2015 GBC Ukraine Missions Trip ---Day 2 of English Clubs

A couple other things that occurred on Monday that are worth mentioning....though Shawn is the only one of our group that is capable of actually getting the cantankerous stove lit, Andrew, the youngest on our team, treated all of us to a breakfast of tasty omelettes. His mom would be proud; he not only cooks for us but cleans up after all well!

The other treat our team experienced on Monday was a trip to the Lviv handmade chocolate shop. We ate drinkable chocolate, melted chocolate straight out of little cups, fruit with chocolate, Black tea with Chocolate, and Latte's with chocolate.  Needless to say, we had more than our fill of sugar for the day! (although I'm sure most of us would not mind another trip if able!) 

Tuesday was full of different and unique experiences.  We managed to get here with all our luggage, except Conrad's suitcase with all his clothes.  Our host Alina took us shopping at Odessa's finest second-hand clothing store.  We found all kinds of "interesting' clothing there, including a Mizzou t-shirt.  We did find a few things for him there and, needless to say, Conrad now looks like a "local," and if we run into trouble, could maybe score a job at McDonalds! (We are also very happy he can stop wearing the same outfit every day.)

The Odessa Campus team then brought a traditional Ukrainian meal to share with us at our apartment.  We all got to try borscht, a beet soup, along with sallo (raw pig fat) (yes, I said raw pig fat) spread on rye bread.  We then enjoyed some tea with delicious pinwheel cookies that Tanya, Dima's wife, made for us.

English Clubs though were the best part of the day, with most all of the students returning for Day 2. Sometimes students don't return because they are uncomfortable with the Bible discussions, but this year the vast majority of students returned, and actually were very engaged in the discussion part. Today's lesson included the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, and some of the students had in depth questions about the legitimacy of miracles, whether or not Jesus actually performed miracles, and many wondered if Jesus actually did miracles in modern day.  This quickly progressed into a rather intense discussion about Jesus' capability to meet our spiritual and physical needs.  

All four groups had really good discussion times.  Please continue to pray that hearts would be open and receptive to the stories and discussion about Jesus and His Word.   There seems to be alot of interest yet skepticsm, a lot of hurt yet fear of the unknown.