Here and there

 Yesterday morning Garry talked with Max in Ukraine for a bit, it's amazing how normal everything is there, same little problems as every year with crops and neighbors, who think there's some reason our crops are better than their harvest besides the fact they don't use fertilizer, and with students not wanting to work more for extra cash. Max is looking to buy a big loader tractor of our own instead of fixing the neighbors and hiring him to pack down the silage pile, and then listening to him complain. 

The big job of pulling up the irrigation line in the corn fields is happening, in spite of not everyone asked wanting to do it, the neighbors are harvesting pumpkins and extracting seeds to dry as usual, Max was at their processing barn, so some of the other village farmers said hello to Garry.

The village church celebrated thanksgiving recently and took some photos, here's a few of Oleg, Elena and family and with some of the students.

The school in the village is being conducted remotely online so as not to have the kids all in one place in case of missiles, although the village is still fine. For those wondering about the status of the village, we are in the northern part of Zaporisia region that is still controlled by Ukraine. I found a handy map talking about the recent "vote to join the Russian Federation". All the white surrounding the city up to the line is part of our region, and we are right at the top left. The Russian line has been the same since very early in the war. 

I still remember a conversation I had with Masha when Ukraine was getting rid of the Lenin statues after 2014. She said her parents had put their Soviet era pictures in the closet "just in case they needed them again." They live in the city, so I guess they don't need them now. Masha is living in far western Ukraine with her husband and son. 

One year ago we were putting up the second Quonset shed that has been so handy for storing grain that they can't sell this year, they even stored some of the wheat for others in the village. 

Meanwhile back here in Manitoba, we are at the home farm, not the lake, while Garry drives silage truck every day from eight am to eight pm, the boys are making corn silage. We hosted our small group (lifegroup) from church Tuesday evening for a fall kickoff meal at the farm gym. Next weekend we are in Price Albert SK to talk at our friend Clay's church. They were supposed to send a team to teach English next summer in Dnepro, but that was last year, before the war. One (family) of our Ukrainian friends from SEI  Dnepro is now living in Prince Albert, so we'll see them too. 

The day we left the lake to go the farm I caught the big fish, a 17 1/2-inch small mouth bass, as you can see it's a little cooler on the lake in September for our morning boat ride. We have started taking our three mile walk before fishing.

Over there

 I haven't updated lately about how things are in the village. We get a lot of information from the students on facebook, including this photo of one of our three Sashas with the tractor the farm bought last year. 

 Garry talked to Max last Sunday. The sunflowers are harvested, they have even sold some- for about half world price- two loads so they could buy some fertilizer for planting winter wheat. Fertilizer is available to purchase, but most farmers are not using it while planting this year because the price is extremely high. Max decided to only use it on the bad fields and not put any on the good fields (where we have used lots in the past) to save money, but still take care of the land- and the future crop for next year. 

They have had lots of cooler wet weather, but Max said they had about half the winter wheat planted when they spoke. It should all be planted by now, they were just waiting for the fertilizer to come. The only crop left to harvest is the rest of the corn crop, which will be combined for grain. Max says it looks similar to last year/s crop. The farm is still able to sell milk, and are experimenting with cheese production, as you can see in this photo. 

They are raising chickens for meat in our old barn- the tent barn- in cages. We got some photos taken at a party in our house, along with some fun videos of charades, it looked like a party with the new girls, probably a birthday. By the way, both of the new girls are named Julia! 

That's one of the three Sashas with the new Julias. Of course, our original Julia is back in the village with her husband Dima, so there are three Julias also! You might notice Needles our cat in the window, both of the cats are alive and catching mice, I hear.

Two of our former students, one from year one- Max (not the one who came to Canada) and one more recent guy, Vlad (not the tractor driver) that we have heard from are in the army. They both volunteered, one before the war, the one had been living in the area that was taken over in the spring and his wife and kids were still there when we chatted. It's a relief when you see they have been on facebook recently, along with a few other former students. Keep them in your prayers, along with the students and staff in the village. Some nights they can see the missiles and the anti-missile activity in the sky.

Peter

 Our friend and friend f our program, Peter Klippenstein graduated to his heavenly home on September fourth and we attended his funeral on the 14th. Peter came on a couple building teams to Ukraine, and will be remembered for his help building the big classroom and apartment building and working on the Crawford house remodel. Peter was always willing to be the last to get in the shower and first to use the outhouse when we had a dozen or more people in the house and only one bathroom!

 He also was the magician who was able to get the doors hung, even when Garry forgot to order them ready to hang and he had to put all the hinges and hardware on a dozen doors in no time. He was always willing to give advice, but only to those who asked for it, and to keep working after others were ready to quit, and always with a smile on his face.  As a young adult after Bible school and marriage, Peter was a missionary in Ethiopia, and he had a heart for missions and sharing about the Lord. We will miss him. 

visits

 So we've had some company at the lake, Garry's dad flew in on July 29th and we did a lot of fishing until we dropped him at the airport on Thursday evening. If you are wondering, he is 91 now. Garry caught -and released after this photo- a 35 inch jack (pike). His dad caught fish, I did, our sons did, our daughter...

Many of our kids made it out to the lake while he was there. Tuesday our friends Steve and Jo and boys were out at the lake until Saturday. They were missionaries in Zaporosia for many of the years we were in Ukraine. The boys have grown a lot, they are 12 and 10 now, we did some tubing, fishing, hiking and puzzle building with them. 

Sunday morning we made it to church in Steinbach for the first time since our return from Poland and today is fun on the farm in St Labre.