Touring L'viv

So I have officially been awake since 3 am local time.  I think I have the opposite of jet lag and somehow I can't sleep at all.  Anyways I thought I would take this opportunity to do a little blogging to keep everyone up to date on the things I am doing. 

Yesterday was such a great day.  We got lunch at a local greek resturant and then took a tour of the city.  I had amazing tour guides thanks to Chelsey and her brother Evan.  There are so many ancient buildings with tons of history to go along with them, and on top of all that, they are absolutely beautiful to look at. 

These were taken from the Catholic church in the center of town.  During a war enemies tried to destroy the church, but it remained standing. 

The brightly colored buildings and decorated balconies make the city even more beautiful.

Many of the people are just trying to make money in any way that they can so street performers are common.  These two were my favorite. 

We climbed what seemed like a million very narrow steps to get to the top of the bell tower in the government building to see a breath-taking view of the city.

And last but not least my favorite building of the tour was this one.  It has the entire new testament depicted on the front, from the birth of Christ to His death and resurrection.  On the top of the building is one of only two statues in the world in which Jesus sitting down. 

After our tour we went to the local market and bought some hand-made souvenirs.

I have learned so many amazing things about this city and now I can better appreciate the pride these people have in their unique culture. 

Next step is learning a little of their language. 

That may be much easier said than done...

Whew! I finally made it to Ukraine!

Well it has been a long day or should I say two days, but I have officially made it to the Ukraine.  I left Charlotte yesterday and made my way to Dulles in Washington DC.  There just happened to be bad weather in Charlotte though so my first flight was delayed by and hour and a half and I almost missed my next flight to Munich, Germany.  God is so good because if I would have missed this flight I probably would have been staying in DC for the night which would have put me a day behind schedule in getting to Ukraine.  My next flight just happened to be right across from where my plane landed and I ran on with about 5 minutes to spare (just enough time to call my mom one last time and tell her I love her). 

Munich was probably the best airport I have ever been too.  I was so worried about only being able to speak English but almost everyone there spoke English very well and my flight was actually early!  I finally made it to L'viv, Ukraine. I said a prayer as we were decending that God would lead me through this trip to do everything He wills me to do, and when I opened my eyes to look out the window at my new home I saw the prettiest rainbow ever and I knew that God was with me in that moment and would stay close by my side for these next 43 days. 

I landed at 12:20 pm local time, which meant in order to keep from getting a horrible case of jet lag I had to stay awake for the rest of the day!  Chelsey along with her family and a few new friends has kept me awake for 10 hours by touring some of the local streets, getting coffee, and even trying some Ukrainian pizza, but now I am starting to fade quickly!

I do want to share one more great thing that happened today.  I met an older homeless man on the streets that the Ledford's knew.  He calls the local train station home and  he used to be a soldier in the military.  The Ledford's informed me that he recently gave his life to God and they spoke about the real change they could see in his life.  I can't wait to see more of what God has in store for me here!!!