Let's play a game.
Now that we are about to leave our ministry site (where we have been staying for a FULL MONTH I tell you – let's not go into my blog timing skills), how about I tell you a little bit about what we have been doing here and who we have been working with!
But I'm not just going to give it away, that would be silly. I'm going to show you some pictures of various activities, and we'll see if you can guess what our ministry has been this month.
So here we go.
Mixing/pouring concrete for a new sidewalk. You learn so many valuable skills on the World Race.
Free dental clinic! Assistants, sort of. I lasted through half of one patient… but in my defense, saliva is disgusting.
Hanging out, havin some dinner at the rescue shelter with the kids and the house dad. I think every single kid in Ukraine has blonde hair and blue eyes, aka, adorable.
Baking 900 cookies. That's right. 900.
Visiting families in the village and passing out food packages with Jenny. Note the blonde haired blue eyed child on the bench.
Building a chicken coop! Because Ukrainian chickens have the same rights/hopes/dreams as American chickens.
Alright, time's up! I bet you guessed our ministry, I just know it.
You guessed Jeremiah's Hope in Kolentsi, Ukraine, didn't you?? I knew it. You're so smart. Jeremiah's Hope is run by Andrew and Jenny Kelly, our ministry contacts for the month. Their mission statement says this:
Jeremiah’s Hope seeks to provide God’s hope, healing and practical help to the orphans and at-risk youth of Ukraine. By ministering to their spiritual, emotional and physical needs, we seek to guide these youth to become productive, Christian citizens in their own country.
Andrew and Jenny do A LOT of different things here in the small village of Kolentsi. They own and operate a campground for orphans, at-risk village kids in bad situations, and missionary kids. They run the Sasha Project, a creative solution for reaching kids stuck in bad homes where they visit the families, bringing food packages as a way to get in good with the parents and keep tabs on the kids. They are working on getting a church plant off the ground here in Kolentsi. They run a rescue shelter on the property, for kids taken out of their homes in emergency situations. The kids stay in the shelter while arrangements are made for them to go elsewhere, whether with a family member or friend or to an orphanage. They host church retreats and groups here on the weekends, cooking and cleaning the whole time. And they do lots of other random odds and ends, such as hosting a free dental clinic or catering events for the missionary school in Kiev.
We have been blessed this month to help in small ways with all of these different outreaches, whether it has been by actually going out with Jenny on her Sasha Project visits or readying the camp for when all the kids come in 2 weeks by painting and cleaning and pouring sidewalks or whatever else in between.
Jeremiah's Hope is an awesome ministry doing the work of God here in Ukraine. If you want to know more about it and Andrew & Jenny, you can read all about their ministry at http://jeremiahshope.org/. If you are interested in sponsoring a child for a year (providing the money for their food packages and sending them to camp) check that out here.
TTFN, ta ta for now.
julie
