A whole Lot!

It has been a couple of weeks since my last blog entry, and a lot has taken place:

First of all I came to Krivoy Rog for a week near the end of May to help with a team. We had a group come to work on a documentary on the work that Ed Dickson does in Ukraine. It was four people, a couple from Sweden and two people from Halifax (my good friend Amanda and her co-worker Dale). It was a really fun time helping take this group around to see the different things that Ed and his team has done here in Ukraine over the last 15 years. Some of the stories and projects that we saw were amazing. I really enjoyed my time with this group.

Then I had to head back to Kiev to spend some time in preparation for my exams. I had 4 exams in Grammar, Literature, History and Geography – all in Russian. For my phonetics class we had a oral test to see whether or not we knew the work. The way the exams worked was we had a long list of things to know, and to prepare for, and then we picked out a ticket at random with a couple of questions on it, they gave us time to prepare an answer and then we had to talk about it orally (with the exception of grammar where there was both an oral and written section. So for example, in History we had 40 different questions to prepare for, and I would pick out a ticket and have 2 questions on my ticket to talk about. It took a lot of preparation but after all 4 exams I got terrific marks! All exams are marked out of 5, and I got 5 on ever single exam! It was only with God’s help, because there were questions that I didn’t know very well, but every time I picked out a ticket I got questions that I knew very well! So I am officially done the Preparatory Faculty in Russian Language studies of the Kiev National Linguistic University.

Then right after my exams I came back down to the city of Krivoy Rog, with a team who had come to do ministry with orphans and a renovation for the entrance of the Children’s Hospital. So I have been down here helping take them around, and visiting kids that I have gotten to know. The weather has been excellent ranging from low to high 20’s every day, very sunny weather. (Sadly I still don’t have much of a tan, but it will come). It is so much fun to spend time playing with the kids, playing soccer, eating ice-cream, watching performances, etc.

I am here in Krivoy Rog right now and will be for most of this week, as it is my last time here. Now that I am finished my Russian Language program I wanted to spend the week here, and then return to Kiev to pack up and say some good-bye’s before heading across the pond next week. There is one place in particular I really enjoy going to, The Boys Rehab center, there is a great group of boys there, and my Halagonian friend Ashley and I are going to make strawberry short cake for them. We bought over 20 lbs of strawberries and are making pound cake and have whip cream, its going to be a lot of fun!

It is crazy how time flies, to think how, in just over a week I will already be heading home!

Keep in touch , God bless

End of break/school/friends

Me and my good friends Johnny and Ira Semenuik.

The end of my break at school was a good one, I of course would have liked it to go on and on, but we can't live in a dream world, now can we?

I had arrived back from Krivoy Rog early last thursday morning and spent a good part of my day with my good friend Emily Marie. It was her last day in Ukraine before heading back to the states for a couple of months. We had a fun day, eating food, playing games and just hanging out. She has been a good friend while I have been here, supporting me, praying for me, and feeding me! I am glad I had the chance to get to know her.

Then friday evening of the break was The City, our international youth group. It was a lot of fun, and I had the chance to speak to the youth about living a life of purpose, and following God's plan for their lives. It was a good time, I always have fun with the youth. I spent my saturday pretty much just relaxing, taking a day of my break to actually stop and slow down. It was nice. Sunday of course was church and Mothers day... now lets just take a minute to talk about my mother:

I have the best mother in the whole world. She gives so much of herself for me. I always know that I can depend on her and that she will support me in whatever I choose to do. She has been such a support during this whole time in Ukraine, sending me things, emailing me on a regular basis, doing stuff in Canada for me since I couldn't do it from over here. She gives of her time and energy for me. She even went to all the trouble of coming to Ukraine to suprise me for my 20th Birthday, not many mothers would fly to the other side of the world to spend time with their son. It was great. I love my mom and am so thankful for her.

The monday was Passion Kiev 2010. Passion is a group of Christian music artists who have gotten together, and they kicked off their world tour here in Kiev! (Artists included: Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Louie Giglio, Chrisie Nockels, Kristian Stanfill) It was a ton of fun, monday was the last day of the break, and it was a great way to end off the break. There were over 6500 people who came out for the concert and it was great, they sang in both russian and english and the spirit was just electifying in the stadium! It was so much fun, and I was able to be at the very front of the crowd standing in front of the stage. I loved every minute of it!

Me standing in front of Chris Tomlin & Christie Nockets at Passion Kiev 2010

Then this week we were back at school. I was so glad it was a four day weak, going back to school after a break is mentally tiring. We had a lot of quizzes and tests this week , as they want to give us the mid-term marks for this semester before exams in a few weeks. So I was busy studying and trying to get all of my work done. One night though I forgot my key and my room mate was out for the night. The lady at the dorm with the master key was gone for the night too, so I wasn't able to study and had to spend the night in a friends room, thank God for good friends. I was able to get into my room the following morning before school.

Then friday night (yesterday) The City all went to Kiev Christian Academy's play. They did a performance called "The Last night of Ballyhoo". It was an excellent play on living in the Jewish society in America a few decades back. And the promlems and things that people faced, the kids did a great job on it. Several of the youth from The City were performers in it.

Well, I think that is all for now. Less than 5 weeks till I'm home in Halifax.

Keep in touch.

кривой рог/каникулы

Well it has only been half of my break of school, and I have already had a busy time doing lots of fun things.

I Kicked off my break last friday with a great youth group service at The City, Kiev's international english youth group, that I help with a bit. It was a great time! Then had a retreat with the worship team from ICA (the church I attend in Kiev) later friday night into Saturday, it was a good time, spending time with friends and enjoying the beautiful weather. Saturday night we had a games night with the youth from The City, it was a good time, played a game called Mofia... a ton of fun! Sunday was church, which is always great, and making pizza with my friend Ashley from Halifax, and Mary Villa.

Then Sunday night left for Krivoy Rog with Ashley and Vova, friends here in Ukraine. The overnight train is usually not enjoyable for anyone, but I had a great sleep on the train, and enjoyed going down with friends. Monday we were up early and went to visit the boys at the Rehab center, an awesome group of young guys. We spend some time playing soccer with them, it was a lot of fun, especially with all the sunny weather we've been having here in Ukraine, its been mid 20's since last friday, the last day of April.

Then after the Boy's Rehab center we went out to a 3D movie with a group from Sunshine orphanage. It was a movie about turtles, kind of like a documentary, and it was in Russian, I was proud of myself for understanding a lot of it, I actually learned some things about turtles, such as : Turtles don't tell direction with an internatl guide (like birds going south) but they look at the stars to tell direction, isn't that interesting? This was a special treat for this group, to be able to go to a movie at the theater, and then we went to McDonalds after for icecream, it was fun!

Tuesday we were up early again and headed to Sunshine Orphange, where we spend some time playing with the kids. The little boys wanted me to swing them around by the arms like they were flying, and I was quite impressed by myself, at one point I had one kid in each arm swinging them and they were both off the ground "flying". Later that day we went to the TB Hospital to visit with the kids there. We brought them bananas and apples. New bars of soap for each of them. Also some of them were able to get the new slippers that we had bought for them. They were so happy to have us there with them. We were trying to teach them a lesson on friendship, and I got put on the spot and told to tell a story about friendship that had a lesson to it. And I had to make up this story about the wood's people and valley people who couldn't get along, and fought a lot and in the end they were brought together and learned to become friends, it was probably the lamest story in history but it got the point across.

That night we went and saw Iron Man 2 in theaters, Ashley, Vova, my friend Dima and myself. It was in Ukranian not Russian, so it was harder to follow, had to guess what was going on, but it was still a good movie. The next morning we got up and went to a family dorm, with young couples and single mothers who had small kids (babies and toddlers). We had lunch with them, and spent some time with them. It was a good time, the kids were adorable.

Then we celebrated "Sinco De Mayo", the mexican holiday, with two missionaries down there: Amanda and Leann from America. They made Chicken Taco's and we hung out for a while before Vova and I headed to the train station to come back to Kiev. It was a fun few days there, and it was extra awesome because of the great weather. I am going to make the most of the last half of my break from school, although I will have to do some studying at some point. But at least we've got fantastic weather, in shorts a tshirt and sandals today.

Well keep in touch, God bless.

Double Feature

Hey, so its been just under two weeks since my last Blog entry, so this week's entry is a double feature.

First order of business: Sneakers for Soccer! We had a great time delivering the shoes on April 24th. We went to one orphanage with a great group of boys, Orphanage "Ugok". About 20 young boys got new sandals (which was what they wanted). They were so excited about their new sandals that they were quickly tossing aside their old footwear to put on their new sandals and wear them proudly. The joy and smiles on their faces were wonderful! Then we also delivered 33 pairs of sneakers to Dormitory 86. A great group of kids, these are older orphans who live in a dormitory in absolutely horrible conditions. They survive with very little. We were able to get them all a new pair of sneakers, they were very happy for their new footwear. It was such a joy and honor to bless these kids. Thank you to everyone who supported this project, you helped more than you know. The kids and I appreciate the support.

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

We actually had enough lest over money in the end, that two TB Childrens hospitals will be getting some help. We knew of their need for new slippers for these kids there, and so with the extra money we are getting slippers for over 80 kids! Two different TB Hospitals will all be getting new slippers. We are super excited about that!

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

I've also kept very busy this last week with School, it was the last couple weeks before our 10 day break at the beginning of May. So we had lots of school work and a couple big tests to do before the break. I got 5/5 on my literature test. And 4/5 on my grammer test. It was good to get them finished and access the level that I am at so far. I am pleased with my marks right now, it is a lot of work, but it isn't all that bad.

I also have been in contact with my old job at Second Cup, in Canada. It is looking like I will be going back to work there. Which is a great blessing, to know I have a job when I get home and don't have to worry about it. This will work out good as well, as I am planning to return to Saint Mary's University in the fall, in Halifax.

Today , May 1st, is a beautiful sunny day here in Ukraine. Warm and clear out, mid/high 20's. It is probably the nicest day so far in 2010 over here. I have enjoyed some time out in the sun, biking, playing soccer, spending time with friends.

Well thats about all for now, I know its a double entry, but its not too much longer than usual.

Sneakers/Suprises/С Днем Рождения

So this last couple of weeks have been busy and exciting weeks for sure!

As many of you know we were raising money for "Shoes for Soccer", to buy kids in a couple orphanages new shoes for spring/summer as many of their shoes are very warn. We had over $1150 come in for this project, which means that over 50 kids will be getting new shoes! We are going down this Saturday the 24th to deliver the shoes to the kids. It will be a very exciting time for sure, I am really looking forward to it.

Then a week ago, last wednesday I had a really big suprise. My homegroup from church had been "cancelled", so I had the evening free, and my good friends Christine and Mary invited me to hang out with them. They were going to pick up a friend of Mary's from the airport and then go out to eat after, and suggested I tag along. It didn't take much to convince me to come along with them. We drove out to the airport, and they were all excited, and they picked up flowers and everything, then Mary said she wanted to video tape her friend coming through the arrival doors, and asked if I would give her friend the flowers. So there I was standing there and the arrival doors, and out walks my MOM! It was such a shock... she says "Are those flowers for me?" , "Apparently so", I replied. The three of them had planned this suprise for me, and it was absolutley wonderful. I would have never expected it.

This last week I've had the chance to show my mom my life here in Ukraine. Where I live, where I study, who my friends are. She has seen what life is like living in Kiev. We were able to see some cathedrals, eat at different restauraunts, go mini golfing and of course go shopping a bit. Its been a fun week. Of course she still insisted I went to school, but I didnt go to all of my classes, my teachers thought it was very good for me to spend time with my mom and show her Kiev.

One of the great things is the fact that she was here for my 20th birthday. This past sunday, April 18th, I turned 20 years old. We woke up and made some pancakes and then headed to church together. There was a guest speaker that sunday at church, Sujo Jon who was a survivor of 9/11. He had an incredible story and encouraging message. Then we went to Aroma cafe for lunch, they have amazing sandwiches, some of the best in the whole world, I loved it. Then that evening we went to my birthday party. About 25 people came out to celebrate my birthday with me, it was a lot of fun. We ate food, played cards, hung out, its was fun. I had two cakes for my party! (I actually had 3 in total, as my friend Emily had made one that we had on saturday). It was a blast! I said to someone, that I think I'm taller now that I'm 20.

The volcano in Iceland has complicated flying in a lot of the world, so mom has the pleasure of staying with me a few days longer, its so good to have her here.

Well that is this last week or so, in a nutshell, keep in touch, God bless!

Время от г. Кривой Рог

Dima, Me and Johnny at the quarry.

Just over 9 weeks left here in Ukraine. Its exciting to think about because I will get to see family and friends in Canada, but it will be sad at the same time as I have made new friends here in Ukraine and have developed my routine and social life.

This past week was a busy but very good week. I left last wednesday night with friends Johnny and Ira Semenuik from Kiev to go to Krivoy Rog for a couple of days. The director of my faculty has allowed for me to miss two days of classes, provided that I make sure I get caught up in my work. We arrived in Krivoy Rog early thursday morning we spent the day just hanging out, relaxing a bit. Spending some time with our friend Dima, who was also our translator while there. Then Friday we went to the Baby Hospital and met with the Director to see what they really needed, one of the Kiev Schools had donated some money. So we went and found some medicine that they were in need of. We also met with the Director of a Boys Rehab center friday and discussed a program thats going to go on every saturday there with some time with some of the older boys teaching them the basics about Christianity and then playing sports with them. A lot of these boys come from really rough backgrounds, and have been in horrible situations with alcholic parents, drug abuse, sexual abuse, being homeless, seeing things that kids should never have to see. They are a great group of boys though, and a lot of fun. Friday evening I went to my friend Max's place, where he was hosting a small group of youth for a Bible study every friday. I shared at the group discussing a verse from 1 Timothy chapter 6. Also went on a bit of an Adventure on friday with Dima and Johnny, we went to climb this high hill, which overlooked this deep quarry, and at the bottom was this really big, clear lake, it was really cool. It was like this whole little isolated area in the middle of Krivoy Rog, it was fun trying to find it and seeing the view.

Saturday was a good day. We went to the boys Rehab Center and did a program with 17 of the older boys, talking about the fundementals of christian faith and what the Bible says. It was really good, and then we played Kick-ball with them. Once they caught on it was a lot of fun, although it was a clear reminder of the fact that I'm out of shape. We then met with Ed Dickson, who was also in Krivoy, for lunch, and spent some time talking with him. After being there for 15 years, Ed really had good insight and understanding of Ukraine, and has such a good heart. It is always a blessing just to sit and listen and learn from him. We went with Ed to a place called Bouriygli for the afternoon. It was my first time there, my parents had been there and told me a bit about it, but I had never seen it for myself. Its a center for handicapped (mentally or physically) people. The conditions of the place are very poor, and there is not a lot of hope for them. They are kept on the outskirts of the city, its a clear representation of out of sight, out of mind. But they were a good group of people, and I got to talk with a couple of them while we were there. I enjoyed it, although we didn't get to do a lot there. Then saturday night we headed back on the train.

Ed Dickson and I.

This week was supposed to be the last week that we were collecting donations for Shoes for Soccer, where we would like to buy some new shoes for some great kids in Krivoy Rog who need them. We will find out in the next couple of days just how much we were able to raise, and I will give an update on my next blog. School wasn't too busy this week, as last monday was a holiday from Easter, and then thursday and friday I had gone to Krivoy Rog, but school is moving at a quick pace. As we are getting better and having a better grasp of the language they are going a bit faster when teaching us, but I am enjoying it. Not a whole lot else to say about this past week.

Keep in touch and God bless!

Big Break at Big Ben!

HEy so I left Halifax 31 weeks ago to come to Kiev Ukraine! Thats crazy how time is passing by!

This past weekend I got to take a break from my time in Kiev Ukraine, I took a trip to London England for about 3 days. It was really enjoyable and timely. I had planned the trip back in the fall when there was an incredible ticket sale, it can be really cheap to fly around within (and around) Europe. My friend from Rock Church, back in Canada, Amanda Goodine met me in London and we got to hang out for the weekend.

We got to see some great sights such as Big Ben, London Brindge, Picadelly Circus, Marble Arch, parks and monuments and so much more. We also took an afternoon bus tour out to Stonehenge, which was really interesting to see. Our tour guide was a guy from Scotland and he was pretty funny. When heading back to London from Stonehenge he asked the bus "So how did you like that big pile of rocks you came out here to see?" The only downside, which wansn't even that bad, was that there was a lot of construction being done on the subway, I guess we had chosen to come on the weekend when they were repairing things so many stops were closed. It complicated our transportation but it wasn't that bad, it was neat taking double decker busses everywhere.

A funny thing was, the night that I had got to London, I had forgotten to print out the information about the hotel I was staying at, and so border control had some extra questions for me, to put it mildly. And then on top of that I had got to London a bit late and was supposed to meet Amanda at the Marble Arch because it was a bus stop coming from the airport, but she was back at the hotel waiting for me because she had already waited so long. The problem was I didn't know the name of the hotel or how to get there, so I had to find someone in a cafe to let me use their computer and look up the information I needed and then I took a short Taxi ride... It was funny in the end, but during it at 10ish at night, I was not the happiest.

It was really nice just to take a break from my busy schedule and speak english with everyone. I speak a lot of english with my friends in Kiev, but everything is in Russian there and I do need to speak russian quite a bit, so the english was nice. We went to see an english movie at the theater (if you know me, you know I love movies). Also drank coffee at Starbucks and Costa which are two of my favorite coffee places. Oh, and I got Pizza Hut, one of my other favorites. So it was a blessing to be able to go and see a new country, I had never been to England before.

This past week at school we also got our marks for all of our classes, kind of like mid-term marks. In Grammer, Phenetics and Literature I had 4, and in Geography and History I had 5-. I was pleased with my marks but I know that these last couple months of school will require a lot of work. It has been decent weather here lately, some warm days, a couple rainy ones.

I am also still collecting money for Shoes for Soccer and I will be till mid-april. I plan to go down to Krivoy Rog three or four more times before returning to Canada.

Well thats all for this week, thanks for reading and keep in touch.