Just a Glimpse

Sometimes you get a glimpse of where you're going - where God is leading. He gave me such a glimpse.

I’ve been returning each year since 2008 to Simferopol to serve the orphans there but more importantly our 12-3-1 Mentors and YRI partners in Simferopol. It’s these dedicated people who serve orphans year-round. I’ve seen that orphan ministry is NOT about Americans going overseas to minister to orphans.

Rather it is about provisioning, equipping, preparing and spiritually maturing local Ukrainian Christians to serve orphans in their own language, in their own country, in the context of their own culture.

In 2008, I met three wonderful young women of God at a summer camp called Setera. It was located on the Black Sea, not far from the historic coastal resort city of Yalta. Since that time I have been so blessed by the friendships God established between Nastya Skovorodnykova, Anya Goliakova, Vika Vdovichenko and I.

We spent many tear-filled late-night hours talking about the best and worst parts of each day. They shared many of their fears about the kids we were serving and what would happen to them without the broad social network of friends and family to support them.

Since then, these three young women have emerged as community leaders in the orphan outreach ministry in Simferopol, the capital city of the Crimea; the southernmost region in Ukraine.

The December 2012 Mission: I’m actively recruiting a team to return to Simferopol in December, 2012. We’ll be ministering to the children living in two orphan facilities — Detskyi Dom (DD), a 50-bed children’s home and Gagarin School for Girls. We’ve worked in both of these facilities. The Gagarin School serves about 75-90 orphaned girls (ages 5-17) as well as girls from low-income homes. We’ll be focusing more on supporting this facility in the future.

Ourfunding campaign for this trip is, to say the least, aggressive.

Each team member will need to raise $3400 for the trip. We will need to raise 50% by Oct 1 and 100% by Nov 1.

Team Funding Site: Go to
http://youthreach.kintera.org/teamsim2012

In addition we’ll be asking for support for the expenses of one of our team’s Ukrainian 12-3-1 Mentors (more later on this).

I’m praying you will all be considering supporting us as we share Christ with approximately 100-125 at-risk and orphaned children at the start of this year’s holiday season in Simferopol, Ukraine.

Stay logged in! More news coming soon!

Peace and Grace,
Joel