February 1 - Birthday in Ukraine

Please excuse the long delay for sending messages to you! We have been extremely busy and there has been little time to sit down and write!

First, thanks to everyone who sent Birthday greetings! My birthday was a lot of fun and we celebrated in many ways. Wednesday night, John, Jean, Gary and I went out for dinner with Tatiana, a woman we met on the plane. Tatiana took us to a Ukrainian restaurant called the Seven Piglets. It was decorated in folk Ukrainian style, very rustic and incredibly quaint. When we walked in the door there were musicians dressed in traditional Ukrainian costumes playing folk music. It was a lively atmosphere and very cozy. We sat in a room that was down a short flight of stairs where there were only four tables. The walls were white stucco with painted floral designs over the timbers and the ceiling was timber and brick. It was a lovely evening getting to know Tatiana and fellow-shipping over candlelight and delicious Ukrainian borsh and other traditional foods. At one point the musicians came down to our room and played several songs just for us!

Tatiana is an American citizen with parents who are full Ukrainian. She grew up speaking Ukrainian at home and went to Saturday school to learn to read and write Ukrainian. She now lives here and works at the Greek Catholic Church regional office doing translation work. Tatiana explained that the Greek Catholic Church has just emerged back from being underground during Soviet times. They were heavily persecuted and met in homes just as many of the protestant churches did. Greek Catholics have the traditions and rituals of the Orthodox Church but are considered Catholic by Rome. It was quite an education talking to Tatiana about her faith and life in Ukraine.

Her parents bought a flat here about ten years ago which she is now living in. She has relatives here who she sees regularly and helps them with their garden. They still carry water by bucket to water the garden and dig potatoes with a shovel. It is back breaking work and Tatiana is trying to figure out a way to get some irrigation into the garden for her family. Evidently the garden is quite large. She thinks it is about the length of a football field and a third of a football field wide.

Tatiana is a very gentle person with a huge heart. We shared our faith with her and told her what we do here. She was eager to get some gospel bracelets to share with others and really liked the central message of the gospel that we share with people.

On Thursday was my birthday and when I got on the bus there were two Happy Birthday banner signs up! My interpreter, Alla, brought me a box of chocolates and a darling little angel ornament. How could she possibly have known I collect angels?? It was a God thing! Everyone sang Happy Birthday to me on the bus and later that evening they surprised me at dinner with a bunch of big sunflowers and two cakes! The cakes were a chocolate torte with yummy cream between each layer and a white torte with fruit all over the top and between the layers.

All in all it was a grand Birthday Celebration!
Well, it is time for prayer so I'll be back to tell you more about our visits to see children and prisoners later.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers. We have several more people who have gotten sick. Please pray for healing and for protection for the rest of the team. I have a slight sore throat but feel OK. I may stay in tomorrow, Sunday and rest.

Love from snow covered Ukraine,
Dasha