God has been extremely faithfull to what he has promised me. So much has been going on in my life since the start of summer. I have been showered with blessings and want to share about them. June 5th began my 22nd year of life. It was a wonderful weekend celebrating with those who have proven faithfull friends in my life. It was great to start this new year of life with those I love. Every June our church drives down to Scotts Valley for our family summer camp. This year’s camp was huge for me. Every sermon, worship set, conversation and interaction has some burried lesson for me to learn, or encouragement to brighten my spirits. Pastor Brian Goodel spoken alot on the topic of getting free and Pastor Matt Ansell spoke about constantly renewing your mind. Both of these topics were areas God has previously been working in me, so it was a blessing to get more teach at camp. For those of you who consistantly follow my blog you know that I left camp and went straight to Ukraine for a missions trip. These past few weeks since returning from Ukraine have been wonderful, but not a day goes by with our me thinking of the sweet and brave kids I met. I will forever remember there smiles and the sparkle in there eyes. Since then my Sister (http://captureitrememberit9.tumblr.com/) Has started a ministry called “Mission America” you can read all about it here (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.10150701999790131.705760.506345130#!/pages/Mission-America/209140509135099) In short, her goal is to raise money to help bring an orphaned brother and sister to American to live there dreams. Returning to work after this spectacular trip was great, I love my job, and I am crazy blessed to have it. The day I returned I was promoted and given a crazy raise plus recieved benefits. Words cannot describe how thankful I am to my savior for providing for me. Now the biggest news of all :). I have recently accepted a Youth Pastor Position at The Sacred Church launching THIS January 2012. Anyone who knows me, KNOWS how passionate I am about young people, and how I have been called to pastor. God has supplied everything I could have needed and wanted, and has proven himself so faithfull. Check out the following website to see my new church. ( www.thesacredchurch.com) So what’s the point of this blog? To remind you that Jesus will always fufill his promises and will always provide for you. Continue waiting on him, seeking his face, and serving him regardless and he will always always take care of you. If you want to know more about anything I have written about, do not hesitate to ask. :)
Blessings,
Olivia
My life has been changed forever. Going on this trip to Ukraine was probably one of the best things I could have done. Before leaving I had gotten stuck. Stuck in the ways of life, work, friends and routine. I was becoming a spoiled American, living an extravagant life style not really thinking of others. From the moment I embarked on this journey I began to feel pieces of myself being chipped away. The old mentality, and understanding slowly changing for the good. The children we spent the past two weeks with have made a huge impact on my life. They were so eager to give us gifts and things to remember them by even with the little they had. Experiencing the low quality of life, and circumstances in Ukraine has reminded me of how blessed I am here in America. I am ready for a fresh start my mission is to bring love and hope to others.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
-James 1:27
I can’t help but get a little emotional while writing this. It is our last night In Odessa. This morning we woke up early and went to a bazar. We shopped for our party with the kids tomorrow, then went to lunch. When we arrived at the center the kids wanted to go to the park so we took the 30 min walk to get there. It was kind of stressful because only one teacher came with us and he was super non challant and I’n organized. The kids were running everywhere he let them
Go off alone and let other smoke. Even though it was kinda crazy we had fun. We got caught In a down poor thunder and lightning on the way home the kids loved that haha. When we got back we spent the rest of the day hanging out and talking. We are currently having dinner at Puzata Hata and plan on doing some shopping after. Later at night we are going out I’n style with a big firework extravaganza :). Tomorrow we are having a party with the kids and saying our goodbyes. :( we are leaving Odessa around 9pm on Thursday night and catching a flight In Kiev at 7am Friday morning:) please pray for safety on our flights home!:)
Heloooooo America!!!
Last night after dinner we went to the store and
Bought a ton of fireworks. We went back to the beach by our house and put on a firework show for all the locals. That was super fun, jelly and I sang the national
Anthem haha. This morning at the center we talked about love and what love is. We all wrote down kind things about eachother. We spent the rest of the day playing sports and hanging out. I hung out mostly with little vova and Dima, they are feisty little flirts! Vova is 14 and Dima 12. They want Tanya and I to take them home and spend half the year I’n Atlanta and Half the year I’n San Fran:). We are currently at dinner at out favorite place:)
Today was the best day so far. We sat the kids down first thing I’n the morning and got ready to pass out their presents. I called one student up at a time and talked about them and their qualities and talents. Then we clapped for them and handed them their gifts. It was a time full of tears and hugs. It is something that will remain In my memory forever. It was priceless to see the joy on there faces. We spent the rest of the day playing sports and games with the kids. I am feeling beyond blessed to experience all of this. I gave away 9 shirts, a skirt and two pairs of Toms. They were so happy to get something from America. I love these precious kids!!!
Yesterday morning wr woke up early and moved out of our house to a new fancy part of town. We rented two rooms In a big house, it’s so much nicer! It’s such a small world we didn’t even know but it ended up the owner we rented from is Pastor Zagarodniks brother! After we moved wr picked up Natasha and Rita and went to the Bazar. We picked out one special gift for each student. After we took Rita to lunch then dropped her off. Later we went down town and shopped and ate dinner at Mcdonalds:) at night we came home to rest. This morning we went to Natashas church. There worship was great! Jelly Bogdan Jonathan and I sang two songs. Now wr are having lunch at Kampot and are going back
To the church for desert with the youth! :)
Day 6…it feels like time is starting to speed up. Each day holds new adventures and heart warming stories. Today at the center was English/Russian day. We split up into our groups and had to put together a performance where the Russians spoke English and Americans spoke Russian. We had so much fun with that. Later we went outside and played volleyball football and basketball. The rest of the time we hung out and sang songs played games danced around and talked. I gave Rita my ring today so she will always remember me:) now we are having dinner at a cafe. Until tonorrow.. :)
We are currently sitting at a restaurant In downtown Odessa about to order dinner. We are with the Pastor from Natasha’s church. We will be participating In there service on Sunday and so he wanted to meet us first. The past two days have even amazing. Yesterday was culture day with the kids. Wr split up In our groups and drew a huge map of the USA. We also spent time answering any questions the kids had about our county and they told us about theres. Later we went out side and played kartoshka with them. They are all super good at sports! After we left the center we went downtown again and ate at Mcdonalds, it was nice to eat some American food after eating allllll russian. We layer stopped at the store to do some grocery shopping and then went home to hang out. This morning we woke up to super hot weather! It was make your own choices day with the kids. We talked about what choices they can make to change the world. After we took all 20 of them to the park. This was the first time they have ever been out together as a group. They couldn’t remember the last t they went to a park. We sang songs and played sports. We taught them
How to play American football:) I am still loving it herr and enjoying the blessing of this adventure :))))
I’ve been dying to blog all day! So much has gone on I don’t even know where to begin. This morning at the center was friendship day. We put everyone’s name in a hat and each of us pulled out a name to be there secret angel. The kids are totally opening up to us. Although it is only our second day with them, I am already dreading the day we have to say bye. Jelly Jonathan Bodya and I sang a song we wrote for the kids. They totally loved it! After we taught them the song that says” I wanna clap a little louder than before” THey had HUGe smiles on there faces and were jumping and dancing and laughing. It brought each of us such joy to see them having fun. Later in the day we split up into different classes. Jelly taught Guitar and I taught Vocals. The kids were so eager to become guitar players and singers. Guess who is TOTALLY Famous here….JUSTIN BEBIER. All of the kids kept asking me if I knew his music and liked him. This morning a little boy ran over to me and showed me how he downloaded two JB videos for me to watch. It’s the little things that make you feel extremely blessed. Two of the students in particular have really touched me. There names are Arcadi aka Archie and Margarite Aka Margo. They are brother and sister. He is 17 and she is 15. There mother died and there father denied rights to them, so they are stuck in this center. Archie is the sweetest boy you will meet. He knows English very well and loves to practice with me. HE wants to be a rapper one day so he dowloads and prints out all kinds of American Rap lyrics and practices them. He also is an amazing graffiti artist. He asked me an jelly to help him write music for his raps. Margarite wants to be a singer some day. She was working with Jelly on guitar, and asked me to help her sing. Please keep these two in prayer, Natasha has been working to help them. They have no papers what so ever so they are stuck. Archie really wants to come to America, so please join us in prayer for God to intervene in this situation. There story has brought us to tears. We had a singing time where a group of us got together and sang JB songs….It was priceless. Later after the center we went to Down town ODessa, went shopping, site seeing, and had a wonderful dinner. I really don’t know how to explain this amazing experience. Our team is getting so close bonding in a whole new way. Tanya from Atlanta totally fitting in with us, It’s like having another sister. God is great and he is using us to show love and hope to the lost. PLease Continue to Lift up your prayers. ::))))
Love you all!
Paka!
Things are going great here. We stayed up late enjoying eachothers company and eating. We woke up at 7am this morning and got ready for the center. We picked up Natasha and headed out. We arrived at the center and learned about the kids and center. A little while later the wonderful kids came I’n. We introduced ourselves and played a game. We also met our teams. I’m leading a team of 8 students with Tanya. They are the oldest so 16 and 17. Now we are eating lunch at Puzata hata and will beheading back to the center until 6pm. I am feeling ao blessed and excited to be hear. The kids are so eager to hang out and learn! Stay tuned for more later. :)))
