Hello family and friends,
Southern Ukraine received a thin layer of yellow snow. It was tested and determined to be sand and clay particles from Northern Africa. On March 24, we woke up to fresh white snow. We anticipate warm spring weather next week.
Step by step, life in Ukraine is improving. New businesses pop up here and there. The tech products, gadgets, and all modern conveniences are available in stores and small shops everywhere. People must have money to buy them. Low overhead is the standard in Ukraine.
Language schools are popping up everywhere. English is the most studied language. German, French and Italian, follow. People want to travel. They will save, save, save, to see their dream.
Mark’s Moments
Sveta and I traveled to Chernomorsk this month. We met with our massage therapists, children and their parents, our manager, and the students of our transportation scholarship program. See the video of our transportation scholarship students! We see that things are going well. We have many stories to tell.
Each visit, we talk with the transportation scholarship students. This time we have a new student (left) who replaced another student no longer needing our help. His name is Vitalik. He moved to Chernomorsk from war-torn Donetsk, Ukraine. Here is his story.
Vitalik is studying safety information, protection against viruses, for computers. He is in his fourth year of university. His parents stayed in Donetsk but he moved to Chernomorsk to be able to get a diploma that is not associated with Donetsk universities. Universities and businesses in the rest of Ukraine do not want to work with people who stood behind Donetsk in the war zone. It is assumed that if you live in the Donetsk area, you are part of the problem. Vitalik is not part of the problem, he very pro-Ukrainian.
In Chernomorsk he found a good church with wonderful friends. He is involved with a ministry that further strengthens his relationship with God and his friends. All four of our students: Vitalik, Nastya, Daniel and Artur are members of the same church. They serve in one ministry to help teenagers connect with God. They are successful in education and developing a relationship with God. Each of them send words of gratitude to our sponsors. They thank you!
Dr. Natalya B, wearing the lab coat, and I moved the massage therapy concept forward in 2004. The oldest patient in the picture is fifteen years old. When she was 3 years old, she was one of our first patients. Six parents brought their children to tell Sveta and me their stories. Each child is severely disabled, abandoned by their family doctors. Each parent is very please that MUCH initiated the program and sponsors a portion of their child’s treatment. They see progress for their child and find hope for their family. They thank you!
Sveta’s Journey
Nine months ago, when Barbara came to this world, the doctors set many negative diagnoses for this girl, one of which was liver cancer. Their verdict did not give any hope for the parents. The doctors predicted that the child would not live. The struggle for Barbara’s life continued. Every day, doctors prescribed a huge list of expensive medicine. They punctured the spinal cord and brain to remove fluid for analysis. Barbara’s mother spent three months with her child in the hospital. When the doctors suspected that one of the kidneys was functioning incorrectly, they wanted to operate. The parents understood this to be only an experiment (exploratory surgery).
They decided to visit another doctor and get a second opinion. This doctor, after the examination, said that the child did not have cancer. He canceled all previous diagnoses and the list of expensive medicines. As it turned out, the source of the illness occurred during childbirth. Barbara proceeded through the birth canal for a long time. As she breathed in the amniotic fluid it had a negative effect on the lungs, creating pneumonia. This is a rare situation.
It is very important to establish the correct diagnosis and conduct appropriate treatment. The girl was treated. Now Barbara is a healthy child. Only a small problem worried her parents. Her leg muscles were very tight at the hip joints and could not spread her thighs as they should.
Ira, our massage therapist, gave her a course of massage. On the seventh day of massage therapy, the hypertonus muscle disappeared, the legs at the hip joints began to spread apart correctly. Barbara’s mother sees this good result. She is very pleased and grateful to the sponsors of MUCH. Also, Mark and I had a great opportunity to tell Barbara’s mother about God. She showed great interest and asked many questions about religion. Thank you all for your support of the MUCH massage program. The children not only receive help and recovery, but also Mark and I can visit families and talk about the Father and Jesus. The parents, and Mark and I and thank you!
Living my dream,
Sveta
Blessings of love and healing,
Mark and Sveta
You can see all of our videos at our YouTube channel.
