Malcolm's Report #8 April 30th and May 1st

Malcolm’s Report #8 for April 30^th and May Day.

We had another lovely day above 20C.

After our last meeting, we had four people give us prescriptions to fill. We felt these were all genuine needs as they were doctor’s prescriptions. We were able to fill two of them at a pharmacy quite close to where we live. Another two were more difficult. One was for the man who has lost a leg and was most urgent. The problem was, we could not find most of the drugs needed. When we did, we found that two of them were over 1000 Rhivny each or $100.00. We felt this was very expensive but also found that he can get his meds at half price if he has a doctors stamp on a prescription. He didn’t have one and so we are waiting for him to get it stamped. We must have spent over 2 hours running from one pharmacy to another.

We then headed to a village called Stari Licets to speak in a small school there. It is only 25 minutes from Ivano so it is nice not having a long ride. The Christian Ethics teacher Hellina met us and we talked for about half an hour and then wento speak to a class of grade 9 children. Then listened quite well.

Hellina then took us to her home for supper. She is a born again Christian, though still active in the Catholic Church, as there is only that and an Orthodox church in the village. She and her husband have built and remodelled a lovely house together. We ate on their newly finished veranda.

We then headed home to a free evening and a good night’s sleep.

May 1^st May Day.

Just another national holiday with no school and people working in their gardens.

We decided to deliver some slippers we had bought for the children in the Half Way home and had a good opportunity to meet the children and speak to them about the Bible and how it is like a mirror. Then Volodia sat down with them and challenged them with some brain teasers. They really enjoyed him.

We left there and went to a  lady who attends our meetings named Antonina to deliver her some medications. When we pulled up at her apartment, we realised we had left them in the fridge at home. So we went up to her apartment and found her grown son Victor was home and we had meds for him too, so he agreed to return with us and collect the two packages. We enjoyed a good lunch and afterwards looked at her gas stove. It is leaking at one of the knobs and bursts into flame if the main gas is left turned on. We will see about picking up a new one for her.

We then went to see a rather sad place that we had seen before many years ago. It is a derelict Jewish Cemetery that has a mass grave where 125,000 Jews were shot and buried during WW2 by the Nazi’s. To show their hatred the Nazi’s bulldozed all the grave sites and buildings in the cemetery and left the grave stones in ugly heaps. It is a very sad place and not kept up at all, even though there are many Jews still in Ivano.

We had supper and then made a wooden box to put on the kitchen table to hold the micro wave, instead of having it on the kitchen window sill. We had some particle board left here but had to cut it with one of the hand saws I brought here. Not a bad job but what a mess of sawdust in the apartment.

Anyway it works and we have room under the micro wave to keep our bread and cookies. Not bad for 2 old grass-widowers and 1 young bachelor!

We have plans for tomorrow and will leave early so to bed before midnight!

Thank you for thinking and praying for Ukraine. Not good in the East, a great possibility of war.

In His Hands.

Malcolm, Howard, Volodia.