Report #1 | 2024 Spring Trip – Ukraine Missions

Gif says, ” I met Kola – a relative of a humanitarian aid contact. Wonderful man, and promised he’d come to church one Sunday!”

After about 28 hours of travel and airports, I safely arrived in Warsaw, and more importantly, ALL my checked bags arrived! Early in the morning begins the trek toward Ivano-Frankivsk! So forgive any typos or crazy stuff in this report…

Here is a message from Gif and then his entire March report is included or you can follow the link to Dalraida’s Mission page to view it.

A Message from Gif

We are still working on reestablishing trust and implementing mechanisms for smoother operations (like how humanitarian aid will work in the future) that we need to go through a few times to make sure the new methods are working smoothly. I feel like this last month the people in the Church here have finally gotten “comfortable” with me – not that there was any animosity or anything; even though they knew me, there was still just that bumpy road of establishing a new trust that we had to go through.

I will stress this: I do not feel burdened or in any difficulty at all. Actually, I’m enjoying myself a lot. I really feel at home here and I am more than happy to stay. At this point I’ve got a good routine and I feel useful here. If something needs to be done at home, we have 50 people who can do it. If something needs to be done here, I’ve either got to do it or teach someone to do it, because the need is just as great but the workers are much fewer. I genuinely feel like I’m working well in this situation and could stay here for a long time. Even as I was thinking about it now it’s hard to envision coming home because I’ve gotten so comfortable here.
– Andrew (Gif) Gifford

Gif-March-2024

Link: https://dalraidamissions.org/2024/03/31/march-2024-update/

Below are photos Gif sent with his report: These depict, “Storks nesting on the Church buildings roof. According to Ukrainian folklore Storks bring good luck here. We’ve got four of them!”; Anya is teaching her nephews in Bible Class; Bible study with Kola and Tamara; A Sunday morning assembly; Construction materials that Pasha is using to complete work on the kitchen/fellowship room; Gif is assisting Marianna and others insulate the bomb shelter at the Ugorniky Kindergarten.

More reports and wonderful news on events to follow. Jared, Whitney and Avery will join us soon and you will get to read their good reports!