Jono Miller

Monthly Newsletter June 2010

Mon, 07/06/2010 - 17:30 |

HOW CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT LIFE!!

One of the mobile phone companies in Ukraine is called “Life”. It is the company I use and most of my friends also use it as it has free calls between users. But last week Life was broken in Rzh for about 4-5 days. It was almost a minor catastrophe. We wondered how people ever managed to live and accomplish their daily lives before mobile phones. I couldn’t call my workers when I needed to. Social gatherings were hard to organise. It was eye-opening to see how much of our lives we have made dependent upon a piece of technology. It was also wonderful to realise that meaningful time spent with people, uninterrupted by telephones, is a lost art worth rediscovering.

Here’s an idea. Turn your phone off for an entire day (an entire week) and observe two things. Firstly, there is always a creative solution to every problem. Secondly, there are people close by with whom we can (and often should) interact with more. Do you rule your phone or does your phone rule you!?!

UTSIM

Holidays! – well not quite. Rzhyshchiv is on holidays from classes while Kaharlyk continues til the end of this month. I’ve had preliminary interviews with my staff and have some new-look contracts for next year. I have spent a few hours with a tent in the centre of town advertising our business. We hope in the next 12 months to grow the business to a size which makes it profitable. This coming week we have advertised three days for early-bird sign up for next year. Pray that the right people will come to study with us next year.

Great news also is that we will be renting the same house in Rzh again next year. A huge thanks to Gaven who has had to think through lots of issues to make this work for both him and us.

We had a good day out at the water park as a staff – just relaxing and enjoying time together. Sometimes it is easy to get too bogged down with the agenda and forget the journey and the relationships along the way.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF BUSINESS

AWESOME WEEKEND

It’s Sunday night as I type this and I’ve just had a great weekend. I picked up Max, Andrei, Ivanka, Luba, Olya and Halya in Kyiv on Friday night and they all came and stayed at my house for the weekend. It was fun cooking together, going to the beach at night and during the day, visiting sights around Rzh, having a fire and singsong outside with other Rzh friends and a prayer time together. Church was quite full this morning too and it was great to have Max and Luba join in with the music group. Luba is a really talented musician and also a professional clown (my dream). You can see some of the talent Ukraine has watching Luba here.

Thanks for a great weekend guys. Come again!

CAMP IS COMING – STILL NEED A MOTOR

The next time I write a monthly will be just before camp 120. Wow! There is a lot to do between now and then. A huge thanks to those who have promised money for a boat motor. We are up to US$700. That is almost enough to buy a 2 horsepower motor (check out this site and use Google translator to help you - Yamaha boat motors in Ukraine) .

I would also love prayer for the organisation of camp – both pragmatically and spiritually. To make the camp physically happen is a big team effort and a lot of work in the couple weeks preceding - and hoping the right people come through at the right time with boats and tents etc. But most of all pray for the spiritual aspects of camp. We will consider the theme of Serve and Grow. Growth in becoming a disciple of Jesus comes through service.

TENT IN TOWN

This past week there has been a big tent in town with a group of people running children, family and youth outreaches every day. They also had an art display in the centre street and were able to share the gospel with many people. I had a busy week but I was round and about for a little bit and went along on a couple of evenings. Pray that the seeds planted will be faithfully watered by those of us who live here all the time.

WHAT YA READIN’?

I finished The Return of the King by Tolkien and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of my adventures through Middle Earth.

Since then I have read a short book God of my Father by Dr Larry Crabb and his father. It was a great read to consider the impact one generation has on the next, to consider the weight of responsibility one has growing up in a God honouring Christian family and some insightful thoughts I enjoyed along the way.