Pray for the rain to stop.
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
Prayer and Praise
Sunday July 4, 2010
On Sunday our team attended worship service. For a few of the team members this was the first Ukrainian worship service they attended. Surprisingly there were two Canadian speakers on the same Sunday which was a rare event. The team spent the rest of the day preparing for Monday and Vasya brought the team to visit one of the Roma (gypsy) camps where they attended the service. Pastor Allan spoke briefly in the service and the team visited the homes of some of the residents of the camp including the home of the Pastor. We were touched by the great need we saw.
Prayer Items
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.
Ukraine 2010 Ready to Go!
Ukraine 2010 Team is leaving soon! Please join us at 9:00am on Thursday, July 1st in the Calgary airport chapel for prayers and good byes. We'd love to see you there!