Before I introduce the team and the ministry sites, I wanted to tell you a little bit about Vladimir.

Our ministry opportunites were done in Vladimir. Vladimir is about 115 miles northeast of Moscow. It's one of the oldest cities in Russia. A little history lesson taken from www.vladimir-russia.info/ ....the city was founded in either 990 or 1108 and once was the capital of Russia. Vladimir is known for it's Golden Gates and its many cathedrals.








While in Vladimir, we worked alongside a ministry called, Mercy Ministries. (http://www.mercyrussia.com/) Mercy Ministries provides help to orphans, children/teens at risk, a baby rescue and families in need. We had the privilege of working with the president of Mercy Ministry, Sergei Sokolov..an amazing man of God! He helped open the doors to the ministry sites we entered and provided us with a wonderful staff of translators throughout our time in Vladimir. Here I am with Andrew and Sergei. Sergei is the one in the hat.

At each site we were able to take humanitarian aid and what is known as CarePacks. Below are some children looking at their CarePacks. CarePacks usually included pencils, pens, colored pencils, crayons, notepads, rulers, erasers, pencil sharpners, stickers, toothbrushes, hair comb, hankerchiefs, Beanie Babies, etc. The CarePacks were assembled by our team at a church prior to our days of ministry. Unfortunately with our plane flight mishap, the Stahl's and I were unable to participate in this process. The kids LOVED the CarePacks and you immediately saw a smile on their face when they opened the bags. Also we gave each person the book, More Than a Carpenter by James McDowell and the New Testament or bible stories.

Here's some aid that was given at the sites and also the aid that we took to a Social Service Center. The aid we took to these sites included many different things based on the needs of the sites. Some of this things included: laundry detergent, sports equipment, clothes, games, books, water heaters, cleaning supplies, etc.

On to what we did at each site.......

Each site of course provided us with different opportunities to minister. We learned quickly that what we planned often got changed...the famous term for this became that we learned to "flex." Some sites we were given a performance by the children which included dancing and or singing. Sometimes we then gave a group performance of singing and some of our team members were brave enough to dance for the children. Let's just say that I wasn't one of the brave ones!

At some sites we were fortunate to break into small groups. My small group had four people: Megan, Linda, Me and Jaye.

The number of children in our group spanned from 8 to 20 depending upon the site. Each member in our small group got the opportunity to present pictures we had brought from home, the gospel bead bracelet and our testimonies. The pictures we brought from home included our family, hobbies we enjoyed, our church or other pictures that allowed us opportunities to begin to talk about God.

Here are the four pictures I took with me. One is of my brothers and sister in law. The other is of my friend, Holly, who helped me come to know the Lord. The picture of the butterfly explained my love of photography and how I became a "new creation" when I accepted Christ. Lastly is a picture of Christ that I used to talk of the hope and forgiveness I have experienced through accepting Him.

The gospel bead bracelet is how we presented the Gospel to the children/teens and adults that we came in contact with. It was a clear explanation of what happens in your life when you accept Jesus Christ into your heart. The gospel bead bracelets were made from a piece of leather strap and beads in the colors of black, red, white, blue, green and yellow. The bracelet also had a butterfly shaped bead.

Black Bead: represents the sin in our lives. Sin is all the bad things we do in life like lying, cheating, stealing, etc. Sin seperates us from God.

Red Bead: represents Jesus' blood and His love for us. Jesus is God's only son. God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

White Bead: when we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts, we are forgiven of all our sins. Jesus' shed blood washes away our sins and makes us white as snow.

Blue Bead: When we accept Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, God promises to put the Holy Spirit into our life. This bead symbolizes the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Green Bead: represents growth. Just as a flower needs water, minerals and sunlight to grow, we as Christians need four things in order to grow in our spiritual walks with the Lord. We need to read God's Word. We need to pray. We need to be in fellowship with other Christians and we need to tell others about Christ.

Yellow Bead: represents heaven. When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, He purchased a place for us in heaven. When we accept Jesus, God promises that one day when we die, we will spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Butterfly Bead: represents becoming a new creation. Just as a butterfly starts out life as an ugly worm and later turns into a beautiful butterfly we also become new creations in Christ when we accept Him into our hearts.

The gospel bead presentation ended with an opportunity for those who felt God's calling, to pray and accept Jesus Christ into their hearts. Here's Rita, a young girl, who did pray to accept Jesus! Praise God! When we later had tea at this site, Rita was talking with her peers about what each bead stood for!

After we presented the gospel bead bracelet, a member or two of our small group would give their testimony. Following the testimonies, we often had time to play games with the children and sometimes take them outside to play. One neat thing, along with the bead bracelet is that cooks at each site were given gospel aprons which contained pockets in each of the colors on the bead bracelet. Each pocket contained an explanation of that color. The cooks were so grateful for these aprons!

So there are some of the ways we ministered in each of the sites we visited!