Georgia Trip Day 7: Connections

1 March 2011

Even though there were some flurries overnight, this was the first day that it wasn’t snowing at all when I woke up.  In fact, most of the snow had melted away.  Today is my last full day in Georgia.  I’ve learned how to say (with a mostly terrible accent) “hello”, “goodbye”, “sorry”, and “thank you”.

Life here does start a bit later than I am used to.  I’ve been waking up earlier than normal in Ukraine, and it’s two hours earlier there than here.  I’ve somehow gotten “reverse jet-lag”.  I’m up and stirring well before most everyone else in the country.  Tim says that things don’t really get moving until 10:00 a.m.

Georgia Trip Day 6: Good to Great

28 February 2011

Light snow fell in the morning as I awoke just as it has done every day since I arrived. However, I awoke with a frightful start. The realization that we leave Ukraine in exactly one month (to the hour from when I awoke), hit me like a brick in the face. Four weeks. 28 days. That much time to say goodbyes. That much time to pack up our life to return to the US for a few months. That much time to distill our lives down to the necessities. That much time to tie up loose ends. And here I sit, a few hundred miles away from my family and Ukraine in this beautiful country of Georgia.

Georgia Trip Day 5: A Song to Sing

27 February 2011

Isn’t it great how God created us each similar yet unique.  I should thank Him for that more often.  We breathe oxygen.  Our bodies need nourishment and water.  We have a need for a Savior from a sinful heart.  Yet, in our similarities we have such differences in the way we talk (yes, even in the English language), what we eat, and how we interpret the world around us.  I don’t think it is mere chance (like my ancestor is some cosmic goo that formed proteins that somehow jumped to life and started reproducing more and more complex life), that I’m here.  God has placed me for a purpose in this place, at this time, for His glory.

Georgia Trip Day 4: To Narnia and Back

26 February 2011

As a kid, I loved snow. As an adult, the fascination has not dwindled much. Growing up in North Carolina, winter was a fickle beast. We’d usually get a few dustings and maybe one major snow/ice/sleet event. Just watching the large flakes fall from the sky to nestle on the grass and trees just increased my sense of wonder.

My dad has never been to keen on frozen precipitation and prefers warm weather (of course he drove long distances to work everyday, so any complication to that just made things worse). My mother, on the other hand, is likely where I gained my wonderment for snow. She would wake us kids up early sometimes to see how the ground had turned to a soft, white blanket. Hot cocoa and Cream of Wheat would be prepared then our winter weather gear would be put on for our time in the snow.

Georgia Trip Day 3: Walking Out

25 February 2011

After waking late after my first night in Tbilisi, I woke up extremely early today.  Local time was around 5:30 a.m., but to me, it was 3:30 a.m.  I slept well, but was awakened with a headache and I needed to get up before it developed into a migraine.  I got ready for the day, ate some breakfast, and took some Excedrine to ease the thumping in my head.

Our Daily Bread reading for the day listed Psalm 71:19-24 as the Biblical passage.  The title of the devotional was “Perfect Peace and Rest” which really related to what I had written about yesterday, but with the headache, I could really identify with the hope the author of this Psalm mentions.  “You shall comfort me on every side [in the face of troubles].”

Georgia Trip Day 2: Resting

24 February 2011

It drives my wife crazy sometimes how easily I go to sleep.  It’s not always the case, but nearly always, I can lay my head on the pillow, and within a matter of seconds I can be asleep.   Angela is not built that way.  Her brain is still churning out thoughts that she would like to discuss.  Often, between churning and speaking, I’ve already fallen asleep.  Even sometimes, she interrupts a dream that has already started.

Traveling is a tiring thing, so I was able to sleep easily.  I slept almost too well.  I didn’t set an alarm, and I woke up 45 minutes before we were supposed to leave.  The time zone in Georgia is 2 hours ahead of Ukraine during non-Daylight Savings time (and one hour difference when un-civilized countries observe the “spring forward” until “fall back”).  So, I actually woke up early for what I am used to.

Georgia Trip Day 1: Flying In

23 February 2011

Upon returning from a trip somewhere, I often get within a certain distance of home when I take a deep breath of relaxation that I am “home.” Within a mile of my parent’s house where I lived more than 10 years, I take in that extra breath of home air. It’s not so much that the air is cleaner or healthier. Something unconscious in me wants to take in more of what is home.

Despite the fact that Angela marvels at the fact that my family has such deep and long roots in that area of North Carolina, I’m beginning to think that our family might be from a nomadic tribe. I love to travel, and our family has moved many times, following where God has led. In each of these places, there would be a certain perimeter where I would take this same relaxing breath.

God’s Timing is Everything!

(Written by Angela Clifton)
This summer I was blessed to have 3 wonderful people from Iran stay in our home for a few weeks. All of them are believers, and all searching for a place to call home. They can no longer go to their home country, because they could be killed for their faith. Somehow, each of them found their way to Ukraine (two of them having been Christians in Iran and one coming to Christ while here in Ukraine).
Praise the Lord all of them have now found a place to rest their head at night. Each one still struggles daily to get food, clothes, and toiletries. They each receive around 100 dollars per month each to live on from being refugees here. Out of that money comes rent, utilities, food, clothes, transport, and medical. (The basic medical is covered, however anything over that is out of their pocket.)

Hungary Trip days 11-12: Sziasztok Hungary

14-15 November 2010

It seemed that my time in Hungary came to a close quite rapidly.  Thus, I have combined the final two days into one post.  God has shown me different ministries that we can employ and expand in our own local ministries.  I was excited to see these working in their different forms and the fruit from them.  I enjoyed meeting many new people from a new culture, and others from cultures with which I am more familiar.  And, of course, along the way there were many, many laughs.

Hungary Trip Day 10: Open Doors

13 November 2010

Ok, I’m catching up after a couple of busy days.  Read my previous post to see that I rested up for the final push of my days in Hungary.  After spending the day inside on Friday, we had a morning video/photo time scheduled at Stephanie Brooks’ apartment as she was teaching a girl on Saturday morning.

Stephanie is in the Journeyman program with the IMB.  This program, which sends young single people on a two year assignment somewhere overseas, is but a skeleton of what it has been in years past.  The international economic downturn has also affected the IMB’s ability to increase or even maintain the number of people serving on the field.