Camp photos, Day 4

 I hope you're enjoying these. We certainly had a wonderful time making these memories.

Have I said that the theme of the camp was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? The big activity on Day 4 was "catching Oompa-Loompas."

Playing with the slime they made

Camp photos, Day 3

Again, I didn't take these photos.

Camp photos, Day 2

 More from the talented camp photographer.

Morning exercises

Activities

Bible story time

Crafts

Games during club

Camp photos, Day 1

I'm sorting through the pictures from the photographer at Capernaum camp. They're so good! I'm choosing some to share, mostly where you can see our family and the specific kids we work with. Remember, Capernaum is YoungLife's club for kids with special needs. We help with this club throughout the year, and camp is the highlight of it all.

Bogdan's buddy checks in

And Will's buddy

The twins are my buddies

Sunday school graduation

The first camp of the summer was amazing. While I'm waiting for photos to come from the photographer, I'll just back up and share the first Sunday school graduation that this little church in Ivano-Frankivsk has had, the first one that I've organized, too.

Just before we left for camp, we had our last Sunday school classes of the school year. Three of the teens are at a point where they're moving on into other ministries, and I wanted to officially recognize them. Actually, one of them pretty much graduated herself last year and has been helping with the little ones all year already. I read a little to them, gave certificates, and the pastor prayed over them. They played games together afterwards, which is something they often enjoy.

The very next day all three of these teens headed out to work hard all week, serving at camp.

(And for a glimpse of camp, do check out Capernaum's Instagram page. Also, this mother posted a lot.)

Kherson non-taxi story

Here's a publicly shareable Kherson story. After we picked up our residency cards and turned in Jaan's new application at one Migration office, I wanted to go to another to talk to an expert there. He wasn't answering his phone, so we went into a coffee shop to have a place to sit while we waited for him to call back. I heard someone speaking American English in that tiny coffee shop, so I did something very out-of-character for me: I asked who he was and what he was doing in Kherson. He answered that he is an American blogger, and he had just arrived that day, because he wanted to tell the world the truth about what's going on in Ukraine. Then he asked who I am. I said that I live in Ukraine, and I'm American, too. And then the Ukrainian man sitting with him looked up and said our last name. What?!?! I had never seen him before. He said that he knows people at Migration and had heard of us. A few minutes later I clarified: does he work for Migration? He said that he works with them. Hmm. The blogger said that he hadn't been able to get into the city, but that this nice man was helping him. Okay. We drew our own conclusions. It was a rather bizarre interaction, but a good one. I'm glad to see anyone curious about Ukraine coming to see for himself.

And that's it for now. We're off to camp in the mountains. 

Taxi story #2

This one isn't even my story, but I just love it. Zarina Zabrisky, who is a journalist well worth following everywhere you can find her, posted this great video clip of a singing taxi driver: