Jennie's Mission

We're home!

After running through two airports and barely making connections, and after traveling for about 20 hours, we are exhausted, but home. Only Tad's luggage - the lucky guy - made it back to OKC. Everyone else's luggage is now in Detroit somewhere. We hope to get it tomorrow.

Like I said before, it was a great trip, and a great mission. But home is a welcome sight, luggage or no.

Susan

We're headed home

We're now in the Budapest airport - no problems this morning getting here. We're just waiting for the flight.

Yesterday we walked around Budapest in a steady drizzle - light to heavy. It was non-stop, but didn't keep us from enjoying the city. Two of the team (I won't announce who) even went to the Turkish baths - sans swimsuits - for a nice relaxing two hours.

Last night we took a nice tour on the river on a boat. It was still raining, but that didn't stop the city from being beautiful.

This has been a great team, and the mission has been a good one. In fact, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that this is probably the best mission trip overall I've been on. Our team members have lived the secondary VIM motto - "Be flexible" with little or no complaints. We've had our laughs, our amazing moments, and bonded well together. and Stan has been a great leader.

But the best part has been the mission itself- continuing the relationships with the people of Ukraine. It has become more evident from two years ago when Stan, Karen and I first went there to now that we have a good comraderie with the people there. They are open to us, know that they can trust us, and are so gracious for our presence. They have the hard work still ahead of them with teaching their fellow citizens about Jesus. But they know that we support them and will do whatever we can to help. And they bless us in turn. That is what the relationship has meant, and why it's so important to go with the intention of long-term partnership instead once-and-done. and that is probably why this mission trip has meant the most to me.

For now, I think we're all ready to go home. See you soon!

Sunday in Budapest

Sunday started off with a European Breakfast of breads fruits and cereals and nothing had ketchup – we were stunned. Stan had arranged a tour of the city which, for us who had not been here, was a great way to begin our excursion of Budapest. A quick break back at the hotel and we were off again (a rest at home will be welcomed) to find our way to the market by way of the underground metro – what a sight to see – first we couldn’t quite figure out the ticket machine. After a short ride we got off to transfer to another train and reading the map to figure out which way to go became quite the challenge. We surfaced to a construction site and again decisions, decisions needed to be made. Several blocks into the journey we found the market building --- which, would you believe, was closed on Sunday.
All was not lost, we found the pedestrian market full of shops and open air cafes – pizza and diet coke for all. The remainder of the day was spent shopping and photographing the incredible architecture. Stan’s directions to stay in pairs worked out well. Several times we came out of a shop looking for the group to no avail, generally finding them a short distance away. However, one time we had given up and made it to St. Stephen’s Basilica as the map showed it on the way back to the hotel. Leroy and Susan were a welcome site to see when we exited. Next stop Opera House, but lower light made photography a bit of a challenge so, we headed back to the hotel to find the others.

Doug and Jaci

Saturday Night Dinner

We're in Budapest

We have arrived safely in Budapest with only a long wait at the border into Slovakia. The rest of the journey was uneventful, including getting to the hotel. We're all well and headed to explore the city. More later...

One last day of work

Today was the last day of work at the worksite. Well, it ended up being 1/2 day. Stan called it "done!" and we ate lunch. The work was again sifting dirt to sort the rocks from the sand. I could tell everyone was wearing down a bit. But they (actually Volodya, Vova's father) decided that what we had done was good. If we had not done it, they would have had to hire someone instead. So us moving bricks and sifting dirt turned out to be a great project for us.

In the afternoon, a few of us went to town (Uzhgorod) to do some last-minute souvenir shopping. The market we visited was quite interesting.

Tomorrow we head for Budapest. We start earlier than usual because there is another team coming from Oklahoma and the bus that is taking us there is picking them up. So the bud drivers need to be at the airport to pick up the other team. But that's okay, because we'll be in Budapest earlier to see some sites before the end of the day.

There is an internet cafe just around the corner from our hotel so hopefully someone will be able to pop in there and add to this blog that we arrived there okay. We'll continue to blog while in Budapest.

Thanks for your attention to this blog while we've been in Ukraine. Comments are always welcome and appreciated!

Vacation Bible School Last Day

This was our last day of vacation bible school, we learned that Jesus helps us to tell others about God. All of the kids had a great time and brought more friends today. They all will be missed and we were blessed by everyone of them.

Day of rest

Nevitsky Castle atop a mountain in the Transcarpathian Mountains.

A fun day at Nevitsky Castle. Work crew finally gets a day off!

There are many rumored stories of this castle, but we couldn't tell you what they are at this point. This castle is in ruins as you can see from the photo, as there have been many battles and hostile takeovers. This castle is located in the Transcarpathian area of Ukraine.

Another view of the ruined castle on a cool, overcast day high up on the mountain top.

Susan, Leroy, Dixie and Betty admiring the views. We climbed to the very top, of course, to view the entire town of Kamyanitsia below. We spotted the little church in the valley and the very spot where we were to picnic later.

Vova and Carmen taking a rest. They are hosting this God-given day of wonderful glorious rest!

Some of the crazier folks in the group decided to hike down the mountain, while other more sane folks took the bus down. The hikers beat the bus down; they knew the shortcut.

Doing what we do best: eating!

We took a journey through the mountains by way of the scenic route arriving at the picnic area beside a babbling brook in the Ukraine National forest. We passed apple orchard after apple orchard, bounced through many pot holes, and came close to the border of Slovakia.

We arrived to Anna and Volodia cooking chicken over an open fire. With cucumbers, tomatoes, bread and watermelon and cookies, we enjoyed a feast and a lively conversation about our work, the state of the union and the experiences of the Ukranian people.

The dacha of Nikita Kruschev is right down the road from our picnic spot. It has been in a state of ruin for years; however, recently this government has endowed a refurbishing project which appears to be progressing rather slowly.

This is the main house of the dacha; we checked out the bunker, the swim house and the gate house. Can you imagine just what type of decisions that shaped the world were made here?

This blog brought to you by Marci and Eric.

More Exeriences

Jesus took away our sins was the VBS lesson for today. The children placed frowny faces (sins) on the cross for Jesus to take away. This was a great visual that they all really enjoyed. This was followed with the children making stained glass (paper) crosses.

Our student population doubled today to 12, word is getting around - Praise God.





















Carmen accompanying us ending the day in song, singing in both English and Ukraine at the same time --- we made beautiful music.

Mowing the side yard.








Yesterday we received a load of sand to continue mixing concrete. We are thinking the mixer seems a little small, especially when compared to the pile of sand.













Notice the brick toss to the worker laying the second story layer. These bricks are BIG.

God's Presence

Back at the site today, no rain but cooler. We begin screening dirt and rock; we miss moving and stacking brick. After we screen out the rocks, shoveling the rock is harder than dirt. I discovered that the gloves I bought are not worth what I paid for them, they continue to come apart.
The process involves separating the dirt and larger rock, loading the rock into a wheelbarrow and pushing it up a ramp to the inside of the building to fill the low spots of the subfloor of the building. We are not sure what the floor will be constructed from. Several of the ladies spread the rock around after we dump it. Later in the morning, we discover a sheet of paper taped to the wall with the guys names listed across the top – would you have guessed, we were competing in the “First Annual 2008 Ukraine Wheelbarrow Olympics!” The ladies began to shout scores as we dumped our loads. We were being judged on Execution, Degree of Difficulty, Landing, Creativity, and Happiness; I think this sped up the process. Later the ladies awarded medals they had created from rocks with the winners names painted.

Probably one of the most memorable events happened today. In the morning, an elderly lady came by on her way to the field to pick corn. Seeing the ladies shoveling and raking dirt and rock, she invited Betty Bohan to join her pick corn, suggesting she would be better off. After lunch when we returned to work, the lady came by on her way home with two large bags of corn hanging across the crossbar of the bike she had just picked across the street by the railroad tracks. She slowed down, waved and smiled. Tad went over to visit with her, not easy in two different languages but everyone makes do with hand signals, a lot of emotion, smiling and laughter.

Later in the afternoon we were all sitting around taking a break. The little lady came walking up the road and waved. Everyone was surprised when she came up the drive with a bag of cooked corn for everyone – what a great surprise. She apologized for the corn being a little old but who cared. Tad offered her the small cross Susan Sutter had passed out in the morning. The lady said she had several crosses but this would be special. Everyone felt God’s presence.

Doug

still digging and sifting

Today we had an honest day's worth of work. More sifting dirt to get out the big rocks. It was hard! We got a lot done, though, and were tired at the end of the day. tomorrow we have the day off because it's an orthodox holiday. we will enjoy an extra hour's worth of sleep in the morning!


The women worked just as hard as the men! Here are the pictures to prove it.





Kay was the queen for the day. She was a hard worker leveling the larger rocks used as filler in the flooring of the church building.




Owen has been showing the string tricks to the kids in the area. Today he did it before the Bible school time. He was a hit!


Stan brought a pair of boots for Vova from the USA. When they were in Oklahoma City in November, Stan took Vova and Sergei to Shepler's. Vova is fascinated by "the west" and cowboys, etc. Vova tried on boots but they were way more expensive than he could afford. So Stan was nice enough to bring them over for him. Vova really liked them.

a close-up shot of Vova's new boots.

This lady (I didn't get a picture in time to get her face) asked Betty to come help her pick corn from the field. Betty declined. But the lady was nice enough to bring some cooked corn on the cob to us later in the afternoon.

"Stan's" dog showed up again yesterday and again today.

This is what some of the ladies have been doing most every evening - a card game called "Phase 10". Fun game! It's caused some of them to forget the covenant statement they made not to curse!

Tomorrow, as I said, is a day "off". We'll go to Nevitski Castle for a tour, then a picnic in the national forest. Yum! We haven't had any bad food yet, but tomorrow will be extra special.