Update Saturday 25th PM

Dear Pastor P and Blogski friends...
Firstly and most importantly Clive, Malcolm and Emlyn have landed safely and no bags have been lost.
Secondly ... (what follows is a barrage of digs at pastor P)
Charles and Rob went to Transition house, whilst there we completed the concrete in the final shower room and...

• Removed the excess tile adhesive from the tiling already completed (dig).
• Rob had a little trip on the uneven tiling (please see picture) Insurance claim form is in the post. :) (dig)
  
• *blogger responds "that's because you were jumping on them before they were dry!"(dig)
• John had a lovely day chilling out. (dig)
• Whilst waiting at Odessa airport (arrival - 1 hour late) Alex and Peter treated Charles, John and Rob to a lovely cup of coffee with a cool looking leaf on the top.
  

Regards "The Team."

ps. John is happy the real workers have arrived.

Odessa - Week 1 Numerical Summary

• 1 suspended ceiling put in (the last one)
• 4 Water waste pipes connected and boxed in floor to ceiling
• 4 shower rooms waterproofed and filled in with 3 layers of proofing rubber/ silicon base, briquette mix , concrete scree 
• 221 large  floor tiles buttered leveled and stuck to 1 very large kitchen floor.
  • 50 bags of cement and sand carried up 3 floors, mixed in 4 buckets with 1 very large drill  and 1 mixer.
  • 1 very large mixer carried up 3 flights of fire escape (leaning over bannister - busting 1 back (rob) and scraping 1 arm (Paul)
  • 1 partition wall erected.
  • About 70 meters of floor hidden water pipes concreted in.
  • About 50 meters of wall cables hidden and filled.
  • 1 broom which worked overtime.
  • 1 wobbly ladder that got fixed several times.
  • Several drills which got recharged twice a day.
  • 3 wobbly wooden horses upon which went 8 wobbly planks to make 1 almost firm  platform scaffold.
  • About 735 biscuits consumed.
  • Approx 76 bottles Of fizz (Coke, Pepsi sprite fanta) consumed
  • Approx 441 mugs of chai / coffee
  • 4 chapters of Philippians pondered
  • 1 Wedding attended.
  • 5 bouquets of flowers presented 
  • 1 large family to return to see sometime
  • Several thousand screws dropped then screwed.
  • Over 400 meters of large metal work constructed (plus smaller metal work )
  • X=how many hours we slept (where x = not enough).
  • Numerous attempts at Andy trying to communicate in Russian (some successful.)
  • 15 novels worth of translation by Sasha
  • 1 major injury (Sasha the builder with 8 major stitches and 3 trips to doctor)
  • 12 happy Ukrainians who came bowling with us.
  • 1 large transition house looking more and more like a home.
  • 5 dusty dormitories.
  • 1 brilliant bunch of lads.
  • 1 very early start to enable journey home.
  • 6 sleeps each on journey home.
  • 1 team being prayed for as they fly past us and join the 3 superheroes sticking at it for another week.
  • 1 very kind gracious and wonderfully generous God.
  • 2 more trips planned for Gwersyllt and Woodgreen to get ready for.

A beautiful day in Kiev

Dear blogski,
After an early start (4:30 Ukraine 2:30 Uk) an impromptu prayer meeting in Odessa Departures Lounge, we have said a fond farewell to our very dear friends Pieter and Alexei. We are currently awaiting our flight in Kiev. During the flight we met an American pastor who is preaching around Southern Europe. For a brief conversation, it was incredible what two guys can have in common when they know the same gracious God. We are praying for each other as our flights go different ways but our destination will ultimately be the same - a permanent residency with the God who never dissappoints, is the same yesterday today and forever.
I have the truth of Philippians ringing in my ears as i sit in the departure lounge - there is no higher calling than living for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. To live for something eternal, to have a life shaped by the gospel, and to invest in something which will never perish spoil or fade gives a man great Joy.
If you are not a Christian and wondering what on earth I am on about, let me say to you that coming to know God in a personal and living way through Jesus Christ gives a Joy and satisfaction that nothing else in this world or life offers. He gives you his forgiveness, (no guilt) his family (a people of love and grace) and his satisfaction (everything God creates, redeems and is - is "VERY GOOD", and he will never dissappoint. You will never get to a point with God where you wish he gave you more, he always gives you more than you can comprehend. Whatever you anticapate with God, the reality is always better.
As I log off the Blogski till UKSKI, i just have two words "SLAVA BORG!" 

Amazing farewell meal

Dear all,
Just had our goodbye meal. As always on these trips we have received far more in friendship, fellowship, kindness, hospitality and humble example than we have offered. Pastor Igor and Pieter made some wonderful speeches at the beginning of our meal together. It is very humbling when a Ukrainian gentlemen speaks perfect English thinks he should apologise for their lack of communication. It is particularly difficult to stomach knowing you must then respond and give a farewell speech knowing that your only option is your mother tongue, and you feel stuck for words to express what you need to say. It went something like this...

• Dear brothers from England, we want to thank you thank you thank you for your work. You have far exceeded our plans for this week, and your example and attitude have been not only a blessing to the church, but have encouraged us to look at Jesus who has served us in this way. We present you with two gifts 1) Odessa Chocolates with special wrappers showing Ukrainian history. 2) A team photo (of exceptional quality and humour - (will try to scan once home).

• We hope that as our friendship deepens you will appreciate it when we say that we deeply appreciate not only what you have done, and the small gifts you have provided, but also how much we have grown to love your involvement in this project.

• Followed by (some more gratitude, some thank you's, some highlights of our company, some apologies (that were completely unneeded) and some gratitude, and finally I just want to say thank a general "thank you" and some specific "thank-you's".
• The biggest thank you goes to God for how he has changed you to be people of grace who show his grace - Slava Borg - Praise GOD (prayer of thanks to GOD follows...my translation needs some help but it generally went thank you GOD for about 5 minutes)
• A spread of all spreads was laid before us at this point

I stand to give a few words...
1) Thank you for your exceptional hospitality
2) Thank you for allowing us to be involved in this life changing project.
3) Thank you for taking us in as your own family and giving many of us the best week ever.
4) Thank you for putting up with dust in your house from our overalls, particularly as your wife keeps things so spotless
5) Thank you Pieter for being the man everyone wants as their granddad.
6) Thank you Alex and Andre for driving us absolutely everywhere at the drop of a screwdriver/ /hammer/ axe/ bag of cement.
7) Thank you church leaders for showing what Christ looks like in action here in Odessa
8) Thank you for your love,Thank you for yourself, we love you deeply.Thank you for getting up at 4 in the morning to get us to the airport on your day off and picking the next lot of guys up at 9 in the evening.
MOST OF ALL - THANK YOU LORD GOD FOR HOW YOUR GRACE CHANGES PEOPLE.
SLAVA BORG (20 people say .... "SLAVA BORG!"

We eat, we laugh (a lot)
We talk about the superheros who stay for two weeks and those who will arrive tomorrow.
WE HUG (Ukrainian style - proper manly like with rippling muscles that crush granite) and we say a heartfelt eye- ball good-bye.
Till next time
P
(please wait for more photos and further updates over next 48 hours)

Photos and vids
Pastor Igor introduces the transition house project...

 

Sasha our translator who lives at transition house...

He has exceptional English!

Some of the boys. Andy is still stuck in the tree though Peter has grown a bit since then, I think it was the combo of spinach borsche and fresh strawberry's from the farm.

Injury list in order if severity

Rob - back (cement mixer up 3 floors  via fire escape with Paul )
Andy - Achilles (up and down ladders stairs)
Rob - Knees (tiling)
Rob - fingers (10 pin bowling)
Steve and Sid- blocked sinuses - colds hayfever - (gunk from dusty environment )
Paul h hands - 2 Gashes left hand but all fingers present and correct (metal work )
Paul H, Paul L, Peter - sore ears  (all the complaining :))

Good afternoon blogski,
Very sorry for the delay in uploading due to connection issues.
We have 1 item of sad news and 2 items of good news.
The sad news is that we heard that Pieter was involved in a very nasty car accident on Friday, just before we arrived here in the Ukraine. In typical humility the folks here didn't want it to spoil our time or bother us about it. Pieter was driving from helping out at the black sea camp. Two of the boys from transition house and a cook from the shelter were with him. In a tragic incident a man and his wife lost their lives as they crashed into the transition house minibus. This is obviously very hard for everyone concerned especially as the couple leave two small children behind. Without going into the details it is worth saying that Pieter was not at all to blame, but this makes the incident no less sad or easier to deal with, we are all just very grateful to God that he has preserved our friends through this, especially as we hear that similar and lesser incidents have left bus drivers and passengers killed here.
Please continue to pray for these people.

Yesterday morning 6:45am, (4:45 am Uk time)
Imagine a room full of men gathering together for prayer before going to work. After a short message from one of the pastors, the men are encouraged to keep pastoring others after the heart of God and leading people to the truth that is in Christ Jesus. Pastor Paul is invited to share from the bible and tell of the work in Worcester and how churches and church planting is developing there. After translation and extensive question and answer sessions we go to prayer. Kneeling before God we ask him in his sovereign plans to help us by his grace in both Worcester and Odessa. Worcester seems to be far more mentioned than Odessa, these people have a heart for mission wherever it is. After an hour or so, when everyone has had opportunity to pray we all stand (with creaky wobbly legs) and with BIG BIG BIG smiles greet each other in Joy, making sure we have shaken every man's hand in the room. This is the Joy of gospel work, everything in common apart from language :). Odessa and Worcester need Jesus, We have the privilege of preaching the gospel to needy places, whilst showing authentic community. Both places need a fresh reliance on God, a new vision of the Lordship of Jesus, and a new passion and humility to go where God wants us to, and when we do WHAT AN AMAZING PRIVILEGE.

Work on transition house continues apace. Many bits of metal have been assembled for ceilings, boxing in pipes and partition walls (photos will follow later). Apparently the forth bridge team are coming over later to see how proper engineering looks.

Tiles have been bought and now Rob and team are settling in to a few days on their knees (nothing spiritual) just the correct place for a man who needs to stay in line... 1) with the plumb string 2) with Sasha the builder (height kontrol kontrol level OK!) and 3) Lydia and the women who will be cooking in that kitchen - No pressure then Rob - you did say you had laid a tile before.
The best news of the Day is that Builder Sascha is on site now that his leg is less stitched. If you haven't heard the news then let me surmise in Ukrainian.
Sascha angle grind
Metal balance on knee
No guard on grind
Sascha miss
Angle grind no go metal just knee
Is Ok just about 2-3 inches disc Go in - So is ok!
I think this roughly translates as - Sascha's leg still stitched on like a teddy bear, but it will take more than that for him to stop being here, and overseeing a church plant at the same time. Why be at home when you can show people how to tile and do metal work whilst lying of 2 chairs.
Will post photos as soon as possible (nice ones)
In the meantime as we trudge up the stairs post lunch, love from all the team, and remember blogski, take care, note to self, travel safely, grind safely and pray!
P

Transition house makes big progress

Good evening to all in Blogski
We have had a very eventful 40 hours. in Odessa land
Yesterday morning we had the privelege of being the guests at the wedding of Prince Denis and Lady Victoria, (at least that's what the church calls two young people whom they hold in very high esteem). It is not difficult to see why, this was a tearjerkingly beautiful wedding. The Father of the bride is the director of music at the church and a longstanding church leader. He had arranged some beautiful music which seemed fit for a royal occasion. Choirs, concert standard pianist and virtuoso violinst all added to the occasion, but the highlight was the parents of the new couple praying for them in public as a sign of their affection. After the ceremony the whole church (yes all 500+) marched up to greet the new couple and have a photograph.

The other stars of the show were the bridal party ...

and these two little Ukrainian children who gave a greeting (and brought the house down)

After Paul preached in the evening service. Rob, John and Charles joined the team late last night. Paul, Paul and Peter went to the airport with a double purpose... to welcome the new additions to the team and to see if there were any clues to the whereabouts of Paul Lewis' case. Things were looking bleak, an officious gentlemen was insistent that we would have to go through some very long winded procedures  to progress the "incident".
However, we prayed and then our driver spotted a lady who comes to grace church who happened to work at the airport. With one word of admonition and encouragement, we soon saw Paul's face light up like a little boy on Christmas morning - he had his case (seemingly out of nowhere). Our God is good.

We had a fantastic start to the day. After breakfast and studying together how the gospel changes us to be loving people (philippians chapter 1), we went to transition house and were flabbergasted at the progress that has been made. The first noticeable change is the painting and rendering of the exterior, with a beautiful cobbled pathway and sitting area (the smartest house in the street by a long way :))
As you enter the hallway all staircases are now beautifully tiled.

 All the heating is now in for that nasty Ukrainian weather in February / March.

Today we have been hard at work doing the final ceiling, (lots of angle grinding metal work to suspend the plasterboard)

"boxing-in" pipes, and "floating" in floors. The observant amongst you will spot the polystyrene in the mix (3 parts Sand, 1 part Cement and 1.5 parts polystyrene - the stuff that you may find in your beanbag). This is helpful for putting around piping, both with moisture absorption and ability to expand / contract)

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly trying to give Pieter the small financial gift we had collected from church. It was greeted with the repeated expression "SLAVA BORG, SLAVA BORG, SLAVA BORG" etc etc) If repetition was the key to understanding the extent of the gratitude and thankfulness I think it fair to say that Pieter is very, very, very grateful for his church family in the Uk and their love towards this project. "Slava borg" means "praise our GOD" :) This is pretty much what we have been saying all day as we've seen again how God has helped his people here achieve something remarkable to his glory, and for the benefit of many young people.
We are humbled and grateful to be part of this wonderful project.  Thank you to all of you who have partnered with us in this - I hope you can still hear Pieter from England... I think he is still going, as he drives to the tile shop!
From a Sunny (27 degrees) Ukraine (as we go home for some astonishingly good food)...
Goodnight and .."SLAVA BORG!"

P

Here...almost!

We have arrived in Odessa!!! (sadly Paul lewis' bags haven't)

The day started well
Gatwick checklist
1) Meet up with lonely looking North-Walian who is hanging around the departure lounge
2) Top up with bacon and various other red meats that builder types eat
3) Board plane :)
Kiev Checklist
1) Check watch and work out how many minutes late (35)
2) Find shortest que for passport and immigration
3) RUN like scooby-do and make plane connection with 1 minute 30 to spare
Odessa Checklist
1) wait in bus shelter / car port area also known as baggage reclaim
2) Collect bags
3) Ask Paul exactly what he is looking for (to which he replies "My bag or anything which looks like it")
4) Talk to nice Ukranian gentlemen and ask where bag might be
5) Follow nice gentlemen to obscure office
6) meet up with amazing church family in Odessa and ask if they would not mind translating for nice airport gentlemen as he speaks no English
7) Pray that Paul's bag might turn up in Kiev to be transported to Odessa for Sunday after he has been to wedding in shorts and Odessa T-shirt.
8) Go to Grace church and eat cherry jaffa cakes until they are coming out of our ears
9) Have the best cuppa chai ever
10) ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Not Long Now

Only a few days till the first men go out to Odessa, the first flight out is on Saturday taking 6 guys for a week, followed closely by some more going on Sunday for two weeks.

Saturday 25th is then change over day with the first group coming home and another group going out for a further week.

Keep checking the blogs for updates and hopefully some action photos

Car Wash & Breakfast

Thank you to everyone who came along this morning and made the car wash and breakfast such a success.

You donated a massive £673, which will all go towards materials for Transition House.

Folk enjoyed a hearty breakfast and a chat as they waited for their cars to be washed.

Our happy cooks

Not forgetting the washing up team

Andy getting to grips with the buckets

The boys washing

The first guys fly out to Odessa next Saturday morning for the week, with some more going on Sunday  for two weeks and the following Saturday is changeover day with the first group returning and another team going out for the second week.

Keep checking the blog for further updates.

Car wash & Breakfast TODAY

Don't forget that we are holding our car wash and breakfast TODAY 9.30 - 1100 at Woodgreen Evangelical Church, Hastings Drive, Warndon Villages, Worcester, WR4 0SR

Why not come along, have your car washed and enjoy breakfast while you wait. All proceeds go towards materials to help complete Transition House in Odessa, Ukraine.

See you there,

John.

Where Are We?

We are located on the junction of Woodgreen Drive and Hastings Drive, Warndon Villages, Worcester.

Directions from Junction 6 of the M5

Leave the M5 Motorway at junction 6 and take the A4440 signposted “Warndon Villages”

Go straight over the first roundabout, onto the B4639, continuing along Berkeley Way.

Take the first turning left into Hastings Drive

Continue along Hastings Drive (going straight over the mini roundabout) for approx half a mile, the church entrance is on the left approximately 200 yards before the next large roundabout.