Our last week in Donetsk was a pleasure, stressful, sad and exciting. And all of these emotions at once were quite overwhelming. On Wednesday the students at UBI held a program and a lunch for us. It was quite a treat. They sang a song in English for us and we played some games. The first game tested our Russian skills. They gave us a bunch of pictures and we had to tell them what they were in Russian and if we didn't know then we had to act it out. I let Bruno do most of the acting. Then Bogdan had three of the students play the chubby bunny game except instead of saying chubby bunny they had to say, “Bruno and Laurie.” It was funny but ended up a little messy. Another game we played they had Bruno and I blindfolded and holding hands while people tried to sneak through us as we tried to catch them between our arms by squatting down.
These two little girls, Regina and Masha won that game as we didn't even move when they walked through because they were so quiet. It was a fun game, but with all that squatting we were quite sore the next couple of days. Then of course was some nice speeches and a gift and afterwards we enjoyed a hotdog lunch together. Now you might be thinking, “hotdogs aren't that great," but I must let you know that a Ukrainian hotdog is a little different. Its more like a hearty salad in a bun with a fat hotdog. They treated us so kindly.
Friday was a very busy day for us. In the morning we sorted through the Journey Church donations of t-shirts and stuffed turtles because we had planned the day before to give them out to children at the TB hospital. The younger kids loved the turtles and were especially excited about the notes that came with the turtles. They kept coming over to us and asking us what they said. With our limited Russian skills we translated them all to say that 'God loves you' and that the children in Canada who made them hope that you enjoy your new toy. That wasn't entirely an accurate translation of all the notes but it was the best we could do on the spot. And the kids were thrilled and showed us their new chillipakas (turtles) and little notes over and over.
There were also several young teenagers present when we were there also. They each accepted a turtle, but there was a drastic change in their attitudes when we brought out the t-shirts. It was quite amusing actually because there was not enough t-shirts for everyone but the teenage girls loved the shirts so much they were begging to each get one. They pulled them on immediately and were just so excited and giggly afterwards. They seemed a little shy about their excitement at first but I showed them a picture of how I had already been trying on the shirts too as you can see in the picture below.
After we delivered these things we went back to UBI to share one last borscht meal with the staff and students at UBI. It was fun to have one last fellowship with them all and then we started in on all our goodbyes. That evening we went out with some youth from church for a final goodbye too. Then Saturday we walked around town with Bogdon and then along with Bogdon, Lena and Marina came over to our house for a meal. And we sent them home that evening with bags of stuff from our house that we didn't want to transport back to Canada. It'll be interesting to hear if they figured out what to cook with our strange Canadian spices and condiments.
On Sunday Bruno preached which was a little more challenging to do with all that he had on his mind that morning. But he still delivered a very encouraging message from 2 Peter. And then we got to say our goodbyes at church too. Several of the babooshkas (grandmas) there had knitted us some little things to take home. I'm trying to explain to Bruno what a doily is, but he's having trouble understanding why anyone would use such a thing. I tease him but in all honesty there is one item that these grandmas gave us that I can't figure out either. Maybe it's a pin cushion. It was very sweet of them all to go to such effort. It was wonderful and challenging to so many goodbyes. Wonderful to have one last visit with so many and challenging to say goodbye not knowing when or if we will see them each again this side of heaven.
Our final goodbyes at the airport were the most challenging I think. With Bogdon and Nazar especially who have truly become like brothers to us. We truly hope that someday we will get a chance to go visit them again and see what God is doing in their lives.
Our flights home went very smoothly and the view from up high was breathtaking. We very much enjoy Lufthansa and all the food and services they provide. In the Munich Airport we found that they have free cappuccinos for their quests. It comes from machines but you can get sorts of different lattes and mochas and such... I think there was like 12 options to choose from. We were a little shocked at first and trying to figure out if they were free or not. But a man overheard us speaking in English and assured us it was all free. This was a little shocking to us as we are quite used to speaking freely in English to each other without being understood by anyone around. We'll have to be conscious now that our conversations can be understood around us.
So now we are home and experiencing a lovely case of jet leg. I have been up since 2am and Bruno since about 3:30 ... it'll take us a few days to adjust. But it is nice to start seeing all the people we love here again. We hope to catch up with all you in the near future.
