Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The work STILL continues.

We have not forgotten the work we left behind, as the used and new clothing still comes in for us to pack and send. 10 more boxes arrived last week in Ivano Frankivsk. Our contact man, Vadym keeps in touch with us by e-mail as well as phone.

As I think many would know, Vadym and his wife Svetlana and daughter Amelia, were living with Svetlana's parents because their apartment was sold from under them for an exhorbitant price. They were living in one bedroom and sharing the kitchen and bathroom. I am glad to say they now have found an apartment with 2 bedrooms and should be in, after de-bugging it, by this weekend Dec 5 or 6.



I am glad to say that a small group of the people who were meeting with us when we were there, are now meeting each week for a Bible study. I send Vadym a chapter to read and give him some pointers and he leads the meeting. To say the least of it, this makes us very happy to know they are interested to carry on the meetings.



We don't know of any one going over to Ukraine before the Spring. I am looking at going in the Fall, God willing.



A number of brethren have been very generous in helping Vadym to purchase an auto diagnostic machine to use in his garage, as he is now working for himself. He no longer works for the Audi dealer, as they are going out of business in Ivano and so he is getting much of the service work that they would have done.



We are glad that we were able to help so many children with much needed shoes and boots while there. Vadym just got a call from one orphanage we visited just before we left, asking whether we were able to supply their children with shoes. We had visited them and got their shoe sizes but had not got the shoes for them before leaving. As funds become available, we will get Vadym to buy their shoes.



Thank you for reading this and continuing to pray for this work.



Yours serving the Greatest of Masters.



Malcolm and Howard.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Report #28, Nov 6

Last report 28 for Nov 6th 08.

We were up in good time as we had to go to Lopartin which is well over an
hour away. There was a great need for shoes in this orphanage of 134
children from 6 to 18. Flo had sent 3 boxes of runners and dress shoes over
and so we were taking these out there with supplies as well. This means a
visit to a wholesale distributor close to our apartment. I wish you could
see the place. It reminds me of a picture out of Charles Dickens era, in an
old English city. I suppose the buildings were once a Russian built
factory, tall cold and in need of repair and windows. There seems to be
every type of business being carried out there from heavy metal sheeting to
light bulb storage, what a place. We get the cleaning supplies and then go
up two long staircases to pay for them. Nothing is easy in these places but
is cheaper than a supermarket.

We get some soap and shampoo and head off with two extra guests, Tania
Ruslans wife and Stacia Flo's niece. We have royal greeting from the
children who recognize us from previous visits. What a change to this
facility. The Government has built them a lovely new dormitory building and
attached it to the school, complete with new washroom facilities. This is
the school that we visited many years ago that had over 120 children and one
bath tub. Christians in North America built them a shower house and flush
toilets that are still in use.

We gathered the children in the Assistant Administrators office and brought
the children in one class at a time. The ladies fitted them with shoes but
we were still short 40 pairs of large ones for the bigger kids. Flo will get
them from the market. They then gathered in the auditorium and Pastor Pratt
brought the message first on the story of David and Goliath. Deacon Stanley
then closed with a message on the gift that Jesus wants them all to have. We
gave out some candy and book marks from Tacoma WA, with a gospel message on
them. They were well received. What was really great to hear was the whole
school recite John 3:16. We then had a lunch in the office and headed back
home.

After supper it is time to pack once again, ready to leave for Canada.

I trust these ramblings have been of interest to some and will help you to
know how to pray for this part of the Ukraine. We will be happy to show
pictures and speak of the work more fully if we are in your area and you
would like that.

Your brothers in the service of the Best of Masters.

Malcolm and Howard.

Report #27, Nov 5

Report 27 for Wednesday Nov 5th.

Howard wanted an early breakfast, so that he could go to Volodia's mother
Ola, who gives good haircuts. So forget about sleeping in a little later, it
was crepes at 8am. I was not going so stayed and when Ruslan arrived, we
headed out to get supplies for the orphanage in Yosopowich and also for the
ex- doctor who carves for a living and has 6 children. We also went to the
Bible Society and picked up some full bibles to be used in the meetings in
Ivano. People often have their own bibles but do not bring then to meeting.
Either because some come from work to meeting but others say they don't want
to get them dirty or wet???

After picking Howard up we headed for the highway once more. The traffic was
horrendous and we don't know why. It took us a good half hour to get clear
of the city.

The things that we see as we travel really do not seem to make sense at
times. New Mercedes vying with horses and carts; large transport trucks from
all over Europe weaving through herds of cattle and flocks of geese; a man
leading his cow out to the pasture talking on his cell phone. Large 3 story
new homes, built down a mud lane among squalid 130 year old cottages. So
much does not make sense.

We arrived at Yosopowich and were welcomed once again by the administrator
and staff. The children were taking their nap; it is so sweet to see them
all soundly sleeping in their clean neat little beds.
The administrator has said that if it were not for Flo and those from
Canada, the orphanage might well have been closed down as uninhabitable by
now. The Christians in Canada and the USA have sent funds to install all new
windows, repair the roof and ceiling, and install a complete new hot and
cold water system, plus a complete renovation of the wash room and bathroom.
Stainless steel sinks were also purchased for the kitchen. The facility also
houses a day care in the same building, under the same administrator, and is
having its washroom renovated as I write. The sad thing about this home is
that it is not supported by the government at all, not even paying for food.
It is "supported", for use of a better word, by the village of Yosopowich
but serves the surrounding area. Most of the staff are not paid but seem to
really love and care for the children.

We left there, after being served a hot lunch, and headed for the city of
Stri. This is where Mahilo and his wife and 6 children live in 2 rooms.
Don't ask us how they sleep the 2 teen age girls and 4 boys, one of which is
mentally challenged and mother and father. The rooms, one is the kitchen and
the other for everything else, has no running water or bathroom. The water
comes from a pump outside and there is an outhouse. No sink and no furnace
only a wood stove. The house is also infected with cockroaches, which cannot
be got rid of until the walls are repaired. Mahilo is 50 years old and can
not get a job in any medical facility because he is too old, so he does wood
carvings and sells them in the market, hopefully. Without a doubt, this is
one of the saddest homes we visit. He needs a different apartment but all he
makes goes on feeding the children and medication for his retarded son. His
situation is desperate but no one cares except those of us who visit him and
take some much needed food and clothing. We had a good opportunity to speak
to him and three of the children who were home about the fact that Jesus
cares about them all. They listened well and said that they read the New
Testament together each day.

We came home and Flo is spending time sorting out shoes to take out to
Lopartin orphanage tomorrow.

All for now, God bless you all for praying for the work here.

Malcolm and Howard.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Report #26, Nov 4

Report 26 for Tuesday Nov 4th

Another day of thick fog but not too cold, just damp.

We had planned to go and see a family that was new to me but Howard had
visited several times in the past. The wife Maria, was a nurse with Tania,
Ruslan's wife. We had to travel about an hour and the traffic was terrible
today for some reason. Driving in Ukraine has to be experienced to be
understood. Well we were in the middle of nowhere when Ruslan turned into
this narrow lane with high sandy sides on it, down into this little
community of about 4 houses that looked as if they all touched. They all
seemed to have a little farm yard of their own with ducks and chickens all
over the place. The house where Maria and her husband Uri lived was the last
house. It was Uri's mother's house and did not look at all inviting from the
outside; however, once we got inside it was very neat and clean with plenty
of carpets on the floor and walls.

It was not long before their 10 or 11 year old daughter Bojana (or something
like that) came in, after walking the 2 kilometers home from school. This
home had a very sad experience a few years ago, when their son was killed on
the road near their home. Flo says it took a long time for them to get over
the grieving process. The fact that they are not Christians yet, didn't
help, I suppose.

We visited and then Maria set the table and brought out the chicken soup,
perogies, and a plate of fried ham and sausage. After this there was tea or
coffee and a huge plate of home made cakes. Uri works at a meat processing
plant as a plant engineer. After dinner we got into a good conversation with
the gospel and also explained a 2-roads chart. They all listened very well
and made good comments. We can only hope that the Light of the gospel will
shine into their hearts.

We left for home loaded with poppy-seed cake and a jug of milk and with many
hugs and kisses. (A Ukrainian tradition, you understand???)

We came home and prepared for meeting tonight and then flaked out for an
hour (after preparing of course). We had a nice number come for our last
meeting here and felt the Lord's blessing on the messages.

Lord willing we are heading out again tomorrow,

Love to all.
Malcolm and Howard.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Report #25, Nov 3

Report 25 for Monday Nov. 3 08

When we got up today we could not see the ground from our 4th floor flat
because of thick fog. I should have mentioned that there is still no heat in
any of the apartment blocks, the city has not turned on the heat. It comes
from a central heating plant and it strictly under the control of the city.
Thankfully we do have hot water. We don't know how this works as the water
is heated by the same central city plant, there must be two pipes.
Complicated ex-Russian technology!!!

We were going to visit a mentally challenged boys orphanage named Stari
Rosdil (?spelling). I had been there possibly 3 years ago and remembered it
was an old monastery. When we pulled on to the yard we found it all dug up
as they were putting in new heating pipes. Ruslan called me to see something
and I was shocked to see a sack of human bones as well as others lying on
the pile of dirt and laying in the trench. We talked with the director who
said they had no record of the area ever being a cemetery but as the
monastery had operated until 1685, it was anybodies guess whose bones they
were. Quite weird.!! We gave the director the laundry supplies, pampers for
the bedridden boys as well as a roll of rubber sheeting for the beds, two
soccer balls and a volley ball.

We went to the Vernasage outdoor market for Howard to shop for a couple of
gifts and headed home for a late lunch. 10 boxes had arrived from Canada and
so Flo and her niece Stacia began emptying them and sorting them while I
write this report and stay out of the way!

All for now, not too many more as we head home on Friday.
In Him.

Malcolm and Howard.

Report #24, Nov 2

Report 24 for Sunday Nov 2

We woke to another nice day and stayed home and prepared for the meeting at
Noon. We were very happy to see a full room of 18 people. We were happy to
see a lady Natalia, with her 2 boys. As far as we know she is not saved but
very interested. Her husband deserted her and left her with 2 little boys.
She is a teacher and lives in a village. She is very poor as her husband
stripped the apartment when he left. Just another one of the local heroes!!!

After we had had lunch we headed out to visit a gypsy village about an hour
away. I had seen pictures of this group before but was not prepared for what
I saw in reality. They live on an abandoned collective farm, in one of the
animal or machinery barns. They have electricity but no water or sewer.
There were 12 families but about 40 or so people. There usually more but
some had moved for the winter. They all seemed very happy to see us,
probably because they knew we had produce for them. There were at least two
women with babies and many young children and teenagers. One of the young
women, who looked no more than 20, asked me to pray for her 7 day old baby
she was holding, which I did. I don't think it was sick, it was just that
she wanted her baby prayed for. This was her seventh child?? I was asked to
speak to them before we gave them their produce and I told them how Jesus
moved among people just like them, who the people did not like and how he
loved them enough to die for them. They listened solemnly and seemed to
understand the message. None of the children and probably none of the adults
have been to school and so cannot read. How sad to see these unwanted people
who Christ died for. After many pictures we left them with the food,
distributed to each family. The clothing was left with a Christian man who
met us there and gave out the clothing as needed after we left.

We drove back in the dark, past horses and carts with no lights or
reflectors, the same with cyclists. We had to brake hard to miss a drunken
man crossing a dark road in the country. It is little wonder there are so
many memorial crosses and flowers all along these roads.

We felt this was a profitable day and went to bed "weary but glad".

In Him

Malcolm and Howard.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Report #22, Oct 31

Report 22 Friday Oct 31

Another lovely warm day as we headed out at 8am for breakfast. I'll vouch
you have never had this for breakfast; mashed potatoes and rabbit stew with
mushroom gravy?? How come, you say? A "sister" who comes to the meeting
regularly, we think she is saved, always invites us to her humble (to say
the least) cottage for rabbit stew. Without a doubt it is one of the
tastiest meals we have. She raises the rabbits and kills them herself. She
had prepared it for the night before but we were too full and too tired to
go after the lunch with the meeting folks, so she said come to breakfast, so
we did.

We had some last minute visiting to do as well as get some money from the
debit machines.( for those wondering if I was able to get my account
corrected- yes the money was back into my a/c the next day.) Poor Howard
went to the bank machine inside the bank he has always gone to and it
declined his card. No explanation just declined. So of we walk to find a
different bank and he tried it and got twice what he had asked for the first
time. These banks are weird over here; you are never sure whether you will
get what you ask for.

We went to visit Dana and Ivan in their apartment. Ivan is home again and
was out to meeting since being away at an alcohol treatment centre. We asked
how they were doing and the sad story goes on and on about there disabled
and sick family. Help had been given them to clear off a bank debt for
hospital treatment for one son and he has been back in again for surgery.
They have not been able to pay their gas bill and now owe 7,000R or about
over $1,500.00. They never seem to be able to get ahead. We also looked and
took pictures of their bathroom, toilet and kitchen and it is serious need
of repair, but who has money for that? What is so sad is that most of their
problem stems from the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the fact Ivan was sent
to clean it up with no protection from radiation.

We then took some running shoes to the Half Way House orphanage and gave
them out to the children. We had a nice opportunity to speak to them and the
staff. This is a very difficult home to work in and the lady administrator
spent some time with us telling us of some of the cases she has and has had.
We saw a good looking girl come in late to the meeting who the police had
taken off the street and a group of pimps. She didn't want to be there and
the pimps had already threatened the administrator and her young son. What a
sad life some of these children have lived. One boy was so dirty, he had
lost all his hair and his scalp was full of lice holes. When they began to
apply a special ointment the lice would come out and die. She said that they
got him a good home and he is now a smart, good looking business man.

We went home to get ready for our last meeting and were glad to see the
Meeting Room filled again. Lots of hugs and good byes, plus more bread and
gifts; these people give out of their poverty. We talked about them
continuing the meetings at least once a month and they agreed that they
would do that and that Vadym would head up the meeting with either help from
me or from a good commentary. We can only pray they will do this. We spent
the evening with Vadym and Sveta, sorting out expenses and going for out
last pizza meal.
All for now,
Malcolm and Howard

Report #21, Oct 30

Report 21 Thursday Oct. 30

We did not get up too swiftly this morning, even though we expected Vadym
between 8:30 and 9am as we were going a long way to an orphanage new to us.
To our utter amazement, Vadym arrived at 8:25 and we weren't ready. Shame on
us!!

We were on our way by 8:40 and what a trip. Right in to the Carpathian
Mountains, past ski resorts and through little villages perched on hill tops
and in valleys. As we got closer to our destination we began to see some of
the devastation the floods of last July had caused. Mile after mile of road
repair; where the side of the road had been washed away. Some of the most
modern equipment we have ever seen in Ukraine was being used to replace
large bridges that had been washed away.

We eventually arrived at Verkhovina and found the school. We found it was
more than an orphanage; it was also a boarding school for children who lived
too far into the mountains to go to school daily so boarded here. We met
with the Administrator, Oxana. She told that she had orphans and half
orphans as well as children from "normal" families that were far from
normal, some with large numbers of children who were not looked after at all
well. There were 405 or so children in the school. The school was 50 years
old and the building in very bad need of repair. It was massive but was
heated by wood boilers as the gas had never been brought in, even though it
was just over the hill not far away. The children were all away for mid term
break so we didn't meet any of them but left what bibles we had with Oxana.

The military were using one of the dormitories and the grounds as they were
helping with the repairs to the roads and infrastructure in the area. They
had two big tents on the grounds with a portable wood fired kitchen, for
cooking food. All the latest technology!!

We were given a tour of the dormitories as well, and these were in a state
of repair but the beds and bedding were terrible. The mattresses were
stained and thin on old sagging beds, 25-30 in a room. We are going to send
them sheets but there is a great need for beds and mattresses and we should
really help with this when we can. Howard and I were so impressed with the
area and the number of schools that we passed on the way up, that we would
like to spend some time up in that area if we ever come back. Oxana was
particularly interested in us coming back again. We returned a different way
and came through even more devastation from the raging river.

We arrived in time for meeting and had a full house again. After the meeting
we had a little lunch for everyone as a going away party, even though they
want another meeting tomorrow evening. We felt the day was well spent in
spite of the long trip and no children, the contact was profitable. All for
now.
God bless. Malcolm and Howard.

Report #20, Oct 29

Report 20 Wednesday 29 Oct.

We were greeted by another sunny morning and quite a bit warmer when we went
outside. One of the things we have seen several times through our window is
the garbage truck, or should I say tractor and cart!! That right, complete
with a lady in the wagon treading the bags of garbage down. By the time it
reaches our house it is piled high on the wagon. There are no garbage bins
on this street so the garbage is just thrown on the curb.

Well we wanted to start earlier this morning but got out of town about 9:30
-10am We had a long trip to a new "orphanage" so we thought. After reaching
the mountains with most spectacular views, we started on this terrible road
to find this "orphanage". We should have walked the last part of the road,
as it had obviously been washed out by the raging water that caused all the
floods this summer. What we found was a gorgeous building sitting on the
edge of the forest and absolutely no one home?? Vadym phoned the man who was
the contact person and he was in the village below and said he would get
someone to bring him up. After about 15 minutes this poor old car brought
him and his wife up the hill. The man, whose name we have forgotten, was a
delightful man who was the manager of what we found to be, a camp for
underprivileged children that runs all summer and for week ends in the fall
and winter. We were given a tour of what could well rate as a 5 star resort
building. It had been a Pioneer Camp in Communist times and had then been
left to decay. When the present group took it over it did not even have a
roof. It is now 3 stories with a full basement. Everything is made of wood
and is perfect, not one thing not finished or of good quality. We found out
that it has been a joint venture of many organizations and sponsors. We
quizzed him as to the religious affiliation and it is not meant to promote
any particular religion. Groups of children are brought to camp by their own
staff and can engage in whatever is for the good of the children in their
care. The reason we had been asked to visit is the problem they are facing
with their gas stoves. They have got two but have been told that the law
says that an institution cannot have gas stoves, they must use electric
ones. There are coming any day to plug the gas line to the stoves. Well we
could not see buying a commercial cooker but told him that we did have
someone who we were buying a gas stove for and may be we could have one of
his (one was brand new) and get him an electric one. He felt it would be
good but had to get the permission of the Administration, so we will see. He
was thrilled to receive a bundle of John 3:16's as well as some bundles of
New Testaments. He said we would be welcome any time to come and speak or
even spend time there. We will have to see.

We got home in time to pick up two ladies and go to see the boy who was
burned and is in hospital. We were very impressed with the hospital, built
for Ukraine by Germany and very modern. We found the 15 year old with burns
to all his chest and two arms and one hand. He was burning trash at the
service station where he works part time and had spilt gasoline on the front
of his sweater, some time earlier and it ignited, sticking his muscle shirt
to his body. Thankfully, none of his face was burned. He seemed quite
depressed. He has no money, his father is mentally unable to provide since
returning from the war in Afghanistan and his mother cannot provide, We were
able to speak a word in the gospel and we left him reading the tracts and we
also left help for his medical costs.

We took a break with Vadym while he changed the fuel pump on his car and we
can now run on petrol as well as propane. We went home for a nap before
going out for a visit and supper and Oleg and Ola's, our old friends from
Solidarity. We had a good visit and came home ready for bed.

Good night and God bless.

Malcolm and Howard.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Report #19, Oct 28

Report 19 Tuesday 28th Oct.

We woke to a lovely sunny morning but found there was still a cool wind.

We planned to go to the orphanage we took winter boots to last week and take the boots we had changed for sizes to fit the smaller children. We needed 9 pairs of smaller ones that the wholesaler did not have so headed for the market to find some at the right price.

After almost 2 hours of trekking through the 3-4ft wide isles we found the sizes we needed, what a frustrating search but as last we were on our way, so we thought??

Vadym’s care runs on propane and needs to be filled up every time we leave town as there is no propane in villages if we should need any. There is a city propane facility where the propane is half the price at other service stations. The only problem is the 14 or fifteen vehicle line ups waiting for a spot to fill up. Well I predicted a 45 minute wait and was not far wrong with the 50 minute wait we had. By this time we both felt it was too late to go to the orphanage as it was 1 hour away and we had meeting at 5pm. Any way Vadym was sure he could do it so off we went.

To say the least, it was a fast ride but we made it in about 50 minutes only to find that all the children had walked to the forest for a picnic!!! Well we met with administrator and gave her the boots. We then went to the old folks home where we had left the box of glasses for them to fit some of the old people who were not in the day we went. We headed home at a more reasonable pace in nice time for the meeting at 5pm.

We were met with several ladies who wanted to ask us for help before the meeting started. One lady Maria had a sad story about a teenager who was in school with her son and worked part time at a service station. We don’t know the circumstances but he got severely burned while working. He must have been alone as he tried to get a taxi to take him to hospital but none would take him because he had no money. No ambulance was available so he walked across town to a hospital. They would not take him because he had no money so he walked to another one that has taken him in but now needs money.

His class is collecting money as he has no father. We plan to go to the hospital Wed. afternoon.

Another lady had to go to the doctor with a heart problem and did not have the 30R for her medication. 35R is about $7.00 Canadian???

Well the meeting went well with about 20 out and a new lady who was a reporter for a Christian newspaper. She not only took notes but took pictures during the meeting too.

She is probably a Christian and said she would be back on Thursday.

Marika’s mother gave us two freshly baked loaves of bread she had baked, so we gave Vadym one and came home to have a cup of soup and ham sandwiches.

Thus goes the hardships of the mission field!!

All for now, Malcolm and Howard.

Report #18, Oct 27

Report 18 Monday Oct. 27 08

Monday dawned cold and foggy. They say it froze and some of the apartments don’t have heat on yet.

Well for the first time Vadym was here before the time we had asked and Howard had gone for a walk. We only waited about 5 minutes and he came sauntering down the street.

We had 3 people to visit this morning and went to see them all. The first is a 25 year old young lady who is saved and baptized but is not well at present and unable to come out to meeting; we knew that there was something wrong with the lady but got more details from her mother today. 5 years ago she was attacked by an old man and hit on the head with a bottle, she was then sexually assaulted. She had head injuries and has not been right since. What some people with have to face in a coming day.

We left some help for medication and further treatment.

Next we visited on old friend Maria; we have visited for years who is blind though not totally. She attends all of the meetings and we believe is saved but when questioned, said she was not ready to be baptized yet. At last her home has sewer and water for the first time ever and her brother is doing a good job at renovating her home.

It was noon by now and so we went to a little café we have come to appreciate and had Pilmeny and soup. It was a cold morning and we needed something warm after visiting in unheated homes.

We visited with our banker for a few minutes; his bank is next to the café, to get some receipts for the rent on the Meeting Room. The bank owns the building the room is in.

He is an amazing young man of 28 who manages one of the biggest banks in Lviv plus some in smaller towns. Andre is one of the most personal men we have met in Ukraine and is not at all proud of his accomplishments. His bank is brand new and only opened a year ago, it is state of the art in every degree.

We then went to visit our last lady who is invalided due to a spinal problem. She has had 5 operations in one year but is not cured yet. She is going in for another operation as soon as she can raise the money!!! Oh Ukraine, how sad is your medical system!!!

We had not met her before but she was a delightful lady. We offered her a new testament but she said she did not need one and showed us the Bible that she reads all the time. She may well be a believer, though obviously by the icons and pictures, still wrapped up in the church.

One of the saved ladies that come to meeting visits and looks after the lady and was there while we were there. Well she started setting the table and you guessed it, had a full meal ready for us. Lovely mashed potatoes with mushrooms and perogies, plus hot tea.

Well we could not offend and stuffed down as many as we could. These people are so kind.

We had some thing to buy so went to a very large store, browsed but then bought nothing. Something strange happened while there. I needed some Rhivney and so went to make my first withdrawal this trip. The machine said it had a problem processing my transaction. I tried with a lower amount and it said I had exceeded my limit, so I left it to try tomorrow.

After we got home, my wife phoned to talk and then told me I had with drawn $350.+ out of our account ???? I will have to go to the machine tomorrow and find a phone # and hopefully find an answer. Please pray if you think of it.

All for now. God bless you all.

Malcolm and Howard.

Report #17, Oct 26

Report 17 Sunday Oct 26th

It’s strange not getting ready to go to the Breaking of Bread Meeting but the nearest Assembly is almost 5 hours away in Lutsk. We had a time of listening to a cd of Mr. Jack Hunter, what a blessing it is to have his messages available today.

We left the house after having a sandwich after noon and visited a man and his mother and then we prepared for the meeting this afternoon. We were happy to see a full meeting room with only a couple of empty chairs. Helene the lady with the crippled girl was out for the second time with a lady obviously her friend. The husband of one of the sisters, who we visited the other day and needs kidney surgery, was also out to what we think was his first gospel meeting. He listened very well.

We plan to have meetings on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, as we leave to go back to Ivano on Saturday. We hope to have a baptism on Saturday in lviv where one or two in Lviv want to be baptized as well as Vadym our driver here. That will be a happy day.

We bought cooked chicken for supper and had a good meal here in our apartment, listened to more of Mr. Hunter and now to bed.

It is much colder tonight with a real risk of frost.

God bless.

Malcolm and Howard of course.

Report #16, Oct 24

Report 16 Saturday Oct 24th.

We woke at about 8:30 after a good night’s sleep and had our bowl of porridge and a nice slice of fresh bread from the bakery around the corner. We don’t have a stove or hotplate, so can’t do much else. We do have a microwave.

We went for a walk and found the MEEST office. We went in to ask the were a bouts of our last shipment of boxes from Portage. They were sent on August 21 and we thought should be here already. To our amazement we found it had arrived on September 26th and had already been unpacked and much of it put away. We have never had boxes travel so fast, usually about 6 to 8 weeks. Vadym had piled the boxes and the ladies unpacked them but nobody recorded where they came from. That won’t happen again!!!

We went for a coffee and shared a personal Pizza and then started to walk back to the apartment.

On the way, we passed the only Synagogue in Ivano and Howard asked me whether I had ever met the Rabbi, I said no so he said he would introduce me to him as he had met him 3 times.


We went into the Synagogue just as they were finishing something, as it was the Sabbath remember. The Rabbi met us cordially in his office along with another priest visiting from New York. They asked us what we were doing in Ivano and we told them. The Rabbi then asked if we could bring him a Bible, so we are going to take him one. Then they asked us to follow them to this other room where about 20 people were sitting at tables with food in front of them. Oh by the way, they asked us to wear our hats while we were in the synagogue. They showed us to a table and brought plates of food to us as well as offering us vodka. We declined for mineral water and waited for the Rabbi to pray in Yiddish. He then took two loaves of bread and sliced them up for us praying over it.


While we ate he would start singing and they would join in. Then he had a little preach in either Ukrainian or Russian. After a few more songs there was a break and we asked to be excused. This was granted and we went on home. It was a very interesting experience even though we did not know what was said. Even though we will not be able to remember the Lord tomorrow, we did see the Rabbi break the bread and drink the wine, but it was for a very different reason we are quite sure.

We were eventually picked up by Vadym and taken to his apartment for a supper with his wife’s two sisters and her mother and father, to celebrate the baby’s 18 month birthday. (Just an excuse for a good meal I think !)

We got home tired and full. We will have a meeting a 4pm tomorrow so need to prepare.

Love in Christ.

Malcolm

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Report #15, Oct 24

Report 15 for Friday Oct 24 2008

We woke up to a nicer dry day and planned to deliver the boots to the
orphanage in the village of Yablunin. We were shown into the office of the
Director Natalia and spent some time with her as she explained the types of
children in her care. She said there were 140 children, some were total
orphans, some had only one parent and some had been taken out of neglected
or abusive homes. She then offered to take us on a tour of the buildings and
activities. We were very impressed with the whole place. It had been
remodeled with government funds. It had workshops for woodworking, leather
work and shoe repair. It had an infirmary with dentist's chair and equipment
with a dentist coming one a week. A doctor and nurses came in shifts through
the week. They have a small gym with equipment.

The children in the lower grades met in the auditorium and we began to fit
them with boots. What a shimozle, they thought they knew their sizes but
most didn't. Well we finished up with some very happy little people, but
some were disappointed because we did not have their sizes. We had about 6
or 7 left over and will take them back and exchange them for the right
sizes. We were then treated to sandwiches and tea and headed back to Ivano.

We were to go to Marika and her mothers for "tea" at 2pm but did not get
there until 4pm. No problem, just boil the water and have our tea, RIGHT! We
find out that they have a full meal that was ready at 2pm, oops! Cabbage
rolls, meat and cheese open face sandwiches, battered fish, and then a large
bowl of hot home made chicken soup. Dessert was two slices of a chocolate
and jam roll. We were absolutely stuffed but the problem was we were
supposed to go to another Maria's for supper at 6pm. We left Marika's at
5:30. I didn't know until after that Howard had prayed that Maria would not
have a big supper. His prayer was answered when she asked if tea and some
home make cake would be enough PTL.

We had a lovely visit with Maria who speaks and teaches English, also her
daughter Anna Maria and her 16 year old son Andrew were there. Maria
interprets for us when she is at the meeting. We did not stay too long as we
were getting very weary so came home to relax and have an early night.

All for now. With Christian love.

Malcolm

Report #14, Oct 23

Report 14 for Thursday 23 Oct 08

It looks like rain this morning and may well turn to snow, but not too
likely, they say. It rained on and off all day and was a lot colder.

We were hoping to take the winter shoes out to the orphanage today but the
wholesaler had a problem collecting enough shoes from all his little stores
around town. We decided to go and visit Natalia, the lady with MS and so
filled in the time waiting for the boot order by doing so. She is looking
much thinner but is the brightest person you could meet. She can only use
two fingers on one hand now, the others are paralyzed. We had a lovely visit
and poured in the gospel, just in case she is not saved but she says she is
ready to meet God.

We went to get propane for Vadym's car, it runs on both that and gas, but
the line up was so long and so slow. I said we wanted to go home instead and
we could try later. I had managed to buy another internet card and wanted to
try it. Well I tried it and it would not work either. It would come on and
go off. I was not very happy so gave up and got ready for meeting at 5pm.
The boots were ready at about 4 pm so we went and paid for them and packed
the car and then headed for meeting. There were less out tonight, only about
15 but we had a good meeting. After meeting we gave them the seeds Max had
sent, they go wild for them.

So now the fun started. We left the meeting and headed to Vadym's for
supper. About two blocks from his house we ran out of propane and it would
not run on gas, even though it showed on the gas gauge. Well we were right
on this narrow busy street and so Howard and I pushed the car on to a side
street. Vadym in the mean time had called a friend to come and bring gas and
his wife to come and get us. We left him with the car and went to his
apartment. He walked over and told us to have supper while he went to get
gas.

We had finished supper when he arrived because the gas would not work when
they put it in so his friend had to tow him to the outskirts of town to sit
in line and wait for the propane. And so goes Ukraine, nothing is easy.

While there, I hooked into his phone line and sent all my reports and read
my e-mails. We are now sure there is something wrong with the phone line in
our apartment.

All for now, God bless all who read this and pray for us and Ukraine.

Malcolm

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Report #13, Oct 22

Report 13 Wednesday 22 Oct 08

Well we got an early start by 9:30 this morning as we wanted to get to the
wholesale in good time to get some product for the poor ladies who come to
the meetings. Some are looking after aged parents some have children and no
husband and some have disabled children, both physically and mentally. We
thought it better to bring the product to the meeting room and have them
come there for it. While going for the product we stopped and sent my
reports on e-mail at Vadyms work, I still can't get the internet at our
apartment.

We then went and ordered winter boots for the orphanage and will get them
and deliver them tomorrow. We went to Vadym's apartment and had a snack
before going into the country to visit another orphanage in a rural town we
had never been to and were told of its need. The road for the last 40 kms
was the worst we have been on this trip; absolutely no way of avoiding the
chuck holes all over the road. We found the home and were greeted by lots of
kids, some obviously mentally challenged. The administrator was in Ivano,
where we had just come from but gave us permission to speak to the kids.
There were 80 in the home and most of them came we think. They were very
well behaved and I think we were appreciated by the staff who were there.
The lady who organized events invited us into he office and gave us tea and
nice dainties. We made our way back over the terrible road and headed to
Diana's for tea and a Bible study in her apartment. She is a sweet Christian
who is hepatitis C and not all that well. She had another lady and a young
university student there as well. After questioning each during the course
of the meeting, we believe each to be saved but were lacking assurance of
salvation. We think we were able to point them to the truth of security in
Christ. We challenged them about baptism and we feel that there may be one
before we leave. We headed home tired but rejoicing, got our own supper of
soup and salami sandwiches and now are heading for bed.

When it is well with thee, remember us! (It doesn't rhyme but you know what
I mean.) Malcolm

Report #12, Oct 21

Report 12 Tuesday 21 Oct 08

We were not expecting an early start this morning as Vadym's car was still
not repaired so he came by taxi at about noon and we went to visit the "half
way house orphanage" we have visited for years. We met with the director who
has been the one we have always met with and she shared how things were
getting so tight financially to run the home. She said that meat had gone
from 18R to 42R in just a few months. There were times when they had to pay
for the food out of their wages. We found that the greatest need was again
for running shoes. We have located a man with a shoe warehouse who will give
us a very good price on both runners and winter boots.

We are also going to buy 30 pairs of runners and 30 pairs of winter boots
for the orphanage we went to last week and take them out to them may be
tomorrow. We hope to speak to the children again when we go.

We had a good meeting again tonight with about 26 or so out, not counting
Vadym and Us. We were really pleased to have Vadym's wife Svetlana out too.
We are not sure whether she is really saved but listened very well.

We went out for pizza after meeting as the meeting starts at 5pm and so we
have not had supper.

All for now, I am about to try to get on line again as it is 11:30 pm and I
hope there will be a free line somewhere. I have been trying since 10pm.

Good night and God bless you for praying.

Malcolm

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Report #11, Oct 20

Report 11 for Monday Oct 20

Well today looked like being a day when we could not do too much as Vadym had to take his old but good Mercedes into the shop to have the rear springs replaced, as it was bottoming out and sitting very low. It was to be in by nine and should have been out by 12 Noon. Vadym phoned at Noon and said that it would not be ready as they found that it was not so much the springs that were the trouble, but the frame and they were going to cut out the bad and weld in some new!! It is amazing what they do with cars here and seem to do a good job. Enough of the mechanics course.

He said he would use his wife’s car and so came to get us in that.

We had planned to visit an orphanage in town but found that the administrator was out of town, so will go on Tuesday. We went to visit Luba and see the renovation job that was done on her apartment but found that she was out, so had to go back later. We went back and found that they had done a great job but if someone had not seen it before they would not have thought that much had been done. With it being about half the size of a North American bachelor suite and having a lady and a boy and girl living in it, there is little chance of the place being tidy. How a person can exist in such confined circumstances is beyond us. All this being said, it is now clean and functional with more than the one outlet she had before: new plumbing and toilet and taps; a new cooker and a good front door. She is overwhelmed with the kindness of Christians to care about her. She is a lovely baptized believer.

Well we had arranged to visit Tania and her mother who Tania had just brought from the hospital in Kiev on Saturday. We said that we would pick up some chicken for supper and go there at 5.30. We went and found the mother (forgive us, we can’t remember her name !!) up and about but feeling really drugged. We cannot find a name for her problem but it is something to do with her nose and is extremely painful, hence the drugs.

Three of her sons were there, another one lives with grandma, and then there is Tania who is the only breadwinner as the husband has left them all and is a drunken truck driver. What a nice combination.!!!

We had a nice meal and then each told how they got saved. It would seem that most were saved except the youngest.

We left and came home to try once more to get on line with no success. The lady we are renting from invited us to use a high speed connection her grandson was using to see if we could get on line. We could get on line but not on the internet; most frustrating.


We hope to get help on Tuesday.

God bless and thank you for praying.

Malcolm

Report #10, Sunday

Report #10 Sunday

We relaxed a little this morning and went for a walk up town. We are very near the centre and walk through a park and are soon at the old city hall which is now a museum. It is quite a gathering place and very nice in the good weather. There is a man who has several electric cars for children and they are whizzing around among the people. The parent rents them for a fee.

I found a place to buy an internet card and thought that it would be so easy to be on line again. Not likely!! I have tried for two days and Vadym has also tried and for some unknown reason it will not connect. We are going to phone the company and find the problem.

We went for pizza for lunch at our favorite New York Pizza. And then came home to prepare for the afternoon meeting. I had a cd of Mr. Jack Hunter and we listened to some of his messages.

We were very happy to see a good crowd come again and once more some new faces. One lady was very eager to tell me that she remembered me speaking at Solidarity 3 years ago and didn’t expect to see me again. Another younger lady, who we were very happy to see, was the lady Halia whom we had met a few days ago who had the crippled girl and a baby. It was the first time she had ever heard the gospel and she stayed behind and we talked for a long time, explaining how a person can be right with God.


It seemed no one wanted to go home as most just stayed and fellowshipped, both inside and out. It was so good to see.

We came home very happy and spent more time trying to get on the internet with no success.

Keep praying.

Malcolm.

Report #9, Oct 18

Report #9 Saturday Oct 18 2008

We didn’t need to get going too early this morning as we were going to meet Dana and her son and daughter at the Meeting Room. Her son just got out of prison and had no clothes to speak of. I did not know that she had any problem like that, she had never mentioned to us before. Dana is the woman whose husband went to Chernobil to clean up and now has radiation sickness.


While she sorted clothes, we sorted the New Testaments and children’s bibles and put them into the book cases so that we could see what we had to give out.


We were then taken to Vadym’s apartment for “breakfast” at noon, more like brunch!!

We were quite distressed to see what Vadym, Svetlana and their baby were living in. Because the woman who owned the nice apartment they rented before, sold it to someone else at an exorbitant price, they had to move in with Svetlana’s mother and father.


They live in one room and share the kitchen and bath room. The room is no bigger than 12 ft by 14ft. with cupboards all along one wall. The baby’s crib was across one end and they slept on a pull out divan.

This did not prevent Sveta (short for Svetlana) from preparing a magnificent meal. We were stuffed!!


We had plans to go to a town near the Carpathians to visit an orphanage and an old folks home. We decided that we would need two vehicles, as we were taking Sveta to help us assess the needs in both places but we wanted to take bedding sheets, bibles and 3 boxes of clothes and we could not get this all into one car, Sveta has a car and so we took hers as a second vehicle.


We arrived at about 3pm and were greeted by the lady administrator of the orphanage. We were surprised to find that they had 130 children from ages 6 -17. There were only about 80 in that day as some can go home for the weekend to spend with relatives.


They gathered them into a small auditorium and we spoke to them and gave out bibles according to their age as well as suckers and other things. We were amazed at how well behaved and attentive they were. As they left we gave almost all of them a toothbrush and toothpaste. (Donated by my dentist, Dr. Hans Staziuk).


We left what clothes we had and promised to come back next week and bring more. The building had been renovated and they had sponsors for that but none for clothing, so we agreed to help.


We then went to the old peoples home and, again some were away visiting but we got to speak to about 9 people plus 2 staff. We fitted several of them with glasses but we are still waiting for the stronger ones to come from David Brand. They were very grateful for the bed sheets and clothes. We gave them all New Testaments and John 3 :16.


We left very happy to have made the new contacts and then Sveta led us to this dumpy looking café. She had phoned ahead and ordered supper for us. Well once inside, were we amazed. It was very nice and the meal outstanding. A cold salad, fresh mushroom soup (not my favorite soup!!), then a big platter with pork chops in a sauce with the neatest roast potatoes that looked like little houses or big mushrooms, hard to describe.

Well it was a good day and we arrived home very tired and went to bed before 10pm.


Thanks for reading my prattle


.In Christ.

Malcolm

Report #8, Oct 17

Report 8 Friday Oct 17 3008

We both slept well and woke at about 7pm to a soaking wet day of pouring rain that did not really stop all day. There was hot water for a bath plus the heat is on in the house.

We ate our cereal out of out coffee cups as we did not have bowls. It worked quite well. We had some sardines Flo had given us so ate them on bread. We had coffee and were satisfied until we get some more things today.

Vadym arrived at 10:30 to take us to get some produce to take to shut-ins as well as some in great difficulty. By the time we had shopped at the wholesale it was after noon and so we went to a nice little café and had a bowl of soup and a toasted sandwich, very good and cheap.

We went to visit 4 homes of different people from an old mother with a blind boy of 28 to an abandoned mother with a crippled little sweetheart of 7 or 8 and a one year old boy; and lastly an old widower of 84 living alone except from a little help from a grand-daughter. He recalled for us his time in concentration camps and work camps. He suffered under the Germans, then the Hungarians and lastly by the Russians. While he was in one of the work camps a priest gave him a bible which he carried with him through the whole war and he still has. He believed God preserved him because he read and believed the bible he carried. He may well be a saved man or at least a believer in God’s ability to protect and preserve.

We were able to have good conversations with most and invited those able to come to the meetings. We trust will they will try to come.

We went shopping and came home to a supper of soup, and a sandwich and Pringles.

We plan to visit an old folks home and an orphanage tomorrow.

Good night and God bless.

Malcolm.

Report #7, Oct 16

Report 7 Thursday 16th Oct 08

We woke up to a dull foggy day and got ready to leave for Ivano Frankivsk.
We plan to spend the next two weeks there. Flo was busy unpacking some of
the 17 boxes she had just received from herself two days ago. What a mixture
of shoes, socks and children's clothes. She has an over abundance of every
size of socks and so gave us a large bag of socks to take to Ivano.

At about 9:30 two men arrived to begin laying a ceramic floor in the
kitchen. No one had told Flo when they coming so they took us all by
surprise. Ruslan brought the men as they do not have a vehicle, also Tania
his wife came plus one of our former drivers. So to say the least it was
wall to wall people for an hour until Vadym our driver arrived to take us
away. What a mess we left with the whole floor ripped up and piled in the
hallway waiting to go down in the elevator!! It should look nice when we
get back.

We had an uneventful but rainy trip to Ivano, it takes a good hour and a
half for the trip with half an hour for lunch on the way in a lovely
restaurant in the forest.

We went straight away to look at the first apartment Vadym had looked at for
us and took it right away. It is a semi-basement suite in and old home on a
quiet street right downtown. It is a large bedroom living/ bedroom with
three beds, a kitchen with fridge, micro wave, kettle and dishes also a
bathroom. Every thing is spotlessly clean and very sufficient for our needs.

Well a meeting was planned for 5 pm in the Meeting Room. When we arrived
there was a crowd waiting to get in and by the end 26 people came to
meeting, we were so blessed. We both spoke and The Lord gave help. There
were 4 or 5 people who we had not seen before including one young man.

The next meeting will be on Sunday at 4pm then a bible reading on Tuesday at
5pm.

We came home and made ourselves a light supper, we need to go shopping but
will do this tomorrow.

I got the King size bed again as the other two beds had "hammock" spring
mattresses and Howard said he could sleep in one of those but I felt I would
have a problem. I might have not had a "hammock" bed but neither did I have
a Sealy Posturpedic. The mattress is only about a 4 inches deep spring
mattress. Thankfully I was able to sleep well with only a little hip pain !!

Good night and continue to pray for our visit with many unsaved that someone
will respond to the gospel.

Malcolm & Howard

Report #5, Oct 14

#5 Report for Tuesday 14 Oct. 08

Howard and I decided to stay home today as we were having a bible study
tonight and Flo was just taking some product out to Bookva, the home for
girls. As there is no opportunity to speak to staff there we felt we could
get more done at home.

On Monday evening we took the drain pipe in the kitchen sink apart and
finally got it draining properly. But now we tackled the dripping tap. We
eventually got it apart while the water was off (from 9am to 6pm) and headed
to the little plumbing store 5 minutes away. They did not have a washer for
that type of faucet ??? The man was very helpful though, and drew a map and
we set off to the store, only 1000 meters he said, I think that was after
the first kilometer!! Well we did get a complete repair kit and after
walking back, soon had it fixed. Nothing is easy in Ukraine.

Flo came home and we had a nice dinner of chicken and fries. We then had to
get ready for the bibles study at 7pm, but some arrived while we were doing
the dishes.

Others had arrived by 7:10 and we had a nice bibles study in Matt. 5 on the
beatitudes. We finished about 8.30 and Ruslan took some home. One lady,
Lily, has Parkinsons and was not feeling at all well so Ruslan took her
right home as she usually travels by train and then walks to her house. O
that those in our favored country had such interest in the meetings.

We had an early night as we were leaving early on Wednesday morning to go to
a school.


Wednesday 15th Oct. 08

We were to leave at 8:30 but Ruslan was a little late. We were going
Truskavetsk to speak to a large school of several hundred children. Flo had
met a young Christian, Ruslan, at the Bible Society who asked her to come to
his town.

The ride took over an hour through very old villages and eventually into an
area that had once been the site of mines of some kind. The buildings and
equipment were still visible but none of them working any more.

As we pulled in Truskavetsk, Ruslan met us on his motor scooter and guided
us to the school. It was a large school in very poor condition in need of
complete renovations. We met with the grades 1-3 first in the little
auditorium. Wall to wall kids!! They listened well as I spoke and loved the
picture bibles, and picture verses plus a candy. Next came in the 3-5 and
Howard spoke. The 6-9 were not at all well behaved and there were so many
that there must have been 20 standing. Lastly the grade 11 and 12 kids were
also not the best behaved we have see at other schools. Howard spoke briefly
and then Ruslan, the young man who invited us, gave his testimony. He was
save after spending 7 years in prison for drug use. They really listened to
him and also as I gave the final punch about lives ruined by alcohol and
drugs and told them that God could make a difference in their lives if they
would turn them over to God.

We then left and went with Ruslan and another young Christian man Vasil who
had accompanied us and went to a home for single pregnant women that the
government has set up to help these women. The program started 3 years ago
and they have a lovely hostel style building where these women can stay
until they are able to care for their children. Some very sad cases, but
well looked after. We met with them and gave a little word of encouragement.
Flo left some toys and other items.

We then went for a late lunch at Rulan's nice church meeting room. They were
so thankful for our visit and want us back to speak in another school
whenever we can get back.

And so we headed home quite encouraged by the day.

Tomorrow we go to Ivano Frankivsk, so are not too sure of our e-mail hookup.

Good night and God bless.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

New Ukraine Blog

Anatoly and Jeannette Schevchuk are now blogging! See the link on the left.

Monday Oct 13 Report #4

Another lovely day for a visit out to the village where we first had meetingin the home of Stefka, Ola and her husband Orst. They live on what we calla small holding with a large garden of about an acre, a milk cow, two pigsand some chickens. There are a number of fruit trees with most of the fruitfallen on the ground. The fruit does not look good as I don't think they canafford to spray and so the apples all seem to have spots on them. They pressa lot of apples into juice. The potatoes were not good either this year withmany spots mainly because of the very wet harvest season. A grand daughterand husband and daughter also live on the second story of the nice solidhouse. When we arrived they were making cheese and potato pirogues in the summerkitchen. We had brought some winter clothing as well as staples notavailable on the farm. Even though these people live on a holding there isvery little money for such things as cooking oil and cleaning supplies, sowe help out with some of these things. They all agree that it will be a hardwinter for many families who lost all their gardens and do not have anymeans of income. After good meal of borscht and pirogues, we left for Vileki Luben, a homefor mentally challenged children as well as some abandoned orphans. I wasvery surprised to see that a magnificent building that had needed to betotally renovated was now in total use. The last time I saw it, I doubted itwould ever be habitable, but with funds from Switzerland and elsewhere, itwas finished. We were met by the male director and showed into the auditorium where allexcept the youngest children were gathered, along with three staff. We sang"Jesus loves me" to them with a chart then each spoke a little word to themfrom the bible. They were all very attentive, so we gave them all bigsuckers, very generous!! We toured the renovated buildings. What a difference this new administratorhas made: the former lady director had been dishonest with the fundsallocated and was charged and fired several years ago. After a cup ofterrible coffee with all the grounds floating on the top we headed home to asupper of spaghetti and meat balls. God night to all. Malcolm

Sunday Oct 12 Report #3

We were not planning to go to the assembly in Lutsk today and so did nothave to be up before daylight. We had a light breakfast and prepared for the meeting in the apartment atnoon. It was another lovely fall day, not cold but the leaves falling heavily offthe trees. There has still been no frost yet and so there are still flowersin bloom. After we had read a little, Howard and I decided to go for a walk.There is a lovely ravine right at our apartment and so we walked down it andthen up to the road again. I was really feeling my lack of exercise by thetime we got back but it was a great walk. While we were away Flo had made a large bowl of mixed fruit for those whowould be coming to the meeting. People began to arrive at 11:30 and we started the meeting at about 12:15 assome people have a long way to come on buses and so we wait for those weknow are coming. Several people were sick today and so the total number wasonly 11 people. We sang and then Howard spoke on Ephesians 2 and then Ispoke on the vine in John 15. We may be having a baptism before we come home. A lady named Maria andpossibly a man named Volodia. We will have to use the Baptist church if itis possible to use it on a Sunday. We didn't bother with lunch because we were going to the home of Lesia withMS, to have a meeting at 3pm. Volodia was out and agreed to interpret atLesia's and so there were 5 of us who went. When we got there we found outthat the living room was being renovated, so the meeting was in thekitchen!! It was very crowded before any one arrived. But a lady came with 3children, she is their grandma and is looking after them because theirmother walked out and left them with her. She listened very well along withtwo other girls from a family of five children whose parents are bothalcoholic. Flo has left Lesia some help to feed the five children beforethey go to school, as their mother is rarely sober enough to feed them. We came home and Flo made us a pilameni supper with salad and a chocolatecake one of the ladies had brought for us. I missed my Sunday afternoon nap but made up for it after supper but thematron woke me up so that I would be able to sleep tonight. I think she usedto work in a prison!! Not really, we are doing fine. All for now.God bless.

Saturday Oct 11th, Report #2

Woke up at 6am and could not get back to sleep, still a little jet lagged, Iguess. Not a very nice looking morning, foggy and cold, however it turnedinto a lovely day. Had a nice omelet for breakfast and then got ready to goto the Carpathian Mountains to distribute food and clothing. By the time wehad all the boxes loaded, there was hardly room for us!! We filled up withdiesel; the price is way more than the gas at 6.56R a liter. It cost us 400+R at 4.33 per Canadian dollar, that's expensive. The trip starts out on thenew good roads but once you hit the foothills the roads are horrendous. Theheavy rains had played havoc with what road surface there was and then thewater was running over the road still in many places. It is 137 K to thevillage we visit and take 3 hours to reach. We picked a man up who was waiting for a bus, I think, as Ruslan recognizedhim as the husband of the family with 12 children the last time I visited 5years ago, but now has 14 children. There's was the house that had burnedpart of the roof off, and when we first visited with Seed Sowers, we alldonated to buy the metal for the roof. Well our first contact was to phoneNatalia who is a school teacher and was our contact when we first went. Shespeaks good English and was a young widow then but married again 4 years agoand now has 2 lovely little girls. Her husband was busy today working ontheir lovely house, having raised the roof and built another story on it. She took us to find the poorest and most needy families and gathered anumber of them at different locations. Once they had gathered I gave thefirst group a short message in the gospel and Howard the second group. Theconditions some of these people live in is terrible and doesn't seem toimprove at all. Some seem to have lots of children and are always havingmore. We wonder where they sleep them all in some 2 room homes. Once we have spoken a word, we take out the boxes of clothing and they sortout what they want with help from Flo, then we dole out the food itemsaccording to the size of the family. They are all very grateful as there isvery little opportunity to make a reasonable living in these hills. Thefloods did not affect them too much in this area but they had 3 weeks ofheavy rain that flooded all the gardens. Some bridges were washed out. We finished up at the home of Natalia's sister Ira, with the 14 children,all at home plus one married and living at home. She fed us a lunch whilethe people were rounded up from the homes up on the hills. We left theremaining clothes with Ira who doles them out as she hears of need. She isalso a teacher and is very much in touch with the local needs. And so home after a tiring but profitable day; I was hit with utterexhaustion by the time I got home but feel fine now. Good night to all.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Arrival and first days in Ukraine

Howard Pratt and I, Malcolm Stanley arrived in Lviv on Thursday the 9th,
after a good flight on LOT Polish Air. We were met by Flo Kancir and our
driver Ruslan. It is always good to see them once we get out of customs;
thankfully no problem at all with customs this time.

On Friday we went to get money changed, only to find the exchange was the
lowest we had ever experienced. We thought it wise to wait as we were sure
it would go back up. By the evening it had gone from 4.15Rhivney to the
Canadian dollar to 4.33, so we changed a few dollars hoping it will go up
again.

On Saturday we loaded up with clothing and food staples and headed 140km to a
village in the Carpathian Mountains that we have visited numerous times and
is very poor. The recent floods in the region did not affect them too badly,
as the rain started in the mountains and filled the rivers going down on to
the lowlands. However, they had 3 weeks of heavy rain that really affected
their gardens and roads, washing out some foot bridges and flooding gardens.

We gathered the people together in groups with the help of our friend
Natalia, a school teacher and spoke a word in the gospel before giving out
the clothing and food. There are many large families in these villages. We
met with one with 12 children, one with 10 and another with 6. Life is very
hard in these beautiful grassy mountain villages but there is little
opportunity of earning any money. Sadly, some of the men go away for
extended periods to work and leave their farm to their wife and children.
Most have a horse and cart and one or two cows.

On Sunday we had a service in the apartment with about 11 of us. We then
went to a Christian lady's home who has MS and had little meeting with
neighbours in her kitchen.

And so the work goes on with a little here and a little there.

We sow the seed; pray that God will give the increase.

More later.

Monday, September 29, 2008

The work continues.

Flo Kancir returned to Lviv, Ukraine on Sept 17th for another 3month spell. She reported that the weather is wet and cold and the heat is not on until October, hopefully.
She has not been too far our of town yet as the van needed some work done to it, it is giving more and more trouble as the bad roads take there toll on it.
What she has seen are fields still flooded and the rain still coming. It certainly looks as if the winter will be very tough for the poor people who rely on produce from their gardens.

I talked th Vadym, our man in Ivano Frankivsk on Sunday morning and he told me that Flo was coming to Ivano Frankivsk on Monday the 29th, today. They were hoping to go to Petriliv, a village on the edge of the Carpathian mountains which was devastated by the raging river in the flood of last July.
Houses that had never been affected by the swollen river in times past, were swept away this year, including the Mayor's house. She has been so kind to the people and even hosted some of our missionaries. Flo intends to bring produce to distribute to the people in the village.

Howard Pratt of Kapuskaping and myself will be heading to Ukraine on the 8th of October, for one month. We will help Flo in Lviv for a week and then go to Ivano and try to have meetings there again. Vadym is finding us an apartment to rent.
We will try to keep this blog current once we get there but much depends on the availability of phone lines.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Flood disaster in Lviv, Ivano Frankivsk area

I am sure that many will not have heard that there have been disastrous floods in the Lviv and Ivano Frankivsk regions of Ukraine. This area has been visited by many brethren and sisters during the past 10 or more years and a work goes on in both of the cities of Lviv and Ivano Frankivsk. I would not have known anything except that Vadym , our driver/interpreter in Ivano phoned me on Monday from Ivano to tell me about the disaster.
I then Googled "Ivano frankivsk flood news" and got news and pictures of the devastation. Vadym said that many of the bridges into Ivano were either closed or damaged by the raging water that came in from the Carpathian mountains . Fortunately, the dyke along the river held and the city is not flooded. The city water catchments was flooded and broke through and left them with only 2 or 3 days water.
I saw pictures of Victor Yuchenko the President, walking through knee deep water around Ivano, with his pants rolled up to the knee, visiting the flooded homes of people. Thousands of homed are flooded plus their gardens and fields washed away. 26 people are now reported dead and many still missing, 15,000 people have been evacuated.

Already, an orphanage we had visited for the first time in April, phoned Vadym and told him they had been flooded and were in great need, could he help. I said I would pass on the news .

When we were there in April they were predicting famine this coming winter because of the massive production of grain for bio-fuels and very little grain for bread and other staples. This loss of gardens and field can only add to this possibility. Many people rely on their village dachas to provide them with vegetables for the winter.

I thought I should pass this on to you for your prayers for this situation. I talked with Flo Kancir, who lives in Ontario but visits Ukraine twice a year, but she knew nothing about the flooding and was most distressed as she has visited many of the villages in this area with food and supplies and heads up most of our visits to Ukraine. She knew of many who would no doubt be suffering in this tragedy.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Home again.

Home again. It hardly seems almost six weeks since Howard and I came home from Ukraine. I suppose it must be something to do with getting older that time passes so quickly.

We had a good time again although it was different than other visits we have made. We were busy getting the Meeting Room ready in Ivano Frankivsk as well as locating and distributing a large shipment of winter boots that had been sent but were in storage in a garage. We eventually got them over to the meeting room and piled them into every available cupboard and on to shelves, piling them to the cieling.
We had to buy chairs before we could have any meetings and were happy to find a store with plenty of padded stacking chairs. We bought 25 but had to go and get more as there were not enough for the people who were coming to meeting.
We were able to fit many of the people and their children with winter boots which reduced the stacks significantly. We took several pairs of boots to the Assembly in Lusk on our visit there.
We did not get the opportunity to vist schools, as in other years but did go to an orphanage and an old folks home that we had not visited before. We took bibles and glasses for the old people, which were very well received.We spent much time visiting individuals in various sad conditions of health and poverty. Some had great debt because of serious sickness or surgery performed on their children OVER AND OVER with still no cure. Time and money was spent on some of these needy people.
I would like to mention that the situation at the Ukrainian Bible Society has changed somewhat, owing to some internal restructuring. They used to print and bring in thousands of New Testaments and we would go and buy what we needed. We now have to pay ahead before they will print them.
I would like to remind folks that we still distribute thousands of New Testaments and Childrens Bibles each year, both from Lviv with Flo Kancir and whoever is with her and also in Ivano Frankivsk.
I mention this as there are presently no funds to purchase more Bibles. There may have been a little confusion regarding where to send funds but Seed Sowers in both Canada and the U.S.A. will still issue receipts for funds donated for Bibles or printed material.
The confusion stemmed from Seed Sowers not being able to issue receipts for fund designated for humanitarian aid, only for printed material.
Thankfully, the work is going on in both Lviv and Ivano. Meetings are being held in Flo's apartment with Brother Misha preaching and teaching. In Ivano, Vadym is organizing sorting and distribution of clothing as well as overseeing the renovation of sister Luba's apartment. He hopes to start meetings this week.
The clothing is sorted by Vadym's wife and Sister Marika and others.
If God will, we may return in the Fall. Pray for us as three of us there last Spring were already pensioners and we need young men and women to get a vision for the lovely people of Ukraine. The door is still open but who knows for how long?

Malcolm Stanley.
Meeting with the Christians in Portage la Prairie. MB. Canada.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Lesia

Saturday morning Gilles and I went to our lessons. We spent the morning with our teacher and then headed up to Flo's apartment. After eating one of Flo's famous omelettes we packed up a few things and went to visit Lesia, the wheelchair bound lady with MS who lives in a nearby area. We had been told of her by Oleg, Flo's nephew's son a little while back and have visited her on several occasions. This lady is definitely a saved person as we have been able to speak with her and also listen to her. On one of our previous visits she had told us of a neighbouring family whose children were not well looked after. Funds had been left with her to get some groceries to feed these kids who were going to school on an empty stomach of many occasions. We also brought clothes along for these young children and she arranged for them to be there when we came. This morning we arrived and Lesia had her sister with her as well as her cousin. We had brought along some clothing for her family and shoes for her husband and daughter.
It is not always easy to follow how the conversation goes from one topic to another because of the language. Flo tries to interpret but some conversations are difficult to interrupt. Flo & Lesia were talking about songs and Flo started singing one of the hymns we sing at meeting. Then they started to talk to the sister and cousin about the gospel and Lesia mentioned that you have to have Christ as your own. Lesia talked about getting some very needy people to come to the apartment so we could bring some clothes for them and asked Flo to bring some bibles so that we could speak with them about Christ, and could we also please bring some hymn books so that we can sing some songs! The sister and cousin also said they would come. So we have a house meeting lined up for Wednesday afternoon.
Gilles and I so wish we could speak more "intelligently" in Ukrainian so that we could talk to people more easily. We find ourselves understanding a lot more of the conversations but speaking requires a lot of time to think of the right words and the conversation just moves on and we are left behind. We are very diligently and persistently working on the language.

Friday in Truskavets

Friday we headed out to Truskavets again to go visit another school to bring the gospel and bibles to the students and staff alike.
We arrived on their last day of school and we all know what the last day of school can be like. We met with the director and she told us they would assemble the first four grades in the auditorium.
We waited a bit in her office and then she ushered us in the auditorium. To our surprise, the students were there like we were told, but they were all standing on the stage ready to give a performance to the other students and parents which were assembld there also. We were introduced to everyone and sat down to take in their little concert. It was all about the letters of the alphabet and how it is important to learn how to read and to study. A few children did solo performances and then it was our turn. We also had Ruslan (our Truskavets contact who gets all these schools for us) and his friend, Vasyl. Flora spoke a few words and introduced Gilles who gave them a word in the gospel. Ruslan also spoke to them. We had some small gifts to give to the younger ones and Children's Bibles. It was a very chaotic time since we were still in the auditorium and all of a sudden there were kids coming from everywhere. After a very confusing time of 'who got what', the adults and children started leaving the auditorium. The director told us that the next grade was going to assemble there for us but again in came the kids and a whole audience of older students as well as some parents. This time we spoke to these kids before the concert began and distributed New Testaments for them as well as gospel texts. We left the auditorium to go to a classroom. There we spoke to about forty older students, probably grade eleven. They listened very politely as Gilles, Ruslan and Flo spoke to them. They also received New Testaments and gospel texts. The girls really went for those.
Stephan was waiting for us in the van and we left the school and went to a home for unwed mothers. This turned out to be such a great place to go. This home is one of the few that the government is putting in place. The lady who takes care of this place seemed like a very nice person and brought us along to visit with the girls of all ages that live there. We also had Ruslan and Vasyl with us who seemed to be known here. This place has only been opened for one year. They allow these young mothers to stay there for one and a half year after their baby is born and afterwards will look into getting the girl employment where there is free day care. There were only about six girls there when we went, all varying in age and with their babies also of different ages. We sat around and talked with them and Gilles told them about how there always be problems in life and some are unexpected but there are some things that we can plan for and went on to give them the gospel. We talked for a bit, took some pictures and then visited the facilites. It is obviously a very newly renovated building, very bright in colour and full of new furniture, cribs, strollers. It will be a great place to bring some infant clothing and blankets which we always have an abundance of. This place has room for ten girls with their babies and has a staff of ten people working there. We are very thankful for Ruslan to have brought us there and we told them that we would return next fall with clothes for the babies and moms as well as toys to stock up their play room.
We returned home very happy with the day and the unexpected bonus of speaking to these young girls. The director told us that there is one of these homes in every "region" in Ukraine. I asked if there was one in Lviv and she said that this one was the one for the Lviv region. Unfortunately it is about one and a half hour away. Looks like we will be spending more time in the van!
This morning Rylan and Avrell headed out to Lutsk to spend a few days with the younger crowd there!