Sunday, July 12, 2009

Back to Kyiv

Saturday July 11, 2009

This was the last day of the VBS classes. The group in Ternopil finished class and then took a two hour drive to Lviv in western Ukraine near the Polish border. This area of Ukraine was under Polish rule for many years and was the center of many activities. We think of old buildings in America that are 50 to 100 years old. Buildings in Europe go back many centuries. We had an opportunity to visit the Armenian Church in Lviv that was built in 1363.

Sign on the Armenian Church indicating its age.


Entrance to the Armenian Church.


As we walked around the center of Lviv we found this street artist drawing one of the local features in chalk.

Sunday July 12, 2009

Ternopil Pastor Taras Kokovskiy watches as Polly Joubert posts some of the craft projects before the church service.


Following the church service, the VBS students gave a concert of the songs they had learned during the VBS program.


VBS students and teachers gathered on the front steps for a group picture.

Thoughts of Faith Ukraine VBS is over for another year. The volunteers will return to Kyiv tonight. Some will travel by van, but most will travel by overnight train. They will leave their cities from early to late Sunday evening and arrive in Kyiv from 4:00am to 9:00am. There will be a bus to the Dubek conference center, time to freshen up and breakfast. Then it will be a sack lunch and off to St. Andrew St. in Kyiv. This is a famous shopping district for Ukrainian souveniers where vendors line up along the street for nearly 1/2 mile.

Late Monday afternoon the volunteers will return to the Dubek Center for dinner and then to pack for travel. The bus to Kyiv Boryspil Airport will arrive at 3:00am for the hour long trip to the airport. They will check in for the 6:40 flight to Amsterdam. From there, there will be return flights to Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit. Please keep all in your prayers until they are once again home safely.

Thank you for following the 2009 Ukraine VBS Prihoda (adventure)!

Kermit Traska

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Would anyone have photos of Kolomiya? My grandparents left there in approximately 1905 and I would like to see pictures and even try to identify relatives there.

Any suggestions?

Please contact:
stephenbheller@aol.com