A TRIP FULL OF SURPRISES
FRANK
Last year while in Ukraine I met a man named Frank Grabanski living in Berehove, UA. He is a Christian, loves Jesus, and loves to talk to people about Him. I asked him to join me on my trip.
We prayed and asked God to go before us and meet our needs along the way, meaning our plan was to evangelize wherever God directed.
DIRT ROAD
I was told that along the way a part of the highway was missing; simply a dirt road. I didn’t believe it and thought I must have not have been paying attention to the conversation.
Sure enough, along the way the highway turned into a very rough dirt road and I thought I must have missed a a turn. We traveled about a kilometer – 2/3 of a mile, and drove back onto the highway. I have no explanation or understanding of this anomaly. Accept it and go on.
PIGS
So we’re driving and come upon 4 pigs crossing the highway. One huge sow, two piglets (weighing less than 100 pounds – good eating size) and the fourth larger than the sow, still in the bushes along the side of the road. I didn’t have time to take a picture. I was mainly concerned with getting past them without hitting them.
ODESA, UKRAINE
We arrived in Odesa about 9:30 pm. We were tired, hungry and needed a place to stay. We stopped at McDonald’s to get a quick bite and started trying to make arrangements for a place to stay.
We called a couple of places. I asked one receptionist to send me an address and we would come to her hotel. She said, “tell me the region you’re in and I will tell you how to get here. I told her I didn’t know the region. She would not send the address to my phone (I have a Ukrainian number). Again she repeated herself and said she needed to know what region I was in and she would tell me how to get to her hotel. I hung up.
GOOGLE – “Hotel near me”
Mini Hotel on Kostandi Street 100. We went there and they had a room. The accommodations were great. So thankful.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2023
About all we knew was that we were in Odesa, had decent accommodations and a very specific goal – share Jesus with people of Odesa.
MARK PRIEM – ODESA, UKRAINE
He is a missionary in Odesa, Ukraine and I’ve read many of his reports. I’ve kept up with him since the war started and really wanted to meet him and see the work he is doing. Frank knew him but hadn’t had contact with him for 12 years or so.
We got in contact with him and asked if it was possible to meet sometime that day. If that was possible, please give us the church address and we would meet him there.
I know he was surprised – said he hadn’t had many visitors since the war started.
Mark asked where we were staying. When we told him the Mini Hotel on Kostandi, he said that was the place he always used when he had guests or held conferences, etc. He asked how we liked our accommodations. We told him they were great but the AC didn’t blow cold and we were able to sleep because I have a small oscillating fan.
He grabbed his phone and called the hotel. It must be in his list of “favorites.”
“Hey Sveta this is Mark. I have some friends who arrived last night. They really like your hotel but the AC doesn’t blow cold in #6.”
She said they would take care of it.
Odesa is a huge city and I thought we would have to drive from one end of the city to the other to meet. It turns out we were 450 yards, 1/3 of a mile from the church address – within walking distance.
MINISTRY
We spent the entire week with Mark. In the mornings Frank and I would go do evangelism around the train station, have lunch and rest a bit. Then we would meet Mark and his staff at the church at 4:00 each and every evening, even over the weekend.
From there we would go pick up the food for distribution to those in need. Then we would go to various places previously arranged.
Mark asked us to share our testimonies with the people. Afterwards he and his folks would distribute the food.
Different groups, different areas
SELFIES
AMUSEMENT PARK
On Saturday we went to an amusement park in the city with the youth.
CHURCH
The church was packed for the services. I was given the opportunity to preach and thoroughly enjoyed it. Alexsei translated and did a great job.
On Monday morning we met for the last time. Mark said he could print and distribute my tracts throughout Ukraine and I gave him the files to do just that. (I’m very excited about sharing Christ in this format in this country. I’m also very grateful for the help in doing just that. Pray that God greatly blesses this effort.)