It's Greg Reitz back in the writing seat for day eight. I begin the tale of this day at the very time the day began, the stroke of mid-night. We arrived at the train station in Brionsk, Russia with a destination of Kiev, Ukraine in mind. Little did we know our adventure had only just begun. The train was scheduled to meet us in Brionsk at 1:00am and departure to Kiev following shortly after that. We started our trek to "track 6" around 12:45am. I use trek because there was only a small segment of the path that could be traversed by untrained climbers. Luckily for us we all went through very specific and rigorous outdoor training back in good 'ol Xenia, Ohio. We made it successfully to the loading platform, but as I mentioned before, the adventure had only just begun. The train finally arrived around 1:15am. What was scheduled for a fifteen minute stop turned into a 35 minute ordeal. We are traveling with enough equipment for an army of fifty and had to load all of it into four little compartments that we shared with some random people. While loading all of our gear we also had to give our tickets to the train conductor in Russia that we so respectfully named "The Train Nazi." This lady was clearly a test of our moral character and as I mentioned before, the adventure had only just begun. We successfully boarded and were able to clear all of our passports just before the train pulled away from the station. Did I mention we did it all with bright gleaming smiles that showed the love of Christ to all that we encountered? Well some of the smiles might not have been gleaming, but the spirit was strong within each of us! If it hadn't been within each of us there might have been some crimes committed on the Russian Express. We finally got settled in to our cabins and were allowed to sleep for all of an hour and a half before we entered the Ukraine and had to wake up to show our passports. Following that brief intermission we were able to enjoy a full seventh of a night's sleep, a very refreshing 3 hours. I was urged to include in this tale of intrigue that the method chosen by "The Train Nazi" to wake a handful of the team members up was a firm shove, okay more like a down right push. The train pulled into Kiev, Ukraine at around 8:30am. We unloaded our armada much more swiftly than we loaded it and we had a few extra helpers to assist in the process.
We are now in Kiev and were welcomed to this new location in one of the most amazing train stations many of us have ever seen. The grand lobby had escalators ascending and descending three floors carrying travelers in both directions under three enormous ornate chandeliers. There were also giant murals of places and people of the country paint high up on the walls. There was more gold in the grand hall than the US Treasury and it's probably been there longer than the US has been in existence. I have to say that it immediately made the trip to the Ukraine a worthwhile experience and we hadn't even left the train station. While we were waiting for our rides to arrive we passed out several of our brochures to passers by. I am certain that the Lord is active at all times and that one of those random travelers could find a new life in Him! What seems like such a simple act could result in a life changing experience, astounding when you sit and think about it.
After leaving the train station we loaded every worldly possession that we carried with us, which at times has seemed like every worldly possession that we each own, into a van that traditionally would carry 18. We crammed our gear and 17 people into that very van and began our trip to our home in Kiev. We drove for what seemed like days because of the cramped situation and arrived at a small Christian college approximately an hour after boarding. To our benefit when we arrived we went immediately to a late breakfast. To this point in the trip it was by far the best meal we have feasted upon. The meal consisted of a sliced salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers, a plate of peaches, bread, RANCH DRESSING, and the most amazing stuffed mushrooms and steamed rice. The mushrooms were stuffed with a sausage and covered with a creamy sauce and cheese. They could easily be plated in the finest of restaurants back in the States. Following our meal we headed to the dormitory where we would be housed for the day and night. We had time to grab a nap before our next scheduled activity and we gladly took advantage of it. When we woke up from our nap we were greeted with another of the best meals of our trip in the school cafeteria. Lunch began similar to our breakfast only this time it was a chopped salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and cheese. We enjoyed our first serving of borsch, a soup of tomatoes, cabbage and beets. Some of us took some liberties in enjoying this traditional fare by floating some brea as croutons, which was delicious! We were then served some chicken stuffed pasta similar to tortellini. Again there were a few of us innovative eaters that floated these delicious pillows of pasta in our remaining bowls of borsch. The meal was concluded with a banana cream cake. LV was not a huge fan of this dessert, but I enjoyed it tremendously. There guy are you happy now? I mentioned your name in my blog! Following lunch we went up to the computer lab to catch up on what's been going on back home via e-mail and web surfing. As it turned out we had a little time for a nap after that. It sure does sound like we do nothing, but eat and sleep on this tour, but there has been so much more, just not on this particular day! Finally we were ready to go do some ministry through volleyball. We loaded into our van and several students and staff from the college loaded a bus to travel to the match along side us. We traveled half way around the globe and we remembered to pack our tail-gaters! We played a team at a sport university in Kiev. We played a strong match against a strong team, which included a few players that are currently competing in professional leagues in the Ukraine. We were able to defeat them in three games through solid team play. Following our match Garrett Maddox shared his testimony with those in attendance. He did an amazing job sharing his story. We were able to talk with many of the team members to learn more about them and their stories. There are some amazing people on the teams we have competed against and this team was no different. Again it waves a great experience to get to meet and compete with this group.
We returned to the college and before we could go to our rooms to clean up we went to the cafeteria for dinner. Again the cafeteria staff assembled an outstanding meal for us and we feasted cheerfully. Following our meal we were entertained by a group of students gifted in the art of music. They sang a number of praise and worship songs in English and Ukrainian and then we joined in with a number of our own. We ended the night singing together in fellowship. This was an amazing evening indeed! Thank you God for bringing these people into our lives to share our journey with you.
And now a chance for me to catch up with my family and friends. I am doing great over here. I carry all of you with me in everything that I do and everything that I experience. I love and miss all of you and truly appreciate all that you have done and all that you will do for me. You have each helped to mold me into the person that I am today and I look forward to sharing with you the person that I have become. Thank you for your support and thank you for your love! I love you!
God Bless,
Greg Reitz
PS-MONKEY!