Friday in Truskavets

Friday we headed out to Truskavets again to go visit another school to bring the gospel and bibles to the students and staff alike.
We arrived on their last day of school and we all know what the last day of school can be like. We met with the director and she told us they would assemble the first four grades in the auditorium.
We waited a bit in her office and then she ushered us in the auditorium. To our surprise, the students were there like we were told, but they were all standing on the stage ready to give a performance to the other students and parents which were assembld there also. We were introduced to everyone and sat down to take in their little concert. It was all about the letters of the alphabet and how it is important to learn how to read and to study. A few children did solo performances and then it was our turn. We also had Ruslan (our Truskavets contact who gets all these schools for us) and his friend, Vasyl. Flora spoke a few words and introduced Gilles who gave them a word in the gospel. Ruslan also spoke to them. We had some small gifts to give to the younger ones and Children's Bibles. It was a very chaotic time since we were still in the auditorium and all of a sudden there were kids coming from everywhere. After a very confusing time of 'who got what', the adults and children started leaving the auditorium. The director told us that the next grade was going to assemble there for us but again in came the kids and a whole audience of older students as well as some parents. This time we spoke to these kids before the concert began and distributed New Testaments for them as well as gospel texts. We left the auditorium to go to a classroom. There we spoke to about forty older students, probably grade eleven. They listened very politely as Gilles, Ruslan and Flo spoke to them. They also received New Testaments and gospel texts. The girls really went for those.
Stephan was waiting for us in the van and we left the school and went to a home for unwed mothers. This turned out to be such a great place to go. This home is one of the few that the government is putting in place. The lady who takes care of this place seemed like a very nice person and brought us along to visit with the girls of all ages that live there. We also had Ruslan and Vasyl with us who seemed to be known here. This place has only been opened for one year. They allow these young mothers to stay there for one and a half year after their baby is born and afterwards will look into getting the girl employment where there is free day care. There were only about six girls there when we went, all varying in age and with their babies also of different ages. We sat around and talked with them and Gilles told them about how there always be problems in life and some are unexpected but there are some things that we can plan for and went on to give them the gospel. We talked for a bit, took some pictures and then visited the facilites. It is obviously a very newly renovated building, very bright in colour and full of new furniture, cribs, strollers. It will be a great place to bring some infant clothing and blankets which we always have an abundance of. This place has room for ten girls with their babies and has a staff of ten people working there. We are very thankful for Ruslan to have brought us there and we told them that we would return next fall with clothes for the babies and moms as well as toys to stock up their play room.
We returned home very happy with the day and the unexpected bonus of speaking to these young girls. The director told us that there is one of these homes in every "region" in Ukraine. I asked if there was one in Lviv and she said that this one was the one for the Lviv region. Unfortunately it is about one and a half hour away. Looks like we will be spending more time in the van!
This morning Rylan and Avrell headed out to Lutsk to spend a few days with the younger crowd there!