Giving Thanks in Ukraine

Turkeys here in Ukraine are as scarce as hen's teeth!   It took much work and research to locate one. 

We were blessed through a good friend in Makeevka branch who has a "Dacha" (summer place outside of the city) where he keeps a garden and raises rabbits and geese.  He first offered us rabbits . . . or a goose or two.  Then he remembered his neighbor's turkeys and a sale was finalized at 1000 UAH for three twenty pound birds which we calculated would feed the thirty missionaries serving in Donetsk City.  We waited with anxiety, not knowing what would be delivered on the promised Wednesday morning. 

 Brat "V" did his best.  Unable to acquire the promised three birds, he continued to research in our behalf with a guarantee that the sun would not go down on Wednesday without sufficient poundage of poultry in our qvartera (apartment).  The neighbor had no twenty pound birds, so Brat "V" did the next-best thing, delivering, late Wednesday afternoon, one seventeen pound turkey and one forty-three pounder--thankfully "bez" heads, feet and entrails. 

You just never know when the past years of life experience will become valuable. We had no idea, back in our turkey raising years, that all of the experiments with bird-relaxation techniques and tenderization research would pay off years later for Thanksgiving dinner in Ukraine.  We determined that a brine marinade would be necessary to ensure that our newly-plucked guest might present his best self at dinner the next day.  We were able to cram the little guy into our plastic-bag-lined stock pot after a good salt-rub, then we filled the bag with soy sauce, lemon-lime soda and cooking oil.

It was the monster-bird that created problems, the first of which was finding a container sufficiently large in which to marinate the thing.  We finally had to resort to sterilizing our largest kitchen wastebasket which we then lined with plastic and we lowered into it our marinating bag filled with one huge turkey.  Have you ever hefted a forty-three pound turkey?  It is not just the forty-three pounds that create a difficult situation.  The weight problem is exasperated by the slippery nature of the subject.  After a great deal of cooperative-problem solving and teamwork, Thursday's dinner was wedged into it's new repository where it would spend the night. 

The next problem related to roasting a 43 lb. turkey for Thanksgiving dinner in Ukraine (or roasting any turkey in Ukraine, for that matter) is the much too obvious absence of a roasting pan of any sort or size, and after that, the 12"x12"ovens and the aluminum foil available only in paper-thin 10"widths.  Our large turkey would not fit into our oven so we cut it half.  We cooked one half and used the ovens in the two missionary homes closest to us to cook the others.

Because a "mission activity" had not been calendared or planned for Thanksgiving, we, (Mom and Dad), planned and provided this celebration for our local missionaries and it was worth all the effort.  We had one distict help focus our spirits for our Thanksgiving Day prayer by standing one at a time and solomnly reading a short line from a hymn like "How Great Thou Art" or short quotes from people like: Ammon, "missionary" or Benjamin, "prophet and king" or Lincoln, "United States president".  Everyone sat and contemplated the blessings of home and loved ones and the tender mercies of God towards them. It did all we had hoped it would.

The dinner was wonderful!  The elders and sisters were filled.

Besides the missionaries we invited some very close friends that have made our stay here in Donetsk much more gratifying.  We introduced them as the "reasons"  why we are here, serving the Lord in this place. They represent the past present and future of missionary work in Ukraine. The husband of Lydia, our cook, was the first branch president in Donetsk. Vladimir, our driver is the branch president of Makeevka branch and Sister Vilikonova is a true christian. They found the gospel when the accepted a pamphlet offered by elders on the street and have embraced it with all their hearts.  Their son Max will grow up to become a missionary .  Our special Ukranian guests enjoyed our celebration and commented on the beautiful spirit of our wonderful American Thanksgiving holiday.

Every missionary companionship brought a dessert. Pies came in every kind of container and quality. Sisters decorated and elders carved.  We ended our dinner with a prayer of Thanksgiving and commitment.  We told each zone leader that after the closing prayer we wanted the place to look like those cartoons where everyone dashes out of a room leaving only a few papers floating to the ground.  This is not a holiday here, and our missionaries needed to show their thankfulness by deed.  As always it was the Vilikanovs who helped us clean up.

We were surprised that so many of our missionaries said this was the greatest Thanksgiving they had ever had.  And for once there was more food than even missionaries could eat!