Ladies' Day Banquet

The beautiful auditorium-turned-"banquet hall" on Monday morning:

We were so happy to see that most of the balloons that we had blown up the night before were still inflated!:The place settings:Head table: deaf interpreter - Alla, deaf pastor's wife - Tanya, hearing pastor's wife - Judy, and special speaker - HelenThese were my three special guests (below) who traveled overnight by train to be with us. Jessica Curtis, a missionary's wife in Kharkov, Ukraine, and I have been keeping in touch though we had never met until banquet day! She brought her interpreter and a lady from her church with her, and it was a joy for me to host these gracious ladies! By the way, you can go see Jessica at her beautiful blog here. The meal: chicken cordon bleu, rice, crab salad, and a roll - Dessert - a beautiful rainbow jello that was perfect for our theme!:Gift to our special speaker (who also traveled on an overnight train to be with us)...(Below) Jeff and Helen Christian, missionaries in Odessa, Ukraine, who serve with their two sons, Jacob and Jeffrey.

Skit "Blessings from God:"Special music by the group of faithful church men who graciously served us:

Skit by "Mary, Martha, Miriam, Ruth, Deborah, and Esther" on the topic "How to get a man to church." Each Biblical character gave her own ideas on how to get a man to church in light of her own story. (For example, "Mary" suggested washing his feet, "Martha" suggested cooking a meal, "Esther" suggested preparing a banquet....) Very creative!

Tickets were randomly drawn and door prizes were given throughout the program. However, Lena, (who broke her right arm the day before the banquet!), won the final prize... a beautiful quilt!

Special song, "God hath not promised..." Words can be found here.

Ladies enjoying themselves, while being served by our "bow tie" waitors:

At the end of the banquet, pictures were taken by our rainbow-balloon prop. Here is an example of one of those pictures. (This is a family... two sisters, with their two daughters)...

Group shot... 87 ladies attended!... Not only were the men great servers, but they cleaned up after us as well!A back-breaking job, as illustrated by Pastor Bob! Guess we ladies can only expect this once a year!