The Journey Home (back Safe)

Friday was departure day. We had a last prayer time, said good-bye to Karla (heading for Dnieperpetrosk by train), ate breakfast, packed and walked over to see St. George Greek Catholic Cathedral nearby. We actually took the long way around and had to double back, but got to try out the sledding hill (on foot) and get some neat pictures of the park and street.

We left the hotel at 12:30 PM and caught the plane to Warsaw. We met the Belarus team, including good friend Captain Tony Fritz, at that airport. We all went to a downtown hotel and made plans for supper. Seven of us went on a bit of adventure with a complete stranger. Iyanshka (translate to John in English) overheard our guys asking for a restaurant recommendation. Before we knew it, he was driving us off to his friend’s restaurant in his own car in two runs. The food was as good as he promised, and the atmosphere good. It was a lovely evening complete with several hands of Scum back at the hotel.

At the airport John and I got the last two seats on the plane to Chicago, so weren’t initially seated together. Jean, making sure Tawni made it through security with out problems and with all of her belongings, managed to leave her backpack behind. She was paged overhead and had to reclaim it from very unhappy security guards who informed her that had it taken even ten more minutes, they would have had to evacuate the entire area of the airport! Once boarded, our seating was easily rearranged so we cold sit together. Jean was in the middle of three seats: John on the right, a stranger on the left. Feeling a bit drained and down by then, but willing to witness to anyone God placed in our path, we struck up a conversation – and had a nine-hour opportunity for mutual encouragement with another Christian. Thanks, God! :)

Our taxi driver from O’Hare moved here from Bulgaria five years ago. He was helpful and a good conversationalist. The drive home from Libertyville was uneventful and we were in bed by 8:15 PM.

Last Schedule Ministry Day

Thursday was an amazing day.

Thursday was an amazing day.

GainUSA was allowed for the first time to enter a adult prison in Ukraine. The local pastor, Misha, is allowed entry as long as he has something to give. We brought a van load of food: bread, garlic, fruit and other staples. We walked in through the vehicle entrance. We were warmly greeted. With the exception of a count of people, and presenting our passports en masse, there were no other security checks to enter.

We were first allowed into the teenagers’ cells, eight to ten boys in a room. We were able to shake hands, and greet them and share gifts, and the gospel. We had the hygiene care packs we had assembled at the hotel which we were able to hand out (minus the metal tubes of toothpaste, which will end up going for use elsewhere). We had 5-10 minutes and entered 4 cells altogether. The local TV station was present. Our bus captain Dave Sanders was interviewed. We then went to a visit some women’s cells, two to four in each. We were only able to visit a couple, but Jean used the little time to fully explain the Gospel. She hugged them and we were off. Most of the team then went to a big group of men.

Jean, Sheila, Tawni, Pavlo, and John were given a special tour and to visit the prison hospital. The prison was a building built in 1611, some of the walls are crumbling, and the pipes are 200 – 300 years old, needing constant repair. It was first a monastery for women, then for men before the Austrian-Hungarian forces turned it into a prison. Now L’viv uses it primarily as a jail where people are kept while their cases are “under investigation”. This process can take from five months to more than two years. A year ago they had 22 life-sentence inmates down on the bottom floor, now they had only one. The rest were move to a facility that was in better condition. He said this information and our tour were not for the TV cameras, but so we could know.

Then we were escorted to the hospital. They do the best with what they can, but they have very little. All the prisoners in the L’viv and nearby regions come to this prison for treatment, they are happy to receive what they can. We visited with a group of ten men in their cell. We were escorted in with a guard for each American. John shared the Gospel quickly since we wanted to see as many as possible. The guards and inmate patients were attentive. The prison director said later that these men were Christians. I could tell one was while I was sharing the gospel. We then went to visit a group of women. Jean shared the Gospel, and told them that God’s love could reach inside the thickest of prison walls.

We then were showed the x-ray room. The equipment was at least 50 year old. Jean didn't think you would even find it in a museum. We saw a surgery room, which was a clean as it could be made, but the lobby bathroom at our hotel was cleaner.

The warden then invited several of us up to his office for tea. We could tell the warden cared about these prisoners, he wanted to give them hope. He was excited that they had electricity because the light made the place more cheerful. He said the most pressing need was the X-ray equipment, because they often treat cancers without knowing exactly what is going on. The government supplies funds to keep the prison secure, but not much for the hospital. It is hard for some to justify the expense, because this prisoners were sick and probably won't live. The prisoners are happy to receive any medical care they can. They were happy to have visitors.

Christian music and programming, like sermons, are played over the speakers in the cells for an hour twice a day. Pastor Misha and New Life Church provide the programming. They would like to purchase a CD player because they use a cassette player now, and the cassettes wear out.

Pavlo, recall that he works for HART, was able to tell us that the x-ray equipment could be purchased within Ukraine for far less money than if even old equipment was donated from another country because of the ridiculous customs that would be charged.

That night was the final banquet. It was difficult to begin the series of good-byes, but it was nice to show our appreciation to the interpreters, bus guide, and pastor. Pastor Misha’s wife, Gallia made a cake for us. It was a many-layered torte, a butterfly shape on top of a heart. In front of it was a Gospel bead bracelet with Gummi bears in corresponding colors! Pastor Misha started the spiel just the way he had heard us say it again and again: “Notice the two knots at each end of the beads. The first once stands for a day we like to think about . . .” Normally, we would state that was the day we were born, the other knot, the day we die. He continued, “. . . that is the day you arrived. The second knot stands for a day we don’t like to think about very much, the day you will leave.” He had us all. Gifts were given and many photos taken, and one last round of the Banana song sung.

8th and 9th Ministry Days

One note about the home for the slow learners on Monday, they were in need of a refrigerator. A previous group had promised to give them one, but never came through. Thanks to generous people on the team and back at home, we were able to fulfill that promise - collecting $1001 so far.

Tuesday, another 2 hour bus ride, this time to the southeast. Reggie, from our small group, was out with a sore back. Juanita had been up with the stomach bug, and stayed at the hotel still feeling weak in the morning. First we went to a sanatorium - a place for children with chronic respiratory illnesses (asthma, tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, etc.) to come for a period of treatment, at least six weeks. The medical director said there are 9126 such children in L'viv region who should be coming there, but they only have room for 150 at this time, so they have to rotate them. We were taken on a tour, saw the vision treatment room, the dentist in his treatment room, a broken open wall, and then a building that is being renovated for sleeping rooms (they are doing a beautiful job!). We met the children in an auditorium. We sang some songs, John shared the gospel (lots of coughing evident while it was quiet). Initially we were told that we wouldn't be able to pass out the Carepacks and bears because the proper paperwork had not been completed with the local officials, then all of a sudden we had permission to pass out the Carepacks, and as we finished distributing those, we were told we could pass out bears, too! Here all the bears were white bridal or groom bears. While the rest of the team spent some mingling time with the kids, Dr. Eugene and Dr. Jean :) were invited to visited ten sick children in another small building. I grabbed the Carepacks, Dr. Eugene loaded up the bears and away we went. We had only very limited time, so Dr. Eugene shared the message of the gospel bracelets, avoiding the delay of translation. We gave them each there gifts and asked their names. Then I gave them each a hug from Caleb and me, and we had a group hug. Meanwhile, John was visiting with three boys off to the side in the auditorium: Pavlo, Steffan and Dima. Pavlo has been there six years. He never was sick. Basically he was just left there as an orphan. Steffan and Dima have both been there two years. Dima didn't talk much. Steffan's father left for Poland for work. He visits his mother on weekends and holidays. He has a cell phone and speaks some English, so an interpreter wasn't really needed, also one (Max)did help out.

The second site was a few kilometers away. This boarding school is in building that used to be the home of a baron. He only spent summers there. The Soviets claimed it later, and then it fell into pretty bad shape. We had an extensive tour of the sleeping areas, a chapel hallway (almost modern museum quality with the paintings and cleanliness), the kitchen (they have a commercial bread baking oven found by Pastor Misha, discarded along a road somewhere - they make wonderful bread!) and the ten bee hives. They have sixteen hectares of land and they grow tons (metric) of potatoes! They gathered the children in an auditorium, then sent us all out into classrooms. Our group met with sixteen 8th and 9th graders. Attentive, but not very participatory. The children here have all been exposed to God's word, as was evident from the teacher's prompting. Nonetheless, it was good to be with them, to review the amazing redemptive work of Jesus Christ and to share other gifts. We got back a little later than usual, so we saw L'viv lit up at night.

It was a free night so we (our small group, still minus Reggie) took Pavlo and his wife Olenka out for supper. They guided us down a snowy, slippery hill to a cafeteria-style restaurant with Ukrainian food so we could have a wide range of choices, and see the food instead of blindly ordering from a menu. We all ate great food - tasty and plentiful. Then it was downstairs for coffee/tea and dessert. After that Pavlo towed us back up the snowy, slippery hill (no idea how he was able to keep traction).

This morning (Wednesday) Leslie, our song leader was out, not feeling well, but Reggie and Juanita were back. We had an hour trip to the first site. It was a beautiful, snowy day, and we stopped along the highway for a few pictures - including one of Oksana making a snow angel (in honor of dear Emma Jean from a few year ago). We went first to a boarding school for boys, it used to be a monastery, so had "very interesting architecture", as Oksana told us. Many seemed to have mental challenges including Down Syndrome. We carried in large suitcases of blankets that had been donated.

Our group was allowed to visit with the "children in beds". This room held 11 children ages 6 - 18 years, all of them in bed, only one somewhat able to talk. They would not have been able to use Carepacks or backpacks, so were not scheduled to receive any of our gifts, but we had along a bag with the small stuffed animals our moms had sent, and the caretakers said "of course"we could give one to each. These, almost the most forgotten of the forgotten children are as follows":

Ivan, in the first crib had a sweet face that reminded me very much of Kurtie - a special boy I babysat in high school. He was hold a baby rattle and moving up and down with his right hand. His left hand was under the blanket, his arm in a sling make from an orange scarf. When I replaced the rattle with an white cat, he held it very close to his face, I think it had to be that close for him to see it. Then he was softly boppng it against his head - he hadn't done that with the rattle.

Next was Dima, sitting up in his green sweater. He first received the lion, but kept throwing it out of the crib onto the floor. Someone thought perhaps he didn't want a lion, so the husky was given to him instead, but he really just enjoyed the "I throw it down, you pick it up"game! His neighbor, Vitalik, also six years old and sitting up and interactive now has the horse, and he enjoys the same game!

Karla spent most of the time with Serosha (Sergei). He has untreated hydrocephalus, so his head has grown o large he can't sit up, or even likely turn himself over. Karla had a very special bear that had been well-loved by a boy back home, who had asked her to share it with a special boy in Ukraine. Serosha is that boy.

Misha lay in the bed next to Serosha, Sherry spent her time with him. He has the white Beanie Baby bear that Karla back.

Torik is the boy I started with. He was making unhappy noises that quieted with stroking. I don't think he sees - if so not well, but he had a very gentle touch, stroking my sweater, and then gently slipping his had up my arm under the sweater. His legs are incredibly thin, and he obviously doesn't walk, although he can sit up. He enjoyed having his feet rubbed. He seemed happy with Wrinkles the dog.

Next to him, a bed wedged between two cribs for the side-rails. His name was Ivan (the equivalent of John). He was awake for a while, watching the action in the next crib, but didn't seemed to enjoy too much stimulation. He also enjoyed having the soles of his feet rubbed - for a while, anyway. He and the Lion will watch out for each other.

The other crib held Maxim, a cheerful little fellow who stood right up with we came in. He also has Down Syndrome, and had a wonderful visit with John. He didn't want to be rubbed on the back, but he wanted to hold onto his fingers. John taught him "up and down", moving his arms to the words. He also teased and tried to keep his hands down when it was time to go up. He also tried to claim Ivan's lion. Eventually one of the caretakers came over, indicated that he could stand and even walk, and gestured that John could take him out of the crib. They walked right out the room together and up and down the hall, John holding both of his hands. On the way out through the room he stopped at Vitalik's crib and reached in - but not to take the horse, as John thought, but to move it closer to the boy. Max held onto John's fingers for a looonnnggg time.

Yurik was against the back wall. He was sound asleep for a while. The caretakers told us he is 18 years old. He was normal until he was in a train wreck at age 8. He is paralyzed on the left side, he takes medications for seizures, and the scars from burns are evident on his neck. He rather suddenly woke up, and wanted to sit up. He doesn't hear or see well, and when Palmer was introducing himself, he said "Michael" and pulled Palmer close. After the accident, Yurik was in the United States for a year, receiving medical treatment. Michael was his sponsor, and still comes to see him once a year. He and Palmer had a good (if limited) visit, including a cool hand shake he probably learned from Michael. (He shook John's hand that way later, too.) He has the duck, and wanted it upon his shoulder so he could be a pirate.

Ura, in the back corner, is 13. He has a slightly larger brown fuzzy bear to watch over him.

(Another) Ivan was ticklish and has a smile and laughter that could have been Kurtie's. He's seven years old and seems to like his white bear.

The remaining boy, I believe his name was also Ivan, has a brown beanie bear. This boy never lifted his face out of the pillow that I saw, and when I put the bear against him, he pushed it away. The bear will have harder work making friends with him, I guess. We collected money for general repairs. (Some extra in honor of Kurt.)

Then it was back to L'viv for our second site - our final time with children. It also used to be a monastery, but was in much better condition. The auditorium was beautiful, freshly painted, and obviously used to be a sanctuary. Jean sat with 8-year-old Olya in her lap. She is in grade "Zero", but not only knows letters and numbers, but could read the words on the front of the explanation to the bracelets we hand out. John sat with some older boys in back, who gave up a seat for him. When the bracelet was presented, he pointed out the red bead and told John (in Ukrainian), "Jesus loves me".

First the children shared some songs and recitations, then our Ukrainian team members led a couple of actions songs. Susanne shared the story of how she learned about Jesus, William shared the gospel message and Pat prayed. The kids were easily distracted. Wouldn't be surprised if a large percentage had ADD. :) We passed out Carepacks, teddy bears and children's Bible Story books. That still left us a few minutes before their lunch, so we sang a couple songs. We made sure to distribute the last of our teacher gifts. It was hard to leave this last bunch of kids. (We took up a collection so heat could be put in the auditorium.)

Tomorrow our final site is a prison and prison hospital, and in the evening the final banquet we share with the interpreters, bus guide and bus drivers. How quickly the days have passed.

God's blessings to all.

J&J
One note about the home for the slow learners on Monday, they were in need of a refrigerator. A previous group had promised to give them one, but never came through. Thanks to generous people on the team and back at home, we were able to fulfill that promise - collecting $1001 so far.

Tuesday, another 2 hour bus ride, this time to the southeast. Reggie, from our small group, was out with a sore back. Juanita had been up with the stomach bug, and stayed at the hotel still feeling weak in the morning. First we went to a sanatorium - a place for children with chronic respiratory illnesses (asthma, tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, etc.) to come for a period of treatment, at least six weeks. The medical director said there are 9126 such children in L'viv region who should be coming there, but they only have room for 150 at this time, so they have to rotate them. We were taken on a tour, saw the vision treatment room, the dentist in his treatment room, a broken open wall, and then a building that is being renovated for sleeping rooms (they are doing a beautiful job!). We met the children in an auditorium. We sang some songs, John shared the gospel (lots of coughing evident while it was quiet). Initially we were told that we wouldn't be able to pass out the Carepacks and bears because the proper paperwork had not been completed with the local officials, then all of a sudden we had permission to pass out the Carepacks, and as we finished distributing those, we were told we could pass out bears, too! Here all the bears were white bridal or groom bears. While the rest of the team spent some mingling time with the kids, Dr. Eugene and Dr. Jean :) were invited to visited ten sick children in another small building. I grabbed the Carepacks, Dr. Eugene loaded up the bears and away we went. We had only very limited time, so Dr. Eugene shared the message of the gospel bracelets, avoiding the delay of translation. We gave them each there gifts and asked their names. Then I gave them each a hug from Caleb and me, and we had a group hug. Meanwhile, John was visiting with three boys off to the side in the auditorium: Pavlo, Steffan and Dima. Pavlo has been there six years. He never was sick. Basically he was just left there as an orphan. Steffan and Dima have both been there two years. Dima didn't talk much. Steffan's father left for Poland for work. He visits his mother on weekends and holidays. He has a cell phone and speaks some English, so an interpreter wasn't really needed, also one (Max)did help out.

The second site was a few kilometers away. This boarding school is in building that used to be the home of a baron. He only spent summers there. The Soviets claimed it later, and then it fell into pretty bad shape. We had an extensive tour of the sleeping areas, a chapel hallway (almost modern museum quality with the paintings and cleanliness), the kitchen (they have a commercial bread baking oven found by Pastor Misha, discarded along a road somewhere - they make wonderful bread!) and the ten bee hives. They have sixteen hectares of land and they grow tons (metric) of potatoes! They gathered the children in an auditorium, then sent us all out into classrooms. Our group met with sixteen 8th and 9th graders. Attentive, but not very participatory. The children here have all been exposed to God's word, as was evident from the teacher's prompting. Nonetheless, it was good to be with them, to review the amazing redemptive work of Jesus Christ and to share other gifts. We got back a little later than usual, so we saw L'viv lit up at night.

It was a free night so we (our small group, still minus Reggie) took Pavlo and his wife Olenka out for supper. They guided us down a snowy, slippery hill to a cafeteria-style restaurant with Ukrainian food so we could have a wide range of choices, and see the food instead of blindly ordering from a menu. We all ate great food - tasty and plentiful. Then it was downstairs for coffee/tea and dessert. After that Pavlo towed us back up the snowy, slippery hill (no idea how he was able to keep traction).

This morning (Wednesday) Leslie, our song leader was out, not feeling well, but Reggie and Juanita were back. We had an hour trip to the first site. It was a beautiful, snowy day, and we stopped along the highway for a few pictures - including one of Oksana making a snow angel (in honor of dear Emma Jean from a few year ago). We went first to a boarding school for boys, it used to be a monastery, so had "very interesting architecture", as Oksana told us. Many seemed to have mental challenges including Down Syndrome. We carried in large suitcases of blankets that had been donated.

Our group was allowed to visit with the "children in beds". This room held 11 children ages 6 - 18 years, all of them in bed, only one somewhat able to talk. They would not have been able to use Carepacks or backpacks, so were not scheduled to receive any of our gifts, but we had along a bag with the small stuffed animals our moms had sent, and the caretakers said "of course"we could give one to each. These, almost the most forgotten of the forgotten children are as follows":

Ivan, in the first crib had a sweet face that reminded me very much of Kurtie - a special boy I babysat in high school. He was hold a baby rattle and moving up and down with his right hand. His left hand was under the blanket, his arm in a sling make from an orange scarf. When I replaced the rattle with an white cat, he held it very close to his face, I think it had to be that close for him to see it. Then he was softly boppng it against his head - he hadn't done that with the rattle.

Next was Dima, sitting up in his green sweater. He first received the lion, but kept throwing it out of the crib onto the floor. Someone thought perhaps he didn't want a lion, so the husky was given to him instead, but he really just enjoyed the "I throw it down, you pick it up"game! His neighbor, Vitalik, also six years old and sitting up and interactive now has the horse, and he enjoys the same game!

Karla spent most of the time with Serosha (Sergei). He has untreated hydrocephalus, so his head has grown o large he can't sit up, or even likely turn himself over. Karla had a very special bear that had been well-loved by a boy back home, who had asked her to share it with a special boy in Ukraine. Serosha is that boy.

Misha lay in the bed next to Serosha, Sherry spent her time with him. He has the white Beanie Baby bear that Karla back.

Torik is the boy I started with. He was making unhappy noises that quieted with stroking. I don't think he sees - if so not well, but he had a very gentle touch, stroking my sweater, and then gently slipping his had up my arm under the sweater. His legs are incredibly thin, and he obviously doesn't walk, although he can sit up. He enjoyed having his feet rubbed. He seemed happy with Wrinkles the dog.

Next to him, a bed wedged between two cribs for the side-rails. His name was Ivan (the equivalent of John). He was awake for a while, watching the action in the next crib, but didn't seemed to enjoy too much stimulation. He also enjoyed having the soles of his feet rubbed - for a while, anyway. He and the Lion will watch out for each other.

The other crib held Maxim, a cheerful little fellow who stood right up with we came in. He also has Down Syndrome, and had a wonderful visit with John. He didn't want to be rubbed on the back, but he wanted to hold onto his fingers. John taught him "up and down", moving his arms to the words. He also teased and tried to keep his hands down when it was time to go up. He also tried to claim Ivan's lion. Eventually one of the caretakers came over, indicated that he could stand and even walk, and gestured that John could take him out of the crib. They walked right out the room together and up and down the hall, John holding both of his hands. On the way out through the room he stopped at Vitalik's crib and reached in - but not to take the horse, as John thought, but to move it closer to the boy. Max held onto John's fingers for a looonnnggg time.

Yurik was against the back wall. He was sound asleep for a while. The caretakers told us he is 18 years old. He was normal until he was in a train wreck at age 8. He is paralyzed on the left side, he takes medications for seizures, and the scars from burns are evident on his neck. He rather suddenly woke up, and wanted to sit up. He doesn't hear or see well, and when Palmer was introducing himself, he said "Michael" and pulled Palmer close. After the accident, Yurik was in the United States for a year, receiving medical treatment. Michael was his sponsor, and still comes to see him once a year. He and Palmer had a good (if limited) visit, including a cool hand shake he probably learned from Michael. (He shook John's hand that way later, too.) He has the duck, and wanted it upon his shoulder so he could be a pirate.

Ura, in the back corner, is 13. He has a slightly larger brown fuzzy bear to watch over him.

(Another) Ivan was ticklish and has a smile and laughter that could have been Kurtie's. He's seven years old and seems to like his white bear.

The remaining boy, I believe his name was also Ivan, has a brown beanie bear. This boy never lifted his face out of the pillow that I saw, and when I put the bear against him, he pushed it away. The bear will have harder work making friends with him, I guess. We collected money for general repairs. (Some extra in honor of Kurt.)

Then it was back to L'viv for our second site - our final time with children. It also used to be a monastery, but was in much better condition. The auditorium was beautiful, freshly painted, and obviously used to be a sanctuary. Jean sat with 8-year-old Olya in her lap. She is in grade "Zero", but not only knows letters and numbers, but could read the words on the front of the explanation to the bracelets we hand out. John sat with some older boys in back, who gave up a seat for him. When the bracelet was presented, he pointed out the red bead and told John (in Ukrainian), "Jesus loves me".

First the children shared some songs and recitations, then our Ukrainian team members led a couple of actions songs. Susanne shared the story of how she learned about Jesus, William shared the gospel message and Pat prayed. The kids were easily distracted. Wouldn't be surprised if a large percentage had ADD. :) We passed out Carepacks, teddy bears and children's Bible Story books. That still left us a few minutes before their lunch, so we sang a couple songs. We made sure to distribute the last of our teacher gifts. It was hard to leave this last bunch of kids. (We took up a collection so heat could be put in the auditorium.)

Tomorrow our final site is a prison and prison hospital, and in the evening the final banquet we share with the interpreters, bus guide and bus drivers. How quickly the days have passed.

7th Ministry Day

We had a long bus ride, 2 hours to the south-southwest. We visited a boarding school for slow learners. We were joined by several church members from yesterday. I believe several of them have been there before. Also Pavlo our interpreter had been there with HART to deliver playground equipment. (Several of the sites we have visited so far have had similar equipment which also came from HART.)

We waited for our bus captain to make arrangements with the director. I took a few moments to hand out a few More Than a Carpenter (MTAC) books. I was able to have polite conversations in Russian, explaining I was an American, and spoke a little Russian.

While the children were finishing up their snack (a gnarly apple and something to drink) we sang some songs. The director was impressed by the quality of things that were given, and that they were new. The children recited a couple poems and couple boys sang Karaoke. Then we broke into small groups. Our group was 8th graders. Their teacher assured us these were the exceptional students. They were studying math before the snack break. Reggie did the introduction, Karla share the gospel, and Toby reviewed using her magic trick. (A bag containing handkerchiefs of the different color, which "magically" turn into a butterfly handkerchief) Some of the children had already be exposed to the gospel. There was a nativity scene in the cafeteria. I wish we had the religious freedom they have here in the United States. We had plenty of time for discussions and then it was time to go. Our 2 hours with them went by quickly.

Our second site for the day was canceled due to a quarantine. Even the director was hospitalized with whatever was affecting the children. We don't know why it was, but God knows. We prayed for the site. The gifts would have already been delivered. The stuffed animals in the backpacks would have gospel bracelets on them also. Please pray for this site, that the children stay healthy.

On our way home we had time for book distribution. We handed out flip books which have MTAC on one side and the Gospel of John on the other, in Russian. A couple of people didn't want the book because they thought it was Russian propaganda, but we explained it was written by Josh McDowell an American. They are also leery due to the growing presence of Jehovah Witnesses in Ukraine.

There was an old lady who was walking to go shopping. She was walking slowly so I offered my arm for support. She gladly received it, I escorted her down a couple of stairs and around puddles to the supermarket. She kept trying to say something to me in Ukrainian, but I told her in my best Russian I didn't understand. When we got to the market Jean and the Dr. Eugene Krupic (our Bus Guide for this week) came out and I was able to find out she was saying that no once else offered to help. She was just overly thankful.

We stopped at the next city, Sanbar, which was the city with prison we were at the other day. Pavlo and I went down the alley and handed out books. Mostly they were well received. There were a couple ladies selling candy and other wares on the corner who managed to collect 4 or 5 copies each. They might sell them tomorrow.

Dr. Eugene shared his story on the way out. He grew up in Russia and went to medical school after high school. He entered the military medical academy and was a military physician for 8 years. Then, in 1990, he realized that things were very bad in the Soviet Union and in the military - the government destroying all of the ideals. His mother-in-law began attending a Baptist church and became a Christian. She tried to persuade him and his wife to come to church, but he resisted because he had always been taught in school and by his parents that there was no God. He was an atheist. Finally, because he was so discouraged by what was happening in the Soviet Union he decided he wanted to find out about God, what the Bible said. He started going to church and reading the Bible. Then he received a copy of MTAC from church. He said it was written just for him, and made sense, since Josh McDowell had also been an atheist and wanted to prove there was no God - but proved to himself just the opposite. On December 23, 1990 Dr. Eugene became a Christian. Within 6 months he left the military. He was without work for more than a year. Then he and his family moved to Poland where he was able to find work for the next five years, then he came to L'viv. A group of physicians formed a group to provide medical care for the people out of church "clinics" - usually just an ordinary room. He works primarily out of the Central Baptist church but also goes to New Life Church two days each week. He is married and has a son, 26 years old, who is a scientist and a 19-year-old daughter who is in her first year at medical school. They were home-schooled from the time their son was in the fourth form - they didn't like the ideology being taught at the government schools, so they did somthing very, very unusual at that time (still very uncommon at this time, from everything I've (Jean) heard). He is a very congenial and dedicated man, and no one passed out the MTAC books more quickly or more fervently than he!

Tonight is a free night. Tomorrow (Lord-willing) two boarding schools.

God bless you.

5th & 6th Ministry Days

The ballet Friday night was quite enjoyable, although presented out of sequence, as far as I could tell, and the lead ballerina danced the "Sugar Plum Fairy" solo - didn't remember it that way from times past. The interior of the opera house was beautiful, though, with stairways out of huge blocks of marble, carvings everywhere, etc. Somehow most of us missed the hall of mirrors with the statue of the opera singer it was named after: Solomija Krushelnytska. Afterwards we went up to the ninth floor of our hotel for tea and ice cream (it had been a very light supper of a delicious potato soup) and a panoramic view of the city.

Saturday we had a later start - prayer at 8:30, breakfast at 9:00 and the bus left at 10:00. We had a church action at Pastor Misha's church, New Life (which has some connection with New Life in Kiev). Gary was our captain for the day as Dave Sanders had to leave early to meet Duane Zook's airplane. More on him later.

Pastor Mish took us on a tour first. The church is inside an old, run-down factory. All of the work is being done by members, many of them ex-prisoners, and most of them with no prior experience in such work. The future sanctuary has a long way to go, but the machinery that filled the room two years ago is gone, windows have been inserted and the floor of the balcony was recently put into place. They are puttig a third floor in, since the second floor was so tall. Ex-prisoners used to live in the basement, and it was very cold - sometimes it would be 15C outside, and only 5C inside. Now they have living space on the second floor, and will eventually be up on the third. They did all of their own work for the heating system, and the city actually charged them money for lost revenue to the city! Then they withheld permission to hook up to the gas line for a year. The outside of the buidling still looks like a run-down factory, but the work inside, especially the second floor is impressive. Kind of like the way God changes us from the inside out!

Gary did a great job with the introduction, assigning people to the various parts of the presentation and letting the people know how much we enjoy being here. The puppet ministry from the church had a powerful message using music, a globe, a black cloth, hands in white and black gloves, and a cross (no words, and none needed). We sang a few songs, and our interpreters taught them the Banana song. It was great to see not just the kids, but also some grandmothers participating in all the actions. Karla Jesse and Pat Harding shared their testimonies. Palmer Pisle share the gospel (using the bracelets). We distributed food bags and carepacks afterwards, having a great time playing with the children while they waited.

Then it was off to go shopping. We found some black pottery found only in this region made in the ancient tradition, Havarechina?, which is being revived. We also purchase a full-sized blanket made from raw ram's wool from the woman who made it. We will use an entire suitcase to bring it home! Pavlo, our group's interpreter was a great help finding the things we were looking for, as well as being a tour guide for some of the most impressive churches (including the one that had a missile shot into it during WWI that didn't explode - we have a picture of it still sticking out of the wall), and going to the top of the city hall tower - 400 steps from the ground, 300 from the place we started climbing. The view was spectular and he pointed out all kinds of buildings and told us their significance, like the church that has inscribed over the door "To God Alone be Honor and Glory" that the Soviets turned into a museum of Soviets "greatness"- but they never defaced the inscription! We also stopped at a bood store and picked up a couple of Ukrainian folk tale children's books that Pavlo said he would read aloud and record for us, for our hoped-for children.

That night we had our cultural event at a restuarant out of town and around the lake. The atmosphere, food and entertainment (music and dancing) were all very good. John and I were both persuaded to get up and spin around with the dancers. I don't remember the last time I was that dizzy!

Sunday morning was worship at New Life. Gary was captain again. The musical group of young people from the church is very good and led several songs to get it started. They even had the thoughtfulness to print the English words before the Ukrainian words up on the prjected screen. It really helped to participate as one congregation, and was cool to think that God only heard us as one voice, rather than a confusion of languages.

One of their members shared his story first - an ex-criminal who was in prison three different times and became a Christian when he was 34, just a few years ago. Now he has a family, a job and is a Gideon. That was followed well by Debbie, who first belived in God after hearing about Jesus from a Gideon at her school when she was 10 years old. Then Palmer shared his story, which was hard to tell inspite of the already happy ending. I shared the gospel, John prayed and Aaron shared a sermon.

Our small group, with Anastasia instead of Pavlo for interpreter, had a wonderful afternoon with Sveta, her 19-year-old daughter Tanya (who will be with us on the bus today) and eventually Irena, Sveta's mother. We started the meal with very tasty borscht and did our best to do the table laden with food justice! We share photos back and forth and some gifts for the family before heading down for the taxi. The time went too quickly as usual. While waiting for the taxi some neighborhoodboys engaged John in a snowball fight.

We caught a nap before dinner - it was pretty hard to eat it on already full stomachs, but we did our best again. Duane Zook, the head of GAiNUSA, spoke. He had just come from Belarus and was able to tell us they have been under heavier oppression than in the past, with official representatives observing them constantly, but that they were able to enter every site so far. Praise God! He also told us about some very encouraging news regarding the spread of humanitarian aid, and consequently the gospel, in other parts of the world that have been very hard to reach. Some "goosebump"" experiences missionaries are having, some evidence of divine protection and some persecutions that include murders.

After that we had a game of Phase 10 - actually finishing a game for the first time this trip.

We will be visiting a boarding school two hours away in Bubromil (Dobromil?) and a boarding school for girls in Bukova.

God's blessings

3rd and 4th Ministry Days

A couple of busy days.

Wednesay night we met up with Tatiana, as mentioned. We had a great evening with her, learned much history and culture and had a wonderful meal at The Seven Piglets. We also had our first borscht of the trip - tasty!

Yesterday morning, we started at a prison for young men age 16 - 20. This is where the boys from the previous day's reform school go to finish their sentence if they "age out", or where (new) criminals of that age start out. Tawni, one of our 12-year-olds, wasn't feeling well, so Jean stayed on the bus with her. John went inside.

The local church visits the prison weekly. We were welcome with open arms. After being instructed not to bring camera or cell phones. Most played it safe and just had there coat.
We met with the group of boys who have less than 6 months in the sentence left. The warden of the prison introduced us and talked about how we had brought things to share with them humanitarian aid, but more importantly the word of God. I believe he is a Christian. Suzan share her testimony of her daughter running away, and being in grave danger, and how God protected her. A former prisoner who now involved in the prison minstry at the church gave his testimony. It was a great visit. Not the hard cold experience I was expecting. Beside for the 5 steel cage door entrances, and the noticable guard presence make sure we didn't get lost, it could have been an boarding school. Neatly made beds with personal touches on them. The prison try to teach the boys life skills.

They have had many donations from churches and groups of various countries, so no specific request except that if a church in America would like to take them on as a special project, they are looking for a sponsor.

The second site was a boarding school for orphans. We were told the children were ages 3 - 6, but we had some boys in our small group that were quite a bit older than that. They also told us they had a 2-year-old there because the child had older siblings there. Five of their talented older students gave a selection of musical offerings before we broke into three smaller groups. We met with 19 boys and ran through the usual presentations. We actually had less time with them than anticipated, so had to cut short the interactions at the end. Nonetheless, Caleb, each one received one of your hugs before we left, as did Karla, our good friend from Idaho, who hadn't been feeling well earlier. She wants me to let you know how much it helped and she appreciates it!

As soon as we got back to the hotel a friend of Oksana's (she is our site coordinator and full-time Ukrainian worker for GAiNUSA/Ukraine For Christ) met us and took us on a somewhat harrowing adventure in his car to get birthday cakes and flowers for Drucie, to celebrate her birthday. We, the cakes and the flowers all made it back intact, and almost in time.

For supper Misha, the pastor of the local church we are primarly working, and his wife were our guests. They have a small church 150 members. They have a very active ministry programs. If fact they view them more important, and are better attended that the church service on Sunday. They visit prisons 4 days a week. They have a school during the week during the week where they teach life skills. They have 18 sewing machines to teach the women sewing. They work with the prisoners to get them housing, and jobs when the get out. Many member of their church are former prisoners. He sold his former business so he could buy a church building. The minstry of his church should spur many other to do much much more in our own congregations.

Today we only had one site, the second being cancelled due to a quarantine for hepatitis. We had a pretty long drive, right to the border with Poland. These out-lying boarding schools generally have greater needs. They showed me their nurse's station and infirmary. They have two rooms with two beds each to isolate in case of infection. A doctor comes out twice a week. They said this is one area that receives adequate funding, including medicines. Usually the school has 76 children, but may of them are still home from the holidays due to the weather, etc. We met with the remaining 20, mostly boys, in a "large" group - more of us than them! We sang a few songs, ourinterpreters led two songs in Ukrainian and two students were finally persuaded to sing for us, too. Drucie shared the gospel using the bracelets, and John prayed with them. I passed out hats from the Salvation Army. In the suitcase they sent with us this year were 40 new hand-knit hats, so we let them each choose one. The facility is very run down. Some of the cement stairways had deep grooves. The team that came to L'viv in 2001 also came to this school. The building they used then has since been condemned. The current living quarters aren't much better, the first team told us. We met the children in a somewhat "newer" building.

They expressed the need for a commercial-grade dryer, about $5000 US. They are using three home washing machines and no dryer for 76 children: their clothing, bedding,etc. We collected $1700 (Steve & Kathy, take note).

On the way home we stopped in a town to distribute the flip books that have More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell on one side and the Gospel of John on the other. Most people accepted it willingly. One older women took great exception to our presence and told us to go back to America. Eugene, the interpreter with us at the time, tried to explain who we were and what we were doing, but she was in more of a shouting than listening mood.

Tonight we are havng an early and light dinner before going to see the "Nutcracker Ballet" at the Opera House. Wea re told just seeing the inside of the buidling is worth the price of admission ($10).

Please continue to pray for the health of the teams. Each day we have had two different people stay back at the hotel due to illness.

God's blessings to all.

2nd Ministry Day

Short message today.

We visited a home for mentally impaired women ages 19 - 92. We gave a large group presentation in their auditorium, our 12-year-old team member Tawni stood up and gave her testimony. She has been a great asset - always willing to do anything asked of her, and do it to the best of her ability.

We ate lunch on the way to the second site, a school for the "social rehabilitation"of boys unable to live at home. It is run like a military camp. We gave another large group presentation. A group from Pasotr Misha's church (we'll learn more about him tomorrow) led some singing. The boys joined right in, having had multiple contacts with local Christian groups. Then we broke down into smaller groups. We met with 11 boys ages 11 - 14 in a classroom. No teacher was present, but they could'nt have been more attentive or better behaved with one present.

Tonight we are meeting up with Tatiana (the woman we met on the plane) to go out for dinner.

First Ministry Day

This morning we visited a baby house for children up to 3 years of age. Initially they were only going to allow 10 people in, but ended up allowing the entire group (minus 1 who wasn't feeling completely well). Our small group was taken to see some children, unfortunately it was nap time, so we were not allowed to interact with them.

There was a blind girl named Marta who was not going to sleep so one of the caretakers, Alexandrea, picked her up and was holding her. Karla was sharing the gospel with the 2 caretakers present, and Marta was distracting Alexandrea so Jean offered to hold her. Jean shared a bunch of Caleb's hugs with her and got a bunch in return. (Caleb is Jean's 6-year-old nephew, he sent a letter with 1000 hugs for us to take with us to Ukraine - we are sharing them, Caleb!)

Our guide then took us back to see if we could see the youngest children, but we didn't quite get to that. Some of the other groups were able to interact with the children. We all left with smiles on our face to be able to spend time with these little ones. Our interpreter said from 2-8 PM everyday some volunteers come to hold and love these children from the organization he helps run in Ukraine.

We had some time before our next site so we stopped at the Greek Catholic Church a block away from our next site. A lady, Daria, was inside brooming the carpet. She said the vacuum had broken, and they couldn't afford a new one a this time. We all chipped in and there should be enough money to buy a new one. She was overflowing with appreciation.

We were still 1 hour early to the next site, but we drove up anyway. This boarding school was for mentally impaired boys and girls. The main building was a barron's palace before WWII. He was deported to Síberia but died on the way. The place fell into ruins, but with the help of a bishop from Switzerland was turned into very nice building for learning life skills: sewing, cooking, a gym, and chapel. Another building had a family room that was renovated and decorated by a single family, so the children could relax and feel like they were in a home, not an orphanage.

We split up into small groups after a lengthy tour (which allowed the children to finish lunch). We spent the rest of the afternoon with them. The school has only been a school for the mentally impaired for a few years, so some of the children are of normal ability. Reggie from our group shared pictures, I shared a few, Jean shared the Gospel, and Toby prayed with them. Several children already knew Jesus. The influence of the church and other Christian groups was evident.

Tonight we had a guest speaker for dinner. He was a former journalist who lost his job in Soviet times because he reported about the social problems of people coming out of prison. He then start helping them. Now he has a 6 hectar piece of land with a shelter for ex-prisoners and a farm. They raise farm animals and produce. They also have a lumber mill and a bakery. They have 37 residents. They have a remodeled restaurant bus, which they take to feed street kids in L'viv with the food they grow on the farm. They are building a shelter for street kids and their families, to help them live together and overcome difficulties. They are also building a retirement home on the farm so the older Ukrainians can pass on life skills to those (ex-prisoners) who grew up without parents. Also as a "hobby" he goes and rescues young women who have been sold into slavery in other countries. This costs about $10,000 for each of the 23 women he has rescued so far. He subsidizes this by selling a video tape to the media. He tapes the rescue secretly for his legal protection.

After that we assembled care packs for the elderly with all the toothpastes, toothbrushes, soap, tissues, etc. the participants has brought along for that process. We assembled 170 packs tonight.

Tommorow another busy day. We have a long bus ride so pray for safe travel. Also pray for health for the teams. Two of our people were down with stomach bugs last night and today.

The bus in Belarus could use prayers also. Many of their sites have been canceled. Pray that God would direct them in their tasks.

God's Blessings

Orientation Day

We both slept well last night right until the alarm woke us up at the appropriate local time. We both seem to have adjusted to the time change - thanks for all the prayers on that score.

We had our first group morning prayer at 7:30, today led by Gary (from Idaho). Breakfast at 8:00 was bufffet-style - all of our Ukrainian favorite and familiar breakfast foods were available.

Then we received some instructions and information in the large group before breaking down in our small groups to practice presentations of our introduction, photographs, the gospel message using the gospel bead bracelets, and prayer.

We had a wonderful three course hot lunch which included a Ukrainian potato soup.

After lunch we met our interpreters! Our small group's interpreter is Pavlo (Paul) Haran. He works with HART (Humanitarian Aid Relief Teams) here in L'viv, an organization supported primarily by Canadians, and some Americans. Among other projects they have 400 children in needy families individually sponsored by donors. His interpretation skills are excellent and will further increase our effectiveness. After practicing all of our presentations with him, he took the two of us off to find a converter (and hot beverages) and we found he also has an excellent sense of humor. The hot chocolate - oh, my! At the House of Potatoes, they melted a chocolate bar with steam and poured it in a cup. It had to be eaten with a spoon. Hope we make it back there again.

We are eagerly looking forward to our first "ministry" day tomorrow, a baby house and another site. Please pray for the team's health and witness, for the sites' children, staff and the openness of the directors.

It's almost time for supper - wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to eat - gotta run!

God's blessings to all.

Safe In L'viv (Lvov)

After being delayed 2 hours leaving Chicago due to bad weather in Warsaw, Poland, we were able to still catch our flight to L''viv which also was delayed by about 2 hours.

We met at nice lady, Tatiana who works for the Ukrainian Catholic church. She is an a
American and has lived in L''vív for 5 years. Her parents are originally from Ukraine. We hope to see her again during the next two weeks.

All our luggage made it safely here. Only one suitcase from the entire group has been delayed. Please pray it shows up.

Suitcases are Packed and In The Car

It is kinda of early to have everything ready, but we (Jean) got started early last weekend.

Our plan for tomorrow is to leave by 10:30 tomorrow. Park our car the Wheeler's and Marianne is going to drive us to the airport. Our Flight Leaves at 5:30 PM and we plan to leave early.

The puppy is the with Jean's parent, and the cat is with John's parents. They were picked up yesterday so we have been missing them. Last night at church we sang, "With the Lord Begin Your Task" We anticipating what God has in store for this trip.

We appreciate your prayers.

Ukraine 2007, Lviv Ukraine

Our tickets have arrived with plan to Leave Jan 27 and return Feb 10th.