Day 6

           

  

          Today is Sunday. A great day. I had absolutely no idea of what time I needed to be up for church, so I set my alarm for 6:30. That was way too early, as I spent the majority of the time sitting in my room. Lunch was simple, just bread with the usual toppings on it and tea, of course. This was at 8:30. The van was loaded at 9. I road in Nikolai’s car along with three children, Lena, and Sophi because we all couldn’t fit into the van. They do have a bus, but it needs repaired. One thing to note about Ukraine is the roads are very bad. That is one of the things I first noticed last year. Potholes everywhere. Some roads are even cobblestone, so they were extra bumpy. The church the children went to was about 30 minutes away in Chervonohrad. A beautiful church with beautiful people. The kids went up and sat on the pews that were on the stage because they were getting ready to do a program. Nadia, Sofi, and I, along with several others, sat on the front row. When church started, 10:00, one lady lead the congregation from the front pew on the floor in song. Just a couple of songs after, the children began their program. They all took turns singing and had speaking parts. It lasted for about an hour. Church wasn’t done quite yet. A pastor came up, said some words, and then gave the microphone to Nikolai. He spoke good words for about 45 minutes. I did not understand what he said, but Sofi, who sat beside me translated every once in a while. He talked about how everyone is an orphan. When we invite God to be our Lord and Savior, we are adopted into His heavenly family as a son and daughter in Christ. It was very good, but since I didn’t understand a lot of it, my mind wandered. I could tell the kids on the stage were getting antsy. I made eye contact with several of them, and they started to make funny faces at me. I made some back, and we all giggled silently. That’s when I heard Nikolai say my name from the pulpit. Sofi said he wanted me to stand, so I did just for a few seconds. She said he mentioned I came from Missouri as a missionary for these kids. It made me feel good, but I knew then I had to be on my best behavior. No more funny faces considering I was sitting in the very front and now everyone was looking at me the rest of the service. I tried not to yawn, too. The end of the service was extremely touching when a pastor asked the congregation who wants to invite Jesus into their hearts. Four people walked fast up to the front and got up on stage. They were extremely emotional, and the lady was crying. They each took turns praying to God for forgiveness and to become their father eternally out loud to the crowd. Then family and friends came up and laid hands on them praying as a whole. The emotion got to me. It was extremely different seeing these people from Ukraine, who appear stoic all the time in public crying and smiling and acting with such energy. Finally, the service ended after about 2.5 hours.

               Lunch was served at the church. I’m glad because I was extremely hungry and didn’t want to wait another 30 minutes heading back to Children’s Path to eat. Bread and salad was served first, then, after a few minutes, ladies brought out buttery mashed potatoes and a tray with delicious meat patties. Then, a tray of cake was laid out on the table. I told myself before I left that I would not wat the cake because a lot of times they put nuts in it. I am allergic to cashews and pistachios, and I don’t want to risk it. The chocolate looked like it had nuts in it, but the vanilla didn’t. I saw pieces of fruit and some poppyseeds. I decided I had to go for it. It was a very good choice. An EXTREMELY good choice, actually. Then we all left.

               Once we arrived back home, I played a little, but I was extremely tired. My short nap I was going to take turned into a nap that was almost three hours. My nap might have been long because my room was darker than normal. I finally, after 6 days, found out that I can move the curtains on the side of my large window and close them. I went up and played with playdough with Ausia and Nastya as well as some hand games like Bubblegum. It was dinner time, and pizza was served. Pizza is one of my favorite dishes they serve here. It’s not the same as the pizza in America, but the concept is the same. There is bread, then some sort of sauce, and then some toppings and cheese. Here, days seem much longer because the sun rises at an earlier time as it does in Missouri, and it sets at a later time, too. It still isn’t completely dark at 10 pm where it would be back at home. After dinner, play time resumed. I talked with Sofi, and she thinks it would be cool to do a craft with the children. At first, she did not know the English word for craft, so she said it in Ukrainian. Some kids heard, and ever since then, they have wanted to do a craft right now. Tomorrow maybe. I sat on the couch with Sophia and looked at Pinterest to find a good craft. Not 10 seconds later, I was crowded by at least 6 other kids who wanted to look too. That went on for a while, then we sat down and watched television. Phineas and Ferb was on, and it was extremely odd hearing it in a language that wasn’t English. It was cool though. After, we all got showers, and though the children still wanted to play, I managed to escape and go to bed. Very good day, and nice weather. One of the best so far.