John Loo

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Well, it is hard to believe that a whole week has already passed since we made it to Gvozdov, Ukraine. This was most definitely one of our busiest and challenging week. The main factor that attributed to this was my sickness for the first half of the week. As I mentioned before, I became ill with Bronchitis on Sunday night and was on bed rest till Wednesday. To the glory of God, the medicines and rest worked well and I was back to health by Thursday to work in the camp the last two days. It was such a blessing to see how much the people here cared for me and they were so happy to finally see me out of bed! Ilya too was ill for a day so pretty much for the rest of the week, we keep on hearing how glad people in Gvozdov are to hear that the "two Americans" are not sick anymore! :)

The camp itself was a great success. It was very well planned and thought through by the local Ukrainian camp leaders. I was very impressed to see how detailed the plans for the camp were. The mornings began with Morning Assembly/Devotions for all the camp leaders at 9am. This meeting included singing, testimonies, preaching, praying, and preparation for the day of camp. After this, we made our way to the local Gvozdov school were the camp was hosted. Once the children arrived, music time lasted about 20 to 30 minutes. This was followed by Bible time which included two different activities. First, the children would go from Bible station to Bible station where they heard a Bible story from various Bible characters each somehow relating to Jesus Christ. I got to participate with this on Thursday telling the children about Jesus coming before Pilate. Secondly, Bible time included a whole 45 to 1 hour time of individual Bible teaching for each age group. There were three different age groups and each group had two leaders assigned to work with this children during this time of Bible. After Bible time, it was Game Time! :) Ilya and Ina (one of the local girls) were incharge of this time. We played a variety of sports and relay games including dodgeball, volleyball, soccer, watergames, shoe relays, etc. The kids absolutely loved this time of fun which lasted about an hour and a half. After another large group assembly, we dismissed the kids for lunch. After lunch, starting around 3pm was Craft time. This was followed by some free time outside or inside. Finally, each day ended with an hour and a half long Church service. The service included singing, specials, skits, group presentations, preaching/teaching, and prayer time. I had the opportunity to preach/teach the last lesson of the week which was about the Resurrection and presenting the Gospel. Olenka did an awesome job translating and the children were very attentive. We had 53 children total attend camp this week! It was truly a blessing and lots of seeds were planted.

Each evening this week was spent in youth evangelism. We played volleyball and soccer with lots of youth of the village as a way to get them to come fellowship with us. After playing for several hours, we would make a campfire and sit around to sing and share testimonies. Each night, we also played a different game that got everyone involved and having a good time. There was also a special devotional/preaching time each evening were the youth were challenged to come to God and follow His ways. I had the opportunity to share my testimony on Thursday and share a Gospel illustration. It was a blessing to see how our ministry impacted several of the youth who came each night.

The week was also spent in visiting homes and touring the village of Gvozdov. This was the home village of the Dolzhanskiy family back when they were in Ukraine. Thus, after 10 years of being in the USA, it was special for them to be back in the village where they grew up as kids. I enjoyed hearing all their interesting and funny stories about their childhood in this village. One of the highlights of the week, actually happened today. I went swimming at one of the local lakes here in Gvozdov. It felt so good to get in the nice cold water during such a hot day!

Well, this gives you all a short update about our week here in Gvozdov. Tomorrow, we will be ministering in the local church doing our usual specials, singing, playing, and preaching. Please pray for us and for all the people who will be there just to hear the "Americans" who came to the village (who are not saved). We greatly appreciate your prayers and support! God bless.

One short prayer request.....next week we are planning to begin our ministry with the various orphanages we will be working with in Ukraine. However, at this point, not all the details have been finalize, so please pray that we are able to finalize our plans and housing for the upcoming week, beginning Monday! :)

Pictures from Gvozdov!!!

The house we are staying in Gvozdov.

Planning out the Children's Camp

The church in Gvozdov

Ivan leading the kids in singing

Yuriy played the guitar for all the songs

I taught the kids "Jesus Loves Me"

Konstantin teaching the kids about Adam and Eve

Olenka teaching the children about prayer as 'Hannah'

Ivan teaching the kids about the Crucifixtion as 'Simon'

Konstantin teaching his group of children ages 8-10

Yuriy taught the oldest group of kids ages 11-14

Playing a game called "Do This Do That"

Water game...

Playing dodge-ball...

The kids loved it!

It was a fun game!

Ilya explaining the rules of the games

With three of my little friends

Beautiful village view...

With one of the groups of children!

Olenka teaching her group of kids ages 4-7

Once again, the Big Ball was a favorite!!

The kids had a blast playing volleyball with the Big Ball!

Craft time...

The kids made some awesome crafts this week!

We had a church service at the end of every day!

Ivan teaching about Jesus

In the afternoons, we played soccer...Ilya was very good!

Every evening, we had a campfire for youth as evangelism outreach

I shared my testimony on Thursday night

Painting the kids faces on Friday...

Painting a lion...

It turned out pretty good!!!

I had fun painting...it was a good experience!

Playing on the waterslide....

Ilya playing with the kids....

A water relay race....

The kids loved sliding down!

They had a blast!

Playing a game before the last church service!

I taught the last Bible lesson of camp and presented the Gospel!

Praying before dismissing the children for the last time!

It was an amazing week of camp! Praise and glory to God!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Recovering....Praise God!!!

Well, I wanted to let you all know that the medicines and rest is working! I already feel so much better than yesterday and I am very positive that I will make a full recovery shortly. It has been very hard to lay in bed all day, but it sure has paid off. I can breathe normally know and my air-way passage is alot cleaner. The inflimation has also gone down. Thank you so much for all the prayers!

It was not in my plan to get ill here in Ukraine, but through it God has taught me several lessons. One of the most important of these is how blessed we are to be able to breathe everyday!!! I have taken this natural part of life for granted, and yesterday, when I could hardly breathe due to the Bronchitis, it gave me a whole new perspective! Also, it has been such a blessing to see my fellow team members step up to the plate and both take my part in the Children's Camp and take care of me during this sickness. By the way, the Children's Camp is going great! We have had about 45 children attending and it is a whole day Bible camp from 9am to 5:30pm. In the evenings, we have had evangelism with the teens and young adults of the village. (I say "we", but I obviously have not been part of this due to my sickness!)

Thank you again for your prayers and please keep them up! Pray for my full recovery and that it will happen as soon as possible. Also, please keep the other team members in your prayers, especially for their health. Ilya had to take the day off as well, because he was having some of the same symptoms that I had. We put him on bed rest and on medications to prevent him from getting worse. He is doing much better this evening. So please pray! And continue to pray for the Children's Camp....my desire is to help out later during the week, but only if I get back to full health! I will post up pictures and information about the camp soon in a later post. God bless!

Monday, July 2, 2012

In Gvozdov...Need Prayer!!!

Well, we made it to Gvozdov safely with all our luggage! Yesterday was a long day of church and planning/preparing for the Children's Camp this week. Today was the first day of camp and we had about 40 children come! It is a wonderful start to a new week.

However, I NEED PRAYER!!! For the last couple of days, I have had a bad cough that would not go away. Today, I had to go to a local clinic to check to see what it is. The Ukrainian doctor believes that I have Bronchitis. They wanted to hospitalize me right away, but after prayer and counsel from several sources, it was decided that it is better for me to just rest at the home we are staying in Gvozdov. I have several medications that I am taking, so please pray that they work and that I get back in full health!

Also, pray for the rest of the team to stay healthy. They also need prayer for the camp to go well this week and especially since I am not able to help out for a few days. Thank you for the prayers and I will keep you all posted regularly. God bless!