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