Thursday (Ukranian mushrooms)


Natasha and I are getting pretty efficient at preparing and practicing our evening presentations and so are having more time to do some other fun things. Today Gennady and Looda took us mushroom picking in a nearby forest. It was a beautiful day and the thrill of the hunt was upon us. At first, Natasha and I picked only the easy ones (that don’t taste as good) while Gennady and Looda worked on the hard-to-find but tasty varieties. After a while we switched over to the harder ones and did respectably. The good ones are small and are usually found peeking through leaves or at the base of trees. I found one tree that was completely surrounded by them. It was the mother lode of mushrooms and it took us a while to pick them all. That tree was rare, however, and most of the time we found only small clumps here and there.

Before the meeting started this evening Vladimir came down and talked to Natasha and I. He was pretty drunk but he invited us to visit him in his home and we said yes. After the meeting, the pastor, his wife, Natasha, and I walked home with him. He is a retired physics teacher, his wife is dead, and it seems that he does not see much of his children. Vladimir doesn’t feel that he has much to live for any more. He lives in a small, one-room apartment, has little money, and is very lonely. I told him how we wanted to be his family. Just a short walk from his apartment is our church, a large home filled with brothers and sisters of God’s family. We invited him to keep coming and to make friends with us and then we prayed for him. We will continue to pray for Him and I hope you will also.