The Black Sea - Food, Fun and Fellowship

We’re settling into a routine- bed by Midnight, up around 8am.. breakfast 9a, leave to go to the orphanage by 10am, there for a hour or so to visit our daughter ,then off to lunch, do some grocery shopping and back to hotel around 1pm, relax for a few hours then walk to the beach, which I’m calling the “The Black Sea Ministry” as it is amazing how many Christians we have met in just a few days.

A few days ago I prayed that we would have the opportunity to meet more English speaking people and also share our faith or encourage Christians that are here- The village is an isolated city in the Ukraine of 15,000 there is a Ukrainian Marine and Coast Guard base here and it seems to have a growing vacation business here for summer months- there are some Greek ruins and other things of interest to see were learning about.  In winter I get the feeling this  is a very drab isolated place.

  Since Monday we have met Stephen a Christian man from Uganda- he was a ray of sunshine, you just felt the Holy Spirit on him when you talk with him, he is a gospel and reggae singer that lives in Kiev.  Yaro- a very sweet college girl that enjoys church and listens to Christian Music-the odds of that in the Ukraine are a million to one as there is very little Christian radio here.  Yaro invited us to her Grandmothers house to enjoy the national dish of Ukraine “Varenyki” or dumplings that can be  filled with cheese, meat, and potato.  She made some with cheese and others with potatoes, which were so delicious and a salad of cucumbers and tomatoes, peppers tossed in sunflower oil. Sunflowers are everywhere here and they sell the oil along the roads and along with  honey.    We also had a great time with her big Labrador retriever “Rowton” and participated in a international badmiton match of  US vs Ukraine… lets say Ukraine won, as I was sweating and running around trying to hit the birdie and Yaro was just smiling and not breaking a sweat.  

 The next day, we met another English speaking Ukraine woman.  She teaches theater and I think acrobatics.  She spoke with us because she wanted to practice her English.  She and her boyfriend are on holiday here at the beach.  They are a very nice couple.  We spent time chatting with them last night as the sunset on the Black Sea.  It was very beautiful and we were lamenting that we did not have our camera.  We invited them to eat with us this weekend when we are cooking BBQ again. We have truly enjoyed having new people to talk with for the last few days.  This is something we are savoring, because after our court date on August 26th we will be here without our facilitator and our English speaking friends will have gone home from their holiday.  We will have no one to talk to except each other!! 
Thank you for the continued prayers!