The day here began with a misting rain and much colder temps. It felt very good to have an undershirt, long sleeved flannel shirt and my lined jacket!
The day started with visits to the Maternity Hospital. This is a complex of clinics for women. Today we visited the gynecological hospital where we have distributed a number of items. This clinic sees 175 patients a month.
The hospital is refurbishing and remodeling the rooms. They are using the beds, tables and other items we have shipped. They are saving the beds we shipped until a room is renovated and will then open the new room and put a plaque on the wall saying it was made possible by the churches of Christ. The nurse (Olga) told me that when they open a newly renovated room they invite the media and newspapers and have a big announcement thanking those who helped provide good care for the community. They are working room by room as they have the funds. It takes about $575.00 to completely remodel the room.
They showed me a room that had been renovated and it looked very nice—it has 4 beds and each bed has a lamp on the wall. Some of the wardrobes that we shipped were in the rooms. They said they need sitting chairs and desks.
We also visited the Police Hospital where another Olga met us and took us to the Chief Doctor’s office. We have recently begun assisting this hospital with items from the shipments. We sat and talked at length about our objective and were treated to coffee and cookies. They took us on a tour of the facility. This one hospital serves over 22,000 people and is restricted to only the police on active service and retired and their families.
Upon leaving the Chief Doctor presented me with a gift—a war club!
Today we also visited Starry Lissets. This is the village where we have been helping for a number of years. Thanks to the shipments and Dr. Ron Swang there is a very efficient clinic in the village that is the envy of all surrounding villages!
This October will be the 500th village day celebration and we are invited to participate. This is a great honor and I hope we can get a good number of Americans to join us and present a large presence at this special event.
Volodya has moved to S. Lissets where he hopes to establish a congregation. We have been given rooms in the village’s cultural palace and are well received by the population. The problem is that there are two Orthodox Churches in this village and from previous experiences know that will be an unwelcomed situation. Volodya is uniquely qualified for this task as he is from a village and understands the dynamics of village life.
The classes tonight went very well. The first class had 12 in attendance and the second class had 23 present. The classes are going well and we continue having visitors in each session. It is very encouraging to see those attending walk in with Bible in hand and eager to study. After each class there is always a long discussion about various points in the lesson and I am always impressed with the comments and conclusions!
Tonight Emmanuel asked for the class notes on “Out of the Shadows.” He will be taking these back to Ghana and teaching them in that country! Also tonight was Emmanuel’s birthday (he is 33 years old!). Inna also announced that today was here spiritual birthday and that one year ago she was immersed and born again.
An interesting comment…tonight as class had concluded and all discussions had stopped and the coffee and tea had been drained and the cookies were crumbs…I was telling all good night. One of the visitors came to me and said, “Your visit has been wonderful to us. During Soviet times and with the KGB all around we would never dream that an American would come into our facility. But you did and everyone was just shocked to see you walk around. After you left I talked with the Administration and they have invited you to come and speak there on these topics if you are willing.” I replied that I would be very happy to do so but my son was coming in October and he is in the Attorney General’s office in Alabama and perhaps he would be better suited to speak to those in this profession. So it is set!
Tomorrow the day begins early and will continue in constant motion until late at night! There are several appointments scheduled and one of them is in the village Pavlivka where “the best banish and vareniks” in all of Ukraine are made!
Pray for our efforts as we continue this trip!
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
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