Day 2 of Camp 2

Today was beautiful...hot (but slightly cooler than yesterday so it was wonderful). Today was our first full day. 7:00 Devotions, 7:30 Help do Hair, 7:50 Morning Exercises (Shelby is in charge but she had never seen it before to I had to improvise and show her...I haven't led this in years - so it was a stretch...physically and mentally. A few times I just stood there looking stupid wondering what to do next. And without and interpreter when I was trying to tell them it was done by using Charades, they just continued copying my motions. )

8:15 Breakfast (Second day in a row we had hot dogs (AKA Mystery Meat) Pretty much that is a breakfast food here. 9:00 was the Bible Lesson: Today we started our Bible lessons on the theme of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. We talked about how this is how God loves us and challenged them to also show this kind of love to those around them. 10:00 Sea: We went to the sea and it was a great day for it, although the sand is so hot it burns your feet...So I stayed in the water a luxury the kids don't have, so I'm praying that they have more calluses. 12:30 lunch 1:15 Mtg then "rest" time. (A time in which I rarely have rest, but today I managed to get about a 30 minute "nap" - meaning lay down and try to sleep but be too exhausted to actually sleep (that comes when it is not supposed to - while working) 4:45 In the afternoon the kids got to choose different games to play. The most popular station was making friendship bracelets. Followed by manicures and then Soccer. 6:00 Dinner

7:00 This evening we had the opening ceremony, where each of the wards tell us their name. We have "little Barney's" (but Barney hear is a bear not a purple dinosaur); Tornado's; God's Children; and the last one I can't remember I'll tell you later. Because our theme is Love we where the Love Bugs which if we want to translate into the meaning becomes May Flies in Russian. We did the "Mosquito dance" to "Flight of the Bumble Bee" Which we basically means we just kept acting like we were in the middle of a Mosquito swarm and slapped ourselves. Funny because this year the Mosquito's are horrible here - unheard of in this part of Ukraine and all the kids know it. And they bite all day long, and the bits last days. I saw a kid today with green dots all over his legs, I asked what happened, He said Mosquito's (The green is because what they use to heal stuff looks like green paint on the skin)

8:00 Craft (We made memory verse Popsicle sticks to help them with the theme verses for the weeks.) 9:15/9:45 Bedtime stories.

Today during rest time we celebrated the birthday of one of the workers here at camp. For those of you who know him it was Jenya's Birthday...He invited nearly every adult in the camp (a huge party for Ukraine). He bought Cake, Chocolate, pop and tea for everyone.

The kids are already opening up so quickly...many running up to the team members and giving them big hugs. Last night when we said good night to each of the girls only those who had been there before gave hugs, this night all girls gave hugs. Thank you for your prayers in this area.

Please continue praying for this, as well as praise God for all ready working in this way. Pray that as we challenge kids and adults to show love in specific ways they will be about to follow through. Tomorrow's Topic is Love Rejoices in the Truth and does Not Delight in Evil. We have a few boys who tend to fight easily (in their lives this is normal because it is how they are taught to survive). Please pray that we can help them see that fighting is not the only way. And please pray for energy, for the team. We are very tired and very early in camp. Normally it takes me 4-5 days to get this tired, but not this camp. I think it may be the heat. I fall asleep nearly every time I sit down to get work done. I guess I have to figure a way to work standing up :o) Thank you for your prayers!