Thanksgiving

 

Little Angelina has a new ride in Ukraine

We are back home in St Labre. with so much to be thankful for. First, that our village in Ukraine remains relatively undamaged by the war, our students and staff are safe, and the crops were good over there this year, and that we had plenty of storage for our wheat that can't be sold yet and even for the other small farmers in the village (and the scale got built last winter to weigh it). We are really amazed that God had a plan in place to keep our program going in Ukraine when we couldn't go back in February, with all the staff and supplies to keep everything running. It makes it easier to not be there, although Garry would go in a minute if the mission board okayed it. 

Dima and Julia are back in the village

We are thankful for a safe trip to Prince Albert, where we spoke at our friend Clay's church. Garry did a great job swerving around a potato truck that went across highway one in our path. WE also saw a lot of geese, Canada and snow types, as we drove.

 Saturday evening we were surprised to find Scott and Shannon Crawford at our PowerPoint presentation, and we saw a couple from SEI who moved there from Ukraine recently. Lots of hugs and a good visit with Clay and Maggie, too. 

Garry and I left early Monday morning and headed for Morden, where our daughter was hosting Thanksgiving dinner Monday evening with all the family. Thanking God for our first time all together since last December. A good time and lots to eat for all, although the children played more than ate! 

We are also thankful that the harvest here in Manitoba has been plentiful and has gone well this fall.

We are also thanking God for the life of Pastor Ivan, who passed away this week in the village. He had been in poor health since last fall and was happy to turn the preaching over to Oleg last winter. Pastor Ivan was a great man of God, I will always remember him being part of our Multilanguage skits during the armor of God VBS, with a big smile on his face. Last spring he was delighted one Sunday morning to see he and I were wearing matching t-shirts, the ones from the spring VBS with the Canadian team with the name of God in Ukrainian, Russian and English.