Posted on December 11, 2009 - by Larry
Dependence
Today I am writing from Ukraine. This is my first time here. Though it is not extremely far from Southwest Germany it is a very different culture and way of life here.
I arrived yesterday at about 2:30 pm after about a one hour wait in line at passport control. It was already getting dark. Grey clouds. A little snowy. I have only met one person from the Ukraine that speaks English. Even the words on the signs are hard to read. The words are in Cyrillic. I was able to guess at some of the letters since they reminded me of Greek.
I had dinner with some workers who live here and then I was dropped off at the hotel. Again, no one that I tried talking to spoke English.
- I do not speak Russian
- I have never been to the city
- Signs are all in Ukrainian and I do not recognize the letters.
- Not many English speakers
- Dark when I arrived
- In a hotel not knowing anyone
What do you do?
Are there some “first things” you do when you arrive to a new place?
It hit me this morning again. I hate that I must be reminded of this so much.
Being here reminded me of the total dependence upon the Lord that we must have daily on the field.
More on this city and some things I am learning later but this post is about something that should be an automatic for me. We need to be dependent on the Lord. There is something about going to a foreign place and not knowing how to do anything that makes you stick pretty close to the Lord. It does not have to be this way. I need to daily depend on the Lord regardless of where I land. Sure there are some “first things” that I need to do when I arrive in a new place that can help me learn the city and culture but the realization is that I need to depend upon the Lord.
What do you do when you land in a new place?
1 Comment
We'd love to hear yours!
Leave a Reply
Here's your chance to speak.
Visit My Website
December 11, 2009
Permalink
Kevin said:
Yikes Larry. We’ve been there. We decided on a short city break to Paris a few years ago and upon our first arrival felt similar feelings as you. We didn’t speak French, no one wanted to speak English, we didn’t know Paris, and we didn’t know French culture. Thankfully my wife is great about studying for our trips and had a handy travel guide. It helped us prepare for dinner the first night by reminding us that the Parisians don’t eat dinner until 9 or 10 at night. We got a small snack in the afternoon so we wouldn’t be ravenous by 9.
In Portugal we’ve learned to hook up with the Christians as they have always been a huge help. Travel book + Christians = less stress.