Trip to Kherson

I have already been back in L'viv for a few weeks but finally getting around to updating about my trip to Kherson. It is a city in south, central Ukraine pretty close to Crimea. Naturally my parents and some other people were worried when I said I was going close to Crimea and closer to the combat zones in Ukraine, but I promise it was completely safe. Kherson is very patriotic, and there are Ukrainian flags flying on every street. Also, it is one of the cities that toppled and removed a statue of Lenin during the revolution this last winter. I went to Kherson with my good friends Serhiy and Sofia, Sofia being 7 months pregnant! Serhiy is from there and we went to his father's church in a village near Kherson called Bilozerka. There we did a summer camp much like our VBS at home for children from that village. We left on a train, and 21 hours later we were there. It was hot on the train, but God had answered our prayer for rain the night before, so it wasn't as hot as it could have been.

The weather in Kherson was much warmer than in L'viv, and the first few days were hard because we didn't have a shower. We ended up building a summer shower outside, but at first, when we didn't have a shower, we just went swimming in a natural spring not far away, or in the Dnipro river. Another method to help cool down was to dig into a fresh watermelon, which they are famous for growing in that region. The first week of our two weeks in Kherson, we set the territory of the church up for camp the next week, which included building a shower for ourselves as I said, but also building benches, tables, fixing things, painting, cleaning, and many other things to prepare. It was a great time getting to know the believers there as we prepared everything, then would spend evenings together. Our team wasn't very big, there was about 7 of us plus some grandmas that helped in the kitchen, so we really did everything. It was a hard first week getting used to the heat and the amount of work we did everyday, so I slept very well each night. Finally we prepared everything and Monday morning waited for the kids to arrive. We expected around 30 and ended up getting around 22 which was great. I did the sports/camp games during the week, and it was fun teaching them some american games which they seemed to enjoy even though it was so hot. I threw in some games with water/water balloons to help with this. I also helped wherever possible, and tried to get to know the kids as good as possible. They speak a poor and not always correct mixture of Russian and Ukrainian so it was difficult for me to understand them at first, but the longer I stayed the more I understood. I just spoke to them in Ukrainian, which they mostly understood as they learn it in school. Our camp was themed "Joseph, God's Hero" and they learned about Joseph from the Bible and what made him a "superhero." It was encouraging to hear them answer questions about what they had learned. Even the smallest group knew their stuff! Also because it was about Joseph, and that is my name, they often mentioned that, or made me play Joseph in the skits everyday.

Overall I must say that this camp was really very special to us. Maybe because we were truly needed there. Or maybe they were just really great kids, but all three of us were not wanting to leave by the end of our trip. I am blessed to have had the chance to get to know these great kids and the believers in Bilozerka. Already I have shown my pictures to many people in L'viv, when telling about our trip. Every time I show someone, I just miss that place even more, and it makes me want to jump on a train back there. It was a great time and there are many special people in Kherson and Bilozerka that I will miss very much, so I hope I'll have an opportunity to visit again. Thank you everyone who was praying for me while I was there, and for my safety, and for the camp. Please continue to pray that Jesus would be known in Bilozerka and in Kherson, and that the churches there would continue to be strengthened and continue to grow.