Ukraine Crisis: SCCEFC update

Dear SCCEFC (South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church) and Friends,

As you have heard on the news, the situation in Ukraine has gotten worst with the invasion by Russia. Our church has deep connections with the Ukrainians as we have maintained a long-term relationship with our friends in House Of Mercy in the western city of Uzhhorod. But did you know our church also supports two other missionaries/projects in Ukraine? In total, we have three mission fields that are in need of your prayers today!

1. The House of Mercy, Uzhhorod. A Children & Orphanage Center, that we visit and partner with since 2007.

2. Mission Worker: Andriana (Андріана Жануаріу). Andriana is a frontline worker with the Roma people in the Uzhhorod region. She recently had a tumour removed from her brain and has just returned home for recovery. Her husband is holding up the ministry while she is recovering. They also have a newborn baby. Please continue to pray for her and the Roma people she serves.

3. John and Leanne Paetkau: They are current in Cochrane on home furlough, but their mission field is in Sumy. Here are their latest prayer requests as of yesterday:
   
   Please pray for the SEND team in Ukraine today. The team has relocated to the western part of Ukraine from Kyiv, and they need continued wisdom on what the next step might be.
   Please pray for our friends in Sumy (who are located right up on the northern border only miles from Russia). Pray for Pastor Misha and the leadership of Sumy Grace Church as they minister both to their families and the congregation. Pray that they would have peace as they go about their daily lives with the looming shadow of conflict hanging over them.

We want to rally our church to pray for these partners on the mission field as well as the country as a whole. We love them very much and it is heartbreaking to see what others are doing to their beloved country.

Let's lift our prayers to God for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.

In prayers,
Pastoral Staff and the Mission Committee

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What we can pray for:

• For more peacemakers / Matt. 5:9

• Strength for the God's people in Ukraine / Psalm 27:1-3

• Justice and Righteousness / Prov. 21:15

• Wisdom for government and leaders / 1 Tim. 2:1-2, Eph. 6:12

• Help from God for the people / Psalm 121

• Hope for justice and peace from God / Isaiah 2:4

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Ukraine Crisis Support

To financially support the crisis in Ukraine, SCCEFC recommends two avenues to help:

1. SCCEFC has the “House of Mercy” fund that you can designate your offering to (a tax receipt will be provided). The funds will support HoM and its efforts to help the growing number of refugees entering their region.

NOTES: If you do not wish to receive a tax receipt, you can use the following security question and answer for the e-transfer:
Security Question: The M in HOM
Answer: Mercy

2. Donate to the Red Cross. The government of Canada is matching (up to $10M).

Prayer Requests 2019

• We have fulfilled the donation goal and have also gone 2000 dollars over the goal. Thank you all for your support and prayers

• Praise God because we have also collected all of the materials we need and are going to pack it on this Wednesday 6:00 pm

• We are going to leave this Thursday, please pray for our trip and that God’s presence and guidance will be with us as we spread God’s word to Ukraine House of Mercy

Day 13: Last day in Ukraine

On our last Monday in Ukraine we visited some of the children in the rural villages as well as one of the Roma settlement in the city. To be able to see where these children lives helps us to have a greater understanding of their challenges and pain. When we hear a story of how children saved their drunk mother from drowning by keeping her head above water in a watery ditch, it is truly heart breaking. Our hopes and prayers is for the gospel to reach deep within these family's lives and also into the system that enslave them. 

An important thing I've learned is that it is sometimes easy to show and display the needs and poverty of a people group versus their strength and assets. But by doing that, we may inadvertently lower their dignity and value. If our mission is to participate in the restoration of humanity's relationships with God and our value as being made in the image of God, we will need to shift our focus toward the other's strengths and potential as opposed to what they don't have or what they can't achieve. The depth and width of what Christ has done go beyond our broken spirit and individual salvation, it is big enough and powerful enough to change the world, and with it, the transformation and reconciliation of political systems and social structures. 

On our last evening together, we had a great evening of fellowship with board games while children played out in the field. It is interesting to see how everyone comes together to form this community. Their desire to fellowship together is not a program, but it grows out of a commitment and love to be together. They are not together because of services rendered; it's not because there is a children program while parents meet, or a great speaker for the meeting. But there is a deep desire to serve and love one another as a family. As I consider what it means to have hope and faith on this trip, I am challenged in that maybe my hope is too small and too narrow. If my hope is based on a narrow view (N.American perspective) of what family and community mean, then I may have missed out on the rich meaning of being adopted to into the family of God. Reflecting on my time spend here from my first trip in 2009 to today, I've learned from HOM and their families of what being adopted into a family means, and that a community that flows from the love of Jesus is absolutely powerful even in the midst of darkness.

As we take photos with some of the youths we've seen grown up, we give thanks to God for how He guided their paths. We pray for all the little ones that they too, will know the loving presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and that one day, we can gather together to share what God has done in their adventure with our saviour.  

Prayer Request:

1. We will be leaving for Budapest tomorrow, please pray for a good journey home. 
2. Pastor Adriel has developed a dry cough that's not getting better. Please pray that he will have rest and healing. 

Day 2: Staff Retreat, hanging out with kids, and volleyball!

Our first day started with an awesome breakfast at HOM. Our team quickly hit the ground running as we split into two groups. Pastor Adriel and I got our staff retreat materials together and left to an off-site location with the HOM staffs. Crystal and Daniel stayed behind and began to prepare the materials for the teen's workshop and children camp prep that is happening on Friday and Sat.

* Vasya and Adriel leading worship.

Our staff retreat is one of the highlights for our team and the HOM staff as we provide a breathing room for worship, devotion, and discussions. It is a blessing for our team to be able to read the scripture and worship in songs together with our brothers and sisters here. For most of us, it is a glimpse, an experience, of the Church unified across all racial and ethnic boundaries. Regardless of our difference in language, it is incredible to hear the excitement as we contemplate God's word.

During the morning, we spend some time looking at how we can grow our vision by looking at the cycle of grief and the cycle of grace. In the afternoon, we looked at asset mapping as a tool for organization and community development. One of the most critical moments in our staff retreat is a time when our team stopped talking and gave them space to discuss and reflect among themselves. It is vital from our perspective that the HOM staff can pursue their mission from God not by what we think they should do, but that our role is to provide various tools, space, and encouragement as they confidently seek God's directions and opportunities. We want to be their cheerleaders! 

* Team building games are LOVED by the staff here! 

During the evening a few of us play a few games of football with the children at the centre, but after our dinner, our team left for the Mercy campsite for 2+ hours of epic volleyball matches! Crystal was able to play for the whole time which is a blessing as the weather was beautiful. 

Our team ended off the night past midnight as we debrief on our day and the day to come. Confident to say, we all slept very quickly last night. 

* Football game late afternoon with some of the kids. Quite a few new kids we met today!

Day 1.2: Arrived!

We have arrived! 

After a delayed flight at the Toronto airport due to an "unfit-to-fly" plane (which turned out to be a nice break before we have to sit for another 8 hrs on a plane), a medical emergency that happened to a passenger five hours into that same flight, a piercing light from another passenger's desire for nature light for reading when the whole plane was asleep at 4am EST, and a curious airport custom agent who seem concerned about the bullhorn megaphone in one of our box... We've made it, and all our luggages have made it too.

We are excited to get started tomorrow with the staff retreat and camp prep. We spend the evening unpacking, getting things organized, and realizing things we forgot like my laptop display adapters. We even had time to practice a few camp songs for an hr before our bodies reminded us to sleep. 

As to the weather? It's the nicest cloudy 23c-25c I've experienced on arrival in Budapest. The weather this week in Uzhhorod is cloudy with a few showers, its perfect! Next week could be a mixture of sun and cloud. We do hope there will be good weather days for the kids to have fun outside during the camp though! 

A thanksgiving item: Pastor Adriel felt better after we landed in Toronto and he spends some time "getting it out of his system" aka. #YYZ washroom. After that, he slept really good all the way to HOM. 

Pray that our team will get adjusted to the time and environment quickly. We are all looking forward to hanging out with the kids, youth, and staff tomorrow! 

Every trip there is always a photo of our team sleeping in transit... 

Unpacking and reorganizing our luggages after dinner! 

Day 1.1: Off we go!

Thank you to all who came to pray with us as we check-in to our first leg of the trip! 

Please pray for Pastor Adriel as he has a sudden bout of nausea. Pray that God will heal what is causing his condition and that God will sustain all of us on our journey! 

Warm tea for Adriel’s stomach. 

Come pray with us on our departure!

We will be leaving for Ukraine on Friday, July 17, 2015, shortly after 2 PM local time! We encourage you if you are available to come to the Calgary Airport's public chapel from 12:30 PM to 1:15 PM. We would love to pray with all of you as we begin our journey! 

Let the meetings begin...

The team's intensive planning sessions have begun and we are excited to be heading back to Ukraine this year. Along with VBS and Roma day camps we are looking forward to evolving our discipleship / leadership trainings for the youths. Here are some updates and prayer requests:

1. Our flight tickets are booked! We will be leaving on the afternoon of July 17th and will be returning on Aug. 3rd. Thank God for providing an efficient and cost-effective itinerary!!
2. Look for our Supplies Board in the chapel foyer starting on May 10th!! Be part of a child's camp experience by purchasing one of the many supplies we need!! 
3. Our team will be sharing in the Joint Cantonese / Mandarin service this coming Sunday (May 3rd.)!! Pray for words of wisdom and prayer support from the congregations.
4. Continue to pray for the planning and direction of this STM. We want to make the most of our times in Ukraine, not just with programs but in relationships. Pray that God will give us discernment in using His time wisely. 

Pride and Roma

You will have seen the Day 4 photos by now, but there is unfortunately one event that morning that marred an otherwise perfect day.Note that the below is related to us in a first person view from the kids involved in it themselves. It is the final "revision" that we counselors have agreed to accept as what actually happened, but we only arrived at it after several people involved in it changed what they said. And there is obvious disagreement between the people involved on account accuracy.

One of our younger participants felt that another older one had been disrespectful to one of his family members; it is unclear whether he means one of his sisters/relatives attending the camp with him, or another relative that he or his brother shared about at bedside on Wednesday night. He confronted the older participant Thursday morning in the elder's room, while all the camp leaders and translators were doing devotions. The younger asked the older participant to take back what he had said or done. The older one refused.

At this point, we do not know who pushed who first, but there was a physical confrontation. The younger participant's neighbor heard the commotion and rushed to defend him; the older participant's two friends, who came from the same Roma camp as him, also noticed what was going on and did likewise, escalating the confrontation until the younger participant and his neighbor left the room.

We would not receive word about this incident until breakfast time, when three boys refused to show up at breakfast.

This has been heavy news on the entire Roma team. I personally have fellowship with the three older boys at the same table everyday, every meal, and am a role model for them; the other leaders have similar or deeper levels of relationships with all five boys.

We have asked the younger participant to apologize to the older one for fighting with him, and asked the older one to apologize for disrespecting the younger's female relatives. Both have complied. But the older one has refused to accept the younger one's apology, and when asked, also refused to apologize to the younger one for fighting with him. He instead asked to leave; to call his camp to provide a ride for him. When Lisa tried to convince him to stay, he declared he would walk if he had to, so he could return to his camp. His two friends also asked to leave after he did so.

In the end, we granted the requests of all three boys. But it is with burdened hearts that we do so.

Upon hearing about this after the Roma camp, Vasya himself noted that the outcome of the confrontation was to be expected. Despite having much of their culture, their identity, and their very dignity as human beings stripped away, the Roma remain fiercely prideful. In fact, their pride forms a mental protection and coping mechanism for dealing with how unfair the world deigns to treat them; but this same invulnerable shield is a terrible wall that blocks out forgiveness, mercy, grace, and the immense love that comes from the saving message of Christ's resurrection.

It is a tragedy, that pride is one of the few things that the present Roma share in common with other humans. And where it concerns missions, they would be better served without it if they are to willingly and sincerely come to Christ and mature in His character.

I don't intend to sound like I'm pontificating or self-righteous. If I am, I apologize. But I am all too familiar with pride, and it's destructive results to both the self and to everyone around it. To see it here, with only trivial differences between it and my past experiences, has saddened me, angered me, and put me on my guard. My fellow teammates also had strong reactions to this, though I will respect their thoughts and not attempt to detail them here.

On Monday, we will be visiting the camp that the three elder boys came from, to host a day camp. We expect the pastor of that camp will ask us why those three will be sent back, and we will have to recount our story. Though my fellow team members may have some idea of what will come, I have no clue what kind of fallout the confrontation will create, or if we will even get a chance to communicate with those boys, who need our prayer and intervention by the Holy Spirit.

Please pray for us, as we battle with our emotions and our reactions to this storm. Please pray for the continued mission to the Roma, that God will work boldly through it to bring his children back into his family. But most importantly, please pray for the Roma themselves.

Pray specifically for the five boys who fought each other, and pray for the Roma as a whole, that humility would become a virtue, and not a vice to them.

Pray that the godliness that Christ and the servants of God show become a role model for young and old Roma alike, displacing their old, prideful sin nature.

Thank you, for your time in reading this, and in what care and thought you might have for our progress.

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Anna Maria

This is Anna Maria. She's a girl that doesn't live at the House of Mercy, but she does come to the camps. Her mother passed away last year, and she is currently living with relatives since her dad is in the hospital because he has tuberculosis. Her relatives beat her and are alcoholics. The HoM has been trying to bring her to live at the HoM, but her father refuses to give up the rights to his daughter because he gets money from the government for having her, and so he's unwilling to let her go even though she's suffering.  Please pray for her protection/future, as well as for her father to realize that giving the daughter to HoM may be the best choice for his daughter.

Prayer Request

Hi All,Our House of Mercy (HOM) camp is going well but there's a problem right now with widespread stomach illnesses.  At first it was just the Canadian team but as each day progresses, we're hearing more and more children and HOM staff being hit hard with stomach problems.  Nobody really knows what's causing it, so we could really use your prayers!

Tiffany was hit particularly hard in the past 12 hours and has been completely out of commission, basically bedridden, today, while Pauline is working at half capacity.

Thanks all.

ROMA: Day 1 Going On Day 2!

So busy and so fast!That's what went through my mind today as we were going through the first lesson for the Roma kids - God calling David to be anointed as King of Israel.

Even with registration being prolonged from one hour to two and some hours in order to collect all the kids via minivan, the day was just stuffed from one end to the other - so much so that I actually couldn't take pictures of everything!

Highlights probably go to the first time doing worship for this camp, along with all the creativity during crafts time, the well-mannered behavior during  meals, and a really rousing bedside fellowship that is going on even as I type!

Just some prayer points that were going through my head as we end this day off:

- Pray to thank God for our kids! This year, about half our kids came back from last year, and we actually had more kids coming from the Roma camps than we anticipated! We hope to lead all of them into becoming future heroes and leaders in their camps for God!

-Pray to ask God for wisdom and flexibility. Finding out that the English words "Get Up" had some...unsavory...homonyms in the Gypsy tongue lead to us having to cut that worship song from our list. And we've also had to adjust locations for our worship/crafts/meeting area due to changing circumstances. I'm sure there are lots of other little things that we'll have to adjust for to improve this year's camp, but we'll need the adapting spirit, the trust in God, and some inspired initiative if we are to tackle all of them effectively.

-Praise God for our translators! Lara, Sasha, Mark, and our new translator, Joshua, are all incredible in their commitment to the Roma kids, and they've pulled more than their weight and then some not only with being translators, but also as guides, mentors, handymen, porters...you name it, they rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to help us side by side. Pray that God will bless their hearts and protect their minds and bodies in the coming days.

-Pray for our hosts, the owners and operators of the hotel that we are using for this year's Roma camp. They were a great help to us last year, but this year they've renovated most of the hotel and have a bigger client base using their facilities. As a result, there is some friction between their regular operations and our Roma camp that did not exist last year. Pray for openness on both our part and on the part of the owners, that we can anticipate each other's needs and coordinate to better benefit each other. Pray also that God will move in the hearts and minds of the owners and their clients, that they can continue to look past local biases towards the Roma and see and treat them as they are and deserve to be: as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

If you were expecting pictures, don't worry - there will be some coming up soon, I promise! For now though, I leave you with one concluding thought about today: Everything went better than expected.

Prayer request for recovery!

Just a few hrs ago, Daniel went with boys from the centre to go fishing via biking, he fell on to some metal barrier and made a nasty gash. We took him to see a doctor and got a few stitches put in. Pray that he will not get any infections on his shin.He's still in good spirit as you can see below!!

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Urgent Prayer Request!!!

Please pray for Vasya's daughter Anna as she badly broke her arm this evening. She is now at the hospital waiting for surgery. Please Pray that God will comfort her and provide the best care at the hospital so she can have a quick recovery!!

Prayer Requests!!

As we are nearing the end of the first week camp, we have some thanksgivings as well as prayer requests!

So, thus far, here is what we are all very thankful for:

• God providing us with this opportunity to reach a large group of people in a meaningful way, entrusting us with the Gospel message
• God guiding us safely to Ukraine
• Fellowship with, and great hospitality of, brothers and sisters at the HOM
• God encouraging and challenging us through the Bible (specifically Philippians)
• The 77 children who were able to attend the first day of the HOM camp and 67 on the second day
• The support the team has received from brothers and sisters back home
• The growth many of the teens have experienced over the past several years
• That many of us have been able to witness the transformations God has been doing in many of them
• The team member with heat exhaustion is recovering well!

Right now here are some things we'd like you to join us in prayer about:

• Pray for the Spirit to constantly be speaking through us (during lessons, games, crafts, science experiments, free time, meals, etc.) and that we would be constantly abiding in Him so that the camp is fruitful and effective in glorifying God and bringing people into loving relationships with Him
• Pray that kids would be blessed with a lasting hope from their exposure to God and His people
• Pray that God would communicate through the language barrier to the kids to let them know that they are dearly loved by Him and all of us
• Pray for wisdom to know how to invest our time - the amount of work that goes into executing the camp can be overwhelming at times and we don't want to miss out on opportunities God gives us because we're too focused on less important things
• For tomorrow's presentation to the parents! That God will speak through the children as well as Courtney's sharing! Also 1 part of the presentation is currently being modified last min. due to buggy VBS softwares :(.

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Roma Camp 1st Day

After our breakfast at HOM, we brought all our material over to the Roma camp site and set up. Praise the Lord! This is a last minute arrangement due to a schedule conflict with another booking; but the facility and location are wonderful.

20 Roma showed up on time @ around 12:30 - 11 boys and 9 girls. We had our lunch after a quick registration and orientation, and then jumped right into the program:Bible LessonGame TimeCraft TimeHygiene LessonsThe night was wrapped up by a lesson re-cap in small groups, singing, and night snack!

All of the children are very excited as it is the first time to most of them enrolling in a summer camp.

As most of the children are new to this environment, there are some challenges  Roma team would like to ask for your prayer:May we have the Holy Spirit guidance with the strength and the patience to show their Children's Christ love without the hindrance of discipline issues.May the Lord provide all 9 of us (5 STM & 4 translators) with the necessary physical strength to fill this camp with joy.May the Lord continue to guide and unite us all through the rest of the Camp.Thank you!

(Sorry on the brief update due to computer difficulty. Hopefully it can be worked out tomorrow!)

Stuck in Frankfurt

Our day began with a delayed flight out of Budapest to Frankfurt by about an hr + half. As we arrive in Frankfurt we are told the delay was because of a thunderstorm, but after we landed we realize we cannot make the connection to our flight to Calgary. After several runaround by different agent we found the ticket area for Lufthansa with hundreds of people waiting... We took our number... #538... The number at 2PM was around 413 or so.... During the 6 hrs of waiting we were intrigued by the number of people needing reconnections and then we heard rumor that its because there was a strike going on at the airport... But at long last at around 8PM our number was called and we got our flight rebooked the next morning at 9:25AM (arriving at 11:25AM/Tuesday). 

Our team is now residing at a hotel 15 min away from the airport, we are going to rest up and get to the airport bright and early at 7:45 or so just in case there is a strike... Please pray that we will make it back home tomorrow!!!

Day 9: Sunday / Rest day / Sick day

Today was Sunday and we had our last sunday service here at the church. Unfortunately I started to fall ill (Cold/Stomach issues/fever/chills...). I was shivering for the first 2 sermon but felt better on the 3rd one (Yes they have 3 sermons). Please pray that God will sustain me as we move to week 2 of the discipleship / skills camp as well as the Roma camp that will be happening on Tuesday + Wednesday.Today was definitely a nice easy day for our team. Our team rested and some spend some more time with the kids. Also pray for Erik as he is in similar situation as me. And also for Pastor Kenny as his back is aching, pray that it will get better!

Tomorrow we will spend the morning practicing with the older kids for 2 skits at the Roma camp and then in the afternoon we will start our week 2 camp.

Thanks again for all of your prayers again! We know God is sustain us through your petitions!!