Ukraine 10 – Day 13 (October 11)

We sure had an interesting day today. We got to see the Carpathian Mountains, but more on that later. On the way there, we stopped at an orphanage in Yuremcha. The director came across as unwelcoming at first. Sadly, he has had bad experiences with other groups coming with aid. We trust they were not claiming to be Christian groups, but whoever they were, they must have really made a mess of it to put off an orphanage in Ukraine.

The longer our stay, the warmer the director. One thing he said was quite interesting: the kids expect more than aid groups just coming in, dropping off a bunch of clothes, and clearing out. They want a presentation and some interaction. We gave them both. The Lord helped me to do my rope trick and speak to them, and Malcolm showed them the smallest Bible in the world (ca. 3 cm x 3 cm on one layer of microfiche). The 80 or so kids present listened attentively and the interaction was nice. We would love to visit them again. Just to solidify our relationship, we gave the director an extra special Canada pin for his jacket. He was mighty proud of it!

Then we went up to a massive ski resort in the Carpathians. 50 km of trails and 15 chair lifts. One of the owners of the place happens to be Vadym’s friend, so he gave us a ride up one of the lifts. The scenery was stunning. The resort evidently has aggressive plans. The amount of infrastructure going up is mind-boggling. One project is a five level parkade. Hmm, I wonder if they could use a Project Coordinator up there. Work colleagues: don't tell the boss, but I might just get my resume translated into Ukrainian!

We had our first meeting in Ivano tonight. It was supposed to start at 5:00, but we never got there until 5:30 despite Vadym’s fast driving. It was a good meeting nonetheless and the people were very forgiving. I spoke first, but not without struggles, and then Malcolm gave a nice talk. It’s easy to see that the people love Malcolm from previous years!

Helen says that this post is too short—it’s not even worth people reading it, she says. Actually I made that up. And yes, Helen will be posting again soon, I hope.
That’s all for tonight folks. Time for bed.