Krasne

Greetings
Thursday Flora, Malcolm and Howard drove to Ivano with Ruslan. The day was spent there visiting with different Christians and making arrangements for meetings. On Monday Malcolm and Howard will move there for the three weeks they have left in Ukraine. There is a room ready for meetings and they look forward to being able to preach the good news of salvation. I stayed behind and sorted some things out in Flo's apartment, getting them ready for distribution. We have just received boxes from David Brandt and the Christians in that area and have started sorting the clothing out to distribute in various areas.
About ten days ago we received a call from the post office about a parcel waiting for us. We had never received a notice though they told us that the parcel had been there since February! We would like to suggest that no parcels be sent by mail because we are not guaranteed to ever receive it. We are thankful for having received this particular one as it was filled with Sunday School prizes.
Friday we visited some families in Krasne. There are two families in particular there who are in need of help. One is a mother and a daughter. The mother is 80 years old and the daughter must be close to 45 years. Rachel and Marcus Deloughery had visited them in the fall and brought along an MP3 player with the MP3s of the New Testament. They still have this and enjoy listening to the Word of God. This older lady had professed salvation last year as Flo was able to talk to her about the difference in having a religion and actually accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour. When we arrived she was sitting in her usual spot and reading in a hymn book. The poor woman has terrible problems with her feet and lower legs. They are so swollen and a purpleish colour. We all agreed that it looks like "elephantitis". The skin on her legs looks like that of an elephant. The doctor she saw told her it is because she sits all the time. But the situation is such that she cannot stand or walk and she says if she lays on her back to elevate her legs, she cannot breathe. She was very discouraged. Malcolm spoke to her about being in a better place and how we cannot stop our bodies from aging and deteriorating but we can look ahead to a day when our bodies will be perfected. Flora sang a couple of hymns for her. We left them with some groceries we had purchased for them.
The other family is that of the grandparents caring for their two grand children. Their daughter had died of kidney problems and the son in law died a few years later, leaving the grand parents with the care of the children. The grandmother seemed a bit discouraged at the fact that the children, now probably 12 and 15, had no parents to care for them. Flo mentioned to her how blessed the children were to have grand parents who loved them and commented on all the children in the orphanages who have no one to care for them. The younger one has kidney problems and will be visiting the doctor at the end of the month. She has been feeling well and is taking some natural medicine to help her condition. We also left them with groceries to help them along.
Krasne is only about 30-35 minutes away and it was a very nice drive as the weather is very pleasant in Lviv right now. We are enjoying 15C-20C weather. Sure beats the snow some of you are getting in Ontario.
Malcolm will be blogging from Ivano starting next week, and I will continue with what we are doing here in Lviv.
Helene