Avrell in Lutsk

I (Avrell) learned about a children's work in Lutsk with the assembly there. Oxana (a lady in her late 30's and Ira (16 yr old girl) go to 2 schools Monday through Friday. Children with one parent and that parent is an alcholic, don't receive government support. So with this program the child receives one decent meal a day and then some sunday school songs are sung followed by a Bible lesson.
This work caught my interest so when opportunity to spend a week there presented itself, I jumped at it. I met a girl named Marika in the Lutsk assembly who came down to visit me in L'viv for a few days. I rode the bus back with her- about a 3 to 4 hr trip.
The first evening there i met a number of people in my age group and some of them knew english rather well. Really enjoyed the group there, a ton of fun and easy to talk to.
The first day in the schools I mostly just watched the goings on and began to teach the children the english words to 3 of the ukrainian childrens songs they sang. Taught them a few new actions their favorite being the action for monkeys. It was interesting to hear their pronounciation. One boy instead of singing the word 'grow' would sing 'frow'. At the 2nd school I quickly made good friends with 3 of the girls. Oxana and I would leave the school and these girls would walk with us even around the market sometimes 10 to 20min until we'd finally get on the marshrutka (bus). One girl would link her arm in mine and another would hold my hand - I definitely felt in my element. The next 3 days I added a few other new songs to their repetoire. Some of the adults came and said they were glad their children were learning english and not only english but songs about God and His Word.
Anatoly, a translator in the Lutsk assembly, took me one afternoon out to a village where we took bags of food to 3 of the families there. 2 of the families are part of the assembly but are incredibly poor. One gypsy family has 6 people living in a 2 bedroom house (bedrooms here also double as living rooms and dining rooms) the lady living in that home is very resourceful in that the buildings including a crude well, a deep cellar and a new house has been built by her. At the next home i met a lady who one morning years ago woke up to discover her legs didn't work. She was sitting up when we came in and has been trying to do that more lately, but she's not been out of her bedroom, never mind outside for a long time. She cried much of the time we were there, thankful for our visit and still praying each day that God will heal her legs. The last home we visited was a lady whose husband suddenly died by a stroke while out walking. They both came out to gospel meetings held in their village. She is not saved but they've continued to keep in contact with her. She told us this visit that she feels her strength is failing and hasn't bothered to heat the house in awhile. Spring and summer is a very busy time for people in Ukraine because they are out in their feilds planting potatoes, which in the village is sometimes still used as currency. This lady said summer hasn't even started and she is already exhausted and especially being elderly, this drains her energy quickly.
On Friday it was 'Victory Day' so schools where closed. 3 of the Lutsk young people toured me around the city. I saw and went in my very first castle. The underground tunnels which go 3 floors deep where closed for the holidays but they go beneath the castle, the city and even to neighboring villages.
Saturday I rode the bus back to L'viv by myself and discovered my seat was broken about 5 min into my trip. Each time I'd lean back so would the seat, until finally the seat was resting in the lap of the girl behind me. After much searching and watching other passengers I found the lever that makes the seat pop back up. For the next hour I had to sit slightly forward until finally a few people got of the bus and i jumped in a free seat. Then I entertained myself the rest of the trip by watching when others discovered the seat was broken. Arriving in Lutsk it was after 10pm and the bus didn't stop at the place I thought it would. I knew something was wrong so i called my driver and convinced someone to take my cell phone and tell him where i was. It was a train station down town L'viv. I was so grateful to finally arrive back in Flo's appartment.