June 2009
1 post
My Final Blog
by Danny Casler
My heart hurts so bad right now. We just said our goodbyes. I really hate goodbyes. My nose is runny and I’ve got tears in my eyes. Leaving Micha was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a very long time. It’s not because I feel sorry for him because of his circumstance. It’s because I love him truly like a brother and it hurts by soul to...
May 2009
23 posts
I’m Huge in Eastern Europe
by Ron Gehrke II
Our last day at the orphanage has arrived and with it so has sickness and some doubts about my personal impact on this trip. We have been doing a great deal of construction work this week. Which is all well and good, but what I do is about relationships. Due to our heavy work schedule, I felt I have been having connection issues.
Earlier this...
The Power of the Apology
by Lori Lenz
Yesterday, I saw a most amazing thing happen here in Ukraine.
One of our favorite kids here at the orphanage – Mischa – was hanging out, making some bracelets with one of the other kids. I just happened to be in the room, working on an email. Mischa speaks no english at all, but for some reason, communication is not a big deal. He has helped us...
Ceilings, walls, and floors…OH MY
by Kaylyn Albert
It is yet another busy day. We are constantly moving, trying to get the paint to stick on the ceiling, painting the walls, and laying the floor out. I have enjoyed every minute of this trip so far – from the construction, to spending time with the kids, to late night devotions. Everything has been a great experience.
I have never appreciated...
A Life of Purpose
by Danny Casler
So we honestly have been so busy that blogging has been secondary to working and keeping spirits up. I admit I am more of the cheerleader then the back breaking worker. Ive done my fair share of work but I feel in a way that I have been called to be a brother to Micha more than anything so in a sense I am working but in a more spiritual, human to human type of...
Day 6 - Daniel
by Daniel Cole
So I have been here for a while now and I am really enjoying it here and enjoying the Ukraine culture/experience. It feels like I have done so much in the last few days, We had a campfire and BBQ Marshmallows, We went to school, played sports football, badminton, Power Frisbee, we went to a marketplace and shopping centre, and redecorated a number of rooms in the...
Superstitions
by Lori Lenz
So there are a few proverbs that I’ve learned since I’ve been here in the Ukraine: First – There’s something about that you can’t chase 2 rabbits. (Sort of a you can’t have your cake and eat it too reference….). Thus the advertisement…which I completely didn’t understand until someone explained it to me.
Second – Never put a mirror by your front door. (Because your...
тому що ми не можемо забути
by Josh Kidney
I find it uplifting that days which feel the most ineffectual can often be redeemed by a few short hours of extreme purpose. Last night, several members of the Faceless team had a great opportunity to get to bed early, yet chose to abandon it for talk of future hopes and dreams. Not dreams of fame and fortune but of a coming movement.
As so many...
Busy
by Ron Gehrke II
As you may have guessed from the lack of updates, today has been much busier than the last few. We are pushing incredibly hard to finish our renovations here at the orphanage. We have hit a few snags where we have had to redo some work that we thought was done and the unexpected has expectedly popped up. Most of the day was spent rescrapping one of the ceilings, painting,...
Weeping
by Addie Domske
I thought for this brief post I would give you some bits of my journal so far: : )
Monday, May 25, 2009
We’ve arrived in the Ukraine. I like traveling a lot and I can see myself staying here for a long time. I’m not sure I like the capacity in which I’m here yet, but I can definitely see myself molding this experience into a job down the road.
There are...
Very Superstitious
by Josh Kidney
It’s been a pretty slow day today, at least for me. I got to feeling pretty terrible last night around 9 and tried to go to sleep early, but that didn’t happen. Luckily, despite the lack of sleep, I woke up this morning feeling a little better than I did last night. I’m starting to think that I actually picked this up from our hotel room in New York. Danny and...
The Pastor and the Orphan
by Danny Casler
This morning I woke with a dream that I was back in the first house I grew up with in Hawaii. There were yard sales everywhere and mothers and their children but no fathers to be found. Everyone was selling everything. The houses were all cement and rebar like a bomb hit the entire place. My town I grew up in, was no more. My family was no where to be...
Lessons Learned Between Wallpapering
by Alex Newby
Since I’ve already ignored the time difference and called my dad at 5am Kentucky time, I figured it was time to just write a blog of my own.
As the official Hump day of the trip, we’ve finished up the wallpaper in the front room, and started wallpapering the hallway AND the back room. Currently we are out of wallpaper glue so most of us are...
Random Thoughts
by Abigail TeBordo
So here we are on the third day in the Ukraine, and it is amazing! I have had so many amazing experiences in this short amount of time. God has just been so real to me here! I mean God is real to me always but it has just been so crazy the things that I have been seeing and realizing.
In the last 24 hours there have been two things that God has just clearly...
Babushkas and Ventriloquists
by Stephanie Holt
I’m getting my days mixed up already. It feels like we’ve been here for ten days at least.
So far, I must say that my favorite sights have been the women in babushkas and the marketplace. Especially when it’s women IN babushkas IN the marketplace selling grain, seeds, and flowers. SO CUTE! We talked to them a little bit through our beautiful,...
It’s A Hard-Knock Life
by Ron Gehrke II
For the last few days we have experienced life as a group of Ukrainian orphans. We have worked together, learned together, and showered together (it’s not as bad as it sounds, see Lori’s blog).
Here are a few things we’ve learned about living in an orphanage:
1. Eat FAST. Breakfast & Lunch - 10 minutes. Dinner - maybe 20. If...
Wallpaper and Advil
Day 3
by Josh Kidney
I woke up this morning with a bit of a cold I think. It may just be allergies. The building we are staying in is fairly old and I’m pretty sure there is mold and there is definitely dust. I can’t complain though. Some coffee and a few Advil made me feel almost as good as new.
I got to thinking as I was getting around this morning. I really wish I knew...
Day 2 - Lori
by Lori Lenz
It’s Tuesday and we have begun our work projects. We’ve spent the morning covered in dust, plaster and whatever fell from the ceiling. We are redoing a hallway and 2 rooms in the orphanage – so we’re basically ripping everything off the walls and ceiling and starting over. It appears there have been many layers of paint and paper in these rooms, so the task has been...
Day 2 - Kaylyn
by Kaylyn Albert
I woke up this morning to kids playing outside. The sun was out, and it was beautiful. I was the first of the six in my room to get up and prepare for the day’s work. After breakfast the team joined together for devotions and to figure out what we would be doing. Back home I normally don’t like taking wall paper off of walls, and scrapping ceilings. I actually...
Day 2 - Ruth
by Ruth Arnold
Right now, I am sitting on the floor because I am covered in the productivity of the day. We have been scraping the wallpaper off the walls and the water-soluble paint off the ceilings. The residue from the paint is covering me. I look like a geisha. My face is white and my hair is prematurely gray.
Yesterday was not only our first day in the Ukraine, but also my...
Day 2 Update
by Josh Kidney
I slept in my clothes last night because I was too tired to change out of them. Thanks to Soviet construction, we couldn’t find the light switch to turn out the lights in our room. I know it’s downstairs somewhere, but we’ll have to figure out that mystery today. Despite the lights being on, I slept like a rock and woke up refreshed and needing to go to the bathroom....
First Day Update
Hurray! Daniel, who truly makes our team international, has made it to the orphanage so our family is complete. (He didn’t have movies on his flight from the UK either)
Markus received some staggering statistics.
10% of teens that come out of the Ukrainian Orphanage system commit suicide before their 18th birthday
60% of the girls end up in prostitution
70% of the boys...
We have arrived!
It’s been a really long, but wonderful day. Turns out our 8 hour flight didn’t have TV, those little air vent thingies and sadly 1/2 of us got to experience several hours of someone with very stinky feet! But we landed and safely got a mountain of marshmallows through customs without a hitch.
We met with Markus and some other fabulous people for a briefing (Thanks...
Faceless Team Getting Ready
The Faceless team is getting prepared to head to Ukraine. Watch this page for updates. The team will update daily as long as Ukrainian internet connections co-operate. Thank you for being a part of our journey.