Arrived in Ukraine

We arrived at 4:00pm local time at the airport (Saturday) where we were greeted by our hosts at New Life Church. Stepping into the airport was like stepping back in time ~ the biggest difference was the somber expressions on faces. After settling everyone in apartments we ate some pizza and went to bed.

Early Sunday Morning, we met together as one big group to attend church ~ the first service was in Russian. The second service was in Ukrainian. The service was energetic and spirit-filled. The service was a great reminder that God is not limited by geographic location or language! After services, we had a great opportunity to sample the local Ukrainian fare while getting to know our translators....the start of great friendships.

After lunch, we reconvened at New Life Church where we had the opportunity to distribute some shoe boxes to around 500 kids....fun to see their smiles and learned some new Ukrainian phrases. There was a little girl around 3 years old that refused to give up her box to her mother (who wanted to help her look over the contents =)

We all decided to go to the street market and enjoyed looking at the special locally made items and then enjoyed some coffee at a local coffee shop. We took a brisk walk in the snow through the city center of Kiev and a quick ride on the metro to a restaurant.

Looking forward to passing out more shoe boxes to tomorrow.