Back in Action

We are back in Ukraine!

We had a wonderful six weeks at home and as we were waiting for the train in Kiev on Friday I remarked to Steve how it felt like we had been gone for six months, not just six weeks. While we were home we had the opportunity to speak in some churches (Zion Lutheran Church in Morden and Schoenfelder Mennonite Church) and we were able to meet with the missions Pastor at Church of the Rock once again which was really great to be able to give everyone an update on what's happening here in Ukraine.

Our flights back were all fairly good other than a few little hiccups and annoyances but some of the problems were welcome - like sitting in the plane on the ground for an extra two hours in Paris while they fixed a technical problem was actually a great thing - the boys got an extra two hours of sleep and there were two less hours to kill in Kiev! As it was, we still had a fair amount of time in Kiev but we took a bus straight from the airport to the train station and sat in KFC with a friend who met us there to visit. I have to say that I'm glad that I don't normally have to spend four hours in KFC!

Views from KFC in Kiev where we spent 4 hours waiting for the train:

 The back of the train station:

As far as the protesting that has been happening in Kiev goes, it was really strange - where we were it was just another day and you'd never be able to tell that there was any unrest at all unless you were to go specifically to the area where it is happening. Also here in Zaporozhye - Steve went by the government building here yesterday and all of the entrances were guarded by riot police but they were sitting around smoking and hanging out because there were NO people around at all!

We caught the train back to Zaporozhye on Friday night and it was pleasantly uneventful and arrived here Saturday to a crisp -20 degree morning....NOT the balmy weather I was hoping for!! And there's snow which is a big bummer but apparently it's only been in the past few days that it's been like this so hopefully it will go away soon! It has since warmed up to around 0 degrees which is more my preference!

We were met at the door of our new apartment by our new land-couple, who are very kind and helpful which is a really nice change! The apartment looks great (comparatively to other old Ukrainian apartments) and we're starting to settle in and get comfortable.

We had our first Monday night supper club at New Hope yesterday evening which had a great turn-out and we'll have some meetings this week to make plans for up and coming things that we want to do. It's nice getting back into a routine and a schedule again!

Thanks for reading!