Sunday in Lviv

For the third day in a row, our team donned our Troika shirts and traveling pants since our luggage did not make it in from Munich on Saturday night.  I know that at least one of us handwashed his clothes in the bathtub, thus forcing him to use a hairdryer to knock the dampness out on Sunday morning.  Nonetheless, the day started well!

After breakfast we worshiped together in a house church of about 20 people on the 4th floor of an apartment building in Lviv.  Pastor Sasha was gracious enough to ask Perry to introduce our team, Jim shared his story of how he came to know Christ, and Jay preached from Hebrews 11-12.  After the service, we spend time with the church members socializing and having tea and coffee.

For lunch, we joined Sasha and his wife, along with Pastor Dima and his wife Natalia for lunch at the Forum Mall.  It was a great time hearing more about their churches (Dima’s church of 120 has planted 4 churches since 1999) and how he came to know Christ from a completely unchurched background (through a video simulcast of a Billy Graham crusade in Germany that was played in a local stadium in Lviv. He did not want to go, but did so at the invitation of a relative he respected. The Graham people followed up on his decision and got him into a small group of new believers where he began to follow Jesus. From there he was called into the ministry.).

After lunch we rested at the hotel, before finding a late afternoon surprise that our luggage had finally been delivered! It’s like we were new men!

We spent some time walking around the beautiful park that’s adjacent to the hotel and chamber building before enjoying some time at the outside dining area.  After our evening devotion we spent some time praying and preparing for the week before calling it a night.

Monday has the potential for several technical issues with Tim Whitener and Alan Cole teaching via Skype, so pray for a smooth morning and that we build on the foundations already laid with this group so show them the love of Christ.