Pictures

This is the pizza that Dima's mom made for her birthday. It has berries of all kinds, eggplant, mushrooms and cheese on it. It was good.



Dima, his mom and her friends.



Seth is working hard cutting out the board pieces for birdhouses for VBS.



Faith and some of the kids that show up at our house have been cutting building tools out of foam.

Problems and Praises

Because of what is going on with Dave's mother, he needs to get to the US. We needed documents on ourselves, both vehicles and the trailer done before he left. We decided it would be quicker to cross the border into Moldava than to wait for hours in the passport office and it is equally legal. We headed to Odessa, bought a part for the Mazda and then on for the border. We went across the border drove around for a short time and then returned to the border crossing. The officials yelled and griped but gave us what we needed. We praise God that this was accomplished.

The next morning Dave finished the work on the trailer and took it for inspection . . . the inspector wasn't there. AND our Volkswagen broke down on the way home. He needed to leave the Volkswagen for me to drive. We could imagine the worst, engine problems. By about 4:30 the problem was found and solved. The covering had worn off a wire. It had shorted out and blown the fuse.

Praise God for the timing!! It could have happened any time on the trip yesterday and would have been much more frustrating!! It could have happened while Dave was gone and I would have been lost! It could have happened on the way to Kyiv for inspection and would have been much harder cope with then as well. Praise God that the problem is fixed.

Now the vehicles and trailer still need to pass inspection. Forward, MARCH!

Another praise is that the city water was on today, on Wednesday. We washed as much as we could, as quickly as we could, right after the TLC team left. The next weekend water was on Sunday and Monday. We washed all day on Monday, but still had piles of dirty laundry. We've washed all day again today. Thank God for water!

Not boring!!! . . . # 2

We got up this morning to the news that Dave's mom is in the hospital with possibly serious problems. We still have paperwork to complete on ourselves, our vehicles and trailer before the end of the month.

We went to have our children's service at Mikhailivka. Today was game day. We played the game we played last week at Kids' Klub (if you're reading this TLC team). I was tagged. My partner turned around to run the wrong direction and rammed his head smack into mine. My glasses made this cut. So I have the first eye swelling/possible black eye in my life.

We still have four VBS's to do with the possibility of Dave not being here.

The whole situation is very . . . "not-boring!" Please pray that God will help us with the paperwork and give especially Dave and then the rest of us comfort and strength.

Interesting

Artyom quit his job in a bar after youth camp. He's still looking for another job . . . he is readily accepted to work under age 18 in a bar but not in other positions.

Dima is asking for guitar lessons. His mother has invited us over for a birthday celebration on Saturday evening.

Allona celebrated her thirteenth birthday. She decided that she liked EZ Economy Chocolate Cake so that's what we baked and put ice cream inside for her birthday.

Faith snapped this picture of a daisy just in time.

Funny!!

Katrina did not want to drive the van or sit in the tiny, hard middle of the front seat or hold the plywood on the roof. So she squeezed in behind all the seats in the cargo area of the Mazda. She very much enjoyed the expressions of passers-by when she smiled and waved.

Not Boring!! . . . # 1

First of all the TLC team had to get to the airport. We dropped in to Pastor Ramon's for a singspiration type service on Monday evening. After service Nadia, the always gracious hostess offered us tea. Then there were pictures to get and good-bye's to be said.

Because some team members wanted some more chocolate candy bars, we tried to go to a 24-hr Cilpo (grocery store) at midnight and found it closed. Since we were in a small parking lot and had no trailer lights, backing the trailer around was a challenge. Especially when someone drove up behind us to block our way! So we went forward to find another place to turn around. This time a panel truck came up behind us to unload at the grocery store dock. We went forward again and caught our bumper in a rut and tore it off the front of the van! . . . ah-h missionary adventure!!! We finally found a way back onto a normal road and stopped at the next store, bought the chocolate candy bars.

(No, we didn't get pictures of the van without a bumper or the bumper tied on top of the luggage in the trailer or the policeman who stopped us, asking, "Where is your bumper and tag plate?" We were too tired to think about pictures.)

Then it was supper time. We headed to a McDonald's. We arrived five minutes too late to go inside. The workers shooed us out of the drive thru with our trailer. The only place to park was behind other vehicles. We had to move to give them room to get out twice. In the middle of one move our order was delivered.

About 1:30 am we got to the airport, showed the team where the scales were to weigh their suitcases. After we made sure they had our phone number in the event of problems we left them on their own.

Too tired to drive safely farther, we napped in the pay parking lot for a little while then drove on to Osikova. At about 9 we started moving. We stopped at a small bazaar and got the tools needed to re-attach our bumper (so every policeman wouldn't stop us) and fix the trailer lights and headed home. We arrived home to a hot meal that Katrina kindly prepared for us.



Since then we've been trying to get things wrapped up from youth camp and started for VBS. It just barely, barely rained during youth camp. When the tents were finally being packed up after the campers had gone, the rain began in earnest. So the tents were quickly packed up to be hauled home. Now each one had to be set up, dried out and cleaned up for next year. When the campers had been cold, we brought out all our spare quilts. So now we had laundry for the week of camping plus the quilts.

Another special blessing was that Monday was a holiday so city water was on. Seth and Faith did around 10 loads of laundry on Monday.

In an Old Apricot Orchard

We didn't pay any attention to what kind of trees were by the beautiful lake. We simply took the first load of people and tents there, showed them where the tents should be and left after the next load. The first day was pretty much confusion as we all tried to get our bearings. The meals weren't on time. The services happened when we could squeeze them in. We tried to match tent mates who had come for a long time with people who were new and hardly said a word. . . but they wanted to be with their good friends. Confusion. About the second day people began to bring out handfuls of apricots. The trees who sheltered our tents formed an apricot orchard.

Twenty-six campers came to spend time with us. Our theme was "breaking the trail." The TLC team heard about the theme as they travelled down from Kyiv. They took the idea and made it fly. ("Samson" is being bound with new reeds.)

Judean Presley told animated Bible stories in the morning service that vividly illustrated the different ideas: getting supplies--obtaining renewal spiritual strength, putting down tent stakes--forming godly boundaries in our lives, following a reliable guide--being careful what influences our lives and how we influence others, dangers on the trail--dangers on our spiritual journey and counting the cost--making the choice whether the trip was worth it. Hayli and Stephanie took over the object lessons and made them come alive. . . as tents dramatically fell with the wind because someone in a hurry hadn't put the stakes in the ground. Courtney, Raelynn and Tiffany worked with Faith, Seth and Katrina to bond with each of three teams, listen to memory verses, learn songs and practice Bible story skits.

(This picture is from a sermon/story about "Billy, the bad banana who refused to obey and hung out in the dark jungle with his friends. Because he disobeyed a gorilla came along and ate him, sucked all the life out of him, just like sin does. Note our elegant pulpit!)

Nathaniel McCasland and Nathan Hunt prepared sermons for the evening service, helped get a hot camp fire going for cooking, did guard duty in the evening and planned activities. Dave was continuously on the road for supplies and fresh drinking water. I answered questions and tried to cook. Most of the time with all the help from the campers and everyone else it went well. But we had one major disaster! Does this look like macaroni salad?

Pastor Ramon and his wife Nadia filled in cracks everywhere. Ramon played the guitar, translated listened to memory verses and helped with the fire. Nadia helped cook, listen to verses, lead singing. The last day she had team devotions with one group.

At least six new children whose lives we have never touched before came to camp from both churched and unchurched homes.

"Kodak moments" were many. I'll try to catch some more of them later. Here are a few.

Hayli, TLC team leader blows bubbles with Pastor Ramon's daughter, Evelina.


This sign shows that this tent is Tanya's and Varduyi's



Several, but not as many as two years ago, cut their feet on shells or trash in lake. Here a cut is being disinfected and bandaged while other campers look on.



No, this firewood isn't large in size but we had to have something to cook with!



She's practicing the special for the evening service, just happens the keyboard is still in the van!

This family came to visit for the day.

This is one of the games the kids played.

But the best part of the story is this.

Ramon and Nadia's son, Valik, had wanted to come to youth camp but he also had the opportunity to go to the Crimea, a famous, beautiful resort area in Ukraine. His tickets were bought for the Crimea. They reconsidered the situation and brought him to youth camp. After one of the services, he came in tears to his parents, "I want to pray." The next service he testified, "I thank God I repented."

Dima A, a young man who has been faithful to come to all the services and tender in spirit has been more and more pulled recently between the way of the world around him and God's way. He prayed for forgiveness. Afterwards he said, "I don't know how to explain how I feel inside. I just feel like I could fly."

Artyom made it to youth camp. We didn't know if he would accept our invitation. He came. Many services, it was visible that God was speaking with him. The last service he prayed. "I've given up so many times. I'm afraid I'll fall." Nathan Hunt told Artyom that he could make it, "I'm counting on you," Nathan said.

Artyom answered, "I'm counting on God."

Little Olya, Tolik and Vova Drummond sought God.

Vova from Mikhailivka, a quiet, sweet kid was one of the first to acknowledge his need.

One lad was pestering a fellow camper before he went to service. After he had prayed and God had dealt with his heart, he came back to apologize.

At last tired and smelling of smoke we made the trip to take the first load to the train station. It was the last day, July the 4th. We, Americans, missed being with our families and friends to watch the fireworks. So on the trip, Dave did a special favor and stopped to pick up some fireworks. When he drove back to camp, he promptly left again to go around the lake away from people and trees to set them off. A few of them lit up the sky celebrating America's freedom and the new freedom and joy in the hearts of those who had repented.
We roasted a few marshmallows after the fireworks and even made a "s'more."
Saturday morning was clean-up, pack-up and taking the children home. We carried the supplies in and made a line at the bathrooms for baths. Nathaniel scrubbed soot off of camping pans. We put supplies up and cleaned. A load of wash was put in the washer. Youth camp was over.

It's Sunday now. Tonight the TLC team will leave to begin their journey home. The children who found God will meet Satan's temptations and life's trials. We will continue to try to minister to them. Pray for each of us, especially that God will keep and shelter the new spiritual babes.