progress

Here are a few pics from the building teams progress on the house. The VBS is over, 40 kids were there on the last day, photos of that to come (I need to get them from Doug, who was there), but a good time was had by all. Some parents came to the program heard Jack's message on Friday night.

Thursday Yana brought over quail eggs so Friday morning we had quail eggs for breakfast with our oatmeal or 7 grain cereal, I cook a big pot of one of them every morning. 

 Thursday the guys started tiling floors, this is the master bath, but the kitchen was done too. Its the same tile.

Marcie was busy with VBS crafts and prizes and still helped me with meals

Putting together the kitchen cabinets

The shelves Neil and Doug built for the storage room

Ray trying new skills as a drywall mudder and taper

 The master bath is being tiled today. Several guys have worked on it. Jack couldn't finish by lunchtime.

Eugene trying out new skills

jack tiling

master bath

The BC guys

Everyone- including Julia who came to help Jack with VBS

After lunch Saturday and after Jeremy got his last electrical job done, the BC guys and Eugene were off to Kirvoy Rog, then Kamskoiya and Mishorin Rog Sunday, to visit orphanages and people on the their way to Kiev (and the airport) in Victor's blue van.

The rest of the Manitoba guys went back to work.

Everything else

I can't make pizza for the team! I thawed out some of the mozzarella Garry made but we still don't have our power fixed from when the guy hit the pole! It's Thursday and it happened on Saturday night. We still only have two of our three phases of electricity, so my oven does not work.

On Tuesday morning electrician Jeremy temporarily fixed our power to the front of the house problem by switching some wires. We are still taking it easy on it, since one of the phases is now overloaded but they don't have to play cards by candlelight... or flashlight.

 We have been sliding in the mud since it warmer up and the snow has been melting, the guys have been working hard. Neil and Doug built shelves in the classroom storage closet, one of those unfinished jobs, while the other guys were busy on the new project. They worked out on the deck, since it was warm and sunny on Saturday and Monday.

We didn't expect anyone to fix the broken wire until Monday, but everyday Max and Victor are told maybe tomorrow. Wednesday around two in the afternoon we had a power surge and then the power went out. We weren't the only ones. Next door at the build they had the box on fire at the same time, and Yana's house was out. The transformer by the church blew. It came back on around seven pm, after dark, while we were running the generator at the house. They had brought it over when they quit working at the house, because they had got it out and started it mid-afternoon so they could keep working.

I am managing to cook on my electric stove top, except for Wednesday night, when we had not electric so we ate hot dogs boiled on Nelly's gas stove, coleslaw and pickles.



Electricity is not the only thing that has not gone according to plan. Monday evening we drove in to Dnepro, Garry dropped me and the water bottles at Metro, while he and Jeremy went to Epi-Center (the other Home Depot store). He said he'd be back in half an hour, because we were picking up the last four team members from Steinbach at the airport.

He got back late and we weren't picking them up, Carol had borrowed a phone to call him. Their flight had left Amsterdam 2 1/2 hours late and they were stuck in Kiev. They ended up touring the city a bit the next morning before getting their new flight, landing about 22 hours after their original arrival time.

So they were able to get to work on Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday. Then we had the power outage! That's my excuse for not blogging sooner, I had no time without my cleaning helper!

VBS or camp

28, 28, 35, 41= number of kids at the first four days of VBS... and the 28 on Tuesday were not the same 28, there were a few who did not come in the rain that morning and about 7 who had brought a friend and received a gift for doing so.








 Canadian teachers were paired with a translator, Marcie is leading crafts with Nelly's help and Jack is doing English with his friend Julie (she was sick in bed on Wednesday and he had a much more difficult day). Dan helped Kolya and one of the Sashas in the gymnasium.

They teach in a mix of English, Russian and Ukrainian, just like the words on the shirts that the teachers wear everyday and were given to the kids on Wednesday Thursday that have a cross and Jesus in all three languages.

The students get a breakfast snack after morning stretch exercises. On Monday the school director was worried about the floor in the all purpose room breaking while they were jumping so it was moved into the hallway for the rest of the week.

The pastor's wife and other ladies from the village church make the breakfast and lunch for the students and teachers before they go home at the end of the day. Breakfast is usually open-face sandwiches, a normal Ukrainian breakfast. Monday's lunch was macaroni noodles and a hotdog, Tuesday was buckwheat and salad and a meat patty.

 After getting colored name tags with their names in Russian and English the kids go with their group (according to age and boy/girl) to one of four classes, then switch to the next class after every half hour.

Anton and Vasa teach the Bible story lesson. It has a soccer theme, the first day was titled who is your leader ?

Marcie and Nelly were amazed by how much all the students, even the 10-14 year old boys, enjoyed  making crafts.

Dan helped Kolya and Sasha with the sports and was surprised by how hard all the girls tried to succeed in playing soccer. He said it was so different from Canada.

Jack and Julie had fun English games like hit the correct word with the flyswatter first.

At around 12:15 they have lunch and closing time, and hand out prizes, like for bringing a friend.

Watch for photos of Thursday and Friday. The students and the teachers are all having fun. On Thursday they handed out Ukrainian New Testaments and the blue Jesus (in three languages) T-shirts that the Steinbach team brought for the village children.