Big Mama

This is a monument that the Soviet Government built and gave to the Ukrainian people to commererate the help they gave during WWII. It is called "Mother Land" but the missionaries call it "big mamma". Dad took my picture with her so there are now two big mammas pictured here. And just for the record I had someone cut my hair that day and it was the fastest haircut I have ever had - a 15 minute cut! You will notice in the close up picture that the sword looks a little out of portion. Well, after the monument was made it was discovered that the sword was taller than the church's tower so it was cut off to be lower. The sword alone weighs 12 tons.





Underneath the monument there is a WWII museum and as you walk to the monument there are several large bronze relief cuttings depicting the local peoples involvment in the war.








This is the last week for Pres. and Sister Davis to be in Ukraine. So last Wednesday all the Senior couples came in and we had a farewell dinner for them. We have some really neat senior couples here. The Lees will have spent almost 28 months here by the time they leave in Dec. and the Hinkles have extended for another 11 months so they will be here 29 months before they go home. It is good to be with them all and feel of the love and dedication they have in serving the Lord. The new mission Pres. comes in Saturday and we will have a luncheon on Monday to meet him and his wife. They are bringing three children with them so she will be busy taking care of them plus doing whatever she can to help with the comings and goings of the missionaries. I am sure she will be fairly busy.They are still looking for a new mission home so they won't get to settled in until they find a new place. The mission office will also be moved in September. We still feed the missionaries weekly and try to have a family in from the branch. We now, for how long, is anyone's guess --- have another missionary living with us. She has had some medical issues and we are seeing if she can get over them or she may have to go back to Armenia.

We also went to visit St. Sophia Church. It was buit in 1050. It is remarkably still in good shape. They have redone some of the fresco paintings. It is a huge facility and remarkable for that time period.

This is the bell tower that admits you into the grounds of the church.
At one time this was an all brick looking church, but during remodeling in the 1800 they covered the building with a layer of motar and then painted it white. All of the churches in the area are this white looking.
This is a picture of the fesco painting and the mosiac tile work. The picture of Christ is the tile work. Sometimes they leave part of the paintings untouched so you can see how they have aged and are refurbished. As many of the building were destroyed during WWII I wondered how this Church survived. Apparently there was some type of war agreement that prohibited the destruction of certain buildings.

Hope you had a fun and safe time together this past week end. Send me some pictures so we can see our grandchildren that we love and miss very much. LUV M&D, GM&GP,J&J