Day 5- Saturday

Today Nico took us to the World War II Museum in Kiev. Its is amazing the prices, 4 people plus one camera= 45 Grivna or $5.75!! It has been a blessing from God for us to be able to see all of these amazing sights in Kiev, and for so little money. Otherwise we would sit in our apartment the whole time.

So about the WW II Museum, it is situated right on the Dnieper River. The museum is under a huge statue of a man holding a sword and a shield. Through the trees you can see an ancient monastery with it's roof which is covered in gold. Inside on the first floor it goes in chronological order. There are lots of weapons, both soviet and German as well as wreckage of Nazi aircraft. There were pictures everywhere next to things like pocket watches and pipes. Everything was in Cyrillic but luckily Nico knew alot about the war. I think he thought since Tyler was in the military he would love to know about all the guns...and by all I mean all. How many guns could there possibly be. So needles to say, most of our pictures of the museum are of guns. I had no idea about some of the cruelties that the Germans imposed on people. There were a pair of gloves that were made of human skin as well as a bar of soap rendered from the fat of humans. This made me want to vomit. There was a real guillotine there as well as a machine they would use to grind up the peoples bones with to make fertilizer for the soil. There were pictures of the mounds of dead bodies as well as the incinerator they would use to burn the bodies since there was so many of them. It really hit home seeing these things in person. There was so much more here than I ever learned in school. Tyler and I both agree it was the best thing to being Hunter to Ukraine. I am so thankful for the experience he is having of learning history where it happened!! He asked why all these people had to die. I thought for a second and the only thing I could think of is "This is what happens when there is hatred." Thats what this all came down to. And I told him that when we don't love ALL people, regardless of what they look like, where they are from, and how much money they make than hatred breeds and causes things like this. I am not sure if he fully understands, and at times I thought about not explaining the things that we saw. But he deserves to know the truth, to know History and hopefully see what happens when we depart from God.

Here is a couple pictures: