Hello from Ukraine!
We arrived at the camp property on Sunday. We had a good trip from Germany to reach here.
No problems on the way only very tired. We passed through the boarder at around 2am.
We were picked up by Vitaliy and he drove us to the camp location. Monday we started getting the camp set up.
There is not much here on the property. There is one pavilion for rallies and classes, an open kitchen with a tarp to cover the roof. 4 outhouse style toilets and 2 rooms for showers. The rest of the property is scattered with tents!
Leaders came for the leader seminar on Monday and it was a great blessing to us to see Mariana. She was with us at the camp in Germany and she was a great help and blessing to us.
She decided to come to Ukraine to help us here and then visit her family after.
Today we started teaching Leader Training classes. Tim took the first class walking through leadership principles from the book of Nehemiah. Seth followed up that class with a class on Biblical Leadership.
So far things are going well.
There is a lot of work to be done on the property in order to get it ready for the camp. Darin and Timothy have been working hard using lawnmowers to get the grass on the whole property! Daniel has been using the weed-wacker to get around the trees and places that the lawnmower cannot get. The property is already looking so much better. We are all sleeping in tents here in Ukraine. So pray with us that it doesn't rain.
There are about 25 people that are here for the Leader Training classes. This is very exciting for us!
We are eager to learn their names and get to know them better in the days that follow. We know that if they are anything like the leaders that we had in Germany we will soon be fast friends.
It's heart breaking to hear their stories of life at home and how many of them fled their homes because of the war. Going to bed every night with the sounds of missiles and air raid alarms outside. Never knowing if they would wake up the next morning or not.
Each of us guys feels a great sense of thankfulness that we get to be here to encourage these brothers and sisters. At the same time we also wish we could do more to help.
Please pray with us that God would reach beyond us and into the hearts of these leaders and the kids that come for camp and that he would draw them closer to him.
A popular song both in Germany and Ukraine that the leaders have been singing is "Blessed Be Your Name". I can't help but think about how real that song must be for them.
Some of the lyrics of the song say "blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering though there's pain in the offering blessed be your name."
This is what these leaders continue to do. They continue to bless God although their lives are not what they would have chosen or picked. They know God is good and he has a good plan. They see people all around giving their lives to Christ because of the war. And even with everything they have lost they say Blessed be Your Name!
Kids arrive on Friday for the camp. Pray with us that we will know how and when and what to speak to them during the time that we are with them.
We want God's will to be done and for us to be used by him for his good purpose in this place!
