A Short Vacation at the Black Sea

Last week we took a 5-day vacation at the village of Lazurnoe on the Black Sea. We found a private house with rooms for rent through the internet, and off we went. Our friend from church went, too, and gave us a ride in his car (which was great). The above picture is of the rooms that were rented out. We occupied two rooms. They were not plush, but comfortable. The bathrooms and the showers were outside. There was one heated shower (which most of the time was only a trickle), and there were three 'summer' showers, which means there is a large canister filled with water on top of the roof that is being heated by the sun. In hot summer days the water gets warm, but when we were there, the water in the 'summer' showers was cool. In the picture below you see the heated shower in the foreground and the black cistern in the background is for 'summer' showers.The picture below shows the common area kitchen. There were three refrigerators there and two stoves -- the kitchen served 9 rooms. We ended up almost having our own fridge, because no one else was using it. The kitchen was also stocked with pots, pans and dishes, so one could cook the food they bought at the market 3 blocks away.

Below: one of the two common bathrooms.Anna and Aggie.

There was a swing and a sandbox on the premises, which helped a lot to keep the kids occupied in the early afternoons. There were some other children staying there, too, so our kids had playmates.

The weather left much to be desired, but we went to the sea anyway. The water was a refreshing +17 degrees C (63 F), but the children did not mind getting wet. There were not a whole lot of jelly fish.

The view of the beach. This is one of the better days we had there.

Below: ever-present vendors. This lady is selling dried fish. We were not brave enough for fish at the beach, but we tried some pies and corn.

Here are some more pictures of the children:

Youth and Young Adults Camp, August, 2011

The first week of August a ruling elder and I were joined by 11 other young people from our church. Youth ministry here in Ukraine can be defined by the ages between 13 and 30. We really have two different groups: a teenage group and a 20-something group. The purpose of this week was to have a retreat and draw near to God. The theme was "Living out our faith in a hostile world". We looked at the letters of Jesus to the 7 churches in the John's Revelation. What great themes are there - the awesomeness and majesty of Christ, the call to return to loving Christ, the need to stand firm against the deception to be worldly, especially in who we are as men and women, the call to sexual purity, and the need for zeal for Christ in our lives. They all responded to the Word of God, and it was great to see God challenge them in their faith.

One small story: a young lady in our church wanted to talk to me at the end of the week. She said that something is happening inside her. She told me that she had repented several years ago, but that she never knew the love of Christ or loved him in response. It was a challenge for her to hear about the love of Christ and our need to love in return: love that is shown in acts of repentance. She is excited about this new experience, and now is loving God.

Outside the shack where the 4 older ladies stayed and cooked breakfast and dinner.

Some of the ladies

Vitaly, the ruling elder who helped lead small group discussions.

One of the young men who came.

A view of the shacks along the beach

Lunch time at the cafeteria

Dinner time at the shack

After the morning lesson

Evening worship on the beach

The whole group

On the bus and headed home