Mission to Ukraine 7/5/2007 - Carpathian Mountains

The next day, we had our morning meeting and I met a man from Ivano-Frankivsk named Dmitri who is a former deputy major and now leads a Reformed ministry and church in the downtown area. They are evangelists who are concerned with reaching out and treating children who are born with AIDS. Dmitri was holding a conference for people who worked with AIDS victims at the same camp. I also talked to a Missionary from the Christian Reformed Church who is working with the Hungarian Reformed churches in Mukacheve.We then got on a bus and headed off on a three-hour trip to a mountain with a spring fed lake at the top. It was raining and I walked about quarter of a mile up a steep incline in the rain. Then it started to pour when I reached the top. On the way down, I met an English language teacher named Anna who is from Rivne who is married to a policeman. She was nice enough to let me share an umbrella with her. We had a good conversation about what it is like to teach in America and Ukraine. We had potatoes, bread, sausage and tea in a café at the bottom of the mountain. I got soaked and few days later came down with a cold.At night, I saw Dmitri again and he attended the service. Pastor Taras spoke on Acts 17 (Paul's Sermon on Mars Hill) and Exodus 20 (Ten Commandments). The theme was how to preach the Gospel to people of pagan backgrounds.