Please pray for God's directions, vision, and team unity.
July 16, 2010
Today was the last day of our leadership camp. I was awake early around 5 am and decided it would be neat to catch a glimpse of the sun rise over the House of Mercy grounds. Today will be the day we bid our farewells after the kids lead in singing and pratically put their skills to work in leading singing, working the powerpoint, leading games and cooking lunch. We were impressed with their developing leadership abilities and it was great seeing our cooking team cook those pizzas and salads with unity and cooperation. They worked hard and showed great team spirit. Those leading games did a great job and it was fun watching their water balloon game. Eric and Koyla did an awesome job leading singing.As I watched the sun rise a whole lot of emotions swept through me and the warm rays of the sun assured me that indeed God's presence is here and He definitly is at work.
It is quiet right now but soon the voices of children will fill the room with their voices of song and their excited laughter. In our final wrap up session it was so encouraging to hear their words of thanks and appreciation and feel their arms wrap around you with hugs as they say, "thank you for coming; thank you for teaching us! It was hard keeping our eyes dry!
There is much to thank God for in these past few weeks. Later today we will pack up and then cook our meal for the staff and kids. Yes, the heat will be challenge but what a joy to be able to serve them. The biggest challenge will be to bake those Hong Kong style egg tarts. And can't wait to cook that curry chicken. In the end it will have been fun and worth it all. We will head out tonight around 11 pm to be sure to get across the border in timeso that we can catch our flight from Budapest to Frankfurt, then to Toronto and back to Calgary. I know that we have all been challenged and inspired in so many ways. For all of you who have been praying for us thanks so much for your partnership in touching lives for Jesus. We could not have done this without our God and your prayers - so THANKS!
And so we say: Next year in Uzhgorod; next year we will see you House of Mercy!
We will arrive in Calgary Saturday evening around 8:30 pm.
With loving memories: the 2010 Ukraine Team
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 15 Reflections
Wow! It is hard to imagine that we are nearing the end of our two weeks here. So much has happened! I have been overwhelmed by the great need that I have seen in the Ukraine. The poverty and desperate situations of those in the Roma (gypsy) camps where people live amidst the garbage heaps with rats the size of cats has challenged me. How can people live in minus 20 degree weather with houses with walls crumbling or with roofs constantly leaking when it rains or with no water supply. The children who have been brought to the House of Mercy have been able to see the great love of God shown by the believers of the House of Mercy who truly walk the talk who go to the Roma camps to fix houses, cook meals, distribute food boxes, and share the love of Christ to these people. They have opened up an orphanage to rescue kids from unimaginable situations ravaged with alcoholism and abuse and showered these children with love and affection. They set an example of what it means to share the love of God as Jesus had done (to reach out to the orphans and the poor). They children here see such demonstation of love and they are so filled with love and generosity as well. In our spiritual gifts lesson, many said they would like to encourage others and Josef said he would like to help the poor. They help you out in a heartbeat if you had a need. I was so touched by Josef who used his birthday money to buy me a gift of a carving of a eagle. After our visit to the castle, he stopped off at the sovenir stand to buy this gift for me. I could hardly stop the tears!
After visiting the children`s hospital, I again was floored by the great need of the hospital. How can a regional hospital for chidlren function with only one ambulance. They have a second one which is so costly to operate that the hospitals donate it to each other just to get it off their hands. How can a surgeon operate in 40 degree heat in an operating room without an air conditioner! The walls are in great need of repair. This hospital built in the 1920`s has so much repair work needed one wonders where to begin.
You cannot begin to fully comprehend the need here by just reading this blog; you have to be here. You cannot fully understand the need here by looking at the pictures on this blog. You have to see for yourself. My prayer is that if you are reading this blog the Lord would move you to visit here and ask God what you can do!
July 14 Wed Day 3 Week 2
The theme for today for the older group was obedience and stewardship for the younger group. The songs we sang today were "Walking in the light" and "Jesus in the Boat". Today was a shorter day as we took the children on a field trip to the castle museum for the afternoon.
Visited this castle museum.
Group photo.
Josef and kitchen boy (little boy who belong to one of the kitchen staff)
Tasting "Stone soup" from Kitty's lesson on stewardship.
Pauline's wonder woman pose!
Touched by the gift of an eagle ♥
July 12 Monday - Day 1 week 2
Second week of our camp was focused on training and discipleship. We first began our day with singing. Songs included "Jesus in the Boat" and "Peace Like a River".
Singing "Jesus in the Boat".
Bible lesson - Becoming a Christian ( younger group)
Prayer time.
Skit on parable of the wedding banquet (older group)
Lesson on time alone with God (older group).
Playing SPUD during big group game (younger group)
Older group playing SPUD.
The youger group were making memory boxes.
Skill opition - Food safety lesson
Skill opition - Singing.
game of sardines (younger group)
sardines game
home visitation to some children who attended gospel camp
a delicious dinner to end the day
July 13 Tuesday Day 2 Week 2
Our team started off the day with praise and prayer for the wonderful things God has been doing in the camp. We started out the camp with songs like "Clap Your Hands" and "I've Got Peace Like a River". The older group had lessons on stewardship while the younger group had a lesson on the church. We then both the younger group and the older group played parachute. The afernoon sessions continued with their skill options of cooking and singing.
singing Peace Like a River
pastor sharing to the younger group how they can help out the church
Pauline's lesson on stewardship to the older group
games with parachute: check out video:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=449206705902&ref=mf
July 11, 2010 Sunday update
On Sunday our team worshipped at the church where most of the House of Mercy worship. Pastor Allan gave his testimony and the children from the House of Mercy and a few children from the community presented the song they learned from the gospel camp. Following lunch we returned to the inner city Roma camp as they asked us to come and share with them how they can know God. Pastor Allan and Esther gave their testimonies and Pastor Allan shared with them how to receive Jesus and led in a prayer of invitation. We shared with them that we would pray for them and as the Lord allows we would one day come back to visit them,
Leaving church worship.
listening intently to our testimonies
Praying for Eve's ear problem
a game of dutch blitz after a swim in the Uzh River
a yummy bbq dinner at Valera's home
roasting potatoes over hot coals
dutch blitz before dinner
Valera learning dutch blitz
July 10 Random Pictures from past week
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:
Eric's Rap
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.
More photos: Day 3
Day 3
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Another day. It rained most of the night and then all day Wednesday. In spite of the rain the children had a blast. This 3rd day`s lesson was using God`s Word to help you pray. Wonder woman, the camp`s super hero was thrown off by the different water temperatures of hot water, cold water and water water. The children were encouraged to use the Bible as it is the only reliable way of knowing how to pray God`s will.
More pictures
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.
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.
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.
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...
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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!