It just seemed appropriate to tell you about Lena and Riza together since they are married. The only nickname is for Lena, Riza likes to call her hunichka (it’s like saying honey/hun with the infamous ‘chika’ at the end. How cute is that?!) Here is the amazing Gench family!

What a cute couple!!

Age: Lena is 27 and Riza is 33

Lena is from Kiev and Riza is from Turkey. I have yet to learn how they met, but it must be amazing!

Lena loves talking to people, this comes in handy since she is our beloved translator! She is so cheerful and loves to give hugs. Riza absolutely LOVES pizza, he may be sick but he can always muster strength enough to eat pizza. Riza also enjoys walking and reading and they both enjoy watching movies.

I had the wonderful privilege to stay with Lena’s family while we were in Kiev in October. Wow, I love her parents. They were so happy, loving, caring, and accepting. They were just a blessing to us! Lena describes her mom as having a fierce whisper, which I can see could be true. (I was fortunate enough not to hear the fierce whisper in person.) Her dad loves to preach and be with people.

Riza grew up in a Muslim family and became a Christian against his family’s wishes. He had considered himself an atheist at one point before he became a Christian. It was difficult for him to go against his family especially his father whom he was close with. Riza brings great perspective to our team since he grew up in another religion. One of his favorite memories growing up was going to the Turkish baths on Sundays.

They are such a great team, I am not sure I can adequately do them justice. They are not overly affectionate in public, but they clearly display love for each other that only a married couple can do. They are both supporting each other and give the rest of us singles a great example.

I am really, really, happy that they are coming to Ethiopia. Lena will be able to translate for me and I am no longer the only one who does not speak Russian!

Here is one of our few guys- Genadi or Gena for short.

Here is the perfect picture of Gena, in front of the world with a Bible in his hand.

Age: 38

From: Kiev (Capitol of Ukraine)

Gena basically enjoys preaching. He is always sharing something that he has learned in the Bible. He also enjoys fishing, sports, music and mushrooms.

Gena has one of those stories to tell that you simply think “wow.” Gena has gone through Teen Challenge in Kiev. He came from a life of drugs, alcohol, and sickness. While in prison, he was forsaken by his family and friends. God was certainly looking out for Gena; Gena will tell you he should really be dead now, but by God’s grace he is still alive. God has restored his relationship with his family now as well.

One of my favorite quotes from Gena this week happened in the kitchen. Dima our cook, saw Gena throwing away some bread. In a chastising cook sort of tone, Dima says “Gena, why you throwing away the bread?” Gena, who does not know English hears the word bread and simply replies “bread, yes bread” as he leaves the kitchen. We could only laugh. Gena usually likes to say “wow,” it must be one of his favorite words.

I am glad that Gena is coming to Ethiopia with us. He has such a passion to preach the Gospel and save the lost, it can almost be overwhelming!

P.S. Gena broke his arm while we were ice skating (at an indoor rink) in October. He is a trooper though and has a great attitude!

Yulia!! Or Yulchick* or poopsika. Her real name is Yuliana but these are all names of endearment.

Age: 17- Yulia is the youngest member of our team

From: Yulia will tell you she is from India, but she was born in Russia spent some years there, then spent some years in Ukraine where her family is actually from and now her family is living in India as missionaries.

Yulia is one of those people that just seems to be talented at many things. She enjoys playing the guitar and singing. She also just finished knitting a matching set of mittens, a scarf, and a hat. She loves to go out with her friends and loves to laugh.

As you may have guessed, Yulia was the one that came a week late. We are so glad that she did come, she is full of joy and laughter. Her family remains in India at this moment except for her younger brother who is finishing school here in Ukraine. Her parents are running an orphanage in Goa.

Yulia loves her family very much and is crushed she will not be able to spend Christmas or her birthday with them. She loves India and cannot wait to go back. She hopes to return there to help run the orphanage after DTS. In the mean time, she will be coming with me and the rest of the gang to Ethiopia where she will celebrate her birthday along with Christmas. Only good times are to be had in Ethiopia!

* A cultural note about nicknames. People like to add ‘chick/a’ or ‘ka’ to the end of your name to show love and friendship. It sorta translates to ‘dear.’ So Yulia becomes Yulchick, Dima becomes Dimka, Lena becomes Lenachicka, and Megan becomes Megchick. Doesn’t matter if you’re boy or girl. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Just throw a ‘chick’ on the end of someone’s name and you got a friend!

I have mentioned multiple times about my team this and my team that. But just who is “my team?” You saw a few miniscule pictures of random people that I seemed happy to be with. So I thought it might be nice to introduce you to the people that I have been living with and who I will be traveling with. So without further adieu, it gives me great pleasure and honor to introduce you to Inna!!

Inna supporting the India team

Age: 19

Born: She is from Berdyansk in Ukraine.

She enjoys crafts, cleaning, singing, writing, and being with people she loves.

Inna has an amazing story. Her father died when she was young and thou her mother loved her very much she simply could not provide for her kids and so they were sent to an orphanage. She has 2 brothers who have epilepsy. Inna grew up in an orphanage until her mother was able to take her back. Even then times were hard.

Inna’s mother is her hero for always putting her kids first. Inna also loves to work with other orphans simply because she understands them. She is always looking for an opportunity to go to the local youth shelter.

One of Inna’s amazing talents is writing poetry. Even though she writes her poetry in Ukrainian, it sounds beautiful. The few that have been translated for me are deep, moving, and full of inspiration. My jaw literally drops when I hear her poems!

Inna is one of my favs. I know I should not have favorites, but I can’t help but love her! She always wants a hug and is always happy to give them away. I am so excited that she will be coming to Ethiopia with me!

Who knew mashed potatoes could cause such a ruckus? In Ukraine they’re all the rage. Behold the mighty potato! I did not think to write about this since it seemed like such a small funny moment, but I am still hearing about. So it now warrants a place in the blog.

Last Sunday I was on dinner duty with another girl named Inna. She wanted to do some kind of fried wafer thing. I will tried to explain this as best I could but it took up way too much space. Just know that it involves cooked rice, mixed with diced hard boiled eggs, sauteed mushrooms and onions sandwiched between two crispy round wafers and fried. Sounds crazy, but it was really good.

I volunteered to make American mashed potatoes. What are American mashed potatoes? I figure they’re mashed potatoes with the skin on. No big deal to me, but I discovered it’s a big deal here.

Lena was going to help me by pealing the potatoes, but I stopped her and said “no, no, no, we’ll leave the skins on. It’s easier.”

I should have gotten the clue when she said “with the skins? Mashed potatoes with the skin on?”

I kinda laughed at her simple question. Until I realized her shock was sincere. She asked “how do you do that? Oh, you mean you cook them first and then peal them.” Nope, I meant to mash the potatoes with the skins on and then eat them with the potatoes. She went on to explain she had never heard of that and that she was very curious how that would turn out. She left the kitchen with that look like she needed to be prepared with plan B incase these crazy American mashed potatoes did not turn out.

Well the shock and horror continued as various people filtered through the kitchen hearing of the rumored American mashed potatoes. There were not too many comments at dinner, but most people seemed to enjoy them. I only saw one young man picking out the skins from his mashed potatoes, but I know he picks out a lot of vegetables from his meals so I don’t count him. I actually got a few compliments.

This was all over a week ago. Middle of last week, I hear from my DTS directors that it can be offensive to some people to eat the skins of potatoes. It is more a sign of being poor. The first time he was in the states and was served mashed potatoes with the skins he was mortally offended.

Today was the clincher. I was informed that several people thought the grayish brown things in the potatoes were mushrooms. (That’s actually a good idea when you think about it.) They recounted their stories of eating mashed potatoes with skins for me just tonight. They told me they thought ‘hmmm that’s not mushrooms. What could that be?’ When they discovered that they were potato skins, they thought ‘that’s funny, why would she mash potatoes and then put the skins back in?’  Hahaha, I chuckled out loud at this.

We have one staff member who is the mother of our base director, she is grandma to everyone. This rumor of mashed potatoes with skin reached her because I guess she asked someone else “is it true, did Megan really make mashed potatoes with skin?”

Another student told me at first he was shocked. He probably would not have eaten the potatoes had he known what was really in them. He informed me that in Ukraine potato skins are what you give the pigs. GREAT! I just called my entire class a bunch of pigs!! He relieved my sudden feeling of horror and desire to sink into the floor with saying that he liked them. Whew, I may have called him a pig but at least he liked the slop I gave him.

I may have just  started a revolution with my mashed potatoes! What other kind of revolution can I start? Hee hee hee…