Calm before the storm.

Week 1.  

I've only been here one week and I can honestly say I have fallen in love with the city of Hiжин and the country Ukraine. 

The people of Ukraine are so humble and and very hospitable. The moment I arrived and the first time I met the church members, they greeted me and treated me as if we've known each other for years! Seriously, the church has such a wonderful bunch. Over the past week I've also got to meet and spend time with the rest of the camp couselors. The camp counselors are made up of about 15 youth members from the church, our team and a few adults. The counselors talk, walk, play sports with us. We try to play a sport everyday. We got to play some basketball today at the university - it was fun I hope we get to do that again.  They are an awesome group - always smiling, happy, teaching each other our languages. 

I will boast a bit that I am picking up the language quickly. I am actually really intrigued by it and I am always concentrating when I hear people speak in Ukranian. The couselors say they are impressed at how much I am picking up by understanding and speaking it. Although there are quite a few people who speak both languages and have been doing a phenomenal job at translating for us, I must give credit to my little friends Dima and Vera. When I am at the church for a service or meeting, they grab onto me and won't let me go until they have to leave. Vera looks exactly like the main character in the Pixar movie 'Brave'. She's really smart and is picking up English quickly. 

Today, Monday July 1st  is the first day of camp. I am challenged to teach at the English station. Never done anything like this so I've got mixed feelings of nervousness and excitement. This is definitely out of my comfort zone but I'm looking forward to it. Thank God I've got Tanya paired up me. She is Mama Luba's daughter. She is my translator for the week in the English class. She's the funniest person I've met here. 

Yesterday afternoon, Tanya and out team spent about half an hour - maybe more - picking mulberries from the tree out in front. I climbed up a little and just began picking and eating, picking and eating. The berries were so juicy you would just press them lightly and they'd gush out their juice and it'll run down your fingers. 

One the things I enjoy here is the talks at the dining table with our team. As I mentioned, I've only met my team a couple of months ago in Miami and even then we've only seen each other about 5 times in meetings before coming to Ukraine. So eating and talking at the dining table is fun as we all get to know each other. Nancy Crisler (our team leader) is such an amazing person with a heart of gold. Her love for this country and the people here is contagious and admirable. She and her family traveled here for the first time about 7 years ago and since then she has come every year. Her kids - growing up traveling here almost year - have also a love for this place. Mama Luba's house is like their second home. So much that one of Nancy's kids, Greg is studying at a university in Moscow, Russia. A 20 yr old dude studying engineering in Russian. Props to him haha! Hie's here with us now actually and will be for the rest of the week. Nancy leaves tomorrow but she's done more than enough to prepare us for the next 2 weeks. 

Camp day 1. Here we go. 

I haven't had time to take pics the last 2 days. But here some random ones. 

For a moment.

I can't remember the last time I've felt like this. 

It was a special day today. 

As I was playing volleyball with some of the counselors and church members - the Ukranian sunset as our backdrop - something hit me.....

Hard to explain but,

I felt such peace. 

An overwhelming peace, that honestly may have brought tears to my eyes. 

Not an inch of stress. Not thinking about home, bills, job, money, not thinking of what I was going to do in the weekend. Not even thinking about my future.

I was in this moment. 

Laughing. Smiling. Making jokes with new friends. 

A thought ran across my mind in the middle of the game. 'I was so far from home. On the other side of the world. What am I doing here? The team I traveled with - I only met them 2 months ago. And everyone here in Ukraine, I've met them a couple of days ago. Yet here I am. Playing a game of volleyball. In a small city - In Ukraine.'

God knows I've been dealing with stress over the past 2 years. It's unbearable at times. It's a constant load on my shoulders. It wears me down. Floods my thoughts. It distracts me so much. I thank God everyday for the 4 most important people in my life. I think about them all the time. They make me happy. They help me get through everyday. 

I am learning something new everyday while I'm here. Not just in the cultural sense but in the spiritual sense as well. Gods love is overwhelming. I don't deserve it. I really don't. My mind can not comprehend why God is so good to me. Yet I find myself sometimes living my life as if he did not even exist. 

Someone might read through the pages of my life and question if God really is good. The truth is who am I to say if he is or not. What have I done to earn the position of deciding whether God is good or not? 

He loves me. 

I'll admit I may not understand it at times. But then again, I don't think I'm supposed to. Just a thankful heart really. My thanks to Him is to worship Him. To obey Him. To love Him. To serve Him. 

He chose to save me. 

The only thing I contributed to my salvation was my sin. I have nothing to brag about. 

It's because of Him. 

God, thank you. 

Seriously.

Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk.

Day 4. Exhausted. Camp hasn't even started yet and I'm finishing these days beat. But today was also an excellent day! 

Of course started off with mama Luba's breakfast. Although pretty soon I think I'll have to tell her I won't be able to eat anymore haha 

After breakfast we walked to the church. It's about a 10 minute drive but about a 30 min walk. The day was hot but a tolerable hot. I enjoyed the sights and sounds bit don't know about the smells hehe once we got to the church, the team of counselors got together to plan what we were going to do at the orphanage later that afternoon. 

At the meeting at church I became friends with one of the counselors little brother. Dima. He became glued to me for the rest of the day. He became my language instructor for the day. We were able to communicate a little more today because I feel I am slowly getting better at the language. But he would Just point at everything and tell me the Ukranian word for the object. He likes to feel my hair lol at least the little I have. 

We then walked some more and visited the town market. A lot people just living their daily lives. I love to people watch..might sound creepy lol but I am intrigued by different cultures, customs, and lifestyles. It's crazy how different life is in another country - regardless of status. We walked into a small store where they were selling Dr. Dre Beats for 45 greevnas which was about 5 American dollars. -_- of course they were fake lol

We began the 30 min walk back home for lunch. Then we walked another 30 mins to the orphanage! Yea we walked a lot today. 

Once the team arrived at the orphanage we introduced ourselves and began playing simons says and singing songs. Then we went outside to play with water balloons and frisbees. Alina shared a bible story with the young kids. She's a natural at being with kids. God is definitely showing me a lot on this trip. Things that I might not have seen or am too distracted at home to see. 

Our time at the orphanage ended or the day. We'll be back tomorrow. We headed back home...yes you guessed it - walked back home! Once we arrived back home we were invited to play volleyball with some of the church members and the four of us..being tired - decided to go anyways. We walked to the church again!!! Well this time just like 10 mins then we took a bus the rest of the way. Volleyball was really fun! I love playing sports! Seriously, I play sports almost everyday back in miami. So it felt good to really sweat. Plus with all of mama Luba's food...I might start running to church from now on. 

Finally returned home. At 10p and it was still sunset here in Ukraine. 

Culture Shock.

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Day 3. I knew today was going to be a busy day. Of course it started off with breakfast at mama luba's. This time she served us these crepes with cheese filling. The jam on the side was made from her hand picking the cherries and berries on her yard. Delicious. The juice she serves us every meal is also hand picked from her yard. Once that was over it was time to head to the church to meet up with up with the 40+ kids we were taking to the aqua park. Once we got there we were split into small groups. These small groups were to be accountable to each other. I was placed to look after 3 boys. Atriom, the oldest of the three. He was born in Moscow, Russia but then moved to Ukraine as a young boy. Bagnad, known as a trouble maker but he was quite well-behaved. And his best friend, Dennis. Dennis is the smallest of the bunch and the most shy. Bagnads and Dennis friendship is a funny one. We got into the bus and made sure all the children were counted for before heading out into our 2 hour drive into the outskirt of Kiev. 

Ukraines landscape is flat. A sea of plain flat fields on the right and a sea f plain flat fields on the left. Acres and miles of corn fields, sunflower fields, and potatoe fields on both sides. With the occasional small village every few miles. 

I could not understand any of the road signs at all 

Alina Shakuta sat next to me on the bus ride to Kiev. She explained to me the significance and symbolism of the Ukranian flag. Ukraine's postmark scenery is open wheat fields sitting under clear blue skies. Hence, the blue and yellow on the flag. She asked about my family, I showed her pictures of my mom, sisters, little cousin Leilani and Kimberly. She said they were all very pretty and that I was fortunate to be surrounded by beautiful girls. On the bus she introduced me to her 4 daughters. Little girls that all looked like twins haha the second youngest, Enya, has two big buck tooth in the front and big ears. She is always smiling. 

Once we've arrived at the Aqua park we ate our packed snacks on the bus because food inside the park is expensive. We then waited in line to get in. 

We had a blast! We must've got on all the slides 100 times. Relaxed on the massage pool. Cooked ourselves in the sauna. Played Marco polo on the wave pool and that was all in the first hour. Only to repeat again every hour for the next 5 hours. We were exhausted by the end of the day. Rode back were Vanya, the worship leader and I hanged and talked about our favorite music styles when we got back to church. 

Went back home for dinner around 9:30p  rested to get ready for the next day. 

Rest day.

Day 2. 

Today we woke up to mama Luba's delicious breakfast. The table was filled with bórsh, russian salad, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes picked off right from her backyard - or as I like to call it, "The Shire" - and with campoté to drink.  

We then began to sort out all of our donation bags. A total of nine 50lb bags. These are things we will be giving out at the church to the needy. 

During our lunch break we met Lina Fedko's 3 children. Venya,  Liera, and Dima. Venya and I clicked quickly and began playing soccer out on the front yard. After showing each other a couple of moves, he noticed the slingshot by the front stairs - from that point on we were slinging rocks at cats for the next 2 hours! We would focus in on where the cats were hiding in the potato field. Sometimes Venya would have to climb on my back to get a better view. My back hurts at how much he was piggy back riding haha. I would have to admit that in those 2 hours of hanging with Venya, I only understood about 3 words. He speaks strictly Ukranian and I, English. But when your hunting cats and choosing the right size rocks in which to hit your target - language does not get in the way of having fun! He eventually found 'Angry Birds' on my phone and let's just say I am lucky to even have battery on my phone to write this blog. The time then came to head out to the evening church service. A beautiful building that sits on a street corner. Once inside I was introduced to so many people. Many of them are used to seeing the missionary team from Miami visit every summer, but of course, every trip brings new faces. I was one of the new faces this year. But they showered is with love and were really excited we were there. The service was great. After buying a few items at a local mart we walked back to mama Luba's where we talked the night away planning for the next day. 

Home away from home.

24 hours later. We are finally here. The flights were brutal. I knocked out waiting in the 3rd airport. Knocked out on the 3rd flight. Knocked out on the 2 hour bus ride to our destination. Only to knock for a few more hours once we got into our room. 

I've never been more tired in my life. I've never slept sitting down so much. There is a 7 hour time difference here in Ukraine. It's 11:20p here so it's about 4:20p back at home. 

We arrived to the town of Nizhin earlier today around 3:30p. Didn't get a chance to take pictures yet, probably because I was half asleep. The outskirts of the town reminded me of 'The Shire'. Who knows, I might see Bilbo Baggins or Frodo around. 

The food however was great! We are at Mama Luba's house for our first few days. She cooked for us and man does she make sure we eat everything! We ate brósh. Drank homemade juice. Mama Luba grows everything in her garden. It was delicious.

Until tomorrow. Good night.  

Airport. Flight. Airport. Flight. Airport. Flight.

So far I've only waited an hour in the first of 3 terminals. 3 airports. 3 planes. 3 cities. 2 continents and 20 hours of  await me. 

Countdown at 3.5 days....

Sitting in front of my computer. Half a toast still on my desk from this mornings breakfast. I promised myself I'd eat healthy this week in preparation for the trip. But cuban toast dipped in cuban coffee is almost a sin to pass on. It will definitely be a detail I'll miss when I'm gone. I am speaking as if I'll be gone for years haha. Truth is, when you're 5,174.1 miles away from home and immersed in a different country, culture, and people for 3 weeks - time can go slow. I am most certain however, at the end of it all, it'll feel as if time flew by and we had just arrived. The toast is now gone.

The time it took for the trip to finally arrive felt like an eternity a few months ago - yet, the countdown is now at 3 days...perfect example at how time plays tricks with us. So many things on my mind. So many things to do. So little time.

Today, June 18, 2013.

I can honestly say that I did not at all plan to be traveling so far this year - even more so going on a missions trip was not on my agenda either. This will be my first. For years, my mother was the missions director at our old church for almost 10 years. She has definitely had her share of experiences traveling twice a year to medically assist under resourced children. Provide food and clean water to sponsored children was the goal on her missions. I remember dropping her off and picking her up at the airport all the time. Listening to her stories, the sometimes, warm, cold, heartbreaking, hilarious stories. Her eyes would tear up as she shared how she left a piece of her heart with the children each trip. The opportunity for me to finally travel with her came close as I was finally old enough but unfortunately it did not happen. Until now.

From the moment I heard about the opportunity to travel on a missions trip to the Ukraine a few months ago, the nudge in my heart caused me to sign up. In faith - really, because I did not have any idea how I was going to come up with the finances and it seemed a bit too far fetched.

As the weeks passed by however, I began to see Gods hand. How he was providing through generous hands - hands that have decided to invest and bless me with offerings and prayers. I am forever thankful to each one of you.