To serve others!

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday, Monday, Dan started out by going with Dima to pay some fees related to the new birth certificates and passports at a federal bank here in Berdyansk. This took a while since there had to be 8 different transactions to complete the process. Dan and Dima then went to a small coffee and pastry shop. The “sweets” here are sold all over the city on sidewalks and stores. They even have small portable shops called “Kiosks” on corners to provide for your sweet tooth and weight gain needs!! Just wanting to sample since we may not get the chance again, we stop and purchase something almost daily. So much for losing weight in the Ukraine!!

Today, we went to the outdoor market and purchased some warm winter clothing for the homeless boy in front of the hotel, all for about ¼ of what it would have cost in the states. We feel led every day to give him food. Lately, he seems to have picked up a bit of work with the construction workers laying brick at the entrance of the hotel. When we approached him to give him the clothing, the 2 workers across the parking area seemed to watch us as if looking out for him. When he looked into the bag and saw his winter coat, pants, hat and gloves he became so excited he yelled across the lot to the men and then gave Dan and me a huge hug! As we walked away and turned to look at him, we saw that he began changing immediately on the sidewalk layering his old and new items. It is truly a humbling and moving experience to realize we are so unworthy of being the hands of Christ. Yet because he loves us so much, he has given us the opportunity to pass his blessings on to others. We have talked to our CBN staff about this boy and have seen the police talking to him a few nights ago. So, we pray we will learn more.

Today, we are organizing our documents for Friday’s travels around to get court decrees (Berdyansk), birth cert’s (Berdyansk and Vesyvlica), and passports (Berdyansk and Zaparozhzha). We make a trip to the courthouse Thursday to make copies (15) of our court decrees. The court does not have enough staff to do this, so Luda (facilitator #2) will be returning on Thursday morning to lead us through the process and prayerfully head back to Kyiv Friday late or Saturday.

(Below: Kids from the orphanage playing soccer and at dinner)




We continually realize how great the need is here in Ukraine and everywhere else in the world. It is a truly humbling experience to be over here and seeing it first hand. We appreciate all of the prayers and support for us and our journey. If anyone feels led to help or even to adopt, please feel free to email our friend at CBN in Virginia Beach. Her name is Nataliya Khomyak, nataliya.khomyak@cbn.org, and she will gladly point you in the right direction.

God bless,
Dan and Julie