Prayer Letter #2

Dear Friends and Family,

Dobre Dien, (Good Day!) from all of us in Odessa, Ukraine! We have had a great first few days! Since writing on Thursday we have been busy! Friday we had orientation from 9 am – 3 pm. We spent time doing some team building, discussing the camp, culture and various other things. That evening we went for a walk by the black sea and then split up into groups to go eat dinner. 

 

 This morning we finished up some training and then had a little bit of time to grab a bite for lunch and do some souvenir shopping. Our last team member Graig arrived this afternoon and then we headed out to the village of Petrodolina.

This year instead of staying in a 9 by 9 room we get to sleep in a one bedroom flat. Which is really a blessing to us with having the kiddos along. The schools we will be teaching at are within a little more than a mile of where we are staying. 

This evening we had a meeting to discuss a little bit about our curriculum and how we are going to present the Gospel to our students. We have a wonderful team! Everyone is so prepared and excited about teaching next week. God is really going to do something big through our team this year!

Tomorrow we will attend the church here and in the afternoon we will have a little bit of time to go check out the school and set up our classrooms. We will also be having a prayer time at 8:00 p.m. to pray for our kids and week at camp. Please join us in prayer for all that God has for us these next few weeks!

Prayer requests:

• Pray for the kids hearts to be soft and open to the Gospel
• Pray for out first day of camp to run smooth
• Pray for our teachers to be led by the Holy Spirit
• Pray for us to know how to serve our hosts well 

Praise report:

• The missing luggage for Matt Phillips and Lila Brehm arrived!
• All of our team members have arrived safely!.

 Throughout our trip you will be hearing a little from our team members. Today’s question was, “What have been your first impressions of Ukraine?”

“When I saw the Ukraine I definitely was in culture shock, partly because of fatigue. I noticed that people did not smile. They looked very stern but after understanding a bit of the culture I understood this more. I have fell in love with this country. People here are not in a hurry, they take time to relax and enjoy the scenery.”

“My first impressions of Ukraine are the old buildings and the tree lined streets. As a pedestrian I need to watch out for cars-I don’t have the right of way! The people are very friendly and helpful. The food is very good. It is warm and humid which I am not used to but my skin is “glowing”!

John & Nichole