one more time

pics

Georgia

I am not getting this!!! Georgia was wonderful and I really loved meeting the people and just learning of their history. Msia, our translator, is a dear. I truly love her. She is more than a pioneer of the church. She is a giant in making things happen there. I will try to post pictures. I am awrull at this and explaining what is there. Can't you guys just read between the lines??? :-)))

this weeks pics

Kiev from the botanical Gardens. The church in the botanical Gardens.
The sunset out our window in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Pics explanation

Hello! Per Dave's request here is the explanation of the pictures that I posted last week.
1.) Elder whatshisname from the Donestk mission, Sister Park, Sister Humpherys, Elder Park, Elder Humpherys, Elder Mayberry in the Sofia, Bulgaria Mission/Church parking lot. Four missionaries ,the Parks, the Humpherys were in Bulgaria to get their visas worked over. We have to go out of country for 4 days just before our 1 year date in Ukraine. We on the other hand were their to look at medical facilities.

2.)Elder Mayberry looking very cute in his Ukrainian hat. Me looking very tired. We are in the Vienna, Austria airport on our way to Sofia, Bulgaria.

3.)We are taking a tour of the Castle where the Crimea Accord was signed by Roosevelt, Churchill and that other guy. this woman kept looking at us with that smile and pointing to her chest where our name tags were and nodding yes. She is a member from Donetsk, Ukraine.

4.) Elder Mayberry, Agna, and Sister Mayberry. We are in Vilnius, Lithuania. Agna was our interpreter and drove us around all day. She picked us up in Kaunas, Lithuania and drove us the 90 miles to Vilnius.

5.) This is the center stone in ths old town square in Tallinn, Estonia. It reminded me of our trip to Boston. On Bunker Hill there is a compass marker that starts the red line to all the famous places in Boston. Steve and I took a picture there of us starting our journey through the city.

6.) These are the flowers of a plant I have tried so hard not to kill these past 5 months. I for get to water them I all most froze them this winter by having the window open as we fought the cigarette smoke from our neighbors.

7.) Elder Mayberry with Nicoli in Varna, Bulgaria. He is a wonderful man. He is active inthe church and he is and engineer. he works on the huge windmills as an alternative energy source for Bulgaria. he was a great interpreter as well.

8.) Kiev. Old town Ukrainian Orthodox church. Renovating as it is crumbling. The in the back. The foundation is washing away as it is on a little hill. The constructon of roads and sidewalks have caused erosion at the base of the church.

There you have it. It takes me so long to write and twice as long to post pictures at the same time. Maybe I will learn to do both at the same time. there is always hope.

Kharkiev

Hello!! We are off to Kharkiev tonight on the overnight train. It will be a 6 hr. trip. We leave at 11:55pm and arrive at 6:01 am. Fun. We will be leading a discussion on health and sanitary food preparation. Thought you might like to see some pictures. Hugs!

Pictures

I hope that I can get the pictures of Crimea up.

Crimea

What and interesting place to visit. We were able to visit four cities and look at medical facilities there. Simferopol,Sevastopol,Yevparitaeoria,Yalta. All have history that fill way too many books. The Black Sea and the Russian warm water fleet, the beautiful Xaram to the birthplace of Mary and the Greek ruins that surround it were all so enchanting.You just feel like you are on this strange and yet exciting tour of the world and are trying to soak up as much as you can. I find my self walking along taking way to many pictures of the most ordinary things but because I am where I am they are exotic and beautiful . Crazy I know but what can I say.
Lena Sheekht was our interpreter and she really was fun to hang out with. She is a resident Dr. with 3 weeks to go before sitting for her final exams. She is 24 years old and she is light hearted and fun. She knew what questions to ask about the hospitals and could see for her self if the facilities were good enough for the missionaries.
Yalta, we looked at a potential Humanitarian project for Elder and Sister Miner, who are the Humanitarian couple in Ukraine. It looks like a worth cause.
It is a program for the physically disabled to get a college degree and become employed. They can house up to 20 students at one time but there is no funding for meals, or for hot water. thus they are looking for help to remodel a bathroom and to get a boiler installed.
On to Lividia Place where the Yalta Accord was signed by Roosevelt. Churchill, and that other guy. I say that other guy because I don't want to even dignify mentioning him because of what he did to Ukrainians after the war was "ended". Soo.. great to be there and see all that took place there. It was a place for Tsar Nicoli and Alexandra and their family. There is a small museum about them on the second floor.
We love you so much and pray all is well. Hugs from Ukraine.