Joe Ragan

Well, today (Wednesday) I continued celebrating my birthday with several of my missionary family. I have grown to love these brothers and sisters like they are my own family.
After doing some shopping downtown, they took me to eat lunch at a Ukrainian restaurant in a park downtown. It was great!
The lunch [...]

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Well, you know the story of the best laid plans of mice and men…?
I had this idea of having as “authentic” a cookout as possible for my birthday. I have a grill that I bought late last summer that is still in the box that I wanted to use. I thought I would [...]

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One of my favorite choir anthems (which I cannot remember the title) comes from Psalm 8. I was reminded of these words from the Psalm as I read them during my devotion today.
8:3-5
When I observe Your Heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and stars,
which You set in place.
what is man that You remember him,
the [...]

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I got to play a little basketball today. It was great to be able to shot a little, however, there were only 5 of us and so we didn’t (couldn’t, shouldn’t) play full court.
I’m not getting any younger and some of the joints are telling me so right now. I had [...]

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I have a friend/student named Peter. He lives in one of the Stan countries (I won’t say which to protect him). After meeting him in May at the institute, I bonded with him like no other student.
I’m not sure why, except his character is such that I could sense his pain for [...]

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As I write today, I am enjoying a bottle of DP! For those of you not in the know, that is DR. PEPPER! Thanks to my friend, Melody, I am enjoying every drop of it.
Dr. Pepper is not available in Ukraine or in Kstan that I know of. Once I found a [...]

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Well, my birthday is next Tuesday, August 9. It is customary in Ukraine for the birthday person to plan and host their own party, so I am thinking of having a cookout for some of my friends.
Right now, I am thinking of having the party at one of the Dniper River plentiful beaches, cooking [...]

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Well, it’s been hot here. Of course not like Texas (or the south), but hot for here. This morning when I woke up it was 90 degrees on my balcony at 8 a.m.!
Several guys invited me to go to the beach (yes, Kiev has some great sandy beaches on the shores of the [...]

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