Ivano & Truskavets

Monday was the day Malcolm and Howard decided to return to Ivano Frankivsk. After my language lessons and a stop at the Bible Society we were on our way. We arrived in Ivano at about 3:30 and started unloading the Bibles and the clothing that was brought along. The room that is being rented for the meetings is very well located near the center of the city. It has large shelves where the clothing can be sorted out and stored, as well as plenty of cupboards for storage of Bibles. It is large enough and when the meeting started at 4:30 the 25 chairs that were purchased were filled. Many of the ladies there are already known to Malcolm and Howard, having attended previous meetings. A good word was given in the gospel and there was a lot of talking amongst everyone after the meeting. Ruslan, Flora and I returned to Lviv a bit later. We enjoyed the scenery on our way back as the sun was setting. Spring is well on its way with trees filling with leaves, flowers blooming everywhere, the cherry trees all in bloom. It truly is a wonderful time of year where everything comes back to life.
Tuesday we were off at a very early hour to go to Truskavets once again. We met up with Ruslan there, the same fellow we were with on our last visit. He had managed to line up a senior's home for us to visit. We did our mandatory stop at Ruka Vitchka the wholesaler, bought bananas and oranges for the people we would visit, as well as disposable diapers & pads for beds. We had a bit of clothing to bring and had several gospels in large print. We also brought some glasses that were received just recently in some boxes that were sent from the states. This might be a good opportunity to remind everyone that we can only give out reading glasses. We were met by the director of the senior's home. About fifty people assembled in the auditorium, many of them handicapped. We all had a little word to give them and they all listened nicely. There was one gentleman who stood out. His name is Stephan and he is 77 years old. When he saw us arrive he went to his room and changed into his best clothes, Ukrainian shirt under his suit coat, a bright smile on his face and a very proud gentleman no doubt. He was such a pleasure to see. When I had spoken to the people, I had mentioned that I could speak French and English but apologized for not being able to speak to them in Ukrainian. Well, Stephan kept talking to me in German!! Some ladies came to tell me how old they were as I had mentioned the age of my parents at home. We gave everyone a John 3:16 text and a banana as well as an orange. Afterwards we went to see the people who were bed ridden. This was not an easy task and poor Ruslan was besides himself. The smell in the rooms was not very pleasant at all. Sanitation is always less than ideal in these places, whether they are orphanages for children, or as we saw today, in homes for the aged. Again we left them the texts and fruits and were on our way back home. I do not know how much they understood of what we told them, but when it was mentioned that under Communism they were taught there was no God, they all nodded and they also all agreed that in their hearts they knew that it was false and that there had to be a God.