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Scott Reed kicked off the third day of class by reviewing the Paperscraper exercise, talking about key learnings and the characteristics of teams. After telling a 7 minute joke about a football game between big animals and small animals at the N.C. Zoo, Scott Jones launched the 3rd Module-Decision Making Using Capital Budgeting Tools.

Scott taught the students the power of excel in the analysis of financial information and decision making. The students worked together in manipulating spreadsheet data.

Following business visits with some of the students, the team enjoyed an early dinner at Celantanos restaurant. It was a fabulous culinary experience.

The second day of classes started off with Vadim presenting the module on Budgeting and Performance Evaluation, but not before Scott told his infamous turtle joke.

Scott interjects to offer an illustration of a point made by Vadim.

After lunch, Scott Jones presents Certificates to two students who completed the requirements for the Marketing and Strategic Planning modules.

The afternoon was devoted to the paper scraper exercise. To say the students had fun would be a gross understatement. Scott first explained the instructions for the exercise.

The finished product for each of the 5 teams.

And the winner was

After a walk up to the top of the High Castle, the team dropped in on the English as a Second Language classes. What a rewarding experience that was!

The day was capped off by eating copious amounts of pork ribs at the Arsonel.

The first day of classes kicked off at the Lviv Chamber of Commerce and Industry with 28 students in attendance. Scott Jones welcomed the group with the able assistance of Pavlo, our highly skilled interpreter. Scott Reed taught the first module on Financial Statements and Cost Analysis.

After lunch, Scott concluded his presentation, followed by the instructors and students introducing themselves to each other.

Scott Jones presented a Certificate of Appreciation to the President of the Lviv Chamber, who in turn addressed the students.

Andriy and his lovely wife, Svitlana, along with their 4 beautiful children, hosted the team at their home for a wonderful meal. On behalf of the team, Scott Jones presented them and their children with gifts of appreciation.

Scott Reed regaled the group with his amazing ability of getting a spoon to stick to his nose. Rumor has it that the TV show America’s Got Talent has reached out to Scott for an appearance on an upcoming episode.

After arriving safely in Lviv on Saturday, the teaching team of Scott Jones, Scott Reed, Vadim Moshkovsky, Philip Averett and Larry McGee, joined by Pat and Larry White from Calvary Baptist Church, began a beautiful late winter day by worshipping at Grape Vine Church.

The pastors preached the word to the congregation.

Scott Jones brings greetings to the congregation with the assistance of our amazing interpreter, Pavlo.

The infant son of new believers is dedicated to the Lord.

Julia, one of the ESL instructors joins the team for a photograph after the service.

Larry White discusses the finer points of worship music with musicians from the church.

Scott Reed takes the wheel on the way to lunch. All I can say is that the Lord was faithful in his protection.

After a delightful lunch at a local cafeteria, the group enjoyed the beautiful day by walking around the city center.

The vanilla ice cream with black currant sauce from a Russian ice cream shop was to die for.

A Christian choir performed for the public in front of the opera house.

The group enjoyed a marvelous Ukrainian meal before returning to the hotel for the night.

NOVEMBER 2018 Troika Team – Rick Reed, Mike Dixon, Joe Lineberry

Friday, Nov. 9/Saturday, Nov. 10

These two days were all about the necessary travel to Ukraine. Our routing was GSO-EWR-MUC-LWO with all flights ON-TIME and smooth; hallelujah! The big issue was discovered when we arrived Lviv in that Mike Dixon’s luggage did not arrive to Lviv. RATS! Joe and I were okay on luggage delivery. All of Mike’s Diabetic medicines were in the checked luggage so we were all concerned for him. Later in the day Pavlo was able to get Mike the correct pills he needed to last a couple of days.

Saturday after we arrived DeLice I met with Andriy and Pavlo at the Chamber classroom. We reviewed all the details for the room layout and then the entire schedule for the week. Every day is full and on-target. This Lviv ICF team is doing a marvelous job for us.

Dinner was at the place down the street with cow out front. This time we ate indoors because it was warm and the upside-down umbrella deck outside was closed and already cleaned out for the winter.

Sunday, Nov. 11

Mike was still without his luggage and not feeling well. Pavlo and I went to a store and got him some “protein” bars and a variety of peanuts. Mike stayed behind at the hotel and rested.

Joe and I went to the Grapevine Church with Pavlo and Helen at 11am. The church meets in a nightclub. Joe and I were called upon to provide a word of encouragement to the church. Joe opened his comments to the congregation by stating that there was a “smart” one and a “good-looking” one from the USA. He declared he was the “good-looking” one. Oh well, we did our best. The church service was great and we thanked them for their ministry in Lviv.

We went back to DeLice and picked up Mike and went to lunch at the Forum, then went to Hosanna Church for the 3pm service. It was great seeing and hugging Dima and Igor Grishaev. Of course Dima preached a monster sermon, the music was terrific and we had a wonderful visit.

Mike’s luggage arrived around 5pm and we were all overjoyed for him.

Dinner was at Pavlo’s apartment with Helen. Pavlo gave us a briefing on his new position at UBTS and it sounds like a wonderful opportunity for him and the seminary.

Monday, Nov. 12

Day 1 of Strategic Leadership is complete and from all inputs received it was successful. We had 24 participants, all very active and vibrant in the class discussions.

I divided all the teaching content into 3 relatively equal portions each day so Joe, Mike and I all led the lectures today and will do so each day this week. It worked beautifully and Andriy, Pavlo and Olya were very pleased.

In the afternoon session Mike led a more in-depth introductory time using a map of United States game that challenged our class members to locate the individual states. It was fun and we followed up by asking our students to give us a list of the most important things we needed to know about Ukraine. Of course they went on forever and we all laughed.

Dinner followed at Andriy’s house and we were well taken care of by Svetlana.

Tuesday, Nov. 13

Day 2 and Module 2 went well. In the afternoon we split into 3 teams.

Joe went with Andriy and others to Andriys auditing firm and spent the afternoon.
Mike went with Vasyl and others to his company, Nuga Best Ukraine.
Both Joe and Mike had outstanding experiences.

I went with Taras and others to his company, Guldmann-Ukraine, a metal manufacturing company. It was a 50 minute drive outside of Lviv. We enjoyed a great visit.

In the evening we went to Julia’s ESL school and participated in the 2 hour class.

Wednesday, Nov. 14

The Day 3 module was heavily focused on the SWOT analysis and the Activity Chain analysis. The class participated in a terrific way and we all enjoyed the discussions. We also learned that we have local celebrities in our group:

Iryna Chocoboom

The Electrical Marian and Taras:

I had them sign my magazine copies.

Joe led an opening time by disagreeing with my statement that:

“If you always do what you’ve always done,
You’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

We all laughed and enjoyed the spirited conversations.

Of course Marian ate up the duct tape team project and continued to replay the activity long after we concluded.

Mr. Chubai called Andriy and requested we visit Lviv Polytechnic University. We courteously obliged and ended up with a very positive visit. We met the Senior Deputy of the Department of Economics and spent time answering his questions. Of course Joe and Mike knew everything. We also spoke to the Senior Economics class and answered many questions which turned out to be a great experience.

The final part of our day was spent with Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary. We toured the “new” site which is undergoing transformation. For those with experienced eyes you will notice the roof was raised, new brick installed and a new roof set on top. Amazing project, huge vision for UBTS.

We later met with Russell Woodbridge and the other faculty members and enjoyed a great roundtable discussion.

I also got a chance to meet the new Chair position that was recently funded. What a great pleasure for me.

Thursday, Nov. 15

Our teaching of the strategic opportunities in Module 4 was riveting and the class participants were eagerly soaking up every thought we provided:

Fortunately Joe’s afternoon special seminar session on “Disagreement in LOVE” was extraordinary:

Friday, Nov. 16

We have completed the Strategic Leadership seminar and awarded all certificates and diplomas. It was a terrific class, far above any others that I have experienced.

The reception banquet was also a time of heartfelt sharing by the instructors and students. We received many words of gratitude from the class members for influencing not only their way of thinking for business, but also for their personal lives.

We were also presented with more gifts that we can transport back to the USA, so Andriy, Pavlo and Olya are the benefactors.

TGBTG!

Slava Bogo!

Alan, Henry, and Tim taught the last module, and still finished on time.

Afterwards, we had the banquet, which was a sweet time of sharing with the students.

We had dinner with one of our students st her downtown, upscale pizza restaurant.  While st dinner, we received notice that our flight out of Lviv on Saturday morning had been cancelled.  We were not able to find an alternative flight out on Saturday, so we are scheduled to fly out around noon on Sunday arriving at GSO around 11:30 PM

All in all, a good week in Lviv.

Signing out — your roving reporter.

Tim

Tim Whitener taught on Thursday on the subject of Performance Appraisals.  This topic generated much discussion among the students.

In the afternoon, the team attended a Spiritual Formation Conference at UBTS led by Slavic.  The team was asked to talk about Servant Leadership.  Each of us spoke for 5-7 minutes, with Alan doing a longer talk.  There were approx. 200 students at this conference, representing the majority of new students attending the seminary for this year.  What a great spirit was there, and what an encouragement looking forward to the future church in Ukraine.

Afterwards, the team met Slavic at the new building and reviewed the progress to date.  The seminary is hopeful to be in the renovated building by September 2019.

Once we left the building site, we made a visit to the chocolate shop.  Afterwards, Ken, Henry, and Tim went to the underground restaurant, and enjoyed the 1 meter sausage dinner.  Alan had another commitment with one of the local pastors.

We head into our last day tomorrow, tired, but much encouraged by the week.

Still your roving reporter.

Tim

Henry taught today on motivation, and establishing appropriate motivational systems with your company.  As always, he did a great job.

We had 2 representatives from HKPE International join us for class today.  They wanted to observe what we were doing, with an eye toward possible future collaborations with Troika.  They provide micro financing services, counseling services to clients on a variety of business and personal issues, and conduct many children related programs — all with an eye toward sharing the gospel with their clients.  Alan and Ken will discuss various options with the Troika Board.

In the afternoon, Alan led a team building exercise called the “Egg Drop Test”.  The teams were working to eliminate world hunger with eggs, and their task was to design and market (including packaging the egg so that it would not break when dropped from 3-6 feet).  They were also judged on how well they worked as a team.  They had a great time with the exercise — lots of laughter, and surprisingly good ideas came out of each team.  Team winners in various categories will be announced on Thursday morning.  Certainly one of the highlights if the day.

In the evening, we had a wonderful dinner and time of sharing with Slavic and Nadia in their home ( Slavic is the President of Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary).

Day 4 tomorrow.  Signing off for your team here in Lviv.

The first day of class is over.  26 students attended out of 32 who had pre-registered.

Alan opened the week for us talking about leadership and organizational development.  The students were very engaged with much discussion around the course content for today.  They seemed to particularly enjoy completing the DISC profile, and the conversations that followed surrounding it.  Alan did a terrific job teaching today.

When we arrived at the Lviv Chamber of Commerce, we were pleased to find our American flag flying outside the building next to the Ukrainian flag.  It was a very nice welcome.

We ended the day with dinner at the home of Andre and Svitlana, and their 4 children.  It was a very nice evening.  For all of us granddads, it was nice being around young children.  It made us miss our own grandchildren.

It is hard to believe we are halfway through our trip.  Continuing to pray for opportunities to share Jesus with the students.

More to come.

Tim

Ken Farrington taught today on company culture.  Ken did a wonderful job.  Lots of discussion centered around this topic.

In the afternoon, we made company visits, and held small group discussions with students.  These ranged from visiting a new walnut tree farming operation to detailed discussions related to a large tennis and recreational academy struggling with getting their organizational structure right.

In the evening we returned to downtown to Grape Vine Church to attend their English As A Second Language class.  There was a total of 14 of us.  The discussions centered not only on helping the students with their conversational English, but a lengthy and detailed discussion centered around how do we know the Bible is true, and the Word of God.  They were very engaged, and provided an opportunity for us to each share our faith.

A very good day.  Hopefully, sleep will come more easily tonight for all of us.  More to come.

Tim

Pictures of our Q&A with the ESL class. Also I have included pictures of my visit to a new business. My comments:

Sometimes it just hits you between the eyes. As we were visiting a walnut orchard business today that had been a collective farm until the USSR fell in 1991, we saw what life was/is like for a lot of the world.

By the way, the six foot walnut tree below (where the guy in the red hat is measuring) was about 18” tall one year ago. The soil is so rich that the plants almost leap from the ground.

We ate at the original home where our students grandfather went insane after the Soviets took his farm (1939) and made him work on the collective farm.

Finally we met with a group of young English students and answered the question “How do you know that the Bible is true”.  (Ya gotta be sharp over here).

Alan