Camp Week

This is what this trip is all about!  Bill and Lyuba have been organizing this trip for years.  While on the trip, you are ministering to lots of people - widows, orphans, members of the church there, people of the community, your host family, translators, and of course the kids in the camp (and also their parents and family members).

This is the basic structure of the mission trip:

Week one → get to know the translators!  These translators are Ukrainian university students studying English in school.  This is hands-on experience for them with native English-speaking Americans.  Most are girls, however we did have a great group of guys this year!  Most are studying to be teachers.  They are all college age (18-24ish) and do this on a volunteer basis. 

Our translators (including Misha)

Most of this week is spent hearing presentations, reviewing lesson plans, singing songs, sharing stories, practicing translation, and just getting to know everyone.  Each person was required to share a brief presentation in front of the group.  The presentations were interesting and it was fun to hear about different things from different people.

Rachel Kempf (an American team member) teaching us a song in sign language

My presentation was on

 

but I get so nervous speaking in front of groups of people.  Doing the presentation was hard for me, but the great part was that one of the female translators, Vika, was interested in this.  It turns out that she is a dance teacher so we spent some afternoons dancing and doing Zumba together!  It was so fun! 

Me & Vika (this picture is from the group dance we performed - post to come!)

Week two → camp week!  This is the week that we teach in public school #10.  These kids who attend the camp work hard and are on their best behavior all during the school year in order to attend the camp.  It's basically like a VBS all week from 8:00-2:00 everyday.  We have kids from five years old all the way up through high school.  This year our theme was superheroes and growth.  We are able to use the Bible and stories from the Bible to teach and promote good morals.  The kids are then invited to come back at night with their parents, grandparents, or other adults to attend our night classes and Bible study. 

Monday - the first day of camp - is a crazy day!  Kids are being registered, it's your first time in the classroom, you are trying to establish a schedule, and it takes awhile for the kids (especially the younger ones) to get that you can't understand what they are saying without a translator.

Registration and greetings on the first morning of camp



 

Zen and I were the teachers in the youngest class.  We had (20) five, six, and seven year olds who did not speak English.  Oh what fun!  Thank goodness for our translators - Dasha and Dasha....no...them having the same name wasn't confusing at all!  LOL!  D&D did a fantastic job though!

We also had Lydia in our class!  Lydia is in the Peace Corps and is stationed in Dzerzhinsk.  She teaches English in one of the schools there.  One of her teacher friends brought her to the school we were at during the first week.  All Lydia knew was that there were Americans at this school and she wanted to hang out!  I was the first one that she spotted and started talking to.  Haha - at first she thought I was Ukrainian!  Too funny!  So happy to have her in our class during camp week!

Our class

 with the teachers

The camp is actually really cool.  The kids get to participate in Bible stories

and do cool things like arts & crafts

puppets (they go nuts over this)

health lessons

and PE (AKA run around outside and play soccer)

They also get breakfast and lunch during camp.  We have 30 minutes dedicated for lunch, but the kids inhale their food in five minutes flat.  We timed them.  The teachers and translators had to eat fast!

The kids are also phyched about the end-of-camp performance that we do.  On Friday - the last day of camp - all the classes sing a song, do a skit, etc. showcasing what they learned during the week of camp.  In keeping with our theme this year (superheroes), our class sang "My God is So Big...so Strong...and so Mighty" in English.  Too cute!!!  They also sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" in Russian.  We got to learn that one!  ;-)

On stage performing "My God is So Big"

and the Russian version of "If You're Happy and You Know It"

Every afternoon after camp, we would have dance practice.  This is not just Vika and I doing Zumba, but it was a large group of some Americans and translators who would perform a traditional Russian dance at Friday's celebration.  It was really a lot of fun!  The next post will be our performance.  :-)

Guys practicing their part in the dance

Other afternoon activities included music performances

hanging out at school

hanging out with friends

and evening meals and church services together.

Misha translating for Victor during services

What a great week at camp! 

Here is a picture of our entire team together:

More tomorrow on our special Russian performance!

Making Pelmeni

One day, we came home to find Yuriy and his sister (Olya) making these wonderful things:

PELMENI! 

This is the Russian/Ukrainian version of ravioli.  It is homemade dough stuffed with meat and then boiled to perfection.  You can also stuff it with potatoes/mushrooms/cheese, but that makes it a whole other dish with an entirely different name.  It is usually served with sour cream and dill. 

Hard at work!  :-) 

I was very impressed that Yuriy was helping her cut the dough and stuff the pelmeni!

Of course, I had to get in on the action!  I helped cut, stuff, and press the edges of the rolls. 

I helped eat them too.  This was the only part Misha wanted to help with!  ;-)  Haha! 

Olya was so sweet to give me the "recipe" which was basically "well, a little bit of this and a little of that, etc."

I guess I'm just going to have to try it out on my own!  The pelmeni were delicious so it's worth a try!

I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.  :-)  

My Russian Family

One of the things about this trip that I was looking forward to the most was meeting Misha's dad for the first time.  Misha's dad (Yuriy) moved back to Ukraine one month before Misha and I started dating.  We just missed each other!  Yuriy was also not present with us (physically anyway) when Misha and I got married due to several reasons - the main one being we couldn't get travel documents for him in time for the wedding.  It would have been so wonderful if that could have been possible, but the important thing is that we are a family that loves each other.

Yuriy has written letters to me (in Russian) and Misha translates them for me and vice versa.  Misha and his dad are so close (and similar in many ways).  I can't imagine being so far away from your family although Misha talks with Yuriy on Skype at least once every week or so. 

Can you believe that Misha hasn't seen his dad in three years?  Can I just tell you that we were both so excited about getting to spend time with Yuriy?

Misha and Yuriy!

Yuriy's sister (Olya) was also there to greet us when we arrived at the house Misha grew up in.  They were so sweet to give flowers to me!



We stayed with Yuriy at the house Misha grew up in.  I actually stayed at the same place last time I was in Ukraine, but it was being used as the church building then.  Yuriy has moved back in and really done a lot with the place.  He has a large garden, animals, and even cherry, apple, and walnut trees! 

We were able to spend some quality time with Yuriy and also with his side of the family.  His sister, Olya, and her family live in a nearby town and had us over for dinner one night.  It was GREAT! 

Yuriy, me, and Yulia (Misha's cousin)



They have these delicious strawberries that they grow in their garden.  They told me to put a little bit of sour cream and sugar on them.  I was hesitant at first, but tried it and fell in love! 

They also had homemade pelmeni (the Russian/Ukrainian version of ravioli) and salad with vegetables from their garden.  We even brought a treat that we received from a friend of Yuriy's. 

Freshly-made sunflower oil! 

The weather was so nice that we ate dinner outside in their garden.  They built this eating area that was pretty much like a covered patio.  We had good food, fresh night air, music, and family!

Olya and her husband have four daughters - Nadia, Yulia, Sasha, and Katya. It was so nice meeting and getting to spend time with all of them! 

We had dinner, talked, told stories, laughed, and looked at each others photo albums.  It was a great night!

I think we got home at like 2:00 in the morning!  The sun comes up around 4:00 in the morning and it gets dark there around 11:00 at night so it's very easy to loose track of time.  Russians stay up late anyway.  ;-)

We also got to spend some time with Misha's grandmother. 

Babushka Tonya.  She is such a sweet lady. 

She has had such an interesting life.  A hard life, but an interesting one.  She showed us many pictures and

I loved listening to her stories! Well, I enjoyed listening to her tell stories and having Misha interpret them for me. :-)

Look at this sweet picture that she had!

Babushka Tonya is 80 years old and lives on her own.  She has a new apartment and loves having people come visit.  We were so fortunate to have the opportunity to spend time with this woman.  She is such a sweet, strong, generous, wise, and loving lady.

Babushka Tonya has three daughters - Nadia, Lyuba (Misha's mom), and Galina.  This is a picture of me with Lyuba, Gala, and Nadia's two granddaughters Sveta & Anya.

Me & Mama Lyuba (who lives in Florida by the way)

Me with Nadia's two granddaughters

Sveta is the older sister and Anya is the little one.  I think that I held little Anya during church services the first time I was in Ukraine.  Anya sat in my lap and Sveta was right beside me.  Misha and I were not dating at the time - we didn't even know each other.  Well, the girls have grown so much since then that I hardly even recognized them, but they knew exactly who I was!  Sveta is almost as tall as I am.  She is also speaking English too!

Little Anya was also in my class this year!

Me, Anya, Sveta, Misha, and Sergey (the girls' dad - Nadia's son)

Lyuba, Anya, me, Sveta, Sergey, and Misha

There are also some close friends who are basically like family anyway!  This is Larissa (Lyuba's friend) with me and Gala. 

Larissa has a son (Dima) who is our age.  He and Misha are good friends.  Dima's wife is Rita and we instantly bonded.  I feel very close to their family.

Also, here is Nickolai and his grandson Vitya.  Nickolai and his wife Vera - who usually helps with camp, but wasn't able to be there this year - live in Sochi, Russia. Vera and Lyuba have been friends for a long time. I think they were actually roommates in college. They are so awesome! They actually came to Florida for a visit back in 2010 after Misha and I were first married and right before we moved to Birmingham.

Me and Vitya making a house of cards.  Isn't he so cute?!  I also taught him how to shuffle a deck of cards.  He was pretty popular after that and I had kids coming up to me handing me cards and speaking veryquickly in Russian.  I understood what they wanted though.  :-)

We also got to spend some good time with these fine people

Victor & Gala! 

They are on my "most awesome people" list.  :-)  You know those all-around good, down-to-earth people who are so talented and that you just really look up to and admire?  Victor and Gala are definitely some of those people for me.

Gala prepared a wonderful meal

and we ate, drank, and enjoyed each other's company all day one Saturday.  It was so refreshing.

Family is the most important thing in the world - no matter where in this world they are.