All is well in Ukraine aside from not speaking the language most days are good. I have been working at the church and have jumped right in. We have a medical clinic taking place the first week in June for the orphans in the community, I have been working on that to schedule the families. That same week I will begin an intense language program to learn some Russian, I need to get past Good morning how are you? That will only take me so far. It is amazing just how much I do understand even though I do not speak the language.
I am also working on the VBS program for the end of June. We are inviting about 50 orphans from the area around the church. There is a group coming from Asheville to participate in the VBS program. I am very excited to be working on this program with the American group and the Ukrainian group together.
Yesterday I was asked to sublease an apartment about 4 blocks from the church it was a direct answer to prayer. The couple is and American couple headed back to the states for 8 months and asked if i would stay at their place, it was such a blessing. Most of the apartments I have looked at all three were very small and expensive!
I also have experienced all forms of public transportation: the trolley bus, the maschutka, the metro all are very crowded but what do you expect from a city of 7 million people, I would have to say I prefer the metro over the other two. It is a guessing game for me right now as far as where I am headed and what metro or trolley to take, I will learn soon enough. It is difficult when you cannot read the signs to know where you are headed :)
Last week we met with a mayor of a town about 120 km outside of Kiev, we plan to have another orphanage there. It would be nice to have a facility closer to where I am living.
The past two weeks I have spent one on one with an orphan named Gela. She is 11 and a beautiful young lady. My heart aches for her as she is being sent back to the orphanage tomorrow. I do not want her to go and it brings tears to my eyes to think of sending back there as she does not want to go either. The orphanage is 12 hours away so she will go by train in the morning. She is an amazing little girl, it is hard to understand why one would leave her. Her mother died a year ago and her father is in Russia somewhere. Her grandmother is around but very old - her older brother lives with the grandmother. He is a troubled child. Gela told me yesterday she used to buy alcohol for her mother before she went to live at the orphanage it is very sad. She came to stay with Nickolay and Luda for a bit where she and I have shared a room for the last two weeks. I have bonded with her and I hate to see her go back, I hope she will be adopted soon. She is such a smart beautiful girl. I cannot imagine being so young and so alone in this world. She loves affection, holding hands and hugs. She loves to eat too. She can speak a bit of english and plays any instrument she picks up. She loves to share and help around the house too. What a great girl she is, I will miss her more than I can express in words.
I am also working on the VBS program for the end of June. We are inviting about 50 orphans from the area around the church. There is a group coming from Asheville to participate in the VBS program. I am very excited to be working on this program with the American group and the Ukrainian group together.
Yesterday I was asked to sublease an apartment about 4 blocks from the church it was a direct answer to prayer. The couple is and American couple headed back to the states for 8 months and asked if i would stay at their place, it was such a blessing. Most of the apartments I have looked at all three were very small and expensive!
I also have experienced all forms of public transportation: the trolley bus, the maschutka, the metro all are very crowded but what do you expect from a city of 7 million people, I would have to say I prefer the metro over the other two. It is a guessing game for me right now as far as where I am headed and what metro or trolley to take, I will learn soon enough. It is difficult when you cannot read the signs to know where you are headed :)
Last week we met with a mayor of a town about 120 km outside of Kiev, we plan to have another orphanage there. It would be nice to have a facility closer to where I am living.
The past two weeks I have spent one on one with an orphan named Gela. She is 11 and a beautiful young lady. My heart aches for her as she is being sent back to the orphanage tomorrow. I do not want her to go and it brings tears to my eyes to think of sending back there as she does not want to go either. The orphanage is 12 hours away so she will go by train in the morning. She is an amazing little girl, it is hard to understand why one would leave her. Her mother died a year ago and her father is in Russia somewhere. Her grandmother is around but very old - her older brother lives with the grandmother. He is a troubled child. Gela told me yesterday she used to buy alcohol for her mother before she went to live at the orphanage it is very sad. She came to stay with Nickolay and Luda for a bit where she and I have shared a room for the last two weeks. I have bonded with her and I hate to see her go back, I hope she will be adopted soon. She is such a smart beautiful girl. I cannot imagine being so young and so alone in this world. She loves affection, holding hands and hugs. She loves to eat too. She can speak a bit of english and plays any instrument she picks up. She loves to share and help around the house too. What a great girl she is, I will miss her more than I can express in words.
No comments:
Post a Comment