Dan and Pris Gollan

G’day, howdy, and zdrastvi! Life continues at what would be apt to term a terrifyingly merry pace. I remember the “gravitron” amusement park ride. Ukraine had the old soviet equivalent still rotating just a few years ago and I couldn’t help but wonder what quality metal had been used and how rusted it had become over the years as we spun at pretty wild speeds around a center. Anyway… forget the illustration. We are “flat-chat” in what I feel is getting a bit too close to “over-busy”… but it sure is a lot of fun!

“Zdrastvitye opyat!” Hello again! We’re well and truly into the New Year and… how do you feel about how God has glorified Himself through you so far? I find it an interesting question. Today, we read about the trend pervading our culture of teenage adults. That is to say: we have a growing number of people over the age of 25 who are, in many ways, still acting like teenagers. The main cause stated? Self-centeredness. They want to have the freedom to do what they want to do when they want to do it without anything tying them down. It caused me to be reminded that “self-love” is something we all have to deal with in our desire to put all on the altar before Jesus and serve Him alone.

Here I sit on the edge of a fog-choked valley overlooking Rzhishchiv and I can’t see a thing. The day started clear and then just got foggier and foggier as it progressed. Beautiful!! We have just traveled back from a trip to see Priscilla’s parents. This sight of the rising sun caught our attention early this morning so we stopped and got all cold for a few minutes as we took in the beauty! Our weather has been peachy the last few weeks. No snow!! We’d hoped for weather like this for a couple of projects that we have going on (children’s room for when the church gathers here as well as the hothouse out at Ulyaniki). But we didn’t hold out much hope of having this sort of weather two years in a row! We are thanking the Lord.

Hi. Life continues on its limited course with the passing of weeks and years communicating that an end is in sight. Pris and I are nearing the half-way point of our allotted three-score and ten with honest expectations of seeing the return of Jesus before the passing of another 35 years. YET… you never know. However and in the meantime, we continue to see God’s Spirit at work in our lives, in the lives of our children and in the lives of His Church in Rzhishchiv.