Saved the best for last...

Yesterday I completed my final night of playground ministry.  It was perhaps the most challenging night for me, but I think it turned out to be the best.  10 minutes before we left the apartment to travel across town Chelsey told me that her mom wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to do "story time" with the kids.  We had planned on telling the story of the woman at the well and focusing on the topic that Jesus loved others and so we should love others also no matter who they are or what they have done.  When I heard that I was going to have to do the story I freaked out a little.  I don't do so well speaking in front of a group of people and especially in front of a group of people that are from a completely different culture than me.  On the bus ride there I was just focusing on what I was going to say and trying not to freak out.  Once we got there I was feeling a little bit better and then with the encouragement of friends my nerves weren't completely calm, but I was feeling much better about it.

We gathered the kids at the playground and sat them down, I think we ended up having 10 kids, a mom, and a grandma for story time.  I told the kids how there was a woman in a town who had done some bad things.  The people in the town wouldn't talk to her because of the things she had done and she even had to get water from the well at a different time than other people.  One day when she was at the well Jesus came and spoke to her.  He told her that he knew about her sins and still continued to talk to her.  I told them that Jesus sets the perfect example for how we should love others.

Me telling the story and Ed translating

During the story time there was a man on the street that was yelling at the kids and the parents who let there kids come to our ministry.  He was yelling that we were Johovah Witnesses and that people shouldn't let us near their kids.  The grandma in our group told him to go away.  This is a prime example of the spiritual warfare that occurs here in Ukraine.  It's a constant battle, but yesterday we won!! 

After the story we did crafts.  We let the kids paint a well bucket and then played with a ball and sidewalk chalk.  It was such a good day, but I am sad that it is all over.  

 This was the cutest little girl ever.  She has three older brothers and a single dad, because her mom died recently.  They were so dirty, but so happy to have people to play with.  Please pray for this family. 

Four more days before I make my way back to America.  Please pray for a great last few days and safe travels home.  

Plan B is better than plan A...

So I know I mentioned in the previous post that we would be doing a vacation bible school at a village church this week, but Sunday we learned that this would not happen.  Although we volunteered to do all the work they still felt there was not enough support for the camp and they had  not publicized it enough for kids to actually show up.  I gotta say I was a little bummed out, but as I have learned by now God ALWAYS has a plan B and His plan B is ALWAYS better than your plan A!  So plan B was to do adapt the vacation bible school for playground ministry.

So tonight the lesson was "love God", and the craft was duct tape wallets.  We decided we would explain to the kids that although we need money to survive in this world, but the most important thing was God.  We began the lesson by asking the kids what they would put in the wallets and they of course said MONEY!  We then asked them what they could buy with money.  Just as a side note to explain the mind set of the people and even the kids here when we asked kids what they could buy with money the first thing the said was beer and the second thing they said was cigarettes.  It was a bit heart breaking to hear this from small children, but its what they see everyday.  We proceeded to go through the rest of the lesson by asking what the most important thing in life was, again the kids did not give the "well-taught southern baptist kid Sunday school answer" of God, they instead said health and life.  Eventually we led them to understand the point we were trying to get across that God is the most important thing in life.

Lesson time.

Once we all went back inside and had dinner we just sat around talking.  I learned that the Ledford's have made tons of progress in this neighborhood.  When they first arrived here people hid their kids when they simply walked by.  They believed the "Baptist's ate children" and they certainly didn't believe in God.  Now, seven years later they leave their kids with them and even let them share bible stories!!  Missions in Ukraine is all about relationships.  It has taken seven years of continuous work for people to trust missionaries with their children, but with this relationship these kids can learn about Jesus!  I have been so blessed today by God's plan B!  Round 2 will be Thursday where we will learn about loving others. One more week, pray that God makes it amazing!

Time is running out...

So first of all I apologize for the lack of blog post this week.  Unfortunately my computer contracted a very bad Ukrainian virus and has been at the computer doctor all week.  She is doing better now and should be able to come home today or tomorrow.  I have been using Chelsey's computer though I guess I am just using this as an excuse for my lack of inspiration to write! I am a math major after all and we aren't always good with words.

Anyway.... This week has been pretty low key.  Tuesday we did a small playground ministry with about 8 kids.  We played lots of games like hot potato and dodgeball, but the weather was rainy and cold so we decided not to do a craft.  The weather was really cold and rainy Wednesday and Thursday so we mostly stayed inside, cleaned, and planned our first Shabbat.  Since my time here is running out Chelsey and I decided that one of my last Shabbats (Friday night family dinners) would be at our apartment where we would prepare the meal.  We planned all week long and eventually decided on making enchiladas rice and beans and chips and salsa.  For those of you know my family's usual Friday night tradition of going to the Mexican restaurant knew that I felt right at home!  I even got to help out and made a chocolate cake/brownie/cookie concoction that actually tasted very good!  The problem with making cakes here is that the sugar is beat sugar and doesn't always dissolve according to plan.  So the recipe was for chocolate cookies, but my batter looked more like brownies! Either way we had an amazing time of fellowship with friends and family.

Today I finally got to experience a more contemporary Ukrainian church service.  A mission group from California is here for 10 days working with a local church and so we decided to go there today for an English friendly Ukrainian service.  For worship we sang contemporary Christian songs that are popular in America.  The praise band and most of the congregation sang them in Ukrainian, but they had the words in English also.  It was truly amazing to worship together in different languages.  One of the group members for the California group shared his testimony and spoke about unity in the body of Christ.  How we are to build each other up.  I think too often churches tend to tear people down, but that is not what God meant for us to do.  People all over the world go to church for many different reasons.  Some have it all figured out, but a lot don't!  So many people come to church as their last alternative because they have this fear of being judged.  Church isn't just a meeting place for strong, and dedicated believers it is a place for the strong to help the broken.  So what I took from his message is that we need to meet people where they are no matter how low that is, genuinely care and ask them where their heart is, and then show them God's love through us by building them up in any way that we can.

Next week, my last full week here we will be leading a kid's camp.  This will be similar to vacation bible school in America, so we will have play time, story time, and craft time each week.  We have no idea how many children will come and what ages they will be so I ask that you pray that God will bless us with many children and that we will be prepared.  Pray that the kids who do know Christ grow to love Him more and those who don't will accept Him.