Malcolm’s Report #7 for Nov 6th to 8th.
Thursday.
Ever since coming to Ivano Frankovsk, we have had a real
interest in a village about an hour from Ivano called Petriliv of Peter
Village. It is in a pristine valley with a large river running through it. In
2008 the river flooded and filled the valley. Most of the homes on the river
flats were put under water. The school, further up the hill had water that
filled the auditorium with over 4 ft of water. We were there with Flo Kancir
the year after the flood and took relief for the people.
We made good friends with the Lady Mayor who is still the
mayor and have visited each year since to bring clothing for the very poor
people. The mayor sees that it gets to the right people. We see her first and
then go to the small school and are always welcomed by the director and staff.
They do not have an auditorium so we meet the children in the large hallway to
the classrooms. The school has a kindergarten and they come to the meeting and
stand and listen to the simple message of God’s love along with the other 20 or
so older students. It is not a large school but is getting less each year as
families move away to get employment.
As is usual in most of the villages, there are little funds
to do anything with the infrastructure and so there are always things that are
needed to be fixes or replaced. In this school, most of the children have no
running water, so the request was made for a shower to be installed. A shower
and hot water tank were purchased a year ago and it was still sitting waiting
to be installed because of no funds to buy the pipe and fixtures. We bought
these items for them and expect it to be installed very soon.
We left them school and headed to town to buy the necessary
items for the shower and then went to the apartment to prepare to leave Ivano
on Friday for the Conference in Lviv.
Friday.
We had planned to leave Ivano at 1pm for Lviv but as usual,
some were not there until 1:20. Then we found that some had decided not to come
at all!! We were not happy, as we had rented a bus and driver that would hold
30 or 40 people and we had only 7 or 8 in the end instead of 14. If we had not
have had to take our van, so that Dan could return, we could have all gone in
the bus.
Well we arrived in good time and got everyone settled in
their room in the Baptist church we rent, and relaxed until supper. This is a
large old church with 2 floors of bedrooms attached, all very nice. The first
meeting started at 7pm with Howard and the invited brother from Ireland Paul
McClarty. This was a good start to the Conference.
Saturday.
Breakfast was at the church at 8am. By this time, a car full
of men and women from Slovakia had arrived. They were lovely people 4 young
ladies and 3 men, all in fellowship in assemblies in Slovakia. Most of them
spoke fairly good English, so it was easy to communicate. A group of the
Christians from Lutsk also arrived and it was good to see old friends once
again.
The meetings went well with a bible reading in the morning
and ministry in the afternoon; Rene’ Samson from Nova Scotia, myself from
Manitoba and Paul McClarty from N. Ireland gave the ministry. From the comments
received, it seems the ministry was appreciated.
Supper was served and some went home. Our people from Ivano
stayed overnight and all had breakfast at the church.
Sunday. I went over to the church at 9am and brought our
people back to the Gospel Hall to wait for the morning meeting. There was a
nice number at the meeting, both believers and those observing the meeting.
After meeting, one of the brothers from Slovakia spoke an excellent message in
English. His name is Daniel Moses. Then we had a little Sunday school and I
spoke to the children.
After a good lunch, we said our farewells to those leaving
with Dan for Ivano and those heading to Slovakia. Rene’ left with Dan and is
leaving Ivano by train tomorrow for Romania, as he flies from there to Canada.
Howard and I leave tomorrow for Poland with Paul McClarty,
who is leaving from Krakow for home.
More about out trip to Poland later.
God bless and thank you for your prayers, while we have been
away.
Malcolm and Howard.
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