Nearly the End of Summer

I can't believe that the end of summer is upon us! That went by way too fast if you ask me! 

This summer looked quite different from any of the other summers we've spent here as our main focus this year has been working with the graduated orphan boys from Molochansk. We did a lot fewer camps for teenagers in general and focused more on small group activities and sports with these specific guys. We have found in other years that as soon as school starts back up we immediately lose the teenagers and all our activities completely stop for a month because they are focusing 100% on school. These boys are in trade school but it's not exactly strenuous or anything and it's encouraging to us that we've created some sustainable activities to carry through the fall. 

Some of the things we have done this month included helping Jessica with a camp she put on for the children of the village where she's building her house. It was a three day camp in the evenings and we were able to help out two of those days. 

I was quite surprised by the children of the village and how well-behaved they were! That's a rarity here in children but they were all so kind and sweet! At the end of the camp the mayor of the town came and said some wonderful things about the Christian camp and how much of an impact it had on the village so hopefully there can be some major transformation that happens there.

Steve is playing on a soccer team again this fall and is continuing with the floor ball team although his knee is still an issue and he has spent more time coaching than playing. This presents a new problem for him as he has become more of an authoritative figure to the guys than just being a friend...and as you can imagine - these boys that never had fathers have some major issues with authority! So there's a lot of things to work through and new situations to navigate but I've been impressed with how cool and calm Steve stays when faced with anger from these young men.

I had a series of bad pain days and it was suggested to me by a friend that I should try kinesiotherapy which is similar to physiotherapy but uses exercise to increase strength, endurance, and mobility. I am very wary of any solutions people suggest because I have tried a lot of things quite unsuccessfully but because this friend had personal experience with this clinic, is someone we've known for almost nine years and we really trust her, I decided to give it a shot. I have been for five sessions so far and I love the focus on building muscle but as of yet I haven't felt any better. That being said, I know that it took almost three years for me to feel like this and that it won't be a fast fix and the trainers assured me that it would be about three weeks before I felt any difference and even then, the clinic doctor said that it may take up to three courses of 12 sessions each (36 sessions total) for me to be considered healed. 

Our final #JustYouth of the summer - our annual beach party is happening this coming Saturday. It was +37 degrees Celsius for over a month and now suddenly this week it has been cloudy and +18! While lovely and very, very welcome, it might be hard to get people out to a beach party if it's cold!! So we're hoping the forecast gets better for the weekend!

#JustYouth August: Bingo with a Twist

August 5th was #JustYouth. We played Bingo where we gave everyone blank cards and ten minutes to go around and write down the names of people in the room. Then we pulled names out of a box and that's how we played. 

After they got a Bingo the contestants got a teeny tiny chocolate bar but had the option to upgrade to a jumbo chocolate bar by doing a timed challenge. The first one was doing a puzzle in 30 seconds.

Blowing a ping pong ball across a row of cups filled with water:

Cup stacking:

If they lost the challenge they got their original tiny chocolate bar cut in half and if they won, they received a jumbo-sized chocolate bar. One guy got three bingos and attempted but failed two challenges for the big chocolate bar. When he won for the third time he just took the tiny chocolate bar and sat down again.

Then Steve shared a message.

Afterwards we had snacks, iced tea and hang out time. The next #JY will be the final event of summer which will be a beach party. It's hard to believe that it's only two and a half weeks away!

"Home" Youth Group

Every Monday Steve leads a small youth group at our church. It was part of a larger ministry that ran throughout the school year but over the summer all the leaders decided that they were too busy and just wanted to take a break. Steve had been attending and had seen so much progress in the teenagers that he didn't want to lose them over the summer so he offered to be in charge despite the discussion being in Russian. With the help of a translator or two it has been going really well. Most of the kids that attend are not Christians but are coming closer as they learn more about God. 

Today there was a girl there who we have known for a number of years. She broke her arm a while ago and it was still causing her a lot of pain in her wrist, elbow and shoulder. Steve told everyone to gather around her at the end of the evening to pray for her. These teenagers who are just getting to know the Lord prayed for her and after they prayed she was healed to near perfect! I think she was just as surprised as anyone else when she could lift her arm above her head! Praise the Lord!