Kyiv!!! Finally!

Friday May 14

We had a great day of touring and experiencing the city today. We traveled to visit 2 Eastern Orthodox churches and then the WW2 Museum. It was a good day of encountering the story of the Ukrainian people. It was good for all of us to put our coming work with the Nazarenes in Vapnyarka into the context as it relates to Christianity and to WW2. Christianity is so old here! We talked some today of the cultural nature of the Orthodox church today. Even so, going into one of the beautiful sanctuaries was for me a very spiritual experience. There is so much beauty in their churches. I love how many paintings told the stories of the gospels and remember the lives of the saints. I wonder how many people are drawn into a deeper relationship with Christ through the ministry of the Orthodox church here?

The magnitude of struggle this people come through today as we walked through the WW2 museum. We were reminded that millions of people were killed in the USSR during WW2 compared to the hundreds of thousands killed in the US. As Americans we have little understanding of what it is like to have a world war fought on our soil. Yet everyone in the Ukraine knows this all too well….still. I had no idea that Ukraine was 100 percent occupied by the Germans in WW2. Not too far from where we are staying Hitler had his bunker. A large numbers of Jews and Russian/Ukrainians were killed not all that far from the Nazarene Church in Kiev. Being here in the Ukraine has helped me see even more how expansive WW2 was in Europe.

We took a 5 hour train ride in the evening from Kiev to Varpnyarka. We had 3rd class tickets which meant we got to be in sleeper cars. I slept most of the time. The students had a great time together. I’m so glad we’ve experienced the train. It is the real Ukrainian experience!

Dan didn’t come with us on the train. He stayed back with the Skinners in order to deal with the computer. It arrived in Kiev today. He hopes to take care of this once and for all and will plan to met up with us tomorrow.