With 22 minutes left in this week, as I begin typing this post, I thought I'd share a little bit about how things have been going here and what we've been up to since I got back from Phoenix.  By the way, Denyce and the boys did well during the time I was gone.  Our dog, Kona (or now Konochka, as the locals have taught me to call her) even got her normal quota of walks per day without me, her chief walker.  Our teammates helped on occasion with that too, for which I am grateful.  One of our teammates, David, even made a contact while he was walking our dog, and now has started what should hopefully become a regular routine of meeting with him.

We and our teammates here in Kharkov are in the process of transitioning to the kind of ministry activities and priorities that will characterize this second year on the field.  To that end I have several tasks I'm responsible for, most of which utilize my experience, interests, and gifts in one way or the other.  I've been researching Ukrainian domain names so that I can get one (probably four actually) for us to use for publicizing events and contact details locally.  Once I get the domain name I'll need to build a small website for that.  Additionally, before long I'll be transitioning our existing team website to a dual-language website, adding Russian translation for all the content (I'll need to have help with the linguistic side of that endeavor).  Besides internet-related things, I'm also responsible for some upcoming printing/publishing-related projects, an area in which I also have some background.  I'm glad to have opportunity to serve as a part of this team in ways that I find interesting like this.  I'm also grateful to have teammates who are not only busy at work on their own parts of the work, but who themselves are relatively tech-savvy, and who for the most part understand this stuff too.  I am not the only one like this on our team, and it's great to be able to collaborate and share insights and responsibilities.

Our family, specifically, also has a couple of big things we're working on.  First, we've been looking for a different place (either a house or apartment) to move into.  We like our current apartment, but are pretty sure there are other places that would better suit our family, both now and especially down the road.  We have looked at numerous apartments and two houses here, and have given really serious consideration to a couple of them, but for now we're just being patient and seeing what else comes along.  Meanwhile, this whole process has been some of the best language practice I've gotten, as I'm dealing with most of the people involved (real estate agents, owners, etc.) directly in Russian, although when it gets serious or technical I've used translation a couple of times.  I've also come into contact with some good people and hope that one or more lasting relationships might come from this process.

The second major thing we've been working on has been finding a vehicle.  We completed our first year on the field without a vehicle.  When I returned to Phoenix earlier this month it had been over a year since I had driven, which was a first for me.  The other families on our team who are in Kharkov have already owned vehicles for about 10 and 4 months, respectively, and we learned a little bit vicariously through their experiences.  I also spent some time here and there the last few months becoming familiar with the market for vehicles of the type our family is interested in (vans), which took quite a bit of learning.  The models available, and in many cases the manufacturers themselves, are very different here than in the US.  For example, one of the most common types of vans here is made by Mercedes.  However, a Mercedes van is not a thing of luxury or eliteness at all.  It is regarded as a nice brand and a good value, on par with the other major manufacturer of vans, Volkswagen.  I also dug into the legalities to try to make sure I understood the various options available to foreigners to be able to use cars in Ukraine, and the implications involved.  

After getting the blessing of our sponsoring church to move forward with it, the ball truly started rolling when I scoured the classifieds (we can't afford a new van here, that was one thing that was crystal clear) and found 6 or 8 vans for sale locally that fit our criteria and were models we were willing to consider.  I handed the details over to a very good local Ukrainian friend of ours who is a mechanic, and knows the ins and outs of vehicles in Ukraine better than I ever will.  He did the calling and within 24 hours he had narrowed it down to one that he felt was an exceptional value, went and looked it over and drove it, and then called me and told me about it.  The next day we all went together to look at it, and decided to buy it.  

Thankfully the owner was willing to be patient, as I didn't have the funds available at that moment.  One challenge of living over here is the times (thankfully not often) when any of us on the team here needs to have and spend a large sum of money on something.  This is universal to all missionaries, probably.  I had managed to get by up to this point on just paying for things using Ukrainian currency withdrawn from ATMs (our bank allows almost unlimited withdrawals when we need them), but even that method didn't sound very up for this task.  Plus, most used vehicle sales here are priced in dollars, and the sellers expect to be paid in real cash dollars.  When the other families here bought their cars, they used combinations of visitors from America bringing cash (up to the limit before customs duties apply) and using Western Union.  Other missionaries who have lived here longer, though, have told me about the value of having a local Ukrainian bank account, but up until now I hadn't had a need to really pursue that.  After finding this van this week, I looked into local banks and opened an account at one, denominated in dollars.  Then it was just a matter of having the money wired from a US bank account to the Ukrainian one, and the wire transfer fees are much cheaper than a service like Western Union.  

Yesterday we paid for and took possession of the van, today it was registered at the local Ukrainian equivalent to the DMV, and next our mechanic friend will be doing a little bit of work on it.  It needs new tail light covers, but more importantly it needs seatbelts installed, as most of the seats do not have them.  It's unclear yet exactly how long that will all take, but we are looking forward to finally having use of a vehicle.  We really wanted to get this done before winter hit, and I guess technically we did.  It sure is cold out there already though (freezing as I write this, with a low of 26 or 27 F tonight).

Well, there is really so much more to mention about what all we have been up to -- attempting our first team assembly wholly in the Russian language, some important collaboration and discussions about the future with a valuable friend and co-worker in Christ here, and more.  But this is already a long post, maybe even already long for a Hindman post, so I'm going to leave it at that for now.  If you've read to this point, I hope you can see that there is seriously no end of the adventure, lessons to be learned, and opportunities to be pursued here.  Pray with us that God can work it all to His utmost glory. 

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