Sharing about our trip in Chapel

This Thursday, our Ukraine team will be sharing about the trip from this past summer. We love when we get to do this. We are so excited to come back to school to share all the things that God did on our trip. He changes us and shows us His power. He leads and guides us every step of the way. Just when we think we may be coming up to a closed door, God shows us that He really wants us to take a step in faith.

He wants us to take a risk and be obedient and in that, be persistent. It is amazing what happens when these three components come together. If you take a risk without being obedient.....disaster. If we are obedient but are not persistent...then we fizzle out. Our pastor has been preaching about this while our church has been examining Saul and David in the Old Testament. I can look back on our trip and see how many times God called us to take a risk. So many things looked impossible and we would wonder if it was a 'no' from God. We would pray about it and know that God was telling us to take a step.

At chapel, we will share many stories of the risks, the obedience, persistence, and the result of the journey. God wants to use us. We just have to be willing.

God wants us to take care of the orphans, so of course He is going to make a way.

We are already planning our next trip for this coming summer. The kids know we will come back if it is at all possible.

Remember you can go to YouTube and search "SACS Ukraine mission trip and find previous trips.

There will hopefully be a new one for Thursday. I've had more technical difficulties than you can imagine. But....I will be persistent and will keep trying to get a new DVD made for Thursday! I can tell you this, if there is a DVD on Thursday, it will be a miracle from God. :) I'm not even joking.

Will you help a child go to camp?

My dear friend, Alyona, who I've known for 7 years, sent out an e-mail from Ukraine that I would like to share with you. Alyona used to be the leader of our mission teams as we served in Ukraine. As Alyona and her husband have become more involved with children's ministries, camps, and the orphans, and as she began helping people with adoptions, and has begun raising a family of her own, her ministries began changing and she could no longer lead our groups. We still go and see her every year and love to sit and visit and hear what God is doing in her life. It is wonderful to see her family grow and are excited that God has blessed her with a little boy (almost 2) and a sweet baby girl. Alyona's husband, Slavik, is very much a leader in the children and camp ministry and loves these kids and serves with all his heart.

Below you will find an e-mail with a short update about what God is doing. You will also find a very easy way that you can help a child go to camp this August. I know we will be doing this. Even if you can give $5.00 or $20.00, I know that God will multiply that gift....as I always say....just as He did with the loaves and fishes. I've seen Him do it time and time again. You will be as blessed as the child who goes to camp.

Dear Friends,

Greetings to all of you who have touched our lives and ministry in so many ways. Many of you have witnessed the work we are doing here in Ukraine and many have supported us through prayers and financial means. We are grateful to God for your partnership in the ministry and are excited to share with the vision God has laid on our hearts.

Our teams have been working throughout the Odessa oblast. Our entire ministry encompasses a clown ministry in hospitals and orphanages, puppet theatre, one day evangelistic programs, kid’s festivals, Kids Games and Family Games, collecting clothing for orphans, day camps, extreme camp for boys, working with the kid’s orphanage at the women’s prison, Sunday Schools in the villages, and visiting orphans in many orphanages to bring hope to the children. We have also distributed Christmas gifts, Valentines, stickers, and other small gifts to the children in partnership with other missionaries.

We would like to share with you that this August we are going to have a camp for the children of Odessa and Odessa region. The theme will be Robin Hood. The children will be coming from mostly non-Christian homes. We also hope to invite many children from villages. These children come from families who are not able to pay for the camp and we would like to ask you to help. Besides them we are inviting at least 20 boys from Fontanka detention school for boys. Those are mostly orphans. Total number of children that we are expecting is 150. Almost half of them won't be able to pay for their ticket.

The camp will be held from Aug 11 – 20 in the beautiful forest where the children will be staying in tents. The price for the camp (including transportation, food, crafts, and all activities) is $60 for one child, just $6 a day.

We are really looking forward to ministering to children through the camp and pray that these 10 days will have a big impact on the children. Please consider how you can help.

Donations can be sent to:

Harvest International PO Box 6690 Ocala, Florida 34478-6690. www.harvestinternational.org

Please note in the memo part of the check Slavik and Alyona Puzanov, Robin Hood camp.

We highly appreciate your interest and support in any way!

Slavik and Alyona

Does your light shine brighter in the darkness or the light?

As we went through this week, day by day, it was obvious to see that our light, which is the light of Jesus, shines much brighter in the darkness than it does in the light. When we are in our Christian school, our families, or in our churches, our light still needs to shine bright, but when we are in the darkness-out in the world-our light shines bright for God. That is what He calls us to do; to be a light in the darkness. We cannot do that without going into the darkness to be that light.

Spending time with these kids, in their world, has been emotional and draining, but it has been worth every bit of sacrifice of time and energy. Being the hands and feet of Jesus cannot be done without the supernatural power of God Himself. What an awesome opportunity to be used by Him in such an incredible way. We praise Him and give Him all the glory for all that has been done this past week.

God opened the door for us to go to Fontanka every morning. We presented Bible stories about Joseph in the Old Testiment and also stories of Jesus and tied them together with a spiritual message that they could apply to their lives today. Little did we know that these boys knew their Bible stories as well, if not better, than we did. When we had our small group time and showed pictures from the stories, they couldn't wait to describe what was taking place in each scene. Each craft was done with care. Many crafts were given to us as gifts because they wanted to give back and had nothing to give. On the day of the Salvation message every group had several boys receive Jesus in to their hearts. The boys were beaming. Please pray for a boy named Dima who was in Carol's group. At only 12 years old, he feels God cannot forgive him for what he has done. Carol's heart was broken as she was describing to us how he looked as he confessed what he felt from his soul at such a young age. We pray that this week made a difference that gave him some hope that, yes, God can forgive him and that God does love him.

It was a challenge to be able to teach at Camp Viktoria every day, but we did get some stories and small group times in. Some days they had a program and we taught afterwards. One day they went to the Sea, so we went to the Sea to play with them. We also came back in the evenings and went to their disco time and spent time playing ball, making bracelets, doing sidewalk chalk, or just sat and talk. We firmly believe that the "hanging out" time is crucial to building the relationships that help these children trust us and grow to trust and believe in God.

On our Salvation message day, each group had about 8 kids who prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior. WOW! We were so excited! We did not have a lot of teaching time there, yet God still worked in their hearts in a mighty way.

One of our main concerns is that there is not much in the way of follow up with the children. There are some local churches and we are praying that some will get more involved with helping out in that area. Some of our translators do work with the orphans through out the year so they are not left alone the rest of the time. What we would also really love to see is for them to be in a Christian church full time.

We hated saying good-bye to our kids last night. It's always so hard. It breaks our hearts to leave them behind. Hopefully some will be adopted; there is no life for them once they graduate. Just more to pray about! :)

Job 42:2 'I know you can do all things and that no plan of yours can be ruined.' This verse seemed to be the theme of the day. After many of Satan's attacks, God's plan of taking the orphans to church prevailed. Even though our bus driver never showed up and our team had to split up to use public transportation, we finally made it to church. The children loved church and afterwards we treated them to McDonald's. They ate so much and were happy and full by the time we dropped them off back at the camp. Today is our second to last day to minister to the children. We are presenting the gospel today at Fontanka and Viktoria. We need your prayers as we teach about the amazing gift of salvation.

Great weekend!

Saturday was a great day in Odessa. Because we cannot teach on Saturdays and Sundays, we usually do shopping and touring on the weekends. The team went to the very large market for a few hours to buy lots of gifts for a very good price. The translators, as usual, were a very good help in this. Igor, Carol, and I went to visit an old friend, Alyona, and her little baby girl, Maria, and little 2 year old, Mark. We enjoyed our fellowship time of catching up and hearing of all the things that God is doing in the ministries that God has been leading her and her husband to do.

We caught up to the team and bought $200 worth of sheets for the kids at Camp Viktoria. The director asked if we could do this. After lunch we headed to camp and met with the director who was happy to see us. He was very thankful for the sheets and allowed us to come and see the kids. The kids were going to be heading to the park for a pre-planned game so we were not able to teach a lesson but we went with them, played with them and visited with them. Some teachers heard the Word of God from one of our leaders.

Of course the kids loved being loved on and many new kids were there to get to know us. Our new team members made lots and lots of new friends and those of us who have been there many times made lots of new friends as well. It's always awesome to see how God creates strong bonds right away. We know His Word goes deep in their hearts when these close relations are created.

After dinner we went back to camp for their disco time. Of course we can't really talk during this time because of the loud music but it's just a fun time to be silly and play with the kids. Our teen age boys had little boys on their shoulders dancing around and they were loving it. I was able to visit with some older girls whom I have known for at least 7 years. One of them picked me up and twirled me around. She's a big, strong girl and will be going to Korea soon for a boxing championship match. I guess she's pretty good! :)

My personal favorite part of the night was when my little boy, Kostya, who is 14, came to sit by me. We couldn't talk because the music was so loud. He asked if I wanted to go for a walk and OF COURSE I did! We went for a walk and talked and talked. He knows English so we had a great talk and caught up on how our year has gone. I didn't mean to cry but I did; I just miss him so much. He held my hand and said, "please don't cry or I cry too". I tried very hard not to. He's precious.

I forgot to mention that we asked the director if we could take kids to church again. We were allowed to take 12 so we had to give him the names and make a list. We were so excited we were given permission again and prayed that no one would misbehave or runaway.

Sunday morning came. The bus did not come. We had a few choices. We could just go to the church that was near by and give up since we had been waiting and waiting and we could consider this a closed door. We would be late for church since it was an hour away. But, there was no way we were going to disappoint those kids and not show up. So, Igor came up with a plan that he and Carol would take a city bus and pick the kids up and meet up with us at church. Two other translators would take the rest of us on another city bus or two and go straight to church. We were right on time and the kids were about 5 or 10 minutes late. God is so good! The service was wonderful and the kids 14 and under even got to go to a Sunday School class, which they loved.

We took them to McDonalds afterwards and my friend, Vova, who is now 21, met us after church. He also met us at the mall on Saturday. I've known Vova since he was 14 years old. McDonalds was a lot of fun and the kids ate so much.

We spent part of our day shopping and touring Odessa since we could not go to the orphanages on Sunday. Sunday evening we went to Igor's church to play Volleyball with his youth group and had a praise and worship/fellowship time. They always invite us to do this when we are in town.

Please pray for us as we can feel satan attacking. There is a battle raging and we can feel it. It's exhausting. We are putting on the full armor of God; He is so much more powerful than any attack the enemy can put on us, but it's still no fun being attacked. We're tired, it's over 100 degrees every day and we are on the go all the time. This morning it's very cool but it won't last long. Igor will talk to the director of Fontanka in just a little while this morning to see if we can teach there this morning. We can teach for sure but the time may change. It may be tonight but we will find out. We know God is in control and His plan is perfect.

Please also pray that we will be able to teach at Camp Viktoria. We never know before we get there whether or not we will be allowed to teach. It always depends on if there is another program there or not. Last year, even though there were other programs scheduled, God opened the door for us to be able to teach every day and many kids accepted Jesus. He is more powerful than any schedule.

Thank you for your prayers!

Leaving the village

Exciting news:

"On our way back to Odessa. Had a wonderful time of ministry and great fun connecting and playing with the children. Many trusted Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. We said one last prayer together as we circled around the orphans. No dry eyes as we said special goodbyes. The director gave us a blessing and they all want us to come back next year! Tomorrow we will visit Camp Viktoria; pray that we will easily connect with the children and that we will be able to present our program."

The above update was sent by Carol.....

In the mean time...Pam (mwoa) got to Ukraine safe and sound today. I flew in to Odessa and found my friends, Viktor and Artyr waiting for me in the airport. It was so great seeing them again. Artyr took the bus to his home and Viktor took me to his house since the team wasn't there yet. Viktor's wife made a delicious meal full of fresh vegetables, meat, salads, bread, and Ukrainian dishes. It was the best food I've had in 2 days. We ate outside in their beautiful back yard. Diana has planted several fruit trees that have grown so much since the last time I've been there. She has also added a fish pond with a little fountain. So nice and relaxing. I was so spoiled after being on that plane for so long.

After a long nap, Viktor took me to the Kindergarden where I met up with the team. I was so happy to see of all them and my "son", Igor! We all caught up, ate dinner, and then went to the store to buy water, exchange money, and buy chocolate.

When we returned we had an awesome praise and worship time. After singing, and thanking God for all He's done, we had a share time. I especially enjoyed the share time because I got to catch up on a lot of what I missed.

It sounds like there was a lot of opposition about our team going to the village even once they got the ok to go. Igor had to call Kiev and get things worked out. It wasn't easy but he worked out everything.

Some of the stories were how the director's heart has really softened towards our group coming. She has been pretty stern in the past but she gave a little speech on how much she appreciated them being there and how much the kids love them.

One person from our team bought 3 bikes for the orphans. Needless to say, they were overjoyed with this gift! The director said it has been their dream to have bikes.

Many kids shared stories of how "their kid" came to Christ. They shared about how deeply in love the kids were with them and visa versa.

One shared how he and his teenager, who hung out with last year too, just sat and locked eyes and talked back and forth, barely noticing that the translator was translating every word they were saying.

God is moving. Many seeds were planted and much fruit was harvested. How exciting to be a part of it; especially for those who came for the first time.

Tomorrow is Saturday and Carol and I will go visit a friend, Alyona, who had a baby about 2 months ago. The rest of the group will go to a huge market where you can buy anything and everything for a very good price. We will meet them there. At 4, we will go to Camp Viktoria, then dinner, then back to Camp for Disco, if all goes well.

We may have the opportunity to teach tomorrow at Camp but we do not know yet. Please pray for God to open this door.

Oh, I found out when I got here that my son, Trent had been sick with fever this past week. Possibly strep. Please pray that no one else gets sick and that we all stay healthy and strong. The moms on the trip took great care of him and he's doing great now.

New update from Carol

All is going great! We have all made very good friends with the orphans and many village kids, and are having a great time with Bible stories, crafts, and games! An extra blessing today was the supervisor telling us that they were so happy that we came back. The kids have been looking forward to it because they love to play with us and the teachers love it because they get a rest. Everyday we have more village kids come also. Tomorrow we will be sharing the gospel message so we really need your prayer support! Can't wait to share pics when we get back to Odessa.

Thank you, Jesus

I just thought I would take a moment and blog my thank you to God out here on the Internet. I ask for prayer many times and I know people are faithful to pray. Every year our team has to raise funds for the trip and every year God is faithful to meet our needs.
It would be amazing to see the number of people that God used to fund this trip. I don't know if it would even be possible to know how God orchestrated it all and how many people were used by Him. We have heard testimony after testimony of how the givers were blessed or how God made the gift possible when someone had nothing to give. The Spirit was teaching one family about tithing and they saw the promises that His Word spoke about and did not give just one time, but two times. One faithful supporter came to the school after the team left and found out how much was still needed for each person who was not able to raise all the support they needed and she covered the remaining amount. God just never ceases to amaze me with His care for us.

Not that I should have a favorite gift or story, but if I did (and I think I do) then this would be it.
My oldest son, Mike, started going on this mission trip with SA Christian School since the very very beginning of our trips. I think it was 8 years ago...maybe 9; I'm starting to lose track. On that trip, he met a little girl named Anya, who he became very close to. Every year that he went back, he would see Anya and hang out with her. Meridith (Mike's friend) also loved Anya and they would let her listen to their Christian music and talk about Jesus and spend a lot of time with her. One year, when Anya was about 14 or 15, she was adopted and we are all so happy that she has a wonderful Christian family who adopted two girls from Ukraine. But the part of the story that I was getting at is that Anya has given money to support the mission trip this year and also in the past. I just think that speaks volumns of what God has done in her life and what the relationship means to her. She feels so strongly about the mission trips that we take there that she wants to help support us financially. Praise God for this and thank You, Jesus!
What an amazing opportunity to be used to reach kids who need Jesus. It doesn't matter where they are. They could be here in San Antonio or way across the world, but when we allow God to use us to give or to go and tell it is amazing!
We know that we can do nothing without God and we would not attempt to make these trips without God leading the way. He gets all the glory and praise. May He be glorified.


So, I just wanted to thank all of you who prayed for our finances to be raised and I wanted to thank all of you who gave. I want to praise our Savior for meeting our needs once again, as I had no doubt that You would!

Please continue to keep our team in prayer as they teach the kids in the village about Jesus. Thursday will be the death and resurrection of Jesus and they will be teaching about Salvation. Satan will not like that so he will be trying to destroy in any way he can. Please pray for unity, good health, the armor of God, protection, good weather, and that they will not be feeling too tired.
Friday they will leave the village after lunch and head back to Odessa. I will also be in Odessa on Friday and I cannot wait!

First few days of the mission trip

Group walking to church and then in front of Igor's church.

Despite a few mishaps, including Carol (our leader) and one of the teens missing the flight to Odessa from Vienna due to a lost passport, we finally made it to Ukraine. We were welcomed by our comrad, Igor the great. The following day we visited the children from Camp Victoria at the World War II Memorial Park. It was so great to return to the kids we knew. It was even greater to watch God work through the new team members. They were all naturals and became very close friends with the orphans quickly.

The two team members who stayed in Vienna arrived and met us at the mall in Odessa and we were all able to return to Camp Victoria and hang out with the children for awhile. One girl thought Colin was Michael Jordan because he could dunk the basketball so easily.

We went to Igor's church today and are about to take off for the village. God has blessed us with great food, weather, and new friendships so far this trip. We are excited to see what He has in store for us the rest of the trip.

Brian

(Pam writing now) We also received a message from message from Carol today (Sunday) letting us know that they made it to the village, got settled into their rooms, and had their first meal. They are so ready to meet the kids tomorrow and hope that word spreads quickly through out the village that they are there. Many kids will come to the orphanage to be with the Americans and hear God's Word. They love playing the games, doing the crafts, and learning the Bible stories. Normally the kids from the village do not come to the orphanage, but they do come when the Americans are there. It's a blessing to watch them help the orphans with their crafts.

On the count down! Special prayer request.

Our mission team leaves in 2 days. We have had a lot of planning meetings, shopping trips, and have packed up all the supplies and donated clothes and flip flops. We have been asking God for His direction as we continue to make plans and work on schedules and last minute details.


Now we have a special prayer request. On our last 2 trips to Ukraine, we have spent the first half of our time in a little village called Nikolaevka, where we stay in an orphanage and teach the orphans and the children in the village about Jesus and His love. The second half of the trip is spent in Odessa where we go to Fontanka (the boys juvenile detention orphanage) and the camp for 2 orphan schools. We just received word that Nikolaevka's control audit office is there this week and if they are not finish with the audit before we get there, we will not be able to go to the village.
Our prayer is that the audit will be over and that we will still be able to go to Nikolaevka. But, we also know God is in control and His plan is perfect.

Above all, we pray that God's plan for this trip will prevail and that we would have wisdom to know what that is. We pray for peace as we wait on His timing and on His direction.

God, we need a miracle!

We received some tough news yesterday from the man who arranges all the travel for us every year for our mission trips. Because of all the gas and oil prices going sky high all over the world, which is also affecting the Euro/Dollar exchange for us, our ticket prices are going up $250 each. That is a total of $3,825 increase for our 17 tickets. Wow...that is a lot of money especially considering the fact that we haven't raised the needed funds yet. Does this surprise God?
NO! I believe He has this all under control. However, we still have to take action. The first thing we need to do is ask for prayer. We need to pay for the tickets and we need to raise the rest of the money for the trip itself and the supplies and all that is involved with the trip. Unfortunately, it costs to stay in the places we stay, it costs to eat, and to travel once we are there. We gladly pay our translators for the many, many hours they sacrifice. They leave their families, and even their jobs sometimes, while we are there. They have a deep desire to serve Jesus and minister to these children. In order for them to do this with us, we must pay them for their time or they could not come with us every day, all day long. The first week we are in Ukraine, they stay away from home in a different village, which is about 2 1/2 hours away from their city. All this to say, we must raise the rest of our money, but this is nothing unexpected or new.
God's timing always tests our faith. Our fleshly desire is for the finances to be taken care of way in advanced so that we can rest in that and take a deep sigh. Whew! That would be nice. Then we could concentrate on planning the Bible stories, crafts, games, songs, and what to pack. God doesn't usually work that way; at least He hasn't chosen to work that way in our group in the past. Instead, we put our rest in Him and take our deep sigh in His arms, knowing He has everything in His control. We always say we trust Him. We always say His timing is perfect. We do believe this but that doesn't mean it's easy, does it.
SO, my friends, I write this to ask for your prayers. Our mission team needs a financial miracle. The tickets need to be paid for by Monday, April 25th (if I am incorrect about this I will correct it later but this is the way I understand it as of now). We can continue to raise the rest of our funds, but first, we have to be able to purchase those tickets! Thank you for your prayers! God is able.

Father Daughter Banquet 2011

What a special night at our Father Daughter Banquet! The girls came all dressed up in their finest and their daddies didn't look too bad either. : ) The theme was like a Masquerade Ball and dads and their daughters had a lot fun with that. We talked about not hiding behind a mask and, instead, being all that God has for you to be. We gave away bookmarks with several verses about being complete in Christ. The girls played a game with their dads to see how well they knew each other. We have done this every year and it is a lot of fun to watch them interact with each other as they played. Some couples were up on stage and the rest of the families played the game at their tables. After the first question was asked (What is your daughter's favorite color?) a little girl near where I was standing exclaimed to her father, "We went over this in the car! How could you miss this?!?!" Apparently, Dad did not get the correct answer and obviously, they knew this game was coming. : ) We had a lot of special talent during the evening. "Justin Bieber" made a special appearance and "sang" (pretended to sing) "Pray", along with his band. One of the guys re-wrote and sang, "You Smile, I Smile", as a Daddy Daughter song and another one of our teenagers sang a song about daughters. This years' Ukraine mission team has a very talented group of musicians. I will be posting video of the songs as time permits. I am not posting many pictures; I do not want to post pictures of the little girls since this goes out to anyone. The girls loved taking pictures with "Justin". They thought it was pretty cool to surround him and take a million pictures! He was good sport to sit and smile for at least 30-45 minutes with a bunch of silly, giggly girls. He knew it was all about them that night so he didn't mind. The evening ended with a special dance. Those of us who were there to serve and make the night a success, just stood there in tears as we watched this precious time. These are memories that the daughter will cherish forever. Something tells me they are memories that the dads will never forget either. Thank you Jesus for making this night so special. You are so good to us. To see pictures of the banquet click on:

father daughter 2011

Battle of the Bands and Father Daughter Banquet

The Ukraine Mission Team had a great night of rockin' it out last month at the high schools' annual Battle of the Bands contest. Several of the high school students came out to play their guitar, sing, or be part of a band that night. A large group of students and parents and teachers came out to show their support. (some wearing ear plugs) : )
All proceeds went to the mission team to help pay for the trip to Ukraine that is coming up this summer.
SA Christian school has a huge heart for these kids and continue to do anything they can to help to support this mission.
I hope to post pictures of this event.


Our favorite fund raiser does not even feel like a fund raiser. Our team is blessed so much when we serve at this event. For the last few years, we have held a Father Daughter Banquet; what a special evening it has been for these daddies and their "little" girls. Our upcoming banquet is on Saturday, April 2, 2011. If you would like to see the flyer (because it's so cool) with the information, you may go to www.sachristianschools.org click on "edline" then scroll down to click on Father Daughter Banquet.

All proceeds go towards the mission trip.


If God lays it on your heart to pray for this mission trip, please do. Please pray for God to prepare the hearts of the kids who are going to minister to the orphans. Please pray as we know God is already preparing the hearts of the children of Ukraine. We have confidence that the seeds that have been planted will continue to grow and we also have confidence in believing that more seeds will be planted. Pray with us that God will bring many to His Salvation this summer. Last June several of the 15 and 16 year olds accepted Him. These new believers were teens whom the SACS team has had a relationship with for the last 5 - 7 years and God's Word came alive in them that summer.

If God lays it on your heart to give financially, that would be a blessing as well. We believe, with all our hearts, that God multiplies each gift. He will use each gift for His glory. Although the fundraisers may raise between one or two thousand dollars, it doesn't go very far once it is split up between 20 people The airline tickets alone are $1900 each (actually, I think they may be more than this now). Every dollar counts though, because God blesses it. The mission team appreciates every amount that is given and they especially appreciate the prayers.

Any financial gift can be sent to

SA Christian School

19202 Redland Rd Building F

San Antonio, TX 78259



Checks may be written to SACS with Ukraine missions written in the subject.

May God bless you as you bless others.

A must read!

This is a must read for those of you who have supported the Ukraine missions, whether with finances or in prayer. God is showing us some seeds that have been planted. What an amazing God He is that He allows us to see a glimp of what He is doing in the lives of His little lambs.
The Fumia's have posted some exciting updates that you will love reading about. Please take the time to go to http://fumia.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-could-we-not-give-it-away-so-freely.html and don't forget to continue praying for them and the Medley's as they go through this adoption process.

2 adoptions! : )

While our mission team was in Ukraine this summer, we met and fell in love with two sweet little girls who are being adopted right now. We fell in love with all of them of course, but I am excited to report that these two girls are in the process of being adopted. One girl is Masha; her family just arrived in Ukraine a few days ago. Right now they are in Kiev waiting for one of their court dates but soon they will be in Odessa meeting their new daughter. Please join me in prayer as they go through this long process. Many things can make this process difficult, emotional, and long but God is in control and they are leaning on Him every step of the way. The Medley's web address is www.ComposingTheMedleys.com. Read along if you would like to keep up with how things are going and know more how to pray.
Another little girl, Natasha, is being adopted by the Fumia's. This is their second trip to Odessa to adopt. I first met the Fumias when they adopted Grisha a few summers ago. It was such an exciting thing to meet my American friends in person for the first time while we both happened to be in UKRAINE! We had been in contact with each other on the computer only and were happy about getting to meet in person. We met again in Florida this past summer when we attended a very special event for a very special missionary, 84 year old Babuska Lela, who has since gone to be with the Lord.
Although the Fumia's are still short several thousand dollars, they know, without a doubt, that God will supply their need. To see the Fumia's webpage, please go to WWW.Fumia.blogspot.com
A little side note.... go to this blog if you are interested in purchasing a truck. You can purchase a truck and help this family with their adoption all at the same time.

Personally, I love keeping up with the blogs of the families who go to adopt. The families take a huge step of faith into a very unknown world. They do not know what waits for them. The money they must come up with for the whole adoption process is too overwhelming to even think about it. The commitment to raise the pre-teen or teenager is unthinkable in the world's eyes (and a bit scary to the parents doing the adopting). The finances to add another child to their household is stressful to say the least. However, I read these blogs and see the faith that God gives them as they need it. I read about the grace God supplies through the rough times. I am blessed when I read how God uses others as they are blessed when they give. I witness the miracles He does to make things happen. It's always an amazing journey to walk through with them.

Getting ready for another trip!

San Antonio Christian School has a new team preparing for their 8th mission trip to Ukraine. There are some who are returning for 2nd, 3rd, or 4th+ time back. Many are going for the very first time. Currently, there are approximately 20 on the team and they are all very excited as they anticipate what God is going to do.

Now is a time of planning, fund raising, and meetings. The team meets every week to get ready for this mission and to seek what God has planned for them. They will begin weekly Russian lessons soon as well. It's great to know a few words even though we have wonderful translators when we get to Odessa, Ukraine.

The team is working on raising funds for the trip. Each member must raise about $2,900 to cover the cost of airfare, travel in Ukraine and Austria, food, water, hotel, craft supplies, translator fees, and any need that the team feels they can meet while they are there.

One of the biggest struggles about going on such a trip is raising this huge about of money. However, there is no doubt about Who holds this money in His hands and Who is sending this team to do His will, therefore there is no worry about raising the funds needed.
Here are some things the team is already doing and will be doing in order to raise what is needed:
"Parent Night Out" nights are held at the school several times throughout the school year. Parents drop their children off for the evening and the Ukraine Mission Team takes care of the children .
In February, the school's annual "Battle of the Bands" takes place. Students get their bands together (all styles of music) and come to ROCK OUT all evening. This is the first time that proceeds will go to Ukraine missions ....... Our school has a heart for the orphans in Ukraine! Thank you Jesus!
Everyone on the team sends out letters to their loved ones asking for prayer and financial support. This is really the main way to raise support and of course, prayer is the most important support to receive.
The favorite fund raiser for the mission team, hands down, is the Father/Daughter Banquet. This banquet is as much of a blessing for those of us who participate in serving in it as it is for those fathers and daughters who come to the event. It is always a very special evening. Last year's theme was "Showers of Blessings". At the end of the evening the fathers had a special time of praying a blessing over their daughters and then completed the night with a precious father-daughter dance.

This blog post is just to let you know that another trip is in the making. Your prayers are very much appreciated. It is very important that no step is taken in the plans without God's hand guiding us.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to help this team go to Ukraine to minister to the orphans, please send your check to SACS @ 19202 Redland Road San Antonio TX 78259 and mark the check and the envelope Ukraine Missions. We believe that God will multiply each gift just as He did when he multiplied the loaves and fishes. He is in control.
As always,
THANK YOU for your prayers! God is the Creator of the universe and He cares for us so much. He cares for these orphans in Ukraine and He has put them forever in our hearts. We will continue to go for as long as He opens this door for us to go. So...thank you for your prayers and your support.
Check out the video to see what God did last year and see the awesome kids that are in Ukraine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h6gEi00QQo
Also, feel free to see the entries below to see more about last summer.

By the way.... Bill and Pam (Pam is the writer of this blog) may not be going on the trip this year. I have gone the last 6 years and have fallen so very in love with these kids. Bill has joined us the last 4 years and has also gotten all "messed up" in the heart. Because of this condition we find ourselves in, we feel God prompting us to adopt and we have started the process of adopting. We will not know the timing of our Ukraine court date any time soon, therefore we cannot make plans yet for the mission trip. It's hard to believe I won't be going with the team but maybe God's will make the timing all at the same time~