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.