Update 4 from Kolentsi

So much has happened this weekend.  Many of you know that the timing of this trip was to coincide with a conference on human trafficking.  This conference was largely put on by Youth With A Mission (YWAM).  This organization has bases all around the world, and people attended this conference who are working in Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Fiknland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US.  I guess I represented Bulgaria.

I knew that human traficking was a problem, but had no idea it is on such an incredible scale. Estimates are that there are between 12 to 27 million people in the world held captive, either in sexual or labor slavery.  In the realm of sex trafficking, Greece is the primary destination country for Europe; as I already suspected, Ukraine and Bulgaria are leading source countries.  Bulgaria is an easy target; a bad economy (particularly in the villages) lead girls to make very poor decisions in their desperation for something better, and it is very easy to slip them across the southern border into Greece.

We heard from an organization called A21 which has already set up an office and a house in Sofia.  I will try to make a connection while I am there with their office to learn more about their work with those freed from sexual slavery.  I will not seek out the house for several reasons, but one of the primary ones is the safety and psychological well-being of these women.  There is a distinct danger to them from their former traffickers.

I have been blessed to hear the stories of Christian men and women who are working in various ways around the world to put an end to trafficking.  I am astounded by the great faith they show, often in the face of real danger; the women who work directly with these trafficking survivors are sometimes in danger of being trafficked themselves.  They greatly need the prayers of all Christians for wisdom, strength, and safety as they minister.

Tomorrow I amgoing into Kiev with Jenny Kelly, with the intent to talk to some missionaries who are doing work in the urban setting.  I will be staying at the transition house I visited last week, and will fly out to Sofia early Tuesday morning.  I will likely not be able to post again until I arrive, so your prayers for safe travel are appreciated!  Blessings and a big thank you to all of you who take the time to read these posts.

Update 3 from Kolentsi

It's 6PM in Kolentsi, and raining to beat the band.  It's been raining off and on since 2 this afternoon, but it's really coming down now.  The good news is, we finished the concrete floor for the new cabin today!  The bad news, we didn't get much done on the sidewalk leading up to it, which is a good 40 yards (I mean meters, of course - this is Europe!).
We had a little excitement during the pouring process.  Kolya motioned for us to come over to
an area he indicated, but to be very quiet, and said one word - "zaetz."  "Zaek" is the Bulgarian word for rabbit, and indeed that's exactly what he had found.  Apparently this species' defense mechanism is to absolutely freeze, because he didn't move a muscle until Sergei actually grabbed him with his bare hands!  I got the whole thing in pictures.  It's funny, but Sergei took the rabbit over to his house, and I haven't seen it since.  I wonder what's for dinner?

I took advantage of what I thought was the passing of the rain (turned out to be just a short lull) to finally walk into the village of Kolentsi.  I got some great pictures of the local houses, which are colorfully decorated.  Several of the villagers greeted me with a "Dobre den" ("Good day") which I happily returned, and even tried to talk with some of them - though one lady corrected my grammar (rather useless, I'm afraid, since I haven't figured out Bulgarian grammar yet).  Eventually, the road led to the village church: an old, weather-beaten white building that is only opened twice a year, on Christmas and Easter.  A villager told me the church was 150 years old, and I believe it!  If the pictures I took turn out even half as good as I think, with a foreboding dark sky behind the steeple and dome, I'll be very happy!

Speaking of pictures, I haven't posted many because my computer is dead.  Lord willing, I'll be able to figure out what's wrong with it once I get to Bulgaria - and out of the Ukrainian sand.  If not, I'll be posting a whole slew of pictures when I return!

Update 2 from Kolentsi

Today entailed another trip to Kiev, this time to pick up an attendee of the upcoming weekend's conference on human trafficking from France named Michelle.  I'm very excited to meet Michelle, because not only is she a French cook, she's actually won a TV cooking competition - and she's volunteered to make dinner tomorrow night!

We left for the airport quite early in order to stop at a house Jenny Kelly founded several years ago.  This house is for young people (17 and up) who have "aged out" of the orphanages.  Most of them have earned enrollment in local universities, but some work in the city.  The orphanages do not do a good job preparing these young people for life; they come out with no idea how to cook for themselves, wash clothes, keep track of finances, and lots of other things we teach our children as a matter of course.  Furthermore, though many of these orphans eventually marry each other, the only idea they have of what marriage or family should be is what they see on TV - a very scary ideal!  I was blessed to be able to meet Bogdan and his wife Anya, who serve as houseparents, and talk with Anya at length.  I gained a great deal of insight today on how a ministry like this might take shape in Sofia - a ministry not only geared to prepare these young people for independent life, but for a life in the Spirit of God and engaged with the church.  There is much to pray about.

Tomorrow, I am told, we will be able to finish pouring cement for the new cabin!  Father, give me strength tomorrow to finish this good work, and bless the children who will hear of You while spending a week here in Kolentsi.

Update 1 from Kolentsi

It's been a very busy weekend here in Kolentsi!  On Friday, I spent seven hours with Kolya, a resident of nearby Ivankiv, mixing and pouring cement for a new cabin.  Kolya is a hoot!  Shortly after meeting him, he told me in English that he has sixteen kids, but my shocked look caused him to reconsider; he meant six.  His oldest son is studying to be a hydrological engineer, but the other five are still at home.  We've talked quite a bit, and surprisingly my Bulgarian skills are quite helpfulhere - it's very similar to Russian which most Ukrainians speak, close enough that we are generally mutually understandable.

The World Race team left on Saturday morning.  I was especially sad to see them go, because late Saturday morning a group of leaders from Youth With A Mission in Kiev came to the camp for a retreat.  Andrew and I cooked lunch, cleaned up after lunch, cooked dinner, and cleaned up dinner.  In all, it took about seven hours.  I am glad this camp is here, so that groups like this can use it, and that I can help Andrew be a blessing for them.

Today we went into Kiev to pick up an intern at the airport (about a two-hour trip each way).  Joy is from Californiq, but she's spent the last three months working in Riga, Latvia with a ministry to prostitutes.  She works for the lady who will be leading the conference on sex trafficking.  She'll be helping prepare the camp along with Andrew and I for the 40+ attendees we're expecting.

Tomorrow, I'll be headed to the airport again, this time with Jenny.  I don't even know who we're picking up, but on the way we'll be stopping by the mission house Jenny set up, which is a post-institutional home for kid who age out of the orphanages.  I am especially interested to see this aspect of missions, as Lisa and I have discussed opening this exact sort of thing.

Looking forward to serving my Lord tomorrow!  

ny set up, which is a post-institutional home for kids who age out of the orphanages.  I am espc

Greetings from Kolentsi, Ukraine!  I'm here at Pine Branch Christian Camp, a ministry of Jeremiah's Hope, run by Andrew and Jenny Kelly.  Kolentsi is a very small village outside of the small town of Ivankiv, a little over an hour northwest of the huge capital of Kiev.  The camp is very nice, with small cabins, a large hall with a kitchen, a soccer field (essential, as it is in much of the world!), and a couple of nice playgrounds.  Oddly, though there's not a body of water nearby, the ground around Kolentsi is almost entirely sand.  This makes it difficult for the villagers to farm; many have  actually trucked in dirt to spread on top of the sand, and they bolster this with manure from their animals.

There is a team here that is part of World Race.  This is a group that goes to 11 countries in 11 months.  This team has already been in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Malaysia, The Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and China.  They'll be moving on Saturday to go to Romania.  They've done a lot of work for the camp, preparing it for the coming summer camp season.

I imagine I'll get to do my share of similar work while I'm here, though Andrew and Jenny are graciously allowing me to ask questions and gather ideas that will help make our mission to Bulgaria effective.

My friend...

Next week I’ll be bringing a visitor with me.  I hope you get a chance to meet him; his name is Muhammad.  Muhammad is from the Gaza Strip, and he’s a terrorist.  He was involved in a couple of bombings of Coptic Orthodox churches in Egypt, has helped fire rockets into Israel, and even shot up a bus full of tourists with an AK-47.  But you see, all that has changed now; Muhammad has come to know Jesus Christ, and he’s a changed man.

Does he make you nervous anyway?  It’s no surprise; I would undoubtedly be nervous too if Muhammad came to church (he’s not, by the way – I don’t know anybody named Muhammad).  After all, people like that never come to church… do they?

When the apostle Paul first came to church, can you imagine the uproar?  The concern?  The outright fear?  This was a man who was zealous in persecuting the church, who had dragged people away to be killed and imprisoned!  Yet there he was, in the church praising Jesus as Lord.

Later he would write to the Corinthians in 1Cor6 an entire list of sinful behaviors, but he would say in v. 10 “that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  He certainly knew what he was talking about!  God can cleanse people of even the most horrific sins, and use them to further His Kingdom – so don’t be surprised when He does.  The question is, would you accept the apostle Paul?  Would you accept Muhammad?