Two Worship Services, A Concert and McDonald's

Ukraine observes daylight savings time. We know this because we were one hour late to church this Sunday morning! That's OK, because this way the service only lasted 1 1/2 hours instead of the usual 2 1/2 hours. ;-) With the time change, please note we are now 8 hours ahead of Omaha.

Paul and Tanya Becker invited Renee and Ito the service at Trinity non-denominational church. The service was in Ukrainian and Tanya graciously translated. After church, we raced through McDonald's and slammed lunch on our way to a classical music concert. (Talk about extremes in culture--Big Mac to J.S. Bach.) Paul Becker's former voice instructor was performing. The concert focused on a collection of pieces from Bach's "Passion of the Christ" in recognition of the season of Lent. It was fabulous!!

We barely got home from the concert when Michelle came by to invite us to an all English worship service near our apartment. This service is not a formal church but simply a collection Americans in Odessa who gather most every Sunday in a home to worship, pray and share fellowship--all in English! Thank you, Michelle.

Michelle loaned us a few DVD movies (in English) from her collection. (Paul emailed Michelle and begged her for English speaking movies.) We were so desperate for entertainment in English that Renee and I watched two movies back-to-back last night. "A Walk in the Clouds" and "The Lake House" both featuring actor, Keanu Reeves. (I wonder if Michelle likes Keanu Reeves??)

Prayer Requests - For our kids back home--Liz, Andrew and Christina. They are in the expert care of Grandma and Grandpa Wenstrand and we are not really worried about them. But, we have been gone over two weeks now so, a little extra prayer their way would be much appreciated! Thank you.


Jefferey (the Ukrainian-Iowa farmer), Paul and Tanya Becker, Abigale Becker (in Tanya's arms) and Lora (special friend of the Becker's). These are the people who invited Renee and me to their home for dinner Saturday evening. They also invited us to church and a classical music concert on Sunday. If you have not assumed it already, the Becker's are really good at hospitality. Thank you, Paul and Tanya, for all you do and continue to do for us during our stay in Odessa.


The home of Trinity Church worship services (top floor). This building also houses a Christian University.


As I mentioned, services are on the top floor. So, we climbed a winding staircase located inside this tower. That was fun (really).


Ascending the steep and winding stairs.


Once you reach the top of the stairs, you are rewarded with a cool worship service. As you can see, a contemporary worship service in Odessa looks a lot like a contemporary service back home. The pastor used clips from the movie, "End of the Spear" during his sermon.


The recital hall is absolutely beautiful and the perfect setting for a classical music.


The vocalists were both sopranos. (Yes, a male soprano seems unusual.) They're pitch was perfect and every syllable precise. I don't know enough to identify world class vocalists but this pair has to be close. (Sorry, we didn't receive a program.)



Views of the grand stair case leading to the recital hall.