Greetings from Ukraine!

Upon our arrival here we were greeted by the Young Life staff at the airport. They brought our luggage back to Chernivtsi whilе we remained with Aloyna in Kiev for a few days. In Kiev we were able to gain a view of Ukrainian culture through eating at buffets with a spread of many different kinds of Ukrainian food, visiting the church where Russian Orthodoxy began, touring through the Chornobyl musuem, and walking around observing the people and viewing the important sites in Kiev. We were able to stand where the protests of 2004 were and our girls got a taste of covering their heads before going into church. It has been a cultural plunge and we now feel as if we have made major progress in painting a picutre of Ukrainian culture for ourselves. Sidenote- we have never seen so many mullets nor eaten so much dill in our entire lives.

Our times together as a team have been sweet. We have been sharing our stories and praying for each other. It's been fun to cook together and to stay up late into the night just laughing. We are becoming deeper friends.

We arrived this morning in Chernivtsi. We traveled all night on the night train- what a fun adventure!! Cobblestone streets with old, historic buildings and lush green trees make for a beautiful Chernivtsi. The Young Life staff is wonderful and we have instantly become friends. They are able to tease us even with broken English and we have enjoyed the sweetness of Christian friends from another culture. We are eager to learn from them.

Tonight we will stay at the Coop, and then head out about an hour to camp. It turns out we will be ministering to the special needs students who come to camp.

Prayer Requests:

Continued unity as a team.
The students who come to camp would come to know Jesus.
God would show himself in unexplicable ways to our team.
We would be a huge blessing to the Young Life Staff here in Ukraine.

You may not hear from me until after camp (July 31)- but please be faithful in your prayers. The entire team sends their greetings.

Nicole says that she is fat and happy from the Ukrainian food- she wanted you each to know that!

- Risa for the Ukraine 2008 Team