UKRAINE MISSIONS TRIP 2012

GRACE PLACE Church of Berthoud Colorado

JULY 19-30 2012

Grace Place is looking for 10 motivated hard working individuals to make a difference in orphans lives in Ukraine. Be apart of Gods call to James 1:27 ..Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans….

Fly into Kiev Ukraine, take an overnight train to Donetsk region and spend the week working on projects that will forever affect the lives of aged out orphans.  Visit local orphanges and show the love of Christ to children longing to be loved.  Be apart of  UOO as it starts it first Transition home in Kramatorsk Ukraine. Be on the ground floor of making ready this transition home for the care and support of aged out orphans as they transition into a succesful life on there own. You will be forever changed as you make an impact on the fatherless.  Dont wait there are only 10 availabe spots for this trip.

Please call Pastor Kim at 970-532-9886 for more information and to register.

Cost is $2500 per person and includes lodging, food, air and travel in Ukriane

Men’s Rehab Center in Vegoda

They come from all walks of life, including a physician, with all sorts of hang-ups . Their program uses no medical intervention but just relies on fasting and prayer to help break the bonds of substance addictions. We listened to the testimony of Dima, who was leading the house as a mentor, and is currently working on a business plan to start a furniture repair/manufacturing business with the help of the men in the program. The average stay varies from 3-6 months, and typically employs the men in metal fabrication or automobile repairs.

Metal working table and shop
Dima had lived in prison from a young age till he turned 25 and his parents had thought he was dead. Though his parents had migrated to Canada, they were visiting in Ukraine and accidentally ran into their son! Their relationships have been restored and Dima is now married with twin 4-year-old daughters. He is extremely thankful for Christ being in his life, and for the program to make such a change for him. The grounds were quite modest, with a “kitchen” garden and a new orchard of fruit trees that will someday provide fruit. Such good work in these men’s lives was so apparent and a blessing to the community.

Men’s sleeping quarters

Mentor Dima giving his testimony

We next continued down the highway to Chervonoarmeysk, Zhytomyrs’Ka Oblast’, Ukraine, which is the district center town to see the Widow shelter/community center. This is a wonderfully built large structure with a barn shape, new brick, and modern facilities sitting on about 2+ acres. An auto shop was being equipped for more major repairs, with a vast garden, chicken accommodations, and a brand new green house that will extend their growing season starting next year. The facility is entirely fenced with metal fabricated from the men in the rehab center, and the acreage is well manicured by one of the graduates of the rehab center.

Widow’s Home and Community Center

New Green House made by men in rehab program

Inside it is evident that this was a newly built structure with western European standards, fixtures and tile. The capability exists to house 8 widows in a quasi-assisted living style arrangement, but 5 are their current occupancy having lost a resident in the last several weeks. In Ukraine there are no funeral homes or embalming specialists. Typically one of the family members (if one exists) will clean the deceased and follow through with a pine box burial on the second day. Not only is this often difficult in the winter, but tradition will also require that the funeral attendees all walk the entire distance to the graveyard. After this brief cultural lesson, we resumed eating cookies and tea.
The remaining widows were in good spirits and particularly enjoyed having the company of Natalie and Rhya, knowing that they were native from Ukraine. We were spoiled with more cookies, tea, more cookies, and more tea. One of the ladies just longed for conversation past the translation of Alex, and confessed that she still wants to learn English. Vera, the most engaging widow who sat right next to Rhya and constantly hugging her, wanted to know Anna Seleznova’s full name and what time we would be at the SDA appointment so she could pray for a successful referral. They talked about their chickens that were brought with the English wannabe and about how a cow would be nice, but that it was too big of a job for anyone to take on as a task.

Tea and Cookies with the Widows

Upstairs we discovered a community center with new computers, arts room, children’s play room, meeting room, and two office staff that work on community relations, training, and a multitude of other community outreaches. One of the employees, Ben, is a Peace Corps’ Volunteer from New Mexico. The facility was a dream of Don and Nancy Miller from Good Samaritan Ministries, and is the fruit of their labor after visiting Ukraine 1-2 times a year since the early o90’s. Don is now 78 and having recently talked to him while at his Portland home, he was delighted to know that he and his wife are still strong and full of energy. He also shared that when the good lord decides to take them home, his work will continue on in full force thanks to so much visionary planning and relational work in the community to get such an awesome staff well established. It was hard to leave, but we knew that it was nearly 4:00 (dark time) and Yana was calling every 5 minutes to find out about our return to Zhytomir. What an awesome blessing Alex, his staff and the Lord have provided with these two incredible ministry programs that are working hand in hand. We left the home feeling like we had just left our Great Grandmother’s house. We were filled with joy that these beautiful ladies had bestowed upon us.

Description of House
The home sits on a large lot and the size of
the house is approximately 1,000 square feet
with 6 rooms. The home is in need of renovation
and fix up, a Ukraine Home Makeover!
Immediate:
• electric wiring
• bathroom installation
• kitchen installation
• replacement of windows & doors
• plaster & paint
• flooring & ceiling repair
• plumbing and well work
Future:
• Greenhouse and small barn for sustainable living.
• Add addition bedroom on back side of house for more space.
Ours is a typical Ukrainian village home in the Donetsk oblast.
Grace Place is asking all of you to be intentional
and help out our extended family in
Ukraine. Together we can raise the money
which is necessary for the house renovation
and furnishings in the coming year.
Cost of home & land………………$0(provided by UOO)
Furnishings……………………$5,000
Cost for renovation………….$20,000
Total Goal………………… $25,000
UOO “kick off” donation $5,000
Remaining need $20,000

And a very special, huge thank you to all of you that were involved in donating the ziploc gift bags.  We are overwhelmed by your generosity. Over 160 gift bags for orphans and widows have been collected. I am imagining the 160 smiles these bags will bring, as I look at the gifts.  I can also see the thoughtfulness, heart, and energy put into each and every gift.  Over the next few months, the gift bags will be delivered by representatives of UOO to orphans and widows in Ukraine. 

If you are interested in helping out with our gift bag project, there is still an opportunity to get involved.  We are in need of several XLarge suitcases to transport the gift bags to Ukraine.  In addition, each suitcase costs about fifty dollars.  We are looking for a few more XLarge rollign suitcases and donations to cover the cost of transporting the bags.   If you have a Xlarge rolling suitcase you’d like to donate or would like to donate towards the transporting costs, please e-mail Brenda at  brendalaughlin@comcast.net.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

The UOO Leadership Team

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A)       Advocate for legislation that is friendly towards different forms of hosting and camps

B)       Pray for and seek out other methods of orphan care and awareness. There are many opportunities through partners like Christian Alliance for Orphans of Northern Colorado.

C)       Support a local family that has adopted a child in any way that you can.

D)       Stay tuned as UOO seeks out effective ways to impact orphans.

E)       Come to the Community Dinner August 9^th and learn more.

F)       Keep updated as to  what’s happening via our website and Facebook.  .

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 NIV

As many of you know, we have been diligently working on a State of Colorado License. With countless hours of effort, research and collaboration we had received numerous approvals from the County Planning, Zoning, Health Dept, Environmental Engineer, and Fire Marshall. However, final approval must be granted by the Colorado Department of Human Services.

On Monday the 27^th of June, our CDHS Inspector spent 3 ½ hours with us and informed us of our non-compliance issues. Although there are still unresolved issues with immunization records, guardianship and other documents, the main focus was on his interpretation of our home not meeting commercial standards.  We had been encouraged to let the preliminary permissions mentioned above govern the commercial aspect of the regulations.  However, this recent inspection did not show any flexibility. No amount of reason or argument made a difference.

Appeals to this determination will not be considered for financial or time restrictions.  No provisional waivers will be allowed. The tone and message remained consistent throughout the day that we lived in a home, and not a camp. There is no doubt that our camp model was the first that CDHS had seen, and our inspector was not going to allow it without unrealistic construction changes to our home. Further checking on the inspector’s part has revealed a tightening in his fire code position in an e-mail received today.

Regardless of this setback, UOO remains committed to raising orphan awareness in our local communities and specifically bringing hope to the lives of orphans in Ukraine.  We want to celebrate all of the victories and success that we have been blessed to be a part of. We are extremely thankful and humbled by the hundreds of supporters and volunteers that make up our organization. We ask for everyone’s prayers and support as we change direction in how we facilitate orphan care through other avenues in the future.

Our passion as an organization will burn through this change!

On behalf of the UOO Team,

Clarke & Kris Stoesz

Founders of UOO

Ukraine Orphan Outreach (UOO) is excited to be bringing 10 orphans this summer.  We are looking forward to the exciting ways that our volunteers can become connected and involved. 

Tentative camp dates are July 26 – August 16th  (subject to change)

We have many levels of involvement, from supplying snacks, buying clothing, chaperoning an event, sponsoring an event, provide supplies, meals and much more. 

We are also looking to fill some roles to help organize different areas of camp.  We are looking for coordinators who will be responsible for planning and execution of specific areas.  The coordinators are asked to enlist other volunteers and not feel like they have to go it alone.  Below is our list of where we need help.  If you have interest in being the coordinator or to help in a certain area, please let us know so we can get you plugged in.  If you want more information as to the scope of the below list, email Kris at kstoesz@aol.com   Remember that just because there is a name by the list below doesn’t mean we have it “covered”, every lead coordinator needs your help, so pick something you think you might enjoy doing!