Quick Update

This is hopefully going to be a quick one, just an update because it's been a while since I've posted. Last Thursday we did another Love Zaporozhye, we made 78 sandwiches, split into 2 groups and hit the streets from 3-6. We had a few new friends with us as interpreters which was such a blessing! Our target receipients were elderly people and homeless people. We had mixed reactions from simple no's to people crying with gratitude. We came home with very few sandwiches and hopefully showed a few people the love of Christ, that He hasn't forgotten about them. Saturday the 4 of us staying in the larger apartment had to move out for 10 days because a group of people had booked it before we got here. So Steve and I are staying at John and Ev's and the boys went to the smaller apartment. That night we went to the Ukrainian Orthodox church for their Easter service from 10:30 till 1 am (when we left, it was still going). It was interesting, lots of pagentry, people lighting candles and saying Christos Voschris (Christ is Risen) seriously hundreds of times. It was confusing and it was standing room only...mostly because they don't even have chairs.... Sunday we participated in an Easter service in Morozevka and then Ev cooked a big Easter dinner for us!! Monday we went out for supper with friends of John and Ev to an Armenian Shashleek aka Barbecue. It was SO much fun! They were amazing people and this crazy meal had 5 courses (soup, a block of cheese, fries with fried mushrooms, meat kabobs, then bbq pork) and we were SO full! But there was dancing and chatting and it was a really good unforgettable evening. Tuesday morning we left at 8:30 on the train for Feodosia for our mid-assignment retreat. The train stop in Zaporozhye was so short that John didn't have time to get off after getting us settled...it was pretty funny...so he rode about 2 hours to the next stop with us, got off and took another train back home! The trainride itself was really fun - large seating compartments (beds actually), we played Phase 20 (yeah I know there are only 10) and had lots of travel junk food. In the afternoon however the heat rose to about 30 degrees in that train and then it wasn't quite as much fun! And the bathrooms were "fun" too....
Feodosia is beautiful! It's right on the Black Sea and we got to do some touring today. We're staying at a retreat/training center for church planters and it's definately full of Ukrainian hospitality! The touring we did today was to the Fortress that dates back to the 14th century (before Christopher Columbus discovered America). It was really overwhelming and beautiful, and as this is Ukraine and NOT North America, you can do all the climbing and exploring on ruins that you want to, safe or not! So that's what we're up to these days, I'll post some pictures once we get back to Zaporozhye on Monday.