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Sunday in the Ukraine

Hotel Dnipropetrovsk is located on the bank of the Dnieper river in downtown Dnipropetrovsk. Not a fancy hotel by any means but you can see glimpses of it’s former glory tucked away behind thick velvet curtains. Marble floors give way to exposed cement as you ascend past the first story flight of stairs. The parqued wood floors haven’t seen sanding or buffed in quite some time and the floors creak at every step.

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Hotel Dnipropetrovsk

At the beginning of each hall stands remnants to the previous soviet regime. You can easily imagine a military officer standing behind the table before allowing admittance requesting to see your papers. From the stories I was told, this was the hotel where all the VIP’s stayed in it’s hey day.

Our rooms are very simple possessing two twin beds, a 19″ inch television, a fridge, a chair and a coffee table in an apx. 150-200 square feet of space. The bathrooms have no more than 30 square feet. It may be simple, but it’s really all you need.

We gathered together in it’s lobby this morning at 7:20 a.m. to catch a ride in our white Sprinter van. Our translators that live locally, walk each morning to the hotel, the most used form of transportation for Ukrainians.

Our team was heading in two directions so that Lawrence could preach at the church we worked at yesterday in Dniprodzerzhynsk. The majority of our team headed to an office building in Dniprodzerzhynsk where a new church plant meets weekly to hold our third medical clinic.

Church service this morning.
Church service this morning.

The church wasn’t much different than anything else you would see in the United States. Service started shortly after 9 a.m. and included a time of open prayer, songs (some which we recognized and sung along with in English), and a message that would today be delivered by Lawrence Phipps.

Lawrence delivered a timely message on giving thanks in every circumstance. He mentioned that when we experience crises that we begin to worry. When we do this it makes us look like we aren’t believers.

After the service was over, Lawrence, Nadia and I rushed back over to where the rest of the crew had already begun the medical clinic several hours earlier. As the team took a lunch break Lawrence took the opportunity to share Christ with a large group of people waiting to enter the clinic.

Office building that was location of today's clinic.
Office building that was location of today’s clinic.

This particular church plant meets in a rented office space in a newer business building. The building is surrounded by large apartment complexes like our past two locations. Due to the size of the clinic, we rented additional space so more people could be seen. Even then, we had large groups of people meeting outside with members of the church.

At the end of the day we had seen approximately 145 people in total, 125 people through our vision clinic, and 135 through the medical clinic. 48 people professed Christ at today’s clinic!

Our clinic tomorrow is just on the other side of the Dnieper River. Continue to pray for us and the people we will be seeing over the next two days.

Below you’ll find some of the pictures from today.