Hope Center Ukraine Worktrip Spring, 2008

This is from Tom Norton and his wife Darlene. You can reach their blog at:

Hope Center Ukraine Worktrip Spring, 2008

As some of you know and some who don't, Darlene and I were given the opportunity to go to the Ukraine on a 2 week mission trip recently. There was no mistaking that this was a gift from the lord so we could not refuse. We left on April 23rd and returned May 8th. we were 36hrs. traveling to get there via 4 plane transfers and a 6hr van ride. The place we arrived at is called Hope Center in Kerch, Ukraine. I felt like I was back in time to the early 50's. The center provides work skill training for young underprivledged men and some women. They stay there for about 6 months and recieve a certificate of completion upon graduation. They also run summer camps for many of the surrounding orphanages, these are like 2 week vacation bible schools. The camp also provides pastoral training twice a year. this camp was a former youth camp for communist indoctrination, how ironic it is now being used to bring Hope and God's love to the Ukraine people. Our 2 weeks was filled with mostly work, for me it involved mostly concrete work, not something a man pushing 60 needs to be doing. However the Lord filled our hearts with joy in all that we did making it a wonderful, fulfilling experience for Darlene and I. I invite all of you to visit this blog site for daily updates and pictures of our trip. I thank you in advance for letting share this experience with you.