Some of my favorite December trip photos from

Linda and Vika

Me and Yana

Arthur and Sasha in Saul's armor

King Arthur

Queen Sveta

Vika 

Akmed

Team Sim 12/2011

With Anya and Vika at the Central Internacht

Three old ladies

Nastya and Nastya

sasha and Kolya

Angelika and Sveta

Linda and I with Aida

My favorite "1"

Aida wanted a message written on her arm. (She's peeking)

Kolya, me, Akmed, and Sasha hangin.

Me and "Azhmed"

Violetta

Linda, Arthur and their group

I laughed so hard. Joseph's brothers roughing him him up.

Linda and her baby

Me and Violetta

Me and some of the group

Linda and Angelika

Nastya and some little ones

Me and Adile

Little ones

Akmed

zhora

Nastya's

Christy and Linda

Sasha and Sasha

Sasha the Boy: A Sad Tale

This came to me from Georges Carillet. Georges is President at Commonwealth International University, a Bible and language college in Simferopol, Crimea (Ukraine). It is being republished with permission.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Sasha Zmeyev

[Date: Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 9:34 PM]
Stephen Crane and Sasha the Boy (Zmeyev) Some people are devotees of Stephen Crane's writings and worldview. I am not. But most of us had to at least skim his Red Badge of Courage. 


From time to time we run across a few of his famous quotes, like I did tonight. This prompted me to google him where I found these sad words: "Plagued by financial difficulties and ill health, Crane died of tuberculosis in a Black Forest sanatorium at the age of 28." 


Sasha was not yet 28 when tuberculosis claimed his life two days ago. 


When my cell phone rang and rang, silently vibrating my left thigh, I was too busy to even look at it. It was the last day for the Southeast Christian Church team to be with us, and they were giving us their morning to paint our office reception room and kitchenette. I was racing about trying to keep eight people occupied with paint, paint brushes, rollers, and damp cloths to clean up dripped latex paint. It was apparent that the paint would not cover what the container said it would, and we would run out. 


The idea of eight people standing around with rollers and brushes and no paint was an assault on my organizational abilities. I should have followed my instincts the day before and bought more paint. I felt embarrassment coming on, but there still was time to
avoid it. 


Speeding to Gala where I knew I could find the same kind of paint, I reached into my pocket to see who had been so insistent on trying to reach me. I really hate to look at my phone when I am driving. All the missed calls were from "Sasha the Boy" -- that is how I named him in my phone. There was even a text message from him that I would read later. I figured the call was pretty serious, but ... well, Sasha and I have a long history, going back to when we lived in the Kuibysheva apartment our first eight years here.
------------------------------------

Georges & "Sasha the boy"

I knew Sasha when he was maybe in the 9th or 10th grade. I taught him how to wash cars, starting with our 1987 Opal Senator. I taught him the basics of driving. He taught me not to trust him with the keys -- he said he needed them so he could vacuum the trunk. But after that he slipped away to show off to some of his buddies, driving around the nearby school sports field. I knew that the pocket change from washing my car was important to him, especially given the low wages his mother earned. I gave him three month's probation - no washing my car, no pay. 


I explained why. I hoped he would learn a lesson about trust, trust violated and trust regained. Sasha never knew his father, though his mother knew who it was. I thought I could be fatherly to him. He dreamed of going to culinary school when he graduated. I thought we could help him afford it. 


It never happened. While still a teenager, things really fell apart when his mother died. His mother's friend took him in and rented out his apartment. It would be his to rent out or live in, when he was old enough to sign contracts. 


Both apartments were in the same building where we lived. Sasha expected to get some percentage of the rent, but his guardian denied it to him. We heard her yell at him one day: "You killed your mother. She is dead because of you." Sasha may not have been a model son and student, and though on the mischievous side, he was not a bad boy. No father, no mother, and an exploiting guardian did not bode well for Sasha. 


He thought he would take justice in his own hands: he stole some of the guardian's jewelry. He was going to sell it. He was going to take control of something in his life. I do not know if you can say that he violated trust again, for his guardian did not trust him with anything. He certainly loss any chance for trust and became branded: thief -- biting the hand that fed him .... albeit fed him with rent money from his own apartment. 


If he trusted anyone, it was me. But it was not enough to change the trajectory of his life. Maybe it was not trust at all. His guardian had what she wanted: his rental income. What did she need him for, but trouble? She called the police. Arrested and tried and sentenced, presumably bound for juvenile prison, a final decision consigned him to adult prison. 


A few years later, we moved to our current flat. Sasha surprised us. Knocking at our door was a ghost from the past, materializing in our doorway, completing it in our foyer. He got out of prison early, on good behavior. Somehow he found us. 


He was smiling his winsome boyish smile. But the tale he told us was not boyish at all. He glorified his prison experience, admiring the brotherhood of those who defied the laws to which others were subservient. 


Not so glorious was the resistant strain of tuberculosis that he caught and is so common in Ukrainian prisons. He had been in a TB sanitarium outside of Simferopol but was sent to Simferopol to get some needed medicines. It was not uncommon not too many years ago for a doctor to tell a patient's family what was needed and they were expected to find it in the pharmacies, markets, or wherever.


According to Sasha, the police stopped him and wanted to know where some former prison mate was now. If he knew, he would not tell. He had a code to live by, such as it was among thieves. No snitching, whatever else you do. They hauled him into the police station that was not a full block from where we - and he - used to live. 


They repeatedly put a plastic bag over his head till he would pass out, then wake him with cold water. They tied him to a stool, then repeatedly knocked the stool off its legs. They beat his back and legs black and blue with a hose. 

Sasha's bruises

He was smiling in the telling as if proud of what he had endured without yielding an address. I asked to see the marks. They were there, in bold but fading ink, mostly black, with some yellowing. He had been held for three days. They let him heal some days before releasing him. 


They threatened to blame him for any one of many unsolved murders, send him to prison for a long time, and take over his apartment. We know someone who lost his apartment to the police. This was no idle threat. He was told that something could happen to him and no one would miss him. 


No one cared. 


They gave him some days to tell them what they wanted to know. The story of police threats continues, with police waiting for him to return to his apartment. We returned him to the TB hospital instead. But before he left, I gave him a photocopy of my ID that said I was a member of the UN Human Rights organization. I told him he could tell the police that someone cares and someone would miss him and that it was me. 


The next time he was taken to the police station, he was told that they already knew about his American friend. (Sergei Korniyenko tried to get legal help for Sasha, but it was too late for a doctor to verify how he got the marks on his body. Authorities came to know, though, that Sasha had friends. That was July 2005.) 

Sasha delivering flowers

After release from the hospital, allegedly cured, he found various kinds of work, mostly labor. Most employers did not legally employ him and some exploited him as an ex-prisoner. Some of my colleagues helped him get the documents that everyone is supposed to have, but which were lost or misplaced by his guardian while he was in prison. 

Sasha and Olya

Andrei Taran and Sergei Korniyenko helped Sasha and me with many a missions of mercy. Sasha's story took various twists and turns over the following years. He had a girlfriend, got her pregnant. Andrei, Sergei and I helped him and his partner so that they could keep the baby. LaVerne and I visited Olya in the hospital. 

Andrei drove them to Olya's mother's cottage where they were living. It did not take long to discover that there was no harmony in that home; Sasha was tolerated as the father of the daughter's daughter. But not for long. The odds were against him on the one hand; on the other hand, Sasha the Boy needed to play the man. 


We helped (thanks to benevolence funds from Southeast Christian Church) with several tons of coal to keep the family warm through the winter, mostly for the sake of the baby which Sergei persuaded them that they should keep rather than abort. We tried to help Sasha take responsibility. Each of the three of us guys talked to him from time to time about his responsibilities as a father and 'husband.' 


In less than 18 months, Sasha deserted his 'wife' and daughter, eventually living with another woman and fathering another child. Sasha paid child support, but did not keep in touch with his ex and first daughter. 


The next time I got a call from Sasha, he wanted to give me a free car wash at a private single-bay car wash that helped him put food on the table. By now he was renting out his mother's apartment, but not nearly for what it was worth. I guess that paid the rent of his one-room apartment near the car wash. He wondered if I would be interested in buying the apartment; with no documents to prove clear ownership, I would not even think about it.


Not long after that meeting he called to ask for some money to chase down his (second) 'wife' -- she had taken the baby and returned to her mother's home some hours north of Simferopol. I refused. I told him that he needed to be responsible for his life -- he would need to find another way to deal with his family issues.
------------------------------
When I saw that the call was from Sasha the Boy, I knew I did not have time and little will to talk to him. I had a team to supply with paint. First things first. Anyway, he would just want me to bail him out of some kind of trouble that he brought on himself. The calls were so persistent, I thought I should at least hear what was up. 


My Russian language skills are such that I usually understand what Sasha is saying but am at a loss of Russian words to clearly respond. Besides, Andrei is a no-nonsense sort of person who will tell him to grow up and take responsibility and leave me alone. So I called Andrei to return the call for me. I was off to the college with another ten liters of white paint. 


Come 12:30, we would have a going away and appreciation party for the Southeast team. I knew that my staff would be celebrating my birthday as well. When Andrei called me back, I learned that the call had been from Natasha, not Sasha the Boy. Turned out that the text message was from her, too, identifying herself and asking me to answer the phone. Natasha used Sasha's cell phone to call me -- my number was in it. 


Sasha was in the hospital, and Natasha did not know what to do. She told Andrei that Sasha always talked about "Georges" and how he helped him out. Not knowing what else to do, she called "Georges." (I used to think that maybe he told his friends that he had an American in his pocket because I had bailed him out several times and helped him with loans and gifts. I wondered if the trust I was trying to build was from his perspective an object of exploitation.) 


Sasha had been sick with TB for two months but would not go see a doctor. He started drinking. A month ago he got worse, but he only drank more. Then he got so bad that his heart was hurting and Natasha called an ambulance. The doctor said that one lung was not working and only 25% of the other lung functioned. 


He was dying. His organs and brain were not getting enough oxygen. The doc told Andrei that Sasha had maybe one month. The next day Andrei called to say Sasha was dead. Sasha the Boy was gone for good. He never grew up.
-----------------------------------
I gave Stephen Crane another look. I thought about some of his famous quotes in light of his death and Sasha's death, both in their 20s, both from TB. 


I understood that the quotes speak for the two of them, but not for me, not for the one who knows in Whom his trust is secure, and has reason to seek to live a trustworthy life, becoming the recipient of trust, even by the desperate. In that there is hope. 

“In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, Who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it. I said: "Is it good, friend?" "It is bitter-bitter," he answered; "But I like it Because it is bitter, And because it is my heart.”

“A man said to the universe: "Sir, I exist!" "However," replied the universe, 

 

“The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation”

 

“He wishes that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.”

 

“He saw that it was an ironical thing for him to be running thus toward that which he had been at such pains to avoid.”

Postscript-
Today, October 4, 2011, Sasha the Boy had his final earthly send off. We were there. Andrei, LaVerne and I. Sasha's two 'wives' were there, too. Natasha's parents and someone from Olya's family were there. And that was it - Sasha's family and friends. We were there at the morgue where the Orthodox priest gave a sermon of hope in the resurrection and eternal life, but I had no reason to believe that Sasha had put his hope in anyone, not even in God. (But only God knows.)


The priest then performed an ancient ritual with scripture, smoke and chants. It was both beautiful and ... well, I wondered if it was a farce, or at best a façade -- a pretense that all was well and would be well. I did not feel well.


We drove through town and out of town, following the rust-colored van that carried Sasha to the cemetery. We drove through the large hillside covered with graves until we reached the edge of a plowed field. There were freshly dug graves waiting for their new residents, bordering hundreds of fresh burials adorned with bright wreaths and flowers. 


There was one for Sasha, too.


The casket was lowered. The bulldozer buried Sasha in two moves. The gravedigger shaped the dirt into what looked like a casket. The cross with Sasha's name and dates was pushed into place. The wreaths and flowers were not enough to cover much of the dirt, but there they were. 


It was done. Sasha was in the ground. 

Sasha's gravesite

The few people who cared at all drifted away toward the vans. I lingered. I too left. Sorry Sasha. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The [above] is from a letter that I wrote Joel and Tiffany. They knew about Sasha, and maybe they had met him during a visit years and years ago. 

The letter got long and took on the character of a story. I realized that this story might be of interest to others. I shared it with a few who work with people, including someone who work with orphans in Ukraine. 

I thought it might be a story to share with other orphans and those who work with orphans, about a series of bad choices and their consequences, and how the story could have been different if the choices made were different. 

I did not write it for that purpose, but looking at what I wrote, I can see different analogies and strands that run through the story. I cannot expect our experience to be your experience. You will not read this in the way that I wrote it, but maybe there is something that will resonate with you. At the least, it is a glimpse into our lives in Simferopol, a glimpse into something that does not make it into our newsletters.

Blessings,

Georges and LaVerne Carillet

Update 9/30/11

Me and my old high school
friends Amy, Bob, and Twila.

September has been sort of milestone month for me. Namely, the 27th marked my 50th birthday. I remember as a kid trying to imagine being 50 and trying to calculate what year it would be when turned fifty. I remember watching the old 1970 Charleton Heston classic movie, “Planet of the Apes.” I wondered about the idea of me turning fifty. It was so far in the future that surely the scenario in the movie would come true before I turned half a century!

Happily the planet was not overrun by apes in the early 21^st century. Instead, Linda conspired with several of my life-long best friends to surprise me for the weekend prior. We showed up at my folk’s house to drop the kids and the dogs. She had me believing we were going to a B&B for a weekend together (she’s so sneaky). Apparently my folks house in Hartsville WAS the B&B. We had a great weekend. She totally had the drop on me.

Viloetta, Arthur, and Masha
at the orphanage

The team continues to prepare for the December mission. We meet every Monday night to discuss plans for lessons, kick around ideas for crafts and gifts and spend some time in prayer over the work to be done. Tom Zvirgzds has been teaching us the Russian language for which we are eternally grateful. Linda and Christy are slowly getting it. I am finally beginning to understand verb forms and personal pronouns. And refresh my memory on vocabulary.

Funding for the December trip is a little slow, but getting there. The team is working diligently to raise awareness of the need for support. Plans for lessons are coming together week by week. Linda nd Christy are coming up with great ideas.

Arthur Kazaryan (YouthReach International) traveled to Simferopol on the 28th. He arrived the next day to provide a September birthday program at the children’s home. Many of our mentors joined him including, Nastya Skovorodnykova, Violetta Alimova, Masha Yermachnkova, Sasha Lifintseva, Anya Goliakova and Vika Vdovichenko. It was great to have nearly all our mentors back in one place. They brought several new friends with them. Arthur took plenty of photos (See photo album SeptemberBirthday Program - 2011).

Anya and Aida

Anya and Vika have returned to Simferopol after a one year internship program at Disney in the U.S. Anya has a new job teaching English at the Central Orphanage in Simferopol. Vika is volunteering with a local Christian student outreach organization and seeking funding. See the link to her blog, “Jesus Inside”, at the right.

Fatyma Ametova was visiting with friends from Kentucky.

One of our mentors, Nastya Dudenichenko, is now in Germany working as an au pair. Please add her to your prayers as she adjusts to life in that country and a new job.

Kids from Feodosia

Masha Yermachenkova sent a photo from the orphanage in Feodosia.

Please continue to pray that our needs are met, that plans will continue to come together, soil will be prepared, and lives will be changed. As always please keep our mentors: Nastya S, Nastya D, Masha, Violetta, Fatyma, Anya, Vika, Sasha in your prayers

To donate to the December mission team, visit our team funding website:

http://www.youthreach.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=993793&lis=1&kntae993793=6A212B4006364A1AA3161C608D14FB62&supId=0&team=4826230&cj=Y

Peace and grace.

Joel

Thoughts on Forgiveness

Originally posted on August 3, 2009 as  "Like a Misty Dawn"

"Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you,..." Colossians 3:13 

So what can be said about forgiveness? It is such a gray subject. It is often difficult to see how some actions can be forgiven. Accidents, mistakes, blunders, and sometimes bad choices, even stupidity is at the top of my list of easy things to forgive. 

Betrayal, cruelty, deception, and coercion (among other things) … Those are the things that are at the top of my other list… the list of things more difficult to forgive.

All in all, I find it pretty easy to forgive. Although, I admit that I have a grudge or two that I continue to work on. Sometimes forgiving is as easy as forgetting…sometimes.

We all have histories that need forgiving; skeletons that need forgetting. We’ve all been blind-sided by events that left us staggering back on our heels nearly tumbling over in disbelief.

On those days, truth comes at us like a misty dawn and reveals what was covered by darkness and grayness of the night before, retreating in the growing light of a new day. It is a painful day; sometimes a cruel day. Hurt like none we can ever imagine. We bleed like we’ve never bled or thought that we ever could. 

With the day comes a "gut-punch" leaving us dizzy and wretching. Sometimes the day brings so much anger we see stars appear and burst like bubbles before our eyes leaving our heads pounding, our stomachs turned upside-down, and our ears deafened by the roaring of our blood boiling.

So what can be said about forgiveness? Is it given flippantly without care or concern? Sometimes it is. Sometimes we hide behind forgiveness because it’s more difficult to confront those who left us burning in a heap after the crash.

Forgiveness, though it can be offered freely, still has a cost. In order to receive it, it requires one thing. It requires that we change.

Forgiveness leads to restoration. But for restoration to complete itself there must be accountability. There is a blessing in the asking... both for those asking and those being asked.

To be truly forgiven and to live in a restored relationship we must ask. It requires us to turnaround. It requires us change the very way we think, see, and treat others.

One more time… It requires changing the very way we think, see, and treat others.

After all, what good is forgiveness if there isn’t change? I can do the same thing over and over again without consequence. And yes, I can forgive the same person again and again, and again. I’ll continue forgiving “Seventy times seven” times. That’s four hundred and ninety times, in fact.

We can forgive. We can be forgiven. That’s easy. What’s hard is paying the price. When we are treated badly by others, we don’t like it. Here’s a newsflash…God doesn’t like it either! But he forgives us anyway. The only thing required of us is change.

Like a day that begins with a misty dawn that changes into a new day, undefined by the grayness of the night before. It can be something new all of its own; separate from it’s relationship to the night...full of light and life.

143 Million orphans worldwide …you can help.

TEAMSIM

Mission to Simferopol, Ukraine

Team update

Dear family & friends,

According to UNICEF, it is estimated that there are over 143 million orphans worldwide. An orphan, by definition, is a child who has lost one or both parents. Add to that number the millions of social orphans and abandoned children.

Seems over-whelming doesn't it? Almost immobilizes you, right? The numbers are too big to imagine. Seems like a problem that's so big it can't be fixed.

You might even ask yourself, "What can I do? How can I make a difference?" Well, just keep reading….

During the last six years I’ve been partnering with YouthReach International and  traveling to Ukraine to minster to orphans and abandoned children. I've witnessed ONE CRITICAL MISSING ELEMENT in their lives — RELATIONSHIP!

For them, relationship means the difference between life and death; between hope and hopelessness.

In Ukraine, at the young age of 16-17, children "age out" of the orphanage system. Every year during the spring following their 16^th or 17^th birthday, teenagers are ceremoniously turned out on the street with “great pomp”.

Some of these kids won't survive to see the next summer because they will choose to end their own lives out of despair. Many will be homeless, jobless, helpless, hopeless, unskilled and unprepared for life with no one to turn to. Most will be addicted, prostituted, turn to crime, go to jail, or become a statistic in the human-trafficking industry. Many will die from exposure, disease, violence, or suicide before age 21.

As you may already know, I'll be leading a mission team this December and we'll be returning to Simferopol, Crimea in Ukraine. My wife Linda and I, along with Christy Blazer, are currently preparing to depart on December 1, 2011.

Imagine a child who has no family with which to celebrate the holidays. Imagine no gifts or Christmas treats. Imagine there is no one to share the story of Christ' miraculous birth on a cold winter's night. Our mission is to teach and provide life-giving relationship to 50 or so children in a day camp setting living in a local children's home.

Our goal is to continue the work we began 4 years ago in developing and maintaining relationships with institutionalized orphaned and abandoned children in Simferopol, Crimea. We will partner with local Ukrainian Christians we call 12-3-1 Mentors. We work together to share the story of our hope in Jesus Christ and connect them with a local young adult mentor who speaks their language. Our team mentors will continue teaching and discipling our kids throughout the year.

Help us share the story of salvation and bring hope to the hopeless. Help us bring relationship into the lives of children who desperately need your help.

We currently have travel costs of $2700 and mentor costs of $900 totaling $3600. We will host a holiday party and provide each child with an age-appropriate Bible of their own and a gift bag (see “Support a Child at camp” below).

Funding Deadlines:

$1800 (50%) due Sept 30

$1800 (100%) due Oct 31

To donate securely on-line: visit our funding website hosted by Blackbaud. Click the link or copy/paste the URL into your browser.

http://www.youthreach.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=993793&lis=0&kntae993793=179E92BE63D54C4EB948E4BB29A09B80&supId=0&team=4826230&cj=Y

Find the list of names on the right and click the name of the team member you wish to support. You may also click “General Team Donation.”

To support a child at camp (Check Only): Make a check payable to Donelson Church of Christ. Attach a note stating Ukraine Winter Camp Child Sponsorship. Individuals, families, classes or study groups can support each of our 50 children at winter camp for just$20/child. Your donation will cover art/craft supplies as well as a Christmas gift bag for each child. Mail checks to: Joel & Linda Butts, 2221 June Drive, Nashville, TN  37214.

Thanks for prayerfully considering supporting our effort.

Peace and Grace,

Joel

A Message from Linda

with YouthReach International

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27

After six years of putting Joel on an airplane and sending him overseas to work with orphans, God put it on my heart to join him this December.

I take this leap of faith because of what I don't have control over.  I don't know where all the funding will come from.  I don't know what kind of reception I will get from the children.  I don't know how I will handle all the traveling. I have to leave what I do in God's hand, and I don't know how God will use me.

What I do know is he "adopted" me as his own which means I was a spiritual orphan.  We've been studying on Sunday mornings to "be the church" which is the Body of Christ, so, I am going as his hands and feet to do
his will.

I'm asking for prayers that all will be done for His glory.

I have travel costs of $2700 and mentor costs of $900 totaling $3600. We will be working and sharing the hope of Christ with 50 or so orphans in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine.  We will host a holiday party and provide them with a gift (see “Support a Child at camp” below). 

Funding Deadlines: $1800 (50%) due Sept 30 / remaining $1800 (100%) due Oct 31.

Donate Online (Secure): TeamSim Funding Website
Click:
- Current Teams (on the left)
- Team Funding Pages
- Sponsor a Team Member
- Enter a team member name in the fields

Support a child at camp: Make this check payable to Donelson Church of Christ. Attach a note stating Ukraine Winter Camp Child Sponsorship. Individuals, families, classes or study groups can support each of our 50 children at winter camp for just$20/child. Your donation will cover art/craft supplies as well as a Christmas gift bag for each child. Mail checks to: Linda Butts, 2221 June Drive, Nashville, TN  37214.

Blessings and many thanks.

Linda

For He chose us . . . he predestined us to be adopted as his sons . . . Ephesians 1:4

Help TeamSim impact the lives of orphans in Ukraine this December.

To donate securely online got to:

http://www.youthreach.org/2011Q4missions/teamsim-dec2011

Dear friends and family,

First, I want to say “THANK YOU!” for supporting me and each member of the team through prayer, physical resources, and gifts of support as we reach out and minister to orphans and at-risk children in Ukraine each year.

The team’s performance this past June was outstanding. All of our spiritual, mental, physical and financial preparation is paying off as children respond positively to the good news of the love of Christ.

I will be leading a team to Simferopol, Ukraine this December, 2011 for a Winter Camp at the same children’s home. Our team will be representing Donelson Church of Christ and YouthReach International to many of the same children we’ve been blessed to know and love. 

I’m overjoyed that my wife, Linda, will be going. This will be her first time to visit Ukraine. She has lots of experience in children’s ministry and education. I can’t wait to see her in action and see how these kids touch her heart. I know she’s going to fall in love with these kids the way I have. 

Your contribution will help us bless these children with an experience that can impact them eternally. Alongside our in-country 12-3-1 Mentors, we will care for these orphans, model the love of Jesus, demonstrate the Kingdom of God, and introduce them to their mentors. With each trip we become stronger as a team and gain more experience in reaching children and others for Christ. 

Many of our kids rarely share their personal stories. But this summer, several of them shared their stories with us. One girl acknowledged God’s provision by saying, “I am glad to be here. I thank God for provided a safe place to live by bringing me here. I have food, clothes, shelter, good teachers, and friends. My parents put me in danger because of the way they lived. Now I am safe.” 

Several children shared with us how their lives were impacted through our Bible and life lessons. One child said she learned she should not compromise her values under peer pressure. She said, “I will put up personal guardrails to prevent bad decisions in my life from now on.”

Your support is critical. By doing so you are helping to prepare the soil of the next generation for kingdom expansion. Thank you for partnering with us! Please continue to help us impact and change lives forever!

Our mission will be to:

- Share the story of Jesus Christ to nearly 50 orphaned children at Christmas time.

- Foster and nurture loving, caring, and mentoring relationships between our 12-3-1 Mentors and the children.

- Transform thinking by teaching kids about the Spirit’s life-changing power in Romans 12:2.

- Provide Christmas gift packages of toys, goodies, and personal items. 

How you can help: 

We are investing $275 (min.) in personal funds toward the cost of our trip. 

Each person must raise $3600. Funds cover travel, room/board, and support our 12-3-1 Mentors.

Funding Deadlines: $1800 (50%) due Sept. 30 / remaining $1800 (100%) due by Oct. 31.

 To support us:

Donate Online (Secure):  http://www.youthreach.org/2011Q4missions/teamsim-dec2011

Click > Current Teams (on the left). 

         > Team Funding Pages

         > Sponsor a Team Member

         > Enter a team member name in the fileds

Donate By Check:

> Support a team member - Make a check payable to YouthReach International. Attach a note with the name of the person you wish to support to the check.

>  Support a child at camp: Make this check payable to Donelson Church of Christ. Attach a note stating Ukraine Winter Camp Child Sponsorship. Individuals, families, classes or study groups can support each of our 50 children at winter camp for just $20/child. Your donation will cover art/craft supplies as well as a Christmas gift bag for each child.

Mail it to: 2221 June Drive, Nashville TN, 37214.

Peace and grace.  ~Joel