I want to say something about the fine folks at The House of Bible. Yep, that's what it's called, and that's where we stayed. When Heidi and I made plans to go to Ukraine, we were told that we would be staying at a place near the orphanage, and that it was cheap. Heidi usually program manages our trips to the finite details. But this time, we just let go and let God guide us on our journey. Now, to the ordinary person, this sounds preposterous - traveling halfway around the world without reservations for a place to stay. We really felt calm and at peace as we put all our trust in God and our caretakers from AGAPE and CBN.
We arrived at The House of Bible on Sunday, before we went to see Zina. What we saw was a nearly-new two story building with fantastic landscaping and exceedingly clean. It is a gated structure with a security guard posted at the front door. On the first floor, The HOB has offices for it's staff, a meeting room in the back, and a bible and book store. Travel up the side staircase and you go up to the second floor where there is a TV room, a kitchen, and a single room. It is in this room that we stayed. It was wonderful and clean! It had a queen-sized bed and a separate bathroom. We loved it! As promised, the HOB was only two blocks from Zina's orphanage. It was a quick 10 minute walk there and another 20 minute walk to the market area where we bought groceries, changed money, went to the Internet cafe, etc.
Enough about the place, HOB was more than a structure. The people that worked there were special and wonderful followers of Christ. It wasn't a job to them, it was a place were friends and family came to do God's work. There were a few faces there that I still see and I remember our host, Svetlana, the most. I don't have a picture of her, but I can still see her smiling face every morning and her eagerness to serve. She made breakfast for us each and every morning. It was the full course, too. We were very impressed with her presentation and ability to make a several course meal everyday. What a wonderful person and friend. We didn't speak each other's language, but we understood her generosity. We saw Svetlana a few times at different church services throughout the week, too. On the last day we gave her a gift. She adored the scarf that Heidi had picked out for her. We tried to give her a small cash gift too, but she wouldn't hear of it. She explained that we were her friends. She said that she loved us several times in English and it was very hard to leave her. We hope to see her again, next visit.
