Today we went to the Chernobyl Childrens Hospital and visited close to 200 kids. There was only small percentage of orphans, the rest were from families affected by Chernobyl. We did our full program outside, and we were not rushedl. There were many tears and sad hearts as we packed up for the last time. We have seen a lot of miracles this week, the weather has been great, no one has been sick and this group of 30 people have acted like family the entire time. Your parayers have sustained us. Thank you!

Her devtion read, “To obey is better than sacrafice” (1 SAM 15:22). God doesn’t want you to just suffer on a mission project. God isn’t looking to see how many hours you spent witnessing. It doesn’t matter how much you feel you had to give up to follow Christ. God wants to see if you have heard him. He wants to see you obey.

After our devotion time we laughed, played games told stories and just enjoyed each other. Thank you again for all of your prayers.

Patrick and Kasey shared their personal testimony and led us in a powerful devotional. Then we began to share as a group on our thoughts and experiences near the end of our mission. Mary Barnes shared with us that since she had been on this trip she was feeling guilty having such nice accomodations and good food. Her past experiences in the mission field have been much more difficult. She shared with us what she read in her devotion that day, that gave her peace – cont’d

Today we went to the nicest orphanage we have seen. What a difference there is in the kids who have been truly cared for versus just being kept. There were 105 kids between the ages of 5-17. We were inside again today but we got to keep the entire program except Rec. The face painting team of Andrea, Wendy, Taylor, Anne, Rachel, Pat, Rhonda, Ellen, Mary and Sandy have done a great job all week of touching each face and giving them something to show off. From hearts, crosses and Ukrainian and American flags.

Today we went to an orphanage and visited 90 children between the ages of 4 – 7. The children looked as if they were 2 – 5. We shortened our program just so that we could spend time loving on them. We made sure that each child got a Polaroid picture. Jenny, Brenda, Lauren, Patrick, Joel and Bob have done a wonderful job on the polaroid team. Today was very emotional for all of us as this was the youngest group of children we visited. It is hard to imagine that they may have many more years of this life.