Dan and Pris Gollan

A good week…

Pavers, Rap, Sermons, Concerts, Guests, Wellness…

Good on Igor.  He singlehandedly organized Slavko to come and rap at the three technical colleges and at School #1.  Slavko sang about drink, drugs, smoking as well as friendship, love, Jesus and wise-living.  He connected with the students as well as with the teachers (their reaction was incredibly positive) and was not only a hit, but hopefully built the foundation a little bit stronger in the lives of the students to desire goodness for their lives… God inclusive.  I think about 400 students heard the message as well as about 80 primary school students.  We’ve come to the conclusion that to reach these kids with the gospel, we have to see them more often than just once a month.

We’ve started up Friday nights again after a couple of years break.  So far, we’ve had a blast together.  About 20 college students have come out – none of whom are Christians.  We have driven to the dorms to collect students and each week, filled up the van.  Games, coffee and a devotional are the go.  Postscript:  Just before I post this and then go off to bed after another Friday night, I’ll record our record – about 30 guys and two girls!  :)

I over-emotionalize.  I must admit, waiting to get out of the hospital after the procedure was done seemed like an interminable wait.  Angiogram?  Angiography?  I’m still not 100% clear on the difference.  My mind tells me that angiography is the science while an angiogram is the procedure.  I don’t worry about it too much. 

Monday morning, we went in and basically waited around all day.  There was an unexpected operation being done on someone which was tying up the doctors.  So they didn’t get to me Monday.  I had been asked to not eat anything Monday though, so by the time supper came round, I doubly enjoyed going out with Pris to a Kiev restaurant to eat.

Tuesday morning, the doc popped in and I was told to hold myself in readiness.  Three hours later…  :)

The docs weren’t real forthcoming about what to expect and apart from knowing that a catheter would be inserted into an artery high on my leg, I didn’t feel the need to know all the ins and outs of it (if the truth be known, I didn’t want to have to dwell upon the thought of disrobing!)  Sure enough, I was asked to take my jeans and shoes off.  Phew!  Nothing else off!  You little ripper!  My glee lasted until I was told to lie down on a table and... yeah.  Time for a break in the story. 

Angiography ahoy.  And I have no sense of my usual - “this sounds like an interesting experience”.  Instead I have an “urgh” reaction.  Angiograms test for blockages in the coronary arteries. 

We went into Kiev to try to meet with the neurosurgeon for a check-up.  We waited for about 2 hours for him to be free before the secretary asked us if we would like to see the director of the hospital instead.  We ended up talking with him for several hours.  He is also a neurosurgeon who is the father of the doctor we saw three months ago.  It was an interesting conversation and he seems like a man who knows a lot.  He said to get an angiogram.  So Monday, I head into the hospital to get one done.  It will involve having…  hey, if the details interest you, google it.  The simple explanation is that a dye is inserted into my blood stream which will show up clearly on an x-ray any problems with blood flow which could have caused the strokes.  Apparently, they will keep me in overnight.  That will be interesting.  Apart from being with Pris for her c-sections, I haven’t stayed overnight in a hospital for nigh on 40 years.  :)

A weekly gathering for prayer was held again this morning in the centre of town.  It is amazing for me to note how few people think it a good use of time to get up a bit earlier and pray with a few other people before the work day starts.  Today we picked Tanya up on the way.  She talks a mile a minute and is incredibly intense about most things.  Her presence immediately livened the party up!

The Night the Rappers Came to Town

Sunday afternoon, I went down and collected the three rappers who we invited to “read” for us.  We brought them back to our home, ate lunch with them and then waited around until 6:00.  After watching them interact, I began to wonder if we’d made a mistake inviting them.  They were like teenagers on red cordial.

We left to set up at about 5:00 for a 7:00 start.  During this time, we visited the dorms and discovered that one of the technical colleges was having a long-weekend and only 5 students were in the dorms.  Most others had gone home and would be arriving Monday.  Whoops.  The other set of dorms was full though, and there ended up being over 120 students who came out.  I think I had about 14 guys crammed into the van on one of the trips down!