A poor attempt to capture Belarus

How to sum up an amazing week in one post... nearly impossible. So here is my attempt. I will poorly fill you in on how God answered so many of your prayers and follow it up with a slideshow of pictures to help you grasp the faces and places.

First of all I asked for prayer for Campbell and me leaving him. The night before we left was the first night he slept the entire night without any bad dreams for over a week. He woke up happy to pack his suitcase and was excited to go to Andrey and Alosha's. He was a little nervous about me leaving but did well... and I even escaped without any tears. He did great for Andrey and grew up so much in just 9 days.

We made it across the borders (with much investigation and skepticism) but passed nonetheless. We even had a humorous moment when Matt and I almost lost it when the Belorussian guard's phone ring was a song by Grits (for those who are not hip on Christian rap - well I just gave it away). Belarus, by the way, is not a closed country in the strictest sense but Christians are certainly persecuted. People have lost jobs for being Christian... pastors are not legally able to be paid... you cannot openly evangelize.

I also asked for prayer for the team to bond and for us to be able to better communicate with the counselors. This was a definite. We had such a good time... even ice skating, and our communication in Russian definitely improved.

We were a little nervous that we would not be able to reach the kids very well since we only had 5 half days with them. Plus the fact that these kids are in transition from being taken out of the home and becoming orphans. Even the director told us that we shouldn't expect them to open up to us. It took about 30 min. and they were singing all the songs, playing games, doing skits, and asking if we were coming back. They memorized verses even after the first day (even the counselors from the center), and they remembered all the Bible stories (of which they had never heard of before). We had many of them open up with their home lives and even asking how they can know more about our God. It was so amazing. We had one counselor tell the director that we were bringing a message to these kids that was the best thing for them... she was so moved by it all and told the director that we needed to come back. The director is already looking into coming to visit the Hope Center and wants to send kids to summer camp and even invited us back for the fall. This was the same director who was very leery in us coming with a religious agenda.

We had one little boy come back after running away because he heard what was going on at the center. He had a great time and was giving us hugs by the end of it.

We prayed about the last two boxes coming before we left and wouldn't you know it they came one hour before our last session with the kids. Just enough time to pass out all the items.

Matt and I made it back through the Ukrainian border with absolutely no problems. In fact, we had more issues with leaving Belarus, but God looked after that as well.

All of these kids come from alcoholic families except for two brothers who come from a family of drug abuse. Their stories are heart breaking. We will try to give you more examples as we come across some more time. I added some pictures of some sightseeing for you just so you know what we saw. We even got our picture taken in front of the KGB but I've yet to find that picture.

I'm sure Matt will go into more of what Belarus is like. It was definitely a different country. We had a great time there but are glad to be back "home". Thank you all for your prayers. There were so many other things but it is past midnight and this girl needs some sleep. Love you all.

(This song is not my first choice but you can only do so much with iTunes limitations)