Hope 4 Kyiv #062 ---- 12/24/07
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Hope 4 Kyiv
Monthly Praise and Prayer Letter Of
Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver
Missionaries to Kiev, Ukraine
Number 063
December 24, 2007
Dear Family, Friends, and In-Pact Partners:
To use the traditional Ukrainian Christmas greeting, "Khristos rodyvsya!", to which you would reply, "Slavite Yoho!" Translated, that means, "Christ is born!" and "Let us glorify Him!" In Ukrainian, it looks like this ---- ХРИСТОС РОЖДАЄТЬСЯ! and СЛАВІТЕ ЙОГО! In Russian it would be ХРИСТОС РОЖДАЕТСЯ and СЛАВЬТЕ! Can you match up the Russian letters to the English pronunciation?
Please go to http://www.dayspring.com/ecards/card.asp?ID=361ab8-lfm to receive our special personal Christmas card from us to you.
For the first time in several years we are writing our December letter to you from right here in Kyiv. We decided this year to remain here to celebrate Christmas with our Ukrainian and international friends instead of going home. It was a hard decision, and although we already are feeling homesick for Collins, our bungalow in the forest, and family, we know we have done the right thing. Several of our people at KIBC have already told us how glad they are we will remain here and celebrate Christmas with them. And, yet, many of them are not here to celebrate with us themselves. But, . . . we will certainly miss being in the States. The old song is true, . . . "There's no place like home for the holidays".
In our apartment we have two Christmas trees decorated. One (above left) is 6.5 feet high, and decorated with nothing but white lights and red, silver, and golden glass globes (I really miss all the "primitive" wood and cloth ornaments we have stored back in the States). The other (above right) is a 3.5 foot tree with snow-tipped limbs decorated with white lights and miniature Ukrainian dolls representing winter and the various regions of the country. It's really Bob's favorite.
Sometimes Jo Ann will add genuine hand painted eggs that show off traditional designs of the Czech culture (we bought them in Prague). Then on the shelves and tables around the living room and kitchen/dining area we have some Matryoska Dolls, Ukrainian bells, and nativity sets. The dining table and our piano are both trimmed out with red candles encircled by tiny poinsettia wreaths and holly garland. Our doorway has a small pine wreath and across from it the mirror as a swag of holly vine with two red plaid bows at the corners.
This year we are trying to take full advantage of the season with our international friends.
> Jo Ann has been baking cookies, banana nut bread, and pumpkin bread for just about every single meeting we're having in our apartment. (We currently average five evenings a week with something going on.)
> We are focusing Sundays on Christmas all the way up through Orthodox Christmas on January 7th, singing carols and preaching on appropriate themes.
> On December 27th many from our church will attend a special concert by the Kyiv Symphony and Chorus right in our own building. It has been an annual event since 1993 with several performances each year. Awesome experience! Take a look at http://www.musicmissionkiev.org to learn see the amazing story of Roger and Diane McMurren and how that 1992 trip turned into an internationally recognized phenomenon.
> We're doing something different since we're here ---- hosting "Christmas Movies" nights in our apartment every Thursday and Friday as well as two or three Sunday afternoons, showing a variety of Christmas classics and some newer stuff. There are just too many to list. We usually have just a few people show up, but we're making it available to everyone, and even if we watch them alone, we enjoy the nostalgia of the season watching great holiday movies. We've got some extra movies we can throw in as replacements if we need to.
Ukrainian Christmas Traditions:
We thoroughly enjoy the blessing of celebrating the holiday season in Ukraine and want to take much of our space in this letter to share with you some of the many traditions practiced here. Ukraine uses a different calendar in identifying Christmas, New Year, and Easter and related celebrations. So, the two of us this year get to celebrate both Christmas and New Year's Day with our friends twice ---- December 25th and January 7th for Christmas, and January 1st and 13th for New Year. Ukrainians themselves often celebrate both New Year's dates because the 13th is the "old Ukrainian new year" day, although they stick primarily to January 7th for Christmas.
As in most cultures, Christian themes, family traditions, and pagan practices are often intertwined. This is particularly noticeable in Ukraine. Even though the Gospel penetrated into the region as early as the latter part of the First Century, paganism remained the primary source of religious practice, much of it traced back as far as the Babylonian mystery religions of Abraham's day. When Ukraine under King Volodymyr (St. Vladimir) accepted Christianity from Byzantium in 988 A.D. many of those pagan traditions were adapted by the Church to the new religion. Some of these traditions have survived over a thousand years and now form a part of today's Christmas celebrations in Ukraine. So, as in America and around the world, you have a syncretic blend of Christmas traditions.
As you know from history, the early Church didn't have a specific day set aside to celebrate the birth of Christ, but instead acknowledged both His birth and Resurrection throughout the year. However, early church records show that around 200 A.D. Christ's birth was being celebrated in Alexandria, Egypt at a special time; and it was the same in Antioch, Jerusalem, and other centers of Christianity. But, it was not until 354 A.D. after Constantine had embraced and legalized Christianity that Bishop Liberius of Rome established December 25th as the official day to celebrate the birth of Christ. You can read Bob's "Shoulder To Shoulder" letter from last week in which he describes that in more detail if you wish. Simply go to http://welovegod.org/html/?223::595 and read the article. In the meantime, here are some Ukrainian Christmas traditions that might interest you.
+ Pre-Christmas Preparations: The season of Christmas begins with advent (Pylypivka)-four weeks of fasting and preparing one's self for the birth of Christ. In preparation for Christmas, the house is cleaned from top to bottom and the outside of the house is whitewashed. A sheaf of wheat (didukh) is saved from the harvest. The didukh represents the family: the living, the dead and those unborn. Before Christmas Eve (Sviata Techera), the sheaf is decorated with ribbons, flowers and a small wreath of basil. It is put under an icon in a corner of the room on Christmas Eve.
+ St. Nikolas: There are two special characters in Ukrainian Christmas holiday traditions. St. Nikolas is one, and he was celebrated on December 19th, known as St. Nikolas Day. The Ukrainian version of St. Nikolas (or Santa Clause as he is known in the west) is considerably different from the west in several ways. In Ukraine he is called Did Moroz’ and is supposed to bring gifts to children on the eve of December 19th, not December 25th or January 7th.
+ Father Frost and Snowflake Girl: Father Frost (we've heard him sometimes referred to as Father Christmas) is the second Christmas character. He visits all the children in a sleigh pulled by only three reindeer instead of eight. He brings along a little girl named Snowflake Girl (we've heard her referred to sometimes as Snow Princess). She wears a silver blue costume trimmed with white fur and a crown shaped like a snowflake. If you were to go to Kyiv's Maidan Plaza about this time of year, you'd probably see eight or ten pairs of them waiting to pose for pictures. . . for a small contribution, of course.
+ Nativity Scenes (Crèche's): In most parts of Ukraine on Christmas Eve people sometimes create a so-called "Vertep" (meaning "cave" in ancient Greek) depicting biblical scenes of Jesus birth. They show Jesus in manger, Mary, strangers offering their gifts and the Bethlehem star in the sky. These verteps are usually exhibited at public places, particularly near or inside churches. At night lighted candles are placed inside them so people who come to church for the night service can observe them. These scenes are also often captured on Matyroska dolls such as on a set we have, and they depict events all the way from the Annunciation to Mary to the Resurrection or Ascension.
+ Christmas Eve Caroling: Interestingly, there seems to be a mixing of Halloween and Christmas Eve in Ukraine. Halloween is not celebrated, but on Christmas Eve children will come around their neighbors with torches and sparklers called Bengal lights and wish people good health and abundant harvest as they spread grains and colored seeds on the neighbor's porch, steps, or even on the floor of the house. They ask for some donations, and if the neighbors refuse, they threaten to pour dirt or ashes on their floors, all in jest, of course. Also they perform some Christmas songs called "Koliadky" or "Shchedrivky" in certain regions of the country. If you click on this link, sound samples of Koliadky, you can hear some sound samples of the music.
+ Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: "Sviata Vechera" or "Holy Supper" is the central focus of the traditional Christmas Eve celebrations in Ukrainian homes. The dinner table is covered with two tablecloths . . . one from the family's ancestors, and one from a living member. It sometimes has a few wisps of hay on the embroidered table cloth as a reminder of the manger in Bethlehem. Hay is sometimes also spread both on the table and under it to represent Christ's manger birth. A loaf of "Kolach" (Christmas bread) is placed in the center of the table. This bread is braided into a ring, and three such rings are placed one on top of the other, with a candle in the center of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Trinity and the circular form represents Eternity.
When the children see the first star in the eastern evening sky, which symbolizes the trek of the Three Wise Men, the "Sviata Vechera" may begin. Particularly in farming communities, and more prominently in western Ukraine, the head of the household now brings the "didukh", that sheaf of oats or wheat which represents the importance of the ancient and rich wheat crops of Ukraine, the staff of life through the centuries. Tied in a special shape with four legs and numerous bundles, "didukh" means literally "grandfather spirit", and represents prosperity for the next year. In city homes a few stalks of golden wheat in a vase are often used to decorate the table.
After the "didukh" is positioned in the place of honor, the father or head of the household places a bowl of "kutia" (the ritual food which is prepared from cooked wheat and special syrup containing diluted honey, grated poppy seeds, raisins and sometimes walnuts next to it. "Kutia" is the most important food of the entire Christmas Eve Supper, and is also called God’s Food. A jug of "uzvar" (stewed fruits, which should contain twelve different fruits) and is called God’s Drink, is also served. The table often has one extra place-setting for the deceased family members, whose souls, according to belief, come on Christmas Eve and partake of the food.
There are twelve courses in the Supper, because according to the Christian tradition each course is dedicated to one of Christ's Apostles. According to the ancient pagan belief, each course stood was for every full moon during the course of the year. The courses are meatless because there is a period of fasting required by the Church until Christmas Day. However, for the pagans the meatless dishes were a form of bloodless sacrifice to the gods. The first course is always "kutia". Then comes "borshch" (beet soup) with "vushka" (boiled dumplings filled with chopped mushrooms and onions). This is followed by a variety of fish - baked, broiled, fried, cold in aspic, fish balls, marinated herring and so on. Then come "varenyky" (boiled dumplings filled with cabbage, potatoes, buckwheat grains, or prunes. There are also "holubtsi", (stuffed cabbage), and the supper ends with "uzvar".
After all the preparations have been completed, the father offers each member of the family a piece of bread dipped in honey, which had been previously blessed in church. He then leads the family in prayer, and then says the traditional Christmas greeting, "Khristos rodyvsya!" which translated is "Christ is born!", which is answered by the family with "Slavite Yoho!" which translated is "Let Us Glorify Him!". In some families the Old Slavic form "Khristos razhdayetsya" is used. At the end of the "Sviata Vechera" the family often sings "Kolyadky", Ukrainian Christmas carols. In many communities the old Ukrainian tradition of caroling is carried on by groups of young people and members of organizations and churches calling at homes and collecting donations. The favorite Ukrainian carol is "Boh predvichny", meaning "God Eternal", which has a very beautiful melody and lyrics. Some Ukrainian carols are unusual because they mention Ukraine while others are ancient pagan songs of a thousand years ago which have been converted into Christian carols.
+ Christmas Day is a joyous day which opens for Ukrainian families with attendance at Church. Ukrainian Churches vary their special Christmas services. Some offer services starting before midnight on Christmas Eve and others on Christmas morning. Christmas supper, without Lenten restrictions, does not have as many traditions connected with it as "Sviata Vechera" does. The old tradition in Ukraine of giving gifts to children on St. Nicholas Day, December 19th, has generally been replaced by the Christmas date.
+ Christmas Tree (New Year's Tree): Under Communism because religion was not officially recognized, and because in Ukraine the New Year is celebrated seven days before Christmas, the traditional Christmas tree was sometimes known as the New Year's Tree "Novorichna Jalynka". However, in family settings it was still usually recognized as the Christmas tree. Almost always on Christmas Eve (January 7th) people install and decorate the trees in their houses. During Communist days evergreen trees with any beautiful shape were often hard to find. As a result, simple limbs or even gaunt branches of other types of trees were used. Across them would be draped chains of paper, braided straw, glass or plastic beads, and an occasional string of lights. Today more modern and western decorations are easy to find in the cities.
One interesting tradition in Ukraine is that families often drape the Christmas trees with netting or mesh that looks like spider webs rather than tinsel. The story goes that "there once was a widow, who lived in a small hut. One day a pinecone dropped on the floor and it took root. Her children were excited that they would have a tree for Christmas. All summer long they made plans on how they would decorate the tree. They were very poor, so poor that they did not have anything to decorate the tree with. The widow went to bed on Christmas Eve knowing that the tree would not be decorated. Early on Christmas morning, the woman was awakened by her children. "Mother, mother wake up and see the tree it is beautiful!" The mother arose and saw that during the night a spider had spun a web around the tree. The youngest child opened the window to the first light of Christmas Day. As the shafts of the sun crept along the floor, it touched one of the threads of the spider web and instantly the web was changed into gold and silver. And from that day forward the widow never wanted for anything." So, "spider webs" often adorn Ukrainian Christmas trees.
+ Old New Year's Day (January 13th): This is the "old new Year" for Ukrainians, and is still celebrated by many families. The two of us enjoyed such a celebration several years ago when our mission team from SBU joined some Ukrainian families for the traditional New Year's Eve dinner following a frigid day of prayer walking near their village. On this, the last night of the year, New Year's carols called Shchedrivky are sung. One of the most famous of these is the popular "Shchedryk" by Leontovich which is known in English as "The Carol of the Bells." Most Americans don't know this is a Ukrainian carol that has become extremely popular in western countries.
Updates:
Well, that's more about Ukrainian Christmas traditions than you probably cared to know. So, let's move on.
+ Tania made her move to Skelleftea, Sweden, without incident, and the Lord continues surprising her with unexpected blessings. For the past several weeks she was thrilled to stay in a resort ski camp where people from around the world come to ski. She was awed to sit in her room and watch skiers glide down the mountain sides. However, she is now in another temporary apartment in the center of town waiting for her permanent apartment in a neighboring community, to which she will move the early part of January. Here's the last picture we have of her, taken at the airport in Kyiv the morning she left. Notice her passport . . . something she was extremely proud of. It was a one-way, one-trip passport that got her to Sweden.
You might like to know that just days after she was approved for immigration, the Ukrainian courts sent her two notifications that they had rejected her for the last and final time, and would not consider her case any further. If she had not emigrated to Sweden, she would have become a total "non-person" in Ukraine illegally and subject to constant arrest, jail, and bribery by unscrupulous police officers. God's timing is without error.
The government has provided her with money for furniture and setting up housekeeping, and her monthly living provision is going to be adequate. She will begin taking classes to learn Swedish early next month. She has been informed there are many Colombians living in Skelleftea, so she's anxious to meet them when she begins classes.
+ "M" and his wife continue providing outstanding leadership, both sharing the Gospel without fear. They are moving their belongings into their unfinished new apartment in a few days, and also will receive all or part of the reimbursement on their apartment for being charged too much.
+ Our teaching responsibilities lighten up a bit for a few weeks, but will kick back into high gear around January 15th. Bob preaches at least the next three Sundays, he continues teaching the after-service Bible study on spiritual warfare to a dozen or so very excited people, and continues writing his weekly "Shoulder To Shoulder" letter. It was ten years ago next Monday that he began writing that weekly encourager letter. Both of us continue teaching the "Transferable Concepts" to about ten to twelve faithful Esther Fellowship and Timothy Fellowship members each Wednesday.
+ The Pastoral Leadership Team finally had to deal firmly with one of the men creating problems with some of our ladies. We dealt with it several weeks ago, but he didn't seem to get the message. So, last Sunday's confrontation was more direct and strong. We'll see what happens. Sometimes people like this have to be threatened by the "militia" before they'll stop their tactics. You can keep praying for us about that.
+ Construction on the hospital sites continue right behind us. However, a couple days ago all the machinery pulled out, so we're wondering if they're quitting for the holidays. It's interesting to watch them work. They show up around 8:00, start working around 8:15 to 8:30, take a two-hour lunch break after two or three short breaks, start slowing down around 3:00 or a little after, and are gone by 4:00. At that rate, we may be living back in the States before the superstructure is actually started . . . a year or more from now.
+ As of last week, Ukraine now has Yulia Tymoshenko again as Prime Minister. She is a very popular lady among the Ukrainians, pro-western leanings, and committed to fighting corruption, bringing economic stability, and reducing governmental bureaucracy. Bob likes to call her the "Madelyn Albright of Ukrainian politics", although her political views are not nearly so liberal and secularistic as Albright's.
+ Five years ago next week, loaded up with seventeen foot lockers and suitcases, we (along with a dozen young men and women on our university mission team) boarded a plane in Kansas City and made a move to Kyiv . . . little knowing that we would remain well beyond the two-year commitment with the IMB for which we had signed up. We did not expect to spend "retirement years" doing this, but it's been a wonderful ride, and will continue to be so into the future (how long, we just don't know).
+ To give you an idea of a typical week for us, this is what it's like:
> Monday -- Bob spends almost all day in the office writing his "Shoulders" letter while Jo Ann puts pieces back together, has our cleaning lady come to clean the apartment, and orders our heavy food items (jugs of water, juice, milk, etc.) from the market.
> Tuesday -- We both study during the day for the Spanish leadership mentoring group that meets that night. Bob spends lots of time reformatting the material and printing it out for the evening session. Jo Ann bakes or otherwise prepares refreshments for the Spanish group.
> Wednesday -- We both do the same thing for our English group studying the same material, training Ukrainians, Persians, Chinese, and others. Same process for a different group. More baking for Jo Ann.
> Thursday -- Cleaning lady comes again to put the apartment back together. We do our main grocery shopping, employing a driver to take us just once a week. That involves two to four different stops with lots of bags of groceries to carry up the steps. Bob also works on his sermon for Sunday if it's his day to preach, and also works on material for his Sunday afternoon Bible study on spiritual warfare. During Christmas holidays we spend the evening showing a Christmas movie to those who come.
> Friday -- Jo Ann spends most of the day in the kitchen preparing for Sunday's fellowship time refreshments and our "lunch for students". Bob continues working on his sermon and Bible study material for Sunday. We try very hard to be done in time to relax over a movie or a Christian TV program after showers.
> Saturday -- Jo Ann again spends most of the day in the kitchen preparing for Sunday while Bob finishes up his material for Sunday and prints off Stan's order of service or the announcement sheets for Sunday. He tries so hard to have Saturday as a quiet "focus" day in preparation for Sunday, but it very seldom happens. The day ends with watching Dr. David Jeremiah at 8:30 after early showers.
> Sunday -- Bob gets up earlier this day than any other, is almost always in the office by 7:30, gets the computer and data projector ready for services, updates the PowerPoint "welcome loop" that runs before services, gets the table set up for refreshments, usually has to replace chairs that have disappeared during the week in our worship hall, prints off his sermon notes and sometimes prints off order of service or announcement sheets if the other guys weren't able. Jo Ann starts getting everything ready to take upstairs to the fellowship hall for after-service fellowship, grabs a quick breakfast (Bob drinks a glass of SlimFast on the run). Prayer time begins at 10:10 and services at 10:30. Services usually end around 12:15 to 12:30, fellowship time follows, Bob teaches his Bible study at 12:50 while the Arabic and Persian groups hold their individual Bible studies, we have lunch at 2:00 with 20 to 25 university students in our apartment, the last of them usually leave around 6:00, we grab a light supper between then and 7:00 . . . and we crash, waking up enough to take showers and then sleep through a movie, worship video, or boring television program.
Sometimes our week gets really busy, but most of them are like this.
Prayer Requests:
+ Pray for the two of us that we can take advantage of a lighter load for a few weeks. We're currently back to two evenings a week plus Sunday, and we think that will continue at least for a period of time. Pray that we can enjoy some nice quality personal time without too many interruptions.
+ Pray for the direction of the church as we continue training future leaders and try to steadily turn more and more of the leadership responsibilities over to others. Both of us are extremely conscious that some major things must happen before we go back to the States permanently, and we know they will take lots of time. In that we feel our tenure here is probably no more than two more years at the most, there will have to be some serious deepening of commitment levels on those who will remain. In some ways we're ready to go to the States, but at the same time the joy of being with these people is so rich that we can't imagine ourselves not being with them, trying to "reach the nations at our doorstep".
+ Pray for Tania as she continues adjusting in Sweden. Pray that God will give her some good friendships with strong and visionary believers. Pray that she can begin a ministry to Spanish speakers there; there are many such people living in her town.
+ Pray for us as we anticipate a very busy 2008 with at least four trips out of the country, plus some within.
+ Pray for our financial needs for 2008. Our support base continues to diminish while our expenses increase. Pray that God will call supporters to more consistent faithfulness, and that He will add others to partner with us in this incredible ministry.
+ Pray for our children:
> Cindy, Kevin, and Christopher in Colombia as they give direction to major church planting, media development, Bible school construction, and humanitarian aid to people in their city.
> Debbie and the girls as they continue dealing with Debbie's health issues, Abby's university training at Missou, Sarah's early graduation from high school, and Rachel's expanding activities.
> Cheri, Bob, and the kids as they continue dealing with various issues facing the kids and the values they brought with them from Russia.
> Deanna, Jim, Michael, and JoyLinn as they continue serving FBC in LaGrange, MO, and continue seeking the will of the Lord for their ministry in days ahead.
+ Pray for some possible new connections that could lead to other language ministries. We've recently had a young man from Nigeria begin attending, and he seems to really love the Lord. Pray that we'll have a chance to talk with him and see where his heart is as far as his fellow countrymen and other Africans living here.
+ Pray for our Russian language ministry to university students and our ministry to Chinese. The Russian work is at a stand still, but we believe God wants to raise it up again. The Chinese work is not seeing much growth, but it has great potential. We're probably in a rebuilding process with it as well. Pray especially for Louis and "Jack" and a few others who make up the core of the work. Louis leads two Bible studies each week.
+ Pray for our growing Farsi work. The Kyiv group continues growing, running 20 to 25 every week, they are seeing success from their English, computer, and mathematics tutoring classes, and every few weeks another person comes to Christ. Also pray for its expansion to the city of Kharkiv where there are some 2,000 Iranians living. A group of about eight or ten believers are there and, because four of them were baptized here at KIBC, they have asked us to send "M" and "F" down to help them. The Pastoral Leadership Team authorized that connection and has also financed the first trip which is scheduled for the week-end of January 11th.
+ Pray for three possible "partnership" connections that may be developing. If they do, it will result in much more effective ministry for all parties. First, we are considering a partnership with an IMB missionary in Kharkiv as well as a Ukrainian pastor of an international church in that city. The January 11th trip will do much to help us know where that might go. Second, pray for a possible partnering with a Campus Crusade couple (she's American and he's Ukrainian). They're funneling some of their students wanting exposure to the English language, and we think we can provide some manpower to help them with their work as well. Finally, pray for a possible similar connection with an IMB missionary family who recently returned to Kyiv after several years in Belarus. Their new ministry is to university students, and we feel that KIBC has much to offer such people, especially if they're interested in an English language setting.
+ Pray for our people as a whole, that they will truly see the harvest that is "ripe for the picking", and that they will get the vision of what God really wants from KIBC. It's beyond human words, but often hearts are closed through contentment and eyes are blinded by preoccupation with other things. Pray that KIBC will break through those barriers and truly become an evangelizing power that will follow through with discipling and church planting.
Finally:
Well, here it is almost Christmas day and the letter we began four days ago is finally complete. Have a wonderful Christmas. Celebrate it to the fullest, and proclaim it's message to everyone you see. And . . . drop us a note! We'd love to hear from you. Our e-mail addresses are below.
Because He Came, We are to Go,
Bob and Jo Ann
The Tollivers
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