The Irish are coming...

So today is Monday of my second to last week in Ukraine. It's crazy to think that next Friday I will be getting on the train to go back to Kiev for possibly the last time. I've come to really love Ukraine, although I will admit that it took me a while to get to that point. Ukraine is just a different country than any other that I have been to so far. Russian is a different language, the people are different (but wonderful), and the sights and smells are very unique to Ukraine. But all in all I have loved it so far.

Well, since our trip to Kiev we've been mainly working in the youth center every day. The youth center is open from 3:00-8:30 pm on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. As I believe I wrote in an earlier blog, we have a lot of games to play, and two ping-pong tables. Each night brings a different number of kids, but we haven't had more than three come on any one day except for Saturday. However, this was because the kids that were at camp and live in Primorsk came to Berdyansk that day to go to the beach and decided to visit the youth center. They played for a little while, and it was a lot of fun to catch up with them since I hadn't seen them in over two weeks. Kristina came again with them, but she decided to stay at the youth center for the day instead of go to the beach. The youth center can be a little boring when there aren't many kids in there, as it's just Matthew, Bill, Vika, and myself sitting around trying to find something to do. Bill's nephew Dima usually comes to visit. We've had a few memorable games with him, including Monopoly and Risk. Dima is 12, so it's fun to see how he thinks as he tries to make decisions in games like that, he's usually very even-handed in how he does everything. However, he has a dark side and if you do something he doesn't like in the game he will get revenge even if it hurts him, it's pretty funny to watch honestly (he's not like that in real life). Dennis comes every day still, and talks to us as we play ping-pong for hours at a time. His English is really very good for a Ukrainian teenager (the best I've heard besides Dima), and he likes to talk to Matthew and I about girls and life. He mentioned to me on Saturday that his grandmother almost died, so if you think about it please pray for her.

The Irish task force came yesterday after the church service here (which was nicer than usual because I listened to a sermon from Southland, and it gave me a little piece of home for the day). They had gone to a service in Tokmok, which is another church that Ernie has a relationship with, and it was his last time preaching there. Ernie and Anna are leaving Ukraine after serving here for over 10 years for retirement. They're actually leaving around four days after I leave, which is very soon, and they are very busy packing and saying goodbye to this country that they love (keep them in your prayers as well). The Irish team is made up of 15 people (much bigger than the American team at the beginning of the summer), made mostly of married couples, although there are four women who are either single or here without their husbands. They're going to do a VBS type of thing as well as do orphanage ministry and possibly work at the youth center a couple of nights a week. I like them so far, and their accents are great to listen to, although I have trouble understanding them occasionally. Four of them are staying in our apartment with the Tarr's, which means Matthew and I have to share our bathroom with four more people now. I'm excited to see what the Irish team will do, as I've heard good things about the Irish teams that have come before. They usually take control of everything they do here, making a program at the orphanage where we usually don't have any. It will be interesting to see how Bill takes that (he's in charge of the orphanage ministry), but he seems to be ok with it. Well, please keep me in your prayers for the things I've mentioned before. I'm also feeling a little homesick, and am excited to come home, so please pray for that as well. I love you all.

David