Today...

Today I wished I liked chocolate.

For a 2-week update

Hey, for those of you who want to know what a Radooga camp is like
check out todd's blog...it is listed under the "blogs I read" section
and is titled Toddie's. It's really great, you should check it out.

Peace Out.

Lori

Alter Call Camp 5

Ok, so a friend of mine wrote this about alter call night during camp
5...

"Ok, so God is so great! Here is a camp update I suppose. Tonight was
the "altar call" night, and it was so good. But let me back up a
little bit first. Since I've been at camp, a few of us have taken to
laying out at night and staring at the stars. It's really good for
your soul to do this, by the way. We look far off into the sky and
talk about how awesome God is and how he's created such beautiful
things so far away that we can never reach them and how if a star is a
million light years away we'd never be able to reach it even if we had
a space ship that could go the speed of light and if we could live to
be 5000 years old. God is that big, that he would make so many nebulas
and galaxies that we can't even see with our naked eyes. I mean
thousands upon thousands of the most beautiful colors you've ever
imagined, with stars and swirls and exploding oranges and reds and
blues. He has made more than we can ever imagine. And tonight, the
preacher talked about how big God is. He showed a slideshow of
different galaxies and nebulas, and with each one he talked about how
beautiful it was and told us exactly how far away it was, 800 light
years away, etc. So we saw tons of beautiful pictures that show God's
majesty and glory in a number of ways, and then he came to the last
picture. He said, "Now, if you think those were beautiful, you will be
blown away by this one. It is by far the most beautiful picture I have
ever seen." He said a few more words about it and then he showed it.
It was an almost lifeless man, not too different than you or me, in a
simple t-shirt and jeans who held in his hands a hammer and a nail.
But he himself was held up by our Lord and coming King Jesus Christ.
Jesus held the very man (you and I) that nailed him to the cross.
Jesus was dressed in a dazzlingly white robe and the man in plain
clothes. Jesus held on to the man firmly and securely, but the man could
barely hold the hammer and nail, he wasn't even entirely conscious. So
the preacher said, "You've heard a lot of stories this week about
people giving their life to Christ. Tonight we want to give you that
same opportunity." And so he proceeded with the altar call. He said,
"As soon as Sergey starts playing this song, I want you to come up
front if you want to accept Jesus' free gift." But as soon as he said
that, even before Sergey started to play, people began to pour to the
front of the auditorium. It was so amazing. Over half of the kids went
to the front to accept Jesus. I stood there, amazed, thinking about
how the God who created the heavens, the millions and billions of
stars, the majestic nebulas and all their colors, that God was in
those kids working in them, now. He is so big, but he's not too big
for us. He can come in and change lives. And as I scanned the seats in
front of me I couldn't stop thinking to myself that every single empty
seat I saw is a changed life. A life revolutionized by love, not too
different from yours or mine. So after all of that we sang the song,
"God of Wonders." God has definitely made wonders beyond our galaxy,
and some I'm sure we'll never ever be able to see or find, but they're
there. And as big as he is, he's never too big to come into our lives
and change us and to show us his amazing, undenying, colorful,
majestic love."

God really is good and I am so blessed that He has shown us His glory
time and time again this summer. I know He has big plans for Ukraine
and for Radooga and for me. In knowing that, I also know that He has
big plans for you guys, so please seek Him and trust Him and know that
when you are willing He is ready!!!

Northwoods Youth--ROC at camp!!! I love you guys and am praying for
you. Send me updates when you get back.

Peace Out.

short and sweet

Sorry its been so long...I have lots of stories, but I'll try and
update you on them soon. Northwoods peeps are having a really great
time and I will be sad to tell them bye in just a few short days :o(
I miss you guys and hope to hear from you soon. I promise a better
update with more stories soon.

Peace Out!
Lori

mailto:lori@radooga.net

Hey Peeps...

Well, we have word from that the Northwoods team is on their way,
however, they were not at the airport when we went to pick them up.
Sad day. As a matter of fact, 31 of the 32 people on team 5 did not
make it to Ukraine today. We have word from Student Life that they
are in Paris and will be on their way to Kyiv in the morning. We are
planning on heading back to the airport at 3:00 tomorrow in hopes of
meeting them there.

Tomorrow is also repentance night, so be in prayer for Kevin (the
speaker), Denis (who is translating) and of course for the kids who
will hear the Gospel tomorrow night.

I love and miss you all.

Oh, and for those of you who want to e-mail Toddie or Diane or Tamara
or Nicole or Jenna, their e-mail address is Team5@radooga.net just
put their name in the subject line and it should get to them.

Will try and update again soon.

Peace Out.

Lori

mailto:lori@radooga.net

I am so sorry it has been such a long time since an update on my
blog...part of that is due to the fact that there has been an issue
with our e-mail and part of it is that I have not known what to write
b/c there is so much going on and a lot of uncertaninty. But, today I
am excited and sad. Excited b/c team 5 arrives today--and that means
Toddie, T, Diane, Jenna and Nicole. Happy day. Sad b/c that means
this is Calyn's last camp. But, we're not talking about that yet.

Camp 4 is going well. Kevin, the youth pastor from Brookhills is
speaking this week, and the kids love him, so that's great. Team 4
was saying that English classes were really hard the first day and
that the kids weren't really participating much, but last night they
said that the second day was much better and that English Class is one
of the best parts of their day. That made me happy. One thing I have
noticed about this team is that they are already really salvation
oriented. We have an invitation on the 5th night of camp and usually
the teams wait until the 4th English Class to start talking a lot
about God, but several of the American's on this team have told me
that they have been able to share their testimonies either with kids
in their class or in their rooms. I'm really excited about what God
has planned for this week.

Ok, bigger news...I'm going to be working for Radooga this fall. I
will be staying in Ukraine. I am going to have to come up with
support (and Vin says she is going to help me with that when she gets
home) Oleg said last night that the absolute maximum cost for me to
stay (excluding the plane ticket) will be $700 a month. I will be
here until December, so pray that God will provide. I know that this
is where I am supposed to be. I can look back on so many things in my
life and see how they all lead right here. It is a really awesome
feeling, but I also know that it is not going to be easy. At this
point I am the only American who is for sure staying. (There are two
others who may stay also, but are not definate) I know that during
the year will not be "camp" and I know that not having Calyn will be
super hard--for both of us--but, I also know that God has called me
here and that this will make me more dependant on Him--and that's a
really good thing. Please pray for me while I am here and know that I
love you and will miss you very much. I will do my best to keep you
up to date via this blog and I will respond personally to any e-mails
you send me. (and I would love for you to send them :o) Wow, I don't
know what else to say...continue to pray for this summer we have 3
more camps to go and one going on right now. God is not finished and
I am ready to watch Him continue in His faithfulness to us :o)

Peace Out

Lori
mailto:lori@radooga.net

Ok, so its been several days...Team 4 arrived and that brought us
Dropship, also known as Taylor Phelan; Dropship is so named b/c he
came with a suitcase full of nothing but food--so awesome. Taylor is
Jake's Calyn and you know that for me to say that he must be pretty
special :o)

Calyn and I spent like 4 hours in the airport waiting on team 4's
group to get here...but it was good times talking to Oleg and Oleg.

Tonight we went to McDonalds...we being me Jake Josh and Braylon...in
Lena's car...it was super fun. Josh was really excited that he got to
drive.

Jake and I are going to take the scooter out sometime soon, that will
be fun too.

Orientation for team 4 will be over tomorrow, so camp starts on
Monday. Pray for the kids...

Here's an interview with Jake and Dropship for you...

Lori: So, Jake how long were you anticipating Taylor's arrival?
Jake: Well, pretty much since I left. I was homesick, but now I'm
good 'cause I have a friend here, but ya'll are my friends too.
Taylor: We need to blow something up, dude. Have to.
Lori: So, I take it you guys have blown stuff up in the past?
Jake: Oh, yeah, everything. We've blown up tarrantulas, buckets,
bottles...
Taylor: What else have we blown up...potatoes.
Jake: PVC pipe.
Taylor: We didn't really blow that up...
Jake: We didn't really blow up the potato either!
Lori: Umm, so what are you going to blow up in Ukraine.
Taylor: Dude we need to blow up something big here.
Jake: Let's blow up a yoshek.
Taylor: What's that?
Lori: No!
Jake: It's a hedgehog.
Taylor: Can we catch one? We have to find it!
Jake: Dude we already caught two of them. One freakin bit me! We need
to catch a big one.
Taylor: I'd feel kinda bad if I blew up a hedgehog.
Lori: Ok, new question... ummm...
Jake: This is a good interview.
Lori: Taylor, how do you feel about Ukraine. Are you happy to be here?
(Long pause)
Taylor: Oh are you waiting?
Jake: Yes, we asked you a freakin question!
Taylor: The food's bad. McDonald's is good. And what's that place down
town?
Lori: Sterovenki Buli?
Taylor: Shruveniki buli? That's good goat cheese. I found out after I
ate it. Good goat cheese? Good goat cheese pizza.
Jake: Ok. So how was the football game tonight?
Taylor: Well, we won. What was the score? 21 to nothin! They didn't
even touch the ball!
(For those of you that don't know, Taylor and Jake had a football game
in the American office. It was a 2 on 0 game. They were on the same
team, and Taylor was the center and Jake was the quarterback for the
first half, and vice versa on 2nd half. Taylor apparently has been
quarterback before and touched Jake where he didn't like it. He also
said that was normal. By the way, this is Jake talking in 3rd person
because he knows sports games just sound better that way.)
Jake: But you did miss that kick.
Taylor: I made the kick!
Jake: No you didn't.
Taylor: Huh?
Jake: You didn't!
Taylor: What're you talking about?
Jake: You totally got reamed by that Ukranian. Do you remember? That
guy! That came upstairs. (weird noise) Did you just fart????
(all laughing)
Taylor: (looking at Jake) That was so you! Lori you farted!
Lori: (laughing) Ok, umm... well being as it's 1:30 in the morning, we
should probably go to bed. This concludes our interview.
Taylor: At the end we need to put, "Hey gurl, can I buy you a fish
sandwich?"

My friend Derek translated my last blog into ghetto slang...check it
out :o)

Okay so check it. Hopefully this will make you laugh even though you're
struggilin' with illness. Me and my college roommate for next year were messing
around on the internet and we found a sister search engine of Google that turns
an entire webpage into Ghetto slag., fo' Rizzle. It is called Gizoogle.com. So
I thought it would be funny to trazlitate your latest blog. It turned out to be
off the chain. Here it is: Enjoy

Beautiful Feet

воскресенье, Июль 03, 2005

Today we gots up early (Jakes n Josh n Roma n I) n heezeeed out ta
church. Going ta church from cizzay is not like at home where it is a 5
min. drive D-to-tha-izzown tha road...its an adventizzles drives you ta tha
highway, you fizzy dizzle a bus thiznat takes you ta tha metro, you wizzle fo`
Nikita (a translator frizzay last wizzle ta mizzy you, you buy yo
token n git on one metro, you switch trains, you git off n walk a
long way ta tha church. But, it is so mizzle fun. We left at 8:30 ta
git ta an 11:00 service, but it was awesome. F-to-tha-izzirst we wizzy ta
youth
sunday schoo` n there were a bunch of kids there from last ciznamp so
that was really cool. Tizzle we wizzy ta tha service which was really
similar ta an American chuch servie--izzle in Russian ;O) we had
communion n that was awesome...I hadn't been ta Wed. night chuch in
a while, so its been a while since I've had communion, n it was a
good thing fo` me. Jakes wants me ta tizzy you tizzy they had real wine
dur'n communion n it was really strong red wine Brotha than wizzy
you guys have at St. Fransis, M-to-tha-izzom). Afta chuch we wizzy wit some of
tha kids n gots Sharma, this wrizzay thing wit some sizzay of meat in it.
The kids told us it was C-to-tha-izzat, dog, hedgehog, bird, n thugz meat.
So, who knows what we were ridin' but it was really good.

Wizzy we gots hizzy I read a lot n then tizzy a nap. Biznut, tonight we
watched Oceans 11...great movie, huh David :o) Jakes computa died
R-to-tha-izzight as tha end'n credits were hatin' up--so cool. I love that
movie. It makes me happy. I think it may be a Moulin Rouge night,
too n tizzle would be happy. :o)

W-to-tha-izzell, I'm gonna go find Vin. I love you all.

Peace Out.

Today we got up early (Jake and Josh and Roma and I) and headed out to
church. Going to church from camp is not like at home where it is a 5
min. drive down the road...its an adventure...Oleg drives you to the
highway, you flag down a bus that takes you to the metro, you wait for
Nikita (a translator from last week to meet you, you buy your
token and get on one metro, you switch trains, you get off and walk a
long way to the church. But, it is so much fun. We left at 8:30 to
get to an 11:00 service, but it was awesome. First we went to youth
sunday school and there were a bunch of kids there from last camp so
that was really cool. Then we went to the service which was really
similar to an American chuch servie--except in Russian ;O) we had
communion and that was awesome...I hadn't been to Wed. night chuch in
a while, so its been a while since I've had communion, and it was a
good thing for me. Jake wants me to tell you that they had real wine
during communion and it was really strong red wine (stronger than what
you guys have at St. Fransis, mom). After chuch we went with some of
the kids and got Sharma, this wrap thing with some sort of meat in it.
The kids told us it was cat, dog, hedgehog, bird, and people meat.
So, who knows what we were eating, but it was really good.

When we got home I read a lot and then took a nap. But, tonight we
watched Oceans 11...great movie, huh David :o) Jakes computer died
right as the ending credits were coming up--so cool. I love that
movie. It makes me happy. I think it may be a Moulin Rouge night,
too and that would be happy. :o)

Well, I'm gonna go find Vin. I love you all.

Peace Out.

Team 2 leaves tomorrow...sad day :o( But we have had a lot of fun the
past couple days...We went to TGI Fridays and Josh and Jake ate their
food and lots of mine, too :o) Then we went to St. Andrew's street
which is where you buy souveniers...Jake found a table that sold art
supplies and he bought modling clay and pastels...everyone else bought
ukrainian flag and soccer jerseys and stuff and then there is Jake who
buys clay. :o) Gotta love it. I asked him if he is an art nerd...he
didn't think so, but last night Carli and I discovered that its true,
he is :o) Fun stuff.

Today we went to a park that is set up like old Ukraine and has
different regions and stuff. Super Awesome. I played with Elusha
alot, he is Oleg and Lena's middle child and (gasp) we had fun.

Ok, here is team B to say Hi to ya'll

What's up America. Long time no see. I miss your hot dogs and
hamburgers and good company. But I've grown to love the kabobs here.
Ooh, they are good. Oh, and the dyevushki, they are good too. I
haven't found my wife yet, though I'm getting closer. Can't wait till
the day we will soon be reunited. Love you.
--Jake Ok wait! Today I
walked up to this horse chained up in a field, and it was so nice. I
pet its face and side, and it was good. Then Satan entered it, and it
turned it's back to me and kicked me in the leg! Knocked me flat on
the ground, and out of reach of some more stompage thanks to the
chain. So it was pretty horse-core.
--Ok, what's funny about this story is that Jake is a ranch hand at
home in Sherman, Texas. Nerd.

ok, so Team B doesn't want to talk to you (accept Jake, obviously :o)
sorry. They are busy eating snacks and Jake and Mrs. Betty and I are
about to have a coffee party so I have to go...

I love you all.

Peace Out.