Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ukraine 2010 Video

Well we have been back for a couple of weeks now and it sure is fun to think back on the good times and remember all that we were able to do. One of the team members, Justin, was gracious and talented enough to put a video together to capture the trip and allow all of you to enjoy it as well.

So without further delay...here it is

http://justinhall.us/ukraine2010

Saturday, July 10, 2010

First short video...

You are the God of the City...You are the King of these people...


Last time when I wrote a comment on the blog, Did I mention that I like the team...yes I really do like them. This time I want to say I love them and I dont want to let them go. This time I am happy that they are leaving a part of them here in Ukraine...Joe will be staying.


One body in Christ, separated by oceans and many different parts of the world, I still feel as though we are all close family when I am with them. I am thankful and honored for letting me be an interpreter and helping them with Ukrainian life. The week flew by as if it were only a day.


They did a great job, I mean really great - (Doosza Dobray) as some like to say like Tom. Their enthusiasm for teaching the kids this week amazes me. It is fun to watch Joe, Justin, Tom, Seb, and Hikaru playing fubtbol, ultimate frisbee, etc. with the kids. The girls...Laney, Tanya, Ningning, Merrie, and Maureen are always surrounded by both girls and boys. Merrie's smile always cheers me up. Tom keeps everything under control and is willing to help everyone. He takes care of what is needed and he really helps all team member grow and feel indespensible.


But the main thing I see here in this unified team - their desire to share God's love, serve the Ukrainian people, and help them to understand their need in Christ as their Lord and Savior. I hope that this time was not the last time they will be in Horodok. Praying that the seeds sown in the children's little hearts will grow and bring fruit of repentance. Maybe one day we can sing about Horodok with Chris Tomlin "You are the God of the City, You are the King of these people, You are the Lord of this nation."


Love,

Lilya

Friday, July 9, 2010

Priveet from Horodok!

It's Laney :) This is my 3rd year in Ukraine and it has been the most...interesting by far.

I hate to be cliche but words truly cannot describe the experiences I have had in this beautiful country. When returning from mission trips it is very common for people to say they have become so much more grateful for the luxuries they have in America, the cleanliness they maintain or the wealth they have. It would be very easy for me to say the same on my return home, but I would be lying.

Whether walking down the street or having a conversation with old friends, I am so very humbled time and time again by the joy these find in their life. Jump in your nice car and drive to English class really quick? I think not. It is more like, sacrifice an extra 20 minutes of sleep in the morning because you have to walk to the other side of town. Yet, the kids do it with smiles on their faces and big hugs awaiting us on our arrival. Ukraine lacks the convenience of fast food and on the go "stuff" we have in America, yet I am believing more and more that the Ukrainians truly have the advantage. Being "forced" to sit down and enjoy a more creates and opportunity for deeper relationships and fellowship with loved ones.

The generosity and kindness of these people never ceases to amaze me. Just yesterday Tanya, Joe and I were invited to a girl's house for what we thought would be tea and cookies (which is more than enough to begin with.) Our American way of thinking was proved wrong once again. We were greeted in a private dining room with a table set for royalty. There were plates full of traditional food, and we were absolutely not allowed to serve ourselves. After the meal was a cake made with berries picked right from the backyard. Olya told us her mother had cooked for an hour to prepare the food before we came. All of our jaws dropped when we began to ponder what American would do such for a stranger.

To wrap it up, I am in love :) The people could not be more kind to us and full of a genuine love that challenges any other. They are hungry for the gospel and the love of a Savior.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. There is much more to be accomplished!
Dopobachinya!

The team on some downtime


Some more pictures from Horodok
















I am pleasantly surprised everytime that I come back to Horodok, Ukraine. The people, the fellowship, the smiles, the laughter, but mostly the love. This year, my Ukrainian sister, Laney, and I got honor to teach the intermediate english class together. Our students are so intelligent and they are also the loudest, of course. During group time, the kids seem to be very captivated by the worship music and testimonies of our team, which is very encouraging to us.Today, our class will have a party and I am very excited!

Yesterday, Laney, Jojo, and I were invited into one our students home, her name is Julia. We went expecting to just sip chai and chat, but being in Ukraine, of course a full delicious meal was prepared, along with dessert, and chai. :) I love this cutlture, its so comforting to be here, and i'm not ready to leave Horodok. But, we are all very excited that Jojo gets to stay and work with the children in this city for the next year because he's going to do such great things. The children in Horodok know why we are here, beyond the fact that we come to teach English, we are here to save them. I believe that the extravgent love that we are touching them with every minute that we are here speaks more words then we could ever say, even if we could speak Ukrainian fluently.

Please keep praying for us!

Sincerely, Tanya!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Enjoyment

"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks in His name."
Hebrews 13:15

Enjoy each moment of each day for what it is!

Earlier this week I read this in a card given to me by one of the ladies in my life group- enjoy each moment of each day for what it is.
Each year we seem to come up with a motto for the week- this is my motto for this year.

When we leave America for Ukraine we leave relaxed (for the most part), rested and ready we can be. It doesn't take too many days of changed plans, yucky weather and many hours spent together for the rest and relaxed to slip away and for us to begin to wonder just how ready we really were!

If we let allow it, the focus can move from the enjoyment of the moment to the aggrevation of the moment.

Enjoy each moment of each day for what it is......here are some moments I've really enjoyed-

Tom calmy meeting the challenges of the day and encouraging us to see the bright side.

Joe always willing to help at a moments notice.

Sebastian asking questions making me think and helping him work through what he is trying to figure out.

Laney meeting challenges head on and not letting them defeat her.

Tanya trying to figure out military time...giving up and telling me it is 15 hundred o'clock!!

Maureen using her singing abilities each day...and not stopping when the sound system did.

Hikaru making us laugh even when he's not trying too make us laugh.

Justine and NingNing- the married couple.....smiling and helping in whatever way is needed.

God is so good....even when the day is challenging! If we take a minute to stop and focus we can find the enjoyment even in the tough times.

Soaking it all in

I'm speechless...Ukraine is more beautiful than I imagined.

7/1

We started out from the church on Thursday afternoon. Our first flight took us through O'Hare airport in Chicago. It was nice to see Chicago again, if only briefly. Memories of my time at Moody and friends in the city kept going through my head, but we only had three hours of layover time, which was just barely enough to get to our gate, drop off our stuff, and go eat dinner in shifts. By the time everyone was finished eating, it was boarding time! The flight to Warsaw, Poland was 45 minutes late taking off. After a 9 hour flight, we had only 20 minutes to get to our connecting flight to L'viv. We landed around 5:30 PM local time on Friday, July 2nd. Praise God we made it safe and sound, and nobody lost their luggage!

7/2

I've never been to a non-English speaking country before, so i wasn't sure what to expect. I spent a good portion of the trip over here familiarizing myself with the Ukrainian alphabet. When we landed in L'viv, it was fun sounding out the words on advertising billboards and buildings, trying to make myself sound as Ukrainian as possible, even though I had no clue what I was saying! Some of the words are actually English words with Ukrainian letters, so it was neat to be able to figure out what certain signs said. The drive to the hotel in Horodok took about 45 minutes.

7/3

Friday evening and Saturday morning, we walked around Horodok inviting local youths to come to our English camp. On Saturday afternoon, we had 20-30 kids come and register for ESL. Saturday afternoon, we went down to the nearby soccer field (or "futball stadium") and hung out with the local kids. We played Americans vs. Ukrainians in soccer. Shockingly, the Americans won!

7/4

Sunday, we went to Grapevine Baptist Church in downtown L'viv. The church meets in the same place as the symphony. During the service, I could hear the vocalists warming up their voices through the open windows. tom was the guest speaker, and he gave a sermon on how God is our heavenly Father. It was a good sermon, even though Tom forgot a couple of times that he needed to pause for the translator.

Of course, what would July 4th be without a barbeque? So, on Sunday afternoon (more like evening, but the sun is up until 9:30/10:00 around here during the summer), we got together with the local team and the missionaries and had Shashlik (pork kebabs). I had a really good talk with Tim akers about the needs here in Ukraine, missions-wise. He said the biggest need they have right now is for someone to come in and teach English as a native speaker at the local universities in L'viv. L'viv is a big university town, and a lot of students are very eager to learn English, so teaching ESL is an easy in. Unfortunately, IMB does not have the budget right now to hire a full-time missionary, but if someone wanted to come for a 1 or 2 year stint as a fully-supported volunteer through their local church, it would be a huge help. Joey is going to be doing just that, and I feel like if I talk with Tim Akers about 3 more times, he's going to convince me to do the same thing. I'm already halfway there.

God bless! More posts coming soon!

~Maureen

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Some pictures from Day 1 at the school












What a great picture of the interaction between the American team and the Ukrainian students. We are so blessed to be part of what God is doing here in Horodok.

Here are some pictures from ESL on day 1











Here is a shot of the each classL Basic, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. We are having fun and have a captive audience to share the Word of God to each of these students.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Checking in from Horodok

Well we are getting closer to having the wifi internet access that we need to be able to post pictures and videos of our stay here in Horodok. This weekend was totally awesome (except for the rain). We are in the middle of ESL and wre have about 70 to 80 students in this year's program. They are all being taught the Word of God each day and it is awesome to see, hear, and be part of the conversations that are taking place. As soon as we get the wifi access we will bombard everyone with some pictures and maybe evena video.

For now we will ask that you pray continually for us as we act out what it says in 1 Corinthians 13:13...to hope unswervingly and love extravegantly.

2010 Ukraine team

P.S. I love you Averi, Peyton, and of course my beautiful wife Nicole!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Saturday



























Your Ukraine Team: Maureen, Tanya, Laney, Joe, Sebastian, Merrie & (because no on took a picture of him on the day they all got together and I'm his wife and can do so!) Tom
Hey everyone, this is Nicole. I got a call from Tom today saying that they are having issues getting Internet at the Internet Cafe. So, instead of hearing a great message with all kinds of details...and fun pictures....all you get is little ol' me with a quick message that I got!
Today (Saturday) the team had registry for their ESL class. They had a good response and all went well. They have another day of registering on Monday. Tomorrow they are going to a local church. Since I get to write this post...I get to ask for a special pray request and brag for just a second...Tom is preaching tomorrow at the local church. Please pray for him as he prepares his message! Pray that those who hear it are blessed and that the Holy Spirit would start working immediately!

Pray also that they get their Internet issues worked out so that we can hear from the team! Continue also to pray for them as they are "Being Bold" in Ukraine! I'm so proud of them!
BTW...they made it there safe!

Love In Christ,

Nicole Cooney

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The team in a snapshot


We are getting ready to get on the shuttle to take us to the airport. We are all so excited and ready to go.