Kiev

We arrived in Kiev yesterday afternoon and were picked up at the airport by Andre - the head of YFC here just outside of Kiev (in a city called Irpin).

On the drive we passed areas of the city where there are rows upon rows of huge apartment buildings - some old, some new. None of these pictures really do the sea of buildings justice but they were the best I could get from the moving vehicle!

 It was actually a little overwhelming seeing hundreds of apartment buildings with no trees or no life to be seen anywhere. 

We are staying at the YFC conference center - YFC rents it out to different Christian groups to stay at or to just use the facilities. There was a group here when we arrived but they left shortly after. YFC also has a cook who cooks for the groups that come in so she had made extras so that there would be food here for us to eat. Every pot we opened was like a dream come true - several different kinds of borsch, delicious pasta, several different cabbage salads, eggs and bread - a true welcome to Ukraine!

Our room for the next few days:

This morning we went to church with Andre and afterwards had lunch with his family at their beautiful home (it changed my mind about what Ukrainian decor can look like!). Andre and his family are amazing and gave us such a wonderful welcome. They've been really encouraging and it's awesome that he is so on fire for God and seeing youth come alive in Him.

Tomorrow we will go with Andre and Zheniya - another girl who works for YFC to do some touring around Kiev.

We (obviously) didn't manage to get train tickets for tonight...or tomorrow night because they were all sold out but we do have tickets for the overnight train to Zap for Tuesday night. Until then we're enjoying our time here and it's a great transition to ease us into life here!