April/May Update

I just realized this post never made it on the blog. Better late than never, right? :) Happy Reading.


“Some of you aren’t even sure if your parents are for you, but I am telling you that the God of the universe is totally for you . . . God is for you! He is not against you. He loves you . . . You get love when you’re messed up. That’s how powerful the love of God is . . . And if our God is for us, who could ever stop us?”


Friends and Family,
These are just some of the words of truth that our Exodus 50 teens/young adults heard at Passion Conference, Kiev 2010. I had the AMAZING opportunity to join some of our staff and about 25 of “our kids” for the experience of Passion. Passion is “committed to spreading the fame of Jesus Christ to the 16+million college students of the nation and countless others around the globe” and “exists to glorify God - uniting students in worship and prayer for spiritual awakening in this generation.” (You can read more at http://www.268generation.com.) The story of how our group ended up at Passion is an update in itself. In short, a freshman college student attended the Passion Conference in Atlanta. (Not long before, this young man had been to Simferopol on a missions trip). During his time at Passion in Atlanta, he remembered the teens he met here in Simferopol, and he was so moved that he got the idea and desire for our teens to go to Passion. After a lot of prayer, hard work, and walking through doors that God was opening for him, he raised the money to make this experience possible for our Exodus 50 kids. This conference has changed our group – and not just the teens, but it has changed me. It was awesome – truly awesome – to witness our teens worshiping God with nothing holding them back. I remember when this fire was put in my own heart as a teen attending the Ichthus and Creation Festivals in the States. Seeing them with their hands lifted to Jesus and tears rolling down some of their cheeks, I understood that God was really changing hearts - the same way he changed my heart – the same way he changes all of our hearts – the same way he will continue to change hearts. I honestly cannot think of the words to describe it, but there is something so important in community worship especially with peers, and our teens were able to have the experience with about 6,500 others. Please pray that the fire that was put in their hearts will stay ablaze and that we would know the best way to support them, encourage them, and disciple them to closer relationships with Jesus.

At the Train Station in Simferopol - getting ready to leave for Passion. -Exodus 50

In Kiev at the "Motherland" Statue. WWII Museum. -Exodus 50

Outside of WWII Museum, Kiev. -Exodus 50

Passion Conference. View from the back. Taken from Passion's website. -Exodus 50

The busyness of Passion certainly did not take away from our weekly Game Nights; Game Nights have become my favorite part of the week, and many of the teens have agreed. Every Thursday, we continue to cram about 20 people into my one room apartment, eat, and play together. We have moved outside for half of the time and are playing games like Ultimate Frisbee and Kickball. Kickball was just introduced and proved to be interesting when trying to teach the rules to a group of people who have no concept of baseball. It proved to be hilarious but a success. Game Nights (we’ve had 8 so far) always include lots of laughing and eating (this last week was tacos). Spending this time with my young friends is really special for me, and I think it’s just as special for them. Another interesting event was on Easter Sunday. We had our regular service at church and our club meeting revolved around Easter, but when it was over, we just weren’t sure what to do from there. This would normally be the time when we would go home, but it was Easter, and we could tell that no one wanted to do that. Tara, Rachel, and I pitched the idea to go get ice cream and walk around the park. After about an hour or so when the ice cream was gone, we still didn’t want to go home. As a joke, I threw out the idea of going to the zoo. Now, when you think “zoo,” think smaller, dirtier, and really soviet (maybe something form the 50’s). The main attractions here include two lions and a tiger, but we also have muskrats, peacocks, a horse, a donkey, a camel, goats, etc. Basically, PETA would go nuts if they were ever to show up. After a few minutes of thinking through our options, we were walking through the gates of the zoo. What a funny experience this ended up being; the teens were like first graders on a field trip running from one animal to the next and back again. I think we spent at least two hours there. One our way out, Tara and I were chatting and thinking about how if we were home, we would be playing games with our family and eating while enjoying the holiday. These kids don’t have families to go home to and would have been sitting alone in their apartments or at the dorms at the technical schools. While I usually miss being home on holidays like this, there was no other place I wanted to be than at the zoo this last Easter Sunday.

Thursday Game Nights in my apartment. - Exodus 50

Monday Kickball Games - Exodus 50

Girls' Sleepover - Exodus 50

On a Hike with Exodus 50

Hike wtih Exodus 50

When I arrived here in August, I had absolutely no idea how involved I would be with Exodus 50 and how important and special these teens would become to me. I assumed that I would go to the club meetings, but I really thought that the majority of my time and energy would be in the walls of the orphanages. The teens in Exodus 50 are from orphanages but have graduated, so some of them are trying to support themselves by working, some have moved on to technical schools, and some even made it to the university level. When I think about the biggest blessing I have received these past 9 months, I think about the relationships I have made through Exodus 50. I can see myself in some of them – some of them are like younger siblings – some have become close friends – I really love them. It breaks my heart and scares me to think about leaving them soon. I am thankful that I am returning, but the time away from them is going to be very difficult.

Game Night - Exodus 50

Orphanage Visits

Just yesterday, we had a lesson with the 4th graders (10 to 13 year olds) at Gagarin Orphanage: The four types of peer pressure and the four ways to say no. I assumed that the topic of “peer pressure” would be review and that our time would go quickly through the lesson. Once again, I was reminded to never assume. After about 2 minutes, we realized, these kids had no idea what peer pressure was. At the end of the lesson, we think/hope that they were able to grasp something as they will soon head out to governmental camps. These camps are simply a terrible place for our kids. Camps are usually fully of drugs, alcohol, and sex, and Orphan’s Hope offers an alternative Christian Camp, but we can’t accommodate all of the kids in all of the orphanages. Our weekly visits are going well at the orphanages, and we just celebrated our last birthday until after summer at Gvordeeskya orphanage in our 5th grade class. To do something special for Easter for our 4th graders at Gvordeeskya, we met them in town, treated them to McDonalds, and went to the park to ride some fair-type rides. The kids enjoyed two rounds of bumper cars, two rounds of umbrellas, and rolling around in giant plastic bubbles that were in a pool of water. Laughs were had by all, and they kids were so excited. We took them to McDonalds once before, but this was there first experience at this park and on rides.

4th Grade Class from Gvordeeskya at the Park

Graduation: 4th Grade Class from Gagarin

General News/Prayer Requests

Three of the girls from Exodus 50 helped me with a mini presentation to 125 first graders in Ohio via Skype with video. It was “Culture Week” at a school where my friend teaches, so her students prepared a list of questions for the girls and me to talk about. Everyone had a blast. It was a great opportunity for the girls to talk about Ukrainian culture, and we received positive feedback from the teachers involved about how their students enjoyed hearing the language and learning some tidbits of information about Ukraine. There was even an ESL teacher who spoke Ukrainian, so she was able to communicate to the teens in Ukrainian while they answered in Russian. The education system here is incredibly different than that in the US, so our girls were also learning as they made observations of the classroom and the students.

We were able to purchase a large building with the money that was donated that I wrote about in the last update. Plans for this building are to make it into a transition house where 4 to 6 teens who are involved in Exodus 50 will live with house parents. Earlier, I also wrote about an office that we are in the process of remodeling in order to be the Orphan’s Hope office (we share space with different ministries at the moment) as well as where we will have club, meetings, and parties with our Exodus 50 group. This place will also be used for special events with our classes from the orphanages. The good news is that it is in its final stages. Our hope is to see it finished before we head off to the States.

Graduation is coming up quickly for those finishing their time at the orphanages; this is always a bittersweet time. For many, it means being shipped off to the dormitories at the technical schools. This is the time that either “makes them or breaks them” because they will experience more “freedom” and more pressure to be involved in drugs, alcohol, gangs, sex, or prostitution. Please pray for protection for the children in the orphanages and the teens who will graduate – that they would be protected from predators who want to harm them in different ways – that they would have spiritual protection and guidance – that they would have emotional protection and know they are loved, worthy, and have value. Also, pray that they would make good/healthy decisions and find the support they need.


If you’ve followed this Ukraine journey from the beginning, you remember that visas are always a hassle. If not, it’s too good to be true. Our friends, who recently got 5 year, multi entry visas (the same that TB, Rach, and I have) were recently told they were not allowed to reenter Ukraine until mid June. They were leaving for a short trip and were expecting to return in a few days. I’m not going into specifics into detail, but basically a law was violated (that no one really knew about) about length of stay in country. I am registered with this same type of visa and haven’t had any problem yet; however, a new law has been passed revoking registration of cultural visas. It’s all very confusing, and since we can no longer be registered, we can only stay in the country for 90 days and then must leave for 90 days. Meaning, we are on the hunt for another route to get a visa that we can register to avoid the leaving and staying out of the country. This is usually a difficult, lengthy, and pricey process, so pray that something can be figured out.


Jason’s time in India/Nepal is finishing soon, so pray for him that he would finish strong and that God would bless the seeds that he helped plant in people’s hearts there. He will be visiting here his last two weeks, and we will travel back to the States on the 4th of June with Rachel and Tara. Please pray that our relationship continues to be strengthened; there is soon to be an end to living on opposite sides of the world.

Finances – Both properties that we have purchased and are working on require more money in order to be completed. Some of the teens who we support (university costs and housing expenses) are in need of supporters. Their approximate needs are $600 a year for university expenses and $80 a month for housing. Pray that God would provide for our ministry’s needs as well as for the individual needs of the youth who we work with.

A very close friend of mine of over ten years had a son last week, and he has a mass on his liver, which is causing complications on his heart (hepatic hemangioendothelioma). I don’t know many details, but he is still in the hospital. Please pray for Allyson and Todd and their son, Tyler.

Another one of the teenagers who we worked with in the past gave birth to a baby girl last week. She has yet to finish school and is not married, but Praise the Lord she chose to have the baby rather than abort her. All three of us were shocked that we had no idea she was even pregnant. After receiving a message stating that she was avoiding us because she thought we would think badly of her, we are now thinking of a way to contact her to get together. Pray that a connection would be made and that we could assure our love towards her – and the love God has for her. Please pray for protection on this baby and this family.

Please continue to pray for my family and others who are grieving.

I am looking for opportunities to share about the ministry that I am doing here with Orphan’s Hope. If you know of a Bible study, congregation, business meeting, women’s group, etc that you think would like to hear more about the work happening in orphanages and with graduates from orphanages, please let me know. Feel free to pass along my contact information to anyone you think might be interested.

As I gear up for the summer and head home to hit crunch time for wedding planning, my mind and my heart are experiencing a tornado of emotions. I can’t wait for the “long distance” part of our relationship to be over; I can’t wait until the wedding; I can’t wait to play games with my family (and eat cake from the local bakery); I, however, do not want to leave. The plan for Jason and me is to be back next January depending on support raising, and knowing that I am returning after seven months eases a little of the ache in my heart. It still, however, does not change the love I have for the Exodus 50 group and the kids or that I am leaving. Please pray that I am faithful in serving wherever I am – now or this summer – and that our ministry continues to be fruitful. Pray for Jason and my return to the States – that we will be able to handle reverse culture shock – that we will have success in support raising and figuring out what going on the mission field together is going to look like.


As always, friends, thanks so much. I am always so humbled by your giving, your prayers, your encouragement, and your support. Truly, without you, this entire update could be erased because this ministry would not be happening if it was not for the role you play in my life and in Orphan’s Hope. I will write another update once I return to the States in a few weeks. Thank you again and see you on the other side.
In Him,
Esther