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Dear friends,
Thanks so much to everyone who gave to our campaign to fund camps for Stop the Cycle and the Shelter! We had three meaningful camp retreats.
These stories were shared by Oksana Pankyeyeva.
Overcoming Misunderstanding:
Sveta’s experience with Stop the Cycle
Vova Ostrovsky and his wife Sveta were one of the young couples who came with us to the sea. This was a great victory!
We’ve written before about Vova Ostrovsky. He was one of the first guys at the Shelter, a Christian who went to school at YWAM and did mission work in Turkey. But when he came back, he began to fade away.
Vova & Sveta Ostrovsky with son Nikita
Then he married Sveta, who forbade him coming to the Shelter. She believed it was a religious cult. Still, sometimes they needed medicine for the baby, Nikita, which we gladly gave them, along with clothes and shoes. And Vova’s sisters kept telling Sveta about Stop the Cycle.
Finally, Vova and Sveta came to a Stop the Cycle meeting. The lesson was about childhood development and learning. The whole time, Sveta was on the edge of her seat, smiling at Oksana. She began calling to ask for advice or help.
Sveta and Vova both went to camp by the sea. Sveta made friends with everyone immediately and was very attentive during meetings. What a change from a few months ago, when she believed Last Bell was a cult! We expect to see a lot of fruit in this young family’s life.
Stop the Cycle Husbands Show Their Love
One day we planned for the guys to take a long hike on the highest mountain in the Carpathians. In the morning the weather was worrisome, but we prayed, and in 15 minutes the sky cleared. So the guys spent some quality time together hiking.
We moms and kids waited back at camp. No one had phone connections, so we were nervous. Then suddenly the guys appeared, each one with a bouquet of beautiful flowers. Some knelt or kissed their wives as they presented the bouquets.
Sasha and Alona with baby Zlata, and the flowers Sasha brought back from the mountain
To our surprise, the idea for picking flowers came from Vova Shepeluk, the husband of Marina. When we first met them, Vova treated Marina very poorly. But after the very first camp, their relationship began to improve. Praise God for a husband who can now show love to his wife in this thoughtful way!
Younger Stop the Cycle group at the beginning of the parenting journey
Our second Stop the Cycle camp was the first camp experience for all the young moms who attended — our second/younger group of moms. We formed many relationships with these young ladies, but we also felt we were in the middle of a battle for the health of their families.
Even Oksana’s daughter Margaritka said, “Mom, they are not like moms!” They treat their children almost like pets who only need to be fed.
Oksana answered, “Do you remember the first group at camp?” Four years later, we see how many good families and good parents are in that older group. We pray the same will happen with these younger moms.
Here is the story of Sasha, whose mom is from this group.
Sasha’s mom’s name is Ira. She is 24 and pregnant with her fifth child.
The social dorm where Ira and her family currently live
Ira’s favorite child is the youngest, 2 ½ years old, and she forces the older kids to help with him. She often says, “This is my favorite one. I love only him.”
The family often moved, and the men in Sasha’s life were probably abusive.
But Ira comes to all our meetings, and we have a good relationship. The place where she lives is terrible; we’re helping her remodel. A year ago she also went to a Mission to Ukraine camp. We hope she’ll change.
At seven, Sasha is her oldest child. Clearly Sasha has had a difficult childhood; part of the evidence is that he never shows emotion.
We tried taking Sasha’s picture on the bus. The sun shone in his eyes, but he tried to look nice and not blink. But he couldn’t smile. We thought he didn’t want to, and then we realized he didn’t know how.
At camp, he participated in a kids’ drama, where they tried, with some difficulty, to teach him how to show anger or other emotions.
He also seemed to have trouble with eating. Once Margaritka took him away from the other kids, and made a fun game with sandwiches for him.
After camp, the group went to the indoor water park in Kyiv called Dreamtime. Sasha was very skinny in his swim shorts, and you could see he was afraid of the water. He just stood there shaking. But Oksana and Andrey spent time teaching him how to have fun. After a while he was able to smile and silently try everything.
Sasha didn’t want to go home when camp was over. His home life is very difficult. Please pray for Sasha and other children like him; pray our Stop the Cycle lessons will be effective, so they can live in safer, more loving homes.
Sasha at camp
A little while ago on Facebook we shared a video of a performance by the Last Bell “grandkids” at summer camp. Click here to watch; Sasha is the king in the middle.
Shelter 2 kids open up at the Sea
Our Shelter 2 retreat was special this year in part because some of our kids had never been to the sea! Those kids counted the days before we left.
The weather was hot, so we spent time together at night. We went for walks, talked, and grilled out every night. The kids were good helpers, and no one tried to go out dancing, even though three cafes in the village played loud disco music every night.
On one special occasion, Roma Zaorbekov told Tanya Misha more about his family.
He and his brother were the youngest of nine, the only two who went to the orphanage. Roma still feels the pain and unfairness of that, and is angry with his older sisters for not visiting him. He also said, “No matter what my mom did or what she is, I still love her and will love her.”
He and Tanya also talked about his relationship with Sveta Varss, another Shelter girl. The two of them had dated, and Roma was still upset about the breakup. But through conversations with Tanya and other leaders, he realized he needed to begin a new life not centered around Sveta.
After camp, Roma actually started visiting his sisters, and began spending as much time as he could at the Shelter.
Toward the end of the retreat, some of the kids learned the government wouldn’t give them a special placement in the university based on their orphan status – those placements were given to those whose parents were killed in the war. They talked to the leaders about their worries. For three of our kids, a college education is the first step to following their dreams.
After camp the leaders helped them start college even without that special placement. Please keep praying for the government to provide the education our kids need!
Thanks again, everyone, for providing and praying for our summer camp retreats. We see this year more than ever how much of a difference it makes, especially to our Stop the Cycle families, to spend time together this way!
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