Arrived, Rested & Ready to Go

All of the members of the mission team arrived safe and sound in Chernivtsi last night, though some worse for wear. We left Kiev about 9:10 a.m. and arrived at the Hotel Cheremosh here about 7:30 p.m.

After dinner those of us who went to sleep immediately (including the author which explains why he didn't blog last night) managed to get a good night's rest.

Those who stayed up for a while didn't as they couldn't get to sleep when the wedding reception on the first floor took off in high gear. Personally I didn't notice it at all. Joe Wagner on the other hand managed to get to sleep about 5 a.m.

Today we ate breakfast at the hotel — scrambled eggs, bread, thin slices of ham, cheese, butter, a honey spread, and a sweet something with powdered suger on top and something fruity inside. We also had yogurt.

We then took off to the "big church" which is what we call First Baptist to meet up with our local team members, drivers and interpreters, pray over our missions, and eat lunch — a chicken noodle soup without the chicken or the noodles, but with potatoes and some type of meet, plus a rice and pork combination along with bread and cookies.

After lunch we visited the camp for a tour and dinner. The camp is a former Young Pioneer camp (think Soviet Boy Scouts) that the Baptists were able to purchase after Ukraine became independent. There are marked improvements in the camp, especially for those of us who saw it in 2001.

They have new a new shower house and bathrooms, but while they have urinals they still have the turkish-style toilets - a hole in the tiled floor with a place on either side for your feet.

Dinner tonight took place at the camp. It was a salad of quartered cucumbers and tomatoes with an entree of a baked chicken leg and a double serving of mashed potatoes. The drink was a lemon compote (too weak to be called lemonade, but I liked it better than lemonade), and dessert included one banana, five cookies and three pieces of individually-wrapped candy.

Oh Sandy, remember how we joked about Alexis using the mission trip to find a nice young man who speaks Russian? Even Brother Benjamin, the regional association head, has given his blessing. During his speech at our orientation meeting he told her that the best way to learn Russian is to find someone here and marry.

Don't worry too much Sandy, our team leader is married and although our interpreter is 27, an English teacher and former athlete, he's already engaged to a Ukrainian girl studying in Rochester.

There is however, two other 19-year-old single interpreters.

Alexis and I are part of a mission team including Joe Wagner and another member from Andalusia First Baptist. Our local team members include Slavik Nagirnyak, who is the regional youth leader for 150 churches in the Chernivtsi region. Our interpreters are Oleg Kleshch, the one who is engaged, and Marina #1, who was Joe's interpreter last time. She married the son of Brother Vasily last year.

We were going to be spending time at the camp in the morning teaching youth workers and then witnessing in the afternoon.

That plan changed today. That didn't surprise us at all. We knew it would. We were just waiting to find out how.

Now we are going to a different city each day (Monday-Thursday) and speaking at one of the local churches to the area youth leaders. Then in the afternoon we will be traveling to a nearby camp to speak with the campers, many of whom are not saved.

Actually, I like this plan better as we will get to see more of the countryside and larger region outside Chernivtsi.

The city itself appears to be growing. We rode into town on a modern new highway that appears to have farther go to. I noticed more restaurants (though no McDonalds yet), and in the village near the camp they have a new hotel, which was under construction two years ago, that looks as modern and shiny as in any European city.

They also have a supermarket, which is interesting, but they actually use the word "supermarket" rather than the traditional word "gastronom" or something like that, which is similar to the French word for food.

Internet, blank, telephone, telefax, center, are just some of the words that are being included in the Ukrainian business language.

Tomorrow everyone goes out and either preaches, sings or gives their testimony. The team I'm on will go to Hotin which is about 30 or 40 miles north of Chernivtsi.

I've got to get off the computer now to work on my sermon. The hotel has a business center with internet for only $2.80 an hour.