Day 218: Happy Western Easter! The Ukraine doesn’t celebrate Easter until next Sunday, but we celebrated with you in spirit. We attended church in the morning/early afternoon and in the evening we held a night of English worship/prayer at our house. Several missionaries who teach English in the city joined us. P.S. I think our Easter Eggs were shown up by the ones our Ukrainian artist friend makes.
Day 219: Today we had 4 meetings with different missionaries/pastors to create a ministry schedule. This month we will be teaching English classes, running a soup kitchen for street kids, speaking at several churches, planning multiple youth events, teaching life skills classes in gypsy villages, and working with abandoned babies at a hospital. We are in high demand this month… and it was a giant puzzle trying to fit as many things as possible into our schedule.
Day 220: Today we went to visit a group home for children with abusive parents. Many abused children in Ukraine eventually end up on the streets. However, Pastor Joseph has started a ministry to provide a safe place for the children to go. He currently has six kids living in the home but will soon be adding six more. The girls were very excited to give us a tour and show us their bedroom. On the way home we road in a really ghetto taxi.
Day 221: Amaris, Britni, and I have decided to start running everyday (in hopes of shedding the pounds we have gained on the race). After our run, we had the morning free to go get internet in town. In the afternoon a few of us met up with one of the English teachers to hear more about how the classes are taught and in the evening we attended a church service. Kat shared her testimony and Maggie talked about living in the Philippines garbage dump.
Day 222: Today, Maggie, Kat, and I were able to teach English classes. Our first class was for students followed by an adult class. They were learning about comparisons (Kat is taller than Jessica, etc.). We also talked with each class about The World Race.
Day 223: We taught English again today in an advanced class. One of the girls knew five different languages. After class we went to get coffee with a few of the teachers and then went to a worship night at Pastor Joseph’s orphanage. We spent several hours hanging out with the kids (playing games, looking at pictures, and watching videos).
Day 224: We were planning to work at a soup kitchen for street kids in the morning, but it got cancelled due to the holiday weekend. In the afternoon, Shannon and I went to care for abandoned babies at the hospital and then we went to speak about the World Race at a youth group. In the evening, we went to Pastor Joseph’s orphanage for dinner. The girls had spent all day cooking for us. After dinner we had a large dance party.
Day 225: Happy Easter (in The Ukraine)! We went to church in the morning. Brinti shared her testimony and Kat talked about the underground church in China. Afterward we went out to lunch with several English speakers from the church and in the evening we went to tea at the house of two missionaries from New York.
Day 226: Day Off. We spent most of the day downtown using internet. In the evening, we set up the projector and had a movie night at home.
Day 227: We went grocery shopping in the morning. I spent most of the afternoon editing video for the church we worked with in Serbia. In the evening we attended a musical put on by one of the churches we are working with, followed by going out to desert/tea with two of our translators.
Day 228: We taught English all day. Our first class was an intermediate teenage class. The second was a Christian outreach club for teenagers. Over 20 students showed up. In the evening we hosted an English club for adults, where they can come to practice the English they have learned in class. We shared with them about The World Race, and a few of us shared our testimonies.
Day 229: Today we taught English. This was the first day we had a repeat class of students we had worked with before. They were excited to see us again which was awesome. In the evening we invited several of our young adult students over for a Mexican dinner. It was their first time ever eating a burrito.
Day 230: This morning we went with a local pastor to help with a feeding for Gypsy adults. In the afternoon, we help with an English class and then went out to dinner with one of the teachers. In the evening, Maggie, Kat and I taught our first class without a teacher from the center being in the room. Our lesson was on the difference between “I used to” and “I didn’t use to.”
Day 231: We spent three hours in the morning walking around the city inviting street kids to a youth service/soup kitchen. The service for street kids took place in the early afternoon and then we went straight to a second youth group at one of the local churches. In the evening we helped to host a girls night/sleepover at the youth leaders house. I led a discussion about the movie “To Save A Life.”
Day 232: We didn’t get much sleep (because of the sleepover), but still made it to church in the morning. In the evening, we attended a night of English Worship at one of the local churches.
Day 233: Today was our day off. I spent most of the day in bed writing blogs. In the afternoon, Amaris, Maggie and I went to meet up with one of our English students for a wine tasting.
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SUPPORT UPDATE:
I am almost fully-funded! Only $200 left to raise!
Alex is still in need of significant financial support. We have raised enough to cover English test fees and VISA fees, but we still need to raise money to buy his plane ticket and cover his first semester of tuition. Thank you to those who have already given. If you would like to support Alex click on the link below to donate!
