Slower week but better weather

This past week has been a bit slower for Laurie and I. UBI has given the students the week off for a break and so many of them have left Donetsk to see their families. This has given us the opportunity to do some exploring. Laurie for a long time now has wanted to ride the tram and explore the city some more. So we did that last week and found the train station and a new market. The tram is very cheap to ride and it made Laurie really happy to explore so this ended up being a good usage of our free time I think. This is the typical tram here but there are some newer ones...and definitely older ones. The tram stops are a little different here than in Calgary. Actually they are just like a bus stop in Calgary. There is usually a covering and benches to sit on as you wait. And when the tram approaches it will stop and you just walk on. Its simple...I like it. The picture below looks like the tram doesn't have any doors but it does, they are on the other side.



I also had an opportunity to write a short article for the University of Artificial Intelligence. The Dean of the school enjoyed the talk I gave earlier about Canada and wanted me to share my thoughts about Donetsk. This is all part of an international student day where other students from all around the world come to learn from each other. There is going to be some sort of conference organized and all the articles are going to be collected and published. I thought this was a unique opportunity so in my article I talked about Donetsk from a foreigners perspective but I also talked about faith in Jesus Christ. I hope it is well received.

The weather here is getting very warm. Trees and bushes are starting to bloom. You can see here our street is looking nicer with the trees filling out. I hear Calgary is not experiencing quite the same. Ah yes I do remember the land of two seasons. Donetsk though, as far as I can tell has all four seasons. Today is around twenty degrees. This is good for us...we walk lots here, at least an hour every day but often more than that.



Laurie had a fun experience at church this week too. She was asked to help out with the English lesson in the children's class. English is seen as a huge benefit here and so a lady from the church we attend has started teaching a short 10 minute English lesson to the children every Sunday. Each child introduced themselves to Laurie properly in English and then practiced the colors with her. And then Laurie taught them to sing 'Head and Shoulders'. I think the kids had fun, but I know that Laurie had a lot of fun with that.

Christos voskres! Voistinu voskres!

This past Sunday, Ukraine celebrated Easter. “Christos voskres!” & “Voistinu voskres!” Is the normal greeting given that day, it means, Christ is risen! And the reply is, Truly risen! It is an interesting time here on Easter. Laurie and I were invited to go to a small congregation that is about a two hour drive from Donetsk. We got in a van at UBI along with our mentors, another American couple, a translator and the driver. Half way to the village we stopped and picked up another woman and a few minutes later stopped to pick up 4 more men. It was a little cramped but the roads we took must have been very new because the number of potholes was very low compared to the norm. All morning starting with our walk to UBI and then even as we drove in the van we kept passing people carrying baskets filled with bread. We were told that it is a tradition within the Orthodox Church that people would bring loaves of bread to the Priest to be blessed on Easter. It became obvious to us that many people enjoy this tradition since many were practicing it.

Once we arrived at the village we were warmly greeted but then the service started soon afterwards because we were late in arriving and everyone was waiting for us. Once the service started the pastor of the congregation gave a little talk and shared how Jay Don was going to preach, and then Darryl would share a message and then after him Bruno, our guest from Canada would share. Oh, I thought, this is new news for me, but ok. So I got a little nervous because I did not plan to share a message and Jay Don and Darryl are very seasoned preachers. However a memory verse kept surfacing in my mind so I decided to share about what we are doing in Donetsk and to talk about that Bible verse. It ended up being good practice for spontaneous sharing.

Last Thursday also gave me an opportunity to practice some spontaneous sharing. Laurie and I were invited to go to an Orphanage. It was also about a two hour drive away. We went with some of the students and one of the teachers from UBI. Half way there Dema asked me, “So Bruno, will you share a story with the children...you know, one with a purpose?” “Uhhh, ya sure I can do that...let me think about it” So Laurie and I spent the remainder of the trip brain storming a good story to share. Again, good practice but definably not my preferred method to share about Jesus. (I, Laurie, have to make a comment here about how proud I have been of my moosh [husband] this week. He did such an amazing job in both of these spontaneous speeches. He even did a really good job at adding details to his story for the children to make it interesting and entertaining as well as having a good message about God's plan for making them each individual and special for a purpose. I'm so proud of him.)

The time at the Orphanage was fun. We sang some songs, played some games, and gave them gifts. But the funniest event there was when a girl brought out her pet rat. Oh my, you should have seen Laurie jump in shock when she saw the rat. Dema thought the rat was so very cute and he enjoyed holding her. He tried to get Laurie to cuddle her as well, but Laurie kicked him away, hehehe. (I, Laurie, did not care one bit about being polite at that point. He was not coming one step closer to me with that thing. I was fully prepared to kick him harder if he kept trying. It's tail was as long as it's body ... yucky!)



Oh and we have found a game that is very well received by Ukrainians. Last Saturday was our friend, Lena's birthday. So we had some students and friends over for a celebration. We ate borscht and cake and played some games. We played spoons and they loved it. They laughed for quite a while over it. Here is Lena cutting the cake and Vova being...Vova.



We were very thankful to have the opportunity to share our home with them as it isn't often that they can come together in one home and just have fun like that. But with entertaining and traveling and speaking we are feeling a little worn out and looking forward to a quieter upcoming week.

Ya ne zeniu

Either I look smart or like a local because I have been asked numerous times on the street for directions and a few times for a smoke. However I have a simple reply for them. I say, “ ya ne zen-i-u” which means 'I don't know'. And if they keep on persisting then I try, “ ya ne zen-i-u Rooskee yazik” which means 'I don't know the Russian language'. This is half true because I do know some Russian but very little and definitely not enough to carry a conversation solely in Russian.

However, as we learned last week you don't need to be fluent to communicate. Our friends Vova and Lena who speak very little English invited us to learn how to make Borsch with them. Which was a lot of fun. We took a trip to the open market and bought some cabbage, beats, carrots, potatoes and all the other necessary ingredients. And as we were leaving the market we ran into Tieetsia, a lady we know who is involved with helping orphanages and such. She knows very little English and we know a little Russian but we attempted to visit. As the conversation continued she told us she wants us to be her ghosts!...ghosts?... Luckily, we just learned that word a couple days ago. How convenient! It means 'guests'. So, through a jumble of Russian and English words, we made plans to visit her the next day after our Russian lessons. We felt pretty good for communicating so well with her through the language barrier.

Back at Vova and Lena's place we prepared the veggies and cooked the meat...it actually takes quite a bit of prep work to make a good pot of borsch. Here is Vova cooking the carrot and onion mix. Mmmm it was good.



If your wondering if that big green pot behind Vova is our borsch pot...it's not. Vova told us that the pot is filled with water and then heated up to be used for showering in the shared washroom next door. The second floor of UBI where we were cooking is shared among the students and other people who live there that are not associated with UBI. I'm guessing they don't have hot water piped up there.

Oh, if you are in the Ukraine and you are looking for a good soup mix. This is a good seasoning. I took a picture of it so that we would remember what to buy they next time we make borsch.



The next day we went over to Tieetsia's place. We did not now where she lived so she met us at UBI and then we walked over to her place. It is a quaint little place that is very small compared to Canadian standards. It has one tiny kitchen, a bathroom and one other room that is her bedroom and living room combined. From the moment we got to her flat she was teaching new Russian words and quizzing us to see if we remembered them and insisting that when we got home we needed to label everything in our house with Russian words so that we would learn them. We visited by sharing pictures with her of many of you in Canada (and the USA). She also showed us her pictures, several of which were from before WWII or shortly after. They were quite interesting but the time we looked at our pictures she would write out the Russian word for 'friend' or 'nephew' or 'niece' and stick them into our album and then she would quiz us on those words again. We are pretty sure that we had a little mix up in our 'successful' conversation in the market the other day. We think that our request to meet her after our Russian lesson might have made her think we wanted her to give us a Russian lesson. I guess we'll keep working on our Russian-charades communication skills. It was a nice visit anyways with several little giggles mixed in.

Rainbow

This past week has been slower for us. Our Russian tutor has been sick and so we only had one lesson with her. It was nice to have a break because it gave us the chance to go back and review everything we have covered so far.

We had the opportunity to visit the Rainbow Orphanage last Tuesday. It is outside of the official city limits of Donetsk but is still considered a suburb of Donetsk.


It was interesting to see this area because it is quite different from Donetsk. Donetsk has a beautiful side with some modern buildings and nice restaurants, but this suburb was definitely poorer. The roads and buildings were the greatest indicators of this. We took two buses to get there. One that stayed on the main roads and then the other that took the side roads deeper into the suburb. The side roads were riddled with pot holes and it is actually quite humorous to watch all the traffic, our bus included, swerving everywhere to avoid the holes.

The Rainbow Orphanage we visited has children from six years old until graduation which is seventeen. The kids we visited with are in grades five and six. There was only a handful though when we went because the next day was the beginning of a two week holiday for them and many of them go to camps for that time. Their English was quite limited so Dema, who took us there, translated us as he shared a message and a song with them. Afterwards we practiced our Russian with them a little bit but we did not have the opportunity to spend too much time with them that day. We are wanting to join Dema in his visits to that orphanage on a weekly basis. He tells us many of them have a hard time adjusting to adult life when they graduate and so he wants to encourage them and show them love as they grow and prepare to graduate.

Right now Dema, along with some others are working on organizing a halfway house in Donetsk where newly graduated orphans can slowly adapt into adult life. This halfway house will be a place where they can learn life skills like money management, some trades and get continual encouragement to better themselves. There are many temptations at this phase in life and Dema has noticed that many orphans struggle to successfully adapt to adult life when they are left on their own. We are excited for that ministry to begin and ask that you will pray with us for the commissioning and success of this project.

Today in Chapel, Robert an American Pastor from Texas shared a message with everyone at UBI. Here is a picture of him speaking with Katya translating.


Right now Robert is here in Donetsk teaching a three week class. This is his eighth time coming to UBI to teach. The school here has two full time Ukrainian teachers while the rest of the classes are taught by visiting American teachers or by Jay Don, the director of the school.

I mention this because Robert said a statement in his message that made me think about faith and trust. He challenged the audience by asking if they have allowed their fears to be sustained by God. Meaning are we willing to trust God with our fears. Trusting that the God of the universe may ask us to deal with our fears but knowing we are in His hands when He does so. A good message I think.