Ukraine 14 – Day 19 (October 17)

On our last leg
Tomorrow is our last day in Ivano Frankivsk. We go back to Lviv tomorrow afternoon. Friday is our last day in Ukraine as we fly out in the afternoon to Vienna. It’s hard to believe that our three weeks here are almost over. Ukraine was a culture shock coming from Canada. Canada will be a culture shock coming from Ukraine.

Update on things mentioned before
A couple of great things have happened that we want to share with you. Both of them have nothing to do with us and everything to do with the Lord and with his people. First, a Christian kindly gave money so that Flo could give the rest of the kids in the orphanage in Loparton jackets. The second thing involves the orphanage in Yassapowich. The three windows have been purchased and installed, and a large amount of money has been given to put in proper toilets and washing facilities. Lord willing, this work should be done in the near future. The Lord is good!

Short update on today
This morning we had a delicious breakfast at Yaraslav’s and Halia’s. If you can call it breakfast. We were served chicken breasts and potatoes, among other things. Apparently Yaraslav had had a lot of chest pains going home after the meeting last night. He was just praying that he would make it through the hour-long bus ride home. Thankfully he did. Yaraslav needs our prayers.

I won’t mention all the details of the day, but we did go back to the orphanage in Yuremcha (close to the Carpathian mountains) to deliver some stationary as we had promised. While we were in the area we stopped to admire a beautiful waterfall and to purchase some gifts for family and friends back home.

We were also able to buy a fridge for Luba, and we visited a woman who faithfully comes to the meetings named Marica (yes, there are two Marica’s). She is clinically blind and has to look after her young son, who is an invalid, and her 13 year-old daughter, who also has health problems.

As I type this Helen is packing our suitcase for the umpteenth time this trip! She will not be able to fit everything into it. There are friendships, memories, and experiences that will have to stay behind. There are also some juicy secrets about Malcolm, but don’t worry, we’ll find a way to bring these home somehow! As the saying goes, what happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine!