KIDS CORNER
We have had to deal with our first real sickness here in
Ukraine. On Saturday night, Alex
came down with a cough and a slight fever. By Tuesday morning he was still coughing and running 101
degree fever so we decided to take him to the doctor. It's a good thing we brought him in when we did because he
had pneumonia!
The doctor said
that we caught it early which was good, but he still needed to have a pretty
strong anti-biotic. That doesn't
sound too bad right? Wrong!!!!! When I called
Jon to tell him to make sure to get the medicine in liquid form instead of a
pill he informed me that we actually had to give his medicine by injection
twice a day!!!! Luckily the doctor
was amazing and agreed to come to our house twice a day to give Alex the shots,
and it is only costing us $4 a day.
I think it is money well spent! Alex is feeling much better now and we are very thankful for the quality
of care that he has received here. Thank you to all of you who were praying!
Jenny and the boys in Germany |
Jonah and Isaac are starting to learn more words in Russian,
and their favorite new phrase (and mine!) is, "Mommy, Ятебялюблю! (Ya Tibya Loobloo!) which means I love you! We have such sweet boys!
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The Need for Christ In Ukraine
Jon got his first real taste of why God has brought us to
Ukraine today. As he was walking
to the office, Jon noticed that cars were swerving around something in the
road. As he got closer, he saw 2
feet sticking up from the heap and realized that it was not a pile of garbage,
but a man. He was lying on the
ground, bleeding from his head and people were just walking by and driving
around him.
Jon called to a woman
to come and stay with the man while he went for help and then he went into the Orthodox
Church to ask them to call for an ambulance. They didn't seem too interested in helping, and even when
the ambulance finally was called and arrived, they looked the man over and said
that there wasn't anything that they could do. Jon (and I) were appalled to find out that the reason that
no one was helping this man was because he was drunk.
From a cultural standpoint, this man doesn't contribute
anything to the society that he lives in; therefore his society is ready to
leave him in the street to die. As
a Christian, it is hard to imagine why this action, or lack thereof, would be
acceptable. But now we have seen
for ourselves that this is a nation in need of the compassion of Christ, and
that is why God has put us here. Jon later told me, "This should be reminder to us that when God found our
detestable sinful bodies lying in a pool of our own self centered sin, he
didn't just walk on by. But he
treated us as if we were his own children. We must go and do the same." I
don't know how many people's lives we will be able to touch here in Ukraine,
but for today, we have touched at least one. |
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Will you Join Us? | Financial Report.
We are still looking for people to join our team as monthly
supporters. We currently have only
$2450 of our $3000 a month budget raised. We are asking that you please prayerfully consider joining our team and
what we and God are doing here in Ukraine. Here is a breakdown of what we need:6 supporters at $25 a month, 6 supporters at $50 a month and
1 supporter at $100 a month.If you are interested in becoming a financial partner, you
can go to our website, www.five4one.org and click on the " Partner with Us" tab.Thank you again to all of you who continue to support
us. We couldn't do this without
you! |
Annual Meeting in Germany
Isaac shows Ukrainian hospitality to one of KontaktMission's German partners |
Every year Kontaktmission has its yearly meeting in
Germany. We were able to attend in
2008 and were thrilled to be able to go again this year. On Friday, March 26th, the
Gainer clan (and our team leader Stas) boarded a plane to Dortmund,
Germany. We stayed with Willi and
Katarina Loewen until Sunday when we went to Wustenrot for the Missionary
Convention. It was so great to see
so many familiar faces and reconnect with some people we hadn't seen since
2008. We had our own booth where I
handed out Salo, a traditional Ukrainian dish consisting of raw pig fat on a
piece of bread, and the boys handed out Ukrainian candy and prayer cards. On Sunday after the convention, I
returned to the Loewen's house with the boys, and Jon went on to Dobel for the
conference. Jon had a great time
and was able to learn some new information and make some new friends, and I was
able to make some new friends too!
Our week in Germany was a great time of spiritual and emotional renewal,
and we are really looking forward to going back next year!
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THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
We were so excited when we received the care package you sent us. The boys couldn't believe it! We felt so loved by your gifts. We are also especially grateful to Wade and Mike over at Campaignpros.com who donated the cost of shipping, organized shipping, and packed the box for us. (It's a shameless plug, but if you need anything custom printed; they really know their stuff and can get you taken care of.)
The pudding has been a big hit with the Ukrainians, we serve it whenever we have folks over. The boys have already eaten all the mac and cheese, Jenny loves burning her 'smelly' candles, and the new travel mugs have allowed me to double my hot tea consumption.
We are so grateful for brothers and sisters who show us so much care and concern, it really lifted our spirits. Again THANK YOU! |
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