Snowy Babushkas

"WHIRLWIND" is one word to describe the past week. Just a few days after my last blog post, I was slowly waking up (and not wanting to get up I might add), and I heard someone walk in my doorway. Once I gained the energy to turn around one of my teammates said to me, "Hey, did you see the SNOW?!" I immediately jumped up to look out the window and saw a blanket of white across the apartment complex. That day was an exciting one with our first of many experiences with snow in Moldova. 

Last week we had our usual, but of course not ordinary, English Club and Salvation Army outreaches. Due to the snow that week, we only had one English Club meeting, but it was a great start. There were probably 6 or so kids that were ready and excited to learn. Our lesson was on animal names. You can guess how much fun that is for kids around the ages of 7-10! 

Honestly the snow really is a blessing to ministry. We have made lots of new friends by throwing snow at each other and even going sledding (unfortunately this day I was sick so I couldn't go). The team will be using these types of outings for sure when we want to spend time with our new Moldovan friends.

On the 16h the team split for church ministry. My team went to a church in a nearby village called Lucesti to attend a small church there. Our driver, the pastor of this church, told us lots of information about this village and the church that we were going to. Like many places in the Cahul area, the young people are leaving to find a better life. In this particular church there is one young family, which unfortunately couldn't attend this day because they were visiting their ill son in the hospital. Knowing all of this we walked in to the church, ready to meet some new faces. As soon as we walked in the small meeting room, all we saw were pews filled with babushkas (grandmas in Russian). The pastor really wasn't kidding about there being no youth in Lucesti! The service was so cool to be able to pray and worship with the babushkas and understand their heart for ministry in their village. 

In closing up that week of ministry, it's safe for us to say that it is extremely important to build relationships and minister to the youth here. You may see this repeated a lot in my blog, but it really is true! There are many children with their hearts and hopes shattered for their future life. Giving them hope and something to look forward to in life is important so that they can help grow their community instead of having to leave it like so many have done. 

In Cahul, our ministry is not limited to planned  events and church meetings. We often see our friends on the street and are able  to talk to them or sometimes even see opportunities to help random people on the street. For instance, we were walking around town on our day off when we saw a woman lying on the snow. It was a very strange sight actually, since obviously this weather is not meant for taking naps on planter boxes on the sidewalk. We quickly ran to this woman (who had probably had a few drinks and was unable to move off of the ice and snow). She didn’t really respond, and still didn’t move a muscle. Long story short, with some help from some nearby women, we were able to convince the ambulance to pick up the woman and take her home. In all of this, one man was kind enough to stop to pick her up to carry her to the truck. It was a great shock to us that people didn’t really want to help. It’s people like these that need to hear the message that we have come to say. People are meant to be valued, not ignored.

Please keep us in your prayers as we build relationships in this city. Next week we are putting together a VBS for kids in a nearby village. All of us are also VERY excited to be having our remaining team members come to us from Kyiv this week. Blessings to you all, and Merry Christmas from Moldova! :)

Victoria

New Home, New Places, New Faces

3:28 PM

After a fairly long bus rides and tricky border crossings we finally made it to Cahul on Tuesday afternoon! We were greeted by one of our contacts and were taken to the places that we are going to be staying for the next 2 months. Overall Cahul gives a very friendly and inviting small-town feeling. 

Thursday was our first day of ministry. Here in the Cahul they have a few churches that we will be working with. On this particular day we went to Salvation Army Church to help decorate for Christmas and work with the kids there. Salvation Army works with kids who are a part of difficult family situations; some are orphans or are having a tough relationship with their family. Most likely we will continue to prepare lunch, play with the kids, or help them with their homework. Those of us that speak English have a great opportunity to help some of these kids with their English homework!

Later on Thursday the team walked over to Emmanuel church for the youth meeting. Our first night of youth was pretty different from what we will normally be doing. It was a discussion about family dynamics and why there is often conflict between generations. This church speaks Moldovan, so for our team we need everything translated from Moldovan to English, then English to Russian! Sometimes it can be pretty funny when I sit there and realize how many times the same statement is said, but it different languages. With all of these languages also comes many cultural differences. Being in Moldova I have been learning much more about the cultural dynamics even in our own team.

Friday was more of a practical day, since we needed to get a few things done about housing and other things. One thing we did do was walk around and observe the people here in Cahul. What we have been told (and noticed) is that much of the youth here have left, looking for better opportunities. This means that youth ministry is very important and helpful work to build up future generations that will benefit and spiritually nourish this community. 

Saturday the team split; one half went to an English Club in a nearby village and the other to a different village where a church is building a kids camp. My group went to the camp. The four of us came expecting to plant trees, but we hadn't thought about the frozen ground! I think we all learned about how to work hard and get covered in ice and mud. It was a pretty fun and tiring day!

Sunday the team split again. Each half went to different churches, some to preach and some to say their testimony. It was a fun Sunday and good start to the weekend (we have Mondays off from ministry, this will be our weekends :] ). 

I'm looking forward to continuing ministry with the churches and contacts that we have met so far. Some things to look forward to are English Clubs and VBS and lots of other things. Please be praying for our team in ministry. Relationships here are really important, so some of us need to learn how to be open and outwardly friendly to just anyone here. It even means a lot to these people to have someone say hello or give them a gift (Moldovans LOVE gifts!). Hopefully I will be able to update you all soon, luckily there is internet to update my blog here in the local cafes! The girls on my team are very blessed to get a permanent apartment to live in for the remainder of our time here. So thankful for the people who made it possible for us to rent this apartment. Keep us in your prayers,

Victoria

The End and the Beginning

12:33 PM

The last couple weeks have been pretty crazy. With Thanksgiving, English Club and Outreach preparation I've had my hands full with a lot of stuff! Thanksgiving was an exciting event, mostly run by the Americans on the base. We had all of the essentials: turkey, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, casserole, and even homemade pies. Everyone pitched in with what they could to get the meal cooked for almost 60 people! Despite a few complications with cooking the turkey in the ovens we have here, the meal turned out to be a success. And yes, most of the decorations still haven't  been taken down. :) We started out the night with, of course, the dinner. Later on we wrote on pieces of paper what we were  thankful for. These pieces of paper were hung on our "tree" which was really some branches put in a vase. It was actually a very pretty decoration to add to the room. The Titus team (another ministry in YWAM) had any Americans or Canadians tell those who didn't know what Thanksgiving was about the meaning of the holiday. I think that everyone had a great time learning about the importance of remembering what we are thankful for! 

English Club-teaching words

 We had our last night of ministry at the English Club on Wednesday. The club asked us to teach a song to the members as kind of a going away gift. The team decided that "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" was an appropriate song for this occasion. So we mustered up the courage and sang this song for the club, including the hand motions. It was pretty comical, I wish you all were there to see it. Thankfully some of the members joined in with us to learn the words and hand motions. The church blessed us afterwards with Dominos pizza (it's in Ukraine too!) and gave us lots of Ukrainian candy to enjoy (for those in the states, they sell this brand in stores, you just have to look for it-Roshen candy made in Kyiv). I was so thankful for this opportunity to help the Ukrainians learn my language. I am looking forward to doing something similar to this in Cahul, Moldova!

Here's that video I promised you guys. It is the video of the original drama that we made to teach others about the dangers of human trafficking. Hope you enjoy watching this. We take the audience through one of the ways that people are deceived into forced labor, specifically sex trafficking. A girl has a normal life, normal relationships with friends, family and her boss. One day a man comes and convinces her of a better life, but it is not what she thought it would be. We will be doing this drama sometime when we are in Moldova, and I will be taking more videos of ministry soon!

I have been attempting to learn more about photography for the project we will be doing in Cahul. This picture above was an accident, it proves that I have a lot to learn yet I may have the potential to make a good photo! 

I should be able to post more updates while we are on outreach. I'm almost packed and ready to go to Moldova tomorrow night. Please keep us in prayer for the border crossings and traveling time. We make a stop in Chisinau, Moldova before we head over to Cahul. Looking forward to a great trip and wonderful outreach! 

Victoria

Baked Goods, Tears and Cahul

9:15 PM

If any of you have lived in a different country or known someone that has been through border problems, etc. (the list goes on), you might understand what happened to our team this past week. In order for the Ukrainians on our team to go to Romania, they need a International Passport to get in. Unfortunately at this point they will not be able to get these Visas in time. This means that we will only be going to Moldova for outreach! We do not see this as a horrible thing; it's really a blessing. There will be more time to build relationships in Moldova as we do ministry. 

In Moldova we will be going to the city of Cahul, a smaller sized city on the west side of the country. This area has a lot of youth that desperately needs to hear the message that we will be bringing in just a few weeks! I am really excited for the ministry time that we will be having there in Cahul. As the time gets closer and closer to our arrival I am growing more impatient to get out there at go!

The team is faithfully working hard to get things ready for outreach. Among the things that we are doing is photography practice, drama practice, and putting together presentations for schools. Yesterday, we went to a church outside the city to fundraise for the remaining money that we need for outreach. We made lots (and I mean lots) of cookies and cards for the church members to buy and performed our drama for the first time in public. This drama is featured on the subject of human trafficking, and features a girl who is tricked into slavery and cut off from all of the relationships in her life. I was surprised to hear that the sniffles from the audience weren't due to colds but actually because of the impact of our drama on the congregation! I am impressed at the creative minds of my fellow team members who worked so hard to coordinate this skit.(I will be sure to post the video on this blog once we are able to get a good recording.) 

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this blog. I really appreciate all of your prayers! 

Victoria

Back from Vinnitsa!

4:07 PM

Hey all! The team and I just came back from an awesome week of evangelism in Vinnitsa, a city that is a few hours from Kyiv. I will tell you more about that as soon as I catch you guys up on the last 4 weeks!

Week 4: 

This week we are lecture topics were Crossing Cultures and Creating Culture with God. This was a really practical week. We learned a lot about not judging another culture when first introduced and learning how to analyze our own culture. One main topic about this section was culture shock and the effects it can have on your behavior, and even your health! I was so blown away at some of the effects that I had seen in the last few weeks before this lecture! The last two days were spent on exercising the creativity that God has placed in us to help shape our society. We did some cool craft projects to get our creative juices flowing! :)

Week 5: 

Worldviews...what an extensive topic! This week in particular was very challenging, but very thought provoking! We talked a lot about how different cultures and people view the idea of an absolute, including their own life and their purpose (or lack thereof). The team really had to work to understand some of the things we were learning. I think we can all say it was still well work it!

Week 6:

Relationships. One thing that came out of this lecture week was, "Stop being so complicated!", which of course was mainly directed at the girls. ;) This week we not only learned about romantic relationships, but also relationships with each other. In all relationships we should always be motivated to please God in it! With that we learned how a humble person and a prideful person goes about life, and how it effects others. 

Week 7:

And now for this past week! (I hope you have not grown too tired of reading. I recommend getting up and doing a few stretches, then sitting back down. Ok now here we go.) The team traveled all the way to Vinnitsa, a small city just a few hours away from Kyiv. We had a hands-on week of ministry and evangelism. We learned about the purpose of evangelism and the motives that Christians should have for evangelizing. The bottom line about this week is that evangelism is communicating in a way to present the gospel so that the Holy Spirit may work through that person so that they put their trust in Him. We took these practical points and went to the streets of Vinnitsa throughout the whole week. At the end the whole team went out to the center of town and preached the gospel or our testimonies to the passing crowd. I am so proud of our team for doing this and am very thankful for YWAM Vinnitsa and the staff that did ministry with us. 

Well I will wrap up this update with one funny story from this week. While on a prayer walk in Vinnitsa with one of my team members, we decided to go through an abandoned side yard to go back to the street our house was on. What we did not know was that there were too territorial dogs hiding in bushes ahead of us. We turned the corner and the two dogs lunged at us. Forgetting everything I've learned, I turned and ran. Like a mad woman. Of course my friend followed me, running her fastest also. She yelled, "In the name of Jesus go away!" The crazy dog stopped dead in its tracks. We turned around and caught our breath. The both of us made it back to the house a few minutes late but we learned our lesson: don't go into abandoned yards where there could be mad dogs. 

I hope you guys enjoyed reading my update, please continue to pray for me and my team! 

Victoria

A Home in Kyiv

2:33 PM

Hey everybody! I'm deeply sorry for not blogging for a while! It's been very busy and crazy around here. Today we started our fourth week of lectures. Yesterday it rained just long enough to get us all drenched while walking around the city after church. I was sure when I left for church that it was going to clear up and not rain...I guess it's just starting to be that time of year where it gets gradually colder! 

The base is making progress on the kitchen addition here. I think everyone is getting very anxious! We are all incredibly thankful for the few that have been hard at work helping to get it done. After a while of working on it, we will most likely celebrate when it is complete. :)

I'm so glad that there are lots of welcoming churches here in Ukraine. The church I've been attending has been great and I have heard tons of awesome stories from my fellow students when they go to another church. It's so exciting to see all of us grow together in both character and with the Lord. I have been encouraged and prayed for by a lot of people around here. It has been such a blessing for me to be here! (To give you an example for what it's like being here during lecture phase, on Friday we had a "Holy Ghost Party" to pray for each other and experience the Holy Spirit. How's that for fun?! :) )

We are already practicing outreach here in Ukraine. My half of the group is going to attend an English Club run by a church that helps Ukrainians learn English. We will have the opportunity to incorporate our faith into the lessons and discussions that we have with the people taking part of this class. The other half of the group works with Key of Hope ministering to a trade school (which is mostly orphan kids). Together the whole team takes one night out of the week for human trafficking ministry. So far we have divided the group to go to different parts of the city to pray for these girls and women that are out on the streets (we haven't actually talked TO them yet). Please pray for the team as we continue ministering to the people here in Ukraine, and for preparing to go to Moldova and Romania. Also, pray that I will continue to have vision for the things that God wants me to do and how to minister to others! 

I love being here in Kyiv. With lots to do, many places to see, and people to minister and to interact with, it is a great place to be!

In Christ,

Victoria

City, Classes, and Sunrise

September 15-19th Pictures :)

Lecture Phase Week 1! :)

6:31 PM

On Sunday, September 9th, I arrived in Kyiv at 1 in the morning! YWAM Kyiv welcomed me with open arms...and McDonalds. (Quite delicious at such an early hour I must admit.) Monday was our first day of class. We found out that we will be doing LOTS of ministry even in the lecture phase. I am very excited about this. 

Early EARLY..really early on Tuesday morning, I got sick. I was in bed all day. Luckily the Lord healed me (thank you for all of your prayers!) and I was able to see some people Tuesday night. Unfortunately the "American plague" got all of the other Americans on the base. Literally every single American fell ill to a similar sickness! Very strange. But we are all mostly better now which is great. 

This week our lectures were all about the character of God. We all had a great time learning this week. My favorite day was Thursday's teaching which was all about the names of God. The class went through 16 different names of God and what they mean. It was great to see just some of the ways that we can describe God! Our teacher, Pastor Paul, gave us an assignment to make a clay cup. As we made  our cup we had to add things to the cup that mean something to us with what God has done in our lives or things that we want God to heal in our life. The whole class loved the assignment and enjoyed making the cups!

I am very blessed so have such an awesome team. We all have bonded and are having a fantastic time. I am looking forward to more bonding time in the future! :) The team as a whole is a little competitive when playing various card games like Nertz and Uno. I'm sure there will be stories to come about this. I love that everyone likes these games here!

Today we went on a tour of the city. We saw lots of beautiful buildings and Independence Square. It was great being in the city on such a beautiful day. 

If you all can pray for a few things that would be great:

One of my teammates who has a cold that has gone to her chest. Please pray that she is healed quickly and doesn't get Pneumonia. 

Pray for the whole team's health too!

Thank you guys for reading, I am having a great time so far! :)

Victoria

Leaving for Kyiv TOMORROW!

8:03 PM

Many things have happened since I last wrote! Tomorrow is the big day, and all of my things are packed! Also, big issue...Lufthansa, the airline that I am flying with, is on strike. Their employees decided to strike because of working conditions and also demand higher pay. Unfortunately for me this meant that I had to change my flight. Luckily, I still have a flight tomorrow but because of this I will be getting to Kyiv around 1:30 AM. At least I will still get there soon after my original flight! PLEASE be praying that the strike will end so that there are no more changes to my flight schedule. 

My room is looking much cleaner now that everything is packed. Too bad it can't always be this clean! (Those of you who know me will probably laugh when you read this considering I am very "O.C.D.") Next time I update this blog, I will be in Kyiv! Feel free to contact me via Facebook or email if you want to say hi. :)

Keep me in your prayers, Victoria

One More Week!

1:58 PM

It's just about a week until I leave for Kyiv! I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you who have supported me for my DTS. Whether you have supported me financially, prayerfully, or even decided to read my blog, I really appreciate it! I am getting closer to raising all of my funds for the trip but ask that you please consider supporting me to give that final push to raising it all. 

I found out this little bit of info: at the time that my team and I will be leaving Kyiv to go to Moldova and Romania, we will not be taking an airplane. Instead, we will be traveling by train! This would be a first experience for me (to travel by train for an actual purpose...not just leisure) :). 

Please pray for me and my team! 

Victoria

Donate Before September 7th! :)

Two More Weeks...

9:48 AM

In exactly two weeks I will be on my way to Kyiv, Ukraine! I am very excited to meet everyone and to see what God is going to do on this trip! As it gets closer I keep finding out new tidbits of information about the trip, so I would like to share a few more things about the outreach phase that I discovered. 

First off, Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. Almost 2/3 of its population is below the poverty line! Romania's economy is in a similar ditch because it is also struggling economically. Romania is also a main transit country for the human trafficking industry. Many children are forced into this industry and are taken to many places in Europe and especially Thailand. Because this is also an issue in Moldova, this is going to be a main focus in our ministry! I will keep you all updated on what type of things we could be doing as it gets closer. 

With two more weeks to go, many things are happening at once! With "Christmas and Thanksgiving" on Sunday, my last week at work, and a few appointments I have a good amount to get done before I leave. I certainly can say that I will miss my church and my youth group. On top of that many of my school friends are going off to college...it's all so surreal! 

I still have $1500 to raise mainly for the outreach portion of my trip. Please consider supporting me before I leave on September 7th! You can follow this link to my GoFundMe page. It's a safe way to support me and keep track of how much I still need to raise.

Donate Before September 7th! :)

Please be praying for me! 

Victoria

Sale and Outreach Updates

9:17 AM 

Well to give you guys and update on the Garage Sale, we raised just about $350! This amount certainly helps me in getting closer to enough money for the lecture phase. After the sale yesterday I can come to the conclusion that garage sales are a lot harder then they seem to be. I'm SO thankful that I had friends to help sell and set up all the goods! (Not to mention that my wonderful mother and father helped a lot too. ;) ) 

The second matter that I must tell my readers about is our official outreach locations for the DTS. I have previously mentioned going to Moldova, and now I know that I will be going to both Moldova AND Romania! This is very exciting now that I know what places I can learn more about and of course pray for. Here's a map of the area that I will be in so you can picture where in the world I will be these next 6 months. 

Those of you who can recall, my family and the leaders at church tried to plan a youth trip to Bulgaria. Planning this trip kind of fell through, which made me pretty sad that we weren't able to make it out there. Hearing that we are going to Romania especially makes me excited because Romania's conditions as a country are remarkably similar in that of Bulgaria and partly like Moldova. The ways that I wanted to minister to those in Bulgaria will certainly be used in places like Romania and Moldova. It's an answer to prayer and a privilege that I have the opportunity to travel to these places! 

There is only a short amount of time until I leave to Ukraine! :) 

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Victoria

Donate Towards My Trip! :)

Garage Sale on 8/18

9:00 AM

Tomorrow I am having a garage sale to raise more support for my trip! For those of you that are reading  this and are in the area, you can send me a message on where it's at. Lord willing this sale will bring in enough support for the rest of the lecture phase! :) 

I'm getting closer and closer in getting all my things ready for Ukraine. As of today there are 21 days until I'm off to Kyiv! In preparation of this I've been packing and repacking. And packing again. Just to be sure that everything fits. This is most likely a result of the fact that I live in a house of perfectionists. It helps to have them around at times like this. ;) 

My parents thought it would be fun to have "Thanksgiving" dinner at our house before I leave. So in two weeks I will be eating turkey and pumpkin pie a little bit earlier than all of my American friends! 

I can't wait to see Kyiv again!

Pray for me for favor at the sale! 

Victoria

PS. Click on this link below to donate towards my trip to Ukraine!

Donate Towards My Trip!

Party Time!

9:14 AM

Today my family is throwing a going away party for me. At first I didn't even know it was happening! I just came home one day to find out that my parents decided to host a party. I realize that I'm not used to planning parties when my only response was a drawn out "Ok...." I've warmed up to the idea really, which is a good thing considering its in less an 8 hours! :) 

Mom decided that it would be a cool idea to set out a notebook for everyone to write notes in so I can take it with me to Ukraine. If any of you can't make it tonight feel free to write a comment or just message me or something if you would like to say something nice... *hint hint.* ;) On that note, I'm sorry to any of you who may be sad yet (excited for me I hope!) about me leaving. It might seem like I don't care about leaving California, but in reality, I do! I'm just really excited. Just felt like I should put that out there. Thanks for being supportive friends and family!

Well got to go get ready for S'mores, fun, and friends! 

Wish me luck, 

Victoria :]

P.S. For those who live in my area and are reading this: Don't forget the garage sale is in two weeks.:)

Ukraine Preparations

4:12 PM

Independence Statue in Kyiv

As of today there is just about one month until I leave for Ukraine. I'm getting too excited to go back to Ukraine! My poor parents must be going crazy. I keep randomly thinking of what clothes I should bring and what I'd hate to leave behind, and packing it in my suitcase. Yes, I've been packing a month in advance. You may say I'm crazy, but I'd just like to say that I'm just planning ahead. :) 

For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, I'll tell you! On September 7th, I will be flying all the way to Kyiv, Ukraine, to attend a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) Discipleship Training School (DTS for short). I will be there for roughly 2 1/2 months for training in the mission field. After that I will be spending the rest of the time in Moldova doing ministry until I come home in mid February. 

In preparing for the trip, I've been up to a few things; these things especially need prayer for! 

1) Praying for Ukraine and Moldova. For the people and government of both places, and especially for Moldova's ailing economy. 

2) PACKING! I have a lot of these to get for the trip, so prayer that I have everything I need is definitely in order to calm my nerves! (Preparedness for cold weather is a big one, since I'm a California girl. I'm not super worried since there will be places to get more clothes just  in case!)

3) Last thing: On August 18th I'm having a garage sale to raise funds for my trip! To all who read this, feel free to tell your friends to come by on that day. If you want to know more details I will update you on where and when (we haven't figured everything out yet). 

Well that's about it for now, more updates will be coming soon! 

Thanks for reading, 

Victoria :)