Archives

Breakfast, devotions, a final packing and homeward bound. Temperature was 9 degrees and team opted for taxi to get to the airport in lieu of Lufthansa shuttle from the train station which was a cold hike away from the hotel.

Aboard the aircraft the team settled in for the 8 hours to Charlotte. A glance between each other and one sees the memories of this mission trip, the gratitude to our Lord for His presence throughout and a wistful tear of appreciation for how, as a group of four men we have bonded spiritually and emotionally for having shared this experience.

 

Home again…home again…jiggity jog! “The beauty and favor of the Lord…” was upon us. Now we pray you will confirm and establish the work of our hands…” in the hearts and minds of the students we taught this trip.

Breakfast and devotions began the day in Munich.

“Let your work, O Lord, the signs of your power be revealed to your servants [our team] and Your glorious majesty to their children. Now let the beauty and favor of the Lord our God be upon us [our team]: confirm and establish the work of our hands.” – Psalm 90:16-17

Team took a train and bus ride to visit the Dachau Memorial.

Dinner this evening found the team thinking about the return home and the impact this journey has/is/will make on us looking forward. More wonderful Bavarian food finished the day.

Personal thoughts – The temperature did not reach above 9 degrees. I was frozen through not only by the temperature but the sights I took in. They froze me emotionally and only now, once safely home come back in waves of concern for the prisoners who had to experience such deprivation from one human to another. Bob Killmeier

 

 

 

Today is a planned transit day from Lviv to Munich en route back to Winston Salem on Tuesday.

“Let your work, O Lord, the signs of your power be revealed to your servants [our team] and Your glorious majesty to their children. Now let the beauty and favor of the Lord our God be upon us [our team]: confirm and establish the work of our hands.” – Psalm 90:16-17

Breakfast and morning devotions preceded a packing and weight redistributing so suitcases would meet airline weight limits. A mid-morning meeting with our Troika in country coordinating team for a final debrief and situational planning ahead of the next teaching team.

Off to the airport, check-in and TSA clearance and the team had time to meet and reflect on the previous week’s activities.

The team talked about the multiple- church services, sharing Five Love Languages in open forum, collaborating on English as a second language with local church, two Memorandum of Agreement with Lviv higher education institutions, visited and counseled with Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary on remodeling a building unoccupied for 20 years, visited class member businesses, counseled another church on a dream facility they are planning for the future, distributed over 60 Scriptures  with some going to the local Gideon camp and others to Hebron IT Academy, presenting the Gospel and witnessing several first time professions.

A short flight and the team was in Munich. Even though the sky was clear and blue the temperature was cold.

Team walked a long city block to our hotel.  A walk-about in center city at twilight followed by a sampling the best of Bavarian cuisine and off to sleep

 

End of the teaching week-Saturday had the team sleeping a little later with no class to teach.

“Let your work, O Lord, the signs of your power be revealed to your servants [our team] and Your glorious majesty to their children. Now let the beauty and favor of the Lord our God be upon us [our team]: confirm and establish the work of our hands.” – Psalm 90:16-17

Taking time to reflect on the past week as well as continue gaining knowledge of Lviv as a city with a history, the team invested In a tram tour of the inner city (Old Town).

And true to form we invested in the Ukrainian economy by acquiring a few items to bring home to the US when we take a few minutes then, to share with family what we’ve experienced and how the Lord has and continues touching us.

A little before twilight the team arrived at Hosanna church for a sit-down meeting with the visionary church leaders planning a big dream project for the future.

Mid evening and it was back to the hotel for packing, rest and reflection for what’s been accomplished in seven days on the ground in Lviv. Tomorrow we transit to Munich.

It is Friday and the final day of bringing SBP – Marketing course to our students.

“Let your work, O Lord, the signs of your power be revealed to your servants [our team] and Your glorious majesty to their children. Now let the beauty and favor of the Lord our God be upon us [our team]: confirm and establish the work of our hands.” – Psalm 90:16-17

Leading the training today Todd rocked the class with a mini-field trip (down one level in the building) to challenge their thinking, problem solving, and process examination.

The students clustered in teams, were guided to create a table-top tower using materials provided. And they were to include a logo (previously designed in an earlier exercise) atop the structure.

Lunch was both a celebration of completing this section of the course and an alumnus gathering by previous class members Surrounding a tasty Ukrainian snack buffet students and instructors also began their farewell’s. Everyone was invited to work toward coming to the US in the future.

Bob and John were escorted out of L’viv to the Hebron IT Academy. Following a tour, the two met with all the students for a round of Q & A.  Several Bibles were donated to the Academy and questions from the students led to the sharing of life testimonies by the team including a presentation of the plan of salvation.

Team members Herb and Todd  went to visit the business of Zinoviy Ursul who owns and operates a mini-mall in Lviv.  Zinoviy also took the team to visit an Orthodox church and a Protestant church, after those visits they went to his home for refreshments and further dialogue.

Our next to last day of instruction began with devotions and breakfast before walking to class on newly fallen snow.

“Let your work, O Lord, the signs of your power be revealed to your servants [our team] and Your glorious majesty to their children. Now let the beauty and favor of the Lord our God be upon us [our team]: confirm and establish the work of our hands.” – Psalm 90:16-17

The team is noticing an increased fervor among the students as they have exited the shield of certain inhibitions of shyness and a reluctance to speak. Today’s teaching on “Positioning the Offering” was facilitated by John Moormann with Irina Dobrenka  interpreting.

Today was a tandem teacher day with Bob Killmeier unpacking “Online Promotion” and Social Media best practices. The class was also given a printed copy of key web-based information provided the team by Jan Carroza, an expert in the field of Direct Marketing.

While Bob and John were busy in the classroom Herb and Todd along with lead interpreter Pavlo Haran were guests at the Poly Technical National University. At the university a formal agreement of cooperation was established with Forsyth Technical Community College.

While there while there Troika team member Herb Burns was recognized “…for a significant contribution to establishing and fostering cooperation with the Institute of Economics and Management, L’viv Poly National University, L’viv. (Ukraine)

Following with the students the team scattered in several directions. Herb and Todd were escorted to Tech Start -Up School. A school for start up businesses.

Chocoboom was the destination for John who spent several hours with senior management offering ideas and suggestions to their myriad questions.

Bob had a company visit with one of our students Vasyl Vorobets  and owner of “Health In Each House”  Nuga Best

The team was joined for dinner by  Larysa Shevelov who not only is  restaurant owner and one of our Troika students but also is a photographer specializing in food photography. With snow falling and covering sidewalks and streets the team headed back to the hotel for an early end of the day.

Mid-week update from Lviv, Ukraine and the Troika team.
“Let your work, O Lord, the signs of your power be revealed to your servants [our team] and Your glorious majesty to their children. Now let the beauty and favor of the Lord our God be upon us [our team]: confirm and establish the work of our hands.” – Psalm 90:16-17
A great day for everyone began with Herb Burns’ homework assignment to the class from yesterday. Each student was given some clay and asked to take something and make something out of it and class members volunteered to tell everyone about their making

But wait! The students came together in teams to create TV commercials to complete the assignment from the course to demonstrate how to position their product for the furniture company. With scant time to write and prep, the four teams delivered award winning (albeit highly improvised) TV spots for IHF. It was a hoot!

We observed how the class members became team-mates losing the early inhibitions and gaining confidence in taking risks and escaping the “box”.

Following lunch an open forum was held in which Bob, Herb, Todd, John and Andriy each shared one of the 5 Love Languages from the book by author, Dr. Gary Chapman. Each person attended was given a copy of the book with a hand-written autograph from Dr. Chapman.

Running on extra energy the team was driven to the Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary’s new property. A brief walk-about / tour of the building (unoccupied for over 20 years) followed. Taking many pix the team then headed for the current UBTS building about 15 minutes away.

Two of the members, being licensed architects, offered ideas and feedback with a promise to further assist in the development as the future unfolds.

A late dinner and the team returned to the hotel to write and post this blog before sleep and a new day tomorrow. We have been blessed to see the changes the students. One commented, “…I’m thinking of several ideas for my business because of this class.”
Mission accomplished

 

 

“Let your work, O Lord, the signs of your power be revealed to your servants [our team] and Your glorious majesty to their children. Now let the beauty and favor of the Lord our God be upon us [our team]: confirm and establish the work of our hands.” –

Psalm 90:16-17

Our fourth day in Lviv and second day of Successful Business Practices. Today Marketing: The Customer.

Opening with a discussion of the strategic placement of thumbs when clasping hands together, the class rapidly moved into unpacking the importance of knowing their customers. Led by John Moormann the students moved through several practical exercises as small teams to further understand the customer process.

An illustration of “Marketing: finding a need and filling it” was capped with each class member receiving a combination ball point pen and stylus.

Following lunch the team traveled to multiple locations from Lviv Regional Institute of Public Administration to visiting with class member/business owners for further consultation.

Late afternoon the team returned to God’s Design church to be a resource in learning English as a second language meeting hosted by the church. We had an extremely interactive session with the guests and shared our hearts when asked questions by them.

We gave a free gift of a New Testament Bible to Pastor Lozynsky and each of the guests at the meeting.

As we began the first day of class we were reminded during morning devotions of our theme Scripture:

“Let your work, O Lord, the signs of your power be revealed to your servants [our team] and Your glorious majesty to their children. Now let the beauty and favor of the Lord our God be upon us [our team]: confirm and establish the work of our hands.” – Psalm 90:16-17

Classroom at the Lviv Chamber of Commerce was full as 19 business and professional men and women arrived for the Day One Class

The definition of marketing “Find a need and fill it”

After after a good sleep Saturday night the team met early Sunday morning for devotions and breakfast. Following prayer our escort took us to morning worship at “God’s Design” church. We joined in worship and praise. They are blessed with many children to raise in the Lord. Prayers were answered and as two of the team offered a word of testimony. We are blessed with answered prayer.

In between visiting the two churches the team stopped to sample Ukrainian cuisine at a center city cafeteria.  Afternoon worship began at “Hosanna Church” around 3PM. We also had the opportunity to provide a Troika testimony (why we’re in Lviv!) Fellowship following church found the team returning to the hotel at twilight.