update from leah

Sorry its taken me a few a days to post my thoughts on the trip. to tell you the truth i haven't really known what to say. this trip was definately way different for me than my other times in Ukraine. it impacted me in a whole new way, and was a big turning point in my thoughts and in heart. i won't go into all that now, because i don't really know what all it's about yet either. God has some odd ways of working things in a person, and most of the time i don't know whats going on until He's finished.

first of all i do want to applaud the staff of this camp and all the hard work they put into it. i've never seen people respond like they did in this camp. so much was built on relationship, and so many relationships were built. i don't think i've ever gotten to know the people in my group so well as i did this fall. we spent so much time together just laughing and goofing off....just being friends. it was so great.

the first day in the country was definately a struggle physically for some of us Americans. i know i was very tired after sleeping....maybe 30 minutes the entire plane trip. but God poured out his grace on us and we made it through the first day with a few of us only falling asleep once or twice. haha. daniel and mr. tim were so patient with us as we struggled along all throughout Kyiv; on the metro, tram, and on foot.

i think staying in Lviv at one of the Miller's friends' house really did a lot inside me too. i really felt an imersion into the culture in this trip, and that was huge for me. it only made my love for the country of Ukraine grow.

the whole camp was awesome to me too. it was so great for me to be able to use my ability to read Ukrainian and Russian to read the overheads to sing the worship songs! also i had a big trusting in God lesson halfway through the camp when my group leader, Roman, asked me to do a dance for everyone at an evening assembly. i told him i didn't have music, i didn't know a dance already(that meant i'd have to make one up there), and i didn't have any dance clothes with me. well Roman wouldn't take no for an answer, he told me that we could find some music, that'd i'd just have to make up the dance(since i was a dancer after all....haha), and that surely i could find SOMETHING to wear. so thursday morning Roman, Michele, and i sat down with one of the laptops there and browsed music for a dance i supposed to be doing the next night. finally we found a song, and that afternoon i choreographed a dance, and the next night i did it for everyone. and God even worked the theme of the dance and the evening assembly messege together. "how great is our God", as the worship song says.

so many things happened like that that were just evidence of God working....even the food wasn't such a big deal to me as God filled my stomach with HIM, and i didn't even feel hungry, despite small amounts of actual food going into my mouth. God is definately a great God.

i believe that is it for now. thank you all for your prayers during the trip, they were truly felt.

---leah

More thoughts on Ukraine from Trish

It was interesting reading Bruce's comments about the questions they were asked about us being paid, etc. What struck me was the the higher cost of becoming a Christian in the Ukraine. It is a country that has a long history of ingrained religion ( Russian and Greek Orthodox) and many aspects of life are handled through bribes and that is very foreign to us in this country. To become Christian means that life is harder because your family usually turns away from you and that you must live life without using bribes. In going over there, I did not realize that in our going, our money was paying for the 45+ young adults to go to this camp. The camp cost about 61 dollars for the 8 days of camp and it enabled the Ukraine church, Hosanna, to invite and host these young adults and give them a "vacation" while building a relationship and telling them about Christ. It was a privilege to know that we were a part of that. As Bruce said, 5 came to Christ and many others are asking more questions. It was totally worth the living conditions for 9 days to see those young adults risk all to ask Jesus into there hearts!

God is faithful, camp was fullfilling.

The first picture is of worship, second skit watching, third English class, church plant pastor Ruslan on the left, fifth get to know you games.

We arrived back the morning of Aug. 12th after an all night train trip from Odessa to Liviv. We arrived at 5:30 in the morning.

Trish and Leah traveled from Odessa to Kiev with Heather Miller to catch their flight back to the States on Tue. the 14th.

The first two -three days at camp were rough with the time change, "travelers revenge", and coming to terms with the sanitation of the camp bathrooms and kitchens. Trish said that Mexico was an upgrade. Tim said that other teams that have come in don't stay at the same camp as the campers, so the leaders were surprised that we were staying with them and didn't expect special treatment.

The camp improved as we put our focus on building relationships, worshiping God , and praying for the Holy spirit to work in the campers lives. He did just that . Five people accepted Christ during the last three days of camp . Many hearts were moved closer to repentance and many people heard the gospel and had to make a decision on what to do with God.

The food was bland , boring, tasteless, and bad. The good news is that I (Bruce) lost 5 kilos -11lbs. Missions and weight loss, maybe there is a marketing concept in there?

Even though camp was officially over, God was not done working on hearts of the Ukrainian people. All night long on the train the new church plant pastor, Ruslan, answered questions from the people who had choosen to leave the camp and go drink and party. The camp leavers had met us at the train in Odesa to return home. They accused us of manipulating them and taking the girls from them. They also said that Chris was trying to hypnotize them with her testimony because she read it, and didn't look like she had had a challenging life. They said that Bruce must be a politician since American politicians always talk about religion. Ruslan was asked how much we were getting paid for coming to the camp.

We will share more on Sept. 2 at missions night. See you then.

We leave tonight for the Black Sea

We leave tonight for the Black sea. Please be praying for the hearts and the minds of the campers to be attuned to the Holy Spirit. Pray that we will be healthy, strong, and clear in our teaching of english and the Word. Besides Grace and Trish, who both have slight colds, everyone is now rested and strong. Trish and Leah experienced Ukrainian hospitalityafter spending the night with an Ukrainian family in a 3 room home with a total of 7 people. Ukrainian people are very hospititable and feed you an over abundance of food! Tonight we travel on a train over night and with 80 campers and will be riding in a sleeper car that accomodates 54 people in open style. When we arrive in Odesa, we will be traveling to the camp by bus for 2 1/2 hours toward Romania. We will not be adding to the blog until after the we get back as there is no internet access. See you when we get back...

We Arrived, We saw , We need sleep.

We arrived right on time at 9am on Aug. 1. Customs was a breeze, no checks, We loaded into a Taxi van and drove away from the airport at 87 mph ( normal speed here) Just like our American airport driver .

We spent the day with Tim seeing the sights of Kiev. We saw beautiful gold domed churches, Soviet post-war buildings, and lots of people smoking and drinking beer as they walked down the street. There was a light rain as we came out of the subway and we saw a beautiful full rainbow that ended right at the top of a church. Part of the strategy of seeing the sights was to keep everyone awake so that jet lag would be reduced. We got on the night train at 10 pm, made our beds and crashed. We arrived in Lviv around 7 am after a decent nights sleep, hopped on the tram then walked to Tim and Heather's apartment and were warmly greeted by Heather and kids, and the smell of breakfast. Today we will spend the day getting acclimated and see where Tim and Heather live out their ministry. This evening we will repack and prepare for the 9 hr. night train ride to Odesa, followed by a 2 1/2 hr. bus ride to the camp.

Millers, Trisha and Leah.

Two nights before we leave...

Well, it is two more wake-ups before we leave for the Ukraine and see what God is doing in another part of the world. I am looking forward to seeing how others worship our Lord and how they get together in fellowship to encourage each other. We are going to spend most of our time in Odesa at a very "rustic camp" on the coast of the Black Sea. I know we will be there to help with english skills and to grow new relationships among other things. I am also bringing first aid supplies and a power point on AIDS prevention talking points. This is a topic that is common to all people but is starting to hit Eastern Europe especially hard. Please pray for our communication as that will be one of our biggest challenges. Also, pray for the Ukraine people there that they will hear the good news and will be excited to share it with their family and friends! Well, we are almost off and I am checking on my list of things yet to do.... Trish Tibbitts

Rejoicing in Heaven, Rainierview, and in the Miller home/hearts.

We are rejoicing with the God and his angels that 33 ( plus 3 more Sunday morning) kids were baptised this past week at Pleasant valley Christian Camp. Ethan had a great week of leading as a counselor . Here he is baptising a young camper.

Grace accepted Jesus' call and was baptised by her Sunday school teacher, school teacher, and her friend Mrs. Jo Cooksley.

We leave in two days and the excitement is building. we ask for your prayers. Thanks, the Ukraine team. PS. check out the skit that was shown in church on Sunday. WoW!! we serve a LOVING God. Bruce. oh, the site can be found on youtube.com it is called "Life house's everything skit." enjoy and ....