Yalta Computer Outreach June 22-July 8, 2006 Exeter Chapel Cranston Christian Fellowship
Our team was made up of 10 people from RI, 1 from Canada, 3 Ukrainians and Larry and Debbie from Germany.
Training times together in the spring helped the team prepare for their ministry in Ukraine
On Thursday, June 22, 10 team members met at Exeter Chapel to drive down to JFK Airport
Alvina, our Canadian team member, met us at JFK with a smile!
Our international journey had begun!
In Kiev, we changed terminals…several times…
Then, we were on our way to Simferopol, our final stop
Were we ever happy to see Larry waiting for us at the airport!
Praise God! We finally arrived at Yalta Baptist Church!
Team members slept in rooms at the church…
…2 or 3 in each room
We ate our meals together in the same room where we had classes
Anya cheerfully fixed all of our meals and washed all of the dishes
Breakfast…
Lunch… we had soup every day
And supper…
On Saturday we spent most of the day setting up the classroom…
Boy, were those computers heavy!
We also had a team meeting…
…and worked on lesson plans
Then we were off to the bank to exchange our money
So we could begin shopping for souvenirs
Vera came down from Kiev to translate for us the entire time. She works at a university as a technical English teacher and did a fantastic job!
On Sunday we attended services at the church
Larry preached during the morning service…
Bob spoke in the evening service
And several gave their testimonies…
Our daily team meetings gave opportunity for prayer and planning
Monday morning registration brought in more students than we could fit in the class…
…the decision was made to add a 3 rd class each day
Most of the students learned about the classes from a poster placed on telephone poles in town
Benjamin and Larry welcomed everyone…
We team-taught various segments from the front of class…
…while teachers helped 2-3 students at each computer station
“This is a mouse.”
“And this is your keyboard.”
After about an hour and a half of teaching, one of the team members shared a devotional
…and one of us shared a testimony each day
Students listened intently…
Time for snacks…
Then it was time to get back to class…
…and more tutoring…
The team taught for 9 hours each day…
…getting to know their students…
…teaching graphics…
and typing…
demonstrating how to manipulate photos…
And showing Christ’s love and showing Christ’s love…
On Friday, Larry taught an important class on computer ethics
Then we had a closing ceremony…
Each student received a certificate…
a portfolio of their work…
a CD-based evangelistic course on the Life of Christ…
and a Gospel bracelet that explains the Gospel by colors
By 9 p.m. most evenings, we were ready for the half hour walk down to the boardwalk
We didn’t go on a cruise…honest!
Though we saw several cruise ships in the Yalta port
…as well as other beautiful sights…
We even found McDonald’s…
Several mornings the guys got up early to swim in the Black Sea
On Saturday we visited Livadia Palace …where the Yalta Conference was held after World War II
We visited the beautiful nearby mountains…
And ate some colorful food!
Yalta has many gorgeous sites…
But what impacted our lives was the people we met
Visiting in homes…
…making new friends
…sharing God’s love with our students
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain.” John 15:16