Weekend

On Friday evening we went to Rainbow Park to meet up with the Young Life kids who were finishing up a Quest (scavenger hunt). Every summer at Rainbow Park they set up this huge screen and play movies or have shows of all kinds and on Friday they were showing the soccer game. 

I was surprised at the amount of people who were there but it was a really cool atmosphere and nice to see how "normal" life is here despite the tense time in the country.

Evelyn Wiens is back! She arrived last Wednesday and we were able to go for lunch with her and her traveling companions (Vince and Dana Penner from BC) on Friday and then they were in church on Sunday. Ev spoke a little bit about what the last few months have looked like for her and Vince and Dana spoke as well. In this photo are some of the church leaders - from L-R: Ev, Vince, Dana, Max (Pastor), Sergei (Pastor), Andre (worship team) and I don't know the last lady's name. 

After church our Just Youth team headed out to Baburka (Ba BOOR ka) to Vanya (worship leader) and his wife Anya's place in the village (but it's a dacha NOT part of the village...we learned there's a difference). We did shashlik and relaxed outside in their beautiful yard.

 ....and then proceeded to have a two to three hour meeting discussing how our first service went and how to improve and plan for the next one which is on July 19.

It was nice being out of the city for a bit and it was great getting to know some of the people we don't know as well who want to be involved with Just Youth. Steve and I have learned a thing or two about shashlik over the last few months too - when you think you've bought enough meat, double it because the party will usually last at least 10 hours, and meat should flow off and on the entire time.

We have our next Just Youth service on July 19 and then we are heading to Spain for the G42 Five Year Reunion after that - we'll head to Kiev on the 21st and fly from there. Brian will be traveling to Kiev with us and also heading over to Spain at that time.

Thanks for reading!!