Finishing up in Ukraine before embarking on the last leg of the journey - to Africa!
The young man up front with the striped pants is a camp worker from the local village named Max.
All the pastors are key leaders, busy, active with a lot of responsibilities but also given a lot of special honor and privileges. People here don't usually pay attention to those who serve. We talked about that and practical ways we can serve those who serve us. They started letting others step ahead them at the meal buffets, remembering the names of our young servers and thanking them often. At the last meal we called all the young servers and kitchen staff out to a standing ovation and short speech by one of the pastors about how wonderful the meals, service and care had been for all of us! The staff was overwhelmed! None of the staff or pastor's had ever seen or done this before but they carried it off beautifully and when I went back two hours later to say good-bye, the kitchen staff still couldn't stop talking about it with beautiful smiles! I was thinking how simple and always timely Titus 3:14 is: "devote yourself to learning how to do good" and it usually doesn't cost us a penny...
More foot washing...
Communion with the brothers...
Our first meal after the pastors' conference was at our dear friends, Gennadii and Olena Pilipenko's house. They are such gracious hosts and wonderful partners in the work of Christ here in Eastern Ukraine! Early the next morning we boarded a train from Kharkov to Kiev, then Max headed home, back to Chernivtsi and his anxiously waiting family! He is such an excellent partner, translator and dearly loved friend! But after ten days on the road his family was more than ready to have him back! I have tonight to work on the blog, write some personal notes and sleep in with no responsibilities in the morning for the first time in over a month and I am pretty excited about that! My body, thanks to God and the prayers of the saints, is doing great, but I realize that it is starting to feel a little weary, so the next few hours off with a free breakfast in the morning seems really rowdy! Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Nairobi, Kenya, traveling through Istanbul and arriving at 3 am! It is a long day but I feel sorry that the week with our dear brother Enos starts off with such an early morning pick up! We could really use your prayers this next week! I think I have said that often, but it is true, there are a lot of difficulties right now and relational brokenness that only God can heal!