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Ukraine team prayer and meeting for the camp kick off

Yes....today is the day for the first day of camp kick off. Our Ukraine team met together for our team devotion and prayer before our busy day..Go Team Go....(sorry, my hands are holding on the iPad). Go Mercy Go....Go Roma Go....

We learnt from Psalm 32 today about confessionConfessionConfession Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God. Almighty and most merciful Father,we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep,we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts,we have offended against thy holy laws,we have left undone those things which we ought to have done,and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us,spare thou those who confess their faults,restore thou those who are penitent,according to thy promises declared unto mankindin Christ Jesus our Lord;and grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake,that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.The Almighty and merciful Lord grant us absolution and remission of all our sins, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen.

Psalm 321 Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, *and whose sin is put away!2 Happy are they to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, *and in whose spirit there is no guile!3 While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, *because of my groaning all day long.4 For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; *my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer.5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, *and did not conceal my guilt.6 I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." *Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.7 Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; *when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.8 You are my hiding-place;you preserve me from trouble; *you surround me with shouts of deliverance.9 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; *I will guide you with my eye.10 Do not be like horse or mule, which have no understanding; *who must be fitted with bit and bridle,or else they will not stay near you."11 Great are the tribulations of the wicked; *but mercy embraces those who trust in the LORD.12 Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the LORD; *shout for joy, all who are true of heart.

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Team water bottle

Weather has been quite hot in Ukraine recently. In order to keep up with the weather, we have to drink a lot of water. Other than the water we drink during meal time, each team member has to keep themselves hydrated. Here are our Ukraine size water bottles....not the typical 500 ml size. We use the supersize 1500 ml bottles....

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Roma camp update

This year's Roma camp will be focusing in leadership training and development with our Roma teens. The camp site will be about a short drive from House of Mercy in a retreat centre. We will be expecting about 20 teens from four different nearby settlements.For this week's Roma Camp, please feel free to pray for us according to our schedule below....remember to add 9 hours ahead to your time in Calgary, then you will get the Ukraine time.

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Ukraine House of Mercy and Roma Camp will be starting soon

House of Mercy and Roma Camp will be starting tomorrow morning. Both teams were busy today setting up the camp and preparing for the big day tomorrow. Ukraine time is about 9 hours ahead of Calgary. Please pray for us as we starting the first day of camp. Please pray for the physical health for everyone as we are struggling a bit with the heat and jet lag.The Sun is hot especially around noon time. Pray for our spiritual preparation for the camp and coordination with all our helpers and translators.....

Here are a few more snap shots...

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Roma Camp: The Setting

So this is the hotel that we'll be using for this year's Roma camp? Wow.IMG_0151

According to Lisa and Tomson, it was also last year's location for the Roma camp. I'm impressed.

This year we'll be using the outside tented patio for our meeting and worship area.

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And if you walk along the right hand side through the parking area...

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...you'll see the tennis courts which we can use for outdoor games and sports!

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More pictures of our trip to HoM

Uncle Tomson has already posted a few pictures from his tablet, thanks to roaming access to the internet. Let me fill out the story now that we have safely arrived at HoM and connected back to the internet.Our team prepares to board the cross-atlantic flight to Amsterdam

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Finally on board! We get dinner, breakfast, and a snack as we fly to Amsterdam, then transfer to Budapest.

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At Budapest, we meet up with a minibus to cross the Hungary/Slovakia/Ukraine border and reach the House of Mercy.

 

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Finally, after many long hours, we arrive, safe and sound!

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Thank you for all your prayers of protection! Now God's work through us can truly begin!

Day 15 Good Byes...

Saturday morning marked our final good byes to all the kids and friends at HOM. It was very difficult to get on the vans as we all didn't want to leave...

... but even after we got onto the vans, we were met by a blockade...

As we left HOM each of us was loss for words... Jeff suddenly realize he didn't know where his passport is... The border was coming up close, we frantically search for it on the van...

At the Slovakia and Ukraine border...

My van's fearless driver... There was quite a few scary moments on the road, but he drove like a F1 champ.

After 5-6 hrs on the road (hrs at the border) we reached Budapest.

... and we ate at the Chinese restaurant we always go to after each Ukraine mission trip...

In the evening we made a quick tour in the castle district... beautiful night... we missed the kids...

Early next morning, Valera made 2 trips to the airport to get us all to the airport... we say our final good bye to Vasya and Valera. The long long trip home began....

 

Day 14 Recap

Our last full day at HOM and our last day of camp!!

Closing prayer for the end of our camp...

We also had a show & tell for each of the skills workshop. First up, the Flight class present their planes and their theme verse!

... Drama class present their skits! See if you can guess which Bible story they are doing:

.... Then the soccer class show off their drills!

.... the skill of diving just for fun lol!

Group photo!

JUMP!!!

After the camp has ended, the team got to cooking for tonite's Chinese dinner! Led by our Iron Chef Pun!

Part of our team got to finish a few bracelets for some of the kids!

Dinner was ready just in time!!!!

Everyone was super excited for the meal!!

... Egg-Drop Soup was served first...

BBQ pork, curry, fried noodles was some of the dishes...

After dinner we presented a few gifts for the helpers and staff!

Vasya wondered why he had to translate for the translators lol!

We also pass out the gifts to the kids! And each kid in the soccer class received a jersey, thanks to a generous donor at our church!

Afterward HOM gave each of us a very personalized gift!! We were all very touched by their thoughtfulness and generosity.

But then, some of the helpers, translators, and kids came up to say a few words to us.... We were all holding our tears...

... But we can't hold it any longer...

As our time comes to an end we started our farewells, some of the kids we will see again in the morning but for a few it will be our last good bye...

We spend the rest of the evening writing in each of the kid's journal!!

It didn't end quite there, eventhough it was getting dark, we promised a Ukraine vs. Canada soccer match!!! And we gave them everything we've got, sick or not, we gave them 110%!!! We ended the match 12-2 for Ukraine. The best score ever from any previous Canadian team (Thanks to Colin (and little Vasya) !!!

Day 13 Recap

Thursday was an exciting day as we continue on with the discipleship camp!

We were very proud at how detail and careful the kids were with the balsa wood planes. There were a few broken pieces but everyone learned to work together as well as our theme verse! Today they started building the wing, lots of pinning and gluing!

In the evening, we took everyone from HOM out to town for pizza!!

Everyone was watching the Olympics!!

The pizza kept coming!

Our team's finance minister making sure we have enough to eat!

And the pizza kept coming...

Ice-cream for dessert!

We were all really full!!

We took to the street to escape the heat inside the restaurant!! It was like fellowship on the street side!!

As we went home we realize how little time we have left with them!

 

Day 11 Recap

In week 2, every morning we started off with singing and the continuation sega of Capt.Hero and Dr.Evil-McEvilstein.

we had a very exciting singing time!!

Temperature was consistently high this week as we led the discipleship class indoor.

Outdoor games for some fresh air!

And also ice-creams!

During the afternoon we made some visitations. Due to our schedule today was the only day we made visitations to the kids we saw in week 1! Our first stop was at a multi-level building 20-30min away from town.

The 2nd place we visited was also in the rural area. The girl we visited in the first place somehow manage to run (or hitch a ride) to catch up to us in the 2nd place!! We were pretty amaze how fast she got there, it was pretty far away (10-15min drive on rugged roads)!!

That night we were invited to Valera's home for a BBQ!!!!

It's the best BBQ in the world. Sickness did not stop me from this dinner.

We all had an amazing time fellowshipping with each other.

As we departed for home that night, one of our van ran out of fuel! No problem, we just tow each other off the mountain road to a gas station!!!!!

 

Day 10 Recap

After playing with my HD for many hours I was able to recover most of my files and was able to process my photos from Day 10 on!Day 10 was the start of week 2 which includes our 2 (teens/children) discipleship camp and also the skills camp (Soccer/Drama/Flight)!!! We introduce the kids to our main characters for the week! Dr.Evil-McEvilstein and Captain Hero!!!

The teen's discipleship class starts! This week we will be going through different parts of David's life.

The children discipleship class:

We also got a chance to play some big group games during the day!

Dr.Evil made an appearance during the game, he took a bit of beating as he was chased away!

In the afternoon the skills workshop started! In Flight class they build a simple balsa wood planes to fly and learned about the basic of flight!

 

Day 13: dinner out!

Today was the 2nd last day of the camp! The kids was treated to a security footage of Capt. Hero and Crystal escaping! We will find out how the story ends tomorrow! The kids was so convinced that they wrote notes to Dr. EvilMcEvilstein!![youtube width="600" height="450"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=501xJbOzWow[/youtube]In the teens class Jeff led on the topic of stewardship!

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For dinner the kids all dressed up as we all went out to a pizzeria!! We had a great time with them all!! After dinner the team got grocery and started prepping for tomorrow night's Chinese dinner!!20120803-003427.jpg

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Some items to pray for us! A few of us have this bad cough that's passing around! I'm still recovering today. We really need prayers for energies to finish strong!!

We have gotten pretty close to the kids so leaving on Saturday will be tough!