Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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Hello friends!

Well, we made it to Ukraine last Sunday.  My first day in Kiev we went to McDonald’s for dinner.  It was nice to have some beef.  They don’t eat much beef in India or Nepal!  On our way back I stepped off the sidewalk wrong and sprained my ankle!  It wasn’t the worst I have ever sprained it, but it still hurt pretty bad.  My teammates Ashley and Chandler took turns and carried me back to our hostel lol.  I wrapped it up and JD, the leader of another team we were staying with, prayed for my ankle before dozing off.  I woke up the next morning anticipating a very swollen and bruised ankle.  That wasn’t the case though.  Yes, it was swollen…but there was hardly any bruising.  It still hurt to walk on…but not near bad enough to even warrant a pair of crutches.  That is a good thing considering we had to walk to the train station that day to catch our train to our ministry site.  Even today it is still a little sore…but it’s not unbearable.  I praise God for that.  It could have been much worse.

Our squad has had a bit of culture shock after arriving here.  There are a lot of white people here.  Actually, they are all pretty much white.  Ukraine’s are mostly blonde and very fair skinned.  On top of being some of the prettiest people we’ve seen this year…they also dress the best.  Even in McDonald’s the girls wear heels and skirts.  The men are always dressed up as well.  You’d think you’d stepped into the pages of a European fashion magazine upon entering this country.  Normally World Racers are stared at because we are white and Asians and Africans are fascinated by it.  In Ukraine we are stared at because we are clearly not from Ukraine.  We dress like the misfit nomads we are…and we’re loud.  People rightly assume we are American (plus a Canadian in our team’s case).  

We took a 13 hour overnight train ride to get to our ministry site.  It was a nice train ride…my first one!  We took a sleeper train and it was pretty comfy.  There were three of us plus an older Ukrainian man.  He spoke zero English but was a very nice man.  He helped us with our bags and showed us how to get our beds ready.  He even pointed out picture worthy shots for us to take with our cameras as we traveled down the railway.  When we parted ways the next morning…he gave us a thumbs up and waved goodbye.  I’m sure he would have been an interesting man to chat with…too bad for the language barrier!

Our ministry this month is working with a married couple from America.  Bruce and Pia have 12 children and 5 of them are still here in Ukraine.  They have been missionaries here for almost 6 years.  The children still in the home are: Timothy…16, Michael…13, Karianne…9, Tobias…7, and Mercy who is about to turn 4 at the end of the month.  This family is amazing!  They are so welcoming and caring.  Our team lives here in the home with them and were instantly part of the family the moment we stepped off the train.  Our first meal here…pizza!  Since then we have had nothing that’s even close to the rice we’ve had for the last 9 months.  Grilled chicken and hamburgers…banana bread…grilled cheese sandwiches…spaghetti…and much more.  Which is probably why I ended up spending the night in the hospital here! Not because the food was bad…(it wasn’t’!) but my stomach just wasn’t used to it they’ve concluded.  I’m good…it wasn’t as serious as it sounds.  My insides were a little upset and they wanted to run some tests on an empty stomach but the family was grilling that evening so they thought it would be less tempting if I just stayed overnight so they could make sure I didn’t cheat and eat anything.  So far all the tests have been normal and I am feeling much better.  I even made a couple of friends…they were abandoned by their mother after their father left.  They spoke zero English…and I spoke zero Russian…but we still had a good time!
 
This month we’ll be doing a lot of eye glass clinics.  Eye glasses are hard to come by here and Ukraine is a very poor country…which is odd because everything is so expensive here!  Bruce partners with churches in the nearby villages and hands out free eye glasses.  Their ministry is a blessing to the villages.  They also do softball camps in the summers but we’ll miss most of that.  They won’t start until next month with those.  I think we’ll get to do 2 days of softball. Yesterday we grilled out and had JD’s team over.  Their contacts are also American missionaries and live close by.  Hamburgers, ultimate frisbee, and a green lawn to play on…’twas a good day!! 🙂 
 

Well, I pray you are all doing well!!  I’ll be home in a little over 8 weeks…can’t believe how fast that is coming up!  I love you all and can’t wait to catch up with you and see how your year has been 🙂

Much love from Ukraine!
Michelle

I tried posting pics on here but it wouldn’t let me for some reason 🙁  So…you can always check my facebook for any of the pictures that would normally be on my blogs!  Love ya all 🙂