dougle's posterous

March 16, 2009

Chapel at UBI

This morning we were able to be in chapel at the bible institute in Donetsk. It was great seeing about 25 people gathering to prepare themselves for ministry.
Rob was able to talk about our team and share our plans for Kharkov. Everybody here has been extremely helpful and kind to us all.

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March 15, 2009

Ukrainian Christian Choir

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March 15, 2009

Mexican Food & Fellowship

This morning in Donetsk we were able to visit one of the congregations. It was a great time getting to know some really good brothers and sisters.
After our meeting we went out for lunch at Tequila Boom, a great Mexican restaraunt.
Soon we will be going to see the LCU chorus perform. Most of the congregations are planning to attend.

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March 14, 2009

We Made It!

We are finally in Donetsk. We had a wonderful couple from Donetsk drove out and helped us. It took them about 2.5 hours to get there.

We used the spare tire and then hammered one rim into place and aired it up. They both held up well.

So our 4 hour trip took us 9.5 hours. Thank you to those who prayed for us!

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March 14, 2009

Broken Down in Ukraine

Today we embarked on our first road trip in Ukraine. Though it has been raining and snowing, the trip has gone pretty well.
It went well until we weren't able to miss the pothole of death! It blew out two tires and bent both rims.
Now we are just waiting for help to come. It looks like we will be here (in the middle of nowhere) for about another hour.
Will keep you updated...

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March 12, 2009

My Thoughts on the iPhone Kindle Application

I am already had a couple of people ask for my thoughts on Amazon's Kindle application for the iPhone. So after reading my first whole book on the app, I am ready to attempt a brief review.

Let me first say that I have never seen the need for an e-book reader before. In fact, I remember when the Kindle first came out, I thought it was a ridiculous price to pay for such a thing, especially when e-books aren't that much cheaper (if any) than paper editions. Now that I live in a country where it is difficult to find English language books (Ukraine), it has made me rethink my views on e-books. I won't share with you all of my thoughts on e-books versus paper books, but I will say that I am ready to convert to e-books. I think I would feel this way even if I lived in the U.S.

Now on to my thoughts on the Kindle app. To make this easier for me, I will just list my thoughts in bullet point:

Pros:

It is free!
It is super easy to get a book! All I have to is go to the Amazon web site and find the book I want to buy. I click on the button and confirm my payment options, then the book is sent to my phone. I open up my Kindle app on the phone and usually within 20 seconds the book is ready to read. I have only done this while connected to wifi, so I don't know how fast it would be through Ukraine's Edge service. If I had the actual Kindle 2 device and lived in the U.S., I could buy a book directly through the device anywhere I was at. You do not need a wifi connection because it uses cell phone signals. It is completely free to download a book; you just pay for the price of the book.
You can insert bookmarks while you are reading.
Each time I open up the application, it remembers how far I have read and goes directly to that page. If I had an actual Kindle 2 device, it would do this between the two devices. What I mean is that if I read 20 pages on my phone, then when I went to my Kindle 2, I would be on page 20. Then if I read another 20 pages on my Kindle 2, my phone would show I was on page 40.
You can change the font size.
The book I read had a lot of endnotes and each one was highlighted. I was able to click on the number and it would take me to the reference. When I was finished reading the endnote, I just clicked on the number again and it returned me to where I was reading.

Cons:

The screen is small. I always joke with Lucy that I need some ointment for my thumb to keep it loose. With the pages being so small, I have to swipe the page A LOT! It really isn't too bad, but this is my way to tell Lucy that it would be nice to get a real Kindle device :)
There is no way to make notes in the book. One thing I love about paper books is that I can underline and write in the margins. While this is possible with the Kindle 2 device, it is not possible on this application.
When reading, I have no idea what page I am on. At the bottom there is a bar that allows you to scroll through pages and shows you basically where you are at in the book, but I haven't found where it tells you a page number.
Another thing I like about paper books is that I can share it with my friends when I am finished reading. I have just finished reading a great book and would like to pass it on to others. As far as I know, I have no way of doing this other than passing on my iPhone. That isn't going to happen David and Rob!
You can't buy newspapers or magazines on the application. This function is available on the Kindle device.
Another thing that wasn't too big a deal to me, but was mentioned, is that you turn the pages by scrolling side to side rather than up and down.

So I love the ability to be able to get books in English on demand. I think the application is a good teaser for what the real Kindle offers. After using the application, I am ready to shell out the money and get the real deal....just need to convince Lucy first!

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March 12, 2009

Big Fish, Little Fish...Cardboard Box

via youtube.com

Bob the Builder is my favorite kid's show that Canaan watches, so today I was looking for something that he might enjoy on YouTube and came across this video. Hope you enjoy!

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March 12, 2009

Thoughts on "The Untold Story of the New Testament Church" by Frank Viola

About a week ago I purchased The Untold Story of the New Testament Church by Frank Viola. This was my first book to read in e-book format on my iPhone Kindle application. This really isn't a review of the book, just my general impressions of it.

First of all, I have to say that I noticed about half a dozen typos throughout the book. I am guessing (and hoping) that this is just a result of the e-book format, and that the actual paper edition doesn't include these mistakes. For me, when I see typos in a published book, my first impression is negative. This is strange because I am not that great of a writer. I tried to not let these mistakes ruin my reading of the book.

Mr. Viola states that the purpose of this book is "to provide you with a panoramic view of the first-century church in its chronological and socio-historical setting." After reading this book, I feel like the purpose was accomplished. At times I felt like I was just reading from Acts, while at other times like I was reading a novel. Mr. Viola does a great job at making the story of the New Testament into a readable narrative. I especially enjoyed the information provided about the different cities (population, culture, etc) and the overviews of Paul's missionary journeys (distance traveled, churches planted, etc). For me, a highlight of this book is towards the end where Mr. Viola tells how various apostles and church planters gave their lives for Jesus. This information isn't gathered from scripture, but from history and tradition.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a better understanding of the New Testament. Having said that, there were a few things that were presented that I don't necessarily think are historical. Due to the nature of this book, Mr. Viola reads between a lot of lines that I don't know if scripture supports. A couple examples are:

1. Mr. Viola states that it is because of the smoke from torches that causes Eutychus to fall asleep and fall out of the window to his death. While this could be the case, there just isn't any evidence for this. I guess if I were writing the book, I would have said that Paul's preaching late into the night was what caused Eutychus to fall asleep. Remember, Paul isn't known for being a great speaker!

2. Mr. Viola says that Luke wrote 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus for Paul. I don't mean that Luke was the author, only that he was the guy who wrote down what Paul wanted said. I'm not sure where the evidence for this is, other than in similarities in the language used in Luke's writings and the language in these letters.

I want to finish this post by saying that I really appreciate this book. More and more I am coming to understand the importance of knowing the chronology of the bible. I am tired of scriptures being pulled out of the context to be used to support some particular view point. I think we need to stop pulling out our magnifying glasses when we read the bible and take a step back and look at the big picture.

I want to also recommend to you the Daily Bible that was arranged by F LaGard Smith. I have owned this bible for many years, but only recently have I grown to appreciate what Mr. Smith has provided to us.

You can also check out a couple book reviews of books written by Frank Viola HERE and HERE . Both are done by my friend Brandon Price.

Frank Viola's website is http://www.ptmin.org/

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March 9, 2009

A Few Pics

Yesterday we all got out and went to the square. We needed to get out for a walk and wanted Canaan to be able to play since it has been getting warmer (43 yesterday). And of course, any trip to the square isn't complete until you get a picture of Lenin. Hope you enjoy the pics.