Summer continues here in Kiev. One thing I love about Ukraine is that summer here is a solid three months. It “begins” on June 1st and goes until September 1st when all students return to school. So, as kids are starting school in the States we still have another full month of summer! Since my last update, I took another trip to Kharkov with an American couple visiting two kids they hosted in the States which gave me an opportunity to see some of my favorite people in the world and see my kids in Kharkov yet again.
We returned to Kiev on July 10th on the fast train from Kharkov. Arriving late at night, I accidentally misplaced my wallet on the train. Blame it on exhaustion or distraction or simply the fact that I’m a human who makes mistakes. 🙂 There were a few tense moments in my apartment when I realized it was gone, but miraculously someone found it, found one of my Radooga business cards with my local phone #, and called me after midnight. We met the next morning at the train station and I retrieved my wallet with every last grivna, credit card, and receipt still there. Life continues to be nothing but exciting here.
On July 11th, I greeted a small group of Americans to Kiev for our English Language Camp. The next day, another small group of Americans from Kiev joined us to form our “miracle” team for the summer. There was a time earlier this year, we didn’t think we would have any teams this summer but thankfully the Lord put together this team of random people to come together. We had camp outside Kiev and worked with nearly 200 teens. It was a great honor for me to lead and coordinate the team and translators and challenged me in many ways. The team brought me so much joy with their flexibility, their preparedness, and their deep desire to connect with the Ukrainian team and teens. It was amazing to see how the Lord worked in all our hearts to promote unity among our team since everyone came from different places. We sadly had to say goodbye on the 20th as the “American” Americans flew back home, but thankfully the “Kiev” Americans are still here in town so I’m happy to have the chance to continue building those relationships.
After camp, I had several days in Kiev to recover and then flew out to Bulgaria for some time away. Now that I’m back in Kiev, I’m leaving again of course. 🙂 I’m leaving tomorrow for Berdichev Ukraine for our orphan camp there. You might remember my time there last year from this blog: Berdichev . This year, the kids are at a different campsite which doesn’t have adequate housing for the local church team and yours truly. So we will be CAMPING nearby. Yes, camping. I’ve been camping once in my life and slept on an air mattress that time. So prayers are appreciated…VERY appreciated. Yet another opportunity to be pushed to a place of extreme discomfort. May the Lord be my Strength.
After Berdichev is another short camp in Kharkov. This should be the last camp of the summer for me. It’s been a different kind of summer without so many American teams. Looking forward to seeing what’s in store for the Fall.
HH in Ukraine 