Team Lubhov/Aggies For Christ Making an Impression!

Wow. Team Lubhov is making a great impression in Ukraine! Way to go, Aggies!

First off, their work with Camp Smerichka ended on a positive note with kids wanting them to stay. Camp Director Nikolai/Mikolai was very impressed with the team. According to EEM Camp Assistant Coordinator, Inna Kuzmenko, Nikolai wants this team to come back next year!

Aggies For Christ tend to do extended mission trips of 4-to-6 weeks, so Team Lubhov stayed longer than most of our teams will. This provided them the opportunity to work with Jeremiah's Hope. Jeremiah's Hope sponsored a "missionary kids" camp and invited the Aggies to work with them. Below is a note from Andrew Kelly to EEM:

Just wanted to let you guys know that the EEM/Aggies team has been a huge blessing. They did an amazing job with the younger Missionary Kids we had at camp last week. A couple of them were responsible for the Bible classes and the rest rotated wtih the kids as group counselors. They are a fantastic team and should be commended!


Thank you for sharing them with us while they were on this trip!


We have been talking...is it ok for us to loose their passports or somehow keep them? We love this team and wish they could stick around. We know they can't, but nothing wrong with wishing you could keep them.


Blessings,
Andrew Kelly

Way to go guys! Looking forward to your return this week! Safe journey and God bless!

What an Idea: Borscht Fest!

Congratulations to Erika and Christine Berglund of Spring Hill, Tennessee! They hit upon a wonderful idea to help Erika raise her funds for Ukraine this year. Welcome to Borscht Fest! When they began discussing the idea of having a fund raising dinner in their home congregation they didn't realize just how their idea would capture the imagination of others. Several ladies and various members got wind of the idea and volunteered to get the ball rolling.

The youth minister's wife and youth intern decorated the tables with Sunflowers (a national symbol for Ukraine) and table cloths in the traditional colors of the Ukrainian flag (yellow and blue). Christine commented: "so many people volunteered to bring soup and bread, we took up about twelve baskets afterward!"  It is a beautiful thing to hear how God's people join together to accomplish a task--especially when that task involves sending one of their own to serve, share God's word, and love on children! Kudos to the Spring Meadow Church of Christ and your energetic support of the Berglunds and Eastern European Mission's efforts in Ukraine! Thank you and God bless!

The Spring Meadows Church of Christ rallied behind Erika and her mom. Even though their pulpit minister, Dale Jenkins, was not a fan of borscht, he excitedly and good-naturedly promoted the event. 

What they had hoped would raise $400 ended up raising over $600!

Erika Berglund is a member of Team Agape and will be traveling to Camp Smerichka in the Ivano Frankivsk region later this summer.Team Agape is led by Geoff Casella and Terry Montgomery from Houston, Texas.

Team Lubhov (Aggies for Christ) In Ukraine!

Team Lubhov has been in Ukraine since June 4 and from all reports they are thoroughly enjoying themselves and the kids are enjoying them! Team Lubhov is made up of eight members from Texas A&M University. Their Team Leader is Juston Holton (far left) and Assistant Team Leader is Jake Jones (far right).

The team is serving in Camp Smerichka in the oblast of Ivano-Frankivsk. Since this is the first session of the camp season, the group is a little smaller (170 kids) ranging from age 7 to 15 years old. The team teaches twice a day to five different groups of kids each time.

According to Ukrainian Team Leader, Inna Kuzmenko, Everyone is doing a great job with the kids and the kids seem to be enjoying everything. She adds,

"Seems like everybody loves the food at Smerichka and they keep saying that they expected something worse than what they have here. The boys are always hungry and ALWAYS want to eat something. So, they have empy plates every meal."

Go Aggies (for Christ)!