On October 14 several of the builders on the Smile House project were in a traffic accident when their car was hit by a bus. One man was killed and another seriously injured. It has been a bery difficult time for the head builder who was driving and for the whole team. They were all close friends and/or family.

Update November 22, 2006: During the second week in November the second young man died from massive head and internal injuries. Please pray for the remaining builders, their families, and the project. Thank you.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20

Wow! So many things are happening here in Ukraine. Where do I begin? I am going to share the opening of the CBN/Operation Blessings building on the dental blog www.saismilehouse.com But because I shared in an earlier blog about looking for a house we could afford, I have to now share how our Amazing God has blessed us far above what we could ever hope for.

While we were in the US, I received the monthly email newsletter from the Christian Women’s group in Kyiv. Listed in it was a house that sounded wonderful but when we looked at the map we found it was about 35 miles from Kyiv–even though it is on the west side where Smile House and Mostysche Orphanage are located. It was northwest of both of these. Plus, we were in the states and figured it would be sold when we returned.

About a week after returning, we decided that if it was still available we should at least look at it since there are two orphanages near that village–one which YWAM works very closely with. Because it was still available, we hired a driver and went to see it. At first I didn’t want to like it–but I did. An American couple who are missionaries who were working with gypies had purchased it as a shell and finished the first floor in American style–open floor plan, water heated floors, cheerful colors. It’s about 1345 square downstairs and the second floor has heavy insulation and some sheetrock. It has a lot of room to store our boxes–which are still at Mostyshce and have been rifled through–another story. J.D. and Sherry have lost funding for their work and need to return to the states because of some family problems. We could feel that it was a blessed house and that God is very familiar with the address. But the distance from Kyiv and Smile House prevented us from making a decision–even though an electic train runs within walking distance from the house. Best of all, the price was in our range. Unbelievably, the asking price was $85,000. When all was said and done, we purchased it, paid all fees, bought some of the furnishings and a car-23 year old LADA-, and now are once again home owners.

It is exciting in some ways and very, very frightening in another. I am thankful to our wonderful God for providing us with another house. Last year when we sold our home and “things”, I thought we would never have another house and I was willing to give that up for what I felt God was calling us to do. And now, He has so generously provided for us-including a vehicle. But on the other end of the spectrum, we are both having “panic” attacks, worrying about being so far out, fearing having to drive on the Ukrainian roads, wondering if we will be able to communicate with anybody–both in America and with our neighbors. There is no phone or internet access at the moment–although we still have cell phones–and our lifeline is the internet. I have been able to handle this whole thing because I knew I could use my Vonage phone if I get lonely or need something in America. I have the internet and first thing each morning look to see if there are any new emails–I am even beginning to like forwarded things (as long as they don’t say something bad is going to happen if I don’t send them on to hundreds of friends)because it is a form of communication from someone.

Later, I will share more thoughts on the whole move but for now, let me say, we are excited but it’s been an extremely difficult week-starting with a terrible case of flu for Richard and a milder flu for me. We are very sad about the tragic death of one of our builders and injuries to another builder in a traffic accident. (Again consult the Smile House blog for updates.) The house purchase and the news that our Russian daughter finally has legal status in the states were highlights of the week. Our denied visa applications with the accompanying stress is one of the lows. A few minutes ago while jogging, I tripped and although nothing seems to be too damaged, I am already getting sore. So, we just ask for your prayers as this new stage of our adventure unfolds. Slava Boga! Praise God for His continuied plans and grace.

I wanted to share this story from our first weeks of living in Ukraine in April. Typically apartments here have two separate rooms for what Americans call the bathroom. The toilet is in one and the bathtub or shower and sink are in the next. I kind of like the arrangement.

A few days after moving to our apartment, we discovered water pouring out of the ceiling and straight into the toilet. The wallpaper on the ceiling was starting to hang down as well. For the next few days I carefully checked before using the facilities. Then one day, I was in a big hurry and sat down on very, very wet seat. Ugh! I didn’t know where the water was coming from and it was quite unsettling. In fact, there was water everywhere. We had our friend Yura get in touch with the landlord but it took him a week or so to come. The flow of water got worse each time this happened which was about every four days. So I started to use an umbrella each time I had to be in there.

When the landlord finally came, he visited the upstairs neighbor who said there was no problem in his apartment. Later that day, the man came down and explained to us that it wasn’t his problem. (This was all explained very loudly in Russian so I can’t tell you for sure that is what he said but it sounded like it.) So the next time it happened, Richard and I went upstairs together and knocked on his door. He again told us it couldn’t be his problem and threw open the door to his toilet room. We were greeted by about several inches of water on the floor. He was appeared to be very surprised.

Again we called the landlord and this time we went up and talked to our neighbor. He found out that this happened when the man took a shower. He had put in a new shower and hadn’t sealed it so it was leaking. Fortunately he only showered every four days. (We try never to share an elevator with him.) He promised not to shower until it was fixed and eventually it was. We now have new ceiling tiles (instead fo the traditional wallpaper) and no more leaks.

My mom got a real kick out of the story (she wanted a picture of me using the umbrella but I declined) and I have giggled many times thinking back on our introduction to apartment living. It was definitely a unique way get acquainted with the neighbor.

Richard and I just returned from three plus weeks in the United States. It was wonderful to visit with our family and friends. We made some new friends as well. And our new grandson was born. What a joy to be able to be there. He waited two extra weeks to arrive so that we would be able to share in the joy of his arrival. What a kid!!!!!!!!

On September 8, Mr. S sent pictures of Smile House that he had taken that day. As you can see, the new addition is attached to the front of the building. The top floor has been raised a meter and a half. And the new roof should be started by now. We will find out more today. Funds are running low but we know that God has a plan for this building and in His time it will be completed. We are hoping to get it enclosed by winter so visiting teams and local volunteers can help us during the winter months. Windows and doors will be a large expense. Sasha, the contractor, estimates that windows will cost up to $21,000 and doors (there are 75 or more) will be around $16,000. If we make smaller windows in the ends of the building it will cost less.

Thanks for your interest in the project. If you know of anyone who might like to help with funds, please contact us at Smilealliance@yahoo.com or Smile Alliance P.O. Box 240 Cle Elum, WA 98922.

Richard and I are in Washington State–we have been here for a week and a half. During this time, we have been blessed by the birth of our fifth grandchild, a grandson Wylie Scott. We have enjoyed the company of both of our sons, their wonderful wives, and beautiful children as well as our daughter, her great husband and darling daughter. Friends and family have showered us with love and support. And today, the Smile Alliance International board of directors is hosting a fundraising event for the ministry and Smile House in Cle Elum.

I woke up this morning realizing how very blessed we are. This is God’s ministry–not ours. We are very priviledged to be partners with Him. And I am so thankful for the very, very busy people who have commited their time and talents to support SAI emotionally, financially, spiritually and in every other way. Without each of them and everyone of our supporters (prayer warriors, friends, family, financial contributors, advisors, those who give their time and talents to gathering, sorting and shipping, administrators, and so many more), we would not be in the place we are nor would we be able to see the fulfillment of our dreams and be on hand to watch God work. So I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to each of them and each of you for your love and support. May you be blessed abundantly.

We arrived in Washington State yesterday after a long flight with connections through Amsterdam and San Francisco. Our third grandson is still waiting to put in his appearance and we are excited to be here for the occasion. Our children from California will be arriving this weekend. We will be getting together with our Russian daughter and her family at some point as well. We will also be visiting a couple of churches and there is a fundraiser for SAI on the 10th of September in Cle Elum. A visit to the Salem area to my family with a stop at Richard’s brothers in Portland is also on the agenda. It is difficult to see everyone and enjoy them in three weeks but we will give it our best. It is very exciting to be here.While we are gone, two lovely young ladies from the SBS School at YWAM will be staying in our apartment. It helps us to have someone there and we are glad they can have a place to stay while they get ready for their outreach program.

Summer will be over and schedules back to more normal schedules when we return to Ukraine. I have talked with the ladies who work the YWAM Mother’s Care program and I hope to be able to work with the babies at the hospital a couple days a week. I have also talked to some teachers in a village about dental hygiene instruction in their school and possibly an English club. Plus, we have talked with Director Natasha at Mostysche and hope to bring the dental van there on a regular basis. We are talking about other ways we can interact with the kids and I am looking for direction in this area.

The government just paid to have the bathrooms renovated at Mostysche. We were very excited to see the lovely new facilities. So things are progressing. We appreciate your continued prayers and encouragement. Without that, all our plans are in vain.

Time to share a quick story. On August 2nd we celebrated our thirty-sixth anniversary. We decided to visit some places in Kyiv which we had not seen in the past. We took the metro to a beautiful park in the suburbs of Kyiv, a place called Babi Yar. There is a memorial to the over 100,000 Jewish Ukrainians and their sympathizers who were killed by the Germans in 1941, their bodies dumped and buried in a deep ravine. (See http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/babiyar.html for more information.) We took a wrong turn at the metro station and wandered through the park for quite awhile before ending up at the memorial. It was lovely and relaxing. We found another memorial erected by Israel which is closer to the actual site than the one erected by the Russians after the war. The actual grave site was bulldozed over and many apartment buildings constructed on top of it.

Later in the day, we went to the downtown area and a huge memorial that sits on the edge of this area. I will write more about these sites in my living in Ukraine blog at a later date. What I want to share is that as we were walking down the hill to go home on the metro, I heard some people speaking English. And being the “shy” person that I am, I spoke to them. Mary, a lady around our age, from the Midwest, had been visiting Ukraine for a number of years. Her adult children were with her for a few days and she was enjoying sharing the sights of Kyiv with them. I believe she had come with a team originally in the late 90’s but had returned on a regular basis to help a hospital in a town about three hours south of Kyiv. Like so many people we meet, there are many, many stories of need and those who are helping to take care of the needs. We talked briefly and exchanged phone numbers and email addresses.

A couple of weeks later she called. She had several boxes of things she had sent over that needed to be distributed and wondered if I could find people who could use the items. Through several subsequent calls, she made arrangements to bring the boxes to Kyiv on her way to the airport. Consequently, on the day before we went to the YWAM retreat, Mary and her taxi driver friends delivered 15 boxes plus some bags of items to our apartment.

A couple of days before I received the boxes, my friend Tanya asked me if we had any clothing left from our humanitarian aid shipment. She explained that there were several very poor families in her church who needed desperately needed clothes, especially larger size dresses and men’s clothing. The things we had sent on the container were mainly for children and there weren’t many things appropriate for adults. Plus, they have all been distributed. But I told Tanya that I would check out what Mary was bringing. So after Mary left the boxes I spend the day sorting through them. I called Tanya for information on the church members, sizes, ages, etc.. And. . . again, it is so much fun to watch God at work. When the sorting was complete, four large boxes were filled with beautiful dresses, men’s clothing and children’s clothes—all in the correct sizes. There were enough things for each person to receive at least one outfit. I am always amazed and amused at God’s timing and provision. These boxes had been sent many months previously and to an entire different location, yet they arrived just when they were needed for specific individuals.

Yet the blessings in Mary’s boxes don’t end there. Five other large boxes were given to the YWAM ministry for the orphanage in Makarov. I am hoping to get there when we get back from our trip to the states. School is starting soon and clothing is in short supply. Another box full of fabric will go to Mostysche for their sewing program. Also, Mary’s boxes contained macaroni and cheese, tuna fish and other foods which she wanted some kids to enjoy. I am thinking that the ministry of Karitas would be a fun place to show the cooks how to make tuna casserole. This is where they feed very poor children a meal a day. Other practical kitchen and personal items will find their homes as well. And I am the reciprocant of largest blessing of all because I am able to enjoy the fun of seeing the joy and wonder when people receive these gifts sent by this incredible lady.

Richard and I had asked for a divine appointment on the morning of our anniversary. I wonder how often I miss out because I don’t ask. PTL!

We have some new friends, Forrest and Darcy, Nicolas and Natasha. They have only been in Ukraine a week but took the time to have us over for dinner the other night. Now that’s hospitality. They are dear people and will be taking the DTS (Discipleship Training School) at YWAM in September. They moved here early so the kids can get started in their new school. After selling everything in America, they moved here with a commitment of at least 10 years. Five years ago, the children were adopted from an orphanage in the Eastern part of Ukraine. God has been putting it on their hearts to come and serve ever since that time. Lovely family!

Anyway, Darcy mentioned that she is so used to recycling that it is hard for her not to do so. It looks like there is no such thing here. At least, it looks like that at first glance. I was able to share our recycling secret. Her name is Baba Halya. She’s maybe a little older than I am—but that’s hard to figure out. She works outside our building early in the morning and late in the evening. She cleans around the front stoop but her main function is to sort the garbage. She has quite a system. The cardboard boxes are neatly folded and bundled—I don’t know what happens to them after that. Glass bottles are put together. Used clothing and shoes are sorted and the good ones go into a little building. I think she may sell some things out of it—I saw a lady getting a purse there one day.

She also takes a little cart and picks up junk around the building. She is always cheerful and greets us. She tells me that I must learn Russian so we can talk. One day she had picked up a bottle of beer and was drinking the little bit that was left. We “chatted” as we walked together toward our entrance. She told me how much she loves Ukrainian beer. I am including a picture of her. She was thrilled to have me take it—I just wish she had still had her bottle of beer with her. She is a kick.

So that is my recycling secret. It just goes to show that things are not always as they first appear.

The Mercy Trucks web site is now up and running http://www.mercytrucksua.org/ . Jeff and Greg Colker will be in the US for almost two months and during that time will be talking to churches and organziations in order to help raise support for the Colker Family www.colkerfamily.org and for the Mercy Truck ministry here in Ukraine. Richard and I will also be in the US for three weeks and during that time will talk to a couple of churches. There will be a fundraising picnic in Cle Elum, Washington on September 10 in support of the Smile House project. Please keep these projects in your prayers and if you are impressed to help with any of them, donations can be made through Smile Alliance International P. O. Box 240 Cle Elum, WA 98922.

Dr. Ina has been helping get the Mercy truck ready for ministry when we return. In the August 1 post I told some of her story. God has provided some funds for her support but the monthly pledge of $220, although really wonderful, is a small amount to live on in this inflationary economy. Please keep her situation in your prayers as well.

Shopping for food in Ukraine can be a real experience. I talked to some new friends today who have been here less than a week. They were saying they’d like to tag along with us sometime so they can learn about some of the items that a person can find on the shelves. They had just found some wieners that their kids were ecstatic about—they said they tasted just like Oscar Meyer wieners. Makes a person want to break out in song.

A Ukrainian friend told me that when she was a little girl (she is in her mid-thirties), her mother would get her and her twin sister up at 5 AM so they could stand in lines to get things at the store. The more people in a group, including the kids, the more you could get. I can’t imagine what it was like. Sometimes they would stand all day and then the store would run out of whatever it was you were waiting for.

Today, there are things absent from the shelves—at least the things that I want to buy—like peanut butter. Very few people like it here. My problem is that I want things I am used to America. I am spoiled. Rang Hee from Counterpart International sent a jar of Jiffy to the Counterpart office in Kyiv for us. We got a call saying there was some kind of butter in a jar waiting for us. They were wondering if it would spoil if we didn’t get it immediately.

It took me a long time to find baking soda but I finally did so. Cornstarch seems to be non-existent. There is potato starch that we can thicken things with—it just makes really spongy lumps which are a little unappetizing. There are shelves full of mayonnaise and ketchup. It is difficult to find a plain one of these two items though. Meat flavored mayonnaise seems to be the favorite. There are also many other flavors, each with a unique taste. Same thing with the ketchup. Plain potato chips don’t seem to be available except for some boxed ones that are more like pressed strips. Chips come in ham, cheese, chicken, mushroom, shrimp, and several other flavors. We have found very small packages of corn chips at our closest grocery store but that is the only place we have found them. I can make “haystacks” and which I have always loved. Yeah!

The fresh produce in the spring and summer is fantastic. There are a lot of little open air markets as well as little ladies who sit along the street and sell produce. We have even found lettuce in a few places—it’s not very popular except for a garnish. Right now peaches and melons are abundant and cheap. A form of zucchini has been a staple in our diet for a few months. I really love the produce and it is inexpensive. I am sure that will be different during the winter months. I can’t bring myself to buy chicken or any kind of meat in the markets. You can see Richard in the picture and what looks like rubber chickens next to him. This was taken on a very hot day. And NO they are not rubber chickens.

Tomatoes and cucumbers have been beautiful and plentiful throughout the spring and summer. Cabbage and potatoes are also staples. And many different kinds of fruits are available if you are willing to pay the price. Ukrainian chocolate is great. We really like the 76% bars and some of the other dark, dark candy. Yet we have never found chocolate chips. Also, no liquid flavorings are available. You can buy powdered vanilla in very small packets but it is very bitter so if you don’t get it all mixed into a recipe it can ruin it.
I will write more about shopping at a later date. Just suffice it to say that it is interesting and can be a very daunting experience as well.