Eric's Report #3 Nov 5-7th

Sunday Nov. 5th.

        Today we rose early .... ate breakfast quickly and got ready to drive to Lviv.  We will take the two vans.  Dan bought a van for himself for when we are here and so he can sometimes do different things when he needs to.  He sometimes goes to different countries to visit as well and it’s nice for him to be able to travel in his own machine.
       There were 10 adults and 6 children that went with us, great crowd. The drive to L’viv was in fog and some rain at times.  Sunny when we got to lviv.  The meeting was small from Lviv as some of saints are away working and a flu is sweeping the country. 

It was very nice, all 7 men worshipped.  Doug Yade spoke after the breaking of bread.   Dema took the singing with the children and then I spoke to them.  We had a wee lunch and left to go back to Ivano Frankisk. 

We got back in good time and the fog had cleared off. I had a wee rest and prepared for another meeting.  We had 40 again in the meeting and a new couple.  A blind man and his wife were out the ones we took them clothing for their 5 children so they came to meeting.  They are a contact through Leanna, she gave some furniture away to them. She knew they were very poor and asked if we’d like to help them.
    Dema came home with us for a visit and a talked after the meeting.

 Day over and to say the least ... we are very tired.

Monday Nov. 6th.

       The morning came too early, still a little struggle with the flu.  Igor came for our Bible reading time. We need prayer for him that he will soon come to the Lord. We starte  earlier since we are going to Peter's village to visit the school we go to all the time.
  We left at 9:30 and stopped for candy along the way. We met the head teacher and had a nice talk with her.  She said students were asking where are our friends from Canada, will they come anymore this year?  She took us to the class room and spoke to 32 students and 5 teachers.  I spoke on all have sinned and showed them the serpent and talked on the dangers of sin.  Dan read John 3 as Moses lifted up the serpent, so our stories tied in very neatly.  We then went to dinner at the school and for the first time ever we ate with the students.  It was very neat. We gave calendars, text, and candy to all. We took one of the boys from the Russian family and took things to his mom. We gave her a full Bible as well. 

We came back into the city.  We went to Valentina's, one of the blind ladies that come to meeting, for supper.  We went to change money after and also spent an our or so on the street  giving out Calendars and tracts.  We came back to the apartment and did up more baby bags for mothers at the hospital.  We also put address labels on calendars.  I did more study for meeting tomorrow night.  Another day in the field of labour here in the mighty Ukraine.

Tuesday  Nov. 7th.

       This is the 13 day into our 25th trip to the Ukraine.  We write you wee notes as we go, to encourage you all to pray.   The full version of it all will be published on the Golden shore of Heaven. 

 Today we were all slow.  In fact Heather isn't feeling well. The pace and the labours and the needs and demands of the place has a way of catching up with you.  The different food has a way of send quakes through your stomach.  We had our time of reading when Igor came and a tea.  We had planned to do repairs on the van again but no appointment.  We then went with our clothing to the cleaners. 

 We came back for Margie and went to market with the Blind man's wife for her to get some food for all the children.  We went from there to the city hospital and gave them more white sheets .... we also had some other medical things to leave them.  We had some plastic bed covers for them.  We met the head Dr. while there and she said they are in need of much and appreciate any help. 

It was a cold damp day with rain. I did some writing of my report and some extra preparation for the meeting.  We then went to Anna's and Maria's 's for a supper.   We seem to be eating all the time, It's a way to meet and talk to people.  We walked to meeting and tonight we had 34 in ... cold and wet so families with children weren't in.  We are back to the apartment and writing and reading again. Heather has another Ukrainian lesson. Ira gives her lessons after school.  It is nice to try to learn Ukrainian if one has the opportunity and can make the time, but it’s not an easy language to learn at all, and it is good to be able to talk in their mother language if you can, but it’s also a blessing to have interpreters. The Lord is good to provide what we need here.

            Eric and Margie Fowler
                           Heather Anderson ...
                                         With Dan Perez