Victory Day

Dear Family and Friends,

Believe it or not we are still in Ukraine serving our mission. I am just a little slow in posting. We have been out of Kiev for four days again last week. Went to the Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine mission to visit hospital and clinic sites. Surprisingly some of the clinic on the outside were really old, dirty lookin but inside were newer and clean. We decided to travel by train this time. So we took the express train to DNP which took us about 6 hours. We were in a booth that held 6 people. It only cost $50 for a round trip. One can not really complain except the seats did not recline so maybe next time we will just go economy class and not have an individual TV which we can not understand anyway, so we don't care if there is one. Just want to tell about a few of the events we have experienced in Ukraine recently.

May 9th is considered Victory Day here in Ukraine. That is the day that there was victory over Germany during WWII. We went to the celebration to see what it is like. We started out on a small bus where I saw a 20-30's girl get on with bunches of lilacs in her arms. As I watched her I saw her break off some lilacs and give them to a gentleman sitting on the bus and then she leaned down giving him a hug and kiss. I then noticed that he was in a green army type coat. At the next stop he got off and he was older (75-90) man with his military uniform on and lots of medals down the chest. As we went on and then got off at the metro stop I again watched as this lady repeated the giving of flowers and hugs to all the military people that she met. I just thought that was such a small but gracious act of remembering those who had fought for their freedoms. Makes me reflect on how we honor those who have and are fighting for our freedoms. One thing that I did one year for Memorial Day was buy little flags and place them down the street in our neighborhood. I got up and did it early were no one would see but as I went up and down our block it helped me thinks of those who fought. As we have no graves to visit in our state I am afraid I did not teach this old way of remembering our ancestors to my family at all.


As you can see they love to wear their medals. I sometimes wonder how they got all these but some countries must give out medals more freely than the US. does. Some of the elderly still fit in their old uniforms but if they didn't they just put the medals on their suit coats. You also must remember that most who fought in WWII have already passed away and the ones left should be in their 80's. This celebration took place at the monument of the unknown soldier so the next few pictures are just some taken around the monument.




I loved watching the people. The picture of the priest are of the ruling religion in the Ukraine. Elections are also going on for Mayor of Kiev. The Regions party had a big group of people that came to the monument. They are a communistic party and we are both a little surprised at how many followers they have. Will post next some pictures of their parade along the street by the monument.







May we not only remember our ancestors but honor all those who have fought for our freedoms. Do that within your families so the children will realize the impotance of our freedoms. Will post soon about our trip to the Botany Gardens, DNP and The Village Luv M&D, GM&GP, J&J