Youth Camp 2013 "Fighting for the Faith"

Here is the first message I received from hubby after the Monday night that teen camp started:

Great start to the conf. 2 young men saved, praise The Lord.  Thanks for praying. Will talk with you later. Nate's asleep and I should be too...but I'm doing laundry. Love ya!  G-nite. 

What a tremendous report!   Going two weeks as a single mama are worth it when I receive a message in my inbox like that.  Poor guy, though... I wish I could help him with his laundry so he can rest.

And here is a message I received this evening:

Thanks for praying. We've come to our last day...It's been a great week, praise the Lord!  Love y'all.

We haven't communicated as much as we normally do since camp started.  With a 10-hour time difference between us right now, we who are here on the West Coast are just going to bed when he is waking up, and he is starting evening services when our day begins.  I look forward to hearing his stories once everyone returns home and he gets a chance to rest a little.  

Hubby is not the photographer in the family, so I was very pleased to receive this many pictures from him. Glad he remembered to get some shots for me.  He deserves a big hug when he gets home!

{Below}: We have groups come from all over Ukraine (about the size of Texas) to camp each year.  The distance from the city of Odessa to our city of Simferopol is a 12-hour trip by train (and, of course, train is the way to travel in Ukraine).  You can see in the map below where Odessa is highlighted with the smaller red circle. Our city of Simferopol is marked with a red star.  

{Below}: Group from Odessa, Ukraine

{Below} Group from Lemanskoye, Ukraine (city in the Odessa region)

{Below}: And then, each year we have a faithful group come all of the way from... not just another city, but another country... the country of Belarus!  In the map above, Belarus was highlighted with the larger red circle.  Talk about commitment to the cause!  We are honored that they choose to come year after year, traveling for days to be a part of our Teen Camp.  Camp just wouldn't be the same without them.

{Below}: And now some shots of my little guy, Nate.  Here he is once again enjoying a meal with buckwheat.  That kid is Ukrainian through and through!

{Below}  We chose our theme "Fighting for the Faith" this year based on the theme of our home church's Youth Conference this summer.  Some of you readers may have already recognized the logo, and for those of you who didn't you can see the original ideas at North Valley Baptist Church's website.  Since a western theme is a much more familiar idea for those who really do live in the wild, wild west, it was challenging to translate the team names.  Words like wranglers, sheriffs, deputies, rangers, etc... just don't carry the same significance in the Russian language as they do to those of us who grew up in the good 'ole South of the USA.  And words like howdy y'all, yeehaw, and giddy'up probably weren't heard much this week at Teen Camp, though I'm sure they had their own version of their ideas of what is western (and how I would have loved to hear them!)

{Above and below}: Nate, a true Texas-born boy, probably enjoyed "showing the ropes" to whichever teen would pay attention!

{Below} And to leave you with a smile, I thought you would enjoy seeing this t-shirt that one of the guys came to camp wearing.  What would the world do without products "Made in China"?  (Of course, he probably never would have known there was a spelling error if hubby hadn't asked to take his picture and explained why he wanted his picture - LOL!)

Keep smiling for Jesus.... and Fighting for the Faith!

Hubby and Nate in Ukraine

So, do I win the award for taking the longest absence of any other blogger from posting?!  Surely there is some sort of medal available... or at least a gold star.  All kidding aside, I DO hope to continue blogging, just maybe a little less often than before.  After all, this blog is a virtual scrapbook for my children as well as a connection to countless friends that I love all over the globe.  So, here we go... let's dig back into this blogging hobby...  

Hubby and our 9-year old son Nate are in Ukraine on a 15-day trip right now to run our annual Teen Camp. The rest of us stayed behind in California, mostly because I am now 23 weeks pregnant {but more about this pregnancy in another post}.

We have all been missing Ukraine, but Nate has expressed his feelings about it the most.  We thought the best medicine for him would be to make this trip with his Daddy.  Since hubby is the one behind the camera, most of who you will see in these pictures of their first few days of the trip will be Nate, Nate, and more Nate.  I'm his Mama and I'm missing him, so I don't mind his cute smile plastering this post.

{Below}: Here they are during a layover, in a hotel in the capital city of Kiev, enjoying breakfast.  Nate's meal consisted of a crêpe, (brown) boiled egg, slice of cheese, buckwheat, and a glass of milk.  You can't get any more Ukrainian than that!

{Below}:  This is a picture of the menu, from which Nate made his breakfast selection.  If you take the time to read it, it really is quite entertaining.  The "pancakes with sour cream" on the Ukrainian portion is really referring to crêpes (like you see on Nate's plate), and, yes, they do typically eat them with sour cream!  {I'm wondering how many Americans have visited Ukraine and ordered pancakes, expecting our thick pancakes with sweet maple syrup, only to receive crêpes with sour cream and wonder what went wrong?!} 

I am assuming the "scrambled kranch with vegetables and bacon" on the American portion is referring to scrambled eggs.  I speak Russian, but I have never heard eggs called kranch.  The price (which is typed in the lower right hand portion) is nearly $10 a plate.  Good thing hubby is not a fan of breakfast!

{Below} Hubby kept Nate entertained with his i-phone on the long trip over, and part of Nate's amusement was using the camera app to take random pictures.  This is one of Nate's shots... a photo of the hotel bathroom in Kiev.  (Yes, it is common in hotels to have to hold the shower head yourself while you are showering.)

{Below} What?!  A Domino's Pizza in Kiev?!  I am impressed to see the line-up of delivery motorcycles out front too.  Why, oh why, was there no Domino's when we lived in Kiev?  Of course, if we were still living in Ukraine, this Domino's would still do us no good since we lived hours away from the capital city, but just the thought of having it "so close" (14-15 hours away by train) would have been a treat....

{Below} Nate reading his Bible in our home, sweet, home.

{Below} Hubby celebrated his 35th birthday in Ukraine.  The kids and I here at home were sad to miss spending this special day with him, but some of our precious Ukrainian friends threw an evening party for him. Unfortunately for me, he managed to keep himself out of the pictures...

{Below} Nate is never bored.  His creativity keeps him entertained all hours of the day...

{Below}:  David's favorite drink in Ukraine - Schweppes Indian Tonic water.  I guess he liked this drink the most because I would never, ever steal a sip from him, and he would get the whole thing to himself.  Ha! And, yes, sandwiches are always served open-faced in Ukraine.

{Below}: Nate asked his Daddy if they could please follow tradition and eat at our favorite Ukrainian pizzeria for his Sunday afternoon lunch.  Looks like he got his wish... and his own personal-sized pizza! Yummy!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures and this small glimpse into their trip so far.  Teen Camp starts today, and we covet your prayers.  From the reports I am hearing, it looks like it will be well-attended and sounds like it is going to be a fantastic week!  I will update and post more pictures when I receive them...

Listen to Mom Speak

I know I have mentioned my amazing mother-in-law on my blog before, but I mention her again because now you get the opportunity to listen to her speak from her heart... totally a treat!

In the following audio clip you will hear Mrs. Billie Sloan speak candidly about going with her parents to the mission field of Mexico as a teenager and mistakes she and her husband made in their early ministry.  This is your opportunity to hear valuable advice from a godly lady who has served on the mission field more than 50 years, a lady whom I admire more than you will ever know.

What I love about mom is that she is so real.  She speaks from her heart, and you will feel her warm friendship embrace you through her kind words. 

As a side note, I especially enjoyed this audio clip since I personally know all of the speakers.  The couple who put the audio clip together are Joe and Laura Consford, missionaries to Africa.  Joe attended college with hubby and I, and Laura and I grew up in the same church.  Her father was {and still is!} the music director/song leader at our church and her mother taught me English in high school.  In fact, Laura and I were part of a small group that went to Ukraine together when I was 16 years old.  Fun memories!  Jeff Wesson, the man who introduces the "Missionary on Fire" series was my high school senior class sponsor and teacher.

So, without further ado, go grab yourself a glass of iced-tea {Yes, I'm a southern gal!} and some cookies {I won't tell...}, and enjoy this audio clip of one of my heroes...

Mom blogs over at From the Heart of Mexico, found here.
The Missionary On Fire series can be found by clicking here.