Home again

After a very early start from Odessa the team arrived at London Gatwick airport just before 1pm on Saturday. Flights were on time and the only hiccup was trying to locate our bags in Kiev where they went to a different terminal to us, but after an 800m walk across the airport we were reunited with our bags and able to check in for the flight to London.

All looked good until we hit the M25, there then followed almost 6 hours of sitting in slow moving and stationary traffic caused by several accidents. We finally arrived back in Worcester just before 10pm!

However the journey home did not spoil our enjoyment of the trip. We had a fantastic time working and meeting friends, new and old.

Further update will follow with some photos of our trip.

Thursday - nearly done!

It's lunchtime on Thursday and we're nearly done! By nearly done I don't mean the building, just our week here and the small projects we've been entrusted with. 

There was no update yesterday because we didn't get chance during the day and took the lads from transition house bowling in the evening. They had a great time and so did we. The highlight of the evening was watching Sam try to teach the lads to spin bowl the ball and then watch them try, with varied success!! 

Yesterday we were joined for the day by Gabe, an American missionary who came out to join the team in Odessa with his wife and daughter 18months ago. They're in the process of learning the language and helping out in the children's home, playing games, doing crafts and teaching the Bible. He spent the day with us helping to translate, and some of the guys had a useful meeting with our hosts discussing how we can support them in the future, which wouldn'tve been possible without Gabe! He came bowling too, we showed him how to play!

After spending time in the Bible this morning as a team we've been encouraged to get as much done as we can today, so we're working hard so we make as much progress as possible before we leave. Please be praying for our energy and concentration levels!

Back to it...!

Tuesday

It's hot and sunny here in Odessa, which makes transition house very warm! Just on our lunch break after a mornings hard work. After correcting all yesterday's mistakes the teams cracked on where they left off yesterday. Progress has meant that plasterboard and ceiling tiles are now going up.          

                                                                                                           

Richard had the first injury, drilling a screw into his thumb! Nothing to worry about though, he plastered it up and carried on.                 

                     

Tonight we eat here at transition house and tomorrow we're being joined by some American missionaries who will help us translate, so there should be less gesturing, pointing and nodding!!

Right back to work.

Monday Update

Our first day in Ukraine started by going to Grace Baptist Church's morning service. We met Joseph, a 16yr old son of an American missionary family, who took us to the very front of the church. We soon found out there were no headphones for us, so we all had to huddle round Joseph as he interpreted quietly for us! 

The rest of the day was spent looking round the city centre and the docks, followed by the evening service and a early night. 

Monday we got up early and headed to transition house for the first time. The guys from the Wirral were amazed at the progress that has been made since they were last here 3 years ago, once they got over that they joined the rest of us in amazement at the size of the building and the amount of work still to be done, with the very little skills held by most of us! Once we'd got over that we got started.

We were split into small teams and given jobs to do by Sasha the local builder, who has done most of the work so far, and seems to be able to communicate anything building related despite the language barrier! Today has been all about building frames for ceiling and plasterboard to attach to, so lots of drilling, screwing and climbing up and down slightly wobbly scaffolding. A long day work was interrupted for some when the power went off in transition house, leaving a few of us to carry on till we were taken back to the church at 6 for our third feast of the day!

Team arrive in Odessa

The team have arrived safely in Odessa.

They were met at the airport by friends from Grace Baptist Church and are now settling in ready to worship at Grace Baptist Church on Sunday.

More updates to follow.

John

Arrived at Gatwick

The team have arrived at London Gatwick airport and are now waiting to board their flight to Odessa.

Keep checking for updates and photos

John

Almost there!

Only 2 days till we fly out, bags are packed and we are looking forward to arriving in Odessa and getting down to work.

We leave at 8am from Worcester and arrive in Odessa at 1015pm, a long day but worth it.

Keep a look out on the blog for updates and photos.

John

Only a week to go!

Just 1 week till we go back out to Odessa to continue work on Transition House.

We fly out next Saturday from London Gatwick to Odessa, travelling via Kiev.

The team of 8 (5 from Woodgreen and 3 from North Wales) are preparing for the trip.

We are all looking forward to getting to work and seeing old friends as well as making new ones, as 4 of the men are new to the team.

Keep a watch on the blog as we will try to update it as often as possible as we travel and when we are in Odessa.

Thanks for all your support, we really do appreciate it. Please feel free to leave a comment to encourage us.

John

Car Wash & Breakfast

A really big THANK YOU to all the people who came this morning to have a big breakfast and a chat whilst  having their cars washed.

We washed 26 cars in an hour and a half and raised over £330 towards materials for Transition House in Odessa.

Thanks also to everyone who came along to wash cars, cook and serve the breakfasts.