Ukraine has fertile soil and is know for being able to produce large amounts of wheat. Regardless, Laurie and I have failed to produce any bountiful crop. All our lettuce died as with our beans and peas. We did though get a small crop out of the peas before they went yellow. We have had one tomato and a hand full of potatoes also but I think we will leave the farming to the farmers.
This past week has been draining for us. I have been fighting a sinus/ear infecting for the past two week and Laurie a cold. Amongst this we have been entertaining her brother, sister and nephew along with some of our friends. We tried to give them a complete Ukraine experience with showing them the pretty and not so pretty aspects of Donetsk. The pretty parts were the parks and a couple nice restaurants. The not so nice pretty parts was visiting the TB hospital and taking them outside of downtown to the church building where our congregation meets.
The TB Hospital was fun. There the children were expecting us so they planned a short performance for us. Sadly I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures of the dancing and singing. The children were aged from 3 to 12, I would guess and they are all so very cute. The workers there really appreciate Jay Don and Mary Lee because through the Churches of Christ in America they have helped out the hospital significantly.
One of the guest teachers at UBI was giving a seminar on the Trinity at the church we attend and so we had the opportunity to take our Canadian guests to the church building midweek and show them that. I must admit I was most pleased with the interacting that was going on. Our friend Ella took a liking to Ethan and while we all were walking home she grabbed his arm and pulled him in close to visit and practice her English on him. All of a sudden our energetic nephew got all shy and quiet...hehe. I wonder what he will remember most about the Ukraine.
They left us on Friday and now we are back to our quiet house. On Saturday we helped with the VBS program that was being held at our congregation. Here on the sidewalk the kids wrote, "God is waiting for you" and then they drew arrows heading towards the VBS.
There we did games, crafts and learned about the story of Esther. They even acted it out...that was pretty funny.
Afterward we had some friends over for a bbq and visiting. Then on Sunday we crashed. I'm still sick, so I slept. Laurie's introverted nature needed a break from people so she read and had quiet time.
This week we are attending a few classes at UBI and preparing for our English class. We also need to figure out what opportunities we are going to act on. We have the opportunity to help a congregation in a nearby city, to go to a wedding in Dnipropetrovsk, go to a conference in Crimea, help our friends Vova and Lena in a new job working with orphans that they will be starting in October, distribute some donations from Canada and USA or even help renovate a building that is going to be used as a transitional house for youth. So there are many opportunities around us and we need to figure out what we want to do with the time we have left here.
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