The above photo is of those assembled to worship at the church of Christ in Ivano-Frankivsk 08 April 2018
Today is Easter Sunday on the Eastern calendar. This is probably the most important day in Eastern Europe. Almost all businesses have been closed since Friday and today there were hardly any businesses open. Even cafes and restaurants posted signs saying they were closed. Toward the end of the day some will open but most remain closed.
The holiday is a time when most in the city return to their family’s village and celebrate the holiday there. Easter celebrations in the villages are a wonderful experience!
Because of the holiday our attendance was lower than last week. Today we had 32 assemble whereas last Sunday it was around 50. Following the worship assembly several families left to go to their villages and will be there overnight.
Ivan announced that many were leaving but others had no village to go to and these were invited to join in a meal. This included the Medical Students from Africa, those IDPs from Donetsk, and the two Americans.
With the invitation extended the question was asked “Where will we go?” There were no cafés opened. Our good brother Volodya Kuriy (the taxi driver) came to the rescue. He has a friend that runs a health food café. He called her and it was closed but she agreed to come and open it just to serve us. We were served spinach soup and vegan pizza.
I sat across from Emmanuel and I told him I wish I had a video of his face as he looked into the bowl of spinach soup! He says there is nothing in Ghana that looks like that soup. Ivan told him that it looked like someone squeezed some caterpillars and their green juice came out. Emmanuel had a difficult time lifting the spoon to his mouth and an even greater hurdle in actually putting it into his mouth. But he did and sooo much to the amusement of those sitting across from him! I told him to take a photo of the soup and send it to his wife telling her he REALLLLY missed her cooking.
Regardless of how it looked it was tasty!
It was a delightful lunch and an Easter meal that none of us will forget. I appreciate Volodya going to the trouble to find some way for us to eat.
The fruits of last week’s men’s business meeting were evident in today’s assembly. Andrew announced to the congregation about the new plans to post finances and bulletin news and pointed out the new boards where the information will be posted. There were a number of different men leading various parts of worship. There were several new bulletin boards on the walls which would hold a weekly news bulletin, a board that would show the record of the day’s attendance and contribution for that Sunday and the balance of funds on hand. On another board is posted the last month’s financial expenses and next to that is a sheet updating the expenses for construction.
We had several today (3 at least) that wanted to be immersed but we spent all yesterday looking for an open sauna or pool and nothing was open because of the holiday. We plan to immerse these as soon as we can secure the facilities. In the old flat the bathtub was large enough to immerse a small adult but since we lost the lease we also lost that option. Now we are back to using rented places for immersions until the church building is completed enough to use the baptistery there.
I leave for Kyiv on tomorrow night’s flight. I have several appointments in Kyiv to make before returning to Montgomery on Saturday.
Continue praying for our efforts and the opening of doors by which the gospel can be preached!
John L. Kachelman, Jr.
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
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