My what a crazy couple of weeks I've had since my last blog update. I'll start by apologizing for not updating in so long. Unfortunately, my laptop has been broken since we were in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. I accidentally spilled a mocha on it. So now so am relying on my cell phone and borrowing friends' computers in order to stay in touch! That being said, I will try to be better about updating you all on what is going on. Since my last update, the following has happened.
-We spent one week in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland working with John Shades, the pastor of the newly planted Lakes Vineyard Church. We spent the week doing all kinds of mission work around the city, including cleaning toilets for businesses, handing out free lunches, doing Healing on the Streets ministry, treasure hunting (aka Ask the Lord), and many other things. That week, we were blessed to have to girls from Arizona and two girls from the local community working and living with us. It was such a blessing to get to know them and to serve alongside them! During our week of ministry, we really felt the walls begin to come down in the city and for freedom to break through a place long tied to religious tradition and tension. We definitely faced some opposition from the enemy, but love and truth reigned! Please be in prayer for John and the Lakes Vineyard, that God would abundantly bless the ministry there!
-We met up with our squad in Dublin and had 75 hours of travel spread between three countries and 4 days. Here's a breakdown: 2 hour busride to Dublin, 28 hours at the Dublin airport, 4 hour flight to Turkey, 10 hours overnight in the Istanbul airport, 2 hour flight to Ukraine, 12 hours in Kiev at our contact's house, 15 hour trainride to Sevestople, 1 hour car ride to Kacha, and then we settled into three days of relaxation! We were blessed to stay at a beach 'resort' owned by our contact, Yuri. We got to swim in the Black Sea and relax before starting our month of ministry.
-Last Sunday, we moved from Kacha to Eagle Village, located in the mountains by Sevestople. We are now living on the bottom floor of a three unit home with two families living above us. We spend our mornings helping build houses. This last week, us girls worked on a missionary home that Hope House is building for when they have teams like us come visit. We painted, wallpapered, cleaned, grouted tiles, and did lots of other little jobs. Meanwhile, our men worked outside in the sun doing stuff with concrete and fiberglass. We spent our evenings this week teaching a VBS for the kids in the village. Many of them are adopted kids from Hope House. They stole our hearts and it is gonna be so tough to say goodbye in a couple of weeks! For the next two weeks, our evenings will be spent either working at an orphan camp in the mountains or doing small groups with the local church.
It's gonna be a fantastic rest of the month and I'm excited to see what God does!
