Karolino Bugaz 4-2

Today the team visited the children in the Karolina Bugaz orphanage. First each mentor had a personal time with their child. We are excited about this program and that the team invests time in the children individually. Then they played fun games with all children. It was a great time and no one wanted to party ways. The team wanted to stay and it wasn't easy when the children don’t want to let go and are teary as the team drives away. It’s so hard to say goodbye! We are glad that this team takes care of these children and we praise God for the open door in this orphanage.

Karolina Bugaz 2-21

Our team visited orphanage in Karalina Bugaz on the 21st of February. The weather was great and we got a chance to walk outside and our mentors had one on one time with their mentees. After this, we played games together in one group.

Winter Camp in Karolina Bugaz

We had a great time in the winter camp in the Karolina Bugaz orphanage.  We divided children in a few groups by age and were teaching them about sin and it's consequences, about Christ's birth, and how we can accept him as our personal Saviour.  We made beautiful crafts and sang songs. At the end, we gathered all of the children and showed them a skit, had a few competitions, performed some magic tricks, and summarized everything we learned during the several days we spent together. Children enjoyed our time together and wrote us letters asking us to return to them soon. We hope this holiday celebration is one they won't soon forget.  

Karalina Bugaz 12-12

Today we visited the children in the Karolina Bugaz orphanage. It was a great time for everyone. At first we played charades, sang songs, and ate treats. After the group time, each mentor spent time with their children. Everyone enjoyed this time. We really are seeing the value of these mentor relationships. This is a new approach and we are praying that relationships are built and that children really begin to trust their mentors. Please pray for these relationships that are being built.

Karalina Bugaz 11-28

This last weekend on Saturday we visited the children in the Karolina Bugaz orphanage. At first we played few fun games with the kids and then each mentor had a meeting with the children they are responsible for. Please pray for this new mentorship program. Pray that God would help the mentors build positive and lasting relationships with the children in order to care for them and help them with their struggles.

Karalina Bugaz 11-14

Today we visited Karalino Bugaz orphange. Children could not wait for us to come and didn't want to let us go. We played games with them and celebrated the Birthday of one girl, who turned 8 years old. We have started a big brother/big sister type mentor program. Each child spend time with their big sister or brother. It was a great day and we are thankful to be able to impact the life of each orphan individually.

Karolina Bugaz 11-8

A new team has formed and is continuing the work in the Karolina Bugaz orphanage! Praise God for this. We have worked in this orphanage for many years, but recently we were in need of a new team. They visited this past Saturday and began the tough work of building relationships with the children. Please pray for them in this.

Karalino Bugaz children go hiking

We are thankful to God for this hiking trip with ten teens and their caregiver from the Karolina Bugaz orphanage.

It was an amazing time spent living in the forest, playing lots of games, and building personal relationships. Even the caregiver, who was not very excited about the hiking when it started, was fully engaged in the time and we got a chance to share our testimony with him.

For all kids it was their first hiking trip. They were really enthusiastic about it and loved every bit of it.

Also, they had a chance to learn more about responsibility. We had two groups, one was responsible for bringing drinking water and the other one for the firewood.

At the end we had to come back home and it was very sad as we really became close over these few days.

We are grateful for how God moved in their hearts and for many opportunities we had just to spend personal time with kids. Please pray for them.

Karolina Bugaz Haircuts 10-12

Everyone gets a haircut in Karolina Bugaz! Many of our volunteers love to cut hair, so we load them up in the van and head out to the orphanages.

 

Lugansk region 4-25 (Karolina Bugaz)

We had another opportunity to visit children at an orphanage in the Lughansk region where there is continued fighting. These children were living in the Karolina Bugaz orphanage and we met them there. In January, they returned to their orphanage. We wanted to visit them and let them know that we had not forgotten them.

It was a long journey for our team as this was on the other side of the country and the roads are very poor. We were able to play with the kids, share with them the Easter story, and show them Christ's love.

Thank you for your prayers for safety in travel and safety in traveling close to the war zone.

Hiking trip

Every spring we try to take some kids hiking. This year from April 17th to April 19 our team organized a hiking trip to the Aktovsk canyon for the children from Karalino Bugaz and Andreevo Ivanovko.  

At first children were not so excited about hiking, especially after the weather got worse, but when they saw the beauty of God’s creation they changed a lot and the rest of the time they were full of joy.

Besides the beauty that surrounded them they were happy to try food made on a fire and pretended to be pioneers of new territories. The evening time was really special because volunteers could talk to the children,  play games, share about God, sing songs, and share stories from their lives.

The children loved time spent hiking and can’t wait for their next adventure.

New Hair Styles Round 2 Karolina Bugaz

On March 18th, the hairdressers/volunteers from Nasledie gave new hairsyles to the children in the Karolina Bugaz orphanage. Thank you friends for all of your help. Children love their new styles!

Assisting Refugee Orphans

 

As you are aware, our country is in the midst of heavy battles in the east. Thousands of people have left this area to flee for their safety. This summer hundreds of orphans were also taken out of this war zone. The children were placed in a sanatorium along the sea for many months. Many of them remembered the destruction of their cities and wondered what would be next for them. We heard about these children and throughout the summer prayed for them and thought about what would be next for them.

The government decided to disperse them throughout the Odessa region into the orphanages where we are currently working. This puts a large amount of financial pressure onto the orphanages that we work in and many directors began calling us asking for our help. The first and greatest need was to get the children bussed to their orphanages. Praise God that many of you have provided us with the funds that were needed and we are able to help bus the children to their new orphanages. The opportunity to help these orphanages and directors further builds our relationships.

Last Friday, August 29, we drove to the sanatorium to greet the kids and see them load the buses. Several directors greeted us and saying they had no idea how they would have been able to do this without this financial assistance.

We were also able to greet many of the children and encourage them as many were fearful to leave yet another temporary home and move onto the next.

Please pray for these dear children, our ministry to them, and for the orphanages as they reshuffle to accommodate 40 to 70 more children in each orphanage.



Ready to board the bus and head to the Kilia orphanage.

Kids loading the bus to head to the Pishana Orphanage

These kids are seated and ready for their 7 hour ride to Pishanna. 

These kids are loading the bus and heading to the orphanage in Karolina Bugaz.

We also assisted in transferring 31 children from one orphanage where we work to another orphanage,
so the empty orphanage could be filled with refugee orphans. Pray as they transition to their new home.







Shoe Adventure

We were blessed with hundreds of pairs of shoes to distribute to the children in the orphanages in Balta 1 and 2, Borshi, Karolina Bugaz, Troitskaya, Pishana, Andreevo - Ivanovko, Nikolaevka, Mikolaevka, Limanskaya, Ananiev, and Zhovten.

Slavik and Vova took a trip to Kiev in the van (praise God for this great blessing) to pick up the shoes. It was a whole day adventure leaving at 3 am and returning at 10 pm.

We will be distributing the shoes to the orphanages over the next several weeks.