We're Still Alive!

Hey everyone!  This is to let you all know that we are STILL ALIVE!

Right now, we are enjoying our time with our family in Iowa and visiting with Deaf Missions.  So far, we've had two very good meetings with them.  

The first meeting was informal - more of us getting "up to speed" with them.  

The second meeting included us giving a PowerPoint presentation and we told few of the Deaf Missions staff - which included Chad Entinger, Mark Lowenstein, Jose Abenchuchan, and Joseph Josselyn - all about our mission trip, taking about Romania, Poland, and Ukraine.  

The next project for us is to update our website, now that we are in the States and we've had some research completed.  We would like to put in the information that we collected in an organized manner and make it easy for you to understand what the situation is.  

We are currently focused on trying to establish a summer camp for deaf orphans/abandoned children in Romania.  We hope that this will be a successful project and we would be able to implement this concept into camps in Ukraine and Moldova in the future.  

Alexa's green card application/process will take up to three months.  We are debating on whether it's a good idea for us to go back at the end of the year, or if the research that we have done is enough for us to  actually start doing ministry.  

Our goals before we went on the trip were to: 

1. Research/Document the situation with Deaf Orphans

2. Work with Deaf Orphans 

3. Meet/Collaborate with Leaders of the Deaf Community

We have done a lot of #1 and #3 in Romania, but not so much in Ukraine, because of the schools closing in the summertime and our trip coming to a halt.  #2 was difficult since we couldn't commit to a single school, because we were always moving from one city to another - and that's not including the government hurdles that one has to make before one can actually work/volunteer at a school/orphanage.  

Right now, we are leaning towards finding a stable job in the U.S. to support ourselves financially and for the future, but for that job to give us freedom during the summer for us to organize a mission trip to Romania to start summer camps there.  We would also be able to fundraise and channel the funds directly to the camp and orphans' needs, rather than for us to use the funds to support ourselves while we are in Romania.  

The #1 goal right now for ODO is to start a summer camp in 2012 in Romania!  We are going to contact a few organizations and people that are already involved in Romania, and we will update you all on our progress.  

That's all for now!  We need your prayers as we are in a time of transition and confusion - it's not that easy to get back into the U.S.A. after you've been gone for more than five months!  

Thank you all for your support!  

With Love,

- Alex n Alexa

A Change in Plans

We will be flying to the United States, specifically Omaha and staying with our family this Wednesday (June 8th).  The reasons why we have to do this is explained in the video above.  The video above is probably too small for you to view, so just click on the YOUTUBE logo at the bottom right to view it on YouTube.  Or you can click here.

Thanks

Скрытые под ковер

Since we can't find a chance to get the rest of the team together and also have our camera ready, we decided to get this picture from their website at www.kharkovmissions.com!  Here are the four married couples and their adorable children.  The couple on the far left is Mike and Lucy McDougle with their boys, Canaan and Max.  The woman in the beige jacket and the man in sitting in front of him in the maroon shirt is Brandon and Katie, the newest part of the group.  The woman in the middle with the blue shirt and the man next to her in the red shirt is Rob and Denyce Hindman with their two boys, Malachi and Silas.  Finally, the couple on the far right is David, Olivia Nelson with their baby, Caleb!    

A statue.  Brandon named it, " Pasha".  So, this is Pasha.  There are a lot of military type monuments in Eastern Europe and this is an example.  

Easy to read, right?  

We were invited to a Friday night "Game Night" where Brandon and Katie invited the church to their apartment to socialize, eat, and play games.  We enjoyed it and was able to meet Ukrainians.  Here is Olivia and Natasha (Ukrainian).  And of course, Caleb.  

We would have to study Russian for probably two years before we could ever play this game!!!

Russian scrabble?!  No thanks!  

This version of Scrabble is English!  Alex was playing with Imoh and Okajevo - and they both are Nigerians!  They are both Christians and they are studying at an university in Kharkov.  They speak in English and regularly attend the missionaries' church services.  They are unbelievable talents in Scrabble, they put Alex to shame.  

This is Julie, an Ukrainian.  She is very friendly and helped to interpret one of our meetings with a volunteer organization from Russian-English so Olivia was able to interpret from English-ASL!  She often goes to bible studies with Olivia and Katie.    

We are very blessed to have our friends allow us to get a glimpse into the life of a church-planting missionary.  It's a very challenging job and we really respect them.  To do this kind of work, one has to move away from one's home country, learn a new language, and have to constantly get out of one's comfort zone to meet strangers and tell them about Jesus.  They will have to often deal with rejection and frustrations, but they find joy whenever just one more person realizes how much God loves them and believes.    

On our way home, we saw a big crowd watching something.  We saw that it was break-dancing.  

Olivia's face is blurry probably because the roads are a bit rough.  She has been an awesome host, along with her husband, David.  

Big statue of Lenin.  He's still very popular in this country.  Stalin isn't!  David told us that he is popular because he's the one who ended the Tsars rule.  This is at the main square in downtown Kharkov.  

That's Russian writing for "Lenin".  The upside-down V is L and the H is N.  Confusing, isn't it?  :)  

Yet another military monument.  It might not be clear but the carvings are of soldiers and you can see tanks between the statue and the church.  This type of orthodox church building is all over Ukraine - Olivia referred it as an "onion top".  

A very friendly hearing Ukrainian, Andrei, came to the apartment to visit us because he is very passionate about the orphan situation.  Olivia was kind to help and interpret.  He told us a wealth of information about what the system is like in Ukraine for hearing orphans, from infancy up to after they get out of the orphanage.  The situation is actually not as bad as it might seem, which is great news, but they still do need a lot of help.  We will keep his contact for a possible future project with deaf orphans!    

Brandon and Katie got in touch with a deaf kindergarten, but we were turned away when we arrived because we didn't have an official document that allowed us to get into the government building.  So, this is all that we can share with you.  We were disappointed, but that's how things are in Eastern Europe.  All the orphans are in the state's care, so you can't just get in and visit them.  There's a lot of steps involved before you finally are able to make contact with the children.  It can be very frustrating.    

So - we took out our frustrations on pizza and were reminded that we shouldn't worry, but be happy.  This couple is passionate about orphans and they really do want to make a difference.  We hope and are confident that eventually, they will be able to make some kind of difference in orphans' lives by ministering to them.  They live in Kharkov and will be for the next six years.  

We were having a difficult time with deaf orphans, since deaf schools were closed and there was no information available on where the orphans from each school would be sent to.  We didn't want to let this hinder us from understanding the orphan situation, so we got in touch with a friendly Christian organization that were very involved with Kharkov orphans.  They took us on a three-day trip and we visited several different places.  We got diapers for baby orphans, and here is Alexa with one of our guides.  

Now, this is the most saddest part of our time in Ukraine - seeing the baby orphans.  Those are just little infants who did nothing wrong, but they have been abandoned by their parents, and they are alone in their cribs without the kind of care that a mother and father would provide.  Brandon was really touched by this, and he wrote a very good entry on his blog.  For much more information about the babies, please go to this link

Brandon's Blog - Baby Orphans

This cute boy was not able to sit up by himself.  His mother was a prostitute and lost her parental rights when she was arrested.  From what the woman told us - the mother always held the baby and never let him walk around, so the baby didn't develop properly.  He was very sweet and laughed when we picked him up - but when we put him down, he would cry uncontrollably.  It's a situation that just really, really is bad for the baby.  His life is going to be tough.   

This is a really cute girl who is a bit older and we could already see a bit of stress in her - as she was a bit confused on who we were, but laughed when we played with her - but when we left, she cried really hard.  (Photo from Brandon's blog)

Alexa trying to give this little infant some contact.  All the babies really, really love getting physical contact, and the moment you let them go, they cry.  It's heartbreaking.  

We just don't get it.  Why would parents abandon babies like this?  It's a hidden problem, swept under the rug.  

We also visited another orphanage that day, a transitional center.  We weren't allowed to take pictures, so we will describe it.  It's a big building just a bit outside of Kharkov.  It's nice and appears to be well-maintained.  This orphanage is where street children who were just picked up, or children from abusive families - etc would be placed.  There, they would stay for around six weeks before they were transferred to another orphanage for them to stay.  This one had kids from the age of 5ish up to around 17.

Here is Vova, our main guide.  He's an awesome guy, and he was willing to write all the information on pen and paper! This is on our second day of the orphanage trip - we went to a Christian orphanage, the only one in Kharkov - located around 45 minutes away from the city.  It was in a beautiful forest setting.  They only had around seven children, though.  When I asked why so small - Vova said that the Kharkov government put a block on incoming children because they wanted this land and didn't want to let this orphanage survive.  It's a sad situation when government blocks any kind of effort to improve children's lives.  Shouldn't they be blocking corruption and crime?  Situations like this can be frustrating!  But - we learned a lot from this visit, and we could see how the children were not "orphans" but they were residents of this place, and they looked very loved, happy, and comfortable.   

We were stunned to see this kind of bug in Ukraine, but there are quite a few of them.  

Playing soccer.  

It didn't work - but a pretty cool photo opp.

The sign for the orphanage.

The director.  She is a very friendly woman, and Vova told us that she is a very good one.  All the children love her.  

An orphan who graduated from this place.  She is reading a poem about what it was like for her to be an orphan.  We couldn't understand her because we're deaf, don't have interpreters, and can't understand Russian!  But Vova tried his best to write on pen and paper.  

Another orphan.  We thought he was a visitor because he looked just like a typical American kid.  That's what happens when you provide children with a loving environment.  We could see the difference between those who were "stuck" in an institutionalized setting from those who were in a beautiful environment like this one.  

On our third day, we went for a long 90 kilometer road trip out of town to an orphanage where there were around 30 children between the ages of 2-7.  We weren't allowed to take pictures, which is unfortunate, as the children were really, really cute and we wanted to share with you.  This facility had quite a few successful adoptions, and the staff were very attentive to the children.  Vova and her co-worker were able to teach a Bible lesson and gave them plenty of toys and candies.  Again, we were amazed at how cute and sweet the little children were and we just don't understand why parents would abandon them.  

After the three-day trip, we really understood what the orphan situation in Ukraine is like for hearing children.  For the deaf child, that's still to be determined, as we are facing a brick wall with access to them.  This is because the deaf schools are closed for the summer - so there is really no way to find the deaf orphans unless we were to visit every single foster house/orphanage in the entire country of Ukraine.  So, because of this, we are probably going to come back to Ukraine again in the fall/early winter, and visit the deaf schools, find the orphans, and ask the directors about their situation.  Most of the deaf schools we've contacted in Ukraine are VERY welcoming of us, but they can't help us because the schools are closed!  

At McDonald's with four deaf Ukrainians.  It's really impossible to remember their names because they fingerspell it in Russian and you just can't figure it out!  But we were able to communicate with them - the "deaf" way!  We learned that getting a job is VERY hard for deaf people.  The guy at the end of the table with the flannel shirt has been mopping floors at McDonald's for six years but never got promoted.  Regardless of this, they have a great attitude and are Christians.  

David n Olivia asked us to babysit Caleb, and it was a lot of fun! 

That's all for now!  We are now thinking of what we should do during the summer, because opportunities in Ukraine are closed - since deaf schools are closed.  We have a great idea though, and we're working on it, and we will announce what we are doing next soon.