Another One Bites the Dust

     And another one gone, and another one gone. Another one bites the dust. That's one more day done. And if the weather reports are accurate, it was the hottest day of the week. Two roasting hot days down and three to go.

Anna, Katya, me and the afternoon crew.

     Alright, I said in the last post that I'd talk about schedules. The plans for morning and evening are roughly the same. We have to adjust the specifics on the fly sometimes. Students will go slowly in the lesson or they will finish a task or game quickly.

• English lesson 9:00 - 10:30 or 15:00 - 16:30
• Fun and games 10:30 - 11:30 or 16:30 - 17:30
• Cartoon 11:30 - 12:00 or 17:30 - 18:30
• Bible lesson 12:00 - 13:00 or 18:00 to 19:00

     We start with the English lesson for both morning and afternoon. This is usually a combination of review, new material, games and Q&A. Fun and games is just what it sounds like. The cartoon is a animated series called Super Book (or супер книга as it's called here). It's a Bible-based animation similar to Adventures in Odyssey. Then we finish off with a Bible Lesson. That is a time of story, question, and memorization. Tomorrow will be an easy Bible lesson because all we have to do is play the VeggieTales Jonah movie. The past four sessions, we've finished a little early and have had time for games or questions (or selfies as happened today).
     Between sessions, the team goes to Sasha's home for lunch and some rest. He lives not far from the office where the camp is. While there's not a lot of cool or moving air, there is plentiful good food. Sasha's wife Vika is a very good cook. We've been eating a lot of traditional Ukrainian meals. And I've surprised myself with the variety of things I've allowed onto my plate. Things that I'd normally resist eating.
     The morning group is mostly boys and that brings it's own drama. But in the afternoon, there are mostly girls (as you can see in the pictures). I'm glad the groups are like this. I don't think I could handle the bigger group with the boys in the afternoon. Both groups have their own particular challenges. It's either too many boys in the group or too many young (7 years old) kids. Herding cats, Sisyphean tasks, chasing the wind, wild goose chase. They're all accurate representations of the lessons at one moment or another.
     In other news, it's only been two days of camp and I'm already a celebrity. Today I was asked for three selfies and four other photos. Here's one I asked to be taken while everyone else was getting theirs.

     I'm actually surprised at how quickly the kids seem to be opening up to me. I thought I'd be someone they would have a hard time relating to. But today, one of the kids, Maxim, seemed to want to hang out with me more. On Monday during the Bible lesson, he was resistant to the idea of learning about the Bible. When I asked how the world was created, he said "the Big Bang." I thought he would be closed off for the whole week. Today, after the fun time where we threw a frisbee back and forth, he really opened up. He helped me carry a heavy bucket of sand back to the classroom and at the end, asked his mom to take a picture of the both of us. They've also given me little gifts. Today, one of the kids drew this picture for me. In the morning session, I must have looked really tired before it started. One of them gave me a packet of instant coffee. They also seem to really be enjoying the time spent with us. Despite the language barrier, the kids seem to really want to engage with me; either in conversation or playing games. I'm happy to see such progress early on.
      I'll keep you updated as the week goes on. Now that we're in the groove, I think this week will start to get better. Other than the heat that is. Please pray for continued strength, wisdom and openness as we serve these kids.