Today we leave for Kerch for their annual Charge Conference. Kerch is where Helen and I began our ministry in Ukraine and our married life. The city is located on the eastern tip of the Crimean peninsula, on a little strait of water separating Ukraine from Russia, and separating the Black Sea from the Sea of Azov. Click on the maps to see them slightly larger. It is also the church the farthest away from us in Kiev, entailing a 24 hour train ride. Kerch does not have its own separate train in the fall and winter, but just two cars which are attached to the Kiev-Sevastopol train. When the train stops in Djankoy, the city at the top of the Crimean peninsula, the cars are detached and wait on a side track for 4 hours until they are picked up by the Djankoy-Kerch train, which tears up the track of the remaining 200 km (124 miles) in 5 hours.
But we enjoy the leisurely pace, it is nice to have time to read, talk and be disconnected from electronic media for several days. The two train rides, up and back can almost be little mini-retreats. We will stay in the home of Olga (not her real name), a good friend of hours from our Kerch days. She has been through a hard time recently as her husband died of cancer last year (only 5 weeks from diagnosis until death) and she now must live with her mother 5 hours from Kerch on the other side of the bay in Russia, who has Alzheimer's and cannot be left alone. Nursing homes are not available. She is coming to meet us as we arranged for some home care so she could have a respite to be in Kerch to see her house and son who is in the seaman's university in Kerch. Pray for Olga and her situation. More on Kerch when we return on Tuesday.