Welcome to ETF

Thank you all who has prayed for Vova! He safely got to Brussels and than to Leuven. Have a look at the photos :) and thank God with us!

Temporary separation

Due to our recent news, Vova is leaving on Monday, October 22 and flies to Brussels. Praise God that we already got an e-ticket for Vova. Upon his arrival he needs to get a document and fax it to me, to Kiev, which I will take to the Embassy. The Embassy had asked for two supporting documents and then they can issue me visa right away. Insurance and attestation of sufficient living space - these are the documents that Embassy needs. Please do pray that God would guide through and help get the document about sufficient living space as soon as possible and that it would not take it long! We don't want to be separate for many days. We just can't imagine a day go by without each other.

We are so impressed by kindness and warmth that ETF has shown us. The genuine interest and care has been so encouraging during our days of waiting. We are so thankful for our studio, even though we haven't seen it yet, but it's great to know that it has been ready for us and that caring hearts had spent their time to furnish it and make it comfortable. We are thankful that somebody from ETF is picking up Vova at the airport on Monday. We see how God cares and works through people whom we haven't met yet. This humbles our hearts and reminds that we serve God whose name is the Lord.

Thank you for taking your time and reading and we are so thankful for your prayers!

238-2600

Easy to remember. This is not a secret code. Not a magic combination. This is a telephone number of the Embassy that we keep dialing every day for about 4 weeks in a row now. Every time we hear the same answer: "No documents yet". It is depressing and frustrating. But we know that God gave us this possibility to study in Belgium. He will accomplish His plan no matter what.
"Cease {striving} and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Ps.46:10

Thanks for your prayers! Keep praying for us!

A lesson about faithfulness

It's October 2nd today and we are still in Kiev. No documents yet. Vova was able to drop his first class, which started today. He'll audit it this time and take it as a required class next September. So it gives us some extra days for waiting. Waiting is never easy. But we see that God teaches us faithfulness and trust. This is a teaching moment that God is using and He has all the rights for it.
Please pray for us - we believe that the day of joy and answered prayers is very close!!!

Almost there... but still here

We are still in Kiev. Waiting for our visas. The waiting is not the best thing to do, but so necessary! The good thing that we'll take a plane as soon as we have passports in our hands. So we have everything ready to go, except our passports. We are not so worried with going or having a passport as we don't want Vova to be late to start his year. His first class is October 2.
Please pray with us that our documents would arrive very soon and that Vova wouldn't be late and also that I can start my work there.

We rely on your prayers so much!

Almost there

We have really good news! All our documents were quickly accepted at the Embassy - no extra questions, no surprises! Our passports will be send to Belgium and back. So in 3 weeks we'll have our passports with visas. We are very happy! Especially that Vova was allowed to process his visa in Ukraine. There is no Belgian Embassy in Belarus, so they are required to go to Moscow, which is much more expensive than staying in Kyiv.

So now, we'll be getting ready for the move and waiting for our passports to arrive safely to us.

A Call From The Embassy

After one week of waiting for the call from the Embassy we were so exhausted and didn't know what to think and what could be the problem with the official documents from ETF. Couple times we called to the Embassy and heard the same: "We'll call you"... Good thing that by now they knew our names and recognized us when we called.

We continued to pray. Many of our friends prayed for us and we are so thankful for their support! All the time I had this Bible passage in my head and it said so much to me.
"That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell to their children, That they should put their confidence in God And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments." Psalm 78:6-7
The three things that really touched me is to put our confidence in God, not forget the works of God and keep His commandments. In our situation this was exactly what I needed. Plus I always think what will I tell my children about how God worked in our life.

Today we had a call from the Embassy! Good news! They told us that our Invitation and Scholarship letters are fine and we can bring the rest of our documents to the Embassy on Monday, August 13th. We hope that everything will go smoothly, as God prepared the way.

We appreciate your prayers so much and we knew that you were praying for us!

No news is good news?

Today we were at the Embassy. No need to say how nervous we were! But we need to continue praying. At the Embassy they called to Belgium to ETF to find out about us, but apparently the person who was answering had no information. So now we need to wait. Embassy said they'll call us as soon as they find out info.

We appreciate your prayers!

Please Pray!

Tomorrow we have an appointment at the Belgian Embassy 11 am our time.

As you know, Vova was accepted to Master of Theology Program at ETF in Leuven, Belgium. God blessed us also with a full scholarship! God took careverything e of we could think of and even beyond that. So we trust this day into God's hands and pray for His leading.

Please remember us in your prayers! James 5:16 says "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much"

Few things that I found out about Leuven:

Leuven is a university town.

The town is full of flags and statues.

Flags all over, on every single corner … I read that nobody really knows the meaning of all the flags.

In short, Leuven is, much like Oxford and Cambridge, a complete academic turn on!

And...Famous Belgian chocolate!!!

We will get back to you with the news after tomorrow's visit to the Embassy.

Gestures :)

This could be a supplement material for the preaching classes :) Or home assignment. But anyway, this is one of Vova's sermons.

Another special day in life

You know, every passing day becomes a history. You keep in memory special events, you look at the pictures, but the day is gone. As my husband went to the stage to receive his Diploma, there were many mixed emotions in my heart, tears of happiness. For me it was difficult to believe that four years of his studies at KTS came to the end. Happy end. During these 4 years we had many blessings and trials. But they worth it. God taught us lessons not only at the seminary - there He gave us theory first :) and than taught life. Taught His faithfulness and love. So we both received complete education :)

Our wedding, May 21 2005

We got married more than 2 years ago and it already feels like we've been together our whole life. Two years, you might think, is not long enough. True. It's too short to enjoy the marriage :)