It feels weird to be back in the States again. I don’t stick out as an American tourist here and I can actually eavesdrop on conversations and understand what people are saying! As soon as I got back to my apartment from the airport I took my car out for an oil change before driving to Texarkana tomorrow. My first thought at the garage was, “Woah, everyone here speaks English!” lol Even when picking up some food at Target I noticed that I could read all the signs and get through the checkout without an interpreter. I’m still used to mixing lots of hand gestures with the few Ukrainian and Russian words I know, so reverting back to plain English might take a day or two.
I’m very tired and will just relax for the rest of the day since I’m leaving to Texarkana after church tomorrow. Dana and I need to get our marriage license on Monday, so I’m enjoying some peace and quiet here at home for now.
All of my Ukraine pictures are posted in my photo album, so feel free to check ‘em out. I’ll leave it to my video blogs of the trip to give details, but to summarize, it was a great time of fellowship, encouragement and ministry with the believers of Rozny Baptist Church in Rozny, Ukraine. I can’t wait to see them all again soon!
Having a great time of effective ministry, training, and relationships! Here are some pictures real quick. I’ll have a big videoblog entry when I get home.
This day last year I had slow night and randomly decided to register timschmoyer.com and build a blog. There really wasn’t any direction or purpose behind it, which my first two months of blogging easily indicate, but now 152 posts and 392 comments later it’s clearly become a journal of my life and thoughts concerning church and youth ministry.
Even though this has only been around for a year, I’m amazed at how the Lord has used it thus far: the encouragement readers have extended to me as my posts encourage them, connections with other youth pastors for sharing resources, being cited in sources such as the Dallas Morning News and Youth Specialties publications, and even the potential ministry to the astounding 30,000 visitors that have stopped by this year just for a peak. If last year I had known about all the benefits of ministry blogging I probably would’ve started a lot sooner. But I guess God does His own things and His own timing, for which I am very grateful.
Who knows what God has in store for this next year, but I look forward to making my life available as a resource and encouragement to others as Dana and I now venture on together.
Every year I look forward to attending Youth Specialties’ National Youth Workers Convention, especially this year since it’s relatively close by in Austin, TX. I always love the training, spiritual rejuvenation, connecting with other youth workers, and all the encouragement the convention provides. With so many changes taking place in life right now, though, I don’t know if it’ll happen this year or not. Since I’m getting married in July, it would be my first year to attend the convention as a married man with Dana, which would be the coolest thing in the world! I would LOVE to be able to share a hotel room with her and talk about all the youth ministry ideas and questions that come up during that time. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait to see how our finances work out and what employment responsibilities she might have between now and then. It kinda depressing to think I might not be able to go this year with it being only three hours away, but who knows, maybe it’ll work out.
She asked if I knew how it worked, which at first I didn’t, but after trying it a couple times I figured it out. It’s pretty fun if you have some time to waste. Lemme know if you need help solving it.
I’m off to youth camp for the week! I’ll update when I return.
Is this whole Da Vinci Code thing starting to wear out anyone else besides me? Personally, I’m getting pretty tired of the whole ordeal. The movie hasn’t even come out yet and it already feels like an old beaten-up subject. Some Christians wonder why any believer would even expose themselves to such material while others are swearing it’s the best thing for the church since hymnals. Although I’ll work through the curriculum we purchased for youth group Sunday school, I’ll be glad when all the hype wears off.
At least Barna reports that the Da Vinci Code is confirming people’s religious views, not changing them. I’m glad to see the good that is apparently coming out of all this.
Apparently Dana had enough confidence in my photography skills that she wanted me to take her college senior pictures instead of going to a professional to have them done. So, after church this afternoon, we went to a park and shot over 100 pictures of her. Now she’s gotta sift through ‘em all and figure out which one to use in her graduation announcements.
I put some of the pictures here in my photo album. If you have any votes for which ones you think are best, feel free to let us know.
This week I’ve learned three different methods for creating an illusion of levitation. It’ll take a lot more practice before I’m proficient enough to feel comfortable performing them in public, but I should be good to go by the time camp rolls around this summer. I’ll be able to float up and down off chairs and rise up off the ground at pretty much any location. It’ll be fun!
TiVos and other “Personal Video Recorders” (PVR) have been out for a while now and seem to be quickly replacing VCRs. A year or so ago I looked into purchasing one but decided against it not only because of the high retail price, but because of all the restrictions, the minimum subscription cost of $17 a month, and limited expandability. TiVo didn’t allow me to add on modules, customize it the way I want, nor did it give me the networking capabilities I wanted. A year later, the TiVo hasn’t improved much. So, for the cost of a tv-tuner card, I decided to build my own instead.
Taking an old computer I put together of spare parts, I purchased a PVR card, plugged it in and installed KnoppMyth, a Linux distribution built solely for the purpose of setting up a program called MythTV. MythTV is free, works beautifully and does everything I always wanted in a PVR and more. Just check out this features and screenshots list! My favorite feature: commercials can be automatically cut from recorded programs. Plus, everything I’d ever want to do with a photo gallery, personal videos, games, weather forecasts, music playlists, DVD burning, live TV control, and more, all from a remote control. And, with my 250 GB hard drive, I can store around 115 hours of TV and movies at DVD quality and stream it to any web-enabled computer.
Dana and I spend a lot of time together, but it’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to go out on an actual date together. So, I changed our plans of working out at 24-Hour Fitness to seeing a movie, eating out, and visiting the park where we first started dating.
About me: I am married to my beautiful wife, Dana, and together we live in Minnesota where I serve as the youth pastor at our local church. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my church. More about me...
Although I’ll work through the 
About me: I am married to my beautiful wife, 
