The Day After (Thursday, May 13)

This morning was a morning for “good byes.” There was so much appreciation expressed and the words, “this was just what I needed.” Truly, for many, the opportunity to sleep late and relax was very valuable to them - as well as the times we shared the Word and fellowship.

I had one Pastor’s wife ask to speak with me this morning. She is 40 years old, her oldest son is getting married next summer and while she was here and not feeling well she found out she is pregnant. Quite a surprise for them. They have four children and the youngest is eight. She is very actively involved in their ministry and preaches in their services when her husband visits one of their seven daughter churches. She realizes her life is going to make a big change. Oksana and I rejoiced with her and prayed for her.

Another couple ask to speak with us and the Pastor had told Oksana he had a “strange” request. During the time he was expressing his appreciation he told us that several times he had a “strange” request before he finally telling us what it was. He asked David to hug him as a father. It is impossible to predict what the needs of people might be and the close fellowship we shared during this time gave him the security to make this request.

Yesterday’s meeting with the ladies was a great time of sharing. I shared three things - 1. that often times God wants our obedience without us knowing what the finished “product” might look like. 2. That comparisons are deadly and keep us from realizes our “God potential.” 3. The power of our words - but more importantly our thought life because that is where the spoken word originates. Those thoughts opened up a stream of communication that took us several unrelated but valuable directions. Ladies everywhere LOVE to communicate. I had brought them each a gift and that was very meaningful to them.

Today was a day of relaxation. This morning we met with a Pastor and wife who have a large Church here in Ukraine but have also started a Church among Russian speaking people in Korea. They have affiliated with Dr. Cho’s church and he laid hands on them for this ministry. Korea is an extremely evangelized and moral nation. In the City of Seoul there is no alcohol, drugs, cigarettes or open pornography. They are very health conscious and live long lives as 100+ years. They NEVER expose themselves to the sun and eat very healthy.

Dr. Cho’s Church and daughter Churches number 300,000. From this congregation came the Korean lady astronaut who went into space with the Americans. They have 20 people who are members of parliament. The president of the Country is a Baptist and the Baptist are as strong as the Full Gospel Church. He showed us pictures from the 50th anniversary of Dr. Cho’s Church. It was ALL very interesting.

This afternoon we walked down to the Black Sea. It is so beautiful. We sat in the Sun for maybe a half hour and left our friends to come back to our room. We had seen the Black Sea in another area of Crimea and it is entirely different. This place has a sandy beach - the other place, the beach is rocky and it is in a mountainous region.

We had a little time to get the sand off of us before supper. Ah yes, supper. Ukranian food is as I remembered it although this time we have been served something we have never had before. Oatmeal as a side dish for dinner with veggies and creamy sauce over it. INTERESTING!!! Although it might be interesting to try different food - all these special dishes make us long for something, anything, from home. Oh yes, our friends from Korea gave us four packages of seaweed. And, yes, we’re going to use it (at least once).

After supper we spent several hour talking to the owners, the Pastor and his wife from Chernivtsi and Oksana and her husband. Spent time talking about the highlights of these few days and what we might have done to make the interchange of ideas come easier. We all agreed that if people return another time it would be different as they would already know some of the people and feel more comfortable.
We are spending another day here before heading to Chernivtsi. Thank you all for praying.

Marilyn