Report #9, Oct 18

Report #9 Saturday Oct 18 2008

We didn’t need to get going too early this morning as we were going to meet Dana and her son and daughter at the Meeting Room. Her son just got out of prison and had no clothes to speak of. I did not know that she had any problem like that, she had never mentioned to us before. Dana is the woman whose husband went to Chernobil to clean up and now has radiation sickness.

While she sorted clothes, we sorted the New Testaments and children’s bibles and put them into the book cases so that we could see what we had to give out.

We were then taken to Vadym’s apartment for “breakfast” at noon, more like brunch!!

We were quite distressed to see what Vadym, Svetlana and their baby were living in. Because the woman who owned the nice apartment they rented before, sold it to someone else at an exorbitant price, they had to move in with Svetlana’s mother and father.

They live in one room and share the kitchen and bath room. The room is no bigger than 12 ft by 14ft. with cupboards all along one wall. The baby’s crib was across one end and they slept on a pull out divan.

This did not prevent Sveta (short for Svetlana) from preparing a magnificent meal. We were stuffed!!

We had plans to go to a town near the Carpathians to visit an orphanage and an old folks home. We decided that we would need two vehicles, as we were taking Sveta to help us assess the needs in both places but we wanted to take bedding sheets, bibles and 3 boxes of clothes and we could not get this all into one car, Sveta has a car and so we took hers as a second vehicle.

We arrived at about 3pm and were greeted by the lady administrator of the orphanage. We were surprised to find that they had 130 children from ages 6 -17. There were only about 80 in that day as some can go home for the weekend to spend with relatives.

They gathered them into a small auditorium and we spoke to them and gave out bibles according to their age as well as suckers and other things. We were amazed at how well behaved and attentive they were. As they left we gave almost all of them a toothbrush and toothpaste. (Donated by my dentist, Dr. Hans Staziuk).

We left what clothes we had and promised to come back next week and bring more. The building had been renovated and they had sponsors for that but none for clothing, so we agreed to help.

We then went to the old peoples home and, again some were away visiting but we got to speak to about 9 people plus 2 staff. We fitted several of them with glasses but we are still waiting for the stronger ones to come from David Brand. They were very grateful for the bed sheets and clothes. We gave them all New Testaments and John 3 :16.

We left very happy to have made the new contacts and then Sveta led us to this dumpy looking café. She had phoned ahead and ordered supper for us. Well once inside, were we amazed. It was very nice and the meal outstanding. A cold salad, fresh mushroom soup (not my favorite soup!!), then a big platter with pork chops in a sauce with the neatest roast potatoes that looked like little houses or big mushrooms, hard to describe.

Well it was a good day and we arrived home very tired and went to bed before 10pm.

Thanks for reading my prattle

.In Christ.

Malcolm

Report #8, Oct 17

Report 8 Friday Oct 17 3008

We both slept well and woke at about 7pm to a soaking wet day of pouring rain that did not really stop all day. There was hot water for a bath plus the heat is on in the house.

We ate our cereal out of out coffee cups as we did not have bowls. It worked quite well. We had some sardines Flo had given us so ate them on bread. We had coffee and were satisfied until we get some more things today.

Vadym arrived at 10:30 to take us to get some produce to take to shut-ins as well as some in great difficulty. By the time we had shopped at the wholesale it was after noon and so we went to a nice little café and had a bowl of soup and a toasted sandwich, very good and cheap.

We went to visit 4 homes of different people from an old mother with a blind boy of 28 to an abandoned mother with a crippled little sweetheart of 7 or 8 and a one year old boy; and lastly an old widower of 84 living alone except from a little help from a grand-daughter. He recalled for us his time in concentration camps and work camps. He suffered under the Germans, then the Hungarians and lastly by the Russians. While he was in one of the work camps a priest gave him a bible which he carried with him through the whole war and he still has. He believed God preserved him because he read and believed the bible he carried. He may well be a saved man or at least a believer in God’s ability to protect and preserve.

We were able to have good conversations with most and invited those able to come to the meetings. We trust will they will try to come.

We went shopping and came home to a supper of soup, and a sandwich and Pringles.

We plan to visit an old folks home and an orphanage tomorrow.

Good night and God bless.

Malcolm.

Report #7, Oct 16

Report 7 Thursday 16th Oct 08

We woke up to a dull foggy day and got ready to leave for Ivano Frankivsk.
We plan to spend the next two weeks there. Flo was busy unpacking some of
the 17 boxes she had just received from herself two days ago. What a mixture
of shoes, socks and children's clothes. She has an over abundance of every
size of socks and so gave us a large bag of socks to take to Ivano.

At about 9:30 two men arrived to begin laying a ceramic floor in the
kitchen. No one had told Flo when they coming so they took us all by
surprise. Ruslan brought the men as they do not have a vehicle, also Tania
his wife came plus one of our former drivers. So to say the least it was
wall to wall people for an hour until Vadym our driver arrived to take us
away. What a mess we left with the whole floor ripped up and piled in the
hallway waiting to go down in the elevator!! It should look nice when we
get back.

We had an uneventful but rainy trip to Ivano, it takes a good hour and a
half for the trip with half an hour for lunch on the way in a lovely
restaurant in the forest.

We went straight away to look at the first apartment Vadym had looked at for
us and took it right away. It is a semi-basement suite in and old home on a
quiet street right downtown. It is a large bedroom living/ bedroom with
three beds, a kitchen with fridge, micro wave, kettle and dishes also a
bathroom. Every thing is spotlessly clean and very sufficient for our needs.

Well a meeting was planned for 5 pm in the Meeting Room. When we arrived
there was a crowd waiting to get in and by the end 26 people came to
meeting, we were so blessed. We both spoke and The Lord gave help. There
were 4 or 5 people who we had not seen before including one young man.

The next meeting will be on Sunday at 4pm then a bible reading on Tuesday at
5pm.

We came home and made ourselves a light supper, we need to go shopping but
will do this tomorrow.

I got the King size bed again as the other two beds had "hammock" spring
mattresses and Howard said he could sleep in one of those but I felt I would
have a problem. I might have not had a "hammock" bed but neither did I have
a Sealy Posturpedic. The mattress is only about a 4 inches deep spring
mattress. Thankfully I was able to sleep well with only a little hip pain !!

Good night and continue to pray for our visit with many unsaved that someone
will respond to the gospel.

Malcolm & Howard

Report #5, Oct 14

#5 Report for Tuesday 14 Oct. 08

Howard and I decided to stay home today as we were having a bible study
tonight and Flo was just taking some product out to Bookva, the home for
girls. As there is no opportunity to speak to staff there we felt we could
get more done at home.

On Monday evening we took the drain pipe in the kitchen sink apart and
finally got it draining properly. But now we tackled the dripping tap. We
eventually got it apart while the water was off (from 9am to 6pm) and headed
to the little plumbing store 5 minutes away. They did not have a washer for
that type of faucet ??? The man was very helpful though, and drew a map and
we set off to the store, only 1000 meters he said, I think that was after
the first kilometer!! Well we did get a complete repair kit and after
walking back, soon had it fixed. Nothing is easy in Ukraine.

Flo came home and we had a nice dinner of chicken and fries. We then had to
get ready for the bibles study at 7pm, but some arrived while we were doing
the dishes.

Others had arrived by 7:10 and we had a nice bibles study in Matt. 5 on the
beatitudes. We finished about 8.30 and Ruslan took some home. One lady,
Lily, has Parkinsons and was not feeling at all well so Ruslan took her
right home as she usually travels by train and then walks to her house. O
that those in our favored country had such interest in the meetings.

We had an early night as we were leaving early on Wednesday morning to go to
a school.


Wednesday 15th Oct. 08

We were to leave at 8:30 but Ruslan was a little late. We were going
Truskavetsk to speak to a large school of several hundred children. Flo had
met a young Christian, Ruslan, at the Bible Society who asked her to come to
his town.

The ride took over an hour through very old villages and eventually into an
area that had once been the site of mines of some kind. The buildings and
equipment were still visible but none of them working any more.

As we pulled in Truskavetsk, Ruslan met us on his motor scooter and guided
us to the school. It was a large school in very poor condition in need of
complete renovations. We met with the grades 1-3 first in the little
auditorium. Wall to wall kids!! They listened well as I spoke and loved the
picture bibles, and picture verses plus a candy. Next came in the 3-5 and
Howard spoke. The 6-9 were not at all well behaved and there were so many
that there must have been 20 standing. Lastly the grade 11 and 12 kids were
also not the best behaved we have see at other schools. Howard spoke briefly
and then Ruslan, the young man who invited us, gave his testimony. He was
save after spending 7 years in prison for drug use. They really listened to
him and also as I gave the final punch about lives ruined by alcohol and
drugs and told them that God could make a difference in their lives if they
would turn them over to God.

We then left and went with Ruslan and another young Christian man Vasil who
had accompanied us and went to a home for single pregnant women that the
government has set up to help these women. The program started 3 years ago
and they have a lovely hostel style building where these women can stay
until they are able to care for their children. Some very sad cases, but
well looked after. We met with them and gave a little word of encouragement.
Flo left some toys and other items.

We then went for a late lunch at Rulan's nice church meeting room. They were
so thankful for our visit and want us back to speak in another school
whenever we can get back.

And so we headed home quite encouraged by the day.

Tomorrow we go to Ivano Frankivsk, so are not too sure of our e-mail hookup.

Good night and God bless.

New Ukraine Blog

Anatoly and Jeannette Schevchuk are now blogging! See the link on the left.

Monday Oct 13 Report #4

Another lovely day for a visit out to the village where we first had meetingin the home of Stefka, Ola and her husband Orst. They live on what we calla small holding with a large garden of about an acre, a milk cow, two pigsand some chickens. There are a number of fruit trees with most of the fruitfallen on the ground. The fruit does not look good as I don't think they canafford to spray and so the apples all seem to have spots on them. They pressa lot of apples into juice. The potatoes were not good either this year withmany spots mainly because of the very wet harvest season. A grand daughterand husband and daughter also live on the second story of the nice solidhouse. When we arrived they were making cheese and potato pirogues in the summerkitchen. We had brought some winter clothing as well as staples notavailable on the farm. Even though these people live on a holding there isvery little money for such things as cooking oil and cleaning supplies, sowe help out with some of these things. They all agree that it will be a hardwinter for many families who lost all their gardens and do not have anymeans of income. After good meal of borscht and pirogues, we left for Vileki Luben, a homefor mentally challenged children as well as some abandoned orphans. I wasvery surprised to see that a magnificent building that had needed to betotally renovated was now in total use. The last time I saw it, I doubted itwould ever be habitable, but with funds from Switzerland and elsewhere, itwas finished. We were met by the male director and showed into the auditorium where allexcept the youngest children were gathered, along with three staff. We sang"Jesus loves me" to them with a chart then each spoke a little word to themfrom the bible. They were all very attentive, so we gave them all bigsuckers, very generous!! We toured the renovated buildings. What a difference this new administratorhas made: the former lady director had been dishonest with the fundsallocated and was charged and fired several years ago. After a cup ofterrible coffee with all the grounds floating on the top we headed home to asupper of spaghetti and meat balls. God night to all. Malcolm

Sunday Oct 12 Report #3

We were not planning to go to the assembly in Lutsk today and so did nothave to be up before daylight. We had a light breakfast and prepared for the meeting in the apartment atnoon. It was another lovely fall day, not cold but the leaves falling heavily offthe trees. There has still been no frost yet and so there are still flowersin bloom. After we had read a little, Howard and I decided to go for a walk.There is a lovely ravine right at our apartment and so we walked down it andthen up to the road again. I was really feeling my lack of exercise by thetime we got back but it was a great walk. While we were away Flo had made a large bowl of mixed fruit for those whowould be coming to the meeting. People began to arrive at 11:30 and we started the meeting at about 12:15 assome people have a long way to come on buses and so we wait for those weknow are coming. Several people were sick today and so the total number wasonly 11 people. We sang and then Howard spoke on Ephesians 2 and then Ispoke on the vine in John 15. We may be having a baptism before we come home. A lady named Maria andpossibly a man named Volodia. We will have to use the Baptist church if itis possible to use it on a Sunday. We didn't bother with lunch because we were going to the home of Lesia withMS, to have a meeting at 3pm. Volodia was out and agreed to interpret atLesia's and so there were 5 of us who went. When we got there we found outthat the living room was being renovated, so the meeting was in thekitchen!! It was very crowded before any one arrived. But a lady came with 3children, she is their grandma and is looking after them because theirmother walked out and left them with her. She listened very well along withtwo other girls from a family of five children whose parents are bothalcoholic. Flo has left Lesia some help to feed the five children beforethey go to school, as their mother is rarely sober enough to feed them. We came home and Flo made us a pilameni supper with salad and a chocolatecake one of the ladies had brought for us. I missed my Sunday afternoon nap but made up for it after supper but thematron woke me up so that I would be able to sleep tonight. I think she usedto work in a prison!! Not really, we are doing fine. All for now.God bless.

Saturday Oct 11th, Report #2

Woke up at 6am and could not get back to sleep, still a little jet lagged, Iguess. Not a very nice looking morning, foggy and cold, however it turnedinto a lovely day. Had a nice omelet for breakfast and then got ready to goto the Carpathian Mountains to distribute food and clothing. By the time wehad all the boxes loaded, there was hardly room for us!! We filled up withdiesel; the price is way more than the gas at 6.56R a liter. It cost us 400+R at 4.33 per Canadian dollar, that's expensive. The trip starts out on thenew good roads but once you hit the foothills the roads are horrendous. Theheavy rains had played havoc with what road surface there was and then thewater was running over the road still in many places. It is 137 K to thevillage we visit and take 3 hours to reach. We picked a man up who was waiting for a bus, I think, as Ruslan recognizedhim as the husband of the family with 12 children the last time I visited 5years ago, but now has 14 children. There's was the house that had burnedpart of the roof off, and when we first visited with Seed Sowers, we alldonated to buy the metal for the roof. Well our first contact was to phoneNatalia who is a school teacher and was our contact when we first went. Shespeaks good English and was a young widow then but married again 4 years agoand now has 2 lovely little girls. Her husband was busy today working ontheir lovely house, having raised the roof and built another story on it. She took us to find the poorest and most needy families and gathered anumber of them at different locations. Once they had gathered I gave thefirst group a short message in the gospel and Howard the second group. Theconditions some of these people live in is terrible and doesn't seem toimprove at all. Some seem to have lots of children and are always havingmore. We wonder where they sleep them all in some 2 room homes. Once we have spoken a word, we take out the boxes of clothing and they sortout what they want with help from Flo, then we dole out the food itemsaccording to the size of the family. They are all very grateful as there isvery little opportunity to make a reasonable living in these hills. Thefloods did not affect them too much in this area but they had 3 weeks ofheavy rain that flooded all the gardens. Some bridges were washed out. We finished up at the home of Natalia's sister Ira, with the 14 children,all at home plus one married and living at home. She fed us a lunch whilethe people were rounded up from the homes up on the hills. We left theremaining clothes with Ira who doles them out as she hears of need. She isalso a teacher and is very much in touch with the local needs. And so home after a tiring but profitable day; I was hit with utterexhaustion by the time I got home but feel fine now. Good night to all.

Arrival and first days in Ukraine

Howard Pratt and I, Malcolm Stanley arrived in Lviv on Thursday the 9th,
after a good flight on LOT Polish Air. We were met by Flo Kancir and our
driver Ruslan. It is always good to see them once we get out of customs;
thankfully no problem at all with customs this time.

On Friday we went to get money changed, only to find the exchange was the
lowest we had ever experienced. We thought it wise to wait as we were sure
it would go back up. By the evening it had gone from 4.15Rhivney to the
Canadian dollar to 4.33, so we changed a few dollars hoping it will go up
again.

On Saturday we loaded up with clothing and food staples and headed 140km to a
village in the Carpathian Mountains that we have visited numerous times and
is very poor. The recent floods in the region did not affect them too badly,
as the rain started in the mountains and filled the rivers going down on to
the lowlands. However, they had 3 weeks of heavy rain that really affected
their gardens and roads, washing out some foot bridges and flooding gardens.

We gathered the people together in groups with the help of our friend
Natalia, a school teacher and spoke a word in the gospel before giving out
the clothing and food. There are many large families in these villages. We
met with one with 12 children, one with 10 and another with 6. Life is very
hard in these beautiful grassy mountain villages but there is little
opportunity of earning any money. Sadly, some of the men go away for
extended periods to work and leave their farm to their wife and children.
Most have a horse and cart and one or two cows.

On Sunday we had a service in the apartment with about 11 of us. We then
went to a Christian lady's home who has MS and had little meeting with
neighbours in her kitchen.

And so the work goes on with a little here and a little there.

We sow the seed; pray that God will give the increase.

More later.

The work continues.

Flo Kancir returned to Lviv, Ukraine on Sept 17th for another 3month spell. She reported that the weather is wet and cold and the heat is not on until October, hopefully.
She has not been too far our of town yet as the van needed some work done to it, it is giving more and more trouble as the bad roads take there toll on it.
What she has seen are fields still flooded and the rain still coming. It certainly looks as if the winter will be very tough for the poor people who rely on produce from their gardens.

I talked th Vadym, our man in Ivano Frankivsk on Sunday morning and he told me that Flo was coming to Ivano Frankivsk on Monday the 29th, today. They were hoping to go to Petriliv, a village on the edge of the Carpathian mountains which was devastated by the raging river in the flood of last July.
Houses that had never been affected by the swollen river in times past, were swept away this year, including the Mayor's house. She has been so kind to the people and even hosted some of our missionaries. Flo intends to bring produce to distribute to the people in the village.

Howard Pratt of Kapuskaping and myself will be heading to Ukraine on the 8th of October, for one month. We will help Flo in Lviv for a week and then go to Ivano and try to have meetings there again. Vadym is finding us an apartment to rent.
We will try to keep this blog current once we get there but much depends on the availability of phone lines.

Flood disaster in Lviv, Ivano Frankivsk area

I am sure that many will not have heard that there have been disastrous floods in the Lviv and Ivano Frankivsk regions of Ukraine. This area has been visited by many brethren and sisters during the past 10 or more years and a work goes on in both of the cities of Lviv and Ivano Frankivsk. I would not have known anything except that Vadym , our driver/interpreter in Ivano phoned me on Monday from Ivano to tell me about the disaster.
I then Googled "Ivano frankivsk flood news" and got news and pictures of the devastation. Vadym said that many of the bridges into Ivano were either closed or damaged by the raging water that came in from the Carpathian mountains . Fortunately, the dyke along the river held and the city is not flooded. The city water catchments was flooded and broke through and left them with only 2 or 3 days water.
I saw pictures of Victor Yuchenko the President, walking through knee deep water around Ivano, with his pants rolled up to the knee, visiting the flooded homes of people. Thousands of homed are flooded plus their gardens and fields washed away. 26 people are now reported dead and many still missing, 15,000 people have been evacuated.

Already, an orphanage we had visited for the first time in April, phoned Vadym and told him they had been flooded and were in great need, could he help. I said I would pass on the news .

When we were there in April they were predicting famine this coming winter because of the massive production of grain for bio-fuels and very little grain for bread and other staples. This loss of gardens and field can only add to this possibility. Many people rely on their village dachas to provide them with vegetables for the winter.

I thought I should pass this on to you for your prayers for this situation. I talked with Flo Kancir, who lives in Ontario but visits Ukraine twice a year, but she knew nothing about the flooding and was most distressed as she has visited many of the villages in this area with food and supplies and heads up most of our visits to Ukraine. She knew of many who would no doubt be suffering in this tragedy.

Home again.

Home again. It hardly seems almost six weeks since Howard and I came home from Ukraine. I suppose it must be something to do with getting older that time passes so quickly.

We had a good time again although it was different than other visits we have made. We were busy getting the Meeting Room ready in Ivano Frankivsk as well as locating and distributing a large shipment of winter boots that had been sent but were in storage in a garage. We eventually got them over to the meeting room and piled them into every available cupboard and on to shelves, piling them to the cieling.
We had to buy chairs before we could have any meetings and were happy to find a store with plenty of padded stacking chairs. We bought 25 but had to go and get more as there were not enough for the people who were coming to meeting.
We were able to fit many of the people and their children with winter boots which reduced the stacks significantly. We took several pairs of boots to the Assembly in Lusk on our visit there.
We did not get the opportunity to vist schools, as in other years but did go to an orphanage and an old folks home that we had not visited before. We took bibles and glasses for the old people, which were very well received.We spent much time visiting individuals in various sad conditions of health and poverty. Some had great debt because of serious sickness or surgery performed on their children OVER AND OVER with still no cure. Time and money was spent on some of these needy people.
I would like to mention that the situation at the Ukrainian Bible Society has changed somewhat, owing to some internal restructuring. They used to print and bring in thousands of New Testaments and we would go and buy what we needed. We now have to pay ahead before they will print them.
I would like to remind folks that we still distribute thousands of New Testaments and Childrens Bibles each year, both from Lviv with Flo Kancir and whoever is with her and also in Ivano Frankivsk.
I mention this as there are presently no funds to purchase more Bibles. There may have been a little confusion regarding where to send funds but Seed Sowers in both Canada and the U.S.A. will still issue receipts for funds donated for Bibles or printed material.
The confusion stemmed from Seed Sowers not being able to issue receipts for fund designated for humanitarian aid, only for printed material.
Thankfully, the work is going on in both Lviv and Ivano. Meetings are being held in Flo's apartment with Brother Misha preaching and teaching. In Ivano, Vadym is organizing sorting and distribution of clothing as well as overseeing the renovation of sister Luba's apartment. He hopes to start meetings this week.
The clothing is sorted by Vadym's wife and Sister Marika and others.
If God will, we may return in the Fall. Pray for us as three of us there last Spring were already pensioners and we need young men and women to get a vision for the lovely people of Ukraine. The door is still open but who knows for how long?

Malcolm Stanley.
Meeting with the Christians in Portage la Prairie. MB. Canada.