Ukraine Day 5& 6

Sorry no post yesterday. We haven't had internet at the hotel for two days. We are sitting in an internet cafe.

Yesterday we went on street patrol and it may have been one of the hardest experiences in my life. We saw one boy sleeping on top of pipes in a hole under the railroad tracks. He was so strung out that he didnt even flinch when the train went over. There are children as young as nine and ten sleeping on the streets alone. Dennis and Faya are the young adults who work with the street kids. They are angels. They both came from the streets and they care so much for these kids. We met two little children with a can spray paint which almost always means they are doing graffiti or sniffing or both. They were cute and laughing but ran away into an abandon apartment. Finally we went in a five story building that was never finished, but looks like it had beenbombed in a war. All that was standing was the concrete. No windows, no doors, no floors, no wiring, no plumbing. People were sleeping everywhere on everything from mattresses to tires. It was the worst human filth you can imagine.

Today we were able to drive to Sevestopol to visit a children's hospital. In Ukraine there are few nurses so when you enter the hospital in is expected that a family member will come sleep in the bed next to you to help care for you. The children that Mulberry works with are orphans and so there is no one to stay with them. Mulberry employs a wonderful lady Olya who cares for the oprhan children there. She gave us a tour of the children's unit. Unbelievable conditions! She told us that they were very concerned about not having air conditioning in the room where they store medicines for the children and as the summer approached she was afraid medicine would spoil and ruin. I asked her how much it would cost to get AC. She said far too much for them. Over $1200 grivna. We asked in US dollars and she said $150. It was such a wonderful feeling to know that I had that much in my pocket and to be able to pay for and AC unit to save this medicine. I write this not because I gave that money, but because it was so little to save so many and we don't realize how blessed we are.

The other exciting part of today was that Olya knew exactly where to the orphanage was that a family from our church had adopted a littlegirl. They had sent pictures and a note to let the orphange know how well their little girl was doing. Olya cried when she saw the pictures and is going to deliver them herself on Monday.

I am amazed and the grandness and size of our world and yet the close lines that connect so many of us through Jesus Christ.