Farewells and Fresh Starts

It's strange, being the only consistent short-term mission's team here. Yes, that sounded confusing - let me try to clarify. Already we have seen many teams come and go, and here we are still. The Minnesota team has come and gone, as well as the first Alabama team just this morning. Independent helpers such as Brian and RoseMary have headed back home, and the memory of them here with us seems long ago. I'm starting to feel like WE are the long-term missionaries, as everyone else seems to be coming and going to assist US. On the one hand, it's nice to get to interact with all these people from different places; and I've enjoyed working with every single one of them. Yet this also means we have to say goodbye, and often, then meeting and training up a new team in their place. We have to form the relationships anew.

As for this new module, I was pleasantly surprised to see many students returning from last module. Two boys in particular, Artiom and Andrew, who were friends of Barbie and Amy last module, have stared spending more time with our team as of late. Andrew has only been studying English for a year or so, and kind of reminds me of my Russian friend Vitaly. Artiom on the other hand, decided to learn English when he heard the Beatles - I thought you'd appreciate that, Dad. They accompanied us to the botanical gardens on Saturday (which was more like a previous botanical garden now, retaken by nature, yet still beautiful) they then took us to a good souvenir shop, something of which we hadn’t found yet, and the buffet style part of Liverpool to eat.

I always tend to lag behind everyone when we go out touring, partly because my legs are short and I can't walk as fast, and partly because my shins start hurting if I try to go as fast as them. Andrew noticed this, and would often stop and come back to me, saying that I shouldn't be always in back, and would walk with me for a while, with Artiom helping to translate his conversation. I didn't have much of an appetite at Liverpool this time, and just ate a little, but drank a LOT of water. He must have noticed this as well...

After that, we went and saw a movie at the theatre, all in Ukrainian - not Russian, which was actually quite fun. The girls went back out for a while, and the boys and I headed home, (my shins were hurting at this point). On the way back, Artiom and Andrew ran off to find something to drink, leaving Josh and I had to wait for them. When they got back, Andrew had this half-grin on his face, and pulled out a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. I couldn't help but smile - he had bought me flowers since I wasn't feeling well. The trolley ride back was especially memorable, as a man wearing a sailor hat had an accordion with him got on and started playing for everyone the entire way back.