We just returned from Ukraine-Moldova Annual Conference 2009 in the wonderful city of Uzghorod. It was our first time in the Za-Carpathian area, which is a little like Appalachia, and it was a great experience. Not only we were able to visit one of our largest and longest standing churches, in a village called Kaminetza, we also ate, hands down, the best soup we have had in Ukraine so far. Still not quite sure what the name of it was and when we asked for the recipe we were told it would be too hard to recreate. There was some sort of fat burning woodsy procedure involved.
Woodsy Stew
If your familiar with the United Methodist Church, you will also know that Annual Conferece is a time for a lot of administration and sometimes personal changes. This year we had much of both. The largest change we will be undergoing this year will be that our fellow missionary, Rev. Bill Lovelace, will be transferring his 13 years of service as the District Superintendent to a Ukrainian. This is a big step towards indigenous leadership and one that our Conference has been expecting.
As for Shannon and I, not a tremendous amount changed. We did learn a lot about our church and we also learned a lot about the operation of our church. Lubomir, our local pastor, was accepted as a candidate for ordination and will now undergo the intermediate period before ordination. We are proud of Lubomir!
Kaminetza UMC
Lubomir and Bishop Vaxby
hey guys,
love reading about what you’re up to. that guy looks pretty serious about his “woodsy stew.”