Hey Everyone!
Today we talked about heaven. “I am the way the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father but through me”. The kids in our group do not understand a lot but one of our girls, Oksana does. She loves hearing stories and learning. She tells us how God is her Father since she has never had an earthly father. She always has a smile and loves to be with Natalie and me. Today she made the decision to repent of her sins and give her life to Christ. It was incredible to see her happiness. Praise God! That is the goal for all of our campers this week however for those who can’t understand, we find God working in their lives through little things.
There is a boy named Oleg who has severe Down Syndrome. He isn’t very responsive so we have had a hard time with him. Today someone brought him a chair so he could sit down with us (all the seats were taken) and all of a sudden he says “thank you very much” in English! We were so amazed that he responded let alone in English! God has been working in him.
There was also a boy in the group named Sasha. He is from the boys orphanage. He shows no emotion, no verbal communication and he doesn’t even know his name. We have been trying to teach him his name by rewarding him with a hug every time he responds to “Sasha”. We were not having much progress and we thought it was impossible but before the evening service he was walking away from our group so we yelled “Sasha” and he turned around, smiled, ran to us and gave us a hug. It was so incredible and brought us to tears. Nothing is impossible with God!
This evening we had our daily team meeting with Barry Rod. He is so awesome and he asked us challenging questions about the trip, the kids and our relationship with God. Our team grew really close as we spilled our hearts out before each other. We were all in tears by the end of the meeting and it was the coolest experience. Tonight we became a family, not just a team!
All in all, it was a great day! We got our luggage! Everyone is healthy! Please pray for a Yulia, a girl in our group. She does not express any emotion and we are struggling to connect with her. Pray that God will work in her.
We also had fun tonight teaching the Ukrainians to play Ninja. We had a group of 30 playing it and it was so fun!
Love you all,
Ashley
P.S. Oh, today we also started an abstinence program for the kids (like CPR). Most of these kids are never taught about this because many don’t go to school, so here the program is extremely effective. Hopefully it continues to go well.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Incredible
Today we went to the Boy's Orphanage. The orphanage itself was actually in pretty good condition but the kids and how they are cared for is a different story. The boys are just watched, fed and put to bed by workers but never loved by them. There were 5 boys that remained in their beds because they were too sick to get out. These were the first boys we visited and even though they were sick they smiled when we sat with them and their faces lit up when we put our hands on them (simple things they do not get on a daily basis).
Still at the orphanage, we moved on to a "box" which is a place for the boys who have the most severe disabilities. When we smiled and touched them several of the boys called us girls "momma" because they are in such need of the love of a momma they never had. This broke our hearts! We had the most amazing opportunity to go to the playground with the rest of the boys. We played with them for only 10 minutes but we wished we could have stayed there all day. It was so hard to leave because we knew that these boys needed more love.
After our time at the orphanage we were excited to get back to camp to demonstrate our new understanding that all the kids want is to be loved. As we worked and played with the kids today they really opened up to us which is exactly what we had prayed for.
A cool story from today: there is a boy named Roma who is in a wheelchair and is not able to talk. However, he communicates through a picture book where he can point to the things he wants to say. There is another boy Antwon who is also not able to talk but his mother will not let him use the picture book (we don't know why). No one understands Antwon because all he can do is grunt and so we never know what he is trying to say. So today as Antwon was grunting, Roma starts getting excited and is pointing to things in his picture book. As it turns out, Roma could understand exactly what Antwon was trying to say so he was translating for him. It was so incredible to to see God work through these boys. Who knew that two boys who could not speak could understand exactly what the other one was saying by grunting. It was incredible!! Slava Bogu (Praise God)!!!!!! Yes today really was incredible!
Our friend Alosha from last year came to visit today and Natalie and I have been learning Ukrainian and Russian phrases. Today we learned "I love you" which is "ya tebya lyublyu".
Breaking news update... we get our luggage tomorrow!! Woohoo!
Continue to pray for hearts to soften and also for God to open our eyes to see what He wants us to.......
Love you all!
Ashley
P.S. We also talked today about how we don't care if we get our luggage because we honestly have everything we need (2 pair of clothes and soap). Not having our luggage has helped us understand how these people live every day. Of course we will be happy when it arrives but God has plans for everything that happens! Also, praise God that we are all doing well and no one has gotten sick!
Still at the orphanage, we moved on to a "box" which is a place for the boys who have the most severe disabilities. When we smiled and touched them several of the boys called us girls "momma" because they are in such need of the love of a momma they never had. This broke our hearts! We had the most amazing opportunity to go to the playground with the rest of the boys. We played with them for only 10 minutes but we wished we could have stayed there all day. It was so hard to leave because we knew that these boys needed more love.
After our time at the orphanage we were excited to get back to camp to demonstrate our new understanding that all the kids want is to be loved. As we worked and played with the kids today they really opened up to us which is exactly what we had prayed for.
A cool story from today: there is a boy named Roma who is in a wheelchair and is not able to talk. However, he communicates through a picture book where he can point to the things he wants to say. There is another boy Antwon who is also not able to talk but his mother will not let him use the picture book (we don't know why). No one understands Antwon because all he can do is grunt and so we never know what he is trying to say. So today as Antwon was grunting, Roma starts getting excited and is pointing to things in his picture book. As it turns out, Roma could understand exactly what Antwon was trying to say so he was translating for him. It was so incredible to to see God work through these boys. Who knew that two boys who could not speak could understand exactly what the other one was saying by grunting. It was incredible!! Slava Bogu (Praise God)!!!!!! Yes today really was incredible!
Our friend Alosha from last year came to visit today and Natalie and I have been learning Ukrainian and Russian phrases. Today we learned "I love you" which is "ya tebya lyublyu".
Breaking news update... we get our luggage tomorrow!! Woohoo!
Continue to pray for hearts to soften and also for God to open our eyes to see what He wants us to.......
Love you all!
Ashley
P.S. We also talked today about how we don't care if we get our luggage because we honestly have everything we need (2 pair of clothes and soap). Not having our luggage has helped us understand how these people live every day. Of course we will be happy when it arrives but God has plans for everything that happens! Also, praise God that we are all doing well and no one has gotten sick!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Day One At The Camp
Hey friends,
We started the day with breakfast with the Ukrainian team and then the campers starting arriving both new and those that were here last year. Many of the campers were here last year and it was exciting to see their smiles when they recognized me and I felt such joy in my heart that I could be with them again.
We played a game where we hold a parachute and then place balls on top of it. The kids shake the shute to make the balls bounce. So simple but the kids loved it! We then split into our groups. Natalie and I are in the same group along with leaders Nadia, Zhenya, Oksana, Anton, Heazer and interpreter Maryna. We have 8 campers in our group ages 16-22. All 8 are mentally disabled, as opposed to physically so they appear younger than their ages.
We came up with the name "Smileeki" for our group which means "smiles". The kids are very sweet and smart considering their disabilities but they temporarily forgot that I can't speak Ukrainian. It is funny how they just ran up to me and started "rattling off"! I love these kids!
The rest of the day was good but we are all very very tired and ready to go to bed to try to catch up on some much needed sleep. Please keep us in your prayers. Also, our luggage is still not here so pray that it arrives soon. Most of all, I ask for your prayers that the campers and their mothers hearts will soften because many are not open to help from Americans.
I love you all,
Ashley
We started the day with breakfast with the Ukrainian team and then the campers starting arriving both new and those that were here last year. Many of the campers were here last year and it was exciting to see their smiles when they recognized me and I felt such joy in my heart that I could be with them again.
We played a game where we hold a parachute and then place balls on top of it. The kids shake the shute to make the balls bounce. So simple but the kids loved it! We then split into our groups. Natalie and I are in the same group along with leaders Nadia, Zhenya, Oksana, Anton, Heazer and interpreter Maryna. We have 8 campers in our group ages 16-22. All 8 are mentally disabled, as opposed to physically so they appear younger than their ages.
We came up with the name "Smileeki" for our group which means "smiles". The kids are very sweet and smart considering their disabilities but they temporarily forgot that I can't speak Ukrainian. It is funny how they just ran up to me and started "rattling off"! I love these kids!
The rest of the day was good but we are all very very tired and ready to go to bed to try to catch up on some much needed sleep. Please keep us in your prayers. Also, our luggage is still not here so pray that it arrives soon. Most of all, I ask for your prayers that the campers and their mothers hearts will soften because many are not open to help from Americans.
I love you all,
Ashley
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Arrived Safely But No Luggage
Wow, what a long flight but I finished the last Harry Potter book. Thank goodness for books because it made the long flight tolerable as planes are so uncomfortable. I only got an hour and half of sleep.
When we arrived in Kiev our groups luggage was not on the plane. We ended up being stuck in the airport for 5 hours filling out paperwork and trying to figure out where our luggage was and when it would arrive. We did have fun talking and goofing around with each other during the wait. We then left the airport without our luggage and 3 1/2 hours later arrived at the camp.
When we arrived at our camp we were greeted by the Ukrainian team and Barry Rodrigues. It was exciting seeing old friends from last year and getting warm hugs! We talked, sang songs together and had tea with bread and cheese. We are all exhausted from the travel and so many hours without sleep. We are so thankful to have gotten here safely and we thank God for this opportunity. I want to again thank all of you for your love and support. Please continue to pray for the kids, our group and also that our luggage will arrive.
Love,
Ashley
When we arrived in Kiev our groups luggage was not on the plane. We ended up being stuck in the airport for 5 hours filling out paperwork and trying to figure out where our luggage was and when it would arrive. We did have fun talking and goofing around with each other during the wait. We then left the airport without our luggage and 3 1/2 hours later arrived at the camp.
When we arrived at our camp we were greeted by the Ukrainian team and Barry Rodrigues. It was exciting seeing old friends from last year and getting warm hugs! We talked, sang songs together and had tea with bread and cheese. We are all exhausted from the travel and so many hours without sleep. We are so thankful to have gotten here safely and we thank God for this opportunity. I want to again thank all of you for your love and support. Please continue to pray for the kids, our group and also that our luggage will arrive.
Love,
Ashley
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Departing
Hey All!
I will be leaving for Ukraine in about 5 hours! I am so excited! When I am in Ukraine i will not have computer access, so i will be texting my dad everything i want to post on the blog, and he will be posting it for me! I know it's kind of nuts, but i really wanted to be able to post for you guys so that you can follow my trip!
Thank you for all your support! Your prayers mean the world! And although I am still a couple hundred dollars short, all of you who financially supported me have been a blessing!
Alright, well i should get packing... but thank you all again for being absolutely AMAZING! Thank you for all the prayers... and please continue praying for our teams safety and also for the kids that we will be caring for!
-Ashley (:
I will be leaving for Ukraine in about 5 hours! I am so excited! When I am in Ukraine i will not have computer access, so i will be texting my dad everything i want to post on the blog, and he will be posting it for me! I know it's kind of nuts, but i really wanted to be able to post for you guys so that you can follow my trip!
Thank you for all your support! Your prayers mean the world! And although I am still a couple hundred dollars short, all of you who financially supported me have been a blessing!
Alright, well i should get packing... but thank you all again for being absolutely AMAZING! Thank you for all the prayers... and please continue praying for our teams safety and also for the kids that we will be caring for!
-Ashley (:
Friday, June 11, 2010
preparing for the trip
Family and Friends -
there is less than a month until my second trip to Ukraine and i am already so excited! lots of things still need to be planned but the trip is starting to form into an amazing one! I know everyone who is going on the trip this year (unlike last year) and let me tell you, we have an AWESOME team!
thanks to all of you who have supported me financially. you have been a true blessing! i know that things have been hard for all of us this year and your support means the world to me! thank you for all of your prayers! and keep praying! i still have about $1000 to go and prayer would be much appreciated!
anyway, i cannot wait for this trip! i know it will be completely different than last years trip and i am so excited to see how God works this year! i will keep you updated!
In His Service,
Ashley (:
there is less than a month until my second trip to Ukraine and i am already so excited! lots of things still need to be planned but the trip is starting to form into an amazing one! I know everyone who is going on the trip this year (unlike last year) and let me tell you, we have an AWESOME team!
thanks to all of you who have supported me financially. you have been a true blessing! i know that things have been hard for all of us this year and your support means the world to me! thank you for all of your prayers! and keep praying! i still have about $1000 to go and prayer would be much appreciated!
anyway, i cannot wait for this trip! i know it will be completely different than last years trip and i am so excited to see how God works this year! i will keep you updated!
In His Service,
Ashley (:
Thursday, July 16, 2009
From Kiev
Hey all!
This will be my last post while in the Ukraine. We spent the day in Kiev doing some tourist things and tonight we had a really nice dinner and now we room to ourselves (two to a room). After dinner we all talked about the trip for a little over an hour. It was really cool to hear what others in our group experienced while here in the Ukraine. Jon, or leader, had given us some blue sheets of paper before the trip and we wrote down our expectations for the trip. Tonight we read them aloud and said whether our expectations had been met or not. My expectations were that the trip would be an incredible way to help the kids and reach out to their families, that our team would grow into a "family" and that I would be humbled in a way I have never been before. I am very proud so say that each one of my expectations were met above and beyond what I ever imagined!
The trip has been an awesome experience and the memories and impact will last a lifetime. Thanks again to all of you who have supported me and have been praying for me. I love you all!!!
Ashley
This will be my last post while in the Ukraine. We spent the day in Kiev doing some tourist things and tonight we had a really nice dinner and now we room to ourselves (two to a room). After dinner we all talked about the trip for a little over an hour. It was really cool to hear what others in our group experienced while here in the Ukraine. Jon, or leader, had given us some blue sheets of paper before the trip and we wrote down our expectations for the trip. Tonight we read them aloud and said whether our expectations had been met or not. My expectations were that the trip would be an incredible way to help the kids and reach out to their families, that our team would grow into a "family" and that I would be humbled in a way I have never been before. I am very proud so say that each one of my expectations were met above and beyond what I ever imagined!
The trip has been an awesome experience and the memories and impact will last a lifetime. Thanks again to all of you who have supported me and have been praying for me. I love you all!!!
Ashley
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