in the world, the life I had back home only exists in their dreams. Being in a different country really opens your eyes to what kind of stuff goes on in the world. I am truly blessed to live in the place that I do and to have all of you as friends!May God strengthen your faith in him,Luke