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! :)