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.
July 6 prayer requests
- Please pray that the rain will end soon so that it allows us to continue with the outdoor games.
- Pray that as we present the gospel message on Thursday that hearts will be prepared to receive Jesus.
- Pray for Jeff as he presents the message on Thursday and for Pastor Allan's invitation to receive Jesus.
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.
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!
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...
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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!
Our Photographer
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...
We are home!
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 ...
