Report #16, Oct 24

Report 16 Saturday Oct 24^th.

We woke at about 8:30 after a good night’s sleep and had our bowl of porridge and a nice slice of fresh bread from the bakery around the corner. We don’t have a stove or hotplate, so can’t do much else. We do have a microwave.

We went for a walk and found the MEEST office. We went in to ask the were a bouts of our last shipment of boxes from Portage. They were sent on August 21 and we thought should be here already. To our amazement we found it had arrived on September 26^th and had already been unpacked and much of it put away. We have never had boxes travel so fast, usually about 6 to 8 weeks. Vadym had piled the boxes and the ladies unpacked them but nobody recorded where they came from. That won’t happen again!!!

We went for a coffee and shared a personal Pizza and then started to walk back to the apartment.

On the way, we passed the only Synagogue in Ivano and Howard asked me whether I had ever met the Rabbi, I said no so he said he would introduce me to him as he had met him 3 times.

We went into the Synagogue just as they were finishing something, as it was the Sabbath remember. The Rabbi met us cordially in his office along with another priest visiting from New York. They asked us what we were doing in Ivano and we told them. The Rabbi then asked if we could bring him a Bible, so we are going to take him one. Then they asked us to follow them to this other room where about 20 people were sitting at tables with food in front of them. Oh by the way, they asked us to wear our hats while we were in the synagogue. They showed us to a table and brought plates of food to us as well as offering us vodka. We declined for mineral water and waited for the Rabbi to pray in Yiddish. He then took two loaves of bread and sliced them up for us praying over it.

While we ate he would start singing and they would join in. Then he had a little preach in either Ukrainian or Russian. After a few more songs there was a break and we asked to be excused. This was granted and we went on home. It was a very interesting experience even though we did not know what was said. Even though we will not be able to remember the Lord tomorrow, we did see the Rabbi break the bread and drink the wine, but it was for a very different reason we are quite sure.

We were eventually picked up by Vadym and taken to his apartment for a supper with his wife’s two sisters and her mother and father, to celebrate the baby’s 18 month birthday. (Just an excuse for a good meal I think !)

We got home tired and full. We will have a meeting a 4pm tomorrow so need to prepare.

Love in Christ.

Malcolm