Yalta: 1000 Gifts

42. A fun train ride to Simferopol and a good bus trip on to Yalta
43.Translators
44.Ears & brain that are really opening up to the Russian language and pulling things together. This was a great week of listening and speaking for me
45.A trainer who really liked me and wanted to help me
46.The ability to learn an amazing tool to better share the gospel
47.A hospitable host that we never even met
48.Great unity between those of us traveling and studying together
49.For grace and patience when I strongly disagreed with certain parts of the presentation; that I was able to leave having made a good impression & with my Christian testimony intact.
50.That I was able to be there to counsel others in our group when difficulties arose
51.For wonderful times of fellowship
52.Hugs and growing closer to the students
53.Successfully completing a challenging yet profitable course
54.Beautiful weather on our free day
55.The stunning beauty of God's creation
56.The fresh air in the mountains
57.Getting to do and see some awesome things: incredible natural beauty, Voronsovsky Palace,
Swallow's Nest, going down a huge mountain in a cable car, a great walk through a beautiful park, an incredible view looking far down on Yalta, etc., etc.
58. A safe trip back to Odessa

59. LAUGHTER: We found out when we arrived that the people who lead the classes are Pentacostal and therefore, there was a lot of loud praying and praying "in tongues." My four favorite occurances from the week:
*one of our students told several of the other people in the class that she thought they were possessed by demons. Just try to imagine the looks on their faces. =-D
*another student turned to me one morning after the opening prayer and remarked, "Man, it sounds like a circus in here!" Thankfully, he said it in English.
*we were paired up and had to introduce our partner:family, work, where he/she lives, church info. and a brief testimony. My testimony was being translated for my partner, but he didn't want to wait for it. He told me that the Holy Spirit would tell him everything that he needed to know about me. ummm, right. But when I asked if I could also make up his testimony, he wasn't very amused.
*the blessed hair dryer. One morning, the lady staying in my room asked to borrow my hair dryer. I gave it to her, but explained that it cuts off frequently and needs lots of rest. Sure enough, it did that to her. So she stopped, laid hands on it and cast out the demons in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! And behold, it came back on! Granted, it does that all the time, but still, how many of you can say that you have a blessed hair dryer? I'm thinking that it wasn't the most effective blessing, though, b/c it was back to its old tricks this morning. I guess she wasn't able to cast out all of the demons possessing the body of my poor old hair dryer. sigh....I was hoping that would fix the problem and I wouldn't have to buy a new one.