Ukraine Mission Trip

I thought it would be a good idea to let my son share some of what he experienced and learned while he and his dad were in Ukraine.  So, in his family blog debut....Here he is!




I had an AWESOME time in Kiev, Ukraine! Our team of 18 crazy, loud, and obnoxious Americans ;) was broken up into four groups of four to six; each group doing something different. The group I was in was the sports group. We sat in on meetings for a Christian soccer league and played basketball with some of the local kids. We also sometimes helped a church in Kiev during the time we weren't doing anything. I enjoyed experiencing the culture of Ukraine, meeting people, and getting to help the churches and ministries going on in Kiev. I had a great time and hope to go again next year!




OK, so he's not superfluous with his words....but that gives you the general perspective of a 16 year old boy on his first overseas mission trip.  ;)


One of the things my husband said about this trip is that it was life changing....  Actually, his exact, jet-lagged words were "That was the best week of my life!". I later informed him that those are NOT the words I'd like to hear 30 minutes after he has come home from 10 days away from me!  I truly think it was the exhaustion speaking... But I know that he is forever changed from this experience.  He'd love to go back again next year, but he'll have to work some major off duty if we'll be able to afford to send them both back!  And because he is a supervisor, there are so few off duty jobs available to him that it will be amazing if this actually happens for him.  


Back on the home front, my daughter and I did well.  We had something to do each day so we didn't miss the guys too much.  My daughter did make a comment that it seemed like they had been gone for weeks...and it had only been a few days since they had left.  I don't know how military families deal with being apart for months and months at a time.

Ukraine in Pictures

Since it was my husband and son who went to Kiev, Ukraine on the 10 day mission trip, I thought I'd let my son choose what pictures to post as well as make the comments on the pictures.  Maybe I can also convince him to do a guest post with more info about the trip!


Enjoy!

The plane we flew in for the 9-hour flight from Newark, NJ to Frankfurt, Germany

The Kiev Theological Seminary, where our group of 18 stayed during the trip 

There are old apartment buildings everywhere you look in Kiev!

A monument at a park in Kiev. The eyes are looking towards a nearby church and the statue itself is facing Moscow, Russia. On the shield is the symbol of communism.

A Russian Orthodox monastery in Kiev

Some of the people from the church our group (Rich, Evan, Matthew, & Caleb) visited on the Sunday we were in Ukraine
Left to Right- Ruslan, Sveta, Rich, Ruslan, Zhena, Matthew, Caleb, Evan

The five of us were one of four or five groups who did street evangelism for a couple hours in front of some dorms.
Left to Right- Sveta (our translator for the day), Rich, Stefanie, Evan, Matthew

Rich & Sergey (the pastor of an evangelical church in Kiev)

Playing basketball with some of the local kids