The last couple of days of our trip in Ukraine went well. All the Dalraida Team is en route home…although on different flights. To recap the last couple of days, read comments below from Mike Moody and John Kachelman III.
Reflections by Mike Moody:
Our adventure on Friday took us to the Carpathian Mountains. Our first destination after our breakfast at Churchill was to take more of the donations from the Dalraida congregation to a children’s home in Yaremche, Ukraine.
The children, who had never seen an American, were a little standoffish until we broke out the candy and sang songs. All the supplies will be so helpful to the kids there. It was heartbreaking to learn that several of them were true orphans and, at ninth grade, would be sent to a trade school. We were so glad to contribute something to help the children of this small, mountain community.
Next, it was time for an adventure. Our party drove to restaurant owned by man — Andrew Ivanovich (aka “Andrew the Contractor”) — who donated some of the money needed to build the foundation of the church in Ivano-Frankivsk (if I heard Interpreter Tonya correctly). There, we boarded a post-war dump truck (via a wooden ladder leaning against the tailgate) and up the mountain we went for some site seeing and lunch.
To say the ride was bumpy would the understatement of the trip. We were bumping and faltering as one big mass up the rutted dirt road. In an attempt to help out those in the back part of the dirt-ladened truck bed, those of us in the front would give warnings to those in the back to duck when limbs were approaching (yes, we road so high in the dump truck the low limbs were an issue). The Ukrainian word for duck is “kachka.” So I would yell “KACHKA” when limbs would approach our side of the vehicle. Of course, “kachka” means the quacking animal and not to lower yourself so our Ukrainian friends found this amusing.
After about an hour of this ride it was all about survival. We hunkered down and, eventually, reached a summit of the Carpathian Mountains. Words cannot describe the breathtaking beauty we beheld in every direction. God’s creation continues to impress us. We could have spent hours on that summit, but lunch was awaiting us.
Back in the behemoth truck (that I fondly nicknamed “Big Bertha”) and down and up and down again. We finally reached a picturesque mountainside restaurant where lunch was waiting on us. Potatoes, pork, spiced beef soup, bread, cheese, pickles and more were just what the doctor ordered. I discovered my new favorite drink, if only because it was cold (cold drinks are rare around most mealtimes in Ukraine and throughout Europe). Kvas is a carbonated drink that is made from bread, sugar, water and sauerkraut. Sounds odd, but I finished off mine, Karen’s and Will’s. More, please! After a most satisfying meal, back on Bertha we went.
Down, down, down the mountain we went, bumping and laughing all the way. We were finally back in Yaremche. Let the shopping begin! What an interesting market it was.
There were all manner of gifts. We tended to gravitate towards the locally-made novelties. I would say, however, the neatest thing about the market was the mountain river and waterfall. Just beautiful. It would have been worth the trip just to see it.
We were safely back on the bus, exhausted, dirty, hungry and full of wonderful memories.
Spending our last night in Ivano-Frankivsk was a little sad. Karen and I so enjoyed the experiences we had been lucky enough to be a part of. We marveled at how the town squares and parks were constantly teaming with life. Venders. Street performers, teenagers, older couples, all in no particular hurry to get anywhere. There is a vibe to this city that comes out at night. One more visit to the chocolate factory, a chicken panini and a French hot dog and it was time to pack. 5:30 departure from the hotel is going to come early in the morning. Still, it’s so hard to go to sleep with all this buzzing around your mind.
Meeting Christians and new friends from Ukraine strengthened our faith. Visiting shelters and homes where aid had been provided renewed our hope. Spending time “in the trenches” with brothers and sisters from Dalraida kindled our resolve.
As a group of affluent Christians from America, we must do more for a people who have so much less. I took note that Chris Mulkey and I were blown away by the resourcefulness of these people. Nothing went to waste and everything had a purpose.
Reflections from John Kachelman III:
After spending a great last day in Ukraine, enjoying some of the beauty of God’s creation in the Carpathian Mountains, it was time for us to leave. We had said so many of our sad and grateful goodbyes on Thursday night at the dinner we planned, but Friday night and Saturday morning brought more hugs and tears. These people are so wonderful and are like family — well most of them are our Christian family.
Some of the brightest spots from this trip have come, once again, from meeting the people in this country. We not only were able to see many that we already loved but were able to meet several new faces. The new faces will be inscribed on our minds and hearts. The three young interpreters formed fast relationships with some of our group and we are praying that they will continue studying as they were with Gif. We are also all thankful for meeting Olga at services on Sunday as she became a fast new friend and helped fill-in for our shortage of interpreters at night. We are prayerful that we made an impact on them and that they will all continue with their interest in the Lord’s Church after we are gone.We should have known that something would not go right when our first flight of the day, leaving Ivano-Frankivsk, was delayed for over two hours for fog! Things just got worse after that. When we finally made it to Kiev, we were able to board the next plane to Amsterdam and take off on time. Unfortunately, that is about as good as that flight got. After about 25 minutes in the air, the flight attendant announced that we had hit a bird during take-off and would have to turn around because we could not continue for safety concerns. Our foggy morning became a disastrous day with the strike of a bird on the side of the cockpit. It was as if we had entered a real-life version of Angry Birds and we were on the losing end of the game. Of course, we knew that there was no way we would be able to make it Amsterdam for our flight to Atlanta, and when we landed we began the arduous ordeal of figuring out how to get 18 team members back to the U.S.
Rebooking 18 people on flights would seem to be an impossible feat…and it almost was. Lots of standing in line and juggling everyone’s passports…but we were finally able to get new flights. Thankfully KLM began rebooking us even before I was able to get to the front of the line and we were able to get two different flights for groups of 9 people. We got a complimentary hotel room for the night (and one of the best showers in over a week with some good pressure and consistent water temperature!). Hopefully our changed itinerary will hopefully get us all home later today/tonight. The first group should arrive around 2:30 ET and the second should land around 8:25 ET. Lord willing we will all be stateside by tonight.
During our flights today, I was sent a video from the Ivano-Frankivsk congregation thanking us for coming and for our common fellowship. I thought I would share with you below. Notice that Olga, who we met just a week ago and who is very interested in the Lord’s Church, is in the middle of the back row! It is such a blessing to have a Christian family.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to our trip, especially the Dalraida congregation and elders. You made this trip possible and your prayers have strengthened and encouraged us while we have been traveling and working. We could not have done this without all your love and support! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we travel.
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