Hey friends,
Today we talked about forgiveness and how God forgives us. How He loves us so much that He paid the price by giving his life for us so that we could be free of the guilt of sin. He just asks that we accept the precious gift of His son and forgiveness that is available to everyone. It was exciting to know that the campers were having this precious opportunity to hear these words.
During morning exercises today, Oleg was dancing.... I have never seen a kid dance so much in my life. It was the most hysterical thing ever! He can definitely bust a move! It was so cool to see so much happiness and freedom to express it!
God continues to work right under our noses without us even realizing it sometimes. One of the leaders of the camp, Oksana, was asking me about a boy from the orphanage who is in our group (Elosha, but not the same Alosha I talked about the other day). Oksana asked me if he was behaving. I was really surprised by this question because Elosha is the most behaved boy in our group. He is always smiling and laughing. When I told her this, she was astonished and preceded to tell me that at first she did not even want Elosha to come to camp because at the orphanage he gets upset easily, cries a lot and hits himself... The Elosha that Oksana was telling me about is nothing like the the Elosha that I have been loving all week. This shows how much that love and time matters to the development and behavior of a child. Hopefully, this special time with him will improve his behavior when he returns to the orphanage.
We were planning to have a special Olympics today but it started raining so it was cancelled. Pray for our team because we have the task and privilege of teaching the lesson to the kids tomorrow. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement.
Love you all,
Ashley
P.S. Nat says hi (:
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
God's Power!
Today our team talked about how we put limitations on what the campers can do and on what God can do. So often in my posts I have said "we couldn't believe that he/she did this"! But really I should be saying "this is what God revealed to us today". We say that God can do anything, that He is amazing and all powerful. If we believe this then why do we so often put God in a box? We need to open our hearts, minds and eyes to God's power. These campers can do way more than I think they can.
This afternoon one of the campers Alosha (mental disability) read the tag of a purse to us in English. We had no idea that He could read, let alone in English! I mean woah! God totally blew out every limitation that I set on this kid. Later in the day he even said "Natalie let's go play games". It continues to how much he has learned and shown us. Anyway.... God is amazing!
Today prayers were answered about Yulia who I had asked for prayers about yesterday. We did a scavenger hunt and once we found the price we all ran back to the finish line. Yulia not only with all her might but also had the biggest smile on her face. Slava Bogu! Hopefully she will continue to grow.
Update on Sasha.... he is still responding to his name which is good and today he learned how to play catch! We wish that he could always get this much attention because he has so much room to grow but we know that when he goes back to the orphanage it is very likely that he will forget what he has learned. Pray for him, that what he is learning will stay with him.
Tonight another camper accepted Christ as their Savior!! It was truly touching to see another result of God's presence in the camp. Slava Bogu! Thank you God for answering prayers!
Please pray for Jon Graybeal, our fearless leader who is currently under the weather. Overall, it was another amazing day! We were even treated with pancakes for lunch and ice cream for dinner! Sooo delicious!! Natalie and I even had a chance to have some girl time and talk about life. I hope all is well with everybody back home.
Love you all,
Ashley
This afternoon one of the campers Alosha (mental disability) read the tag of a purse to us in English. We had no idea that He could read, let alone in English! I mean woah! God totally blew out every limitation that I set on this kid. Later in the day he even said "Natalie let's go play games". It continues to how much he has learned and shown us. Anyway.... God is amazing!
Today prayers were answered about Yulia who I had asked for prayers about yesterday. We did a scavenger hunt and once we found the price we all ran back to the finish line. Yulia not only with all her might but also had the biggest smile on her face. Slava Bogu! Hopefully she will continue to grow.
Update on Sasha.... he is still responding to his name which is good and today he learned how to play catch! We wish that he could always get this much attention because he has so much room to grow but we know that when he goes back to the orphanage it is very likely that he will forget what he has learned. Pray for him, that what he is learning will stay with him.
Tonight another camper accepted Christ as their Savior!! It was truly touching to see another result of God's presence in the camp. Slava Bogu! Thank you God for answering prayers!
Please pray for Jon Graybeal, our fearless leader who is currently under the weather. Overall, it was another amazing day! We were even treated with pancakes for lunch and ice cream for dinner! Sooo delicious!! Natalie and I even had a chance to have some girl time and talk about life. I hope all is well with everybody back home.
Love you all,
Ashley
Sunday, July 11, 2010
We Became A Family!
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.
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.
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 (:
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