[Originally I planned to write one post about each day… but some of the events have become so jumbled in my memory that I decided I’d just pick a topic and write about it, and do the same for the rest of the posts about Ukraine. I may write about specific days (like Monday, or Wednesday…) but in general I’ll stick to topical updates.]
First I want to show you a few maps, because, as you may know, I LOVE maps. 🙂 Some of them are a bit small, but if you click on them they should be large enough to be able to read the captions.
The first leg of my trip (3 flights)
The 2nd leg of the trip — Driving
A map of the Vinnytsya Region. I circled the towns we spent our time in.
A close up on the three cities (Вінниця, Немирів, Тульчин)
We drove a lot. In fact, I think we drove at least 2 or 3 hours every single day (except Tuesday). Consequently, I have a ton of pictures of the Ukrainian countryside, homes, fences (every home has one), cars, cows, chickens, bus stops, crops, plants, trees and rivers.
(Friday evening – September 7th) When I first arrived, we drove for ~45 minutes to get from the airport (just outside Kiev) to an apartment in the city.
(Saturday – Sep. 8) The next day we drove over 5 hours to reach their home city of Тульчин (Tulchin).
(Sunday – Sep. 9) We left for church around 9 am and arrived close to 10. The church is in the city of Немирів. (Nemiroff) After lunch (served at church), we prepared a craft and headed to the orphanage. (I think it was in Вінниця (Vinnytsya), but I’m not 100% sure)
(Monday – Sep. 10) Lienna’s step-father drove us to the dentist office in Немирів (Nemiroff). Igor and his wife Albina came, picked me up, and drove me to their apartment (near-by-ish), and later to the зоопарк (zoopark = zoo).
(Tuesday – Sep. 11) We did not drive anywhere, mostly because Lienna was sick and so we just stayed home and rested. In the evening two (2) different families visited us.
(Wednesday – Sep. 12) First we were dropped off in Немирів (Nemiroff). Then from the pastors home, we traveled to different smaller villages (one with a population of 40 people) to do ministry work. In the evening we drove into Вінниця (Vinnytsya) to celebrate Tina’s 3rd birthday.
(Thursday – Sep. 13) On Thursday afternoon we (Lienna, her friend, and I) were dropped off in downtown Тульчин (Tulchin). We spent several hours walking around, shopping, and looking the Polish palace and other historic places in the city.
(Friday – Sep. 14) Late Friday morning we headed to Kiev (over 5 hours away).
(Saturday – Sep. 15) At 4:30 am Valera drove us (Lienna, her mother, and me) to the Kiev airport (about 45 minutes away). Once I arrived in the airport here, my family drove me for about 25 minutes to arrive at my home.
Sorry to keep it brief. I will elaborate the days more in later posts.
And now for some pictures of the countryside!! 🙂 I apologize for the ones that are blurry–I took 99% of them from inside a moving car, so it was hard to get clear photos.
Trees and buildings in Kiev
The road that overlooks some of the Tulchin countryside
Entering a city (probably Vinnytsya, but I don’t remember)
A tree covered drive in Nemiroff
A train bridge outside of Kiev
Trees outside of Kiev
Tulchin
Languages~Faith~Life 