Happy New Year

On the eve of another New Year, as you look back over the events of last year and look forward to a new year with all it's opportunities, I wonder, are you the sort of person who makes New Year resolutions? Perhaps more so, are you the sort of person who keeps them past the first week?

What do you resolve to do each year? Lose weight, get fit, eat less, drink less, look up that old friend you haven't seen for a long time, make up with the person you haven't spoken to for ages, do more, get out more, the list is endless.

Have you considered being more involved in your local Church or even going to your local Church.

As we think of the wonderful message of Christmas, when our saviour Jesus Christ came down to earth to dwell with men, don't you think it would be good to get more involved in 2013, to put your beliefs into practice.

Odessa Project is all about short term mission for men. Opportunities for one or two weeks to go somewhere different, get away from the daily routine, step out from your comfort zone, meet and fellowship with other believers and support God's work practically by helping to complete a home for needy children and young people.

We are taking names for the next trip in May 2013 and also for September as well, so if you are interested to find out more or come along and join a trip email us at <odessaproject12@gmail.com> or click here for more information.

Wishing you every blessing for the coming year.

John

Happy Christmas

Wishing all our followers a very Happy Christmas.

Keep checking the blog for updates after Christmas.

Cake Sale

Thanks to Annika and her friends, who recently held a baking day and cake sale and raised £126 towards materials for Transition House.
Also thanks to everyone who came along on the day and purchased cakes.

John

Next visit

Dates for the next visit to work on Transition House will be Sat 18th May - Sat 26th May 2013. 

Names now being taken, to sign up email odessaproject12@gmail.com or speak to Paul, John or Ben.

Why not do it now!

John

Thank you!

Many thanks to everyone one who helped at the bag pack on Saturday, thanks to Tesco Warndon Villages for allowing us to attend and thanks to the shoppers who were generous in their donations, which amounted to £240.

This money will be passed on to Grace Baptist Church in Ukraine to purchase more materials to help complete Transition House.

John

Odessa Project - What's it all about?

Odessa is situated on terraced hills overlooking a small harbor on the Black Sea in the Gulf of Odessa, some 443 km (275 mi) south of the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

It has a population of more than 1 million people. The city's location on the coast of the Black Sea has also helped to create a booming tourist industry in Odessa

Like most eastern European countries , Ukraine has a huge problem in the form of homeless children. It is estimated that there are up to 5000 homeless children living in the city of Odessa alone (source 'Odessa Guide.com'). Many take shelter in underground sewers, which usually results in them turning to street crime, drugs, prostitution and other forms of abuse.

What can be done?Homes can be provided for these children, as well as helping them get an education and gain employment so they can stay off the streets.

What is being done?

Grace Baptist Church in Odessa has an orphanage which currently houses around 40 children. These children are given shelter, food, clothing and, most importantly, love. Now the Church are building a Transition House for the children to move into when they become teenagers, thus allowing more children to be adopted into the orphanage. Once complete, this Transition House will house around 70 young people as they seek employment and their own accommodation.

How have we been involved?
In 2008, some men from Gwersyllt Congregational Church, Wales sought to put their faith into action and organised a practical work project to help with the construction of the Transition House. Since then, teams of men have gone out to help with the building work and have taken finances for the building materials.  In September 2011 a team of men from Woodgreen went to Odessa with men from Gwersyllt Congregational Church to carry out building works at Transition House. 

This year teams have gone out in May and September and plans are being made to go back in May next year. All team members self fund their trip, all money raised by donations is passed on to the church in Odessa towards project costs. We do not deduct any administration costs from donations.

Who goes?

A very diverse group of men have gone out to Odessa so far, including a plumber, two preachers, a software engineer, a retired police officer, mechanics, civil servants, a student and a BT engineer to name just a few. The age ranges from early 20's to (early?) 60's. No building experience or knowledge is required as everything is learned on site.

How can I get involved?

·         Support this project in the future, email us at odessaproject12@gmail.com for more information.

· 

 Thank You

We would like to thank you for your interest in the Odessa Project. All donations are used towards the project with no deductions for administration.

Updates

A group of young people from Woodgreen Evangelical Church will be doing a bag pack at Tesco, on Warndon Villages, Worcester this Saturday between 11am and 3pm to raise funds for the Odessa Project.

If you are local why not come along and support them by having your shopping packed for you.

Look forward to seeing you Saturday.

John

Home again

After a very early start from Odessa the team arrived at London Gatwick airport just before 1pm on Saturday. Flights were on time and the only hiccup was trying to locate our bags in Kiev where they went to a different terminal to us, but after an 800m walk across the airport we were reunited with our bags and able to check in for the flight to London.

All looked good until we hit the M25, there then followed almost 6 hours of sitting in slow moving and stationary traffic caused by several accidents. We finally arrived back in Worcester just before 10pm!

However the journey home did not spoil our enjoyment of the trip. We had a fantastic time working and meeting friends, new and old.

Further update will follow with some photos of our trip.

Thursday - nearly done!

It's lunchtime on Thursday and we're nearly done! By nearly done I don't mean the building, just our week here and the small projects we've been entrusted with. 

There was no update yesterday because we didn't get chance during the day and took the lads from transition house bowling in the evening. They had a great time and so did we. The highlight of the evening was watching Sam try to teach the lads to spin bowl the ball and then watch them try, with varied success!! 

Yesterday we were joined for the day by Gabe, an American missionary who came out to join the team in Odessa with his wife and daughter 18months ago. They're in the process of learning the language and helping out in the children's home, playing games, doing crafts and teaching the Bible. He spent the day with us helping to translate, and some of the guys had a useful meeting with our hosts discussing how we can support them in the future, which wouldn'tve been possible without Gabe! He came bowling too, we showed him how to play!

After spending time in the Bible this morning as a team we've been encouraged to get as much done as we can today, so we're working hard so we make as much progress as possible before we leave. Please be praying for our energy and concentration levels!

Back to it...!

Tuesday

It's hot and sunny here in Odessa, which makes transition house very warm! Just on our lunch break after a mornings hard work. After correcting all yesterday's mistakes the teams cracked on where they left off yesterday. Progress has meant that plasterboard and ceiling tiles are now going up.          

                                                                                                           

Richard had the first injury, drilling a screw into his thumb! Nothing to worry about though, he plastered it up and carried on.                 

                     

Tonight we eat here at transition house and tomorrow we're being joined by some American missionaries who will help us translate, so there should be less gesturing, pointing and nodding!!

Right back to work.

Monday Update

Our first day in Ukraine started by going to Grace Baptist Church's morning service. We met Joseph, a 16yr old son of an American missionary family, who took us to the very front of the church. We soon found out there were no headphones for us, so we all had to huddle round Joseph as he interpreted quietly for us! 

The rest of the day was spent looking round the city centre and the docks, followed by the evening service and a early night. 

Monday we got up early and headed to transition house for the first time. The guys from the Wirral were amazed at the progress that has been made since they were last here 3 years ago, once they got over that they joined the rest of us in amazement at the size of the building and the amount of work still to be done, with the very little skills held by most of us! Once we'd got over that we got started.

We were split into small teams and given jobs to do by Sasha the local builder, who has done most of the work so far, and seems to be able to communicate anything building related despite the language barrier! Today has been all about building frames for ceiling and plasterboard to attach to, so lots of drilling, screwing and climbing up and down slightly wobbly scaffolding. A long day work was interrupted for some when the power went off in transition house, leaving a few of us to carry on till we were taken back to the church at 6 for our third feast of the day!

Team arrive in Odessa

The team have arrived safely in Odessa.

They were met at the airport by friends from Grace Baptist Church and are now settling in ready to worship at Grace Baptist Church on Sunday.

More updates to follow.

John

Arrived at Gatwick

The team have arrived at London Gatwick airport and are now waiting to board their flight to Odessa.

Keep checking for updates and photos

John

Almost there!

Only 2 days till we fly out, bags are packed and we are looking forward to arriving in Odessa and getting down to work.

We leave at 8am from Worcester and arrive in Odessa at 1015pm, a long day but worth it.

Keep a look out on the blog for updates and photos.

John

Only a week to go!

Just 1 week till we go back out to Odessa to continue work on Transition House.

We fly out next Saturday from London Gatwick to Odessa, travelling via Kiev.

The team of 8 (5 from Woodgreen and 3 from North Wales) are preparing for the trip.

We are all looking forward to getting to work and seeing old friends as well as making new ones, as 4 of the men are new to the team.

Keep a watch on the blog as we will try to update it as often as possible as we travel and when we are in Odessa.

Thanks for all your support, we really do appreciate it. Please feel free to leave a comment to encourage us.

John

Car Wash & Breakfast

A really big THANK YOU to all the people who came this morning to have a big breakfast and a chat whilst  having their cars washed.

We washed 26 cars in an hour and a half and raised over £330 towards materials for Transition House in Odessa.

Thanks also to everyone who came along to wash cars, cook and serve the breakfasts.

Fundraising Car Wash & Breakfast

We are holding a car wash and breakfast to raise funds to buy materials to help complete Transition House.

Why not come along on Saturday 8th Septermber between 9.30am and 11.00am, enjoy a cooked breakfast whilst your car is being washed. Donations to the Odessa Project.

Time to sign up

Not much time left to sign up for the September trip.

So far we have 4 men booked to go with 2 more strong possibles from Woodgreen for the week 22nd - 29th September. It's time to get signed up and flights booked as the weeks will fly by.

Speak to me or Paul at church or email <odessaproject12@gmail.com>

John

September Trip Dates

Hi everyone.

It's good to be back home after a fantastic time in Odessa with our friends at Grace Baptist Church.

We have been looking at dates for the September trip. At the moment the suggested dates are:

15th - 22nd Sept & 22nd - 29th Sept

Team members can sign up for either or both weeks or if these dates are not suitable for you there may be a possibility of another week in early Sept.

If you would like to sign up to either or both of the above dates, just register your interest without commitment or might be better suited to a different week let me know, speak to me or Paul at church or email <odessaproject12@gmail.com >.


Please think about this and let us know as soon as possible, September is not that far away and it would be good to get flights booked asap.


John

Hallo Blogski, you want photos, let's start with our minders for this trip, "the brotherhood"...

Black sea BBQ by Lydia and Pieter, "Monitored" by Bogdan.

 Flowers by Anna Bandura...

Guitar lessons (for Andy) by Sasha

Creation by... erm God actually :)

Water thermostatic-appropriate-checkpoint- officer... Malcolm

In airport interactive media consultant...Charles

For our photographic department please contact  BENSTAR (what time is now) Davide, or Paul at whattimeisnow.com

 Davide is our expert photographer...

He is the senior consultant in how to take photos with a corgi car...

This Blogski is "Komplete" (as are many of the finest second floor ceilings in the Ukraine), we will post reflections as they emerge, so please keep watching for the next installment of "peeps go to Odessa to say "CHELLO" many times"...
We thank you for watching this davenport-revski production and hope you "had a comfort dable flight and enjoy your weekend in the beautiful city of London where it is celebration of many queen years, we hope you will hope to travel again with us ... "
P

Sunday 3^rd June

The team arrived home safely early this morning. It’s good to be home again with our families.

We look back with fond memories and look forward to our next trip.

Photos to follow soon.

Saturday 2^nd June

There was no blog yesterday as we had a long working day at Transition House. We stayed there for our evening meal and then carried on working until the light went, in an effort to do as much as possible.

We have been back this morning for a few hours and have now all the 3^rd floor rooms have their ceilings completed other than odd panels where electrics still need to be done and one room with the area around the window still needing completion.

We have had a farewell lunch at the church and the Alan,John and Peter from North Wales have left for airport to get their flight home.

The rest of us are just showering and relaxing before we get our lift to the airport.

It has been an incredible week, with long hours of hard work, fun times with the lads at Transition House and good fellowship with our friends at Grace Church. We all have mixed emotions, looking forward to going home to see our families but sad to be leaving our friends over here.

Talk has already started about our next trip.

We will update the blog soon with more photos of our trip and the work that has been done.

Thursday 31^st May

It’s 10:21pm now and we have just returned from a visit to the Black Sea Camp, which is situated about an hour drive from Odessa and is on the shore of the Black Sea.

Grace Church uses this area to run summer camps for children. It is a hive of activity at the moment as preparations are made for the start of the camps next month.

Yesterday evening we enjoyed a trip out to the local bowling alley with the older lads from Transition House and some of the people who have been looking after us. Everyone had a good time and completion on the alley was fierce.

This morning was spent platerboarding ceilings and completing the metalwork in one of the rooms. We were pleased to have completed the metalwork and also to almost have all the plasterboard up on that ceiling. The other team have very nearly completed the ceiling in the other room as well.

Lunch today was a truly multi-cultural affair with at least 18 of us sitting around the table, representing Ukraine, England, Wales, Iran and USA.

Everyone is getting tired now so it was good to have a break this afternoon and go for a BBQ at the camp. It was pleasing to see all the work that had been done there with new pathways being laid.

We are all looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow morning with the challenge of getting as much done as possible before we have to return home on Saturday.

If you saw yesterday’s blog, the last photo referred to Ben, who being quite tall has been nicknamed ‘Big Ben’ by the lads who continuously ask him the time. They have also fashioned a clock face out of a piece of plasterboard to hand round his neck.

Look out for Friday’s blog with photos of the work completed so far.

The Sun Shines in Odessa

Good afternoon from sunny Odessa, the rain has moved on and we woke this morning to brilliant sunshine. We've been having some problems with internet access, in fact we are at Transition House at the moment and Andy has had to get the internet up and running so that we can send this blog. The time is now 5pm here (3pm in Worcester) so only about an hour or so left to work today. We hope to go out this evening with the lads fromTranstion House and some of the people from the church who have been looking after us.

We have just had a 'chai' (tea) break which consisted of a selection of different types of tea, soft drinks, fresh strawberries, cherries, apricots and biscuits. when you work hard you need the energy!

We have been working hard again today, plastering, continuing with the metal ceiling supports and plasterboarding the ceilings.

We have had some help today from some of the lads from Transition House as well as Pastor Igor's two sons.

Plasterboarding the ceiling with the boy's help.

The 'Rev' Hughes wearing his new prescription spectacles!!

The ceiling in the room we started Monday is now almost complete, time to move on to the next.

The guys are are still persevering with the metalwork, they are now at the difficult stage around the windows.

We've split off into another team now to start on the room that has just had the metal supports put up. No pressure on the metalwork team at the windows then!

Andreas putting the first finish coat of plaster on and levelling out John's plastering!!!

There is fair bit of Ukraine v UK banter going on. Check out tomorrows blog for an explanation of this photo.

Go Go Goski

Hi all from a damp Odessa, apologies for the blog delay, everything we typed turned up in Russian, which we guessed was of limited use for those who speak "West Midlands".
Our day started at 7, (5am Uk time) with Breakfast, Bible study and prayer. (We are looking at men of God in the bible and the secrets they share with us of how to be fruitful in life). Today we learned about a guy called Shamiah (heard of him?).
We leave in our minibuses for the building site at 8:15, and were greeted by Pieter who is the granddad of the orphanage, his smile will light up any room. We were really encouraged to see how transition house has developed with many internal walls shower rooms and dormitories taking shape in a way we could've only envisaged in September. We seperated into 3 teams, for putting up ceilings, suspended metal work and plasterboard) and John learned the art of Ukrainian plastering (he was very good, covered in white plaster).
You will see from this photo that the sight is very very very dusty, the flash is showing the dust (not that we are working underwater.)

These guys are putting up a false ceiling in one of the sleeping areas...
(careful Andy with that tape measure, Sascha is more fussy than you think!!!)

these chaps are on plasterboard, they have the eye of a finely skilled surgeon (unfortunately the hand of someone with boxing gloves on)

We were encouraged by a very patriotic sound system brought in for this year (it plays the whole backcatologue of Phatfish, Lou Fellingham, Stuart Townend, Deep purple, switchfoot and Beach Boys.

After Lunch cooked by the only Lady in the Ukraine (Lydia) who cooks proper "Borsche"...

we really cracked on and saw some real progress in the day, returning home at 7:00

Sascha the foreman is pleased, but maybe he didn't smile as much as we hoped :)

Supper has arrived, speak tomorrow,

P

Sunday 27^th May

An awesome day in Odessa.

Today we have been entertained by our wonderful friends at grace Baptist church.

On a beautiful sunny morning it is quite a sight to see over 500 people arrive at a vibrant church all in their best outfits. We are sleeping in the orphanage itself, where it is impossible to go anywhere without being hi-fived or someone shouting “ghellow” (good morning in Ukrainian English). Here are some of the orphans marching off to church...

There are 130 children in the church, they all love singing, (even the boys) and seem very happy to be there. During the morning service there are usually 2 sermons, today some weird Worcester chap was spouting. 

The translator is Pastor Igor Bandura, senior pastor at Grace. He is a very influential man in the Ukrainian Evangelical church network, spending much of his time travelling back and forth to Kiev (where he returns tomorrow). He helps many churches and has been very strategic in starting many new churches. The church is full of flowers and you will see that behind the preacher there is room for a full choir, who sing to an exceptionally high standard.

The church had invited some English language students to spend some time with us over lunch. 

We found out that Ukrainians are quite keen on keeping their distinctive culture and language for future generations, and rather offended by their Russian speaking president who pretends to speak Ukrainian (with humiliating consequences).

During the afternoon as we visited Old Odessa we were struck by 3 things

1. There is such a community feel to the parks, boulevards and public spaces. The older men gather on Sundays to play dominoes chess and cards, with a passion that resembles a Samoan prop forward .
2. The architecture is stunning. Although many of the government buildings strike an imposing shadow on the walkway, the most stunning building (the opera house) is surrounded by flowers in a bright open space.
3. The market stalls sell everything... from Ukrainian dolls (with David Cameron, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher on) and tea-cloths to tooth pick holders, statues of Lenin and guns.

We feel very privileged to be here with great people, we are in a great city, loved by a great GOD. We’ll catch up tomorrow but now we need bed so до свидания

Paul

Woodgreen Team arrives in Odessa

The team from Woodgreen arrived safely in Odessa this evening. 

They are looking forward to attending Grace Baptist Church tomorrow and visiting Transition House to see how the work is progressing before starting work on Monday.

Saturday 26th May

At London Heathrow Terminal 1 waiting for our 1110 Lufthansa flight to Munich, where we have to change for our onward flight to Odessa. Due to arrive in Odessa at 1810 (6.10pm).

What you do when you need the cash 8-)

We had a great team meeting last night, the final one before we go, and the guys wanted me to say a massive thanks again to all of you who have helped us find cash down the sofa and raise money to purchase materials. These guys did a 10 mile sponsored bike ride, (I don't think they've sat down since!)

These guys, washed over 40 cars...

Some were bigger than others...

 These guys cooked 40 hearty breakfasts...

Some ate more than others

Many people have done some great things to help buy materials, why not send us a comment or photo (see comments box) about what you did to help. We'd love to hear from you.
Paul