Apologies

I am sorry for the lack of updates. Camp has been running very smoothly. A few changes due to rain, but for the most part things are going as planned. The kids are starting to warm-up to us. Many are looking desperately for attention and love and we are doing our best to give them all that we have. I'll update when I can. I have been battling a bit of a cold and therefore am using most of my free time, AKA blogging time, to sleep and keep up my strength.

Camp 3 - Day 1 - The Kids Arrive!

The day started with decorating for camp. Sidewalk chalk, balloons, and streamers greet the children. This sign says, "Hi." We do anything we can think of to brighten their day.

Just finishing a camp a few days ago, where the kids are always smiling, I almost forgot what the first day is like. Many of the kids are unsure of this place. A few kids started smiling throughout the day, and yet others have yet to smile. They take everything in, but haven't yet learned if they can trust us, or let their guard down long enough to let in the love. This is one of our prayers from the very beginning. Pray that as they

open up, we can, through the grace and power of Christ lead them to the cross.

To help the kids enjoy themselves in the morning and afternoon, we made balloon animals, blew bubbles, jumped rope, colored, played Frisbee, catch, football (AKA soccer),

volleyball, basketball and cards. After checking in at the doctor and getting settled in the dorms they were able to choose any of these things to do.

After this each of the groups used some time to

create ward names and work on their skits for the opening ceremony which will be tomorrow. Then before supper we got to celebrate one of our campers birthday's. Maxim turned 12 today.

Then after supper we played a game to get to know some of the names of the international team and Ukrainian staff. It was a type of scavenger hunt for names. They had 16 names to collect, after which Tommy quizzed them on what they remembered.

The day ended with a name tag craft and bedtime stories. We are

now waiting up for our last group of kids to arrive tonight. The train is supposed to get in at 11:50 pm and then it takes a little while for them to actually get here. When they are all here, I think that we will have

New Team (Camp 3)

After the last team left on Thursday the interns cleaned the

international building for the new

team to arrive. They arrived on Thursday evening just in time for a

late dinner and a quick tour ending with ice cream at the intern building.

Friday was spent mostly with meetings and planning and adjusting to the time change.

Saturday was more of the same, only it included some time for us to

get to know the Ukrainian Team better. We ate diner together, followed by a game and then ice cream. The game was a

version of 20 questions, international team verses Ukrainian team. No questions were off limits. Some were funny some were serious.

Scott made the mistake of asking about the local fishing. After

which he had to eat dried salted fish, which Tanya insists is NOT sea food. Not sure why though.

After which some of us went to the sea for a bit of night swimming. I wrote about this in a previous post, but was unable to take and pictures that would even begin to show what we saw, as the sea literally lights up from within.

While we were at the sea. Others were writing ransom notes. We tend to have just a little bit of fun with the staff here.

Camp 2 - Last Days

This is the one day the team gets to relax after camp before they leave. The catch is 3 team members leave today. So, after breakfast we went to the underground museum. This is a place that during WWII civilians and solders hid. 15,000 soldiers plus 3,000 civilians went in. They thought the attacks would last about a month as they had before, instead it was almost 2 years. The numbers change each time we go but some where between 7 and 30 people survived. The museum has mostly original things as we walk were these people walked. We learned that the water was rationed but only among those in the hospital, the rest had to draw the water out by sucking on the stone walls. The food was rationed severely and still wasn't enough and they looked for anything that might be edible - like leather. The stories continued. In the museum are 3 mass graves. 2 of which are closed, but one has sections that they continue to add to as explorers are still finding bodies. This morning, although clearly not joyous, helped the team learn about the history of the people in Kerch, the people they are serving with, and the children they are here to serve.

The afternoon was spent with shopping, packing, and then some team bonding time before the team left the following morning.

The team traveled to Simferopal with our translator Anya and Matt. Matt would return the same day with the next team, so I did not go with. The current team got some lunch and then stopped at the hotel, followed by a trip to Mama Natasha's house for dinner. Mama Natasha has a house orphanage and was just at camp with her kids, so the team were able to see them again before they left. I can only imagine the gift that this would have been. You will have to ask them about it. They then spent the night in the hotel and flew out the next morning. I trust that they are home safely, but have not heard from any of them as most of them only got home less than 7 hours ago after about a 30 hour trip. My guess is that they are still sleeping.

Camp 2 - Day 10

Today the kids leave. It is by far one of the hardest days of camp. We had no scheduled events, yet just spent time with the kids. Our first group left after breakfast, and our last group left about 10 pm or so. Although most of the kids left before breakfast, Mama Luda's group left mid afternoon. Many people on this team have a very close connection with the kids in Mama Luda's group. To the point were one almost adopted a child, until the Ukrainian laws changed. Mama Luda would not allow us to cry, so this good bye was hard in numerous ways. As the kids left, we helped the counselors clean their wards.

In the evening, we got together for dessert with the counselors and volunteers that remained. At which time the counselors each shared 2 or 3 stories of the kids that we had been ministering to. They are heart wrenching to say the least. These stories are not easy to hear, but remind us of the importance of being here and the impact we have on these kids. There stories will be in the Hope Center news that comes out soon. If you don't already get this please let me know and I'll forward it on to you.

We then spend the rest of the evening with the remaining kids, many of whom we had just heard their stories. Until they left for the train station. We then got ready for a night swim. Here there are are little bugs in the water that when you touch them the glow bright green. Most are so small. When you swim and push the water around the water lights up like the night sky. If you catch them in a shirt it looks like glitter. Matt at one point swam towards us under water and we could see him from more than 20 feet away, because of the glow around him. The bigger ones look like little jelly fish, maybe that is what they are as they do zap you from time to time (nothing to really hurt anything, like running across shag carpet in the middle of winter and then touching something medal). I have been to the sea many times at night and seen this, but NEVER in the magnitude that I saw this night. In fact I think that if you add all the lights in the water from all my previous trips together, it might match this one night. It was absolutely beautiful!!! Once again God's creation is awe inspiring.

Camp 2 - Day 9

This is the last full day of camp. Tricia gave the morning Bible Lesson. It was about the Armor of God, and the importance of putting it on every day. The international team helped demonstrate this with a skit of one person walking through life without the armor and another with. One thing that we need to pray for is that these children carry this armor of God with them as they return home.

Like usual we went to the sea. In the afternoon we started with a game called Bible Smugglers. We talked briefly about how the Bible is so important that people risk their lives to get it to people. The idea is to get the paper Bibles to the persecuted church without being caught by the secret police who will take your bibles from you. The funny thing is that I told the kids that the persecuted church would be hidden outside, but I forgot to them to hid outside. So they were hidden inside the guard shack, the actual guard standing guard. The kids had to notice them in the window and then throw the Bibles through. In 20 minutes the only received 17 bibles, of the 200-300 Bibles passed out. But the kids had fun.

This was followed by the closing ceremony. We did a slightly different theme so that we could change up the MCs. Earlier during camp one of the team members was helping one of our Ukrainian team members with a lesson on gullibility. They spun this crazy story about a midnight train that comes through Hope Center. Well played enough that some of our team members were really questioning if it was real. Our MC's took this idea and ran with it. Telling the story about the train as the team of the closing ceremony. The stage was the train. It was very well done. And then 3 acts. The heavens opened up and poured out. We had just enough time to tell the kids to go back to their wards and that there they would have a surprise.

The trick is that we didn't know what the surprise was. We had 45 minutes before supper and it was now a torrential down pour. We had planned to give each kid a gift after the closing ceremony. So instead we did this now. The trick was getting all the gifts from our building through the rain to theirs. With the help of a few towels and plastic bags we made it. A few bags got in the wrong places which caused a little confusion and panic as we thought some kids didn't have gifts, but we figured it out. This was followed by bringing Christeena's Butterfly craft to each of the individual wards to do. This was thrown together last minute and we forgot to explain the craft to each person leading it and in one group forgot to include the butterfly piece. Which made it a little trick to carry out. But filled the time til supper. At this point the the rain had started to let up.

So after supper we finished the closing ceremony. While Emily set up the entire craft so that afterwords we could go directly to the craft time. The craft was a verse book. The first verses were pre-printed armor of God passages. The second was a first they had to write in to get the idea that the rest were for verse they had to write in. It was Psalms 27:1 (Which in the Russian Bible is Psalm 26:1). Then the rest they left blank. However, for the cover of the book each of them were given a picture of themselves.

While working on craft the thunder started again. And although it was not raining yet, we anticipated that it would start and therefore did not take out the music equipment to do the songs for the bonfire. As we got all the kids around the fire pit. The counselors helped pass out glow bracelets to all the kids, which were an absolute hit. Usually we make a big deal about starting the fire, however it started sprinkling and without any way of getting their attention (no microphones or speakers to make the amount of noise necessary to do this) we just started the fire. Then worked together to sing, and get the kids to sing, as many songs necessary to set up the slide show in the dining room. The songs were interesting as there wasn't enough volume from one location to keep everyone together so we had an echo effect. The actions to all the songs helped until the fire died down from the rain enough to not give much light. By the time we were losing our voices, they had just finished setting up and the kids went to go watch the slide show.

The slide show was great. The music got the kids involved to the point of clapping to the beat with one song, and pounding on the tables in another. All the while screaming for just abut every pictures that popped up every 3 seconds for almost 20 minutes. I'm surprised if any child had a voice after that. As the slide show finished the kids had just enough time to get back to their wards as the heavens opened again and flooded the Hope Center. The water poured through the streets like roaring rivers (you may think this is an exaggeration as I am prone to doing that yet in most all places the water was 1/2 inch deep and in one place it was 4 inches deep). The water poured off the roofs like waterfalls. So after we said goodnight to the kids, we played outside in the water.

Camp 2 - Day 8 - God works in Creative Ways

As this was Sunday, a day of rest, we did not do morning exercises. Which really only means that the kids (and us) get an extra 20 minutes of sleep, but it is at least something.

This morning's Bible Lesson was lead by Naomi and was on "I Choose." The idea stemmed out of why sometimes bad things still happen. Each of the wards did a skit. That showed someone making a choice. Ward 4 (the youngest) did a skit about choosing to be deceptive, verse telling the truth. Ward 3 (the middle aged children) did a skit about fighting, verses acting in love. And the oldest ward (1) did a skit about choosing to attend a party with drinking and drugs verses having fun with Christ following friends. They did a great job.

In the afternoon we did interest groups for 1 hour. The theme being, "I choose" anything fit in. We did camp favorites and added a few others. One station was to make hemp bracelets that matched the necklaces made earlier in camp. Another was face paint. Hair and Manicures was always a favorite along with Basketball and Volleyball as well as table games. Football was also done, but with a slightly different goal. Another camp asked to play us in Football, so we used this as a practice. Following Interest groups, we prepared for this Football match. As we waited and waited and waited for the other team to show up. They didn't. There is another camp going on at the same time as our camp (Peace Corps working out of one of our buildings), So we asked them if they would play. They accepted the challenge, they were all significantly larger than out team, and so some people thought we were going to get slaughtered. But with instead we won 3-0. Fun for our kids to see.

Following Supper, we did the salvation presentation. Judith found a video on You Tube that was excerpts from the movie called "Most." The story is about how a man who is in charge of a railroad lift bridge, through unfortunate circumstances had to choose to save the lives of all those on the train, or the life of his own son. He choose the train. It shows how at least one life of the people on the train (a drug addict) dramatically changes as a result and how the father is so happy when he sees this. Bob, followed up this with a short message and a prayer. We then broke up into small groups to answer kids questions and talk with them about this decision. In my group 4 or 5 prayed with Bob for Salvation, but after explaining it further 1 more also chose to pray for Salvation. Other groups also had a similar response. I don't have final numbers but at last count 10 or 12 gave their lives to Christ for the first time. What we found though was that almost all the other children have already given their lives to Christ.

On a small note of how God works in amazing ways. To talk with the kids we broke up into our bedtime story groups for these small talks. In my group, our interpreter was just a student in the process of learning English. In previous nights she struggled with the vocabulary especially Christian terms as she would not have studied those at school , and we turned to reading straight from the Russian Bibles for Stories - as translating a complete story was too difficult. When it came to the time to break up into these groups to discuss the salvation message, I was a little worried. And was seemed to be a problem, was actually a pure gift from God. When we gathered in our groups she was no where to be found. Meghan went to look for here, but found Tanya, the director of the camp, instead. Tanya not only has a larger vocabulary, but has an amazing way of communicating with children to explain this to them. As soon as we finished we found our original translator. God works in very creative ways.

This evening we did not do craft. Instead the children watched "Meet the Robinson's." in Russian. I can't understand Russian, and because I haven't seen it in English. I can't tell you much about it. But the main character is in orphan who invents a time machine to find out about the family he never knew. Instead he uses his invention to save the future. This movie went later than planned so, we mostly said goodnight for bedtime stories and allowed our kids to sleep in again and skip morning exercises.

On a separate note: God also worked as an amazing healer today. One of team members was ill. The world felt like it was spinning, she couldn't walk without holding on to the walls. And felt very nauseous every time she got out of bed. We prayed as she rested. Throughout the day she tried a few times to get out of bed, but to no avail. Then just before supper, she felt like God told her to get up, it would all be fine. She did and it was! Just in time to eat, gain her strength, and then talk with her girls about the salvation message. God's timing astounds me!

Camp 2 - Day 7

Today's topic was on Families are Teams. The idea is that we rejoice together but also cry together, whatever we do...it is together. The Thomas family did the bible lesson, including the story of the prodigal son.

We did beach Olympics at the sea. There were 5 events, mostly relays of different kinds. 3 were filling various buckets (different sizes or a bottle on someone forehead) with differ things (car wash sponge, small cup, cup with a hole in it.) One was "run around Bob" and the last was to find a buried treasure. The kids enjoyed themselves, and all got medals when they were done.

In the afternoon we did rotating stations. One station was a blow-dart golf scramble (think q-tips and straws) although the game was fun, we had a hard time telling the kids not to blow the q-tips at others. We attempted funny kickball (using an exercise ball instead of a playground ball) however this was a complete flop. The oldest boys got made enough that they took the plug out of the ball. So Check...save that one at home for kids who have played kickball before and have a general idea of baseball. We also did a "line" dancing station. Where we played about any song that had a specific dance to it. Here we are not very keen on freestyle dancing, as here that portrays the partying life. However specific dances are fine.

After this we started practicing for the closing ceremony. It amazes me how fast time flies and that we are already preparing for this.

The craft was Friendship books, after which the kids came around to get them signed. We spent the better part of two hours in the craft room and still needed to ask some to leave. They continued to bring these books to them throughout the rest of camp.

(Tomorrow is actually the last day of camp, I'm just a few days behind on the blog. So please be praying for the kids as they go back home!)

Camp 2 - Day 6

Again, I'm sorry for the delay. Things at camp go very quickly. We have a scheduled "rest" time in the middle of the day for about 2 hours. However, I have yet had a chance to rest at all. Instead I prep for the next craft or activity. With this also in mind I have not had a chance to go through pictures. I will do my best to add them when possible.

This morning for morning exercise the boys and girls switch places. The boys did a dance and the girls push-ups and running.

Morgan did the bible lesson, which was on trust. She told the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

We brought kites to the sea, which was a hit, but they broke quickly. Which did not deter them.

The talent show was in the afternoon. Again we had a royalty theme. The original idea was to do a kings court. But since the MC's were Russian speakers I have no idea of if that is how it worked out. I do know that between each act the international team ran on stage to "one-up" the previous act. However, we actually did much worse. Some acts were much more hilarious than others. My was one of those others, as I had to mimic a poem without a translator. I just said as many Russian words as I knew, but while up there my mind went blank. Some were in the middle though I managed to say "eat dog." Tricia did an amazing job signing in the most off pitch screeching (considering she can sing I was impressed by this). Steve did a goofy dance, Bob sang "You ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog" with a broken guitar.

In the evening we did different trust stations. The most time consuming one was making a maze big enough for kids to walk through covering about a 1/2 acre.

Morgan also lead craft today. The children made crazy pens and loved it!

I was hoping to up date you through today. But I'm falling asleep so I will try to write more tomorrow.

Camp 2 - Day 5

Super Short Version - Now edited slightly

Hair, Exercise, Breakfast (all of which are normal)

Bible Lesson "God is With Me" - Arianne's Story; Since Arianne was unable to do this the team helped with the skit and I did the rest of the talking. I also spent some time explaining Arianne to the children and why this is important to her.

Sea and Lunch (which are also normal)

Rest Time - Tricia taught the older girls the craft during this time sot that they could then in turn teach the rest of the kids. They liked this very much, even though some still had difficulty with it. The more the did the better they did.

Biffer - Which is a crazy station game, that the kids LOVE. Those who have been here before repeatedly ask for it. The kids had to run around in pairs (never leaving the side of their partner as God never leaves us). They are trying to complete the stations, as biffers are trying to hit them with socks full of flour - sounds violent, but they aren't too hard on the kids, and like I said the kids LOVED it. If they get biffed the doctor must come bandage them up before they go on. If they cheat they get a time out in Jail.

Practice for Talent show

Craft - Was hemp necklaces with a cross in the middle. Also showing how God is always with us.

Bedtime stories (As far as I know these were also normal)

Camp 2 - Day 4

I'm sorry I haven't written in a few days. The Internet went out before I could post my last two days, and amazingly two more days have passed by. This will be a quick recap as it is already after midnight and I need at least a little sleep.

The morning started out normal, we went to the different groups of girls to so hair. Then morning exercises and breakfast. The bible lesson was on "I am Adopted" but we didn't really use these words - because we didn't want any confusion. We stressed that they are wanted and chosen. Christine and Judith did the lesson, and an one point one person just started choosing students to come to the stage while they continued talking. Until every child was chosen.

It had rained hard the night before and still overcast in the morning. So we did not go to the sea, in the morning. Instead we did interest groups "Royal Activities" Princes Pampering, Royal Teams, Royal Jewelry, Royal Lawn Games, and Royal Table Games. Then in the afternoon we went to the sea.

The craft that evening was crowns and tiaras, some of which are still being worn today by the kids. This game was followed by "The Royal Family is Missing!" When ever we discuss the royal family, we are sure to include people from all different groups here, interns, team members, translators, volunteers, counselors, etc. This game was a scavenger hunt to collect 13 signatures from people hidden all over camp. There were many creative hiding places, however one of our interns might have had one of the most interesting thus far. She hid in the Man Hole. The kids had to lower their signature papers to her in a bucket and then pull it back up again.

Camp 2 - Day 3

Today went significantly smoother. We had planned for a possible change in schedule, because it would possible be too muddy to scale the hill. However, it turned out just fine No changes at all.

After helping the kids do hair in the morning. We had morning exercises. Followed by

Breakfast and Bible Lesson. Today's bible lesson was on building a godly self image. After which we went to the sea. The water was quite nice. But we forgot to bring a lot of toys down for the beach, so the kids looked for things to do. It wasn't long before they had

caps of bottles (which I can only assume was garbage) with water in them, and weeds as their paint brushes, as they started sand tattoos. I had planed to do sand tattoos today, but didn't have the time to set it up and tell them, yet they came up with it on their own.

In the afternoon we did Interest Groups about how God Sees us. Interest Groups are where the kids get to choose what they want to do. Their choices were, "God Sees us as beautiful and perfect" - AKA Hair and Manicures; "God Sees us as Champions" - AKA Volleyball, Football(Soccer), and Basketball; "God Sees us as Friend" - AKA Friendship Bracelets; and "God Sees us as a reason to rejoice" - AKA Freeze Dance. The kids enjoyed each of these stations very much. Many girls ran around beaming with delight, because they got to try wearing make-up. Many others where so proud of the medals we gave them for being Champions. These of course were glittered card-stock, with words on them like great team work, or whatever they did well at. Our goal was to get every kid at those stations a medal.

In the evening we made Bible book marks. They were made with the salvation colors (Black - Sin; Red - Jesus' Blood; White - Sins Cleansed; Blue - Baptism; Green - Growth; Gold - Heaven), and after which they put each ribbon (6 total) in a page of their new bibles with a verse for what each color meant. It was a great time for them to learn how to look up verses. They works so hard to get the ribbons in the correct place.

We followed this with a hide-and-seek game called Camouflage. The idea being to hide as close to the seeker without being seen.

Lastly, we did bedtime stories. I don't know all the details as we have 7 groups, but let me mention one. Last night ward one girls had a very hard time with the bedtime stories. The first night they had a number of girls ages 15-12. They bonded quickly and were very excited to deal with some real issues in their lives. At midnight that night 16 kids joined that ward. Because of space and the fact that they wanted to keep kids together from that orphanage, this group of kids last night the span of ages was 15 to 8. The older girls were no longer willing to open up with the younger girls there. The younger girls can't hardly stay awake for the time that we do these stories. It seemed as if this was a disaster. Even with this Tricia gave them an assignment to read 1 John. As the girls had seemed totally check out, we didn't know if any would really do it. Today, We decided to split this group into two and do stories with the older girls separate from the younger ones in this ward. Much to our surprise, the older group all had done there homework. In fact they got in trouble during rest time, because they were talking about what they were learning and didn't fully understand. Which was the topic of the lesson tonight. In addition, they were able challenge the girls on jealousy as they have been struggling with this. They are so excited for what will come next.

Camp 2 - Day 2: When it Rains it Pours

This day was one of the most challenging in my camp career. The last one like it was 4 years ago. The day started over cast. The sky held the rain long enough to get through morning bible lesson and a little more. It was windy and cold enough we decided to not go to the sea. So we camp up with some quick fillers. What I did not anticipate is how quick those fillers were. Bible lesson ended abut 20 minutes early. I planed to do a scavenger hunt that I thought would take 15-20 minutes. As I started directions, it started to sprinkle. But I let the game continue. The trick was the 20 minute game took less than five. We then did a filler craft, which again I had hoped would take 15 to 20 minutes, as a couple of boys walked out, finished in about 3 minutes. Granted a few kids did take 20 minutes or so to finish. However, even with that it is now only 10:05 and Bible lesson is supposed to last till 10:00, so the two activities I had planed to fill the 2 hour beach time have only taken up 5 minutes. So Now we are trying plan C.

The counselors worked in their ward to prepare for the closing ceremony that would be later that day. I thought about an hour of this would be good, so in the second hour I started to plan yet another activity to do. Only to walk around to the counselors to learn it wasn't needed. Great, I'll stop working on that. But by now the rain is pouring down. The rain let up for lunch, just before planing the rest of the day. We will do opening ceremony, then bible ceremony and craft. Plan D If it is raining we will do these in the tent, but we will do them regardless. We finished the planning meeting, just as it started to rain again.

We celebrated Jenya's (a staff member, who pretty much does anything that isn't in everyone else's job description.) Birthday. Of course the team didn't have time to get a gift in all the craziness of the day, so that will have to happen later. We spent the remainder of rest time working on a script for the opening ceremony. At which point we decided that the ceremonies would definatley need to be held in the tent due to the rain. So Matt and Sergey moved all the benches to the tent. By the time they got the last one down their. It had rained so much that it had flooded under the tent and as you walk you sunk in the mud about 4 inches. So Plan E.

We can't do the opening ceremony in the dinning hall because there is no place for a stage. So we decided to do Bible Ceremony, then help set up for supper (because that would put us behind schedule), then after craft do a movie. We would save the opening Ceremony for tomorrow. The MC's including myself, had a sigh of relief as we had more time to prep and we could work during the movie.

Bible Ceremony went smoothly, followed by set up and supper. At which point it not only stopped raining, but also the sun came out. Well if the sun was out why would we watch a movie? So Plan F everyone was given one hour, to finish prep for the opening ceremony.

This of course includes finding a costume, setting up the order of all the skits, getting the music to the correct place, setting up the sound equipment, some how magically get the costume (which consists of a satin sheet and a curtain) to stay on, and finishing the script (Some of which happened on stage).

The Opening Ceremony went quite well. And although the day was crazy with changing plans, it all worked out.

The funny thing is the one thing I prayed for this camp was that it wouldn't rain, because the plan was "perfect." It wasn't that the plan was wrong, but God was telling me that it isn't my place to say that anything I created is perfect. Only He is perfect! His will, His plan. Today, was a strong reminder of those things.

Camp 2 - Day 1: Kids surprise me

Today we started the day by decorating the camp with sidewalk chalk, balloons. and streamers. The goal is to make camp as inviting and fun as possible from the moment the kids walk through the gate. The kids came/are still coming throughout the day. The first one camp before breakfast. The children from Kerch or neighboring villages came at random times throughout the day, and the groups from orphanages (family style or others). Came in larger groups. Two groups come tonight at midnight. So a few of us are staying up to meet them.

Following breakfast we did various activities for the kids to do as the rest of the children were coming. Bubbles, sidewalk

chalk, jump rope, basketball, football (a.k.a. soccer), and molding balloons. Of course the last one comes as a package deal with the clown outfit.

This little boy, Oleg (Pictured to the right), came to me and asked me to make a dog. So I did. He asked for another,

considering all the kids were asking for more this didn't really phase me. Until he shyly asked for a third. I asked why. Thinking that he was just getting greedy. When his response was. I have two sisters. I was so impressed! As others are begging for themselves. He was simply asking for the others that he loved.

We did some team building stations in the afternoon. Most of the games went over very well, however one was a flop. Good thing I have great team members who think on their feet and changed it to duck, duck, goose instead. Apparently it was much more successful.

After supper we did our first craft. Simple name tags. We talked about the craft rules, and I addressed the issue of stealing as lightly as possible. The manner drew a few laughs, which for day one is usually a good thing. And yet again the kids surprised me. After craft as we where cleaning up. A camper from the middle group, brought back into the room a camper from the youngest group. The older girl helped the younger to empty her hand which was full of "stolen" (I asked them not to take the extras so that we could use them for a later craft) stickers. After returning them they quietly turned and walked away. I was floor by how the kids are helping each other make good choices so early on in the camp.

The evening was filled with practice for tomorrow's opening ceremony, and bedtime stories (where we mostly focused on introductions). After all this you might think our night is done and it is now time to sleep. Which in this long day would make sense, however we followed it up with a little group worship and then we stayed up till midnight to welcome the 20 new kids in. Only midnight turned into almost 1 am. So now it is time for us to sleep.

Final Prep and Team Building

Today, after breakfast the team/interns and some interpreters, had devotions, a time to spend listening from others what insights God is teaching us and a time to bathe the camp in prayer.

The rest of the morning was spent preparing for camp. Planing opening ceremony skits, finishing craft and game prep, as well as discuss how we will do the other skits (talent show, salvation, and closing ceremony). Most all of the camp is sketched out nicely. The afternoon the team had rest time.

The evening was a time to build relationships. We played a quick game to find out where we would sit for dinner. Each person was given a card with an animal name on it and the people had to make that animal sound to find the others in the group and sit with them. The interesting thing is that apparently animals also

speak 2 different languages. Of course I rigged the game so that there was an interpreter at each table as well as volunteers, counselors, team members and interns. After dinner we played a couple of games. Whamp, a name learning game, which ironically I was dubbed the name Tanya and Tanya was given my name. I don't know how this helped anyone remember names, however It was hilarious because neither of us remembered that we didn't get to keep our own names (unlike the majority of the group who did have their own name). And after playing "Train Wreck" we had ice cream, coffee and tea.

Followed by S'mores. Which apparently most of the counselors

had never had before (You can't buy marshmallows here). It was fun to teach them some of our tasty traditions, and they loved it. I think one of our smallest counselors had about ten, and we had

another man who was roasting the marshmallows like shish kebab rotisserie style about 5-6 on a stick over the fire. Sharing many smiles, laughs, and stickiness. I think that tonight was a hit and a great time to get to know each other a little more.

Shopping & Team Prep

Today was a day to get acclimated to the time, learn a little about the culture and prepare for camp.

The team got to sleep in a little today, only having to be ready by 8:30 for breakfast. The problem. We started with meetings to learn about some of the dos and don'ts of camp. Then the team walked to the nearby market to exchange some money and pick up water. Later we had a short meeting to talk about the schedule of camp and main idea. Followed by lunch.

After which, the girls went shopping. Now before you get too excited. I would like to know how impressed I was at their sacrificed. They used almost all of their 2 checked bags for team supplies. Only having 1/4

of a medium sized suitcase for all personal clothing, toiletries, and necessities. They needed to purchase a couple of outfits here so that they can alternate them back and forth throughout camp. After stopping at a number of overpriced, very Euro style shops, we found a store with reasonable outfits we liked very much. I didn't think to take pictures of us in the newclothes, but I'm sure that you will see them throughout camp. We stopped for coffee on the way back, and did a little sight seeing as we walked to the bus stop. The last pictures is the team waiting for the bus to get back to camp.

In the evening we did some craft prep as we cut about 5 to 6 hundred yards of Ribbon/Yarn. We are not done, but got a good start on this. While working I had the privilege of listening to what brought each of the team members to Hope Center this year. As this took well over an hour, I can't type all of what they said. However, it is very clear that God has hand picked each of our team members specifically for this camp. I am so excited for this team.

Tricia, and Morgan joined me to so very rudely interrupt the Ukrainian Tea Party. We didn't mean to be rude, but wanted to meet the counselors. It turned out to be a great time to talk with some of the counselors and get to know them a little better. There where a lot of mouths dropping in unbelief, as many of the people in the group look younger than they really are. It is some of our first steps to bridging the gap between the different groups of people. And we invited them for dinner and ice cream tomorrow night.

Team Arrival and Prayer Updates

Today the team arrived. Sergey and I picked up the majority of the team from the airport a little before 4 pm and then waited for the remainder of the team who arrived about 2 hours later. This picture is of us waiting by our bus. While waiting we had ice cream.

We then traveled almost 4 hours back to Hope Center. With two "interesting" restroom stops. The team is very tired although super excited to be here. So after arrival and eating supper at 10pm they are going to sleep.

Prayer Updates: Praise God and thank you for your Prayers! Matt and Sarah's Extension has gone through so they do NOT have to leave tomorrow. As for the team member who had medical problems almost restricted her from coming, the medical issue has seem to melt away. Please Continue to Pray for Arianne, she would like to join us. however all the flights are booked for 2 weeks. Pray for her to decide if she would like to come with the next team if they can find flights at the time.

Prayer Updates

Thank you for your prayers. Especially for Arianne, she has decided to come to Ukraine after the Funeral. She is a trooper and really still would like to follow God's calling to be here. However now we need prayer for openings on flights as all flights are full. I will keep you updated on the status of this. However, please continue to pray for her throughout the trip, as I'm sure it will be a very difficult time.

On a different note in the last two days, I have just been prepping for camp stuff. I am almost ready, which is good because I only have one more day to prep.

Pray! Pray! Pray!

From the beginning of this trip, I have seen God work in amazing ways. He has hand picked amazing people to work here and be here, and I know that He is going to do miraculous things at this camp this summer. However, the spiritual warfare very real and very evident and your prayers are greatly needed. Please pray for the things that God places on your heart as often he lays something on your hearts before I can even tell you about it. But in any case just Pray, pray as often as you remember us. Here are a few things to pray for.

1) The Gaws: Matt, Sarah, and Campbell: First, You can only stay in Ukraine for more that 3 months if you get an extension. The person who is in charge of this and who has been working with us quit. We now have to deal with someone who is new, doesn't know us and apparently likes to do things by the book. On Thursday, Andrey goes to Simferopal to get this extension. However, if it is denied, the Gaws must fly hope on Friday. If they choose to stay and pay the fine, they will be black listed and once they leave they will not be allowed to come back to Ukraine for 5 years. Pray for God to miraculously grant this extension. Second, pray for their health. Satan has been trying to physically break them down all year, as they are repeatedly dealing with illnesses. Which is a rare thing for them.

2) Pray for the team: We have had many unexpected situations change the dynamic of the team. First, one person's job changed unexpectedly and could no longer come. Second, one team member received some medical news that may still prevent her from coming. Please pray for this to be a false alarm, or pray for God's miraculous healing, or pray that at the very least the timing is still OK for her to come. Third, pray for Arianne! Arianne has just lost her sister due to a car accident. Do to this she will not be leaving with the team on Wednesday. Pray for her and her family and her sister's five children in this very hard time. Arianne, was looking forward to this trip so very much. Every time she talked of her her eyes would beam with excitement. Pray for her to make a decision if she will join the team after Friday, or if she needs to stay home.

3) Pray for the staff at Hope Center: Pray for them as they still are dealing with the lost of their coworker last week, and also to protect them from all the other things that Satan is distracting them with. I don't know all the stories, but Sarah tells me that this year has been especially hard on many of them for various reasons.

4) Pray for the Kids: I truly believe that God is going to do amazing things in these kids lives this next camp. For many months now I have had the conviction that God is going to move in these kids live in ways I can only imagine. With that often comes some of the most challenging camp experiences. Last camp was very difficult - and God moved in amazing ways and many kids made first time professions of faith. Pray that God starts softening these children's hearts today. Pray that He protects them from all of Satan's distractions. Pray that they will clearly hear God's voice. Pray that they will respond and join God' Royal Family.

5) Just Pray! We need your help, you are just as important in this ministry as those of us who are here. God can do anything. Even though he doesn't need us to work, He wants us to rely on Him and therefore often waits for us to reach out to Him in prayer before acting. Please join us in praying that God displays His power in these kids lives at Hope Center this year. And please join us in Praising Him for all that He does and is doing already!

Water Park

On Sunday we went to a water park in Sudok. Of course I don't really know where this is. Somewhere between Feodosia and Simferopal on the Black Sea, for those of you who are more familiar with Crimean Geography. Which means that we drove 2 1/2 hours to play in the water for 3 hours and drive back for 2 1/2 hours. However it was a blast. We joined many of the counselors or Hope Center Staff and their families. Total their were 28 of us. We rented a bus. Ate lunch, which mostly was snacks, on the bus, and played cards to entertain us on our ride. Just as we arrived the clouds came rolling in. But we weren't about to let that stop us.

It was a joy to spend this time with our Ukrainian friends and build those relationships. I think everyone reverted by to childhood as we ran from slide to slide. Of course the favorite slide for everyone had a long line. It was also a partner slide so one person would stand in line while the other ran to another slide. They would come back while you ran to another slide, and this continued until everyone it was their turn to go on the partner slide. In fact one time I got in line with no partner at all and by the time we were done, I had 3 partners and on person in our line grew to almost our entire group. Apparently cutting in line is no big deal here. As long as the person lets you in it is fine. I felt bad for the people behind us, but they didn't seem to mind. So all day long we just found someone we knew in line and cut in. This was the tallest slide and at the top you could see that we this place is set in a cove at the bottom of mountains on the edge of the black sea. It was beautiful, but I can't take a camera down a water slide so I don't have a picture.

They had a total of 8 slides, 1 pool with fountains, and a kiddy pool with 3 slides plus fountains here. On slide went so slow, I got stuck in the middle and had to push myself down. But still got hit by the person behind me. Another slide (the kind that just go straight down). The guy at the top was trying to give me directions. I understood sit, but the rest I didn't understand. A soon as he realized I didn't get it, he shrugged his shoulders and shoved me down the slide. Another slide (innertube slide) they told us to keep our butts up, so we don't bottom out. Of course that was also in Russian and I didn't understand so I didn't follow those directions. I got yelled at for messing with the fountain in the pool, and although I didn't know all the words, I totally understood - but almost pretended not to. In any case even though I didn't understand a lot. I had a blast! And most importantly, build some stronger relationships with some of the Ukrainian staff.

4th of July Celebration

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days. The first couple days seemed just more of the norm. On the 2nd, we continued deep cleaning the craft room during the days and then played games in the evening.

On the 3rd, we went to the sea in the morning. This actually had a couple of purposes. First to relax. But most importantly, the other organization that is here now is hosting a camp for the kids from the Kerch Internat. This is the big, "state" run, orphanage in town. Many of these kids have come to one of our camps in the past and know some of us interns or know Matt & Sarah from different ministries that were done throughout the year. The kids had a hard time figuring out why we have not been involved in their camp. Why Matt doesn't come to do bedtime stories, etc. They have been asking for time to spend with us. So we went to the sea during their swim time to spend time with them.

On the 4th we went to the super market to get our celebration food for later that evening. In the afternoon we held our church service because Sunday we are going out of town. Tommy was our music pastor and Matt again did the "sermon." We talked about Forgiveness. Next we will have a little more of a bible study formate as each of us is going to do some reading about selflessness and bring to the group what God has put on our heart.

In the afternoon, we prepared for our evening cookout. In addition to preparing the food, we decorated with an American Flag, and a red, white, and blue paper chain. We had marinated chicken, and veggies on the grill. Sarah, Meghan, and Tommy made a fruit salad. I cut a watermelon up to look like a basket. Sergey was in awe has he had never seen someone do something like this to a watermelon. It wasn't even done well, but I guess it is only something we do in the States. Perfect for a 4th of July celebration. We made Ranch Dressing, which also doesn't exsist here. and I made Punch. Normally we make this with Kool Aid, orange juice, and Sprite. But at the store we accidentally grabbed the grapefruit juice instead. It made it a little interesting. But it worked.

After dinner we invited the Ukrainian Staff for ice cream with raspberries and some type of berry that is "blue." Not to be confused with blueberries and they definitely were not that. They wrote up a small "speech" to congratulate us on our celebration. Then requested that we say our pledge of allegiance and national anthem. So we did. Apparently this is quite amazing as no one here can sing their own national anthem. And they joked about the fact that their president may not even be able too. Some of us struggled a little with our words, but together we figured it out just fine.

We played a game waiting for it to get dark, and then pulled out the red, white, and blue glow sticks (which all night long I kept calling glue sticks -- I guess I have been spending too much time in the craft room.) And build a fire to make s'mores. Only we didn't have any cookies (which we use instead of graham crackers - they taste similar). So it was just marshmallows and chocolate. Worked for us.

Funeral

Today I attended the funeral of a precious woman. When I think of her Matthew 5:5, 8 comes to mind, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth...Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." She had such a quiet spirit, and beauty that radiates from inside. I wish I had a picture of her to show you, but I do not. 

The funeral was unlike ours in many ways, but then again the funerals at our church are unlike most even in the states.  It was a very silent time.  There "visitation" is outside their house.  People come and pay their respects in much the same way we do, but their is no one going to the back to talk about memories, or really to comfort each other, just silence. After, we went to the cemetery.  There was a whole row of dug graves. A pastor said a few words and then prayed. People closest to her kissed her forehead before the casket was nailed shut and lowered into the grave.  The women all put handfuls of dirt over, and then all the men grabbed shovels to close in the grave. The whole time silence.  I understand this respect, but I found myself missing desperately our celebrations of life.  And being able to celebrate that our loved ones are with Christ, even while we mourn.

I was told that her son was at our first camp, but I didn't know who it was until I was at funeral.

 At camp he was often off by himself.  During interest groups once he came to mine, but wouldn't participate.  He watched us for almost an hour, before joining in. In small moments we found him truly enjoying himself. However, because of his behavior and severe disrespect for his mother he was sent home early.  Please pray for him, especially, as I can't even begin to imagine what effect his Mother's death will have on him. At the funeral he was very somber, as one would imagine, and yet he mustered a small smile as he said, "Hi" to me.  He was very polite to all, but needed to make sure that his counselor from this camp and I received some food.  As far as I could tell we were the only two he served. I am glad that I went if only to encourage him a little simply by being their - as I had no words to express my sympathy for them.

Please pray for this family, for her husband, son, mother and siblings.  Pray for understanding of this unexpected death.  Pray that some how God's light and hope shines through this dark situation. 

Life's Impact - (Renae's Helen)

Tuesday the camp that was renting the facility out left and the new team comes in the afternoon. We got a break from raking to franticly clean buildings again.  However, by the time I changed a few beds I was told that they had all the help they needed in that building, so I went to the next building to see what I could do to help. And lucky me, all they needed help with at the time was raking!  So I started raking again :o)  At least until...

I got a visit from a camper from my first trip!  Her name is Helen and she came by and asked, "Where's Renae?" She came to bring a letter for Renae who she connected with 6 years ago.  I am amazed at how much these camps mean to these kids.  She is now 20 years old.  She still has the friendship book that we made in craft time.  This is like a yearbook, where people write wishes and notes to you.  She turned to the page that I wrote and said "this is your hand." And she then pointed out all that Renae wrote then and to the letters that Renae sent afterwords that she taped into this book. She asked that I write in it again. And then she asked if I remember... as she listed many people from that camp 6 years ago that impacted her life. It amazes me how much God can do to make lasting impressions in just a few days.  Truly this is a miracle.