Monday, October 15, 2007

Ukraine 12 – Days 15-17 (October 13 to 15)

We had a good weekend. Here are some details:

Saturday

We enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast at Yaraslav’s and Halia’s, although it is not every day we have potatoes, liver and onions, and ham sandwiches in the morning! We had a long chat about their work for the Lord. They are a special couple, and I plan to devote a whole post to them when we get back to Canada. Basically we were trying to brainstorm ways to free them up so that they can spend more time on what their passion is: gossiping the gospel and loving the long-forgotten.

Then we met some of the sisters at the market and bought them all boots for the winter. Little Maria and Wasyl also received new footwear, which they were proud of. In the previous post I said we would be buying 30 pairs. I lied. The 20 pairs of shoes for the kids in the halfway house are being purchased this week instead.

Then Vadym and his wife, Sveta, had us over for lunch. It was obvious that she had gone to piles of work. After this we went back stuffed to Flo’s apartment in L’Viv. It was a treat to see Flo again, and to meet Marcus and Rachel Deloughery who are here from Canada until December. On the way I listened to a sermon by John Piper called “Don’t Waste Your Life”. It was a powerful message that brought a renewed passion to my life for the Lord Jesus to be my chief Joy.

Sunday

It was also a treat to take the Lord’s Supper for the first time since coming to Ukraine. We left at 7:30 AM from Lviv to meet with the assembly in Lutsk for 10:00. It took some faith to participate in prayer in the meeting; you just close your eyes, stand up, start praying and hope that Sergei will soon follow with the interpretation. Sergei is a gifted young man who understands 15 languages. He also has brain cancer, which, thankfully, is now in remission. Please pray for him. Malcolm spoke afterwards, and Sergei did a fantastic job of translating. He not only translated the words into Ukrainian, but also the tone, gestures, and effect. I believe that Bible translators should try to do something of the same.

The Christians have purchased a facility for their headquarters. Lord willing, when it’s all finished it will have a meeting room, dining area, library, storage room for distribution material storage, and living quarters. I look up to Christians with no end of vision.

We then traveled back to Lviv and had a meeting there. Marcus graciously let me hog most of the time seeing as it was my last chance to speak in Lviv.

Monday

We spent the morning at Flo’s. Malcolm kept us entertained while we waited for Vadym to come from Ivano. A couple of times we were doubled over in laughter. One has to laugh to survive in this land. Helen (the other Helen) joined us for lunch. We have enjoyed our fellowship with the other Christian workers every single time we’ve been together.

After lunch Vadym drove us back to Ivano, where we will stay until Thursday, DV. The drive was a long one due to some lengthy construction hold ups.

As you can see, we didn’t accomplish a whole lot today. But time was spent in discussing plans for the upcoming week, and we trust we will be well rested to carry them out in the strength of the Lord.

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