We hired a translator this evening for our Sunday afternoon Church service. We have been depending on a volunteer guy that doesn’t always get to come. And then there is another friend who has helped, but he’s not as quick as we need.
We have worked with the young lady we hired before and she will be a great help to our ministry here.
It helps us and it helps her family with a little bit of money. We’re pretty excited!
Today was language. Oy. Actually, it went pretty well and I felt good about my use of language today. But wow…there is SO much to learn.
THE POST OFFICE
Last Friday we got a notice in our mail box that we had a package. We weren’t home and they didn’t leave it. I’m not really sure why because it would have easily fit in the mail box. Anyway…I got brave this morning and decided to take the paper and my passport and go pick it up.
The address of which post office I needed to go to was clearly stamped on the paper so I went. I got to the window (after figuring out which was for mail and not for paying bills, or paying for long distance phone calls, etc). The lady spoke very VERY fast. I asked her to repeat it and clearly she realized I was not Ukrainian. She was nice, but LOUD. 🙂 She told me she didn’t have the package. Also, I thought I heard her say that I needed to go to the second floor and then she started pointing this way and that. Then I wasn’t sure if maybe she meant to go to the central post office (a few blocks away) and go to the second floor there.
Well, I couldn’t find stairs at the post office I was at so off I went. I got to the other post office (with no confidence that I would leave with my package) and got to a window where there was a very nice lady. She knew ZERO English, but we did okay. She told me to go the post office on Gagarin. I told her I had just been there and that they told me the package was not there. I wasn’t completely sure that’s what I had been told in exact context, but hey…my Russian is limited. She asked me where I had gone. I told her the address I went to and she nodded and then got on the phone and told whoever she talked to that I said they said they didn’t have the package. Well, they DID have the package. So back I went. And this time with a name of the lady who could help me!
I went to a different window (so as not to be a frustration to the lady I had talked to before–and since I said she said the package wasn’t there… 🙂 ). I tried a different question this time and asked her where I could go to pick up this package. She told me 2nd floor (aha…I had heard correctly) and she did a lot of pointing.
So I looked for stairs and then left building and walked around. There was what I would consider a service entrance and I decided to give it a try. Sure enough there were stairs inside. There were no lights on (but that’s not unusual in Ukraine… I mean why have lights on in stairways when there is a tiny window somewhere up high letting in a pinhole of light?) but I took off up the stairs. There were 3 doors at the top of the stairs. Suddenly, I saw the word package on the sign on the door and realized I was in the right place. I went in and the lady was very nice. But in my gut I knew what was coming. Sure enough…she asked me the question… “Who told you the package wasn’t here.” Obviously she knew she had not seen me in there and since that was where you were to go to get packages…what in the world was I talking about??!! She giggled so I knew all was well. I just explained in my broken Russian that I had been in the wrong place on the 1st floor. She just chuckled, checked my passport and handed over the packages. We had TWO! One took about 6 weeks to get here and one took 2. Go figure. Both mailed from Moore. Both first class USPS.
One was some neat magazines for the kids. The other was from Micah’s Sunday School teachers at FBC Moore. He was SO EXCITED to get it. He loved the movie, the Bible stories and has been carrying around the photograph album all day. Looking at it over and over and he told us he wanted to go and see them. 🙁 He showed our friends Yuri & Sveta the pictures and was so excited!!! Thank you friends for sending these treasures from America!
That’s today’s story… stay tuned.
Bless the Name of the Lord!