Team Training Ends: Summer Camps Gearing Up!

It has been a little over a week and a half since our teams met together at the Hyatt Place Grapevine Mills in Grapevine. Teams are now in full swing preparing for their adventures in Ukraine this summer! As usual the event was filled with great reunions, new faces, excitement, and anticipation. We are ready to go back to our lovely Ukraine!

Five teams are preparing to go–yet they represent seven teams! 

Really?

Team Imagine is made up of team members from Fort Worth, TX and Winston-Salem, NC and former team leaders and members from Team Love Wins (Aurora & Pueblo, CO) and Team Inspire (Las Cruces, NM). While extenuating circumstances kept each team from being able to form a full-sized group, those who were committed to going were not going to back down. Ukraine is in their blood and they are not about to skip a year! This team is lead by veteran leaders Terry Kile and Sue Ann Mills.

We also have Team Agape, the veteran team that has been traveling to the same camp for years: Camp Smerichka. Geoff and Sherry Casella have been leading this team since 2006 and they are always ready to return to their Ukrainian friends! They will serve the kids in the third session of camp.

Team Mayak primarily from Amarillo has been setting up creative communication strategies with their team members and their interpreters. They have been in regular communication with their counter-parts in Ukraine through social media. Using a closed Facebook page, they brainstorm lessons, review cultural differences/similarities, and keep each other motivated. This will be team leader Glenda Moore’s third year to work in Poltava (Camp Mayak). She is assisted by her trusty co-leader Tami Carrol. 

Then there is Team Roza from Tyler. Roza is returning to Ukraine after a bit of a sabbatical–but now they are rested and eager to serve. They will be traveling to Western Ukraine (Camp Edelweiss) which is about a 20 minute walk from Camp Smerichka. Team leaders are veterans: Marjorie Hollingsworth and Liz Frazier.

Finally we have a brand new team from Burleson, TX: Team Spirit! This team formed as a “team plant” from Agape. Last year Ray Castellano served as co-team leader with Team Agape–John and April Young from Burleson also were part of Team Agape. They so fell in love with Smerichka they felt the need to create their own team in order to share it with others in their home congregation. John Young will be the co-leader along with Ray. They will be serving kids in the second session of the camp.

So, you think you aren’t able to participate this year? Au contraire! You may not be able to travel to Ukraine on a team this year–but you certainly can participate. How? To quote an old campaign slogan from The Voice of the Martyrs,

The least you can do, is the most you can do: pray!

Will you be a prayer team member? Lift up these five teams, the team leaders, members, and the camps they will be serving this summer. We at EEM believe this is not about us. We don’t make things happen: it is all God. So we need people like you to keep petitioning our God that he will further his goodness, love, and peace throughout his beautiful country of Ukraine. Pray that he will use these dedicated volunteers to be a part of his agenda to touch lives.

If you would like to consider traveling to Ukraine as a team member, please explore this website. Contact us and we’ll be glad to talk with you about all of the possibilities. If you would like to have an EEM representative visit your church to talk about the opportunities to serve the children of Ukraine, simply submit a request online and we’ll get back with you!