Malcolm's report #5 for October 26th and 27th

#6 report for Saturday and Sunday October 26^th  and 27^th

Well the day arrived for the Conference in lviv. We 6 men managed to work around each other to eat breakfast and dress for the meeting that started at 10 am. We took our 2 cars and managed to get to the church through the heavy traffic. It seems to get worse every year, and I was told it is worse every year because of the number of new drivers on the already packed city streets.

The day started with an half hour of prayer, with many brothers taking part. We then opened with a bible reading, lead by brother Paul Andrews, assisted by Edmund and myself and others from the congregation. The passage was the book of Philemon and we managed to finish the book.

Then lunch was provided, followed at 1:30 by singing by young people from Slovakia and children from Lviv and Ivano. The afternoon ministry followed, starting with Daniel Mozjes, then myself and closing with Paul Andrews. It seems the variety of ministry was appreciated by the attendees, as they chatted over supper, before leaving for home. There is no evening meeting as the church hall has to be cleared for use on Sunday morning,

The evening was used by visitors touring the city centre and other places of interest, before heading for lodgings. Some groups headed home for Sunday and others stayed to attend the assembly in Lviv.

Sunday morning .the 27th

4 of our six men were returning to Slovakia after lunch at the hall, so had to pack their bags and take everything before going to meeting. We were all ready in good time and some drove and I and two others walked to meeting. It certainly was a little tight, but everyone who wanted too, had a seat, even a stranger who wandered.

After the breaking of bread, a brother Marion, from Slovakia, gave good ministry and then brother Paul Andrews spoke to the children.

A cold lunch was then served and the guests who were heading home left, some to Slovakia and some, along with Malcolm, headed to Ivano Frankivsk.

And so ended a very nice little conference.

Upon arriving in Ivano, some of us has the privilege of taking a very needed nap. Then the Johnstons, the Andrews and myself went for a nice supper at a favourite restaurant and then home to bed.                               So much for a long and full day.

Thanks for your prayers, they were very much appreciated. More later.

Malcolm.

Post #4 for 2 days October 24th and 25th

Report #4 24^th October.

Today is going to be different with both Daniel and Jana at work, so have time to relax and get caught up on reports and things.

This area is quite different weather. They say that it is quite foggy every morning and only clears about 11 or noon. It is quite humid but warms up quite nicely after noon to about 25c.

Lots of options of fod left for me but they arranged for Daniella, their daughter, to come home from school at about 1 am with 2 pizza. So she ate one piece with me and rushed off back to school.

Daniel came home after 3pm and said we would eat and head to a town named Lucenec where there was an assembly of Gypsy brethren and sisters. The wanted me to visit them and speak. It was a very old town but with a lovely new assembly building with an upstairs suite, when an elder and his family lived. After meeting, about 10 of us met upstairs for “supper” of mini homemade pizza and hotdogs. About 30 people came to the meeting.

And so I visited my 3^rd assembly in Slovakia. Once we got home and to bed, I realized I should not have eaten 2 mini pizzas. I suffered for many hours and eventually got to sleep at about 3am.

This was not good as we had to be up at 4;30am to be ready to leave for Lviv for the conference.

 Report for Friday 25^th.

I was awake before my alarm and washed and finished packing my bags. Daniels son Timothy had come from University and Daniella was coming with us too, plus another girl who arrived the night before.

At 4:45 am anther brother Jacob arrived and we loaded every up in two cars. Two other people were arriving by train in another town, but the train was running  late so we had to wait at the station for 20 minutes until the train arrived, then we started off.

Slovakia is in the EU and so the roads are very good, with speed limits of 130k at times, but our drivers did not drive that fast. Once we reached Poland, the roads were even better with speeds of 140k.

We stopped roadside to eat on the way, having brought much food with us. We stopped a couple of times at a Gas Station for coffee.

Sometime after noon, we arrived at the Polish/Ukrainian. It looked as if there was going to be a long wait but we moved fairly fast and got through in about 90 minutes with no problem. About a 10 hour drive, I think, as there was a time change.

Once we got into Ukraine, we found again what it means to not be in a EU country, as the roads are very bad once again, as they had be fixed for the World Soccer, several years ago, but are deteriorating once again, ESPECIALLY when we got to Lviv. Worse than I ever remember them.

We went straight to the Baptist church where the Conference is held, relaxed for an hour or so and had the first meeting, where I and a visiting brother from Ireland Paul Andrews preached the gospel. Most people had arrived but some arrived later or on Saturday.

After meeting, we were all assigned our lodgings, six of us men to bed down in the assembly apartment on Shafarika St. All very cozy.

Will close off with this as it will get too long for you to take time to read.

Thank you for praying, your prayers were heard.

Malcolm.

#3 report for Slovakia

#3 Malcolm report from Slovakia.

7 am breakfast, just like home, toast a peanut butter and homemade jam, plus juice and coffee. I don’t need it any better than this.

Headed out with Daniel to his school of approximately 800 senior students. I will tell a little about this school as it is rather unique in many ways. I think we would call this more of a Community College. They are generally training student in different areas of a vocation. Classes in the service industry, the travel industry, business admin. Etc and etc.

I spoke with 5 classes of approximately 10 -20 students in each class. They were at several levels of understanding English. Most teachers understood some English, as long as I spoke slowly, which is quite a challenge to me, but became easier as the day went on.

What followed after school, at noon, was to me the thrill of the day. Daniel and I went to eat lunch in the town centre. He pointed out a pale blue building and said we were going to eat there. It was an hotel, with a restaurant on the ground floor, all owned by the school we had spent the morning in. The whole hotel and restaurant is operated by senior students, from the kitchen to the dining room, under the direction of adult supervisors.

The restaurant was immaculate, waiters and waitresses serving people from the hotel and walk in customers. A full menu excellent food preparation etc etc.

We left there and walked a little way to the castle in this town. I told Daniel I was still suffering from the stairs in the last castle so only wanted to see the exterior. He obliged and we walked around it but even then I was very weary as we still had to climb up to the walls, but I will say, the country really preserves their heritage.

We went home and had a lovely siesta before having a supper of lamb and the trimmings. Then it was time for a gospel meeting in the Gospel Hall attached and built against Daniels home, by his father. Daniel was pleased to see 3 ex students come to the meeting and this made it very easy to preach the gospel. I preached and Daniel interpreted. The lovely hall was full to overflowing.

 After meeting the 3 students went home with Daniel for supper and I went home with a young couple Jacob and Katka who have  2 little ones, and visited with them until 10:30pm, I had met them both before at the Lviv conference years ago. Then I headed home to a welcome sleep.

One more day until we head for Lviv Ukraine Conference, that starts on Friday pm.

Trust you enjoy the travelogue today.

Malcolm.

Blog #2 for Malcolm in Slovakia.

Report #2  22^nd Oct.

Well had a good sleep and as Daniel had gone to school already, two other brothers came and shared breakfast, before taking me out for the morning. The older brother was Dusan, who  did not speak English, but the other brother Boris, was to be my interpreter for the day. Boris is married with a 4 year old daughter and a month old baby as well.

They had planned to give a little tour of the very pretty countryside and a visit to the oldest and most lovely castle in Slovakia in the town of Bojnice. Dusan took his wife to his home to prepare lunch while Boris and I took the guided tour of the most beautiful castle in Bijnice. 

The tour was over an hour and visited the multitude of rooms and climbed the 182 stairs gradually until we were at the  top of the turret. Then made our way back to go down another 50 or so stairs to the caves under the castle. Talk about being worn out when we finished? 

I really needed the latte I got at the outdoor cafe. We were picked up and taken to Dusan’s home for soup and salad and a couple of hours sleep, that was VERY welcome. We then headed to the meeting hall in Prievidza for a meeting at 5 oclock. 3 small assemblies of about 35-40 adults came together for the meeting. I think they appreciated what I shared about Witnessing and the need for us to be a witness for Christ.

Then home again to Daniel’s home and a supper of cooked lamb and potatoes and dessert. So another interesting day, but a busy day expected at school  tomorrow.

Malcolm

#1 Malcolm's first report on visit to Slovakia and Ukraine.

 Malcolm’s Report from Slovakia October 2019 #1

Paul, my son drove us to the airport.

I arrived in good time at the airport on Sunday the 20^th . My flight was not till 4.40 pm so I was able to be home for the assembly meetings in the morning.

As I sat waiting, I was called to the counter to be told they had changed the type of plane and they had changed my seat number to 28F, which was quite fine with me. We boarded and I got to row 28 only to find there was no  28 DE or F, only a toilet?? All around laughed as I contemplated beginning my flight seated in the toilet. However, an understanding flight attendant gave me a choice of any of the open seats, and I settled in an Exit row with lots of leg room. Thank you Lord. However, as we began to unload in Toronto, with the gangway full of people, all the doors locked and the airport went into “lock down”. After standing for about 10 or 15 minutes, the door opened and we were allowed off. However the airport was still in lock down, so none of us could get to our departure gates for another 15 minutes. Thankfully I had lots of time.

All went well after that in Toronto and we eventually got away on LOT air headed for Warsaw. Want to say, LOT is an amazing airline, with a Dreamliner and amazing food with a most courteous crew. We were held up from starting on time because of a problem with some ticket of a passenger already on board. Anyway we were 30 minutes lat into Warsaw and many people missed their connections.

This was then the most boring part of the trip with so long to wait for my flight to Vienna. Even with my wait at the posted gate, I had to rush to the actual gate that had been changed as I waited. Even though this was only a one hour and 25 minute flight we were given a lovely sweet bun, a chocolate crisp bar and a beverage. Wake up Canadian airlines, things cant be that tough that not even a cookie?

Well was met by a brother Stano and driven 3 hours to Daniel Mojzes home in Zvolen. Very comfortable room with private bathroom etc. Had great sleep, even though I slept on the long flight. Enough for flight etc, now down to business, but later.

Malcolm
Please Pray, Pray and Pray.

Blog #7 from Eric Fowler. Oct 9th 2019

Sept 9th 
          2019 Ukraine
            
Today was cold and little or no heat in the APARTMENT ...WOW HAD HOT  WATER bottle to bed with us but it's ok ...Joy and warmth in our souls. 
 Dan took neighbour to a village and got things she needed.  Then we went  to Luba's village Stari Lasets. We can got to that school anytime we want to and speak to children.They have 400 lives we can affect. 
The laws are changing fast for getting into schools. The teacher told us many parents complain that we come but we spoke to two classes of students. They went home early as no heat in the school yet.  
Then we had a lunch with three  of the teachers and we brought them some things for the school. 
 Then  we went to Luba's mother in law and had more lunch.    
We came back to  the city and rested some and then seven came for a Bible reading. 

Now day is over and its going to be colder, but I heard snow in Alberta and Manitoba so cold in Canada too.   Winter will soon come .

                  Eric and Margie from Canada
                   Now in Ukraine

Blog #6 For Eric Fowler.8th Oct 2019.

  Greetings .....
          Morning came early and it was -3 ...getting colder each night.  They tell us that there is snow in the mountains and cold.  
We have just stayed near the city and in the city for this trip.  
 We went to the clothing room after breakfast and picked up the things we found for the hospital again.  A few sheets and some medical supplies . The head nurse told us what you bought few days ago has almost gone        and it came in good time for the homeless.   
Then went and picked up table and things that Tanya need for the dinner at her place after the baptism.  
We came home and got ready for Baptism at 3.
 Edmond and Agnes, Ruslan and Tanya and Ola came from Lviv.  There was 29 of us at baptism, it went well.   Tanya's oldest son Valara got baptized. I had a word on Baptism, Dema opened in prayer and Dan did the baptizing and Edmond closed in Prayer. It was great to see Euri's wife and his 5 children there. 

 Then we went to Tanya's for dinner.  She did a lot work and the meal went well.   

Then right to meeting.  We had 32 out, nice number yet some of the regulars are still missing. 
 Dema's Mom was to all and seemed to enjoy it.   Igor, the last interpreter came and we went for tea after meeting with him.  The young man from Odessa that we meet on the street came .   Sasha the man troubled  hasn't been out for the last three meeting ...he called and is sick.
         
Home but mighty tired but a great day for sure.

Eric and Marge.

Blog #5 for Eric Fowler.October 3-6th

           Oct 3th  Ukraine 2019

          Time is flying fast every day ... MORNINGS come fast
      and days goes faster.   We went to a Drug store got medicine  for MS lady Natila,  Had a great  visit with Natila and her mom.  Natalia is getting weaker and weaker.... we took her an MP3 player with Bible on it and some messages of the love of God and radio as well.  She was so happy to get one.
We picked up food for two families. Had little visit with Dema's mom and left the food package ...then took food package to Tanya and the two girls and the new Baby. ...  
Did some time on the street with Dema giving out tracts and came home got ready for meeting. Rested little and my wife made Pumpkin soup and pumpkin Custard.
 We then went to meeting and 18 was in..It was raining so that cut down on the number out. We came back to apartment and had tea ... full day ...for sure.

     Oct 4th   Ukraine 2019
          Morning little warmer as some days are rain and wind. Got a call for help from the German regional hospital...We  thought at first it was the Lady who's son we had already helped, but when we got there it was Slivsana.... another lady, not the  one that was our interpreter we had one., but the one who is  Russian ladyIt       It was her friends, a couple who was to Portugal and the husband  caught  some kind of foreign bug. Medicine
      was very expensive we helped with two lots which were a great to help,. 
We went and got Eura's wife and took her to pick up food.   Had nice visit with her. 
Picked up food for the discussion meeting tonight.  Dema and I was on the street for and hour giving out tracts again. 
We came home and got ready to take Leanna and Marina her daughter out for supper. 
It was again another full day ...tired in the evening.

          Oct 5th
           Ukraine 2019
 We had a little later start on the day.   We went to  the Clothing room for some hours and opened and sorted clothing  to have boxes to take to Peter's village Monday morning. 
We got some extra clothing for Ura's family and for him and his wife. Dema and I spent some time again on the street and gave out tracts. I love in the street and have some good talks ...also more and more foreign people here at university.   
We went for something to eat. and got some extra money changed.  WE went to
        village near airport ...and met Yaroslav and his son and his son's wife and her grandmother ...had visit with them. 
We came home to rest early after a long week. God is Good and  gives strength along the way and help to speak the truth in each meeting and each visit.  WE will have to give account for what and how we teach.
 Week is over and tomorrow starts a new week and  our last.

           Oct 6th
 Ukraine 2019
 It was raining hard and woke us up early .... We will again stay in Ivano Franksisk.  Meeting was at 10am ..picked up some of the children as there is a children meeting after the ministry meeting in the morning. 
We had a great crowd for a rainy day.  We had 30 of us and two new ones out.  It was great to see Yaroslav'
son Vatalie out ,in fact he was out tonight as well. I had the word of ministry and followed from last week ... 
The local church and its formation.  Today was the  first place where Bethel was mentioned in the Bible and then something of THE PLACE in the book of Deut.   Then to Matt. ch. 16 and  ch 18 ... A called out people for the PLACE. Yaroslav had a nice word for the children ..
.A little coffee and a cake for one of Erie's children for it was their Birthday.  Home and rested and had little Pumpkin soup and eggs for dinner.   Still raining but we had 26 in tonight and that is good for the weather. 
 Went to Olex and  Olia's place for supper after meeting.  Nice visit but little disappointment not to have them to meeting ...they were in the morning and I was very thankful for that ...as they needed to hear the truth given in the morning.  One of there son... Sasha was there at the house for a short visit it was great to see him ...he was troubled at one time.
A new week begun and look to the Lord to guide, much in our mind for this week will see how the Lord Guides. 
                         Eric and Margie
                          from Labrador Canada
                          and now in the Ukraine
           

Blog #4 From Eric Fowler

  Sept 28th ...Ukraine trip 2019

            We went to market and bought food packages for three families. We also bought liquid soap for hands and floor for hospital and  also got paper towels and window cleaner. 
 We then visited Tanya and  family and left food . While there her son told us how he got saved and asked if he could get baptized.
 Then went to Bodonka's daughter and her family and had visit and left food. Then we went to Tanya's mom and brother and left food.  
There is a terrible flue going around and some of those people had it.  
We went and had a meal with Leanna and Marina her daughter. 
The day is over and the week is over, great to rest and read some to have a good start tomorrow. The three visits with food was good visits, many more here to make.

         Sept 29th      .....Ukraine trip of 2019

  We were up little early to be ready for today.  The meeting here is at 10,a prayer and ministry and a time with the children. We had 21 at the meeting. mostly children. Uri the blind man and his wife and 5 children was there. 
The Lord gave help but so few heard it.  Eurie spoke to the children and was good. We went and had dinner with Svetlana's parents after meeting.  Her dad got home Saturday ...he was in hospital for a heart attack...I brought medicine for him from Canada. Had nice time but no interest in Eternal things ...sad.
 We then came home and rested for a short time and prepared for night meeting. We had 22 in meeting but many regulars still missing.  After meeting we went and had tea at Dana's home, she is the German lady that comes at times, she had her neighbour there that was out to meeting for the first time ever Thursday. 
The Asian lady and daughter was to be there to who was out twice to meeting since we came but some  relative had accident.  The visit was little disappointing  but the Lord knows.   Leanna was out to meeting and was with us
         as well.   
The work here demands much visiting person to person.
Home and it is late and for myself had trouble settling down
         tired too much ....But Lord will help.
               Eric and Margie ...
                from Canada ..now in Ukraine