Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Travel Woes from Ukraine to Slovakia. Oct. 29 2017



We would like to write you how we got home from the Lviv Conference.

As we did not have GPS navigation (and the mobile data were exhausted and limited outside the European Union), we relied on Pavol 's car with his navigation.
Pavol and Daniel wanted to use the second - faster - border checkpoint, the one Daniel Perez and Edmund advised them. Last year, we spent 4 hours at the regular border!

So we went via quite bad road for 20 km, at approximately the middle of it, Pavol got 2 of his tires burst at one time. We wanted to use the tire from our boot. However, it did not fit; Pavol's Octavia car was much younger than ours, but the wheel was slightly different, unable to mount. So, we had only one spare tire. Moreover, it started to rain.
So, Dina, Pavol and I went back via that road by our Octavia to a petrol station to find some help.
The compressor in the petrol station was out of order - as is usual in Ukraine - and all tire services were closed already (Sunday, after 18:00).

However, God was merciful to us, as one older man stopped at the petrol station and brought us to his brother. There, we were trying to inflate the tyres with his old compressor, and found the exact place of the holes. One tyre was fixable, and the second unfixable. 
Meanwhile, Daniels, Petr, Michaela and Eva were outside Pavol's car as it had only 3 wheels on. The rain started to be heavier and heavier, and only 1 could be in the car.

After several unsuccessful call attempts, that old man brought us to another village where a tire service owner was living. You can’t imagine how muddy the "roads" were there. We found him at home, having some family celebration. However, he was willing to go with us to his tire service in another village. There, he fixed the tire, and we were on our way back. Pavol mounted it on the car.
With this, we continued the next 10 km, with help of the old man with his old van who was showing us where only a minimum number of holes were, some holes were big enough to break an axle.

Pavol paid for that repair to the tire service owner 300 Hrivna, approx 10 EUR. And the old man with his van did not want any money. However, he accepted the Ukraine Bible Eva had bought in Lviv.

The border checkpoint was quite fast, approx 1 hour, but very windy. Then, the road towards the highway, and then going through Poland, leaving Petr and Daniel near Krakow, and then heading to Slovakia, with wind, rain and snow on the roads.

So, we were at home in Samorin Monday at 4:30 am. Petr and Daniel were at home in the Czech republic at approximately 2:00 am. And Pavol, Daniel and girls came home at approx 5:00 am. Praise the Lord, no other accident on the road, despite bad weather, we were only really tired.

So, it seems, God was writing His 5th chapter of Ruth :)

Many thanks for the prayers of all the Christians in Lviv.


With love, Dina and Marian, Samorin, Slovakia

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