Heidi G karlsson

What did we do what did we do? Pastor Jim preached at Pastor Borys Krysenko’s Messianic Congregation in Kiev at one of their retreats. It was about 3 or 4 days long (they merge after tiredness of flights and jetlag). I played and sang a couple of times. Rachel danced (Pastor Jim’s daughter. She’s in ballet.) These were long days of worship and preaching. Praying for people, dancing and talking with our new Messianic friends. It wasn’t a single church retreat, it was a regional retreat, so there were people from all over the Ukraine, Hungary, perhaps Poland and I can’t remember where else. When the retreat was over, we had Shabbat services. They have 2 congregations in different parts of the city. Rachel, Abigail & Jacob (a couple from Michigan who joined our team) and I went to the service that was smaller and was comprised mainly of younger people and Pastor Jim stayed with Pastor Borys and ministered there. Our lovely driver, Vlad, upon observing a back up in traffic due to an a...

Ukraine #4 I danced for 3 hours. We all did. Three hours at least. It all started when we had to take the offering and they leaders said, “ok, you can play music, but it has to be quiet because there’s a leader’s meeting happening in the room next door.” So it started quiet. And for 15 – 30 minutes remained as such. Then everything changed. It gets loud. People start dancing. It’s Jewish so there’s all these circles where you hold hands, and conga lines that are like follow the leader. Guys with guys and girls with girls. The guys are a little rough. Some of their dancing is just organized rough-housing. Everyone is sweating. I see sweat dripping off the chins of some of the men. The women glisten. I sit on the sidelines at first. These are my only clothes. My luggage is still lost. Someone grabs me and I’m in the circle dancing. It’s hot. We’re all sweating. I think of sitting down. The woman still won’t let go, so I give in and start to sweat. What can I do? I’m only here once. Sudde...

My luggage is lost. I won’t point fingers, but someone I know is praying for God to heal Air France. And I agree. The good news it that my guitar made it through. I was worried about it because I forgot to loosen the strings, but in the end, all was well. Just no luggage. So here I am. I have a toothbrush. No make-up, just some lip-gloss. I guess that takes off all the pressure of what I am going to wear every day. It will be these jeans, this blue shirt, these socks and these boots. And this face. My flight arrived about 40 minutes after Pastor Jim and Rachel got in, but when I got through customs and into the area to pick up my luggage they are still standing by their carousel waiting for their bags to come through. Now I’m waiting here hoping that maybe my stuff will come. Another kind young passenger discovers me and a few others who had transferred in Paris. All of us have missing baggage. So they translate for me and help me fill out the lost and found forms. I’m staying with Mar...

I'm in Paris. What a disappointment. Only a whole lot of airport and a whole lot of smog. It's early in the morning, so it's light, but I can't see the tower. I can't see the city. Who really knows if it is Paris after all? Except for the fact that they speak french and they say "Fwanns" instead of "France." This is my last little stop before Kiev. It's been fun traveling alone. The languages are fascinating and exciting to have come to my ears. One french man just gave me directions in pretty good English, however, his directions were wrong and now I have to go back the other way to catch my flight. I sat by two girls all the way from Detroit to Paris. Not a word of English, except for to say, "I can't speak English." To which I can't even respond, "I don't speak French." I'm surprised at how Hollywood is everywhere. Why? In every language, it's the same stars. Who cares? Apparently we all do. I don...