It is Saturday and we only worked until 3. The job is coming along very well and we are making good progress. The tile work in the bathrooms just needs grouting and the stairs are almost constructed. On Monday we will start doing wood work on the walls and building shelves for a donation center that will help the needy. We are about to go for a boat ride on a river that runs through Ukraine. I am so blessed to be working with the team that God has put together; I really enjoy their fellowship. God has given us unity and joy that only He can provide.

We finally have gotten over jet lag. Today we all felt better; you could tell because we worked a long day and are making much progress. Sometimes it takes a couple days on a job to get the rhythm going and that happened today. We are blessed to have Vlad and John V with us because they help us cross the language barrier which in turn makes it smoother to work side by side with our Ukrainian brothers. These men are so kind and fun to be around.  Last night after a long day of work Pastor Neil and Noline had a bunch of us over for dinner. I never knew that Pastor Neil was a grill master, but last night we had chicken and pork cooked to perfection. And as good as that was, the fellowship that followed was even better. That is one thing about being on missions…the time you sit with your brothers and sisters in Christ and just hang out and share and laugh is filled with zero distractions from home. Your mind is clear and free to relax. God has been so faithful to us this trip. He has given us so much to be thankful for: joy, wisdom, safety, unity and most importantly… His presence. Lastly thank you so much for your prayers. I feel them and they are being answered.

Again God has blessed us with getting a lot done. We have a coat of drywall almost on, a section of the stairs built, and we are almost finished tiling the walls in the bathrooms. There are quite a few missionaries in this one area we are in. They have all made us feel welcome. Everyday somebody helps to contribute a meal, today it was an Australian named Shane. He will be the future cook of the center we are working on. The building will be a multi-purpose site where they will have a coffee shop, pizza shop, and cafe. They will do discipleship also. And most importantly they will demonstrate to people the love of God, which is the best outreach any of us can ever do. I must say though, that out of all the countries I visited for Brick Think trips, Ukraine hands down has the most hunger and desire to want to know God.  One of the members of our team let a young man working with us listen to Christian music on his Ipod and the man said he loved it and it gave him peace. I get so excited to be in a place where so many people are extremely open to listen and have a desire to hear the gospel. It makes me appreciate my relationship with God even more.

We started working on tile, stairs, and dry wall at the church. The water is shut off in the town and has been for a while so we went to a river and did a bucket brigade to a small water trailer and brought it to the job site. We met all the Ukrainian workers and they were very friendly. Some are Christians and some are not. The team split into 3 groups to work on stairs, drywall finishing, and tiling. We brought over lots of tools and a tile saw which they greatly appreciated. The first day of work God blessed us with a good day and a lot accomplished. That night we went to Pastors Neil’s for a cook out with the team and some of the people working with us. It was an awesome time of fellowship. God has blessed Pastor Neil and sister Noline with a beautiful home 5 minutes from their grandchildren. The Rhodes also have a new addition to the family named Buster. You can see him in the photo, he is a bit intimidating when he comes up to you because he is big- but very nice. All I can say is that Pastor Neil is loving where he is and a great moving of Gods hand is in this area as well as a hunger and thirst for God. As much as we miss him at TSC, I will assure you that God, as always, knew exactly what he was doing when he placed him and sister Noline here. We closed the day out at a Bible study at our hosts family home of Bruce and Deb Crowe. It was great and afterwards they wanted to hear John V do praise and worship music. He started singing praise and worship music in Russian and the locals loved it, they joined in and were singing and clapping. It was so great to be there and be a part of it. In closing, the Ukrainian people are very friendly and kind and we thank God as a team to be serving with them. Just a personal note: so many times people say “I want to pray and see if God wants me to go on such and such a missions trip.” God has already answered that prayer in his Word when he clearly instructs us to go out into all the world. I can’t begin to tell you how awesome it is serve Him and how He is with you in a big way when you simply say, “Here I am…use me.” Give yourself a chance to experience God in a new and powerful way, JUST GO!

Today was a travel day for the team. Our flights were fine. A neat thing that happened on one of the flights was a Mount Zion intern ended up sitting  next to a missionary from his home church in Seattle, Washington. When we arrived in Ukraine we had a lot of stuff to bring in that could have been taxed. The bulk of it was in two bags. When we went through customs they were the only two bags not searched. This is an awesome example of God’s hand at work!

Here are a few pics from our trip so far!

Sorry for the lack of of updates but we have been busy and at times had no access to the computer. The weather has been wonderful and let us accomplish a lot. The sun is very hot and when we return you will think we were in the islands instead of the Netherlands; we are very tan!  On Sunday we went to a local church for service and really enjoyed the message, we don’t speak dutch but each member of the team had an interpreter. After service we were invited for coffee and the people from the church welcomed us with open arms.  We went sight seeing in the afternoon and had a great time of  fellowship with the men in the program. It is amazing to see God working in the lives of these young men and how happy they are. Monday was a holiday here and we could not work, so we spent time with the workers and members of Teen Challenge. In the Netherlands it is a tradition that the Monday after Easter they light a large fire and invite friends over. A lot of people from local churches came over and we sang worship songs around the fire, it was great! Tuesday was back to work and we worked from early morning till after 6 pm. Every workday we have a lot of volunteers to help us and it is so much fun. I am blessed to have such a great group of people to work with. As I write this it is Wednesday after lunch and we are hoping to finish the whole job today as we are supposed to have rain for the next 2 days. The last thing I will leave you with is how wonderful the Dutch people are, they are so full of  love and joy. As we work we laugh sing and share, it is AWESOME. Thank you for your prayers.

We have been blessed with great weather again and are building so many relationships with all the people at Teen Challange. The people of the Netherlands are so warm and friendly and join in with us to work everyday. Work is progressing at a good pace and we should accomplish our goal by the end of our trip – God willing.

Day 1 was a travel day and the flight was great. The weather was a sunny 70 degrees. We got to see a little bit of Amsterdam and then drove to Teen Challange and meet some of the people at the center and got to bed. This morning we woke up and had breakfast and then had great fellowship with all the other people helping on the replacement of the roof on the center. It is amazing how God has given us a unity in a matter of moments and you would have thought we worked together for weeks. One of the young men participating in the teen challenge program was very shy we when arrived last night, but as he and I worked together he completely changed and by the end of the day we called him the boss of the project and he couldn’t stop smiling. I will update you tomorrow.

Sun—bright, unmistakable—sun peeked through the curtains the morning of our much-anticipated recreational day and our last partnering with the Father’s Love team. After a couple of overcast and unseasonably cool days, we felt blessed that gorgeous weather was cooperating with what promised to be a wonderful time ahead at the Rockin C Ranch.  After sleeping in a bit—we met in the lobby for our devotional and prayer at 9:30 AM, then headed out for breakfast.  Roger and Isabelle came to meet us and we were excited to be on our way.

Driving onto the property it looked like a regular working ranch.  We saw turkey, sheep, and heard about the longhorn, so named for the length of the horns, known as “racks.”  We got our first flash of our host’s humor when we learned  the names of the steer with the longest racks—Shadrach and Meschach (get it?). They haven’t yet found their Abednego. They took us through our paces with quizzes about chicken—how many eggs will a chicken lay in a year? how long does it take for an egg to hatch? and yes, why does the chicken cross the road?

A Christian camp, the owners love partnering with Father’s Love to provide scholarships for children to attend for the week.   Several kids had confided  in us that they’d never left Jacksonville, not even been up the road to Tyler, so I could only imagine how exciting it must be for them to attend sleep-away camp. Of course the kids have a wonderful time on the low ropes, high ropes, canoeing, riding horses, etc.  But they also assume all the tasks associated with running an actual ranch.  In the process they learn to get up early, work hard, and be disciplined and responsible.  With scholarships, the Father’s Love kids get to attend for just $50 rather than the normal $550 per week. But even at that nominal amount, Father’s Love frequently winds up assuming the cost for kids who want to attend.

Our guides wasted no time in giving us city slickers an opportunity to prove our metal with the High Ropes Challenge.  Tanicqua, who’d met us at the ranch, was first up. Dude! Gotta say, she represented.  She scampered up the tree, lightly supported her body with overhead wires as she walked a tight rope and performed other feats (all with a harness, of course) that would have put you in mind of Jane as in “Me, Tarzan.” Exhilarated, going down the zip-line she stopped just short of a back flip.   We all followed, granted, with a bit less flair—some electing to complete the entire course, others opting for the zip-line only. Not only was it great fun, but also was a wonderful exercise in conquering the fear of heights (more accurately, fear of falling) for some of us.

With a bit of swagger, we were ready to move on to the next challenge—horseback riding.  I say “challenge” because this was something new to virtually the entire BrickThink Team.  The training we received was without much ado.  “You put your foot in the stirrup, and swing your leg over to get on the horse; you pull the reigns to the right when you want to go right, and toward your belly when you want the horse to stop. Don’t let tree limbs hit you in the face.”  There were a few more instructions of that ilk on horse-riding basics. Before we knew it, we’d been matched with a horse that was temperamentally suited to each of us and we were on our way.  From this vantage point we got to appreciate the beauty—the hills, lakes—tall trees, and sheer expanse—of the property.  We rode for an hour, convinced that no seasoned cowhand had anything much on us. We conveniently forgot, of course, that the horses had been specifically trained to give us a gentle, uneventful ride.

Sho ‘nuff, and as the Rockin C Ranch staff promised, we’d worked up an appetite. With mouth-watering aromas wafting through the air we knew that they’d fired up the barbeque.   We had burgers (fresh from the ranch) hotdogs and baked beans. To say that they were a cut above anything we’d had back home is an understatement!

As the day turned to evening we reflected on our week in Jacksonville, Texas.  Roger reminded us of his promise that by the final day we would each know what God had in mind for us—the work He was performing in our hearts and spirits—in choosing us for the trip.  As we listened to each person share, it was like watching, and hearing the puzzle pieces click into place. We could see, perhaps not everything God had in mind, but a clear glimpse into the good work He’d performed in each of us. It’s not everyday that you get to see His hand in your life so clearly and to know the lengths He’ll go and the details He’ll orchestrate to help us grow in His ways and His love.