another good day!

Hello everyone! I think we got more done today than yesterday at the worksite! We have made good progress on the trenches for the footings. Lots of big rocks were delivered today, along with concrete, so that may be on the schedule the rest of this week.

The first picture, which may be hard to make out, shows the trench we're digging. It's 1 meter deep. The original church is the second building from the right. The big pile of sand and rocks there on the left will go into the trenches to help make the footings.

Robin, we were serious about the backhoe! Vova asked for one, but it never came. would have made the job easier, but we're strong (worth 20 cows each!) and doing okay. It's too late to get one now anyway. They are pleased with our progress, and so are we. We don't need no stinkin' tractor!

It's definitely hard work. This second picture is of Sharon, hard at it. This was toward the beginning of the day. It was much deeper later in the day.

Yes, we were digging right next to the outhouse...

But, it's not all about the task! There have been several people make visits to church members the last two days. They went with Vova. I havne't joined them, but those that went enjoyed the experience. We also had 23 kids again today at VBS. the kids seemed more comfortable, and so did the VBS leaders. They did crafts and learned about Jonah. The snack was goldfish! The kids giggled and loved the crafts and they taught each other songs (the kids to the leaders in Ukrainian, and the leaders to the kids in English). A good time was had by all.

While the VBS crew stayed behind, the rest of us went to the Uzhhorod church to "help" with the soup kitchen. I'm not sure that we helped much, but we enjoyed seeing the kids. We were there while they sang songs, played games, and had a Bible lesson, then started eating. The cool part was the kids all prayed for us. Jennie has some good pictures and I think she'll post them later.

These two guys are both Josef. The one on the left is the minister to the soup kitchen and youth. We met him last year. the other Josef is Roma (gypsy). He is one of our translators. He is learning in the Bible college, which may be his only chance for a future. He lives now at the church and is a participant in the Soup kitchen ministry. But he doesn't have much of a future because of the discrimination against the Roma people. He can't even join the army. but he will now become a pastor.

These are some of the kids who participate in the soup kitchen. I recognize some of them from last year. the girl who is just behind the boys on the left of the picture (she has a pink shirt), was one of the "cover girls" from our last "Pass the Salt". at least I think she was. Vika is her name.

We're still having lots of fun together. we laugh a lot. But now it's late at night and time to go to sleep. Thanks for reading our blog and commenting!

Susan