UKRAINE JULY 2008 UKRAINE JULY 2008-2
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NOTES FROM MIKE
First of all, I would like to thank God for giving us this opportunity to serve him in a distant land. He is the reason that we have made this trip and all of the other trips we have been able to make over the last few years. This was my thirteenth trip to Ukraine, and each time I go, I see the Lord working more in the lives of these people. I would like to personally thank everyone who participated in the Ukraine trip. Without you this trip would not have been possible. The people who went on the trip gave their time and finances to make the trip successful. Thank you very much for your dedication to the Lord. The ones of you who contributed financially also played a big part in the trip. Without your support the trip would not have been possible. The ones of you who prayed for us and our mission are always a very important part of our trip. Your prayers are very important. Thank you to the ones who stayed here and worked for us to be able to go on this trip, took care of our businesses, looked after our homes, and filled in for us while we were gone. It takes all of us working together to make a mission trip like this possible.
On July 14 at 2:30 a.m., eight people from Greensboro Baptist Church, along with our bus driver, Tommy Washburn, assembled in the church parking lot to travel to the airport in Birmingham. The eight traveling to Ukraine were Rose Davis, Janice Day, Mike and Brenda Fuller, Rev. Dee McGuire, Dr. Shelby and Frances Smith, and Regina Washburn. We were joined at the airport by Daniel and Donna Leonard of Pell City.
After spending many hours on airplanes and in airports we arrived in Kiev, Ukraine at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 15. We were met at the airport by our van drivers, Andriy and Victor, and one of our translators, Stephen. We were then on our journey to Kirovograd and our home for the next ten days. It is a five and one half hour drive to Kirovograd due to the road conditions. We stopped along the way for our first Ukrainian meal of this trip.
Doctor Doroshenko, head of the Kirovograd Baptist Union and a medical doctor, had a change of heart this trip and gave us Tuesday evening and Wednesday off to rest and get ready for our days ahead. After getting settled we had dinner at the hotel and then our evening meeting. We had a meeting each night to talk about our experiences of the day and our upcoming day. This was followed by a prayer time and sharing the Bible and devotions each night.
On Thursday morning we started our mission by visiting The Children's Hospital. We toured different departments of the hospital, met several of the doctors and shared with the patients. We gave coloring books, crayons and candy to some of the children there. We saw the hospitals needs and left then money to help with their needs. During the afternoon we went to Central Baptist Church and toured the new still under construction building and then to dinner at the Dorshenko home.
On Friday we started our visits to the villages. We divided into two groups of five each and traveled with five Ukrainian doctors in each group. Over the next six days we visited in twenty villages. Many of the villages were far away from Kirovograd, and the roads that we traveled on were very interesting. One team traveled on narrow muddy roads for over an hour to reach a village.
We held church services and VBS for the children. We furnished Bibles and Christian literature to the people attending the services and left a Childrens Bible story book at each village.
Our ladies that conducted the VBS, Rose and Frances on one team and Regina and Janice on the other, did a wonderful job with the children.
Following the services, we held medical clinics, providing medicines to the people who needed them, and fitted people with reading glasses. Daniel and Donna held the eyeglass clinics for one team and Brenda, along with the help of Andriy, our driver, for the other team. We originally were scheduled to visit in two prisons. As in many times past, the government would not allow us into the prisons so we made alternate plans for Sunday. Dr. Shelby preached three services on Sunday at some of the churches. He also met with the youth of Central Church during their after church activities. He also met with the youth minister from Central and talked about the possibilities of planning a Youth Revival for next summer.
Dr. Shelby Smith and Rev. Dee McGuire also led a Pastors Conference held at Central Church. There were approximately twenty pastors in attendance, and the conference was very successful.
During the summer many of the orphans are gone to camps, so we were only able to visit in the Shelter, which is the entry level into the orphanages, and the Orphanage in Pantaivka which houses small children with special needs. We shared Bible stories in each orphanage and also sang songs so that they could participate in the activities. We handed out coloring books, crayons, candy and bananas at each orphanage. We left Bible story books at each and fruit juices that we had purchased. We toured the facilities and left money to meet some of their needs.
The VBS supplies that we had left from the villages were distributed to two young Ukrainian men who have ministries working with orphans so that they could use them. Also, some of the bells used in VBS were left with people who work with children to be used in their ministries.
On Friday morning we left Kirovograd and our mission field to return to Kiev for our Saturday flight home. We stopped at the famous Andrews Street to do a little shopping before checking into the hotel. We had dinner and went to bed early to prepare for our long day ahead of us.
On Saturday morning we left Ukraine for our flight home. God was with us on the entire trip. He allowed us to make all of our connecting flights, kept us safe, and most of us healthy. We only had a few stomach problems during the trip, but they were not severe.
We had many people to come forward and make decisions to follow Jesus. Many people in the villages saw doctors and received medicines that they needed. They also received reading glasses that are so expensive there.
The entire team received a blessing from the trip.
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