Choir Trip to Belarussia
When we first arrived Pastor Bandura and his wife, Anya, were on a choir trip with the Youth Choir and Youth Minister, Vadim Yakim. The drive from Odessa to their destination was to take over 12 hours, so they decided to leave at 7:30 pm on Thursday night. Driving in teams they made the Ukraine border in good time only to be detained there for 4 hours. Upon crossing the border (a matter of 50 feet) they were detained on the other side for 2 hours. It seems their passports are not barcoded and so the border guards had to type, with one finger, each person's identification information and wait for the response from Kiev. Then, on the opposite side, they endured this again. So now you know why the first Russian word they taught John in 1990 was the word for Patience! The group returned home at 8pm on Monday after being on the road since 2:30am - and these are not super highways either. They were in great spirits.
While they were away John and I got the joy of taking 29 of the children from Grace Shelter and 8 adults out for the holiday. First we went on a boat tour of the Odessa Harbor, then we ate lunch at a Ukrainian cafeteria called the Zharky Parky. After lunch the 2 to 5 year olds went home to nap and we took the rest of the older kids to the ice skating rink for two hours. No...we didn't skate, but did take wonderful pictures we hope to upload now that the Internet connection is on in our apartment. We usually go to the water park to swim but it is too cold now for the pools to open. The amusement park is moving from one location to the other, so that was ruled out this year, too. However, we thought the Director of the Shelter was clever in coming up with something the children have not been able to do for quite a while and they had a great time.
Tonight we attended a Bible Study class. I think I understood about 20 words out of the hour since everyone spoke so fast. However, we had our English/Russian Bible with us and were able to find the text they were studying which was Hebrews Chapter 9. John "gave greetings" to the group of 42 from Walnut Hills Baptist Church and Dr. Neal. They all spoke well of the Joshua Team's visit last September and want everyone to come back to visit. At the end we all stood an prayed for each church.
Please be in prayer for our Brothers and Sisters here. The worldwide economic situation has hit them hard, too. They also have family in the US and several have told us that their family members have lost jobs and homes in the States, so that support has also impacted them.
Special note to John Thompson: On Sunday the choir sang, "In the Name of Jesus" and it was a fantastic arrangement from the music the Team brought last fall. The harmony and phrasing was perfect even though the words are much longer than ours! We wish we had recorded it for our choir to hear it sung in another language. It made us realize just how beautiful that piece of music is to the heart.
Stay tuned.......
While they were away John and I got the joy of taking 29 of the children from Grace Shelter and 8 adults out for the holiday. First we went on a boat tour of the Odessa Harbor, then we ate lunch at a Ukrainian cafeteria called the Zharky Parky. After lunch the 2 to 5 year olds went home to nap and we took the rest of the older kids to the ice skating rink for two hours. No...we didn't skate, but did take wonderful pictures we hope to upload now that the Internet connection is on in our apartment. We usually go to the water park to swim but it is too cold now for the pools to open. The amusement park is moving from one location to the other, so that was ruled out this year, too. However, we thought the Director of the Shelter was clever in coming up with something the children have not been able to do for quite a while and they had a great time.
Tonight we attended a Bible Study class. I think I understood about 20 words out of the hour since everyone spoke so fast. However, we had our English/Russian Bible with us and were able to find the text they were studying which was Hebrews Chapter 9. John "gave greetings" to the group of 42 from Walnut Hills Baptist Church and Dr. Neal. They all spoke well of the Joshua Team's visit last September and want everyone to come back to visit. At the end we all stood an prayed for each church.
Please be in prayer for our Brothers and Sisters here. The worldwide economic situation has hit them hard, too. They also have family in the US and several have told us that their family members have lost jobs and homes in the States, so that support has also impacted them.
Special note to John Thompson: On Sunday the choir sang, "In the Name of Jesus" and it was a fantastic arrangement from the music the Team brought last fall. The harmony and phrasing was perfect even though the words are much longer than ours! We wish we had recorded it for our choir to hear it sung in another language. It made us realize just how beautiful that piece of music is to the heart.
Stay tuned.......
posted by K. J. Proctor at
3:16 PM
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