Ternopil, Ukraine was transformed into Middle-earth for one day in March. Actually, it was transformed into the mines of Moria to be exact. Every year for about ten years now, a few faithful followers gather to watch Lord of the Rings… in one day. Did I mention it was the extended versions? Yeah, that adds up to almost 12 hours!

Not only do they just gather to watch the movies, no, no, no. That would be boring. No, here we go all the way. We decorated the room to match a scene for the movies. Past themes have been Minas Tirith, Shelob’s lair, flags of Middle-earth, the library at Minas Tirith, Moria, and this year, the bridge of Khazad-dum. We even included the balrog as a shadow formed from red lights.

Many other YWAMers came from other bases to watch the movies. It was a fun gathering, about 20 people in all. We did pause for lunch which consisted of “lamb” stew (aka chicken soup), and lembas bread (or biscuits.) There were a few other snacks through out the day but primarily we remained focus on the movies. We all enjoyed being able to see friends from other cities and chat a bit during a least favorite scenes.

Our homemade flags lining the stairwell