With thanks to Cokesbury, we would like to present to you a sneak peek of the main theme in the VBS camp we plan to run in Uzhhorod!
[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ8vNidSr7s&w=854&h=480]
Welcome to this year's Ukraine Short Term Mission for 2015!
This year, Crystal, Calvin, Colin, Tomson, Daniel, and I, Andrew, make up the team.
God has called us from South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church to fly to Ukraine, and to the House of Mercy in Uzhhorod, in Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast province.
There, in cooperation with the House of Mercy, we will host vacation bible school camps open to the people of Uzhhorod and of the House of Mercy itself; these camps will also be open to other individuals whom we hope to make a spiritual impact on. This includes the Roma people and refugees currently displaced by the East Ukrainian conflict.
In addition, we will work within the House of Mercy itself as assistants, to deepen relationships within the House of Mercy and provide a time of physical, mental, and spiritual retreat for staff members.
God willing, we hope to begin our mission in Ukraine by July 17, and conclude by August 3.
Planning has already begun for the many programs and activities we have in mind. In particular, we hope to release to the congregations of SCCEFC our material needs and more information regarding the House of Mercy and it's mission by May 10. Please look forward to our sharing in the coming days!
What can you do?
Pray
Please pray for the STM team, for the House of Mercy, and for Ukraine.
Praise and thank our heavenly Father that we have a team this year to go to Ukraine, and that God has given this opportunity to serve and minister to our fellow brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
Ask that the Lord protect, grow and help nourish each team member's health, mind, and spirit.
Ask that the Holy Spirit bring God glory through the good work that is to come, and that the suffering - material and spiritual - of the orphaned, the abandoned, and the improverished in Uzhhorod be eased.
Stay in touch
Our work with the House of Mercy has been continous to date, and we expect our cooperation to last for much more than one more short term mission.
Check back on GoMercy on a regular schedule! Email the team with your questions, and leave comments on the blog and the posts if you're interested!
Not only will this give us your valuable feedback, and help us keep you informed about our needs, our praise items and God's work in the mission, but it will also help communicate the ongoing nature of our cooperation with the House of Mercy!
Donate
Has Christ moved you to contribute more than just prayer and sharing? Out of generosity, do you believe you have something to give?
You can also help by donating; make your donations out to the South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church, and specify it for the Ukraine Short Term Mission fund.
And the material needs of the mission is not just monetary either; as mentioned earlier, we will also be releasing information on materials we will need to host the vacation bible school camp and to provide as assistants for the House of Mercy! You may have such new and unused items in your home - is God calling you to sanctify these things, and give them up for his service?
Share
Spread the word, as easy as a click of the button below! Let other brothers and sisters in Christ know about what's happening with the Ukraine STM! By informing others about GoMercy, we enable the Holy Spirit to create the interest and inquiry into what Jesus is doing in Ukraine, and allow God to speak to his sons and daughters about His will.
Let the meetings begin...
The team's intensive planning sessions have begun and we are excited to be heading back to Ukraine this year. Along with VBS and Roma day camps we are looking forward to evolving our discipleship / leadership trainings for the youths. Here are some updates and prayer requests:
- Our flight tickets are booked! We will be leaving on the afternoon of July 17th and will be returning on Aug. 3rd. Thank God for providing an efficient and cost-effective itinerary!!
- Look for our Supplies Board in the chapel foyer starting on May 10th!! Be part of a child's camp experience by purchasing one of the many supplies we need!!
- Our team will be sharing in the Joint Cantonese / Mandarin service this coming Sunday (May 3rd.)!! Pray for words of wisdom and prayer support from the congregations.
- Continue to pray for the planning and direction of this STM. We want to make the most of our times in Ukraine, not just with programs but in relationships. Pray that God will give us discernment in using His time wisely.
2015 is a GO!
Our team is super excited this year as we begin our planning for the short term mission. We had our first meeting last night so look forward to more updates from Andrew Y. this coming months!
One of the hardest thing to do in Ukraine STM.....
One of the hardest thing to do at House of Mercy is to say goodbye...
Camp fire closing night
At the end of the night, we also have camp fire and singing and testimony time before we close the night and this year's STM.
House of Mercy talent night
As the end the end of the Ukraine STM, we close with a talent night and life skills show for House of Mercy.
Canadian Team Chinese dinner at House of Mercy
It was a busy yet exciting day for the Friday at House of Mercy. As the discipleship program wraps up, we works on our Chinese dinner pulling. All hands on deck to make this happen.To cook for a big group of people, we basically start cooking at around 1:00 pm until 7:00pm for the dinner.
We had a great time sharing our Canadian Chinese food with our friends in Ukraine.
Packing day redux - Thoughts
It's time to pack again, as the title says. This time, it's to pack to return to Canada.There are some trivial similarities. Same bags, almost the same people, clothes, items, etcetera. We're having fun (which seems to be, excitably, the norm, whenever both teams are together), and we've got music playing in the background - though this time, it's Crystal's "older" music instead of VBS songs.
It feels somewhat lonelier, though.
Coming here, I was nervous, not too certain about how the experience would be, how I would help, who would help me. I was excited, eager to apply what gifts God has given me in his service.
Now that our time here is coming to an end (for this year), having gone through these two weeks with people I have just met and come to know, I've built bonds. Bonds which my other team members here have had for several years. I think I can understand why they love to keep coming back.
Before I began taking part in STM preparation back in early spring, I was told that even though we come every year intending to give of ourselves to Ukraine, God is so generous that He gives back to us even more than what we first gave in our time here. We end up going back home not just having blessed others, but, through God's will, being blessed ourselves as well. It was something that I thought was strange at the time, and perhaps even a bit confusing to expect out of a mission trip. On reflection now, though, it feels very natural, and I am nothing but thankful for it.
And what more can I say? Though there are certainly many details, I will refrain from recounting them here, so that what I have already written can stand for itself. Let this post for now be testament to God being at work in Ukraine.
The night before the Canadian Team Chinese Dinner
Keeping the tradition and highly anticipated STM Team Canada Chinese Dinner, we have to work hard together the night before. Actually, the planning of this Team Canada dinner started way back in Canada as part of the Ukraine STM planning.We brought along a few items from Canada, looked for some local food items while we are here and started our preparation work Thursday night....here are some snap shots of our preparation work.
Even though the pictures may not included everyone there, but everyone helped out including some of the teens in House of Mercy. This is truly a Team effort.
House of Mercy Staff Retreat Day 2
In Day 2 of House of Mercy staff retreat. We focused on the reflection time and vision casting for the next few years.We reviewed the stop, start, continue list from last year and assessed how they are doing with the action list. Then reassess the mission and goals for the next five years. We also reviewed the STM and future ministries opportunities. There was lots of open discussion among the House of Mercy staff. For sure we have an exciting and meaningful day at the retreat.
Of course we also have praise and worship time, devotion and team building exercise.
It was a great day at the conference centre even we have a few people are not feeling well. We thank God for His mercy and grace.
Can you guess what the model clay animal is?
House of Mercy - Staff Retreat Day 1 (afternoon)
After a nice lunch at the conference centre, we continued with the HOM staff retreat. The afternoon was focused on Teens mentorship and how to address teenagers problems including many topics.Also dealing with with ways to better communicate and how to help teenagers at the centre and family home.
Ukraine STM prayer items
The weather is very hot in Ukraine these last few days. Today's temperature is over 43 C under the shade. Over 70 C under the sun. Some of us are struggling with insect bites... Some of us are struggling with the heat and heat exhaustion ....some of us are struggling with some illness (flu or cold or coughing)...some of us are struggling with the stomach bug, vomiting and diarrhea....also lack of sleep or can not sleep well....Actually, a lot of children at House of Mercy are sick with stomach bugs. When I talk to Vasya and Valeria, many children are not feeling well with vomiting and stomach issues or diarrhea.
Please pray for our team members, staff, helpers and all the children at House of Mercy....the next few days forecast will be continue with high temperature and hot weather.
House of Mercy snap shots
Daniel, Pauline and Tiffany got hair cut done by Oksana...great job!
House of Mercy - Staff Retreat Day 1 morning
Today we have the House of Mercy staff retreat at a conference centre: Praha while House of Mercy team continuing with the discipleship program at the children centre.This morning we have Praise and Worship time, Devotion, team building exercise and a time of reflection....
Roma Camp Day 2
The Day 2 of the Roma Camp was at a different location where there were a mix of Roma people and Ukrainian poor families. We partnered with a location church that had been working with House of Mercy for some children meal once a week.Usually, there are about 50 children attending, but today we have more children showing up as singing started. At the end we have over 100 children at the day camp. It is amazing to see children coming in to the back yard as the program goes by.
We learnt from yesterday's program and added different crafts for different age groups. Thank God for materials provided by the House of Mercy team, we can provide additional crafts for these children.
We started off with their singing and praise and worship. Then we introduce our team along with Vasya, our local helpers Lera and Andriana. Also special helps from Solveig and Annette (Norway friends from KPK). We have singing, prayer time, Andrew's testimony, passion play drama, altar call and craft time, etc.
We thank God for about 25 to 30 children raised their hands to accept Jesus Christ. May God bless these children as they need to continue to grow in Him.
Here are some photos our Day 2 Roma Camp....
Roma Daycamps, Day 2 Start
Today's Roma day camp will take place at a Roma settlement, but this one is unique, in more ways than one.For one thing, it's in the middle of the poor quarters of Uzhgorod, rather than typically being at the fringes of the city boundaries. Here the Roma rub shoulders with Ukrainians below the poverty line on a daily basis. In fact, thanks to outside intervention, facilitated by the House of Mercy, these Roma may actually be better off than their neighbours materially, as well as spiritually.
They're already waiting for us. AND THEY'RE SITTING!(This is big! They are the most well-behaved children we have ever had!)
They even have they own worship leaders!
Well, I'll also be sharing my testimony here. Let me give myself over to God once more, and forever in the future.
Discipleship Day 2, Visitations & Hair cuts!
Today we finished our 2nd day of discipleship. In the younger kids class, we talked about how God is just & always fair. In the teens discipleship class, we talked about dating & relationships. In the afternoon, the teens were able to ask a panel of married couples (Valera/Anja, Vova/Lisa, Colin/Tiffany) questions about dating. We were very impressed by the questions that the teens asked as it showed the real issues they are facing. In the afternoon, the House of Mercy kids also did a sand art appreciation for the staff, led by Pauline. The result is a beautiful piece of art for display that the staff can keep. Each layer represents a child who had a word of thanks for a staff member. Late afternoon, we split into 2 groups. One group went for visitations & were able to see some of the kids that came to our camp last week. It seemed that the kids were very happy to see us! We were able to give out more of Elijah's coloring books & Band-Aids to lots of the kids. You can see in the pictures that the kids have been very happy to receive them.
The second group (Dan, Pauline & Tiffany) was able to get their hair cut by Oksana, one of the teens from House of Mercy that now has a stable job as a hairdresser. She did an amazing job for all of us & we're so proud of what she has been able to achieve & the person that she has become. She is very talented & did her very best for all of us. Below we included a picture of Oksana cutting Dan's hair. We know a few of you in Canada would be very proud of what she was able to do for him!
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Roma day camp
