Welcome to Домажир, the village where we are living with the Blessings until we find an apartment in the city. Pronounced "doh-mah-zheer", this small village about 20 minutes west of Lviv was founded in the year 1240 A.D. In the 1200's, folks! We're talking The Crusades, Ghengis Khan, the Magna Carta, and Marco Polo. Although it doesn't come close to the initial founding of Istanbul/Constantinople/Byzantium in 657 BC, it's still pretty old!
The Blessings live in a large ministry house in the village called the Bethel House, which is under construction and has been for a number of years. (You can read more about Bethel House on the Blessings' website.) Since they moved to the village and purchased the house (which at the time was a regular house) about 10 years ago, they have slowly expanded it as God provides funding to do so. They plan to eventually use it as a fully functional ministry and guest house, hosting families in need. This year, the Blessings have hosted numerous people in the portion of the house that is currently completed, including a few World Race teams and some refugees from Luhansk, who left their home because of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. We are currently the only guests at Bethel House.
The Blessings have had a very busy summer, and we are helping them get caught up on various house projects between our other ministry activities. Although we look forward to finding an apartment of our own in the city, where we will be closer to many of the young adults from the church and several of our ministry activities, we are enjoying the time with the Blessings and the pace of life in the village.
When we walk around Домажир, it sometimes feels like we've stepped out of the 21st century into a movie about peasant farmers a hundred years ago. The idyllic countryside stretches into the distance, with shiny gold onion-shaped domes from local churches spotting the horizon. Horse drawn carts drive by, locals herd their cows out to the fields daily, dogs bark all night, roosters crow all morning, and the village geese wander all day. Women and men work in the fields, doing much of the work by hand, old fashioned plow, and scythe.
Aside from the Blessing family, the village is 100 percent Greek Catholic (which we had never heard of prior to moving here). Greek Catholicism is the second most common religious affiliation in Ukraine behind Eastern Orthodoxy. In western Ukraine, Greek Catholicism is quite common, whereas in the rest of the country, Eastern Orthodoxy is far more prevalent. All the villagers in Домажир attend one of two Greek Catholic churches. Because the Blessings are of a different faith than the rest of the village, the priest at the larger of the two churches has cautioned his parishioners against associating with them. Although this has made building relationships with the village community a challenge for the past 10 years, over time, several villagers have become friends with them.
We currently have ministry and church commitments a few evenings each week. During the daytime, we help out with whatever projects the Blessings need done. In addition to helping with house cleaning and yard work, we have helped with the green bean, beet, and grape harvest. The Blessings fell behind on garden work this summer, so we've been helping them catch up with a lot of weeding in the garden. Maggie has helped organize the cellar and a big closet. Trey grouted a bathroom, helped Uncle Mark with a minor car repair, made a wooden box with Uncle Mark for storing the beets, and painted. The slideshow below shows a few pictures. (If you are receiving this blog entry via email, click here to view the blog entry and slideshow in your browser.)
In Домажир, most houses come with a plot of land in the field so the owners can plant and tend a garden. The Blessings' house did not come with a garden plot, so they rent one from another man in the village who doesn't use his. This year, they planted corn, squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash, green beans, beets, carrots, radishes, broccoli, and pumpkins. The Blessings also have a small garden near the Bethel House. In this garden, they have peppers green onions, lettuce, herbs, and grapes on an arbor. They also have several apple trees in the yard.
We are enjoying getting to experience Ukraine's beautiful countryside, helping the Blessings with their projects, and getting plugged and building community at the church. More to come later on some of our ministry activities... God bless!
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