Outreach to Flood Victims in Western Ukraine (Part 3)

Marina and Olya begin the cleanup work in the house

On Friday morning we began helping to cleanup around the home of Halya, a woman from the church in Novoselytsia. You can see from the pictures that the flood literally stripped away all the newly completed work they had done on the home.

Andriy helped me and Conor move some of the bigger stuff as we cleaned out this shed to salvage what we could from the mud. Later we would clean the mud off the table and bench so that we could share a meal on it.

Dominic cleaned the bulk of the mud off of Halya's canned foods that Jake had rescued from her still flooded cellar.

Jake and Andriy cleaned up the jars of food that hadn't had there lids rust through.

Mira, Vlada, and Olya cleaned the mud of the windows, blinds, and screens.

Conor and I had almost finished getting the shed cleaned out so the mud could dry.

We all sat down to eat on the table that had earlier been covered in mud and debris. Halya is at the end of the table serving us borshch.

After we left Halya's place, we got cleaned up and attended a Friday night service at our hosts' church. Jake was invited to share a message and Andriy gave his testimony while the girls were asked to lead a few worship songs. We were all greatly encouraged by the welcome we received and the fellowship we shared. Our hosts went out of their way to make sure we were always well fed and had a comfortable place to stay. They were all amazing.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. - Romans 12:10

After the service we traveled to a small village of about 3,000 people to attend a Friday night Youth Group. The village was made up of ethnic Romanians who spoke Romanian and attended Romanian speaking schools, something we were all a little surprised to find. The village was actually part of Romania until the Soviet occupation after WW II. The family that was hosting the Youth Group in their home told us that they had ten children, which is a little unusual in Ukraine. We talked and sang until about 1:30AM. Heavy rains forced some of us to spend the night in their home. It was a long, but rewarding day.

Some video of our evening together