Current Location: Kolentsi, Ukriane
Here’s a map, my face is where we are located!!
Andrew & Jenny Kelly, as well as their three kids, are our hosts this month in Ukraine. Andrew Kelly is the man behind Jeremiah’s Hope which is the organization our team has been paired with! We are living about an hour out from Kiev. The Kelly children, Abbie (4th grade), Sophie (2nd grade) and Noah (1st grade) go to school at an international school in Kiev; we will be working with the school this month as well as working with Jeremiah’s Hope.
To give you an idea of what Jeremiah’s Hope is, Andrew and Jenny started this organization about 15 years ago with plans of taking in orphan children and giving them shelter, food, care, life skills, and the love of Christ. Andrew also reaches out to surrounding villages to see how his organization can help out. Jeremiah’s Hope is based in a retreat ground which also gives the Kelly Family the opportunity to host retreats and minister to people in the process. For the orphan ministry aspect, there are a total of 3 orphan houses here on campus housing 17 children aging from 3 to 10. Each house has a set of house parents that take care of children as if they were their own. For the retreat center aspect, there are 8 cabins around the campus as well as one main hall for eating and gathering. The retreat grounds can house up to 85 people.
So far in our time here we have been able to assist in hosting a retreat group, visit the orphan houses to help the house parents with daily life, go to the international school in Kiev to be reading buddies with 1st-4th graders, and visited surrounding villages to give food and love to the elderly who live there. This will all continue as the month does, and I am loving every moment of it.
Going into Ukriane, my team and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. We were told we would be living on a campground, which at first, we all just about cried. Tent camping… in Ukraine… in OCTOBER?? We had all the equipment needed for this, but none of us had the desire, or the guts. When we heard back from Andrew that we would actually be living indoors, in the beds in the main hall of the camp in fact, our spirits were instantly lifted. We still had no idea what this would look like, but hey we wouldn’t be tenting in winter weather so we were happy! We are living very happily together as a team and are very excited to continue to learn and grow as individuals and as a team.
My absolute favorite part of where we are living this month is the fact that we’re in the middle of nowhere. No cities near us, which means no city lights. All of that to say, the night sky brings me to tears almost every night. The sky is one of the clearest ones I’ve seen, and I am so thankful the Lord loves me so sweetly with the stars.
I’m living life with some of my favorite ladies and having a blast while doing it, thank you all for supporting me and loving me so well. Here’s a photo of all of us on our recent off day… we decided to attend the opera. ($13 for a European Opera…? Heck stinkin yeah.)
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Here are some songs I’ve been jammin to lately!
“Not in a Hurry” by Will Reagan and United Pursuit
“Pennies from Heaven” by Louis Prima
“Take it all Back 2.0” by Judah & the Lion
