ODESSA A BEAUTIFUL CITY

The first weekend you saw in our earlier post and so we're sorry for the unlabeled photos....but the internet was unreliable at times, as were our emotions. So, it was often hard to write even when we had a few minutes. There was just so much to process.

Monday morning started with hot tea in the courtyard. Laurie and Hector had gone around the corner (literally) to McDonald's and were having an intense time with some street kids. You can read more of their encounters at their website purelightministry.org. Look under our blog list.

Meanwhile, we (Steve and Carol) were meeting a few other guest staying in our hotel. There were a couple adoptive families and two other gentlemen we spent time getting to know over coffee and hot tea. One of the men even joined us for a mid-week prayer meeting and dinner. It's so great when the Lord gives us opportunity to meet people we weren't expecting to find in our path.

Cameron, Steve and I raced to the Odessa Christian Bookstore to purchase books, Bibles and CD's to distribute to the kids at the orphanage. We walked there and back in record time to try and catch bus 133 by 10:30 so we could meet Dasha at the Internot at 11am. We caught the bus and were running just a few minutes behind when our bus hit the curb and blew out a tire. We all quietly departed the bus and began our walk toward our destination. I tried to call Dasha but I had left her number back at the apartment. Funny though we all had complete peace.

DASHA

About a block from the orphanage a friend came toward us to let us know that Dasha was waiting but that there was a camera crew there this day and the director and children were in a meeting with the TV cameras. We stopped on the street to pray. What to do? Lord, what to do? We all felt peace to proceed. Some of us had been fasting and praying for this meeting for the previous 3 weeks. The time had come. With a mission in our steps and bags of t-shirts and flip flops in our arms, we headed to seek an audience with the director, Ms. Anna. According to the secretary she was unavailable and would be for some time. So we place a photo of our children, a handwritten card from Pasha, flowers and candy on her desk and left the building.

THE CHILDREN PICKING OUT SHIRTS, FLIP FLOPS, BOOKS AND BIBLES

As we were paying our translator and saying goodbye, the camera crew left. We decided to wait in the courtyard. Let's just say God had gone before us. Shortly, the children and director were out front for a photo and then we were invited into her office. She spent 20 minutes sharing how she has resigned effective June 30 and has no idea what her future holds. This, the same lady that wouldn't speak to us 2 years ago. We asked how we could pray for her and if she would take a photo with us. Photos were snapped and she provided a room for us to pray and meet with the children. We had unlimited time with the kids and freedom to take their pictures. The couch quickly filled with the gifts we brought and we let each child choose their own items. Orphans don't have many chances to choose.

Pray for these kids. They are all at summer camp now with even less structure than before. Pray that the Lord would bring families for these waiting children.
The encouragement to me this day was that God's timing is always so perfect. Thank you Lord for the flat tire...so we would arrive at the orphanage when the camera crews were almost done. Thank you for softening Anna's heart.

Tuesday
Odessa is a beautiful.....

Random Photos

Sunday Night

Steve ready for church

Relationships are such the point. We walked quickly toward church this morning excited to be back at Light of (the) World. Steve walked in first, but he had shaved his mustache and he received the look of “I know you, but how do I know you", but as I rounded the corner Anya saw me and jumped up with a huge smile and a welcoming hug and kiss. Oh that was like refreshing water on my tired soul. How good it is to receive a warm welcoming embrace. We enjoyed a time of reconnecting with dear brothers and sisters. We heard wonderful testimonies and an encouraging word from the book of Daniel. Visits were scheduled for the week, along with translators, and times to meet with people to pray. Our calendar is filling up.

The afternoon was like our life at home. Lunch with friends (well maybe a little different in that lunch included 3 orphans that found out we were in town, including Igor !!! Y'all know that made me smile.) and a houseful of people all afternoon. We reconnected with old friends and meet a few new ones. We had a time of worship and prayer. Knowing that only prayer will make a way here.


The Porter Family is staying in the same hotel with us. They are here adopting Katia. Laurie and Hector have been praying for Katia a family for the last year! There is nothing like "seeing" your prayer answered.

Andrei and Vlad...cool dudes....

By 5:30 there was time for a fast walk thru the park and back to the apartment to make a supper of grits and eggs. (So happy we brought grits this time. 8-) We needed to hurry because we had more friends coming by for the evening.

Liena came this evening and we were so glad to see her. She was such an encouragement to us during the final days of the adoption trip and we had been counting the days to see her again. We had time to hear of some the things God is doing in her heart and life now. It is such a joy to hear her share heart. Such a beautiful example of a Godly young woman.

Another full day of following where He leads. We're going to bed praying for our visit planned for Internot #4 tomorrow morning. Lord go before us.

Good night.

Internet at Last

Friday night – Our Arrival-

As we left for our trip Thursday morning, Lynn, a friend of ours, called Laurie and told her she had something for us! She had created 6 cards with special words of encouragement and challenge for us to open along the route of our journey. We open one of them each leg of our flight at predetermined locations. What a blessing these words were. So timely, so on target. God is amazing.

We arrived safely in Odessa with only one delay. We were 2 hours late leaving JFK which meant they were boarding our connecting flight when we arrived in Warsaw...but thank the Lord they held the plane for us. Customs was a breeze....no one asked or even looked at the multitude of flip-flops and t-shirts in our bags. Included in our room rate was an uneventful ride from the airport to our room. That in itself was a pleasant surprise. Uneventful I mean!

First order of business was getting a little food and bottled water to our room. A few Odessa friends came to visit and then we wandered around the “center” to allow Steven, Cameron, Laurie, and Hector to get a feel for the city. We ran into the Porter family from Texas. They are here to adopt Katia, one of the girls from Lyonya's class. Laurie and Hector have her photo on their fridge and have been praying for her a family for over a year. How amazing for them to get to see the answer to their prayers in person!

Tomorrow we hope to go check on the kids Grandma and see how she is getting along. We haven't been able to talk to her lately. We are so excited to be here and see what the Lord has for us to do. We serve such an amazing God. Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep them going!

Wasn't able to post this....the internet was down....maybe tomorrow.

Saturday AM

Over breakfast we talked thru the day, the week really. Realizing there were so many ministry opportunities this morning, all good...we were like kids in a candy store! Which to choose???We chose Him! Oh yes, we chose Him. We went into the apartment to worship. What a sweet time in His presence. I was reminded of Isaiah 40, those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.... How do you hope? The Greek word for hope is to bind to, to attach oneself.....the word picture I read explained it was like a little girl with her arms around the parents waist with her legs wrapped around their leg....How do we do His work? We seek His presence all the more. We must hope in Him and He will accomplish the task. He will go before us into the unknown and “break” the way. He is the breaker...the one that pushes through the darkness to allow us authority to enter another land because He has dominion over all lands and peoples.....not us, Him.. It's all about Him. He allows us to follow in behind Him carrying the aroma of His Spirit to all. 2 Cor. 2: 15-16.

During our worship, Natalyia called us. She was planning to spend the weekend with us but her baby Artemia was sick this morning so she had to postpone her trip. Hopefully she can come from Kiev Wednesday or Thursday. We're waiting to hear back from Sasha, the kids older brother, so he can meet us and show us the way to where Grandma is staying. She is in a different location and we don't even have an address. Hopefully we will get with him tomorrow.

Sweet Lena contacted us around lunch and we will get together tomorrow. Tomorrow morning is church and we are so excited to see Pastor Sasha, his wife Lena, their new baby, Anya, Christina, and the other young adults we connected with 2 years ago. We would like to go to church with our friend Laura because Igor and Big Andrei will be there, but we only have this one Sunday. We sent word to them that we are in town and to come by the apartment any chance they get.

In the afternoon we went to the market, looking around at the property in the area and praying for the city. Hector, Steven, Laurie and Steve stopped and prayed for one guy in a wheel chair that was begging. Lord heal him and let him see You.

God of This City. This song is our prayer for Odessa. Please pray with us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk

On Monday, we hope to visit the director and #4 . She didn't take to us much when we were here before, but we have been praying for her for weeks. That the Lord will touch her and bless her. Pasha wrote her a sweet letter, so we plan to deliver it with flowers and candy and ask for permission to see the kids classmates and give them gifts of t-shirts, flip flops, and Christian literature. Please pray she will agree to our request.

Carol and Steve

We're Here!

Had a great flight over. Details to come tonight!

Thanks for all the prayer.

Off To Odessa

Six of us will fly to Odessa tomorrow and see where God will lead us. We have a list of people to visit / minister to and a multitude of things to do, but we are all in agreement that we will follow Him and hunt for treasures. We hope to update this daily so you can follow our latest adventure.

Blessings on you all,
Steve, Carol, Steven, Cameron, Laurie and Hector

PS Please pray for our families at home and thanks to all of you who have made this trip possible. Love
you so much.