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| Medical and Geographical Notes |
Janice and I were just about to sink during the early part of this year, but with the successful completion of a large conference in Budapest, things have slacked off to something more normal. We're enjoying a little respite, and a chance to work more like 40 hours a week. We've actuallly been home here in Brussels for more than a month this time--which is something for us. Of course, that's about to end. In another couple weeks, we're off again: USA to Slovenia, [1] to Ukraine,[2] to Georgia in the Caucus mountains, [3] to the USA, and so forth. With the chance to stay around the office, we've been doing some repair and building in the living quarters and office space. I've been re-cementing pavement stones on our sidewalk, building storage shelves under the eaves, wiring the computer network in the office, and wiring in some additional office lighting. Of course, there's still the desk work to keep current. Earlier this week, Janice and I almost took an evening off to go downtown to see a pageant that's being performed outdoors this week. Today, we almost took a break and went downtown for some relaxing time off. But then we finished lunch and decided to come back up to the office and work the rest of the day. Maybe we'll actually take some time off tomorrow, since it's Saturday. During the last six months of 2000, we'll have participated in the start-up of three new schools: a Bible school in Georgia, a Spanish language seminary in Spain, and a Russian-language international seminary in the Ukraine. Of course, work on these things went on for quite awhile beforehandd, but each of these projects is coming to fruition now. It's encouraging to be a part of something "happening" like this. Janice and I will get to see both our daughters this summer. We see Keri every summer when we're in Springfield for School of Missions. But this year we're also going to take some time between the meetings in Springfield and the big meeting in Indianapolis to go see Julie in Raleight. And it looks like we'll be with them in Raleigh for Thanksgiving too, since Dale will be finishing up a conference in Tennessee that week. Haven't had American Thanksgiving for about five or six years now; I'll definitely enjoy too much food and too much football.[4] Speaking of football, it's time for Euro 2000, and some of the major games are played near here. England is playing Germany down the road away, and the Belgian police are gearing up for the English "hooligans" who come down for the violance they can cause in the stadium and on the streets. It will definitely be a good time to stay clear of Charleroi, where the stadium is. The police have gotten special powers to arrest anyone that they have the slightest suspicion might cause violent trouble. They've built some holding cells that can hold about 2,000 each, and they have legal clearance to hold them there until everyone's gone home to their own countries after the games. They're planning an all-out approach to security, with police, militia, and military out in force. Isn't sports such a nice relaxation?
1. Slovenia: Part of former Yugoslavia, which now includes only Serbia and Montenegro. Slovenes made up 8% of Yugoslavia's population, which was an incredible mix left over from invasions and conquests since Roman times. More recently it was leftovers of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. The ethnic tensions here triggered WWI and contributed to the genoicidal cival war during WWII. More recently, it's become known as the land of "ethnic cleansing." Pray that we'll be able to get some sustainable training in place for ministers there. [back] 2. Ukraine: This is a country with mostly Ukrainian and Russian inhabitants, but with huge minorities of Belarussians, Bulgarians, Polish, Moldavians, Jews, and Hungarians. There are also Mordvinians living there--ever heard of them? Ukraine was where Russian Christianity was born 1,000 years ago, and it remains the source of much of Christian leadership around the former USSR. With a reputation as the USSR's "Bible Belt" the church there suffered greatly during the Soviety era, as millions were killed or exiled to Siberia. Chernobyl is one Ukrainian place that most people have heard of: In 1942 it was the site of a Nazi massacre of Jews. But we're more likely to think of it as the site of a nuclear disaster that poisoned much of Europe and deeply impacted Belarus and north Ukraine. This doomed power station was built on the site of the mass graves from the 1942 slaughter. Chernobyl means "wormwood" (see rev. 8:10-11), an appropriate parallel. We have had a Bible school in Kiev for about ten years, but now we're planning an international seminary to train Bible school instructors for the former USSR. After graduation, they'll return to teach in Bible schools in Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and central Asia. [back] 3. Georgia: It has a population of about 6 million, comprising Georgian (64%), Armenian, Abkhazian, Ossetian, Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, Azerbaijani, and Kurds. It relies heavily enough on agriculture that planning for the Bible school must take into account the need for field workers during planting and harvest seasons. Post-communist hatred stirred up inter-ethnic and civil war, the effects of which are still simmering. Georgia is an Orthodox island surrounded by Islam, which has caused a "fortress mentality" among the Orthodox. This makes it difficult to do Evangelical Christian work there, which the Orthodox label as the work of "sects". Even in recent days, the people we're working with have had parliamentary leaders demonstrating ourside their home, shouting paranoid slogans. [back] 4. Football: Why do Americans call that "football," since they hardly ever touch the ball with their foot. And why do we call voetball "soccer", since they hardly ever sock it--can't even touch it with their hands? [back] |
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