Joe Ragan

Well, my HS alma mater did it!  The beat Celina, at home, which hadn’t been done in almost 10 years.  They are the only team that has beaten Celina every time they have played… a two game winning streak
Read more here.  I can hear the band playing now… The Eye of the Tiger… [...]

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Our lives are marked by milestones.  Wedding anniversaries, birthdays, passings, work, etc.  Five years ago today I arrived in Kyiv as a missionary appointed by Southern Baptists.  These past five years have seen me travel over much of the countries of Ukraine and Kazakhstan…
It’s difficult to believe that it has already been 5 years.  I [...]

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Slavic* looks out across the small room full of people.  With just minutes before the start of the service, the room quickly fills up with people standing in an adjoining room and a few standing outside.
A few years earlier, doctors had told Slavic and his wife Natasha* that their young son, Vova*, needed to be [...]

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Does anybody know how I can get a ticket or 2 to the Texas vs. A&M game on Thanksgiving Day?  It has been a dream to attend that game…

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Today I went with some friends around Astana to take some pictures.  We saw some children playing on a side street and so we stopped to take their photo.  While we were there, a man walked up to us and began asking why we were taking pictures.
I shared that we just wanted to get some [...]

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I will be traveling again on Thursday to Astana to help with a small group coming from the US.  I am not sure how often I will be able to post on the site.  Please be in prayer…

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On my return trip from Pavlodar on Monday I saw an immense wildfire.  The landscape between Astana and Pavlodar isn’t remarkable.  There are rolling hills, with few trees or cities.
As I drove past the wildfire I realized that the earth had been scorched for as far as the eye could see on the south of [...]

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First, Barak makes history by being the first African-American to be selected by a major party and now John McCain has chosen a women as his VP nominee.  So, history will be made this November.  America will elect either a woman or an African-American to office…
This selection by McCain came out of left field… WAW… [...]

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College football season begins this week.  I am ready… it has been 8 loong months
The cable system I have here has Viasat Sports, which shows a game of two each week.  With kickoff happening Thursday night (Friday a.m. here) I will be able to watch a game Friday a.m. and Saturday a.m.
Are YOU [...]

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A number of years ago, several of us from Southwayside BC in Fort Worth traveled to Peidras Negras, Mexico.  We were scoping out some places for us to do some mission work.
On our return trip, we stopped off in San Antonio to have lunch at my favorite Mexican Restaurant, Mi Tierra’s. I fell in love [...]

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