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