Today was our last day in Rivne….so much to tell but it is very late here so I will make it brief…

We spent the morning with the children at the camp.  It was so hard saying goodbye to these precious children who kept asking if we’d be back tomorrow. We did one last round of ukrainian worship songs and bible stories, leaving them with gifts and many, many hugs. Already there is talk among the team of coming back to Ukraine next summer.

Back in town, we had lunch with our translators and gave them gifts from our team to express our gratefulness for all their hard work. This has got to be the best group of translators we have ever had and hope many will come work with us again next summer!!

Tonight, we are back in Kiev safe and sound. Tomorrow we will tour Kiev, then pack up and head to the airport around 3am to catch our 645am flight home. We are looking foward to seeing our families again and sharing our stories and pictures. Pray for safe travels!

Love,  Amy

The camp ministry team returned to the Klevan camp today and participated in a number of activities, including painting sun catchers, “mummy” relays and playing with a big parachute which the kids loved!!  Our drama group taught the children about compassion through the Good Samaritan skit.  We are also trying to help the children learn to work together.  We continue to see children we’ve met in past trips…..today there was a girl named Vika, who many of us have known for the past 5 years.  We ended the day with special candy from Saudi Arabia brought by our friend Marwan.

Here are some thoughts from the youth on our team…..

Amanda R. – “Today I switched groups and worked with the Sports team. I met a boy abaout 12 who taught me this really cool trick, where you let a ball slide down your arm and then pop it into the air. Being on this trip has made me very grateful for my mom, and my home, and my possessions, and how in America, if you are an orphan, you are well taken care of.  The children here don’t have parents and their lives are not as good as ours.”

Bekah C. – “I worked with the drama group…we did some games and a bible story today about the Good Samaritan. It makes me sad to see these children who do not have any parents. There is a very young boy about 2 years old named Andre who I wish could come home with me. I have enjoyed making friends with the other youth on this team, especially bowling tonight.”

Speaking of bowling, our team needed some rest from all the  long, hard days this week, so our team leaders took us to dinner at Hotir, this amazing restaurant outside of town with an indoor water mill, and crazy decorations like a life-size plastic cow with a flowered necklace.  We listened to live Ukrainian karaoke while dinner was served by a distinguished man in a mexican sombrero (not sure why that was).  Afterward our team bowled in the adjoining 6-lane bowling alley complete with disco music/ball and black lights. We had the best time, everyone was laughing non-stop.  It was a great evening of fun and fellowship!

Tomorrow our team heads out to 2 different churches.  One group will be visiting Calvary Chapel Ternopyl where the Pastor has been emailing with Steve Feden on our team, also a Calvary Chapel Pastor.  We’ll be attending the service, having lunch with them and doing some street ministry.   The other group will attend House of Gospel, Pastor Tupchik’s church through which we work at the camp. We will be speaking to the church and then later that day, host a youth worship service and ice cream social for all of the House of Gospel youth and USNOF youth on both teams.

Stay tuned…….

Amy and “Tink”