News and Updates
This will be the first day of the Roma camp, and my first time ever of teaching to a group that does not speak English.Truth be told, even though Uncle Tomson and Auntie Lisa assure me that this year camp will be very easy, I am still somewhat nervous. Let me take courage in Christ then, when the time comes.
Meanwhile, review, review, review...
For the House of Mercy camp, we have invited one of the most famous Bible character....Paul (Daniel), to join the children camp.
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....
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.
After the breakfast time with the team and hang our a bit with the house of mercy team, the Roma team headed out to a retreat centre to get ready for the Roma teens camp...
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...
This year's House of Mercy camp has involved lots of local teenagers as leaders for the Camp. It is truly amazing to see the children who used to attending the children camp, now coming out to serve and lead as leaders.......Praise God!You see we have started final preparation work.....all the teenagers are busy preparing and studying the camp materials.
So this is the hotel that we'll be using for this year's Roma camp? Wow.
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.
And if you walk along the right hand side through the parking area...
...you'll see the tennis courts which we can use for outdoor games and sports!
Andrew and Lisa are our Roma camp song leaders. They are having a blast in practicing the camp songs.
Ukrainian birthday songs and well wishes for the people who had their birthday yesterday.
House of Mercy team preparation meeting with the craft team helpers. The older teenagers from House of Mercy will be helping and leading different programs. It is amazing to see them grow and start serving in this capacity....
Each team is busy getting things set up for the Camp. Here is the Roma team preparation meeting with our helpers. Today is a hot day.... you can feel like you are melting under the Sun.
Ukraine team Sunday worship with the House of Mercy children
One of the many important celebrations in House of Mercy will be birthdays. Yesterday night as we arrived to House of Mercy, we joined in the birthday celebration of 2 staffs and 2 children. It is amazing to see 4 people with the same birthday.
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
Finally on board! We get dinner, breakfast, and a snack as we fly to Amsterdam, then transfer to Budapest.
At Budapest, we meet up with a minibus to cross the Hungary/Slovakia/Ukraine border and reach the House of Mercy.
Finally, after many long hours, we arrive, safe and sound!
Thank you for all your prayers of protection! Now God's work through us can truly begin!
We have arrived at House of Mercy safely. It is a great time to see familiar faces and children growing up......such a happy time.....
We have arrived at House of Mercy safely. It is a great time to see familiar faces and children growing up......such a happy time.....
After a long drive in a not so strong AC Van.....we are now at the Ukrainian border waiting to be inspected. Colin is trying to explain something with the Ukrainian book to Daniel.
Ukraine team has arrived safely in Budapest. Praise God for getting all our luggages.We have met up with our mini bus driver and managed to load all 10 big pieces of luggages and all our carry on with room to spare.
We will be starting our long trip to cross two borders into Ukraine. Here is a picture just right at the landing gate of Budapest airport......right after we used the local facilities. ;)
It was a pretty good flight to Amsterdam..We have to walk a long way to get to the next gate.
