Justin, Brittany, Sean, and Jessica pointing gleefully across the Black Sea to Russia, which is hardly visible by camera, but just a few short miles away! We must be the coolest team because we are livin' on the edge of Europe looking across at ASIA!!

Sean leading some of the boys in games at the Boys Home

Jessica and Karen playing with some of the kids at an orphanage

mandy, sarah, and tommy telling the story of Noah's Ark at the Boys Home.

visiting a stroke survivor and family

Dear Friends and Family!

We are currently in the thick of the 2nd leg of our trip! With only one week of actual work remaining, it is hard to believe time has flown by so quickly! Our access to internet is extremely limited, so thank you for you patience in receiving these updates.

We completed our time at God's Hidden Treasures near Kiev last thursday and had some very sweet good-byes with the friends we made there. They were so incredibly hospitable and gracious, and working with them was such a delight. We finished four days of VBS at the Boy's home, and they asked us when we would return. It has been difficult to struggle with the idea that many of them are so incredibly desperate for love and affection and we have so much to give and so little time to do so.

We boarded the world's hottest overnight train in Kiev and headed for Crimea (by the way, Ukraine has been experiencing unusually warm weather for May; we grew close to 100 degrees Farenheit several days with humidity up to our eyeballs). After what seemed like hours of endless sweating, somehow the AC got turned on and we all passed out asleep in our cabins. Please pray for Jessica England as she took a little tumble at the train station with her 40 lb. bag on her shoulders and has sprained her ankle.

Crimea is a penninsula a little smaller than South Carolina that is surrounded by the Black Sea and is in the very south of Ukraine. Although we expected it to be warmer here, it has been quite perfect actually! We are within a 5 minute walk of the some of the most breath-taking views of the Black Sea! We finally arrived here at the Hope Center in Kerch on Friday evening about 5pm. The huge orphan fesitval had arleady begun, and we dove right in and started getting to know and playing with all the kids here! It has also been really difficult being exposed to so many precious children of God of all ages and thinking that most of them have living parents, but are either unwanted or have been taken away from their parents because of the lack of hope in this country. We can only pray that God of restoration reaches the young people of Ukraine and restores their hope.

It has been quite noticeable and bluntly visible to us that the remnants of communisim still lay around. So many identical run down appartments built 50 years ago that have not been kept up lay scattered across this land. It has really been a trip to imagine that just 15 years ago this place was a completely different government.

Our work here has been interesting to say the least as the Hope Center staff has been very busy. We have done some work, but it should be noted that our team of Americans, all eager to work and see the fruits of their labor have not been able to work as hard as the team anticipated. There have been several times we have needed to practice patience and flexibility, and it has been a difficult process for many on the team. Each day comes, and with it, we have no idea what to expect really until just minutes before it's time for a project. Please pray that God continues to reveal God's self to us in real and practical ways and that we trust a master plan we cannot fathom.

When we have worked, we have pulled many weeds, done several dishes, stripped sheets and blankets in the bunk houses (which are like dormitories the orphans stay at when camp is in session), and worked very hard on building steps to the sea. We didn't realize how incredibly huge and steep this hill is that takes you down to the sea. The manual labor has been really good for us and has given us a chance to have a few fleeting moments of feeling accomplished. Please pray that these are not the moments that define the trip, but rather that we are coming to serve with empty hands in whatever ways we can. It is been difficult for many to grasp that sometimes the work we think should be doing is not always the work they would have us to do.

In other news, everyone is very healthy, and having somewhat regular "BM's" ha! we do ask for continued prayer in our safety and our health. It is quite eay to become dehydrated and good clean bottled water is not readily available on site so it is difficult to be drinking enough good water. However, we are getting plenty of other wonderful drinks and juices and delicious dishes of food, so you should be expecting to see "a bit more of us..." when we return =)

We will try to send one more update before we leave Ukraine. In one week from today, we will be packing up and heading out to Odessa before boarding a 36 hour boat ride for Turkey!

Blessings,

Team Ukraine

quarter-way check up!

Dobre-Dyn (Good day!) from Ukraine!

The first piece of good news is that we are all here and we are all safe with all our luggage! (and the team has also avoided illness thus far). After a long, exhausting, and uneventful journey across the Atlantic, we finally arrived in Ukraine at around 11pm on Tuesday night (May 15th).

We spent the remainder of our days last week participating in various home visits with elderly nationals who were home-bound for one reason or another. We accompanied a doctor and nurse as they worked with stroke victims and also helped the organization "God's Hidden Treasures" with their wheelchair-delivery ministry.

On saturday, we traveled to Kiev (the capital city) to embrace our inner-tourists and immerse ourselves in the culture of the bustling Ukrainian city. We went to a Ukrainian World War 2 museum, toured three different orthodox cathedrals, wandered around a street market, and visited the site where the orange revolution began.

Sunday morning we went to a church service with our American host and interacted with the members of the congregation after the service. This week we are running a vacation bible school in the mornings for kids at a "Boy's Home" in Bila Tserkva (where we are staying). All of these boys have been institutionalized because of physical or mental handicaps. Sadly, most of them are shunned by their parents and by society for one reason or another...and it is obvious to our team that a lot of them were misdiagnosed and are actually just regular kids who are trapped in an unfortunate situation within a system that doesn't make much sense to us. The boys are great and we fell in love with them quickly. They are hungry for attention and approval and love and our team has been generous with all of those things. Working at the boy's home has been a transformational experience for all of us...so be sure to ask your son/daughter, brother/sister, or friend about it when we return.

On monday afternoon we visited an orphanage in Ukraine and had our hearts broken by the sweet little children we met there. Most of the children who are living in this particular orphanage are children who were taken away from their parents who were alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, or were taken to prison. Our time at this facility was limited and it was a struggle for all of us to leave these little ones.

We spent yesterday afternoon at a Cerebral Palsy center playing with the kids and talking to them about Bible stories. Unlike the children at the boy's home and the orphanage, the kids at the CP center actually have parents and just come to the center in the afternoons to connect with other kids who have CP.Our time in Bila Tserkva is rapidly coming to an end. Tomorrow evening we will head back to Kiev to hop on an overnight train bound for the coast to continue our adventure!Thank you for your love and support!

love,
Karen, Arthur, Tommy, Jimmy, Sean, Justin, Jessica, Bonnie, Brittany, Sarah, Mandy, and Abby


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