Customer Reviews

Five Loaves and Two Bowls of Borscht

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was very truthful about the struggles that go on in the life of an overseas missionary. She definetly didn't hold back anything. My husband and I are hoping to go to Kazakhstan in 2002 and this was a great look at what we might experience. Great book if you are thinking about going into missions or if you want to know what struggles the missionaries you know are going through so you can better pray for them.

This was a great book about the Lemke family and their lives in the Ukraine. As a missionary in training, I appreciated the honesty Janice wrote with in recounting her years in the Ukraine. Missionary stories are usually told as if missionary work was the greatest thing ever. But the author was honest- missionary work is HARD.

I also appreciated the emphasis the missionaries put on learning the language and culture of the people they were working with. They were patient with the people, and they respected the already existing (but struggling) church. This is to be commended. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in missions, especially those interested in living overseas.

Today, committing oneself to the "mission field" seems riskier than ever, but risks are expected in all of life. I believe. The young Oregon couple, Janice & Cory Lemke set high standards for themselves and those they serve. Janice had already aerved five years in Kenya before meeting her husband, and then they heard of the need to "grow" churches in the Ukraine which had been so long under Soviet rule.

The couple with their two young daughters took on the struggles of a definitely primitive life under the auspices of an under-funded denomination. All four learned to speak & understand a comfortable amount of Russian in a hit-or-miss fashion. The Lemkes' story is honest and relates many unpleasant obstacles but it is told with hunor and a necessary fortitude.

No matter where they are serving on this Earth, they deserve our prayers. Reviewer mcHAIKU urges us all to read about people so enthusiastic about their work. The Lemkes are a wonderful example of youth "walking the walk" with conviction.

Forty dollars a month to live on - maybe. Janice writes about her honest thoughts and shocks while living in a small town in Ukraine. She starts from the first day and goes through the first four years. At times the reader is uncertain if she and her family will or even should stay.

Having lived in another country it was easy to relate to her struggles. A North American missionary has to struggle with why they have so much in a developing country. They struggle with why everyone else has so little. They struggle with still thinking they have so little in comparison with average Americans.

This is a great book for missionaries and especially those serving in countries or areas that aren't suffering financially as greatly as the area where the Lemke family was serving.

Two memorable quotes were, "(June) The nursing job she once loved became unsatisfying. She applied to our mission organization, quit her job, sold her house, and came to join us. What drives people to such insanity?"

"(David Giles) "Most of missionary work is not soaring on wings as eagles, nor running without being weary. If you can walk and not faint, even that is a great accomplishment."

"If God is only make-believe, why do they work so hard to disprove Him? No one teaches against fairies or Santa Claus."

Part two will thankfully be arriving in the near future.

People of her kind of so called missioners should never be sponsored for the mission by church. At first her husband who came to Ukraine as a missionary should only to start a church and to teach a good local pastor who can lead the church. Missionary should only be up to 5 years in one location, then move to another place and raise a new church, but no they just so called stuck in this "horrible " place for decades just using American church money to leave in a very decent place complaining about "hardship" of their life. In fact Janice Lemke still thinks that the word Slavic came from English word slaves, not knowing that Slavic means Glory in Slavic language, giving a big humiliation to Ukrainian people who she work with