Sorry for the lack of updates…
We got to Odessa and the people we
are working with had been doing a summer camp for gypsy kids. We got to finish out the last couple
days of camp with them. We would
go over near the gypsy village, next to this lake that is the saltiest body of
water second to the Dead Sea. We
met in a field and we would play games and do a bible lesson and then sing
songs in Russian. The kids know a
surprising amount of English so they would always ask us how to say things in
English. I started asking them how
to say things in Russian and then from then on their goal was to teach me
Russian. Ive learned a good bit
more than I thought I would and its been real fun to try and communicate with
people. Very few people here speak
English so it can be kinda hard.
On Sunday we went to the church service they have in the gypsy
village. It was sort of a
combination of church service and end of the camp night. They did a service type preaching
lesson that was more directed to the parents, and the kids all got medals for
something they did at camp that week.
There were different teams and the winning team for the week got a trip
to the zoo. A few of our people
went with them when they went, and I think it ended up being, who ever wants to
go to the zoo can. Allot of the
gypsy kids work and so its hard for them to do much during the day. We got on a bus and two kids from the
gypsy camp were working on the bus taking up money for the driver. Gypsy’s have allot of pride about being
gypsy. Its not something they are
shy about at all, so where I thought there would be allot of pity and feeling
bad for people there was none at all.
They live how they live and it doesn’t seem to bother them. Not one of them was embarrassed or
ashamed of who they were or the house/shack they lived in. One of the kids even invited me back to
his house and wanted me to meet his family. It ended up we had the church service next to his house, so
it worked out. I was very
encouraged by this, so many times have I wanted the bigger better nicer thing
and not been content and what I have infront of me. Its just stuff
There
wasn’t much else for us to do once gypsy camp was over so we had a few days to
rest and relax. Then one night our
contact comes in and in very broken English says, “you leave tomorrow morning
for village, 4 days”. We had no
idea what he was talking about.
Ill
have to update you on that later cause now we have to leave for “extreme fish
camping”
