the last word here

Hi folks,

My time for blogging is less and less these days, mostly by choice and somewhat by schedule, and I've decided that since I don't have tons of time I'm only going to maintain my other blog: http://swanson.covblogs.com.  So update your bookmarks or links or rss subscriptions or whatever, because you won't see me much over here in xanga-land.  I'll probably hang on to my account to post comments on friends blogs, but you won't see new stuff up here.    - Jolly

a brother in Ukraine

Hi folks,

One of the Ukrainian guys I roomed with while in Ukraine, Yaroslav Ageenko, works full time with Campus Crusade doing university ministry in Kyiv, Ukraine. Yarik is about my age, and has a heart to serve the Lord and the diligence to do it. He organized the summer project at which I served as an English teacher.

He is seeking $400 in monthly support, and I'm asking if you would consider supporting him, or at least give a one-time gift. I've put his support letter, which includes student testimonies about his work, on my website in JPG (http://kepler.covenant.edu/~swanson/YarikSupport.jpg) or PDF (http://kepler.covenant.edu/~swanson/YarikSupport.pdf) formats.

His Campus Crusade account number is 2775210. To give, go to https://give.ccci.org/ and put Yarik's account number in the "Enter a Quick Link Code" box.

Ukraine just had presidential and parliamentary election today, and the results are uncertain as to which parties will form a coalition to form a government. In a country divided like Ukraine, there is only one message that crosses the political and language (Ukrainian in the west, Russian in the east) divisions: the gospel of Jesus, who crossed the great divide between God and a rebellious humanity.

Pray that the gospel of God's grace in Jesus will advance in Ukraine. Pray that Yarik receives the support that he need, and if you are able, please give to help this brother.

reality czech

Thursday night I went to see The Plastic People of the Universe give a show at the Barking Legs Theatre in Chattanooga. It was really fun music, and I enjoyed the rare opportunity to hear this historic band live. A few of the musicians are original members, rockin' with their long hair, beards, and in the case of the sax/clarinet player a few bottles of Heineken, and the other musicians are younger folks filling in the gaps left empty by former band members who've died or aren't playing anymore.

According to Wikipedia, "The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) is a rock band from Prague, Czech Republic. It was the foremost representative of Prague's underground culture (1968-1989). This avant-garde group went against the grain of the Communist regime and due to its non-conformism often suffered serious problems such as arrests." Their manager was an art historian and cultural critic.

I took a few pictures, and they're online here: http://kepler.covenant.edu/~swanson/pics/PPU/

http://kepler.covenant.edu/~swanson/pics/ua/

I don't have a mechanism for folks to leave comments on individual pictures yet - perhaps I'll figure that out at some point.

3012 words

the flag of Ukraine

God made it all!

highest land in Ukraine

... and a few more words

(Our church missions conference is this weekend - I came back and haven't had much time to stop, but hope to write up a letter and put pictures online next week. Thanks for praying for my time in Ukraine--it was exciting to see God answering your prayers!)