Serving Ukraine

2011-08-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Pictures up at photobucket.com/mt2ukraine
password is Ukraine 2011
:)

Home Safely

2011-08-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

Got back safely on Saturday night. The team was divided into two groups for traveling because their wasn't space for the whole team on one flight. I was with the smaller team that arrived later Saturday night.

During the last week we were in Kiev and had very little to no Internet access (my reason for not updating the blog - sorry). While there half the team worked at a camp for disabled children and the others were on the "evangelism team" which did different things every day. I was apart of the evangelism group. The first day we were supposed to join a Messianic Jewish congregation for an evangelistic event. There was some miscommunication though and we did realize that the event wouldn't work for our schedule so we had to cancel. Within two hours God brought us a new contact! :) Her name was Era and she attends the Hillsong church plant there in Kiev. We spent an hour praying over the city in the square and went to the Saturday night service at hillsong that night. The next day was Sunday, we went to a small baptist church and were able to do our full program (minus the dramas). There we met the founding directors of the YWAM base we were staying on (they have now moved on the be the directors of YWAM Eastern Europe). We spent Sunday afternoon at the base (which has a beach on a river - great for swimming) swimming with the kids of the founding directors and some kids from the youth group of the church. The rest of the week was spent doing street evangelism, painting a school for Autistic kids, and visiting a Gypsy camp.

The Gypsy camp was eye opening and very similar to the dump I visited last year in the Philippines. Five small tents were set up in a clearing on the outskirts of a dump. The people who lived in these tents (about five families) acted as a family. They shared food and cooked together, etc... Walk down a small path for about ten minutes and there was another small clearing with a "separate" little community and so on. We were able to visit the gypsy camp twice. The first time we had no idea what to expect and ended up doing our program for about 15-20 people who were very friendly and responsive, but never smiled. The second time we went we were prepared to clean up their living area (because it was on the outskirts of the dump there was trash every and not safe for the barefoot and sometimes naked children to play). One of our team members is a cosmetoligist and she cut hair and we painted nails for some of the girls.

Ill try to write more late, still getting back in the swing of things. Ill post my update letter when I get that put together. That will have a good overview of the trip. Ill also try to post pictures.

Thanks for your prayers. God did amazing things and worked in the hearts of the team just as much as He did in the hearts of Ukrainians. :)

2011-07-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

Got to talk to my brother today - super yeah!!!!! :D

Any way had some awesome ministry time at the park yesterday (flash mob!!!!!). Did all our program (dances and dramas) had lots of people respond. Danced at church this morning. We leave ternopil on wednesday ;( on to kiev. ministry plans changed for Kieve, no more friendship camp. More later :) thanks for your prayers

2011-07-15T03:46:00.000-07:00

Doing a flash mob tonight and tomorrow night in the park :) super excited for that. Set up a "coffeehouse" in the hotel ballroom and had youth from around the city come for a night of music and testimonies last night. Had some nice rest time and yesterday. Meet an awesome Canadian last week who hung out with us some and might come do flash mob with us tonight (we have been teaching youth from the church the dance so our flash mob will be a team of about 60 dancers). God has really been blessing our ministry and as a team we have had some amazing prayer and worship times.

:)

2011-07-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

Dont have time to post a whole lot today, but wanted to check in. Led two people to Christ yesterday at the bus station. plans for Kiev are changing like crazy. staying flexible. pray that the team would have energy and rely on the joy of the Lord to be our strength.

First Real Ministry Day

2011-07-07T04:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was supposed to be a ministry day but the rain kept my half of the team from doing the planned street evangelism. We were able to do street evangelism today with a local youth group. Had lots of fun and danced in the rain. :D Passed out gospel coins in the local language in between dances. Had some amazing worship and prayer time last night as a team. Please pray for health for the team, some people aren't feeling well and a couple have crazy amounts of mosquito bites. Overall everything is going well. Lots of rain. About 60 attending the daily English camp that half the team is presenting, the other half of the team is doing street evangelism every morning and a human trafficking presentation where ever opportunity allows. Keep us in your prayers :)

2nd day in Ukraine

2011-07-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

2nd day, still practicing boot camp stuff (practicing dramas and dances). first night of worship in Ukraine was last night :) First day of ministry will be tomorrow (english camp, street evangelism, etc..). Thank you for your prayers. Dont have a whole lot of new info.....

In Ukraine

2011-07-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

We traveled for about two days. Flew from El Paso to Chicago, Chicago to Charlotte NC, Charlotte to Munich and finally Munich to Kiev - the capital of Ukraine. We then waited in a train station in Kiev for about five hourse before catching a train to Ternopil. We arrived in Ternopil at about 5:00 am local time. Got to our hotel and rested for a couple hourse before practicing our outreach dramas then having lunch at the YWAM base. It doesn't really feel like fourth of july.
We are all tired but safe. Please pray that the team would have patience with each other.

Leaving :)

2011-07-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

We leave tomorrow morning! Eight of the 36 will be on a seperate flight that leaves at 6:00 am (I am apart of this first team). The rest of the team will leave closer to noon. Im so excited, I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us.
During bootcamp this past week we learned 3 of our 4 songs and we started on the dramas. We will continue to perfect those once we are in Ukraine.
Internet acess will be limited in Ukraine, but I will try to post as much as I can. Please keep the team in your prayers.

Some Specific Prayer Requests:
- Please prayer that the weather would not ruin the plans for several outdoor events.
- Pray for unity in the team, that we would operate as a family.
- Also pray for safety.

getting started

2011-06-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

This summer I will be a part of a team of 36 people that are going to Ukraine for a month long mission trip. We will be teaching English, raising awarness about human traficking, and serving in orphanages. For now - please pray that the funds would continue to come in. Across the whole team we still need several thousand dollars. Pray that the team would be unified and that all the plans would works smoothly. Even now, as early as it seems, we are facing some diffuculties. We are relying on God to work things out.

25 days,
His servant