God's Work in Western Ukraine: Report of our visit to Ukraine from October 23 to Nov 7th. (Malcolm & Jean Stanley)

I was privileged to have my wife Jean accompany me to Ukraine this time. She
had been with me in 2003 but not again until now.
We arrived on Oct. 23rd from England, where we had spent two weeks visiting
our remaining relatives and friends.
We settled into Flo Kancir's former apartment and spent time with Gilles and
Helene Plourdes as well as Agnes and Edmund Johnston.
As the Annual Conference was to be held on the 25th and 26th, things were
quite busy getting food etc. ready. There had been a glitch in the
arrangements for the location when Edmund was informed that we could not
have the meetings at the church as they had booked a youth retreat on the
same weekend, but we could still use the sleeping accommodation. This meant
that another venue had to be found in another church. This was done but the
place was almost a half hour from the sleeping quarters, hence a lot of
shuttling back and forth.
Well all things worked out and it was felt that all were blessed by being
there. We believe there were about 60 people present from several different
locations. A brother from N Ireland, Leslie Craig was one of the invited
speakers along with Nick Mazerolle and me from Canada.
We stayed for the Lords Day as the assembly in Lviv and then headed back to
Ivano frankivsk for the meeting at 5 pm. There were a nice number out but
Dan Perez, who is in Ivano until early January, had not been able to get
hold of some of the regulars to let them know we were back. We let those who
were out to meeting, know that we had booked a room in the centre of town to
have meetings on a trial basis beginning on the following Tuesday. We felt
the need to move the meeting out of the apartment for various reasons.
As Jean and I had only limited time we wanted to do two things. One was to
sort out as many of the 40 or so boxes in both the apartment and a brother's
garage. Well Jean set to, getting boxes sorted into the various categories,
men, women, boys, girls and little children. The other priority was to
deliver the boxes as soon as possible.
We started with a run to two homes for mentally handicapped boys and men. As
usual, we were well received and had the opportunity to speak to a large
number of staff in both locations.
The condition of the roads still leaves much to be desired and adds to the
weariness of the day.
We had institutions or individuals to visit each day as well as meetings on
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoons. We visited Petriliv village, a
favourite one for me, and met with the lady mayor and then in the school of
only 35 students now. This village is dying gradually as the old people are
dying, 17, this year, and young families move away for work. We also visited
the "Half Way House" in Ivano as we call it, but there were no children as
they were doing a complete renovation, prior to opening again next month
with a different program for the children they get from the streets and
abusive or neglectful homes.
We had a lovely visit with our long-time friend Natalia, who is failing more
and more from MS. She is so sweet and never complains though now completely
bed ridden at only just over 40 years old.
I should say that we were breaking in a new interpreter, a young man named
Sasha who is one of the sons of Oleg and Oleh. He is doing well but has a
lot of bible words to learn and translate.
We were invited out to our former interpreter, Svetlana's, mother for a
lovely supper. Svetlana is presently in Dubai working for a year.
Our last long trip was to Virhovina, near the Romanian border to visit the
school where we had installed indoor toilets 2 years ago. We found they are
only now putting in the sewer pipes to connect to the city. Oxana is the
principal of this school of over 400 students, 200 of whom board at the
school from Monday to Friday. We invited her to meet us for lunch, intending
to treat her but when we got to the cafe, she had phoned ahead and ordered a
meal and refused to let us pay. The last time I was there, I
mentioned that we didn't mind speaking to a larger group of students. She
took me up on my word and they crammed about 300 students and staff into the
auditorium! It was bedlam as there were grade 1 to 12 children sitting two
or more to a chair. We did our best but it was very hard to be heard as they
did not set up the PA system. We arranged to speak to classes in their rooms
next time.
The next day was a Tuesday and Edmund had suggested that they come to Ivano
and attend our meeting and then take Jean and I back to Lviv. We all met for
supper before going to meeting. I was fully expecting that Edmund would
speak at the meeting but he insisted that I give my "parting message". We
said our good-byes to the Ivano folks and to Dan who will stay in Ivano.
On Wednesday we had supper at Edmund and Agnes and, as it was the meeting in
Lviv I was asked to give my "parting message" here too.
And so Thursday came and we were all packed and ready to head to Munich and
on to Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg in good time.
It is always a bitter/sweet experience to leave Ukraine. We know how much
the people need help, both spiritually and materially, but the homeland also
calls and so, until the Lord sends us again, we come home to family and
friends.
Thank you, those who knew we were away and prayed for us.
God bless you all.
Malcolm and Jean Stanley

The Lviv Conference in progress