Almost 50 Years and Counting
"What would you think about doing a
mission trip to Russia?" It was a simple question asked by Denvy
of a member of the church whose ancestor, like Denvy's, had come from the
Black Sea area, and who had demonstrated great interest in his background.
"Sure!" Besides Chirst's Church had a speical connection with
the Erbeles who were missionaries in Russia.
The
connections were made and eleven persons including Marc and Tina, the group's
fall-back interpreters, were headed to a town in southeast Ukraine not
far from Poland--Chernivtsi. With vacation Bible school, some construction
and leading worship on their minds they soon learned that the church members in Chernivtsi
primarily wanted to be good hosts. The team did lead services, twice, did
an abbreviated VBS for about two hours one afternoon, some leadership
training, and celebrated in the mountains in a retreat type setting. The
retreat and accompanying some-mores were firsts for the Ukrainians, and
a delight for the Americans.
One 
may think that they are the member of one family but with time you discover
that there are many immediate families: the one where one 
grows
up as a child, the one where one raises one's own children and the one
that evolves after the children leave home and start their own families.
At
this point there are two granddaughters and a daughter who continues to
find sports to be involved in such as softball during the summer and volleyball
during the winter.
While
Darron doesn't leave Alaska often he is a wonderful uncle when he comes around.