Monday in the village

Monday night Carol texted a message to Dee Dee to let us know what an awesome, full day the team had. 
She said "Wow, What a day! I had to ask myself tonight-is it still Monday because it was a very full day!"
The team had a great program in the morning and then they had games, songs, and a skit in the large group in the afternoon. They broke up into small groups to do crafts and lesson discussions afterwards. After supper, the group played with the kids and showed some videos. Carol said us parents would be so amazed at how our teenagers are connecting with these kids through all the activities. The children are flocking to our teens. They had more kids from the village join them in the afternoon and evening as word spread that the missionaries were in town. 


Carol asks that we keep praying for water pressure. All the girls have showered, however, the boys have not been able to shower since Saturday night. They were hoping and praying for showers Monday night...I haven't heard if they happened yet. But they are praising God for the connections they are making with the kids in the orphanage and the village.


Last time I was in the village, the indoor showers didn't work. I'm not sure how it is this year. The outdoor showers are quite a site. It is a concrete type building that is scary to walk in to. It looks like a building straight from a WWII concentration camp scene in a movie. The water is heated by coal being shoveled into it. The coal is shoveled by two old men who are not very patient about our wanting to take turns in the showers and not taking them all at one time. Hopefully, the kids get to use the indoor showers! :)

Nikolaevka bound

Carol has a video on her Facebook. I was trying to put it on the blog but so far, can't figure out how.

 The video is very short and it is from the church service this morning. Colin is playing the guitar and a few of the girls are singing. They are in Igor's church, where we usually spend at least one Sunday in worship while in Ukraine.

After church, they have lunch and pack everything they need for the week at the village and head to Nikolaevka on a big bus. The drive is about 2 1/2 hours away from Odessa and is usually a lot of fun. They sleep and sing and play with balloon animals most of the way there. The kids from the village and the orphanage will be super excited to see that bus drive into their village again. The first year  our team went to the village was the first time they ever had Americans come to visit them and share the love of Jesus with them. It was huge. 

The team will not have internet service while they are in this village so we probably will not hear from them. There is an internet "cafe" they can go to if there is an emergency message they need to get to us but other wise, just know that everyone is doing great. They really do not have free time when they are in the village. They are with the kids from the time they get up until the time they crash for the night. They sit outside in the evenings and watch movies on the wall of the buildings. The kids love this time with the teenagers.

This is a link to a YouTube video from the first Nikolaevka trip in 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqHb-PBZTnk

 This is a good video to watch if you want to see what it's like in the village. You'll see the team standing in beautiful flowers, passing out balloons to the kids as we walked door to door to tell them about our Bible School, one of our teens dressed up as a tiger to make it more fun, and see how the kids love to sing along with us during the singing time. You can be 100% sure that your kids are going to have a blast this week. And, like Ron Bracy said, they will give their hearts away. God will pour His love through them in a way they have never experienced before.

Boarding the last plane!

The comforters we bought for Camp Viktoria

Touring Odessa

The whole group in front of the Opera House

playing games amd making friends at Viktoria

We just finished a great devotion after a very FULL day!  Started out shopping where we had the chance to buy some souvenirs and gifts for the orphanages.  Then we enjoyed a little of the USA at McDonalds for lunch.  We saw some of the sights of Odessa after lunch like the famous steps, the promenade, statues and the beautiful Opera House.  It was a beautiful day and we saw at least 15 wedding couples posing for photos around town as we toured the city.  Then our favorite part of the day was visiting Camp Viktoria!  We played games, made balloon animals and paper airplanes, and shared Jesus' love to the kids!  Everyone was surprised at how fast they made friends and how open the kids were to our visit.  Can't wait to go back in a week!  Thanks for your prayers!  
Tomorrow its church and then bus trip to the village of Nikolaevka. 

Safe Arrival!

We've made it hear safely!!! Thank you so much for the prayers!  Amy Weeks had a little glitch because they overbooked the flight and she had no seat, but she was able to connect back up with us at Dulles.  We met our translators tonight and we shared our first delicious Ukrainian meal with them.  Now we are headed to bed to try to get some much needed sleep.  Tomorrow will be 7 kilometer market where we will buy some supplies and gifts for the orphans.  This is a huge market and our prayers are that it will not be too overwhelming since we will still be jet lagged. Then its off to downtown Odessa for lunch and then join the orphans and other kids at Camp Viktoria in the afternoon.  Pray that we will quickly bond with them and be able to do our program well, as well as draw them into sports and crafts. Thanks again for the prayers, Carol McG

Safe Arrival!

We have safely arrived in Odessa and settled in for a couple nights.  Thank you so much for your prayers!
We met our translators and shared our first Ukrainian meal with them.  It was delicious and fun!  Now we are off to bed because we are all exhausted.  Tomorrow morning we will visit the 7 kilometer market where we will buy supplies for the orphanages and maybe some souvenirs.  It's a bit overwhelming this early in the trip, but its our only chance to go, so pray that all will go well.  Then it will be off to lunch in the downtown area and then our first chance to visit the orphans and other kids at Camp Viktoria.  Pray that we can quickly establish close relationships and that we will have a chance to do our program and some fun crafts and sports.  Thanks, Carol McGilvray

Final preparations have been made and the SACS team will be leaving tomorrow morning (Thursday) bright and early.  Please keep all of us in prayer as well as the kids that we will be reaching out to.  Pray that the doors will be open and kids' hearts will be softened to hear our lessons and the good news that Jesus loves them and died for them. Pray that our flights will all go well and that we will be safe in our travels.  We will arrive in Odessa Friday afternoon and get settled in for a couple nights' stay.  Then Friday evening we will meet our translators and get to know them a bit before we start our ministry on Saturday!  I am writing in Pam's place and will be updating the blog on the Ukraine side.  Pam will probably do some posting too because we will not always have internet.  Thanks again for your prayers!  In His Service, Carol McGilvray

Final Preparations!!