More travel upadtes...

The team headed to America from Ukraine has the following schedule:

Depart Kiev 3pm Thursday
Spend the night in hotel in NY
Depart NY 10am Friday
Arrive Sav 2:30pm Friday

Each one of your children will be calling you upon their arrival Thursday afternoon/evening in New York. They are doing well and can't wait to see you. God bless.

Michael

Travel Plans...

Hi all, this is Michael from Dnipro Hotel in Kiev. We are about to leave to go into the city for a couple of hours before we head towards Moscow and ultimately on to China. Mr. Vince asked me to get on here and inform all of the parents about a change in itinerary for the team coming from Ukraine to the States.

Their flight this morning from Kiev was cancelled, so they will not be arriving Thursday night about 11:45. We will post their new complete itinerary in a couple of hours once we know all of their connections and such, but until then plan for them to arrive at some point on Friday, a day later. All looks good so far for the China team, and Michelle got off early this morning without a hitch, so everything still looks good for her.

We'll keep y'all posted. This will probably be my last post before I see you all again. I have appreciated your partnership with us in prayer, as well as your encouraging comments - the team has treasured them dearly. God bless you all, as you have blessed us. See you soon.

Until the whole world knows,
Michael

Farewell dinner.

Team picture at the Litin church.

Farewell dinner.

Stephanie, Lindsay, Heather, Jasmyn,Taci and Katherine planned, prepared and serve the farewell dinner.

It was so good!!!!!!!!

Team dinner in Litin

Stephanie serving spaghetti.

Service with a smile.

Inessa and Lena decorating before dinner.

Solomiya enjoying her meal.

Team Prayer requests.

Prayer requests:

Katherine: Continued good health and wisdom in applying all the lessons learned

Stephanie: To start feeling better and keep persevering even after the trip

Ryan: Stay strong as we go on to China

Stephen: Pray for the children

Heather: Transition from UA back to New Orleans

Jasmyn: Continued good health

Chance: To submit to the will of God not only here, but also when I get back home

Taci: Perseverance, rest, China adjustment

Lindsay: Same as Taci; no more shin splints and calf pain

Michael- Wisdom, make the most of every opportunity and strength for China

Hello Everyone!,

This is Jasmyn reporting for Team Uladifka! Sadly, today was our last day of camp in the village of Uladifka. We walked away with reminder of God's loving-kindess towards us and an urgency to share His gift with the world. Before starting we prayed as we usually do but Chance also shared with us his revived passion for our day with the kids.We all were challenged to take advantage of the time that we were alloted with the children and to especially love on them unconditionally. We knew that we needed God's power to truly be a light to the kids. God is amazing! Through every detail at camp I am positive that God was there, not that he hadn't been any other day, but that my eyes were finally open to His glory Through out our day God used small moments to bless us as well as the children. On the way back I remember hearing Chance talking about how a little boy was admiring his cross necklace, and asked for one. He told us with a big grin on is face that he shared with the little boy the gospel story and how the little boy listened with patience, and was excited to receive the necklace. We could tell that through that ittle boy there was a hint of God's heart that touched Chance's. We sometimes expect God to reveal himself in a big way but those may be the moments when we hear Himi a whisper. Today Heather and I were able to spend time with the teen-aged girls as we were able to get to know them better and share with them the gospel. Despite their shyness I truly believe that the Holy Spirit was working in their hearts. One girl in particular had many questions as we explained the gospel and shared  our personal testimonies. God only knows the hearts' of men but I believe that we may have another Ukranian sister in Christ. Please continue to pray for these girls as they truly need their Heavenly Father! I believe that our team felt like this was one of the greatest days in camp. Although there are times when we are just placed at a point to plant a seed, God knows,then it will be watered and harvested. Thank you for all your prayers for our team! They were truly felt today!Please pray for the village of Uladifka and our brothers and sisters around the world. We miss you all! In His Love, Jasmyn P.S. This is Stephanie or as I am so commonly referred to as "momma". I thought I would tell you about the joke that our driver, Anatoly, played on us. Yesterday we wanted to stop at the sign of the village to take team pictures. We got to the sign and I could clearly tell that it did not say Uladifka. Anatoly told me that they had recently changed the name of the village back to it's original name, Ivanople. Well we all bought it and told the entireAmerican team and all of you that same thing. When we stopped to really take pictures today it was the sign for Uladifka. Mysteriously Anatoly, who's speaks great English, didn't understand me when I told him he played a joke on us yesterday. So to say the least all of the Americans and a few Ukrainians were had! lol Just thought I would share that with you all.

Love and miss you!

Hello friends and family! This is Heather, writing for Team Evanople, which used to be Udladifka. We were going to stop and take a picture next to the village sign, but when we got there, we found out that the villagers had changed the name! Yesterday when we got to the school where we were supposed to hold camp, there were no kids there at all, and the new director of the school hadn't heard that we were coming at all! A bunch of ladies were cleaning the school and repainting some of the rooms, so inside the building reeked of paint, and we couldn't use any of the rooms. So we set everything up on the school's porch and made use of the yard in front of the building. Then everyone walked the village and invited kids! Stephanie, Jasmyn, and I stayed at the school to watch the trunks and backpacks, and to pray for the kids that would be coming; we had quite the time when kids started showing up for camp before any of our translators got back! Finally, after an hour and a half of village walking, the whole team ended up back to the school with about 30 kids. The school seems to be on a pretty well traveled road, so parents, grandparents, teens, and more kids seemed to drop in for a moment here and there throughout camp. I know Chance got to speak to three teenage boys for about 30 min towards the end of camp, and Masha spoke to a couple of teenage girls when they stopped by for a min. Because of our late start, the kids only got about 10 min to play games, and we had to scoot out of there pretty quick to make it back to the church for lunch. Today, we got to the school and almost 60 kids were there waiting for us! We found out that we won't be able to use the inside of the school at all, so (again) we set up outside on the porch. Needing a bigger area for lesson time, we took the kids out to the game field and Chance taught the colors Red and White outside. Nine teenage girls showed up this morning, so Stephanie and I talked with them for awhile. After getting to know the girls a little bit, we walked around the village some. When we got back to the school, the girls wanted to do crafts, so they made cross necklaces and little cotton ball sheep. After that, Jasmyn and I used the crafts to introduce the gospel. Turns out that all of the girls go to the orthodox church, but only on holidays. But they've obviously been to camp before, because they were jumping ahead of me while I was sharing the gospel. Our talk was ended a bit early by the rest of the kids' singing during closing ceremony; but I can't wait to come back tomorrow and talk with them more. I think these girls have a lot of head knowledge, but I want to challenge them to apply this knowledge to their lives. Some quick prayer requests for camp are the kids' attention spans and their open hearts (as always); the allergy problems due to the excessively strong paint smell; and the teams' unity. We've been having some drama on the Ukraine side of our team. A couple of the girls aren't getting along and we're having to help them work through it. I also covet your prayers for myself, Jasmyn, and the girls that I'll be talking with again tomorrow. I've never done this before, and it's quite the step of faith! But God is faithful; He will not leave me on my own, but will give me the words to say to reach out to these girls. I'm sad to realize that tomorrow is our last day of camp, but I've been so blessed to think back over the past week and a half to the three other camps I've been in.

Till later, Heather  

Hey everyone, it's Michael once again! The last day of the English camp was Friday, and since the Bible Camp team in Uladifka had one more camp day today, we decided to host a picnic for our students. We had Bible Study as usual this morning, and after Team Uladifka left for camp we went shopping for picnic supplies. We met the kids at 11, and we were greeted with a rose for each one of the American teachers. It was really cool to see the kids' appreciation of our team. Ryan has done an excellent job kind of hosting the camp. He's a bit of a goofball, and the kids absolutely love it. He's always willing to sing a song or play hangman with the kids, and so the kids have really enjoyed having him teach vocabulary and help Katherine in conversation. He jumped on an opportunity to share Christ with a group of the guy students today, and everyone seemed to be listening very carefully. I talked to one of the guys afterwards, and he said the talk was "very interesting" and he would think about it very much. God was definitely working. Taci has been a faithful assistant in grammar. She has such a calming effect there. She never really gets flustered and is a whole bunch of help. The girls absolutely love her, and she especially gets along well with our Ukrainian helpers. Lindsay has really connected well with the smaller girls. She has done a really good job of getting involved with them, even though she hasn't felt great for some of the time. I love to see her sit with the kids during the lesson times... building relationships with the kids is so important, and she's done a real good job with that. Katherine has been the spark plug of the team for the whole time she's been here. She has really provided a lot of energy for the team. She's taught Conversation and really seems to have enjoyed spending time with the kids. Michelle has provided invaluable help throughout the camp. She did go to school for this kind of stuff, after all! Her skill in grammar made up for my own shortcomings there, and so hopefully the kids learned a lot. 

 I'm doing alright, but I would really appreciate your prayers. Pressure in my chest from a head-cold that's migrated there is really a distraction, and my allergies have kicked in strong in the last day or two. The picnic today was a welcome opportunity to relax with the children. We played football (American football) and Ultimate Frisbee with the kids, and the girls did... girl stuff. I think they looked at pictures and stuff like that. Then we had a final closing ceremony where we gave the kids a diploma to certify their completion of the English Curriculum. They were really thrilled with that. Tons and tons of picture-taking followed... it was really cool to see the relationships that had developed throughout the week blossoming. Many students exchanged email addresses with members of the team. Pray that as we continue to engage these kids we will represent Christ well. The English Camp has been a resounding success, on so many different levels. Thank you all for your prayers.

Until the whole world knows,

Michael

Finishing well!

Greetings from the former USSR,

Much to be thankful for ! It is a beautiful day in Ukraine. Lots of sunshine and tempature is in the low 80's. 

I would like to give you an update on the team and some specific prayer requests.

Spiritually- The team is strong and unified. Totally focused on completing the ministry in which they have been called. It has been wonderful to see each one step out of their comfort zone and trust God and experience His faithfulness! 

Physically- We are on the mends. The allergies and this sinus and chest virus has been brutal. Everybody but Stephanie is feeling better.

Please pray for:

English Camp picnic on Saturday- Clarity and power in sharing the Gospel

Final day of camp in Udladifka- Chance's team

Visit to Orphanage on Saturday

Physical strength of team

Peace of Christ to rule in our hearts

Finish well

Faithfully, Vince

Hey y’all! This is Michael reporting from the English camp team. Ryan, Lindsay, Taci and Katherine and I are the English team. Michelle provided invaluable assistance on the first day (she did go to college for 4 years to learn how to do this kind of stuff), but she hasn’t been able to be at the school since then, so we have really had to work to do this whole “teaching English” thing in her absence. It’s been fun though.
This is the team that will be leaving Ukraine and going to China in about a week, and we will be doing very similar things in China, so this camp has been really good for us so far. Ryan and I are both fighting off a pretty nasty cough, so teaching has been challenging at times. The girls are doing pretty well physically, with the exception of Lindsay. She had the cough that has plagued Ryan and me, and it’s just left her worn out. She spent the day today at home. Pray that all of us will begin to feel better soon. We really want to be in top form for whatever God has for us in the next few days…not to mention China just around the corner.

The English camp is divided into 3 pretty structured lesson times. We teach vocabulary, grammar, and conversation for about 45 minutes each. Today 18 kids came, in spite of the pouring rain. I think only one kid didn’t show up from yesterday, so that’s a blessing. It’s been cool spending time with the kids. There are four or five 13 and 14 year old guys who I have really been looking for an opportunity to talk to. 

It’s been cool to incorporate the Gospel into the lessons, mostly through vocab and convo. Besides the normal helpful English words, we have taught such words as “sin” “heaven” “God” and “eternal life.” The kids seem to be responding to the lessons very well. Pray that God will give them understanding, and also that He will give us the opportunity to teach the kids about nouns and verbs.

Those of you from home who know me will probably find this hilarious… 
The boy who never finished a grammar book in his whole life…who needed a Ukrainian to tell him that there are more than just three verb tenses in English…who despises the rules of the English language with a passion…
That boy is teaching grammar.

God has a sense of humor…and the joke’s on me. 

Hey, this is team Ivcha: Heather the ice cream girl, Jasmyn the singing queen, Stephen the "focus" (trick) master, Stephanie the sleeping momma, and Chance the falling tree. Through out the night and morning, a steady rain drizzled; leaving the prospects of many children daunting. However, God had other plans for 55 children greeted us (an increase of double since the first day). Camp started with the welcome, songs, and Stephen showing illusions or Boobo. Stephen has faithfully opened and closed every day of camp. He turns the children's attention to our reason for camp while sparking their interest. For example, today he shared the gospel through a string which had two balls attached to it. One ball represented God and one ball represented man; God and man were created to be together but a knot formed in between them which is sin. Only through the cross (Jesus) can the knot be broken and sin banished. After opening was lesson time, teaching the need for christians to grow in their spiritual walk. Jasmyn helped in crafts, showed kids how to do songs, and lead groups of kids as they switched activities. Jasmyn uses her gifts of communication and service in lots of different extremely helpful ways. Heather also helped in crafts, met needs, and arranged the schedule. Heather is a good help in any need there is and a great worker; she's a wonderful asset to have on the team. Also today, three teenagers came to camp and they were invited to join the English camp in Litin. After crafts and games, we ended the day with ice cream. Yum! A wonderful camp. Prayer requests: The continued health and unity of the team The impact of Christ in the children and village That God's will would be done in everything

Yours truly, Chance and team

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the Gospel from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:2-5

Hello Everyone,
 This is our twelfth day her in Ukraine and the time is passing all to quickly! Yet, even as I (Ashley Qualls) say that, I can hardly wait to come home and share with you what God is doing here. My job has been to capture the different ministries through photographs so that we can give you, the church, a clearer picture of how God is working in beautiful Ukraine.
 A lot of my time has been spent photographing the team and the surrounding culture of whatever village they’re in at the moment. Time seems to pass at a different rate in the villages and the odd mixture of the old and new way of life is completely fascinating to observe. Looking at the silver hairs, lined faces, hunched backs and intense eyes of some of the older people as they hobble down the cobblestone roads is enough to bring anyone to tears, but for the reminder that we are bringing the Gospel directly to a few of them and, indirectly to them, through many of their grandchildren. How exciting to think that entire families may come to Christ through the salvation of the younger generation!
 One place Vince, Vova, Alex and myself visited last week was a newly established Rehabilitation farm where men coming out of prison or drug addictions can work in a Christ focused environment. Valerri is the older gentleman who is now overseeing this project in Ukrainska. He has spent over half his life in prison and has an interesting assortment of tattoos, one to represent every trip to prison. Many of us would consider his to be a wasted life but God didn’t think so and Valleri came to know Him as savior during his time in prison. As I sat in the farmhouse, listening to Valerri read God’s word and watching the tears run down his weathered cheek, I was struck by the amazing redeeming power of our savior, Jesus Christ. He saves us, transforms us and uses us for His unending glory! 
 Looking forward to sharing more with each one of you! Please continue to pray that the team would be sensitive to the Spirits leading and that God would give me eyes to really see where He is working, so it can be clearly conveyed to you when we return.
  Much Love In Christ,
  Ashley Qualls

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and has committed to us the world of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were an appeal trough us; we beg you behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
 
 

Hello All! Katherine reporting for the English Camp in Litin! 

Today we started the English camp. It went pretty well! We had roughly .... *guesses* twelve kids [I just overheard Michael say that there were fourteen. I was close!]. We hadn't seen any of the kids before in any of the camps! They were almost all beginners and unbelievers. So we just kept them all together instead of splitting them into groups. First we "evaluated" them, to find out what they knew already, and then we had the opening ceremony. We got to sing "There's a melody" for the opening ceremony. It really made the kids open up. They were all laughing. It was fun. I loveeee that song. Michael hates it. But I convinced him to let us sing it because they would learn parts of the body. Hehe. I tried to get him to let us sing "Baby Shark" so they could learn family titles. He didn't fall for it. =P.

The kids are reallyyyyyyyyy well behaved! It's great. You can tell they're all there to learn. Ryan taught vocabulary first, and did a great job. He would act out all the words. The kids really enjoyed it. Michael and Michelle taught grammar (or "gramer") after vocab. The kids picked that stuff up really good. (Hehe. I know it's "well". Just wanted to make a lame joke :P) Then I taught Conversation. Which basically means I led the kids in exercises so they could practice the English they had learned. They did great! It seems like they've memorized a lot of phrases, so it'll be interesting to see what exactly they KNOW. 

During the closing ceremony, Michael asked the question, "Who is Jesus?" and none of the kids responded. So it's definitely a ripe field!!! Pray for their understanding and for clarity for us in teaching.  

Overall, I'm very excited about the camp! 

I think they're about to serve lunch (I'm blogging from the Litin basement) and I'm ravished. So I love you all and thank you for the prayers!!! 

<3,>

Hello all!! 

This is Heather the hippie reporting for Team Ivtcha (which used to be Team Giradisha and Gromatska). Today was the first day for Stephen and I in this village, but I think everyone else had been here before. Ivtcha is a larger village with a very prominent orthodox church. In past years, the orthodox priest has threatened the people to keep them from coming to the Baptist church. When we first got to the village, there were no kids there, so we split up into a couple of groups and walked the village inviting kids to come to camp. We didn't see too many, but within an hour, we had about 25 kids. But these kids were completely different than the past two villages!! This group was so quiet!! It was quite a startling change, but I pray that we'll be able to communicate effectively with them.  

For lessons, Stephen taught the color gold and Chance taught black. They had to ask questions a couple of times before any of the kids would give an answer. Jasmyn helped out in crafts after that, and she said that it went great. Since we had such small groups, crafts didn't take long, so Jasmyn used her extra time by talking one-on-one with some of the kids and going more in depth about the themes of the day: gold and black.  

We're praying that God will bring more kids tomorrow and that the kids will continue to pay attention during camp. We have lots of Ukrainian helpers this week, and they are doing a great job with the kids.  

Till later,

Heather

I once heard it said that the problem with life is that it is so daily. Its easy to live in the excitement of something new or unusual, to trust God with something so big that it is clearly beyond our own strength. But when the Christian life settles down to the monotony of daily life, problems often arise. This has been my experience here in Ukraine over the past seven months. What was once an exciting, unusual ministry began to become mundane and....well...just plain boring at times.  

There were patches of excitement, of course, like the time my colleague's husband asked me to explain how I reconciled the justice and mercy of God and listened intently to the gospel, or the time when one of my students in the university asked to stay late to finish hearing the overview of the Bible. Those moments were like a breath of fresh air sent from God to remind me that my work was not in vain. But what I came to realize was that the mundane every day events of life created the soil from which fruit could grow. The daily grind of teaching in a public school with a room full of unruly kids gave me a platform from which to share with my fellow teacher. The spiritual battle is in the daily. And sometimes God allows us to see the victory on the mountaintop. 

God has been allowing me to see some of those little mountaintop victories with the arrival of the American team. When Americans come to Ukraine people come in droves. They are willing to listen to the message of Christ simply because we are foreigners. Unbelievable doors are opened as a result. Its exciting. I love it, and I thank God for the way He works through our youth as they love children, both beautiful and dirty, both lovable and rebellious. But I am equally thankful for the Ukrainians in Litin who spend their daily lives earning the trust and respect of the unbelievers in their town and in the outlying villages. May God give them the perseverance to press on in the dailiness of life.  

Michelle Qualls

 

Saturday, July 12

Dear Friends and Family,
 My heart and eyes are filled – such wonderful, loving people in Ukraine. My interpreter, Irina, the Women’s ministry coordinator for the Oblast, Lydia, and I have been in a whirlwind of activity. Transportation is always a challenge and we travel 1-2 hours one way to each village. Villages such as Nemirov, Murovani-Kurilovtsi, Lipovets and Krizgopol are some of the beautiful villages that have a wonderful mixture of the old and new. We see cars on the same street as wagons pulled by animals, or goats in the middle of the road. Each home has a vegetable garden, a fence, lovely flowers and a dog! The beautiful fresh countryside is filled as far as the eye can see with wheat, sunflowers or some kind of vegetable. The soil must be very fertile.
 My topics have included, “The Role of Women in the Church”, “The Tongue”, “and Suffering for Christ”, “Prayer and The Ministry of the Holy Spirit”. Over and over again I hear, “We love America. We love America!” I must tell Rick Forschner’s Sunday school class that the donated scarves have been such a blessing. The women cry when I tell them that their sisters in Christ in America sent scarves to them. Their hearts are full of thank yous. I wish I had hundreds more to give!
 Thank you, dear ones, for praying for the Ukraine mission. I can almost hear them, and I know that the Holy Spirit’s power has been in every meeting. Please continue to pray for us!
 On a personal note, thank you, Skeet, for allowing me to participate in the mission. I know God will bless you for your generosity. I miss you!
 
  Love, In Christ
  Gail (Burris)

For Papa Bear

From one father to another

Heather serving at the orphanage

Vinnitsa Christian Orphanage.

Preparing the meal.

Chance eating with kids.

Words on the wall “His Kids” Matthew 19:14

Stephen and the friends.

Last night we went to the orphanage for the workers appreciation dinner. We were planning the whole thing and were pretty much in charge. Ashley Qualls planned the meal and the gifts for the workers. Taci, Linds, Heather, and Michael helped in the kitchen. I was assigned kid duty outside with the rest of the team. To start the evening out Ryan and I put all the kids hands on the wall that was not already there. That was a lot of fun!!!! It was so hard to get the kids to get in a line and to be patient! They really wanted to have their hand on the wall! We do the hand prints so that the kids feel like they belong. It was fun later on in the evening to watch some of the younger kids go back and put their hand on top of their hand print! After that we taught them a song. The song was "There Is A Melody In My Heart". The kids at first didn't want to learn the song but I finally convinced them and we had a blast! The song involves A LOT of dancing and movement! The kids enjoyed themselves immensely! Hopefully we will figure out soon how to videos on the blog and you will get to see what we did. It is a long video but definitely worth it! After we went through the song twice we decided to play duck duck goose. It was a huge circle, so not everyone got picked but the kids had fun. Ryan got picked right away by one of the boys and when he was running around the circle and he slid in the dirt by the slide and hit the slide going full speed ahead! It was rather funny! Then about 2 minutes later Chance and Stephen did the same thing! lol I was kinda disappointed that I didn't get picked. :'( We tried to do relay races with them but some of the kids didn't want to so it was a small group. Chance was one leader and I was another. All the boys wanted to be on Chance's team and all the girls wanted to be on mine. My group grew during the race and to say the least we lost. We had them race like crabs. They were so cute trying to go fast and crawling like crabs! After the relay races we played freeze tag. The only thing I can say about that is CHAOS!!!!! About 30 kids and 20 Ukrainians and Americans running around in a small part of the yard! It was so fun!!!!!! We were all exhausted by the end but it was the most fun that I have had in a long time! After we played freeze tag it was time for dinner. The ladies upstairs made chicken, and cut up tomatoes, cucumbers, and oranges. We had sodas to drink. For dessert there was ice cream bars. That were fun! I was helping one of the younger kids on the blanket so he could sit down to eat his ice cream. When I started to unwrap it he started yelling at me to stop!!! He didn't want the ice cream bar out of the wrapper! After all the kids had their ice cream the Americans and Ukrainian helpers split up the rest. I had some troubles with mine. (Yes, Mom and Dad I know that I normally have troubles but I thought I would share these! I love you!) The ice cream bar was two wafers with ice cream in the middle. Well, the wafer was kinda hard to eat and the ice cream was coming out of the edges! It was really funny and difficult to eat. But it was sssssoooooo good and definitely worth it! After we all ate the workers came out and we sang the song for them. Then the kids sang two songs for us. It was really cool! Overall, the night was GREAT!!!! I really enjoyed holding and loving on the kids! I was able to act wild and crazy and it be ok!!!! I think the general concensus was that we want to go back to be with the kids again! It was really hard for us to leave the kids last night! So that was our wonderful night last night! Thanks for letting me share!

Stephanie

P.S. Mom and Dad I would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment on the blog!

Greeting from Team Gramatska!

Thank you so much for reading our blog! It is encouraging to know that others are lifting up God's work! Today was our last day of camp in Gramatska. It has been both exciting and encouraging. To see the Ukrainian children faithfully come to camp and hear the message of Christ. God has given us creative ways to grab the attention of the children and we are in awe of how God works. From Stephen sharing the Gospel through illusions, to a crack-up funny skit of the Garden of Eden. God's fingerprints are in every detail. Camp ended well as the children said they understood why Jesus died for them, but only God knows their hearts. Please pray that their hearts will be open during the next year. Each morning before camps begin, both teams meet as one to go through the study of James. God reminded us of the real reason we are here. Seeing that camps are done in excellence is a great thing. More importantly our focus is to be on the people and their hearts. One of our leaders reminded us that in the days to come the camps won't matter. Here is what will: the impact on their hearts! James 1:6 says, "But when he asks; he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the sea." Please continue to pray with us for God's wisdom as a team. In closing, I thought I would explain to you why we give ourselves funny names. Our team decided to nickname each other every day based on the day's events. Here they come for the day: Chance the shadow of the almighty, Stephanie the bug-eyed believer, Heather the one-who-sits-with-ducks, Stephen the camel, and Jasmyn the candy giver. Paka!

(Good bye) Jasmyn 

A note from Mr. Vince

Vitayu, (Hello in Ukrainian)
Scripture says "Shepherds know the condition of your flock". It is with this in mind I write to give you a report on the spiritual and physical condition of the team as well as some personal thoughts.

Spiritual- The team is very strong and unified. The study of the book of James is transforming lives! God's word and James specifically is overflowing from the hearts. I see it in their teaching, sharing testimonies, conversation and prayer. The Ukrainian team members are studying James with us. We must not let our guard down, "to be forewarned is to forearmed". Keep praying!

Physical- There is an interesting dynamic going on- the guys are sick, but not tired. The girls are tired, but not sick.

The guys- Although still suffering from Allergies and head colds we seems to be improving. Here are my thoughts on each.

Chance had a pinched nerve in his left shoulder/arm before he came to Ukraine. His arm is feeling much better. We put his arm in a sling for the first few days so he could not use it. Chance can do more with one arm than most can do with two. His sevanthood-leadership is quite apparent.

Stephen- Doing very well, allergies has subsided and is managing his diet and blood sugar. We communicate often about this. He has totally captivated the children in camp. Always pointing people to Christ.

Michael- Allergies and head cold is improving. Doing an outstanding job leading and is being very sensitive to the other team members. Knows the Ukrainian people and their worldview. I can call on him to do anything!

Ryan- He told me last night that he is feeling much better. Ryan Butler is a graduate student at Moody and doing his internship at CBC. Has a love for God's word and sharing his faith. Clearly an asset to the team!

The girls- As I said earlier, they are tired. Though it seems to be a good kind of tired. A "tired" that is full of joy from fulfilling your ministry. Their rooming together has been a great blessing. Incredible time together in prayer and fellowship. I have scheduled time of rest for them, but don't think they have always taken advantage of it. In an effort to stay balanced and rested, they have a «lights out, no talking" rule. LOL In addition, the full team has the afternoon and evening off today. On Sunday, the team will attend church and then have the afternoon and evening off. Time to rest is planned and I will make sure it happens! Other thoughts about the girls...

Lindsay- Loves Ukraine and the people. Has a heart for teenage girls and is making the most of every opportunity. Encourages other in the Lord! A very discerning young lady

Katherine- She is doing great. No problems with food or adjusting to a new culture. A true defender of the faith. I have called on her twice on the spot and she responded without hesitation and with boldness and clarity. Katia is being used in this land.

Stephanie- Employing her gift of administration for God's glory! She is very experienced in Ukraine and has been Chance's right hand (or left arm). Steph truly cares for the team and children.

Taci- Called Nastia here in Ukraine- Taci is such a joy to be around, her gentle and quiet spirit is evident and it has a calming, stabilizing effect on the team and the children in camp. The children in the village love her! Taci's first name, Anastasia means resurrection- How cool is that? That is why we have come to Ukraine. To be ambassadors. To share the greatest news ever! The death, burial and resurrection of our Lord!

Jasmyn- Jas is such a blessing. Always smiling and encouraging. She has depended on the Lord while sharing her faith in Christ. God has demonstrated in Jas that His grace is sufficient and His power is perfected in weakness. God has given her a unique platform in Ukraine and it is exciting to see God working in and through her.
Heather- A gifted servant. Always working behind the scenes. Heazer (as she is called in Ukraine) is very proactive, does things without being asked. Truly a blessing and asset to the team. Her love and care for her brother Chance speaks volumes for her character and family.

Ashley- Her role on the team is different. She is here to capture everything we do on film. Ashley is photo journaling the people and the country of Ukraine. In addition, she is collecting information about all the ministries we partner with and will help organize this material for use in presentations, print and websites. Ashley planned and prepared our appreciation dinner last night at the orphanage. She did a wonderful job! The orphanage staff and children were so thankful.

 We are thankful for your prayers and encouragement in the Lord.

Vince

P.S. Gail Burris is here doing women’s ministry and visiting nursing homes. She will blog tomorrow about her experiences

Team Gromatska.

(The kids say hello to Dustin and Morgan) 

 Hey y'all! This is Heather reporting for Team Gromatska (previously Team Giradisha): Chance the fence bounder, Stephanie the bug, Stephen the wangsta, and Jasmyn the evangelist. This was our first day in the village of Gromatska. As soon as I got out of the van, Nadia ran up to me and hugged me. She remembered me from the past two years that I did camp in her village, and so I had a buddy for the rest of the camp time! There weren't many kids at the school when we got there, so some of us walked around the village for a while; we ended up with about 30 kids. We kept all the kids together for lesson time, then split them up for games and crafts. Chance taught the lesson and while he was trying to keep the kids' attention, he asked them some really deep theological questions that got them thinking. The kids in this village are the only Christians in the village, so it's really difficult to teach them, because their parents aren't Christians. But because of all the camps that we've done the past 6 or 7 years, the kids know all the right answers and are rather impatient during lesson time. For crafts, lead by Vika, the kids made "passports" to write Bible verses in and black paper chains symbolizing the bondage of sin. So for closing ceremony, when all the kids were back together, Jasmyn used the chains to share the gospel. She picked one of the worst boys and made him stand up in front of everyone and wear his chains. Then she explained that God had to put him in chains because he is a sinner and God is the only One who can take them off again. Then she asked him if he would accept her offer of freedom and explained that he didn’t need to do anything else…just accept her offer. The kids didn’t pay attention as well as they could have, but Jasmyn did a good job of clearly explaining the gospel to them. Pray that God will enlighten them so that they can understand what they’ve heard. 
  Also, pray that more kids will come to camp tomorrow and that they wouldn’t be as distracted as they were today. All of us on the team are feeling the time change from flying, so pray that God will multiply our sleep and give us the wisdom to know when to stop and rest. 
  ‘Til later,
  Heather

We love and miss you Mom, Papa, Logan, Ty, and Katie!!!!! ~ from Heather and Chance
:P ~ from Stephanie
Thank you for all your prayers. I love you Familia! ~ from Jasmyn
Love has no bounds, time, space, or distance. Love all of you. ~ Stephen M. Legge ^_^  

Gorodische gators.

(Our host family gave us gator pins)

Hello!

Lindsay here! The seven girl roommates are doing rather well. As I type, we're hanging out in the big room chatting with Jasmyn who's just returned from sharing her testimony at the evening service in Litin. From what I can ascertain, she did a great job. That girl is quite a speaker even though I know she was nervous. She has an awesome testimony and does so well when she shares. Anyway, Stephanie asked me to write about how the roomies are, for those of you at home. As I said at the beginning, we're doing well. Physically, we're tired. We have quite a busy schedule here in Ukraine and have gotten up early every morning to get ready. You may or may not be wondering how the whole getting ready thing happens with so many of us and just one bathroom. For seven girls, that sounds like a nightmare, but it's actually been alright. Most of us shower at night and wash our hair in the morning. The girls who decide to shower in the morning get up at 5:30, the alarm waking the rest of us up for quiet times. We rotate in the bathroom, some of us washing hair while others brush their teeth. We've yet to have any problems and today was the first day we were remotely late for the van to pick us up (we got there as it pulled up). I believe I mentioned this last time I blogged but I wanted to share what an encouragement these girls have been to me. Last night we spent about an hour in a circle, talking about prayer requests and praying together. (Africa team and family and friends back at home... know you were prayed for!) We've spent a few of our evenings together practicing testimonies, reading through the book of James and sharing what God's doing in our camps. Throughout the day, we know how to pray for one another and I feel that we're united even though we're not all on the same team for camp. I love the looks, smiles and silly jokes with unknown origin that we talk about on the way to and from the church, the van-surfing, the moments where one girl will stop what she's doing to say something encouraging to the one who's down. I'm encouraged by them to press on my relationship with Christ. They make me laugh and they make me act crazy (especially Katherine and Jasmyn) but all of them have been so uplifting and so full of joy. I'm refreshed by the relationships we've built in the five (it seems like way more) days we've been in Ukraine. Tomorrow, the seven roommates will be down to six. Marta is leaving us and we'll be very sad to see her go. She helps us so much in communicating with our host family (she's Russian), but that's not why we'll miss her. She has such a sweet personality, truly a quiet and gentle spirit. I can see her love for the Lord in the way she interacts with all of us. She participates in even the craziest things we do, laughing at us and being laughed at with us. We tried to get her to stay at least an extra week but she's got a busy summer ahead of her yet so we'll have to say goodbye in Vinnitsa on Friday. I hope that she has been refreshed by her time with these girls as I have and will have been encouraged by them. I know she's meant so much to us in the short time she's been with us. Pray for her as she travels back to St. Petersburg, Russia early Saturday morning. Thanks all for your prayers (I know some of you expressed concern about so many of us rooming together. I hope this has confirmed that your prayers are being answered and that it will encourage you to continue praying for these relationships). You're being prayed for here too :)

love and miss you! ~linds

Greetings, It's been such a joy to be here and to continue to build relationships that were begun last year. When we (Michael, Ryan, Lindsay, Katherine, and I) got to camp in Borkiv on Monday, I realized that I recognized most of the kids. Even though we did have some behavioral issues with some of the kids it was a good camp. I pray that the Lord will be doing some amazing things in that village over these next several months. So today we started a camp at Kuliga. When we arrived at the camps no child was there. The weather was dreary with it being cold, windy, and cloudy. We decided to walk the streets and invite kids and eventually we gathered 25 kids. The children were great listeners, very responsive and eager to learn. I led a group of about 12 children who were under 9 years old and helped Lindsay in craft time and played with the kids during game time. Kuliga does have a church and we meet at their prayer house. So far the church has had about 10 baptisms, and mostly children attend the services with a few adults. Please remember to pray that children would come to camp with open hearts that are ready to hear and accept the Gospel, open opportunities to share the Gospel with them, Boris and his family (pastor of the Kuliga church), and continual growth in the church. I'm looking forward to the time spent with these children the rest of this week and seeing what the Lord will do.

Taci

Jasmyn and Katia sharing their love for Christ

Hello,

The pictures below are of Jasmyn and Katherine sharing their testimonies in church today. The Lord truly blessed them, they spoke with such boldness and clarity. Their words encouraged and challenged evryone in attendance

Pictures of village life in Ukraine.

78 year old babushka Lida, a survivor of forced famine under Stalin

Wild poppies in the wheat.

    Young Storks.

          

           Transportation in the village.

    Time to feed the livestock.

                      Babushka at the well in Borkiv.                                                          

Greetings from Ukraine, privet! I was the designated blog writer for the day (Ryan Butler), so i am going to talk about what is going down in this part of the world. We are on the team to Borkiv, which is a small village in Liten. We are holding a bible camp for some of the kids in the village. My translator and I have somewhat of a different job though. Basically, what we do is go around and share the gospel with everybody, and God has really blessed our efforts, we have seen a few come to Christ, but a ton of people have heard the gospel, and we also gave most of them a bible to read. CBC has planted a "prayer house" or a church in this village, so it is cool to be able to point them to some people that can disciple them, or find out more about the Bible. I was told to tell of some of my adventures, so here we go! Dima and I (my translator), started off praying this morning at the bus stop, asking God to bring us some people we could share the gospel with. We saw a lady (who seemed to be about 140 years old) carrying her bread back from the market, and we asked if we could help her carry it, she said Yes, so we started to walk with her home (while i shared the gospel with her). We get to her house, and one of her friends was really hostile towards us, she would not let us give her a bible, and think she was cussing at us in Ukrainian, but i don’t know what she was saying, but my translator said it was bad. She told us that she was orthodox and that it was wrong to read the bible, I beg to differ!!!!! So, we started walking back to the bus stop, and sure enough, there was 7 people sitting there, right where we were before we left!!! I came and started talking with them, and asked them if i could share the greatest story in the world, so I started from Genesis and shared the gospel with them. This man, who was standing there, told us he was drunk, but that he was a Christian, but felt ashamed to listen because of his drunkenness, so he went and stood a little ways away, so i just finished sharing the gospel, and were saying bye to the people standing there, and the drunk man came up to my translator and I crying, saying thank you, and started shaking our hand, then got on the bus and took off. God is amazing. So, that was cool, but it had not even started yet. We get back to the camp and see two guys sitting on the sidewalk drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. We came and greeted them, and shortly found out that they were there for a funeral. I started asking them some questions about Jesus Christ, but they said they did not want to talk about him today, so we left them and told them that we were praying for them. Probably an hour later, one of the men came up to us and asked us what we were doing at the camp. We told them we were going through the plan of salvation, using the wordless book with colors, and it gave me a great platform to share the gospel. So, after i shared the gospel with him, we gave him a Bible, and he left, but later came back with his other friend, and i got to share the gospel with him!!! Then, after i did this, the whole family who was at the funeral wanted a Bible, so we gave them as many as we had, then they made my translator and I sign there Bible!!! It was really crazy, but God was really moving in their lives. That is some of the things that went down, but a lot has happened since we have been here..... q Please keep praying for us!!! Ryan Butler

Borkiv KGB

"Hut, 2, 3, 4!" 

Hello faithful readers, this is Michael, reporting from Borkiv. I'm actually typing this at about 11:00 am on Wednesday the 9th. Camp is going on right now, and I'm in our "Command Center" as it were, where we store all of our supplies and bags and other important things like Apple laptops. Everything is running so smoothly here that I am not needed at all. I'm not sure how to feel about that... It's nice to be needed... but the team around me has really stepped up to the ever-demanding challenge of running camp - and everything is going swimmingly. I just entered this happy sanctuary a minute ago, after having made a tour and inspection of the camp, and so I would like to inform you all of what's going on outside the walls of my haven as I type. Crafts: As I'm sure you are aware by now, camp consists of three activity stations. Crafts is, in my opinion, the most challenging of all the stations. That is why Lindsay Norman and Taci Hodgins are there. These two girls have performed excellently over the last two days of camp. I have dropped in on crafts several times, but never felt like I needed to pitch in to help or anything. Both of them seem to be doing great, health-wise. Mrs. Norman, I've been keeping up with Lindsay on the stretches and the tennis shoes. She's doing really well. Mrs. Hodgins, Taci is drinking plenty of water and keeping hydrated. She seems to be very well-rested. Both of these girls are excellent at keeping up with the health status of the other members of the team... for one because they don't have any real issues themselves, and for another because their gentle personalities are great for holding the other team members accountable, in a non-confrontational way. I totally trust both of them... and they are both doing an amazing job. It's been a joy to work with them. Lessons: Because I have been the primary teacher, obviously lesson time is not in session as I merrily type away. The children have behaved TERRIBLY in lesson time. I have felt really bad for Katherine, who has been my faithful assistant, during her teaching sessions, because the children have just been so awful and distracted. It was pretty discouraging for me the first day. Teaching lessons is really my only "necessary" task in camp, because everything else goes so well without me. I pretty much just set the goals for the day... and then everyone executes perfectly. (A nerve in my eye just started jumping. Mom, don't worry... it's done it at home before too. It sure is annoying, though.) So... when the children just DON'T seem to be getting it, it gets real old... real fast. But then, today was a nice treat. Did a review with them this morning... and everyone seems to have a very thorough understanding of the 3 colors we have covered thus far (Gold - Heaven, Black - Sin, and Red - The Cross). They basically have a working understanding of the Gospel at this point. That is SOO exciting. By the time you read this we will have presented the complete gospel one last time... along with a call to repentance. I am so grateful to God for the opportunity to represent Him to the people we minister to. It is really a huge privilege. Games: Along with a host of Ukrainians, who really lead game time, Katherine has been great out there. Basically, anything I ask Katherine to do, she does. She's been such a treat to have on my team. I've had so much fun. She is constantly teasing me and giving me a hard time...keeps things light. She's done a great job when she's taught (Black and Red) and the kids really seem to understand her well. Because of my allergies, I can't really be out in the game field very much, so Katherine has taken my place out there and provided a TON of energy that I usually do myself. It's been nice. She is a great encouragement to everyone who she works with. Mr. and Mrs. McNair, thank you for letting her be here with us. All in all, our camp in Borkiv has gone well. Ryan is going to blog later about some of his adventures as he toured the village and accosted random people to share the good news of eternal life with them. The team is performing so well... loving on the children... sharing the gospel... engaging in games and songs... it's been great. This afternoon we will visit the village of Kuliga to promo the camp that we will begin there tomorrow, with all its new challenges and opportunities. We earnestly ask for your prayers. Mom, if you could, write on the Africa blog and tell my brother that I hope he's doing as good a job in lesson time as I am... and that I've been praying for the team every day, and him especially. Mr. Vince said many of you had commented and left encouraging words... we haven't had a chance to see them to this point (printer’s broken) but we hope to see them soon. I just checked to see if I have a wireless network in range. Habit. Funny though... haha. Nope. None. Until the whole world knows, Michael (Wow. Why did typing those words "Until the whole world knows" just bring tears to my eyes so quickly? I don't know... but they did. Please pray that God will give us vision and endurance to see the mission through to the end. I love you all.)

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" 

Team Giradisha here! Chance the boss, Stephanie the momma, Heather the momma’s momma, Stephen the spirited Spartan, and Jasmyn the Viking. Blessings abounding, we received over 60 kids in camp today. An increase of all most 20, but sadly it was on our last day (the fall-back of three day camps), however, each was introduced to the five colors throughout the day. Stephen opened this morning with magic tricks incorporating biblical examples, in which he and Boo-boo (the famous furry stuffed animal) did a great job. Heather and Stephanie did the unnoticed yet very important job of organizing and helping to see that the camp runs smoothly. Jasmyn did a great job in keeping track-off and guiding kids, and also helping in crafts. Jas also did a great job sharing her testimony. Teaching time consisted of review and growth which is the color green. The kid's knowledge of the gospel is good; known through their numerous correct answers to questions of salvation. I believe that application is the biggest need, making today an excellent teaching time. I can not say enough about the help of our Ukrainian workers and translators. They really are a blessing in how faithfully they serve. The conclusion for today is a sadness for leaving this wonderful camp, but also an excitement for the next. May your prayers be for the continued health and unity of the team, and also the spiritual growth/salvation for the kids in Giradisha. Yours truly,

Chance and team