We are well here- very busy with Summer English Institute and the weather is hot as usual for July(+35 C). It did not rain again today (dry for 4-5 days now), so the grain farmers are getting the combines in the fields. we have had rain (thundershowers mostly) almost every day for more than two weeks. Some of the grain will be not very good- quality drops with weeds coming up through the wheat and barley in the fields so the grain they are getting off has a high moisture content. There is no good way to dry it. Most of the harvest is spread on the ground or if they have one to use on a cement floor inside a barn, about two feet deep, and they rake it around every day to help dry it. The humidity is really high, so I am not sure how much drying is taking place! It even was dry enough to finally get the backhoe here to move the dirt around behind the barn, as you can see in the photo.
All the rain really helped the corn and sunflower crops grow- the corn has been in tassel for a week or so and the sunflower fields are bright yellow! The garden really has been a bonanza- Garry bought a freezer as we have been picking green and yellow beans over the last two weeks (I am freezing about a laudry basket full tonight before spending the week teaching) and his first two rows of sweet corn have been mostly eaten as cobs- he even brought some into Dnepro one day for the SI team to enjoy after class- the lunch room ladies cooked it and we had it with the food we buy after class everyday at 2 pm. (Don't worry - he planted two rows every two weeks so we have plenty more to eat and freeze!)English classes are going well- two more weeks to go, with the exciting bonus of one lady accepting Christ this week. God had been working on her heart for a while, and she talked to Daryl and Sergey after classes one day about what she had read in the (English/Russian) New Testament we make available to the students.