On my arrival in Kharkov/Ukraine on the 11th of June the devotees gave me a sweet welcome: a little kirtan and a shower of flower petals, a garland, and happy and affectionate smiles and glances.....
It was exciting to once again visit my beloved Vaisnava family of the Kharkov yatra, and I was looking forward to be amongst them for more than one month.....

As usual I stayed in my little bhajan kutir at the old temple, which has now become the home of several grhastha families.
I happily settled into my regular program of going every morning to the new temple - a peaceful ten minute walk through a quiet suburban part of Kharkov. Big fruit and nut trees are flanking the road, and wildflowers are decorating the way - I am always reminded of Vrindavan, especially  when hearing the dogs barking in the early morning.....

On the 6th of June the devotees from Chisinau drove me to Odessa - a three hours' drive accross the border to Ukraine.

The Odessa temple is situated in a rural area outside the city. The disadvantage is that it is more difficult for the congregation to attend temple programs. However, the advantage is that the atmosphere is peaceful and provides more shelter to the brahmacaris and bhaktas. As a result there are quite a number of serious and also senior boys living in the temple - around ten or twelve, which is rather substantial for this part of the world.

The highlight of my visit to Chisinau/Moldova was our Holy Name Retreat, which we had sceduled from the 31st of May to the 3rd of June.

Just like in previous years the devotees had once again decided to close the temple for this weekend and not have a Sunday program, but rather encourage all the practicing devotees to go into seclusion for four days in order to deepen their relationship with the holy name. It had already become an established 'must', and devotees could not imagine their life without this recharging and nourishing annual event.

This year more devotees from other yatras also felt inspired to come and join the sanga - gradually the news are spreading that these Holy Name Retreats are a deep and transformational experience.

Once again we rented the same holiday camp surrounded by forests and nature, around 45 km's outside the capital city of Chisinau.

With every year the organisation of our retreat becomes easier and more and more smooth. Everybody knows what needs to be arranged, and devotees eagerly join the various service departments and offer their help.
Devotees know already what to expect and thus are mentally prepared to embark on an internal journey in introspection. And undergoing such internal work in the association of our fellow devotees from our own yatra is very uniting and creates strong bonds: not only are we deepening our relationship with the holy name, but also with each other.....!

This year we announced not to buy the flowers for the vases decorating the altar, but rather to pick them from our own gardens or from nature.
This is indeed one of my favorite services: picking wildflowers from the forests and meadows and arranging them nicely for the Lord's pleasure....