L'viv, a Taste of Western Europe in Ukraine

I felt sorry for this dairy cow. She needed to be milked a day or two ago. There were several cows that looked miserable, but they were driving them to, I assume, a milking barn. Just some of the neat cultural in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Poland are co-hosts of Euro2012. One of the cities to host these soccer matches is a City in Western Ukraine called L'viv. It has a very European flavor to it. Fortunately it was not destroyed during World War II, like most of the cities in Ukraine. First by the Nazis and then by the Russians as they drove out the Germans.

L'viv is about 400 miles west of Kyhiv. We went there in a car with a councilor in the Mission Presidency. It was fun to see all the country and listen to his many stories. We stopped at a couple of castles taht dated back to the 16th century. It was great. But next time we will most likely take the overnighte train since you can sleep while travelling for 1q hours.

There are two branches in L'viv, and they have a big beautiful LDS building to meet in. We spent a couple of nights in L'viv and took in some of the sights. We ate at a restaurant called the G9lden Boar. There used to be lots of wild pigs in ukraine. They had one stuffed hanging from the ceiling. It was huge, and looked like a big steer ready for slaughter. At any rate, it was a fun city to visit and we look forward to going back over the next few months.

We went into a couple of Catholic Churches of various backgrounds, which was ineresting. We saw more people in the churches on this Saturday morning than any other churches we have been to in all of Europe. Most of them were older women, but a few men and younger people.

The church has been invited to participate in a religious museum in L'viv. So we will most likely be involved in building a display to go into the museum. There seems to be more religious tolerance in Western Ukraine, so we look forward to help set that up.

It seemed good to spend a little time away from the hustle and bustle of Kyiv. We also enjoy getting out a seeing a little of the country. The soil is so rich and the crops are bountiful. It is fun to see the horses pulling wooden wagons, most single horse drawn but some teams. We see lots of dairy cows, but no beef. We have not even seen any pigs even thought that is a staple in Ukraine. We will keep our eyes out for them.

So long for now.

Tom and Shauna