Spring is Here!

While we see the news reports that Ohio has been hit with a snowstorm, Spring is here in Kherson. The days are longer and the temperatures are rising. We are typically right around 50 F during the day. Today was an official holiday as Saturday was International Women's Day. This is a big holiday in Ukraine and is pretty akin to a combination of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. Most men give their wives some sort of gift, typically flowers and candy.

The other thing that is interesting for us this year is Easter. Easter in orthodox countries is April 27th. That means right now is the beginning of the Lenten fasts. Here the Orthodox believers cannot eat meat, including fish, on any day of the week not just on Friday like I saw my Catholic friends in college observe. The religious aspects of life are cropping up more and more. We have seen lady genuflecting as she passed an Orthodox Church as we were walking. Our landlady went to a monastery for healing and spiritual edification/cleansing with holy waters. She went with a whole bus load of people from her church. They visited several monasteries in the Pochaev area in Western Ukraine. She told us she swam in St. Anne's Spring with water right around 40 F. The water is believed to have healing powers. They also visited "Job's Cave," a deep tunnel in the ground where one has to use a rope to climb down. She claims that the pain in her back was gone once she came back up from Job's cave. Those who are seeking to bring some religion into their lives go to their roots, to the church or denomination of their grandparents before Communism. The Orthodox church still attracts a lot of seekers and we are definitely seeing more of the superstitious side of things having been here close to a year. Please pray for wisdom for us as we live and witness to our orthodox friends and people we come in touch with. Pray that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ would break through the bondage to the superstitions.