Report #18, Oct 27

Report 18 Monday Oct. 27 08

Monday dawned cold and foggy. They say it froze and some of the apartments don’t have heat on yet.

Well for the first time Vadym was here before the time we had asked and Howard had gone for a walk. We only waited about 5 minutes and he came sauntering down the street.

We had 3 people to visit this morning and went to see them all. The first is a 25 year old young lady who is saved and baptized but is not well at present and unable to come out to meeting; we knew that there was something wrong with the lady but got more details from her mother today. 5 years ago she was attacked by an old man and hit on the head with a bottle, she was then sexually assaulted. She had head injuries and has not been right since. What some people with have to face in a coming day.

We left some help for medication and further treatment.

Next we visited on old friend Maria; we have visited for years who is blind though not totally. She attends all of the meetings and we believe is saved but when questioned, said she was not ready to be baptized yet. At last her home has sewer and water for the first time ever and her brother is doing a good job at renovating her home.

It was noon by now and so we went to a little café we have come to appreciate and had Pilmeny and soup. It was a cold morning and we needed something warm after visiting in unheated homes.

We visited with our banker for a few minutes; his bank is next to the café, to get some receipts for the rent on the Meeting Room. The bank owns the building the room is in.

He is an amazing young man of 28 who manages one of the biggest banks in Lviv plus some in smaller towns. Andre is one of the most personal men we have met in Ukraine and is not at all proud of his accomplishments. His bank is brand new and only opened a year ago, it is state of the art in every degree.

We then went to visit our last lady who is invalided due to a spinal problem. She has had 5 operations in one year but is not cured yet. She is going in for another operation as soon as she can raise the money!!! Oh Ukraine, how sad is your medical system!!!

We had not met her before but she was a delightful lady. We offered her a new testament but she said she did not need one and showed us the Bible that she reads all the time. She may well be a believer, though obviously by the icons and pictures, still wrapped up in the church.

One of the saved ladies that come to meeting visits and looks after the lady and was there while we were there. Well she started setting the table and you guessed it, had a full meal ready for us. Lovely mashed potatoes with mushrooms and perogies, plus hot tea.

Well we could not offend and stuffed down as many as we could. These people are so kind.

We had some thing to buy so went to a very large store, browsed but then bought nothing. Something strange happened while there. I needed some Rhivney and so went to make my first withdrawal this trip. The machine said it had a problem processing my transaction. I tried with a lower amount and it said I had exceeded my limit, so I left it to try tomorrow.

After we got home, my wife phoned to talk and then told me I had with drawn $350.+ out of our account ???? I will have to go to the machine tomorrow and find a phone # and hopefully find an answer. Please pray if you think of it.

All for now. God bless you all.

Malcolm and Howard.