Goodbyes

We are preparing to leave our home in Odessa for one year. During that year we will be traveling and living in the USA. We leave in one week and the process of goodbyes has begun. I will never get used to this part of being a missionary. You spend enough time in a place to build relationships and then you leave.

On May 30th was the Odessa Theological Graduation. Alfie was able to participate and say goodbye to the full time theology students and the part time Pastoral Ministry students.

Today, Saturday June 7, Micah our daughter had her last music exam. She did very well – received an 11 out of 12. After the exam we had some tea and refreshments. We were able to say goodbye to Micah’s music teacher, Lucia and Micah's fellow students. Here is a vidoe of her playing one of her songs.

From the music exam, we went to a picnic by the sea. Our small group organized a picnic to say goodbye to us. We sang together, they gave us a gift (a photo album with their pictures and best wishes), we played and ate together. Igor, the pastor of the group said, “We are very sad to see you go and when Ukrainians are sad - we also eat. So we have gathered to be sad and eat together.” This group has been a great blessing to us. We have prayed together, studied the Bible together, had picnics, laughed, cried and served the Lord together. We thank God for them and will miss them very much.