Odessa on Thursday

This morning started out slowly with each one having personal quiet time until 11 AM. Then Sergey Korsakov gave us a great tour of downtown Odessa. It was a crisp, clear early Spring day and wonderful to be walking all over. The old architecture of this city is lovely though much of it has faded. But where buildings have been maintained, they are magnificent. What was really amazing was how clean the city was after the day and night of revelry the day before. The street cleaners had worked all night and all was clean. We had lunch at Kompote -- our favorite restuarant on Deribasovskaya, and then went back for our final preparations before we left for the conference. We were all full of anticipation as we arrived at Trinity International Church. This church meets on the 3rd floor of a building that is part of an industrial factory. Tanya Baranova was so excited for all to meet her leadership and planning team. They had all worked so hard and had decorated the hall in pink -- with draped fabric, flowers, and lights. A light sandwich dinner had been prepared for all of the women. It was a great evening. We started out with worship led by a team of women who did an excellent job of leading us before the throne of grace. I (Marti) introduced the conference, the team, etc. and then Rachel spoke on Peter's Denial and Reinstatement. It was a powerful talk. And then all of the women went to two of the four seminars. The rooms were small but God's presence was there in each one. We were tired at the end of the night but ready to gather and pray together as a team -- and have a bowl of cereal for dinner since most of us were starved!!!! A great day!