Joe Ragan

Wow, I just returned to Kyiv from one of the BEST conferences I have ever attended. While the conference was aimed at discovering ways to reach out and engage the post-modern generation, it was much more than that!
The original speaker had to have emergency surgery and had to cancel. So, Michael Frost from [...]

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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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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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The past few days have been incredibly beautiful.  I was scheduled to sing at church today right before the Lord’s Supper.  I sang “Broken and Spilled Out.”  I think it was good, just the monitor was so loud that I think my voice was drowned out at times.
After singing, I went to the 9-11 year [...]

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I am so blessed to live in Karaganda.  Today I met a brother for tea/coffee and we had a good time visiting.  Zhenya has been such a big help to me from time to time.  He is a genius when it comes to the computer.  After the computer specialists were here for 4 hours last [...]

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It has been a great week in many regards. I spent parts of 3 days getting my car registered and tagged. Finally on Wednesday afternoon that happened…
A colleague from Astana came down and we had some very good meetings with ministry partners. We are in agreement in several issues to see Kingdom [...]

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I traveled to Astana on Tuesday afternoon. The dealership had promised me the car would be ready Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. Tuesday became Wednesday and then Thursday…
I had to travel to Pavlodar for the day on Thursday, and sure enough the salesman called me at noon to let me know the car [...]

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Some time ago, I wrote about how God has given me different eyes to see with here in Kazakhstan.  When I lived here in 2005, I “saw” with different eyes, I really didn’t see the beauty of the land.
Yesterday, I was driving home from Astana (around 200 km) and about half way I notices some [...]

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Third Day has a great song from their “Wired” CD called Rock Star.  In the end, Mac “discovers” that he doesn’t have what it takes and that its alright.
Well, I don’t really have any aspirations of being a rock star, now would I really want to be.  However, my colleagues and I have been trying [...]

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