A time of reflection

As we each look back over the past 2 weeks and take the time to reflect back on what we have done the new people that have entered our lives and to see what God did it is amazing as always. There has been much work accomplished, more than we thought we could do, we have built new relationships with some neat young men, seen new ministry opportunities in Kerch and beyond and seen our God work in ways that we never expected.
We are heading out in the morning for a church service outside of Feodosia about one hour west of Kerch and then head down to Yalta to spend the night and do some site seeing on Monday before catching our plane back to Kiev and then head back to our homes on Tuesday morning.
We have had a great time, good health and lots of laughs on this trip. It has been a special team that God has put together. Thank you so much for praying for all of us while we have been away, your prayers have been felt. Please continue to pray for the Hope Center as their busy time of year is approaching with 5 camps this summer and lots of children coming to experience this joy maybe for the first time in their young lives. Pray about joining us on one of these teams to help or help financially in paying for a child to come to camp, it only costs $170.00 for 10 days. We have close to 600 children coming and we need help in bringing them to camp.
God bless you all and we hope to see you all soon in Ukraine at the Hope Center.
John for the team.

Friends will last forever

Many friends have been made over the past 6 months that the boys have been together and I am sure they will not forget the memories and experiences that they have had together.
Scott and Andrew will not forget the many times together as well over the years of working together at the Hope Center.

Lsst meal

Here is our last meal on Saturday lunch, chicken and potatoes beets and bananas.
Lori do you like the potatoes?
Well I think we get the picture. Just too many potatoes for the past 3 months.

The girls having fun

Shari must have said or did something funny to make Nancy laugh this hard.
Here are the girls ready to go out on the town the last night without us guys.
The guys all went to a special spa, there are pictures but I think I can only show them with special permission. Sergey Frolov fixed us a great meal of BBQ pork and veggies and we did a special time of spa and hot tub activities. I think I have said to much already.

Graduates celebrating

Just like all other graduates these guys like to celebrate as well.

Group picture

Here is a group picture of the IVA graduates and the Global Action work team. Our last day hanging out together.

First graduating class of IVA 2007

Here is the first graduating class of the International Vocational Academy of Global Action in Ukraine May 2007. 15 very incredible young men who will now start their new lives.

We are out of control

Things started getting crazy tonight when Andrew brought Kamilla some fresh fish, you can be the judge of that.
All you have to do is peel the skin back and eat this little piece of meat
Talk about sucking heads give me a good ole Crawfish from South Louisiana any day over this. And you think we are crazy.
Tanya what in the world are you doing? She could not wait to get a hold of this poor little fishy. Shame on you for doing this. At least cook it first.
I think this is enough to close on tonight. I am going to bed.

Having fun

Tanya and Andrew's son having fun tonight. I wonder who he takes after?

Friday night cookout

Here we are tonight at our traditional Friday night cookout and you guessed it, hot dogs again. the boys loved them but Tanya now that is another story. For some reason she does not care for this American food. this is the last night before the boys graduate from the IVA program (vocational training). They will be missed but many of them now have their drivers license and potential jobs to start a new life with.

Life in a Ukraine village

Lady beside her garden at home
Visiting a typical home in the village
The road to.......................

Gala and Lori in Village

Gala has been working with this village for a while now and leading a Bible Study, it is a very poor village outside of Kerch. Gala is also the Global Action accountant at Hope Center. As you can see almost everyone is doing ministry outside of their regular ministry job at Hope Center.

Faces in the village

Little girl from one of the homes in the village
We brought a lot of scarfs for the ladies and they enjoyed going through them and picking out some nice ones to help keep them warm.
This lady was blind and Lori and Barb prayed with her.
A Mom and her children.

games with children

Carol, Barb and Lori were playing duck, duck, goose with the kids when out of no where these ducks appeared. I guess they wanted to play along as well.

Village trip

This afternoon the ladies and Steve went out to a local village that one our staff Gala has been working with and leading a Bible Study. It is a very poor village and they met with the children and ladies from the village.

Lori on the move

Here is our intern Lori who has been here for several months this time and heading back home with us this weekend so that she can go through her graduation activities from high school in Colorado Springs. She will be missed by all here but we figure she will be back.
As you can tell she was really in a hurray today to get the tables set for lunch...I wonder why?
Maybe it is because her clothes are still outside drying for the second day and she needs to pack them for her trip home.

Friday lunch

Lunch was being prepared today by our wonderful cooks and helpers in setting everything up so that we could enjoy a fabulous meal. We had chicken with cheese and mushrooms on top along with potatoes fresh rolls which I haven't had here before and oranges. Plus for starters we always have some soup and hot tea.

Official meetings Friday at camp

Our camp directors Tanya and Andrew Shpigunova. they are a great couple and doing a wonderful job for us here and have such a tender and sweet heart to reach out to the community and children in Kerch.
Meeting with city leaders and school officials today as none of these people have ever heard of Hope Center or Global Action so today they found out and were quite pleased with what they saw.
More officials