Joe Ragan

finally arrived in Kyiv at 4 a.m. Sunday.  The flight was almost 24 hours late.  The flight attendant told me that the plane was late due to needing the plane that was in Egypt.  This airline only has so many planes and it is notorious for being late…
I was able to sleep a little on [...]

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Originally, a couple of colleagues and I were scheduled to fly to Kyiv more than 16 hours ago.  Well, we are still at their apartment waiting word that the flight has left Kyiv.  It is making a trip from Kyiv to Almaty to Astana and then back to Kyiv.
Hopefully, we will be leaving this night [...]

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Today is Friday, one of the busiest shopping days in the US.  Did you go shopping today???
Some colleagues and I went to the new mall in Astana.  It wasn’t packed with people and we had a great time eating lunch, doing some shopping and drinking coffee at a very nice coffee shop (with Starbuck prices…).
Saturday [...]

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I can only imagine what those of you who live in the US are feeling.  I only get a little of the political rhetoric here via CNN International and I am already tired of it…
It seems that the campaigns get dirtier and dirtier every time.  Thus far I haven’t seen too much from any of [...]

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After a couple of nice days that reached 35, it turned off cold this am with the temps dropping all day.  Right now it is about 15.  I wasn’t out in it much today, but the wind was blowing so it made it feel much colder.
I was walking with a friend from Ukraine and asked [...]

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Monday evening I hosted 4 women and 1 man for Thanksgiving. I was expecting a larger crowd, however, I found out later that the idea of celebrating scared a couple of people away. No worry, those who attended had a good time. We began the evening by watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. [...]

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Tonight (Monday, November 19th) I am hosting my English class for a look at our American traditions surrounding Thanksgiving.  My plan is to show A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, then we will have Chicken and Dumplings (couldn’t find any turkey in Karaganda…), my mom’s dressing, Texas potato casserole, cranberry sauce (that I found at a local [...]

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Recently I visited the Gopanchuk family.  They are Ukrainian missionaries serving in Pavlodar.  The IMB media team prepared this video feature on the Gopanchuks.

Roman and his wife are in the process of starting a new church in the city on the opposite side from the established Baptist church.  There are more than 300,000 people living [...]

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I was in Almaty and snapped this photo. I was eating lunch at the director’s apartment when his daughter brought out her pets. One was a kitten, another a rabbit and the third a guinea. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the kitten and the rabbit begin playing…
  

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After 6 days of being on the road, I arrived home late Monday afternoon. It felt great to be home after an incredible road trip. Some colleagues and I traveled to Pavlodar over the weekend to visit the church there and see some friends.
I drove to Astana on Wednesday. Before leaving town [...]

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