Day 2 of the VBS started on a rainy note again, but that didn't stop everyone from having a good time at the camp!
Day 3: VBS Day #1
Day 1 of the SHAKE-IT-UP-CAFE came upon with alot of excitement! Eventhough it was rainy through out the day the kids were excited to be here! Here are a few of the shots that describe the day, there are so many stories that we are learning about these kids. Sometime its hard to imagine beyond the fun and laughter they have here, they go home to something very different.Morning Registration, approx. 70+ kids from age 6-13.
Pastor Kenny hanging out the kids before we start.
Gathering area where we sing, have our stories, and skits. Today I was doing the story and wrap up. It's always a scary experience for me leading so many kids in a different language. Luckily Vasya is awesome at translating and managing the kids.
Crystal and Vasya doing the intro to the week
We bought over some new balls and equipments for Free Time!!
The extremely talented group of ladies who can cook some amazing meals in LARGE quantities. I could've dedicated an entire blog on all the food we've been having here! What you are seeing here is Ukrainian goulash.
Prayer before Lunch. The new wood covering is new this year!! Saved the day (and week) for games and free time in the rain.
ummm... I don't know how to explain this... But its action associated to our name that we taught the kids... oh dear...
Football. The only sport they truly play. I have so many photos of this game...
As the rain continues, Vasya had his cousin over to built a tarp extension. This was completed in a few hours. Amazing efficiency.
Robyn and I were leading the games. Today was about getting Ready for God. Robyn also had a 'special' encounter with this little boy with the gloves. You can ask her for the detail :D Also note that since I am mostly in the Game session with Robyn I may not have the photos from the other group with me yet (Craft/Discovery).
The older group was a lot more competitive.
Snack Time after our wrap up!
Kenny was really looking forward to the bananas.
Boys and girls love soccer. She is a really good goalie.
Here is Andrew and I, Andrew is one of our translator. Very talented dude studying English literature. I truly hope he will be able to find work doing what he love!
Day 2: Sunday / Prep Day
Here's a recap of our first full day at HOM!Breakfast before Sunday service at the prayer house (church):
Arrived at the church. It was the shortest service I've had here, only 2 sermons (including Pastor Kenny's). Love, Love the choir. God truly blessed the people of Ukraine with amazing voices.
Pastor Kenny borrowed one of Vasya ties... His wedding tie :D
Van ride on our way back! Pastor Kenny and I sat on the lawn chair at the back of the van. Way fun!!
Robyn and Pastor Kenny having some fun with the kids!
After lunch we met with our translator and helpers:
We also have Susan Shaw from the state who have been helping several mission teams through Ukraine.
And also Annette from Norway.
Afterward we went outside for some fun with the kiddies:
With Robyn doing gymnastic,
and Grace and Lillian playing football with few of the kids.
Mark and Lillian
I tried to play the football.
After dinner we practice our VBS skit with the teens! Awesome (and very talented) bunch of teens!
Pastor Kenny rehearsing,
and breakdancing... ok not really... he's stretching...
Mark is Jesus and Peter
We've actually just finished Day of the VBS camp and are pretty tired but are super excited!!! Will post more soon!
Day 1 Arrival
Yes we have arrived at the House of Mercy last night! All of us are still trying to stay awake this afternoon and we are starting to unpack and get ready for tomorrow.
So how was our trip here? It was enduring for sure, we started from Calgary to Toronto (4hrs), 2 hrs layover, 8hrs flight from TO to Zurich, 1 hr layover, 1.5 hrs from Zurich to Budapest, 3 hrs van ride from Budapest to the border, wait 2 hrs, and then 30 min or so to HOM!
First things we are thankful for:1) All of us and the luggage arrived safely and also for the agent that check us in Calgary (see photo #1). He hand weighted all 10 of our luggage!!
2) Weather here is not so hot this week and event a bit cold with the overcast sky! Vasya say last week was so hot it was 35c in the shadows!!!
3) The kids are awesome. I don't know how to explain it, but getting off the van and meeting the kids (new and old) feels like I've never left.
Van ride follows...
Girls and guys room...
July 15 Day 4 Week 2
On this 4th day of the discipleship/leadership camp most of the teens and older group took responsibility to lead or apply what they had learned in some practical way. Those from the skills option either led singing or worked on the powerpoint. Those in the food lessons prepareed lunch. Those in the "leading games" option led games. Eunice and I spent the day leading the House of Mercy staff retreat. The day ended with a pizza party.
a great start to the day with crepes for breakfast
Olya and Monica leading singing
Maxim and Josef on powerpoint (Eric far right)
skit
games
Josef - games
older group skills option made deviled eggs
and grilled cheese sandwiches
Toma and Sasha at lunch
pizza party
learning Ukrainian phrases
parachute games - wrap the present
parachute game - chicken soup
July 14 Random pictures
Being sprayed with strong perfume by Monica (Pastor Allan and Kitty) that is!
the usualy trek back to the guest house after meals
yummny potato cakes
fun game of wrap the present with the parachute
Sasha, a team favorite
wading in the Uzh River on a hot day
Kitty trying to keep cool
game of frisbe in the water
learning to float
Reflections from July 10
Day 5 July 9
Praise God for another great day! God has been so faithful in answering prayers. Our final day went well and we concluded the day with presentations for the parents at the church where many of the staff at the House of Mercy attend. The team began with a team meeting and prayer. Our theme today was "planning to pray". The goal was to instill in the children a goal of making plans to pray. The Bible memory verse game demonstrated that proper planning leads to prayer and because prayer should be priority they need to schedule that in. So the craft was decorating a day timer where they would make sure to fit God into their schedule. We always ended off the memory verse game with a song that had a number of pauses that allowed for prayers. The children were amazing in that they were always ready and eager to pray. This song "More, More, More" became a favorite. Pictures are worth a thousand words so here they are:
Day 4 July 8
Praise the Lord for His awesome answer to our prayers. No rain at all even though the forecast was for rain. It was nice with sun and cool breezes. Our theme for day for was praying God's will. Our theme verse was from Isaiah 55:8. Many of the older kids knew the verse well. We talked about how God knows best and always looks out for our interest. So when it seems like a long while before He anwers He may not be saying "no" but wait. Or He may say ``yes`` immediately like yesterday`s answer for no rain And often God says `no` because we don`t need what we ask for. For crafts the kids made prayer journals.It was great to see the wonderful response to the gospel message presentation. Many put up their hands to re-commit while there were about 10-12 who raised their hands indicating they had prayed to receive Jesus. They were encouraged to talk to the teachers.
Day 2
Praise God for another wonderful day where as a team we experiemnced the wonderful grace of God. It was warm and sunny and the clouds appeared to give us some shade at periodic times during the day. Esther taught a handy way to pray using the fingers of our hands. We learned how to pray for people close to me (thumb), people far away (pointer finger), people in need (ring finger) and me (pinky). The kids made hand shaped foam crafts. The Bible memory game was staying focussed on prayer to avoid distractions. In all every one had a great time.
Photos Day 1
Send off and Arrival
Thanks to so many of you who were able to send us off with your prayers. We were so encouraged by you being there. A huge thanks. Knowing that your prayers are with us encourages us greatly.
In flight:
Our flight was delayed into Toronto and then our flight to Frankfurt was also delayed but thankfully we all got there including all our luggage.
Crossing the border into Ukraine was also an experience.
Saturday after breakfast we had a team meeting and reviewed our program with a few of the House of Mercy staff.
Introducing the.... 2010 House of Mercy Team!
Praise the Lord that we have a team of seven going this year: Pastor Allan, Crystal Wong, Jeff de Leon, Esther Chan, Pauline Kwong, Eunice Tan and Kitty Yim.This year our team got off to a later start and we are leaving a few weeks earlier than in previous years. It has therefore been a real whirlwind rush to get everything ready for our trip before we leave July 1. As usual God has been so gracious and abundant in His supply of resources. God has provided more than our target financial goal (surplus of $1200) and as well an abundant supply of resources. Praise the Lord!Our weekly team meetings have enabled us to plan our two week camp. The first one is a gospel camp and the second camp will be a discipleship/leadership camp. Praise God again for His enabling presence as we work together as a team.
Coming Events:1. Packing Party - The team will be getting all our items (teaching materials, resources, craft supplies, gifts, etc.,) out and going to try to place them into our luggage on Tuesday, June 29th, 7:30 pm at the church chapel. You are welcome to come to help or to cheer us on!2. Send off - We fly out on Thursday, July 1st Canada Day. We are meeting for prayer at the airport chapel at 9:00am and we invite you to come. That's where we will pray and say our goodbyes. Hope you can come out. :)
Prayer Items:1. Health – Pray for our physical health that we would stay healthy through our time now and when we are there. Pray for our spiritual health: that we would stay close to God in spite of our busy schedules and for our devotional study on leadership. Pray that we would lean upon the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit.2. Perfect weather - as always, continue to pray for great, mild, rainless weather for our camp so that the kids can focus, we as leaders can focus and so all the activities will run smoothly.3. The Holy Spirit to go before us and soften kids' hearts to hear God's truths during the camp.4. Team unity - as we organize and change plans, that we have complete patience and love for one another. That we would continue to grow spiritually in praying together.5. Travel: that we can make all our flight connections, have fun traveling as a team, and that no luggage will get lost.6. Pray for the House of Mercy Staff as they host us, the children who will be attending the camps and all our helpers.
Stay tuned for regular updates.
Timothy
During our stay at HOM we met Vasya & Olya's new addition, Timothy :)
Day 18 - Budapest, Hungary
Day 18 marked our last full day in Europe. We spend the most of the day like a tourist and also visited Shaun and Sondi (& family) in the evening. It was an interesting experience for me because I've never been in this part of the world before, but it was also difficult for me to see everything as I can feel my body is winding down and looking forward to resting at home...During the morning we ate breakfast at a McDonald's in town... it was one of the most beautiful MickyD we've ever been too... the building was amazing... Afterward we stopped by this train station...
=
We spend the morning at a local market...
For lunch we ate close to the Castle district in a cafe called Marvelosa. The lunch took 2 hrs (not by our choice)...
From the Castle district you can see the beautiful city of Budapest...
We want to give a HUGE THANKS to Valery for driving us around. The traffic is insane in Budapest... its like rush hours all the time...
We met up with Shaun & Sondi's family (one of the missionary family SCCEFC supports) in the late afternoon/evening...
... also we met the new addition to their family...
... here is Kelen with his lego... his brother was asleep...
After our visit we left for a local mall (very similar to our malls) and had dinner at the food court. We also bought some snacks for the debrief meeting we had that night. It was interesting to hear everyone's sharing and we hope we will be able to share with each of you soon!
Day 17 - Leaving Ukraine
Day 17, probably one of the hardest part of the trip, leaving. After Sunday worship, everyone gathered to say Good Bye...
As we boarded our van, the kids blocked the entrance!
After we left the gate, everyone was sad...
We proceeded with the 5 hr trip (1.5 hr at the border; which involve us unloading all our luggage for "special" inspections.). We arrived in Budapest in time for dinner...
As a team building exercise, Tiffany had to eat a piece of tasty fat.
After dinner we found our hotel... One thing we learned about Budapest is parking, it is very difficult. The streets are narrow and most parkade have height restrictions...
We rested early got ready for the next day!
Day 16.2 - Talent Night!
Our last event of the trip, the much anticipated Talent Night! From young to old, there was much to show!!
From singing, drama, piano, guitar, to crazy acrobatic feats! They were all extremely talented!!!
... and one of the most tastiest talent of all!
As we ended the last talent, we announced the people's choice Photo award (From the photography workshop this week) and also the HOM staff and kids presented us with some gifts! This was our last night here at HOM and many of us were sad to leave the next day.
Day 16.1 - Sat. Aug. 8th, Hospital & Visitations
On Saturday morning we left for another town to visit the regional hospital. On the way there we saw some abandon houses, one in particular had hundreds of birds/bats flying out of it. Vasya told us Transylvania was only a hundred Km; Home of Dracula :)
We came to visit the hospital mainly to visit the Children's ward. We will only post a few photos here for privacy reasons. As we chatted with the doctor there we discover the painful condition they are working in. Nearly all the furniture, supplies, and tools are donated by humanity aids. Regular doctors are payed around $130 CDN, while higher up doctors have a monthly wage of $300 CDN. We were allowed to visit the room where abandoned babies stayed. Today there were 11 here.
The doctor also show us some of the things they pulled out of their lungs...
We also visited an operating room and saw some of the old equipments they are using. The room had only windows for ventilation. They are happy even if they can get more used equipments...
However in the hospital parking area there was one very new & shiny ambulance donated from U.S. (Their normal ambulance is just a green van with nothing inside...). Unfortunately we were told they never use it because it uses too much petrol, the hospital can't afford to use it.
After we left the hospital, we visited some of the children on the way back to HOM.
This is where we found Ira & Anna (Sisters) and another Anna & her brother who had been practicing a drama for a whole week in anticipation for our visit. It was the story of Cain & Abel.
As we visited several families, we hear the tragic stories behind each of them. Each deserves our prayers and support. They are children full of potentials after all...
... And as we head out, we found ourselves in the middle of another stampede...
Day 15 - Friday, Aug 7th
Friday, our time is coming to an end here at HOM... Today the team(Few of the team member rotate during morning & afternoon) and the staff left for their Staff Retreat!As we start out our day with song and game (Telephone charade) we see some of the kids bring their toy (AND their gift bag) to the meeting hall. They really love the gifts you gave them!
After the english class we had work books, coloring books and balloons for the kids to enjoy their free time.
Ljuda was cutting her new workbook she got!
Oksana was learning some hair cutting technique with her new hair dresser tools! (THX to the SU family!)
During the evening we took everyone(Kids and Staff) out to a really nice restaurant to celebrate the end of the 2 weeks!
After dinner we played with the kids for a bit more since we know our time with them is nearly over ...
Day 14 - Thursday, Aug. 6th
A bit behind in my updates, but here is Thursday!For our english class we taught numbers and time. What better way to learn than playing "What time is it, Mr. Wolf?"...
In our photography workshop, we handed back the photo they took from Monday. There was a lot of very creative shots and we found out they are very good at posing (Modeling)! The photography class not only let them explore the world and people around them but it is also a way to teach them to share (1 camera for 2 people) and how to take care of the toys and equipments they have.
We also gave out prizes for winners of 6 categories...
After our workshops, the team started to prep for the Chinese dinner that night!
I attempted to fried the chicken...I cringe as the oil bounce onto my hand...
Everyone waited as the food was presented...
... Explaining the food!
The ladies that cooked for us for the past 2 weeks...
What did we cook???
And of course there was BBQ PORK!!!
After dinner everyone waited while we cleaned up and get ready for the Gift presentations (The gifts from SCCEFC!!)
... playing Indiana Jones...
Vlery doing the summersault on the bar!!!!
The kids here love the outdoor!
These kids are pretty amazing... They build this secret club house for the girls... using blinds for door, brick laded floor (interlocked!) and hangers for their gospel bracelets!!
As we waited inside the hall Maxim show us his Juggling skill (a workshop we held this week)
Time to give out YOUR gifts!!!
After we presented all the gifts, the HOM staff gave us something really incredible... An original canvas painting by a local artist in Ukraine... Vlery got Tomson's passport early in the day and had documentations made to transport this painting back to Canada (we didn't know why he wanted Tomson's passport until that night)...
As our night ended, we took some pictures with the kids! They really love the gifts you all gave them!!!!
