Greetings from winter Minnesota! :) Yes, we made it safely all the way back to the Twin Cities and we thank God very much for this provision. Miriam was not feeling the greatest when we traveled but otherwise the long flight went without any problems. Our dear friends prepared a great apartment for us here, loaded up our fridge and cupboards with groceries, prepared wonderful welcome gifts and notes, have been bringing us meals… Words cannot express how blessed we are to have friends like this. What a blessing to be part of God’s family!
We are also very thankful for our doctor here who has been very efficient in helping us get things checked, get appointments with specialists etc… She is also trying to get Miriam on the exact right dose of Coumadin (blood thinner). In Ukraine they were not that detailed and “close enough” was usually good enough :) So we are glad that this too will hopefully soon be under control.
But we have to say that it feels a little strange being part of two completely different worlds. They are so different but in a way they are both supposed to feel normal. For example now we are getting professional US medical care where the doctor gives you a long lecture about how careful you have to be and how dangerous blood clots are and how when you are taking blood thinners your blood has to be checked often etc etc… But in a month or so we will again be seeing our Ukrainian doctors who will again say “don’t worry, it’s nothing” to most everything we tell them… And even in many other areas we realize how as a missionary you live in two completely different worlds where not only the languages are different but also many things are done differently, many values are different and different things are considered “normal.”
This morning Tomasz called a couple of our Ukrainian friends. It was great to hear them again. One lady said that her daughter is worried that we will not come back to L’viv any more (because of the medical problems we had there etc). So we ensured her that we are very much planning to come back to L’viv because L’viv is our home now. She was very glad to hear that :) But right now we are thankful that we can be back with our home church here in the Twin Cities, with our Minnesota friends, Tomasz is encouraged by having a chance to sit in on some seminary classes… And we are also very grateful that besides having a lot of different doctor’s appointments we are finally able to rest! That is what we both really need right now. Thank you so much to all of you who made this month of recuperation possible for us!
Some of you asked about our mailing address while in the States (we should be at this address until March 25):
Tomasz and Miriam Chmiel
3136 East Medicine Lake Blvd, Unit A
Plymouth, MN 55441
Our phone number here is (763) 746-3092.
Thank you again for all your prayers!
Tomasz and Miriam
