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!
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