The Grand Finale

Tuesday started early for the workteam as we prepared to cheer on the IVA students running a 5K race from Hope Center to the Black Sea and back. We had a post on the route and encouraged them on to the finish line. All received a t shirt with the words "Borsch powered" on the back. After crepes for breakfast, we prepared for the Graduation Ceremony and also packed our suitcases for the trip home.

The ceremony began with speeches and gifts to thank teachers and staff of Hope Center. Each received a certificate, an award for personal characteristic, and a gift of money from the workteam. Some had passed their driver license test and received that also. A trio of IVA guys entertained with a song and five of the IVA class of 2007 returned to say a few words at the ceremony. It was great to see them make the effort to be there.
Ice cream and goodies were served.

It was time to board the van and depart from Hope Center. We traveled for 5 hours to Yalta where we stayed in the old (1927) part of town in a newly remodeled bed and breakfast. We began Wednesday with our guide, Yuri, by taking a boatride out on the Black Sea to the Swallow's Nest high up on a cliff- about 700 stair steps up. Sara Gaw who along with her husband, Matt, accompanied us on the trip was nearly carried away by two eagles. You see the Swallow's Nest up on the cliff behind her.

We also toured the grounds of the Lividian Palace which was unfortunately closed that day. After a lunch at a Pizza place, we walked through the beautiful botanical Nikiti Gardens.

From there the van took us to Simperofel to catch our flight to Kiev that night. We stayed in downtown Kiev and began the day at McDonald's for breakfast. We were able to walk around the War Memorial Museum and Park. This huge statue symbolizes the Motherland to the Ukrainians

It glistened beautifully against the blue sky.

We did a little more gift shopping and left for the airport. Our return to USA went well for most of us- Kiev to Frankfort, Germany- to Chicago to home! Great to sleep in our own beds and eat good old American food again. Two days of jet lag and we are back to normal again--our willingness to go to Ukraine as a"Life Changer" has resulted in our own lives being changed as well.

Our Last Weekend in Ukraine

It is Monday here. We took the cars and all of us on the workteam to the City's market where we bought lots of chocolate and fresh bread. Lots to look at.

Yesterday we had a rare glimpse of the fortress that is hidden in the hills of Kerch overlooking the Kerch strait. This huge complex is cement and masonry mostly underground and was begun in 1850. It was fought over by the Russian's and Nazi's for the control of the waters and lines of shipping. Our guide was an officer assigned there during the second world war. His son is a Christian who volunteers at Hope Center.

These men have been in the military on opposite sides. Bob- the Marines, and Tom -the Navy, Our tour guide ,a Soviet officer.

Our Ladies Tea was well attended-about 50 women. We decorated the Dining Hall and served sweets and open face sandwiches. Mickey sang a beautiful song, "Indescribeable" and it was translated on the screen for the ladies.

Carol gave her testimony and Darlene followed with her testimony and the invitation to ask Jesus into their hearts. We enjoyed watching the ladies as they made cards for a craft time. There were 37 women who participated in a Global Action program called Heart to Heart which builds relationships and introduces the Gospel.

We will be heading home tomorrow after the IVA students graduate. We plan to tour Yalta and also visit the war museum in Kiev. The guys are busy today with a few more cement jobs and unloading the truck carrying humanitarian aid from Sweden which arrived last night. One of our favorite IVA guys from last year, Artur, came back from his job in Moscow and visited with us and played some Phase 10 for old time sake.

Darlene and Mickey completed 2 more blankets today, so we made our quota. Spring weather is beautiful here!

Thursday and Friday in ukrainia

Thurs and Fri have been easier on the men than Wed. They have continued with cement projects with a cement mixer rather than the ready mix truck. Greg walked down to the Black Sea before breakfast this morning. He is doing a great job all aspects of the cement projects --The stairs to the dining hall, medical building, kitchen, and guard shack. We are blessed to have someone so skilled and always pleasant. Bob (the builder) wears his tool belt all day and is a great help. Rich is known as Sewer Man. No one wants to sit with him at the dinner table.

The ladies attended an evangelistic concert at the public school in a small village. One young woman gave her testimony to the teen-agers there. We handed out a set of three books to the older children on spiritual growth.The younger children just wanted hugs and their picture taken with us. This is Darlene with her new friends.

The Beginner Sewing Class for the IVA young ladies was comical as one of the girls sat down at our sewing machine and proceeded to sew French seams on the pillow case we had decided was simple enough for beginners. She is amazingly proficient and obviously had sewed piece work before. We watched with our mouths open in surprise. She didn't speak any English. The others in the class handed their pillow cases to her and she whipped them out in no time. In our spare time, we work in the sweat shop on the quilts that Hope Center needs pronto. We have 15 of them done. This morning we worked with Tanya Prolov on sewing pajamas with a pattern. Her little girl, Sonja, had fun riding an old toy around the grounds.

One of the IVA boys is talented with drawing. This morning he wore his latest art- a pen and ink drawing. Here is the shirt and this is Vitalik.

Three of our team members need prayer for health and healing. Please include in your thoughts and prayers our Ladies Tea which will be held on Saturday here at Hope Center. We are unsure of how many will come. Pray that God will give us inspiration to speak from our hearts a message that will change theirs. Mickey will sing as well as several Ukrainian groups. We have a craft planned and food of course!