The last
enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:26)
Последний же враг
истребится--смерть, (1-е Коринфянам 15:26 Russian)
Як ворог останній
смерть знищиться, (1 Коринтяни 15:26 Ukrainian)
Almighty God, our Dear Heavenly Father ~ our hearts overflow
with praise on this new day as we consider the wonder and fragility of life.
Our passion for life is stirred up as we witness the indomitable strength of
the spanking new shoots that are bursting up through hard ground at this time
of year and will soon be beautiful flowers. Give us wisdom so that we will believe
even more strongly that all those who are in Christ will see the end of sin and
death when we receive our new eternal bodies when Christ comes to take us home.
We pray in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.
We began the
week yesterday morning by a visit with Olga Ivanovna who is the director of the
House of Babies here in Nikolaev. In 2009, we first became acquainted with Dr.
Olga and this very well managed institution that is always tidy inside and now
looks great outside with beautiful spring bulbs beginning to peep up from the
ground. We took some "pampers" that we purchase locally, and some
"Teddy Bears" that were shipped with love from Kathy Taylor at the
University Church of Christ in Oxford, Ohio. Olga let us know how much the
children will enjoy these gifts and the staff will enjoy the “pampers”. She
gave us a list of items that they really need help with at the present time.
They need to paint the playground equipment and we made a partial donation to
help with this. The total cost of paint will be $75. They really need to
purchase some "rubber sheets" to cover the beds of the 125 children
ages 0 - 4. They use this as well on the changing tables. Olga made a phone
call to a supplier of this medical plastic sheeting and she can buy 50 meters
for $158. We also agreed to purchase some china cups and plates for the 125
kids since they must sterilize them each time and cannot use plastic or paper
cups. We did a little window shopping for this yesterday and think we know
where we can buy those. Thirty of the children are ages 4 to 7 and are in a
special needs group. These are Down's syndrome, autistic and cerebral palsy and
other debilitating conditions. Some of these children have families who are not
able to care for them due to their work schedules.
After doing
a little shopping, we stopped by one of the places where we like to go when
Americans are visiting us. It has a Southwestern U.S. and Ukrainian mix menu.
We shared a quesadilla and some American style coffee. After that we kept
walking back to the church meeting place where we only had a few minutes for me
to make my final rushed preparations for our first session with some 4th year students.
We arrived huffing and puffing to our 5th floor meeting room exactly on-time.
We will be meeting with this group each Monday at noon. Some of them remembered
us when we visited them in 2009 when they were in lower classes. There were
only 8 students present and we hope to have more next week. They are very
bright and eager to study. When we returned to the office, we met with Elena
the directory and she agreed to let us give up room 33 - our WEI room until we
need it in September when we plan to conduct another campaign. As we were
leaving the University, once again we ran into Denis who received a diploma
back in the summer when we had our campaign. He and Marina (also one of our
graduates) will be going to the USA this summer on the Work Travel program.
They are both very bright young people who will learn what it is like to clean
hotel rooms and or bus tables for a few months. This program will allow them to
save some money for next year.
Once back at the office, we
had more time to devote to Alexander yesterday afternoon. He continues to amaze
us with the way he continues to improve in his knowledge of English and the
Bible. He is hoping to win a scholarship to study for a Master's Degree in the
USA.
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