The bittersweet project

 These beautiful children with childhood traumas, some had to sleep on the streets in the bushes, under the bridge or where they had to... Some escaped from the orphanage in cold and frosty winter days, without clothes due to humiliation and violence in the orphanage...

These sweet kids live in terrible poverty and are forced to earn a penny to support their families. Sometimes parents have many children in family and are not able to provide food and forced to send the children to the orphanages. Parents of some of the kids spent their childhood in the same orphanage. :( Sometimes the parents are very ill and unable to give the most necessary to their children. But most parents drink alcohol and they do not care where are their kiddos and what will happen to them tomorrow... Sometimes girls hate men because their fathers drink alcohol. Can you imagine what feel a girl, when her godmother sold her to a guy for 2 bottles of vodka ?... That`s terrible!!!

Graduates were afraid to leave the orphanage... Every day they face fear what there will be tomorrow, uncertainty, loneliness. They are looking for a comfort drinking alcohol or sniffing glue. Some were dying many times due to intoxication of the body... Recently, a 20-year-old girl from the same orphanage committed suicide leaving her small baby...😢We do not know the details. But this is awful news since we knew this girl... :((( Each story of child is heartbreaking...

Therefore, we decided to make a small camp for these precious souls, in the hope of helping them in emotional healing and surrounded with the love of Christ.

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When we started our travel, the big sum of money was not enough. But with all our hearts we believed that the Lord would send the necessary funds! The Lord gave peace and calm in the heart. We did not even care about this, because we worried about the children more. :)
The Lord knew that this would be enough! In many places we were given a huge discount or it was free of charge, when they found out that the children from the orphanage! We praised our Heavenly Father for such great blessings!How awesome!!!

At the first our day we stopped for a small picnic to eat on the way to... We spent only half of the day and children said that they got to Paradise!!!  What?!! We did nothing yet! 

My heart thrilled and was filled with such incredible joy and happiness! Honestly, I thought that I would die from happiness to see them so delighted!!! ♥♥♥ :))) I only imagine what an amazing next few days will be, I thought for a moment...

We arrived late at night when it was dark, so no one could see the mountains. But many woke up at 5.00 AM to see this beauty! Probably, they did not even close their eyes in anticipation of the sunrise. Ha ha!

Every morning before eating, we devote time to reading the Word of God and praying.

Also we had a Bible time every day, where we discussed different topics and talked about salvation. Everyone listened with great pleasure and interest!For the first time in the life these sweet kids saw waterfalls, fed animals, went to the mountains, climbed the highest mountain in Ukraine, Hoverla, saw the castle, went for a drive in zipline, played games, had fellowship and many more. What an awesome and incredible time! All the kids thrilled, delighted and said that they had the best days of their life!!! They had a blast! ♥♥♥ They are such sweet souls...

We thank God for the safe road, for the wonderful weather, even we had to survive the downpour. Little experience :) But most of all, our hearts are filled with gratitude for the wonderful time with these beautiful souls! We lived together as one big lovely family and it was amazing time!

It was a bittersweet project... A lot of heartbreaking situations. So many wounded and broken precious hearts... Many souls needs spiritual and emotional healing. :( 

But it was the BEST project we had!!! :) God is doing amazing things!!!

 Their hearts began to open for the Gospel. During the year when we came to the meeting of the graduates, they did not express much desire to sing, many felt shy. But these days, we could not stop them! They wanted and asked to sing again and again!!!

 We became better and good friends. And we keep fellowship daily :) Those who were afraid began to show courage, those who were silent became more talkative.Those who did not laugh began to laugh with all their heart. The children began to open their precious hearts telling about their lives, share their feelings and experiences. The graduates never went far and one of the girls started panicking... You know what? She began to show courage in many things!The teacher was very surprised and said, "I do not recognize them and can not believe my eyes! What's going on? For the first time in 9 years of work, I see them new!"  The love heals wounds! :) 

One of the girls said how good that I fell ill with pneumonia 9 years ago because of this I did not go to school. And I went to school for the coming year and got into this class. Just think, I had to graduate last year! After all, if I was not sick with pneumonia, I would never have got into this place in my life...

We are so grateful to all who took part in this awesome project!!! You are AMAZING!!! THANK YOU soooo very much to everyone, who made this possible and brought so much joy, delight and helped in emotional healing!!! Thank you very much for prayers! And thank you for giving opportunity to show the love of Christ to these precious souls. ♥♥♥

It was a little experience in holding the camp for orphans and it was a success! We plan to hold the same camp for graduates next year, God`s will but longer. ;)

Please, watch the video to see more pictures of God's beauty and mostly beauty in precious hearts! These kids are amazing and they took special place in our hearts ♥

How the gold ring led me to a country of my dream

From the very beginning, I would love to say that our God is mighty, great and amazing! This blog post is dedicated to His wonderful acts and miracles! I`m super excited to praise Him for His goodness, overflowing love and to share about awesome things He is doing in BOM and my personal life as well! Through many problems and trials(personal and in ministry), God shows his power and love!You can see and feel His presence in small and large things, comfort and hide under the shadow of His loving wings. ♥ He is soooo very good!!!

In April this year, the BOM team sorted clothes for orphans sent by many people from several countries. A gold ring was accidentally found in box!!! Wow! We immediately wanted to find the owner of this ring and return, guessing that for sure this person is disappointed about the loss, and in perplexity where it can be. It was a woman's ring, there was no doubt. We shared on the facebook BOM page, social networks and private messages. It did not take long to wait. Literally in a couple of hours the owner of this ring was found! Wow!!! It turned out that our dear friend and generous sponsor from Switzerland! Amazing!We were all shocked by what happened and so thrilled that the owner of the ring was found! We started working on getting the ring back to the owner. All our efforts were unsuccessful. We waited and believed. We knew that God has a plan... But which one? What plan?

So, few months later I was invited to Switzerland! What??!!! Woooow! Oh, my! I thought that I would die from the happiness!!! Ha ha! Really. I thought that my heart would jump out with a thrill and excitement!!! ;))) Even now, when I am typing these lines, my heart is thrilled and my hands are shaking in awe of God. "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" Psalm 2:11

A couple of days before the trip, God spoke to my heart through the Holy Scripture. 

"And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."

 (Isaiah 12:4-6)

It is very interesting HOW God can speak to your heart exactly same what you need, even you read daily?! It seems incredible! How God is doing it??? Exactly time, place, exactly what you need in right time?! I love it! I "knew" that God prepared something amazing and great! But what? I could only trust my Heavenly Father... 

So, adventures began!On the way to the airport the screen-wiper in the car in the middle of the road broke! There was a downpour! It was still very far from the airport... It was impossible to go! Call a taxi? Very expensive. In the village where we stopped there is no taxi, no shops, no gas stations. Absolutely nothing. We stood in silence for a while and did not know what to do... Repair it? But how if heavy rain? All the service centers were still closed as it was early morning. Thousands of thoughts were spinning in my head. What to do and how to be??? I did not want to miss the airplane!!! I started to get nervous. And at the same time, I thought, God, if you do not want me to fly to Switzerland. Since to miss the airplane, the probability was very high! OK. Help me to humble and accept your will... Inside was a spiritual struggle! I so badly wanted and dreamed and already was on my way to Switzerland! It seemed that here, and that's all the plans will collapse! But at the same time I understood that God's plan is perfect, even if we sometimes do not like it. :)

We prayed. And we started to drive... In the beginning very slowly and then faster. It was dangerous to go because of the heavy rain and nothing was visible! It was frightening that any car could jump out of nowhere and we could easily get into an accident! We were frightened and ride in silence. Brother Misha was really a hero!!! He said that few days his eyes ached because of the strain after this drive! It was crazy. Risking and hoping for the mercy of God, we arrived at the airport on time and at the last minute I managed on the flight!  Praise God!!! It is funny. When we just arrived the rain stopped!!! :)

                                   


Metro at the airport in Zurich with different sounds. Mooing cows, different melodies. It's so cute!

                                   

When we met with my sweet friend at the airport, we stood for a long time embracing each other, not believing that it has happened... So much emotions filled my heart, excitement, happiness, warmth and love...

Why did I go to Switzerland? And what did I do there?

• Return the gold ring to my precious friend. Give her hugs and thank her for the generosity and love to Ukrainian children ♥
• To meet wonderful sponsors and friends of the BOM. It was such a pleasure to meet them in person!
• I shared about Jesus Christ, about His wonderful miracles in the BOM and my personal life.
• Several years ago I prayed to go to Switzerland. Yes, it was my dream! It seemed crazy, right? I love mountains terribly! But over time, I began to think, how could this be? It is very expensive. I do not have that kind of money. I stopped praying after losing faith. Therefore, this remained just an unfulfilled dream.So, never lose your faith in something unrealistic for you! ;)
• My dear friends showed the beauty of their country. Alpine mountains, thousands of lakes, rivers, friendly people, lovely and cute houses, beautiful cities. All incredibly gorgeous!!! From what you see already captures the spirit!!!
• Several years I prayed for one more thing and God answered in an amazing way! This was the main reason of my trip. God Himself brought me there!!! It was His plan for my trip there! No my plan, not my dream, but God's plan! This is private :) The golden ring led me to the country of my dream and my Heavenly Father fulfilled his perfect plan. :)

What impressed me in this country?

• The fact that this country is accurate watches, delicious chocolate and cheese. This is without talking. :)
• Nature! Gorgeous nature is simply indescribable!!! AMAZING!!! Photos cannot convey all the beauty! This must be seen!
• I did not expect to see a lot of corn and sunflowers. Corn is used for feeding cows. It was interesting to see the same trees and flowers in the mountains as in Ukraine.
• A lot of tunnels! Just hundreds! 

• The Swiss are very protective of their nature! What is very great!
• Everywhere is quiet. Nowhere does music sound, not on the street, or in a cafe. Absolute silence. It's so wonderful! You enjoy the silence and it's so relaxing... Just a paradise on earth.
• The water in the lakes and rivers is so clean that you can drink it!There are a lot of different fountains in cities, where you can drink water or simply refresh yourself in the summer heat.

• Very clean :) Trash in Switzerland is recycled again into bottles and different things. Can you believe this backpack made from plastic bottles??? How cool! Wow!

• As in Ukraine, most people use public transport. But I did not expect to see so many. Trolleybuses, trams, buses and just hundreds of trains!All public transport goes with accuracy not to a minute, but to a second! 
• Bicycles are everywhere! Hundreds! No. Thousands of bicycles in the parking lots. I've never seen such a huuuuge number of bikes in my life! Very impressive!

• Everything is automated. You do not need to pay any grandmother for parking or buy a ticket in a trolley bus a woman gives you a ticket. For this, there are special machines. In some stores, you can pay for the goods without a cashier. Again, machines. And you do not need to stand in long lines for half an hour(as in Ukraine ;)) Very comfortably. 
• It is interesting there no the police on the street at all! Except, when it was Switzerland Day I could see few policemen. Very unusual.
• The Swiss love their country very much. Flags are absolutely everywhere you can think of! Even the bread is baked in the form of their flag. The Cross is symbol of the flag. I wonder, how the bread would look like with the Ukrainian trident? ;) Oh, do you know that the Swiss flag is square and not rectangular?

• And oh yeah! I really liked the Swiss food! The food is not spicy and not pungent. It seems kinda like in Ukraine. :) The national meal Käseschnitte. Bread, cheese, greens and a bacon. It's very delicious! Mmm!

• Rivella is a national drink made from whey. Really neat! This is lemonade with a little gas and different tastes. It is really good!

And... I would love to share with you some more pictures of this gorgeous country!

My first meal in Switzerland! The sausage from beef on the grill is so delicious! Mmm! So tasty! Probably the most delicious in my life! Ha ha!

Is it possible for a day to visit 3 countries? Yes! If you fly to Bazel, Switzerland! It was not yet 7 pm, how neat it was to visit 4 countries for a day!!! Sounds like something incredible and crazy!?

I was in Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany and France!Just for an one day!

There at the end of the bridge is Swiss. Photo taken from Germany. Yes, yes! You only need to cross the bridge and you will find yourself in another country! So great!

France!Never in my life I could imagine that this could happen to me!!! Wow!

                                

                             
This is how you feel, when you see the Alps for the first time in your life!!! ;) Height above the sea is more than 2,350 meters(7,710 ft).

Brienz Rothorn in center of Swiss

Very impressive!!!

Magnificent view from Mount Pilatus. "O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches." (Psalms 104:24)  

It is gorgeous, beautiful and breathtaking!!! Our God is amazing Creator!!!
                           

 "For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name."(Amos 4:13) 

"Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!"(Nahum 1:15) :)))

Do you see little temple? Isn`t it neat idea to build it there?

The Chapel Bridge Kapellbruecke in Lucerne

                           

Basel

What God is doing, it is very beautiful, inspiring, touching and very emotional! I really loved this wonderful country and I am very grateful to my Saviour for the opportunity to visit there and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the wonderful friends He blessed us with!♥

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed. ;) May God bless you! :)

Pip Ivan

Here is one of the incredible parts of our wonderful retreat with young people.
In the past blog post I mentioned what the retreat does for young souls. Here I would like to tell you about one amazing day.

One day we hiked to one of the highest mountains in Ukraine, Pip Ivan. We had to walk on uncharted paths 20 km. We were morally ready for difficulties, heat or cold, thirst, hunger, fatigue, when your legs do not listen you and there is no strength to go further, but the incredible charm of nature draws you farther and farther... An incredible desire to see what is going on there, gives the desire to go forward without turning back.

When we arrived in the nearest village of Dzembronya(West of Ukraine) from where we had to start our journey. We were shocked that there was not a single sign where to start the path! OK. This is Ukraine, as we always say. :) Well. How to be? Where to start the way? I rushed around the village trying to find people to ask the way. And you know what? There were no people, not a single person! This village is very small. In my heart, I began to pray that God would show us the way to begin. We knew the way forward, but it was hard to find a beginning. After a while I saw a group of foreigners and among them several Ukrainians. :) It was easy to distinguish. I approached the Ukrainians in the hope they can know the beginning. What was my surprise that they were all going to go to the same mountain at that moment! And showed the way where to start. Where there was not a single sign and I would never have guessed in my life that you need to open the gate and enter the private property where the path to the mountain begins! I ran happily to our group to share the joyful news! And so we started the journey together! I was so happy that God sent this group of people! I thanked God hundreds of times for bringing us at the right time! If we arrived a few minutes later who knows how much longer we were looking for the beginning of the road. Every minute was precious to us. We had to return home before dark.

It reminded me. Often in life at some point, in some area of ​​life, we do not know where to start, perhaps we are feel  lost and confused in life's problems and experiences and do not know the right way. Where there are no signs that would tell us where to go. But there is someone, who will always direct the right path. Jesus is the Way of Truth and Life! He will direct you to people, who know exactly and tell you the right road in life, where you walk along this road you never be lost and enjoy the beauties and delights of life that only God can give. If we are confused, lost, Jesus will definitely show the right way! If we really want to know His will, He will guide us.

When we were halfway through, a cold and piercing wind began. And here we decided who returns, and who will continue the path. Dressed warmer and the bravest and hardy, decided to continue the journey. :)

We were ready for everything but not for the snow on the path!  Honestly, it was the most terrible moment. The snow was very slippery and on a large slope of the mountain. One wrong step and you're downstairs ... It was scary.

Here is a short video of our adventures.
                                

Young people were delighted and amazed with this trip! For many of them it was the first hike! One lady was so very excited and overjoyed that after 20km on the mountains she did not feel tired at all! We did not believe our eyes! For many, it was an excellent experience to experience the cold in the mountains, fatigue, fear, courage, fun, mutual help, what they can do or test themself, inspiration, beauty of God's creation from which breathtaking and as well as for the good of their own souls.

We are so very grateful to all, who made it possible and bless young people with such amazing journey and incredible retreat! They had a blast!!! Thank you very much! Million times thank you!!!! You not only touch precious hearts but it helps in their spiritual healing and restoration!!! ♥ May God bless you!!!

P.S. Young adults often ask me when we are going to mountains again? ;)