Vypnarka: Day 7 and 8

May 21-22

Yesterday was our last day of labor. It was a slower day for all of us. No complaining here! We worked on finishing a room we had spackled and painted. The students began cleaning the floor (since we didn’t cover the tile floor when we spackled and painted). We worked on sorting and organizing the clothes and supply room. We got to see where Nazarene Compassionate Ministry banana boxes go to. This church has a ton of them. And as we sorted through some of the stuff we realized that much of what we’ve been using this week was donated through NCM of the COTN. We did wonder together why there are so many banana boxes full of stuff just sitting in a room waiting. What are they waiting for? Are the clothes wanted in this area? Are they saving if for something in particular? It is easy to ask such question as an “outsider”. We learned that this room full of stuff used to be the first sanctuary of the church. It has no windows. It was also designed as the bomb shelter. And this was the room where drugs were made. The first pastor of the church used to make and sell drugs in the very room that he’d preach in after he was saved and called to pastor!

Food, food, and more food. Yesterday’s theme (and today’s) has been food and more food. Yesterday we ate lunch at 1pm and then we all split up and went to different homes. We had thought we’d be going to different homes for dinner but it seems this was too much for the people. They were so nervous that we wouldn’t like their food. So instead of putting the pressure on them to make a meal for us we just went over for tea and sweets. Except my house got a full meal! My group went to Ira’s. She is a woman we’ve spent the whole week with. She has worked so hard alongside of us. When we arrived she asked us if we were hungry. One of the students said, “Yes”. (I’m thinking…well no because we literally just ate lunch). So Ira made us really tasty homemade pizza. We had a blast at her home with her two daughters. We saw kittens in their apartment complex and we visited the community well. It sure was a gift to get to go into Ira’s home. She has been like a mom to our team all week.

Today….Saturday….I can hardly believe it. We got up to rain….again! I’ve managed to catch a cold so this morning was slow going for me. At about 9am all of us loaded a bus with Pastor Igor, the cooks, and several people from the church. This was out Sashlik Day. Dan has been raving about the Ukrainian BBQ since February. As we drove to our destination the Ukrainian’s sang and I was told they were praying for the weather to change for us. When we got to the park we had sun and blue sky! We had an incredible day of good food and great rest all in a beautiful environment. I was grateful to get the chance to lie down and listen to the sounds of nature…eventually it became listening to the sounds of Chip snoring…but it was still restful! The park where we spent the day used to be a Soviet Training camp. Students spent summers there getting indoctrinated on communist philosophy.