Preparing to Leave

I'm going to begin Wednesday's post now because we will be very busy in the morning preparing to leave Odessa and Grace Church. It will not be easy for there have been many heart connections made this week.

As our meeting was ending today, your Joshua Team and the team from Grace began to share what the week has meant to them. The expressions were heartfelt and sincere. They thanked us for being so "open" with them in our discussions because they don't always feel that from some teams. They also thanked us for wanting to explore something new to both of us - the possibility of doing ministry work together. It is easy to make acquaintances and sometimes easy to make friendships, but relationships take work by both groups involved especially in the beginning stages. Sitting and talking over meals, over tea, at home in the evenings have helped to forge lasting bonds.

Pat and Allan Wright, Terri Bolt and Gail Jenner have been sharing this week with Ira and Vova Balaban, Grandma 1, Grandma 2 and Grandpa, as well as 8 year old Darina, Masha and her husband and baby Igor. Sounds like a crowded house; however, they will have to share with your all the laughter and love that revolves around this household. Pictures have been exchanged, email addresses swapped, but most of all is the sharing of knowledge that God's children are truly international, multi-lingual and full of faith!

Tony and Danner have fallen in love with the Bandura children: Daniel,10; Irina, 8; Emilia, 3 (going on 20), and Timothy, 16 months. The children have entertained them royally this week with games, boundless energy, drawings and hugs.

This Joshua Team has represented Walnut Hills Baptist Church very well. They have shared their faith and mission spirit and are preparing to share with you when we arrive back home. At the end of the Sunday service our Team presented, on your behalf, a gift to Grace Baptist Church of a beautiful white Communion Table Cloth. As we observe the Lord's Supper on the same Sunday of each month, it will serve as a reminder that we are one in the Spirit and one in the Lord.

Please pray for safe flights for us tomorrow from Odessa to Vienna, Austria and on Thursday from Vienna to Dulles.
KJP

Harvest Sunday at Grace

Harvest Sunday is a big celebration in the Ukraine. We are bringing back pictures and hopefully a finished DVD of both services. The front of the sanctuary was decorated with fruit, foliage, wheelbarrows, trees and even a bird's nest complete with Pelican. Words cannot do justice! You will have to see the pictures.

We also wish we could describe the music and choirs. Sunday morning the First Choir presented excerpts from the Psalms interspersed with the sermons (3) and the readings. On Sunday night the Youth Choir (ages 13 - 28) joined with the Teen Choir (12-17) and the Youth Orchestra to present the choir, solo and ensemble work. I didn't get a complete count but there were 35+ in the combined choirs. All we need to tell you is that we all used up our Kleenex ration for the week on one day!

It would be impossible to share all of the energy and joy that is being shared with us. We are learning about commitment to service in the Lord's work in a whole new aspect.

On Monday we went out to the Black Sea Camp with the leadership and staff of Grace. After touring the camp and learning about the plans for expanding ministry there, we broke into small groups and met one-on-one with a ministry leader and a translator. For example: Pat Wright met with Daniel Terenko, the Minister of Music; Danner Neal met with Olyissa, the Grace Church attorney and responsible head of the Children's Shelter; Gail Jenner met with the leader of small group Bible Studies and the Sunday School Director; Allan Wright met with the head of construction for the Camp; John Proctor met with Peter and Lydia to discuss the Tranistion House (place where the Shelter Children can go after they are 18 and must leave the Grace Shelter); Terri Bolt met with the Grace Youth Pastor about Youth Group ministry; KJ met with Valerie Pusanov about the Farm. Tony has spent many hours with Pastor Igor Bandura and other pastors here.

We spent almost 2 hours together, sharing about the work at both churches, learning how we are very much alike in our strengths and weaknesses, and also learning how we can be of service to one another. The Joshua Team came away with many pages of notes on new insights into ministry...they have taught us much.

This has been an awesome and overwhelming experience in many ways. Our dilemma is how to fully express to you what we have seen, heard and learned in the past week. Our God is so good and He is evidently at work here, too.

This morning Tony, John and Allan were up at 6:30 to attend the men's Prayer Time. They shared the cards written by the WHBC Men's Wednesday Morning Prayer Group with them.

We have also given your gifts to the Children's Shelter (shirts, CD's, hair decorations, vitamins, etc.) I think Gail and Terri got pictures of the boys in their T-shirts, which in Russian are called, "footballkies". The WHBC VBS materials were given to Natasha, the Grace Children's Sunday School Director and she went over every piece of paper in the package with me. We will be meeting with Dr. Yura Oceptchuk to deliver the medical supplies.

Today we are driving out to the village of Ilyinka to see the small mission church there. We are taking some of the Crayons and materials to teach the children as well as the eye glasses for the older women of the village. The young missionary pastor, Vladick Myrmyr, will not be able to go with us today. His Grandmother died yesterday just three weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. Please keep Vladick, Leila and their boys, Kirill and Timothy, in your prayers.

After Ilyinka we will travel to the Odessa Baptist Theological Seminary for a short tour and to meet with the professors who also serve at Grace Baptist. In the afternoon, we will have our last Joshua Team meeting and then meet with Pastor Bandura and the leadership of Grace to pray together about what we have all learned this week.

As the trip winds down we will tell you that we are tired physically from all the activity, but our hearts and spirits are not tired in the least. We are writing in our Journals (even those of us who never keep one), trying to preserve the memories and things to share with each of you.

God be praised. We are truly in awe of the moving of the Holy Spirit and the outreach of one church to its community. In a country where there is so little, how can it be that there is so much being done? With the Holy Spirit....nothing is impossible!

Greetings From Your Joshua Team

Dear Friends,

We have been unable to blog since the Internet was not "communicating" properly here in Odessa.

Here is our story so far:

We arrived in Odessa with no problems. Of course with the filling out of all the forms our Team was some of the last people through the Customs Stations with our passports. Then we retrieved our bags (all 20 of them) and headed to the X-ray machines. This is the part where we were most concerned! However, as we began to place our bags on the belt and walk through the Scanner, we realized that the Inspector was not watching the screen. He and the 2 other Inspectors were concerned with the luggage of two Ukrainian women. The Inspectors were saying that they couldn't bring some item into the country. There was much yelling, crying and general mayhem, which allowed us to get our bags and walk through without any being checked. Thanks to the diverson, all of the medicines, medical supplies and gifts came through with no problems. We knew you were praying for us, but we didn't know how God would work this time. Each time is so very different...this time it was an hysterical young woman. It is always a surprise!

On the way over we learned that one host family had a medical emergency and that the Wrights, Gail Jenner and Terri Bolt would all be staying with one couple. We were a little concerned at first that this might put a burden on the Balaban family; however, it has been a great blessing. They are having a wonderful experience with the extended Balaban family of 4 generations in one home!

Tony and Danner Neal and the Proctors are being hosted by Pastor Igor Bandura and his wife, Anne. I think Danner is going to have a hard time leaving the Bandura children. They have stolen her hearts.

The Joshua Team has visited 2 of the ministries of Grace so far: the Farm/Orchard and the Transition House construction site. At the farm we learned that they harvested 90 tons of wheat and 10 tons of barley this year. We watched them bag some of the grain before going out to pick our own apples and sample some of the fruit grown this year.

A blessing of visiting the Transition House was getting to meet a team of 13 men from Wales who were at the house installing ceilings on the first floor. I'm going to let Allan Wright share his stories of the visit with you! Asked him how things are built in 5 days when you see him. This group of 13 men came from a church of only 22 members! Their pastor had met Igor while they were both in Ireland studying and he decided his church should come and help with the build. Since they only have 22 members, he saw this as an opportunity to invite some skilled laborers who were not members of the church to come with them and see how Christians assist each other. They were a laughing, happy group who were excited about the progress they had made in just one week. They were open to sharing with us how they had felt God's call to come and work. It was a joy to be in their presence. We may never meet again this side of Heaven, however, those men made quite an impression on all of us.

The Team has also met with one Prayer Group and we have had our first meeting with some of the church leaders to discuss our plans for this week. We have learned that they have many of the same challenges we have in our ministeries; however, we have learned they have a growing age group of 18 to 30. It's very exciting and almost too much to write about here.Tomorrow is Harvest Sunday - a big event in the life of the church. I am going to try to upload some pictures of the decorations for the front of the church. It's simply amazing what they are doing. Both morning and evening services will be videod so we hope to bring the DVDs back with us.

On Monday we will spend the day at the Black Sea Camp/Conference Center with the staff and key church leaders. It will give us an opportunity to meet in small group sessions to talk about our key strengths and our key challenges as churches so we can seek how God might lead us to work together in ministry.I wish you could talk with Gail, Terri, Danner, Allan, Tony and John right now. Each has their unique perspective on what they have seen. Each has a joy and excitement about what God has shared with them and each of us is awed by what can be done for the Kingdom with so little.

God bless each of you and may He prepare your hearts for service beyond the walls of Walnut Hills.

Mission Team Arrives in Vienna, Austria

Our Joshua Team has arrived in Vienna, Austria after a most pleasant trip. Thanks be to our Lord. We will be going to Odessa tomorrow morning, arriving in mid-afternoon. We will meet our host families at Grace and spend the day getting acquainted.

Please be in prayer for Vicka Terenko, the 15 year old daughter of Daniel and Olga Terenko. She underwent emergency surgery for her appendix yesterday. Daniel is the Minister of Music at Grace. He and Olga were to be the host family for Pat and Allan Wright, so the Wrights will now be hosted by the Balaban family - who are also hosting Terri Bolt and Gail Jenner. Our motto is now...Be Flexible!

We'll check back in with you when we arrive in Odessa. We just wanted to let everyone know that we have gotten this far safely.

JOSHUA TEAM TO GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

Time is getting short and the Joshua Team is excited about their upcoming trip to visit Grace Baptist Church in Odessa, Ukraine. Pastor Igor Bandura was a guest in our church in Feburary 2008 spending a week visiting and meeting our congregation. Our two churches are very similar. We are both in growing, thriving areas that have many tourists, multi-ethnic groups, universities, and young families in need of support and outreach. Our goal for this trip is to learn from them and to share our work here in Williamsburg. Our hope is that the two churches will find ways in which we can serve and honor God together. Grace has 7 major outreach programs now, which are sustained with limitied funds. We are eager to learn about their approach to family ministry.

Please be in prayer for the Team as they travel and seek God's wisdom. The members of the Team are: Patricia and Allan Wright, Terri Bolt, Gail Jenner, Danner and Dr. Tony Neal (our Senior Pastor) and John and K. J. Proctor

Terri is back home - Gustav slideshow

Terri arrived in West Point tonight around 9:15 with the team from Gloucester. VBMB has placed a Mass Feeding Unit slideshow online. Check it out.

http://www.vbmb.org/media/Slideshows/080829_Hurricane-Gustav/index.htm

Terri is on the way home

Terri's team is on the way home. She should be in Gloucester tomorrow evening. They have an 8-hour drive today to Montgomery, AL and a 12-hour drive tomorrow.

Her site was visited by the wife of Louisianna govenor Bobby Jindal today. Terri was interviewed as part of the visit. If it shows up online I'll add a link.

Dave

Saturday update

The VBMB team provided 4,150 meals for lunch today and 5,250 meals for dinner. The lunch menu was Beef Stew with corn and potatoes, sliced bread, and fruit cocktail. The dinner menu was Chicken with dumplins, peas, apple sauce and bread.

Each morning the team has a devotion led by one of the crisis care chaplains. Terri will lead the devotion of Sunday morning. At this point in time, Terri is planning to return to VA on Sunday/Monday. They are expecting about 15 replacement folks which is about 25% of the total team on site. Additional volunteers are needed.

The weather has been overcast and cooler and tonight electric power was restored to the church hosting the team. Word is spreading that some of the shelters are shutting down but schools will remain closed. Some folks may remain in shelters instead of returning to coastal Louisiana due to the potential impact of Hurricane Ike.

The kitchen has been busy

I talked with Terri late last night. They have 9 Red Cross ERVs assigned to their site plus some walk-in food service as well. Yesterday they made approximately 6000 meals. Today's plan was 4,000 meals for lunch and 4,500 meals for dinner.

There is still no power in the Baton Rouge, LA area and the days have been very long for the team. The weather has cooled off some which is helping.

Update from the VBMB DR site

The following update is from the VBMB Disaster Relief web site update for Gustav relief.

A VBMB Disaster Relief Mass Feeding Unit is now in service in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, being operated in partnership with the American Red Cross (ARC). Nine ARC Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) are assigned to the unit. These ERVs fed box lunches last night, with one ERV driver reporting that she emptied her ERV (625 meals) in one city block. People were lined up and traffic was blocking the street to get these meals and water.

Beginning today, hot meals will be available as VBMB Feeding Unit volunteers are preparing 5000 meals to be delivered in the community by the ERVs. It is likely that the meal count will increase, maybe double, for the next few days. Feeding operations will continue until power is restored to the area.

Clean Up Recovery volunteers are cutting trees and removing debris. Clean Up Recovery operations are scheduled to end after Saturday September 6.

Crisis Care Chaplains are making visits, seeking to address the emotional and spiritual needs of the storm’s victims.

Radio Communications volunteers are staffing the Field Command Unit, making email correspondence possible via satellite phone and ham radio.

On Sunday September 7, new teams of Feeding Unit volunteers and Crisis Care Chaplains will relieve those currently serving.

The Class A Feeding Unit that had been deployed to an American Red Cross shelter in Kingsport, Tennessee, ended operations today.

VBMB team is up and running in Baton Rouge

I spoke with Terri this evening and the VBMB mobile kitchen is up and running. They served approximately 150 meals at both lunch and dinner. The kitchen is capable of serving much larger quantities and has the supplies to do so. The scope of the feeding effort has been limited based on the availability of Red Cross units to distribute food to those in need.

Morale among the team is good. There is still no electrical power where they are. As it stands right now Terri will be traveling home with team members for Gloucester on Sun/Mon.

VBMB Relief Unit Deployed To Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Today has been another travel day for the VBMB team. They planned to drive to McComb, MS and then were redirected to Alexandria, LA and finally to Baton Rouge, LA. They spent a good deal of the day driving across Mississippi. As they moved into Louisiana they have encountered damage from Gustav in various forms: flooding, widespread power outages, and downed trees.

The team is planning to setup their mobile kitchen at Istrouma Baptist Church in the Baton Rouge area. This church is located near I-12 and should provide good access (see map) for Red Cross ERV vehicles.

The following is a statement from the VBMB Disaster Relief web site.

The following Disaster Relief units have been activated to deploy to Baton
Rouge, Louisiana:

• One Mass Feeding Unit, capable of preparing 15,000 meals per day.
• One Recovery Unit, equipped with chainsaws, pumps, and other tools to clear
  debris and clean up mud.
• One Shower Unit
• One Water Purification Unit
• One Command and Communications Unit
• Two Crisis Care Chaplains

Virginia Baptists have approximately 65 trained Disaster Relief volunteers
responding to Hurricane Gustav. Other volunteers may relieve the initial
team in Louisiana, depending on the length of the deployment.

VBMB team traveling to McComb, MS

I spoke with Terri tonight. Her team spent the night in Georgia and arrived at the staging area at Shocco Springs, AL today. Tomorrow the VBMB team will deploy to McComb, MS and will be providing two meals for approximately 5,000 - 7,000 people. This work will be in partnership with the Salvation Army and American Red Cross. Terri will be working with the chief cook on the unit in an "apprenticeship role".

The VBMB team has approximately 45 people. There are around 35 people on the cooking team. There is a recovery team and a team of Crisis care chaplains. Teams will be rotating into the area on a weekly basis as long as there is need.

McComb is a city of approximately 13,000 people this is about 100 miles north of New Orleans.