The main focus of our time in Ukraine was holding two Bible camps for mostly elementary school aged kids. Our team of twelve split into two teams of six in order to hold camps in two different locations. The camp I was a part of averaged around fifty-five to sixty children a day, so it was fortunate that we had help from several translators and church leaders. After an opening session every day that included a song, a puppet show (The Incredible Adventures of Grandpa and Monkey!), and our Bible verse of the day, the campers enjoyed rotating through Bible story, music, crafts, American culture, and games.
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Since we were in the far western reaches of Ukraine, most of the time there was little indication that we were in a country embroiled in a war for their survival. But there were small reminders here and there that meant that we had to remain careful and alert during our trip. We had been advised to keep our passports on our person at all times, both as a way to prove our identity and national origin as well as being prepared for a sudden evacuation should something happen. Fortunately, our time passed without any significant issues.
I mentioned in my last post that two of our bags had decided to stay in Paris and skip the flight to Budapest. One of those was my guitar. If a bag was going to be lost, this was probably the easiest one to deal with. I would obviously rather go without my guitar then for someone not to have clothes to wear for the week. In fact, I was able to use a guitar that was at the church where my camp was being held, so I didn’t suffer too much.
Mission trips are hard.
There are a lot of positive things that happen on mission trips: visiting other nations, experiencing other cultures, seeing God at work. Most mission trips I’ve been on have featured some really good food as well. You get to meet a lot of great people both on your team and in the place where you are working. There are always great stories to tell.
I’m posting this after crossing the Ukrainian border back into Hungary but I wrote it before leaving on our trip For security reasons (really just so my family wouldn’t worry more) I did not want to let many people know I was going to Ukraine instead of Hungary.