The first day or two in each country is usually used for transition time. In Ukraine, our team had transition week.
After leaving Kiev on Saturday night, we took an overnight train to Odessa [with Jared + Laura’s team who will also work in Odessa this month]. Upon arriving in Odessa, we met our contact, Tanya, and went to her aunt’s house where Tanya made us a delicious breakfast. She wanted to give us the day to relax and rest for a time. That night, we went to look at our new apartment for the month. Turns out, we couldn’t get that apartment for some reason or another. Tanya decided to house us at her house for the night. Okay.
Monday morning we still had no place to live, so we hung out at Tanya’s all day. It was definitely a good girls’ day. Staying in our PJs all day, eating ice cream + other awesome food, watching “girl shows” as Tanya’s brother, Andrey, likes to call them, and having a sleepover. What else could we want?
That night, Carmen & I went to look at another potential apartment. This one was FANTASTIC! Seriously. It’s in downtown Odessa — right next to the main street + near the opera house. It’s a huge open room. A bed for each person. A washing machine. A closet. A porch. A refrigerator. A separate bathroom + HOT shower. Air conditioning. & it’s definitely within our monthly budget for lodging. Perfect. This was NICE.
We decided to put in our first down payment & report the good news to the other ladies. We would move in the next day.
Tuesday came & we moved across town. Spent the day getting settled in.
Wednesday we began Day 1 of our 60 day Insanity work out. I’m thankful I’m still alive to tell the story…
Later in the evening, we went to our ministry site – Hope House. We met with the man who runs Hope House & learned more about what we would be doing this month. Hope House will definitely get its own blog soon. When we left, we were told we would start our ministry on Saturday. 🙂
Thursday we joined with The Messengers [Jared, Laura, Taylor, Samara, + Gina] & went site seeing. We visited the oldest/largest orthodox monastery in Ukraine and the WWII Park. Bethany & I walked through the trenches. We saw all sorts of tanks & a huge submarine used by the Ukrainians during the war. Definitely a cool part of this country’s history.
(our team at the monastery)
Afterward, we went with The Messengers to eat dinner at Anna’s house. Anna is from the US & goes to the church with which The Messengers are working this month. We had a fun night of eating delicious food & playing games. We’re a fun group. 🙂
Friday we again joined The Messengers to pass out fliers for American Club, lead Friday night girls’ group, & participate in American Club.
We went grocery shopping on our way home and arrived at our apartment only to discover that the electricity was out… which is awesome for refrigerated items.
Stay tuned to find out what happened with that…
Yep. Transition week. Definitely good, but we’re sooo ready to jump in doing ministry now. It’s going to be a great month! 🙂
