победа во Христе ;

'home'?

2007-07-14T10:16:00.000-04:00

i would like to extend a special thank you to every single person who supported me financially and in prayer. it really made such a huge difference. a big thank you to my parents is also deserved for allowing me to go and not worrying too much. i couldn't have done this without your support and love. y'all are amazing.

to tell you the truth; it feels so odd to be home. it's almost like i've returned to a place that is the same as i left it but it's different. i am different. and i guess that's the point. the God who rises the sun every morning just to set it again and reveal a starry sky each night, is the very
same God who daily transforms me into who He desires for me to be.

And when we get home,
I know we won't be
h o m e at all
This place we live,
it is not where we belong

thanks also if you have read all of these entries. i realize i was pretty much completely over detailed, but i'm going to look back on this too..

ps. i didn't really type and do all this in Ukraine if you were wondering.. i pretty much just typed it all up from my journal. :) oh and read it from oldest (at the bottom) to newest if you do. it will make more sense that way.

if you'd like to see more pictures that i took on this trip go to the links below..

Album1 Album 2 Album 3

also, if you'd like to keep up with what Radooga is up to this summer; check out this Servant Life blog.

thanks guys!

love without fear.

Bittersweet*

2007-07-07T23:21:00.000-04:00

I greatly dislike goodbyes. They are filled with such uncertainity and floods of memories you wish to relive. Ukraine has forever changed me and has a large part of my heart. I hope that my purpose here in Ukraine was fulfilled and that i impacted someone's life. Most of all i pray that my actions and words simply glorified God and all that He is.

I got up this morning at around 6:00am (a big shock compared to the normal 8:30). I still couldn't get over the fact that we had to leave before the rest of the students did. One more reason why i don't like Delta (and it's stinkin early flights). Well, I wasn't really expecting a whole lot but both of my roomates were already up. Soosanna and Olya woke up too and came outside. Sophia, Helen, and Vala woke up to see us off too. It was just real emotional and bittersweet. such a real picture of friendship. it was funny because Anya had so much joy but i couldn't even muster a smile. When we were driving off in Oleg's van, Alec put his hand on the window and ran after us; pretty much the cutest thing ever.

The ride to the airport was actually pretty good. The boys (Grant, David, Don) kept us smiling and laughing so it really brightened the mood. We went to McDonald's- the first and last place i saw on my trip to Ukraine. The fast food restaraunts here are actually a lot better than in the states; better bread, tomatoes, and meat... pretty much everything. We were all so used to eating soy and rice that we all slept on the plane like it was Thanksgiving. i smelled my sweatshirt; and sure enough- it smelled like Ukraine. i remembered crazily looking for Oleg at the Kyiv airport the first day. i remembered every Ukrainian kid clapping off beat at every program and the late night talks in half English, half hand signals. I remembered Yan building a massive fortress out of branches that had blown down. it's funny how something i have been dreaming of for years completely blew away my expectations. this was the best trip i could have ever asked for.
Take joy my King In what You hear
so let it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear..

me "do motorcycles have seatbelts?"

Grant "what size Schnappy?"

Don "thanks meaniehead... you asked me to jump out of a window yesterday"

David "i have a McDonalds shape hole in my heart"

Madison "you might as well be a Coca Cola billboard"

summary by madison hall: "7 out of 11 from Team 2 left this morning...I was sad for them because they left before the kids did. They had a large group of the students see them off...lots of tears."

Jesus' Blood Never Fails Me

2007-07-06T23:58:00.000-04:00

No words can express how i am feeling. this has been the best week of my entire life and i have met some of the most passionate, caring people ever. i can not believe that i am leaving tomorrow. this is all just too much for words. the last day of english class was really awesome. i gave my testimony of how God has worked in and through me, which Anya translated. Helen and Soosanna told me later how they liked how i related to them on the fact that i haven't 'grown up in church' my whole life. A bunch of the other English class kids talked about what God had done in their lives. Marsel talked about his relationship with Jesus and how he's involved in the music ministry at the church back home. He also spoke bitterly of corruption in churches and how he wishes to change that. Sophia said of how she became a Christian when she was 11. Soosanna sort of talked about last night but she didn't really know any words for what happened. I knew exactly where she was coming from.. it's like you can't explain anything because it's all in your heart and it's brand new. She spoke about being afraid of her parents' rejection. But everything she said was so beautiful. She has this unstoppable joy that is just amazing.

i met two of Ira's friends that came up for the day. Taiya and I were with Artem's squad for rec; which was a lot of fun. Their squad is one of the smaller ones but they were so together and fired up all the time.
Evening program and Boom were incredible; but it hit me that it was going to be my last one. I started to say some goodbyes to people i knew i wouldn't see before i left; which got me really sad. The translators threw the girls a surprise going away party at the Hilton, which was really sweet. they each gave us presents and prayed over us. it was beautiful.

then i got to really talk with Dasha and Anya. they went off to bed and i stayed up; just watching the rain fall outside our window in the hall. I just started to cry when i thought about the fact that this may be the last time i see some of these awesome people i've made such great friendships with. I hope each person i've met has come to see how much of an impact they've had on me.

ASPIRE TO INSPIRE <3

God is good.

2007-07-05T23:59:00.000-04:00

This time with the students has gone by so incredibly fast.. it is hard to keep it all straight. Team 3 came today, which made it even more surreal. i met a guy who lived in Lufkin, like Jason (our MS pastor back home!). Drama has been cool all week but i especially liked today's skit. it was real meaningful; about how sinning weighs you down and how God is the only one who conquered sin and death.

i've really liked the oppurtunities i've had to talk to Laura (one of the RAS girls); she's really amazing. She reminds me of what i hope to be when i'm in college. i love her servant's heart and how she just invests in your life. Oleg, one of the translators is full of so much energy- i'm not sure how he does it. insane.

english class was lovely.. we talked about emotions and expressions; depicted them on balloons.. had a acoustic jam session with Sasha (from squad 3), Max, and Marcus.. :) Rec was classic; had squad vs. squad games which the students really loved. After rec was the time (everyday) that each squad goes around and makes a movie about a certain topic [since the theme is Hollywood]. This is normally when we do prep stuff for one of the programs or english. But today, we got to help out. It was incredible to see the amount of passion the students pour into these movies, and how much teamwork it demanded. and the movies always turn out so great!
at evening program, Oleg told of the Gospel, Jesus' desire for each one of us to embark on a journey, a relationship with Him. and how this is only possible if we believe that Jesus died for our sins but rose again. It was called invitation night; and it is quite possibly one of the most beautiful experiences of my entire life. 'A simple message of repentance. Then, scores of teenagers flooded the stage to make their lives right with Jesus without a moment’s hesitation. I would like to think it was a culmination of the love our team has poured into these students, but I do not think that is true. Students in Ukraine are simply responding to the amazing story of a God who loved them enough to send His only Son to die for their sins. I have grown to love these students and am filled with joy at their response to Christ. But I am more overwhelmed with a God who loves me enough to allow me to be a part of what He has chosen to do in the lives of His precious children in Ukraine. Today, I am full to overflowing. I only wish I had the words to help you to feel what it is like to be here. ' One of the really good friends i've made this week, Soosanna, was one of the students that went up front to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior. Artem and Vova are among my new brothers in Christ as well. God is so good.

Allison "you don't know anything about our coconuts"

Grant "if you need me just yell 'gesture the jester!'"

"come see the Boom"

2007-07-04T23:50:00.000-04:00

-Happy 4th!-

i've fallen in love with this place nestled in the middle of nowhere, Ukraine. i have always really liked Fourth of July but this has by far been one of the best and i'm not even at home in the states. Breakfast was a rockin conglomerate of cocoa puffs, corn flakes and oversized cheerios. However, the stuff they call 'milk' here (in Ukraine and at camp) is pretty much no good at all.

After morning stuff, Anya and I got to prep with David and Taiya. I also got to spend some time with one of the Radooga staffers, Max. He showed me some of his amazing photography and we just talked about life. His stories of how God has worked in and through him are incredible. English class was great as well. We talked about locations and favorite places.

Right after English class, all of the American and Radooga staff loaded up in Oleg's van. They surprised us and took us to this awesome smokehouse place. We got meat!! for the first time in
over a week.

After evening program and boom, there was mass chaos and everyone just darted outside. I didn't understand anything anyone said at boom (being that it's in ukrainian). But this one younger boy that i've been hanging out with during the free times, Artem, came and found me and basically pulled me outside. He kept telling me that Boom was happening outside. i was highly confused.. ~ but then they surprised us with FIREWORKS!!then as we were walking back to the Hilton to go to bed, more fireworks farther down the road went off. :) we had some prayer time after that as well as a meeting and then some fellowship with the lovely RAS (Radooga All Summer) girls. it was simply wonderful.

David "we're connected psychotenelically or something"

Grant "fireworks are dead birds with neon poo"

99 Red Balloons

2007-07-03T22:20:00.000-04:00

olya + me. it took me forever to get the "ly" sound down. but she is absolutely wonderful. :)

ira and i. she is the sweetest
person i have ever met.

After our Bible study, the American staffers + Camp 2 Americans have been leading the 'Morning Stretch'. it's where we pretty much get the kids pumped up and dance and go wild. This morning (besides the Camp Dance) we did the electric slide which is the funniest thing ever.. especially when we don't have the real song; so we dance to 'Hey Mickey'. :) pure joy.

I really loved English lesson today. we learned about different jobs and names for family members. They hadn't ever heard of Simon Says so we did that with the occupation words which was really fun. We also drew family trees and then talked about the words for everyone. It was interesting because a lot of the kids here are real into art. Before lunch, Pasha, Artem, and I played balloon volleyball with a little girl who stays on campus for a part of the summer (Lena). She reminded me of Leah a lot.

After lunch, a huge group of us played this game called Eleven, with a volleyball. you get put into the middle of the circle if you are the last person to touch the ball before it hits the ground. Ukrainian kids are so competitive and everyone makes the game so epic, it's awesome.
i love the weather here. we were all just talking outside after Boom and a storm came in so fast... strong winds and then sudden downpour. but it ended as soon as it began.

Dub came home from Iraq today and i am super excited about that!! :)

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit

Day 2 of Radooga!

2007-07-02T23:49:00.000-04:00

Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blamelss and pure, children of God without fault in a depraved generation in which
you shine like the stars in the universe as you hold on the the Word of Life.

For recreation (Star Wars), today, we got paired up with certain squads (group from one church). I chose squad three because of the girls in my room and whatnot. I can't believe how close i've gotten to them and all of their friends. First every squad had to make a flag. Then, they had to build a house/tent sort of thing that fit their entire squad. Sounds easy enough, but the time was limited and a few of them had certain handicaps (conjoined twins, blindness, one leg, etc)

Today was also the first day of English Classes. I've been pretty apprehensive about this since before we left. The American staffers told us that the kids wouldn't probably be too talkative since it's the first day. But today was awesome. Anya and I have ten students in the class, ranging from the age of 9 to 19, all around the same skill level and whatnot. We did some fun name learning games as well as introduced the theme of Hollywood and talked about it. English class: Sophia, Nata, Helen, Pasha, Soosanna, Dima, Serroga, Marsel, Julie, and Sasha.

There was also an evening program thing with worship and a pastor's message in Ukrainian. After that is Boom (sort of like Late Nite for those SLC kids that are reading this). It's high energy with funny skits and sort of like a talent show sort of thing. pretty rockin.

Sergey: "If you jump, i nail your feet to the floor"

Hollywood!

2007-07-01T22:41:00.000-04:00

-Dasha!, me, & Soosanna-

Marcus Clement says: "After already seeing kids come and go for the first camp and seeing their lives being touched, I have an amazing feelng about the way that God is going to work through us."

Today was very busy and i was still sort of worn out from the long day/night in Kyiv. It was normal schedule stuff (Bible study, breakfast, ministry prep) until lunch. Right after, our team got split up. Some people went to the train station to greet the students. Some of us were at the front gate. But most of us and the summer staffers were in the 'Hard Rock Cafe' (cafeteria) doing English testing, including me. I tested a huge variety of kids and got a couple ideas of who i thought would be in my class. After, i hung out in the quad and in front of the girls' dorm (Hilton) and met some very nice people. I met my roomates: Anya and Dasha! i'm also rooming with Gulya, one of the fantastic translators. I am very excited. Anya is from a Messianic Jewish church (sweet!) and Dasha came with them but doesn't have a relationship with God or anything. They are both from a church that i obviously can't pronounce.. but they are from Squad Three.. and just from today i can tell i'm going to love all of these girls.

Marina, Ala, Dasha!, Marsha, Me, Anya!, Alaina, Soosanna, Olya :)

The majority of the rest of the day was basically hang out time, and get to know you sort of stuff. All of the Ukranian kids here play this game called Little River... where everyone holds hands like London bridge except its a ton of pairs. Everytime you go through the hands, you grab one person and hold hands with them. It's sort of random, but hey.

There's also this huge game where everyone stands in a circle and you have to mimick what one person in the center of the circle is doing.. all while singing 'Hey girl, do your thing.. do your thing, Switch!" One of the youth pastors got hardcore into it.

Day in Kyiv!!

2007-06-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

First impression: Kyiv has air with a mixed smell of sausage and one too many cigarettes. You see all kinds of buildings and monuments jutting up from the low-rise skyline of Kyiv. It's known as the 'city of a thousand golden domes' for the way the tops of the churches glitter in the hills.... To get from the train station to the metro (which takes you deeper into the city), you have to go up this huge escalator. Seriously, it is the biggest one i have ever seen. It took us practically 5 minutes to get from the bottom to top..

A young boy on a bicycle riding beside his dad roughly shrieked, "Americans" or the Russian equivalent to that. At Independence Square, We pass a communist rally and hundreds of cops. Lori explained to us that about half of Ukranians want to join back up with Russian and the other half pretty much think that's the worst idea in the entire world. talk about conflict.

We walked to this big open area, Khreschaty Park, that had an arch, and outlook, and two huge statues. The middle statue is black with two guys holding hands signifying friendship between Russia and Ukraine. The other, twice as large statue, made of granite commemorates a military council of 1654 which unified Russia and Ukraine. Regardless, they were fun to take pictures on.

From here, we went to St. Andrews Market which was basically a huge hill filled with street vendors. Then off to visit some of the beautiful Orthodox churches. We saw St. Sophia's and St. Michael's, & both were incredibly ornate. I also learned that they had both been rebuilt within the past 15 years because they were basically ruined by the Soviets. We had some lovely Ukrainian cuisine at 'Puzata Hata', where we stopped for lunch. I had chicken Kyiv and i tried cavas, both of which were pretty good. On the train ride home back to camp, i sat by a very tan (almost Mexican looking) family. The electricity in the grid that we were going through went down so we were stuck for about an hour.. But the mother that i was sitting by kept trying to talk to me. so one of the lovely translators, Ira, helped me out. They were gypsies that lived on the streets and the mom told me all about her life. It was really heartbreaking, yet beautiful all at the same time. The dad told me that they were all Christians and sort of tried to tell me the gospel/ ask if i knew Christ. and at the end of the conversation, he told me and Ira that he knew we were Christians from when we first stepped foot onto the train. it was a really cool experience, but we were all pretty relieved when the train started rolling again.

also, we met this kid who lives here on campus (at least for part of the summer) named Sergey. He's pretty much awesome and has actually moved from the stunned, silent mode to talkative and slightly courteous.

1 John 3:18 Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth

four square back on campus with sergey --->

Paul "y'all could buy those costumes and look like the three musketeers"
David "more like three muskequeers"

Students Come Tomorrow!!! :)

LoveGod LovePeople

2007-06-29T23:57:00.000-04:00

Today was our second orientation day.. Russians lessons, Drama/Rec/ English Class Prep time, etc. I'm going to have a beginner class for English and my translator is Anya :) I couldn't have chosen a more wonderful person to serve with.

We also cleaned up the storage room for English and Rec supplies, which was fun.

Around sunset, some of our team and a few of the translators went on a walk all around the campus and down the road a bit.

Deb: "it's gladiator cleaning"

Don: "Did you seriously just try to make Scrubs into a prayer?"

Max: "whatcha talkin about foo?"

ps. I forgot to mention, we got to decorate today. The theme for Radooga is Hollywood.. 'Action 1' sweeeeeet!

'Faith Without Character is Nothing'

2007-06-28T23:59:00.000-04:00

The mornings here in Ukraine are absolutely wonderful. it might be the fact that we're in the middle of a forest , but it is just so fresh and the coolness has a way of awakening the senses dulled by a restful night. (i should be a poet, eh?) Oh, i've also been told that it's unusually cold for this time of year.. but it hits about 75, so no complaints from me.

The breakfast this morning was probably the best meal i've had so far, noodles and shredded cheese with a banana and some juice. Since the camp is run by Seven Day Adventists, they won't serve us anything but soy meat, fish, and occasionally mystery chicken- always an adventure. But don't get me wrong, the juice here is to die for.

Anywho, today was kind of random.. We did orientation stuff: toured camp, took Russian lessons, had Drama/Rec/English class prep time, had an intense team bonding game, heard Oleg's vision, shared some stories of what God has done in our lives, and just took some time to focus in on why we are here. We were all just reading the Bible outloud in the quad and it started raining, it was really beautiful. It seemed like God threw in the thunder just for effect. really awesome. :) It's also been cool to see how our team is connecting, even though we're coming from completely different places.

Genesis Rap.. Deb:
"if you touch the snake, you're gonna bake"

Marcus "whoever emotes the emotion best wins"

Day 1 in Ukraine! :)

2007-06-27T23:59:00.000-04:00

The flight from New York to Kyiv was pretty much the longest thing of my life and i barely slept but talking to Luda was very nice.

The Radooga camps this year are being held at a campus of a Seventh Day Adventist College in the town of Bucha. The drive from the airport to the camp was an adventure to say the least. Everyone in Ukraine drives like they are the insane motorcyclists in America. Everyone passes illegally, stop lights are optional, and lanes are nonexistant.. and when there are lanes, there are two cars to every lane.. it was incredible- i've never seen anything like it.

We got pulled over by a cop, too.. but not in the convential way that we're used to back in the states. The police officer stands on the side of the road with a long, rectangular red wooden paddle thing and points it at a speeding car. Supposedly we were doing 100km in a 60.. But there was no ticket, no "license and registration, sir", no siren, and no court. Oleg Magdych (who looks like Johnny Depp) just paid the cop 10 grievna ($2 U.S. Dollars!!) and we were off.

Kyiv has so much character.. it seems almost like a battle- a struggle for power. Every building in sight is either half finished or run down.. but then a quarter mile down the road is an exquisite shopping center and a brand new McDonalds. i guess that is the combination you get in a post-Soviet country.

Our dorms are pretty nice.. it's two bunk beds in each room.. and two rooms share a bathroom (which aren't the nicest things in the world). Our room (before the campers come) is me, Lindsey, Chelsea, and a girl named Samantha who came earlier than the rest of us from Alabama. The room across from us are some of the translators: Anya, Ira, Gulya, and a nice lady from Alabama named Deb.

L to R: Anya, Samantha, Ira, Gulya, Lindsey, Me, Chelsea

Camp 2 American Staff:
Lindsey, Chelsea, Grant, Megan, Samantha, Johnny, Paul, Marcus (Magnus), Don, David, and I..

and i couldn't be more excited for what God is going to do these upcoming days here at Radooga. :)

Lindsey: "I feel like i'm hungry but not really"

JFK.. aka i love Delta.

2007-06-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

After a four hour drive to New York, my parents and i finally arrived at JFK.. We checked my bags, had lunch, and waited until Lindsey's plane arrived. The plan was that i was going to meet her at the gate and wait for our international flight. Once i said my goodbyes and met up with Lindsey, we sat down at the gate and decided to take a stab at learning some Russian..

-Hello; Привет ; Preevyet
-Please; Пожалуйста ; Pa jal sta
-Thank you; Спасибо ; Spa see ba
-I don't understand Russian;
Я не понимаю русский ;
Ya knee pan e my u Parooski

Grant and Megan, two of our teammates showed up to the gate a little bit later. They're from Alabama and are my age. We were waiting for another on of our teammates, Chelsea, who was flying in from Tampa. Delta moved up our flight and starting boarding before Chelsea's flight even landed. It was pretty much panic mode when the guy said Final Boarding Call and Chelsea's flight had just pulled up to the gate (at the other side of the terminal). We pretty much stalled as long as humanly possible and Chelsea made it on time. it was pretty much a miracle.

The flight from New York (JFK) to Kyiv-Borispol (KBP) is around 9 1/2 hours.. i sat next to this very nice Ukrainian lady named Luda, who taught me a few things about the culture.

DL 88 .. depart from JFK - 4:20pm (6/26) ; arrive at KBP 9:00 am (6/27)

Do something beautiful for God

2007-05-26T11:00:00.000-04:00

i found two of the girls i would be meeting in Ukraine on facebook. It helped a lot to have their support, especially since i didn't know anyone who was going. One of the girls, Ally Hale, is spending the entire summer with Radooga, which is pretty much awesome. And i ended up meeting up with the other girl, Lindsey Oakley, at JFK before our international flight.

The two months before the trip, i couldn't even begin to express to you how excited i was. it was pretty surreal. i had been waiting for the chance to go and now it was finally here. i started searching for info on Ukraine, preparing for English classes, and preparing my heart for what i knew was going to be a life changing experience. i was simply stoked for this privilege.

1 Timothy 2:10 'Do something beautiful for God; and become beautiful doing it'

the Journey

2007-01-20T11:01:00.000-05:00

i figured it would be pretty rockin to post my journal entries from everyday at Radooga.. for me and whoever else cares to read it. so this is the beginning of my journey.

[background info]

In the summer of 2004, the Underground Student ministry attended a Student Life Missions Camp. While there, i really learned what it meant to serve others and be willing to help where there is a need. One night, a guy went up on stage and started talking about his experience in Ukraine through an organization named Radooga (rainbow in Russian). He spoke of a camp just like the Student Life Camp i was at, but for kids thousands of miles away. A video was shown to sort of promo these camps in Ukraine and i just loved seeing what God was doing there. God really placed it on my heart to go to Ukraine and i knew He had a plan.

fortunately, God opened many doors and i was given the oppurtunity to go to Ukraine this summer. there was a lot chaos in the beginning but the whole time i just had an overwhelming feeling that everything was going to work out as it was supposed to be. And it did. So many families from church supported me financially and with some hardcore prayer- it was simply overwhelming.

1 Corinthians 13:13
Until we are complete with God, in His mighty power, [we have three things to do:] trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly..