Photo: Driving through the Carpathian Mountains in mid-April!
Our first full day of activity began with a crammed packed day. There were a number of meetings and actions that took up the day. We travelled to two different locations and spent hours driving to the appointments. The day was beautiful and driving through the Carpathian Mountains was amazing. The bright sunshine highlighted the snowcapped mountains.
Adding to the events of the day is the fact that the Orthodox Easter is Sunday. Today was Good Friday on the Orthodox calendar. Business and government offices were closed. It was a compliment that we had two administrations open up just to receive us and treat us with a warm hospitality.
Our first stop was in the town of Lysets. Ivan has focused a large amount of the benevolent distribution in this town. Adding to the shipments is the work that Ron Swag did in setting up the first dental clinic in the village of Starry Lysets. As a consequence of the benevolence work, the Lord’s Church has made a significant impact. This is the location where Vova & Julia Didukh work with the congregation supported by the Clarkson, KY church of Christ. We were greeted outside by Mayor Anatoly Romanovych and several of his administration. Anatoly has long been a friend to our efforts and has supported us in many ways. He had provided Volodya a free office in the city administration building in Starry Lysets. Anatoly was hosting a mayor from Poland whose town is a “sister city” to Lysets.
Anatoly told us that the town had just opened the new administration building and offices. He took us on a tour of the facility and is justified in his pride in the accomplishment. This new administration building combines efforts from 32 settlements in the newly formed Lysets District! Anatoly is the Administrator of this new District. An appropriate gift for Anatoly’s new position was sent by Dr. Ron Swang—a desk gavel and block (in the photos you can see Anatoly’s joy in being given this gift).
During our visit Anatoly presented Perry with a copy of the history of Starry Lysets. In the photos you will see him signing this book for Perry.
We enjoyed the visit and especially the delicious cakes and refreshments that the Mayor’s Cabinet had provided for us.
Notes from Perry
Today Anotoli the mayor of Lysets invited us for a visit to thank the Church for all the humanitarian help they are doing for the community and to show their totally remodeled town center. When we arrived Anotoli was happy to see John and Ivan who have been friends for a long time. We were introduced to the Mayor of a Polish town but his name has slipped my mind. He also has helped Lysets and Ukraine. Today was the opening of the renovated complex which is beautiful. We were introduced to the staff and then went into the board room were John presented Anotoli with a new Gavel. He was so excited! Anotoli presented me a beautiful book about Lysets and signed it.
We toured the complete complex and then went to the break room and enjoyed some homemade Ukrainian delicious delights. We had great dialogue and fellowship. It was truly a wonderful visit and pleasure meeting the staff and Anotoli. John may have mentioned this previously that Anotoli did a lot of work on the church building in Ivano-Frankivsk.
Continue praying for our efforts! “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way that I ought to proclaim it.” (Colossians 4:2-4)
John L. Kachelman, Jr. Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
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