A DAY IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH THE VILLAGE

Children were so happy - playing and running here and there.

The valley we were in was awesome with a magnificent waterfall.

Had several visits from the local residents.

More flowers from our little Dayspring darling.

Know what these are?  Samsovars.  For Tea!

Our village friends preparing food for us.

OUR DYNAMIC TEAM!

Andy was the one who started the waterfall dip!

Others hit the waterfall over and over again.

The children win your hearts over and over again.

The games after the lunch were so fun - including what we all

know as Red Rover!

Happy Days - Each person was blessed - but no more than we all were!

EAST ISKRA VILLAGE - A DAY WE WILL REMEMBER FOR MANY YEARS!

BLESSING A WHOLE VILLAGE - MOUNTAIN DAY

ARRIVING AT THE MOUNTAINS

Brian and Jenny talking to Tanya

The Village Arrives - over 100 wonderful people.

Our visiting team from Barrie, Ontario.

Andy, Jenny and Brian

The team sponsored the day!

Thank you team!

The CAZAN - getting ready to make plof!

Plof for over 100 people - this was delicious!

The feast is served - on the ground of course!

And a little rest after our wonderful meal that was prepared by the Village.

The Village decided to bless us and put our name on the mountain in stone!

It was awesome!

Again and again we were presented with beautiful mountain flowers.  

Just a humble reminder...left behind.

The THREE CHIEFS - from Iskra and Iskra Village

(maybe the chiefs from the Wright and Johnston family?  NOT)

We had the Dayspring Family with us all day.  Here is Acel with our dear little girl giving her flowers from the mountain.  She was so proud to present her "momma" with flowers.  

JOY OH JOY!

MARVELLOUS

THE LAMb Team

WHAT ABOUT NOW - WHAT ABOUT LIFE

This video is from the heart of our team member Andy Stokes.  You never know how being on a mission trip will impact you.   Yesterday at Teen Challenge, Andy sat down at the piano and "sang his heart."  We cannot say anything that will completely tell the story - but yesterday - one heart sang as others joined in.

Thanks Andy,

The LAMb Team

TENDING, TRAINING, TAMING, TOUCHING BASES

DAYSPRING PLAYGROUND COMING TOGETHER

We picked up the metal for the playground at Dayspring today.  The team loaded a batch of "metal" into Isar's van and delivered it to Teen Challenge for the first part of the work.  Soon we will be bringing this to Dayspring for assembly - a new slide, swing set, and more.  Thanks to you our sponsor!

Watch for the smiles of the children!  Construction day  - MONDAY COMING..

Brian hard at work loading metal - Andy said it would get his pants dirty.  Hmmmm.  So we named the donkey after him!

That's right - a new donkey.  You see two donkeys here.  Well the team stopped along side of the road and John jumped out of the van.  Seems some time ago he promised a donkey to Teen Challenge.  Well, here was one farmer and TWO donkeys. After some negotiation a deal was made - donkey purchased.  So they had to have tea at the donkey cart and the donkey was ours - well  - Teen Challenges.  And we named the donkey - ANDY.  THAT'S RIGHT!

ANDY - THE DONKEY

Jenny decided the donkey was quite harmless and found him to be just a little baby.  Much different that African donkeys she says.

Here - Andy is giving the men at Teen Challenge some wonderful little gifts - great speeches from 

C. Stanley - great gift - the men were thrilled.

The day was really full.  

TRAINING:  Ruby conducted a full day of training at SOS Children's Villages on the topic of Trauma.  there were about 35 participants in the training.

After training, and the day of Touching Bases, the team gathered in Bishkek to have a wonderful dinner together.  And once again, partnership became the key - LAMb International. Light of Asia, Crossroads, Teen Challenge, and Lepta Plus coming together to share stories, plans, fellowship, and dinner.  PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION.  

WE CAN TEACH PARTNERSHIP

BUT SO MUCH BETTER TO DEMONSTRATE IT!

PREVIEWING, PAINTING, PLAYING, PRESENTING AND PREPARING

GIVING AND SHARING

Our team sharing with some of the persons at Iskra Dump.  Once again,

they thanked the team, telling us they really do not get help from anyone.  One woman shared how her

son was pinned between a dump truck and a car at the dump - killing him recently and how her husband had died just a few months earlier.  She cried and said she  just wanted to die.  

Andy was a hit - he and Josiah here are blessing this pair at the Iskra Dump.  T-shirts are donations from the Canadian Cancer Society.  What a blessing to our friends.

Some people just have to clown around.  Andy climbed the 24.5 meter tower and looked for the photo op!  Seems he is a real kid at heart.

So we decided to put him to work!  Best way to control him!

PREVIEWING:  The team had the opportunity today to see one of the village schools of Mercy Foundation and after experience a little visit to Burana Tower - one of the sites along the Silk Road used for trading of merchandise.

PAINTING:  After the morning excursion, they ended up at the local small orphanage to help with some of the renovations.  So working side by side with children, our team and with Vlady and Amozot (Jessica's family - the dad!).  It was a paint and build the fence day.

We also visited Jessica's family and talked to them about the sponsorship project to see if they were willing to be part of the program.  We hope to find a sponsor for the family.  Since dad was working with Valdy, we took the information on the children, etc.  Inura will talk to Amozot and let us know if they will be part of the program.

PLAYING:  The work is started and will take some time to finish - however our team was able to contribute and make a difference and Andy taught them how to sing and paint at the same time.  "If your happy and you know it, paint the wall,....."

PRESENTING:  Tomorrow we are off to Bishkek.  I am doing training for the day with SOS Children's Villages and the team will be able to see the work of Teen Challenge, etc.

PREPARING:  Saturday - we are fishing with the village!  Well, we are going to the mountains and doing our best to get some fishing in.  The village is really excited and with the little rain this afternoon - I will guess they will have a large bucket of worms - oh my!  We will have a grand time and the group is growing

1.  Village of East Iskra - maybe 100
2.  Invited our Dayspring Family - 10
3.  Sergae, Annya and family - 6
4.  Our team - 13

A whopping 126 not including drivers.

"I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills, I love the ....."  go ahead and sing it!

The LAMb Team

CELEBRATING TODAY IN MANY WAYS

CELEBRATION COMES IN MANY FORMS

Brian is teaching little Emma how to spin a pinwheel.

Success for both!

Our little Dayspring girls all ready for the birthday dinner!

Checking out the beautiful crafts made by children - learning a little "micro" business.

The BIRTHDAY GIRLS!!!

GIFT TIME!

Andy telling us about his day with John.

Today was an awesome day.  We started out this morning realizing that no one notified our driver we needed him to carry us around the valley.  But not to fear - we managed to get on the road just 1/2 later than planned.  Then it was off to the dump - deliver food and just visit with our dear friends.  Second stop was to deliver food - but we were in for a surprise.  

We stopped at East Iskra Village to leave bags of pasta and they heard we were coming and prepared chai for us.  Well chai in Kyrgy style is a meal!  AND YOU MUST PARTAKE!  So, while having chai and lots of other things - we were once again reminded that JOHN PROMISED to take the village to the mountains to go fishing.  HMMMM.

So in checking with our team - they agreed this might be a good idea for Saturday - whole village - husbands, wives and children (there must be hundreds :) on a BIG bus and head to the mountains.  So to plan - the excitement suddenly became so loud it was hard to hear.  They had been wanting to go to the mountains for several years.  Saturday would be the day.

1.  Fishing - so I asked who was going to bring the worms.  Our most vocal male at our table said the ENTIRE VILLAGE would go dig worms. HMMM guess that is not going to be a problem.

2.  We asked about food - they said they would make the food - we said our team would pay.  Okay - funds to Larissa.  She said they would have a "board meeting" in the village to make the final details of what food to bring etc.  

3.  Transportation - they thought one big bus would hold the village - so we are getting one that took 120 children to a celebration before.  HMMM never knew a bus to hold that many.  But we called the bus company and indeed they will have a bus for us for $150 for the day.

4.   Route to the mountains - next the challenge.    Seems two men wanted to be the leader.  Each thought they could do the best.  We left them to figure that one out.

5.  Time to leave - decided we need to leave at 6am and we needed to bring music for the day! Out of the cases will come the ukeleles.  But it seems they  really meant a boom box!

Finally plans in place we headed back to Tokmok to prepare for the Birthday party.  Oh HAPPY DAY.

THE LAMb Team

PERM, RUSSIA - MAKING A DIFFERENCE

WORKING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Perm, Russia

THE GROUP HARD AT WORK

To my right - this is Vera - she is the coordinator for NFPCC

(National Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children)

for this region.  She is positive, energetic and passionate about

making a difference for the orphans of the Perm Region.

This picture was our serious moment,

then things fell apart...

next photo...

and...

we laughed so hard we almost all fell over...

who said training cannot be fun?

Finally the training is over - all 28 participants

were given congratulations for working so hard.

Each participant takes home memories and ACTION PLANS.

WATCH PERM MOVE!

AND THEY BELIEVE IN - A WORLD WITHOUT ORPHANS