07.29.09
Day 1 at VBS
This trip’s VBS program is being led by the Youth groups from Fork Union Baptist Church and New Hope Church (Lorton, VA). Here is a blog entry from one of the youth:
Today our youth group went to the VBS at the Children’s Home and Intake Facility and had a great day. I played at the recreation station with all the kids. We jumped rope, played ball, soccer, and jumped rope. We played with chalk and colored. All the kids loved this. They all loved swinging and playing in the sand. Playing with them felt special because I used to live there and was adopted from a boarding school three years ago. My sister was in the Children’s Home, and I was at the Intake Facility that we went to in the afternoon today. I feel like I have a purpose here. God didn’t just tell me to go on a mission trip to just come. I think that He might have a plan for me that there is something special that He wants me to do here that I’m beginning to figure out. When we play with the kids, that’s when God speaks to me… through kids. When I play with them, it was like every kid had a different need and they were all different. I felt something that I could do for them that I could make them feel better. This was God speaking to me. Now that I feel I’m connecting with the children and figuring them out and knowing their names, I can get started on the next step…. I can’t wait until tomorrow!
- Vera
Day 1 at Camp
The Fluvanna-New Hope team had a great first day today at the Klevan camp. Klevan is a small town to the NW of Rivne (about a 30 minute drive). The drive to the camp was beautiful as many of the crops are at a stage where the vegetable gardens are beautiful. We passed a beautiful blue domed church that is surrounded by the graves of Germans from WWII. (Rivne was a HQ city for Hitler during WWII).
We arrived at the camp and discovered that with the exception of two buildings the grass and weeds were over growing the dilapidated buildings. It was a real post Soviet era site. It didn’t diminish the enthusiasm of the team or the kids. As we rounded the corner the kids looked at the bus and wondered who was arriving this time (last week they had a group from Denmark) There were numbers “Sabackas” (Ukrainian for dog) that greeted us (including 4 small puppies).
As we surveyed the 84 faces of the kids lined up to meet us it became clear that there would be no time for petting puppies! The kids were in need of love and attention. The ages of the children are 3-17! Of the 84 there are about 20 who have special needs with just a few who are in need of constant attention due to their condition.
We completed introductions and greetings and then went to work with crafts and sports. The craft team was able to explain to the younger children how to construct a journal. They were quite a hit. Two groups of older kids played Kick Ball and Frisbee Futbol dodging the many piles of cow leftovers!!! (I always get a kick of filling out the USDA form at Dulles airport and answering the question about having been on a farm or near livestock. The agent asking the question gets an ear full about the precious children we work with). After a snack time the music and drama team took over for all 84 kids. The kids heard the message from the bible and got to sing several Ukrainian kids church camp songs. Of course as always the candy at the end went over very big!
Taras and Nadia (both of whom will be featured in subsequent reports) really helped with the translation.
The team ate lunch at a roadside resort near the camp. The food was very Ukrainian and very good. Thanks to Nadia she talked them into giving us a 10% discount. All of the team wanted to utilize the spa but alas there was no time!!! (the same type spa where part of the procedure is to hit you with the leaves of a certain tree being sold on the road from Kyiv to Rivne).
The team had a great pizza dinner by the river and then walked to the store to purchase breakfast (tomorrow will be an early day due to an early departure from the camp). We thank you all for your prayers as so far everyone is healthy and there have been no issues with either air or land travel!
-Allen
