Chornoholova Visit for Summer Plans

Two passages from the Word come to mind from Tim's and Stephen's excursion to Chornoholova yesterday. Chornoholova is a mountain village of 1,200 people approximately 35 miles from the city of Uzhgorod, where we live. The Lord commanded, "Thou shalt not steal;" and instructed, "whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet."
It was a pleasant day as Tim & Stephen arrived at Chornoholova. It was still mostly cloudy and cool, but later the sun broke through and made it a very nice day. The snows had melted away from the village several weeks ago according to the villagers, though snow could be seen higher in the mountains.
The purpose of the trip was to solidify contacts for summer VBS's and the youth camp planned for July. It was our hope to be able to secure some lodging at some cabins there owned by an individual. There are not hotels and not even much of a store. We inquired about the cabins, and in doing so were screamed at by a truck driver who nearly ran us off a bridge, but his threats were harmless. We were directed to the office of forest control, where the employees provided the telephone number of their boss, who owned the cabins. Stephen called the man and initially he stated that his cabins were only for friends and family. Stephen was not dejected at first and tired again, thinking the man thought we would be just a group of drinking vacationers and would break the place down. He spoke to the man again and explained that we were a Christian group and we needed the cabins for a visiting American group. The man was excited and agreed to allow us use of the cabins. Then he asked Stephen what kind of Christians we were, and Stephen explained that we were evangelical Protestants. The man immediately changed. He apologized that he would not be offensive, but he did not initially know we were not Orthodox and that he believed we were those who caused division. He said he would not so much as let us cross the threshold of his door! We cannot say we were totally shocked. This is the response sometimes and merits the thinking of Jesus' words quoted above. It makes you feel like stopping at the village edge, getting out of the car, and shaking the dust from your shoes, dumping your floor mats, and more! But we persisted with the Lord's help and the rest of the day was very encouraging.
We later went to the house where the local policeman lives. We found him at the front of his house working. It is an incredible answer to prayer that God has led us to this young policeman. Almost 100% of policeman in Ukraine are unreliable, and many are just plain crooks. But Vitia is the nicest and most helpful fellow we have found in Chornoholova. He invited us in for tea, where we met his wife and blessed them for the arrival of their new baby. We had tea and cookies and then went back out. Vitia spent the next two hours helping us make contacts, answer our questions about information about the village, look for property prospects and make plans for the summer ministries. He pledged to us the use of civic property and to protect us when we came from the presence of drunks. Wow! Praise the Lord for this wonderful contact the Lord has led us to. As we were driving around the village looking at places we came to the end of what you might call a street. We were in our black Nissan Xterra, which would be interesting for everyone because it is very different. But what the people did not know is that we had as a passenger and guide the village police officer. Vitia was not on duty, so in plain clothes. So we arrive at the end of this street and as we came to a stop to look at a place, a man who was obviously an alcoholic came ambling from around the corner of the last house with what appeared to be three or four pieces of scrap metal in his hands and under his arms. Tim did not understand everything that Vitia and Stephen were saying in the car, but when we stopped, Vitia, the police officer, got out and began to walk in front of our truck. Tim asked Stephen if we should get out as Vitia walked to meet the man. Tim thought that Vitia was going to talk to the man about the property, expecting that he was the owner. Stephen said, "No, do not get out. Vitia is going to ask the man what he was doing with that metal." We could hear Vitia speaking to the man in a strong voice, obviously inquiring to what he was doing. The man dropped the metal and just stood in his tracks motionless, and dumbfounded. There he stayed as Vitia got back in our truck and we turned around and left. Vitia explained that the man was a drunk and that he was stealing metal, which may not even have been scrap, from the house to sell to get a little drinking money. Wow! He sure was caught unexpectedly by a plain-clothed officer in a strange vehicle. The Lord said, "Do not steal."
Tim & Stephen met with the director or the civic center (they call a culture club--a former Soviet concept) and the mayor of the village and had very encouraging response. Thanks to the Lord.
After a lunch, further exploration in the mountains beyond Chornoholova resulted in knowing about where we will locate the youth camp in July.

A view of a section of the village of Chornoholova, Ukraine