Odessa

     This past weekend we were supposed to go to a anti-trafficking conference in Odessa with the staff.  However the conference was canceled, and we went to Odessa for a retreat instead.  We had a blast!!  Odessa, Ukraine is a beautiful sea port city with a lot of history and astounding architecture.  We stayed in a hostile in the middle of the city and we were able to walk everywhere.  We traveled by train for five hours from Chisinau, Moldova on Thursday and stayed until Saturday.  It was so nice to be able to spend quality time getting to know the staff more outside of work.

     The people we met in Odessa were extremely friendly.  The afternoon we went to the Black Sea there was a older man picking up smooth rocks and collecting them.  I was sitting there watching him, and he kindly came over to us and gave us each a rock that he had picked.  He was so sweet :)  I kept the rock.  

In the three days we were there I had a lot of chances to get to know the staff better and was able to see a new beautiful place.  God is good!!!

Some photos from Odessa:

Friends

There was a time when Odessa had a large Jewish population.  We saw the Star of David over a random door frame

The first night walking through the city, we were able to see the beauty of the city.

On the train, heading home

  

Presents from Odessa