Spirits were high at this point as we waited for the train to leave the station and enjoyed a McDonalds. We waited on the platform for approximately 40 minutes to avoid the stifling heat on the train (no air-con!). It felt good to be able to lie down after travelling overnight and very little sleep.
The next morning (5.15am) we were wakened by an enthusiastic Ernie Smith (WGM missionary) who informed us to use the toilets before they closed them as we approached Zaporizhzia. From there we had another 3 hours on a mini-bus ( brken up by a two hour church service in the middle) to get to the city of Berdyansk and the Home of Hope -our final destination.
On the road to Berdyansk we were astounded by the miles of sunflowers that lines each side of the road. Beautiful!
Work began on Monday morning, some enjoyed painting the fence around the edge of the centre, some shovelled dirt into flower beds, others helped prepare food, others cleaned the youth centre. We worked at these tasks throughout the fortnight.
Above: David behinds bars!
The part of the trip that we all had strong feelings about were the scheduled visits to the first stage orphanage. Some of us were really looking forward to this, others were apprehensive about how we would react. However, by the end of our trip we were all overwhelmed by the warmth and love of the children that we met at the orphanage. We were able to have great fun playing with them, we were able to bless them with gifts donated by the church back home and we were able to sing and share Christ with them. They were well looked after and in good health, but the reality how little they had and how ill prepared they are for being released into the world at the age of 16 really weighed on our minds. 
Above: Dianne and Sandra skipping with the little ones. Below: Evie giving out the toothbrushes collected by Thriving Kids.
Below: Pleased as punch with bubbles, toothbrushes, hair bands and toys. The amount of gifts we were able to take out was overwhelming and all generously donated by church, family and friends.
The other major focus of our trip was our kids club. On the first day of the club, only 3 children turned up and we were met with some suspicion. One of the locals said, "No-one gives our children joy for free!" We really sought God and felt the support of the church back home as they prayed that God would bring kids. By the end of the two weeks we had 52 children who were having a great time playing mad games, practicing English, singing songs to praise God and learning about the life that Jesus lead and how to respond to Him. 
Above: Maureen and Audrey with translator Katya teaching the children the song God made me. Below: Donna and Sarah teaching the kids memory verse Ephesians 3 v 18.
On the final day of the club,we made the most amazing privilege of leading over 20 children into a relationship with the Lord Jesus - it really was a holy moment as they bowed their heads and asked God to the leader of their lives. We really pray for the Bethel Church in Berdyansk and the team at WGM (particularly Bill and Oksana) as they work to develop a Kids ministry which will nourish and develop these new Christ-followers into passionate committed ones.
We couldn't neglect to mention the faithfulness of Bill and Betsy who hosted us in th Home of Hope - feeding us, looking after us and putting up with our noise! We will miss Betsy's chocolate cake and Ukrainian champ.
The journey home was long but fun! We enjoyed day in Kiev, visiting the Chernobyl museum, McDonalds at 6am (they serve pancakes in Ukraine!) and finally boarding the plane for the first leg of our homeward journey.
The thoughtfulness of the church , meeting us at Dublin airport with goody bags of food and drinks and the welcome home party at the church building was awesome. The team were inspired by the faithfulness of our church family who drenched us in prayers. There may have been only 15 of us in Ukraine, but we felt that this was a whole church effort. We couldn't have done it without all of the Thrivers!
We're looking forward to the reports of the trips to China and Mexico later this month.
