EDVENTURES!
March 2004

BREAKING NEWS:

Almost **5,000** beautiful, adorable, lovable orphan children were treated to a McJoyful gift from their Father!

Thank you SO much for your continued interest in the work here. As you know, I could NEVER do this alone! :)

I want to share a few pictures and a short testimony, from Lynette Poulain, who was the leader of a group of SUPER young ladies from Canada who came to help. This REALLY captures the essence of what McJoyful Christmas is all about ...

Lynette writes:

One day we decided to take Happy Meals to the Children's Psychological Hospital in Krivoy Rog, Ukraine, because the little children there were sick and couldn't come to McDonalds.

We had an amazing God-time with the kids and with the Director, Angelica. There was something so special about her. You could tell that she had a big heart and loved the children very much. Her hospital was in desperate need of some medical supplies, so we decided to help her right away. We were able to buy them 2,200 disposable needles! When we told the director that we wanted to do this, she was in shock. She didn't know what to say. No one had ever helped them before. We told her that it was because of God's love that we were able to come and visit the children and to help them.

So, afterward, we all left in tears. These children had touched our hearts in such a big way. As we got on the old local bus, I knew that we needed to pray for the children and the director, that she would know that God did not forget about her and the children there. So we all held hands and prayed over the hospital building and over each child's life. We prayed that there would be healing in the children's minds and bodies.

A few days later, we decided to go back to visit the children and the director, Angelica. We brought some more medical supplies, played with the children and talked to Angelica. At the end of our conversation, I invited her to the local church that Thursday night. She smiled and kindly said, "I'm sorry, I won't be able to go on Thursday. Maybe some other time." That Thursday night we were having a wonderful service and, as I glanced around the church, suddenly I saw something that took my breath away. Angelica was standing there. I was so happy to see her! There are no words to explain how I felt inside.

When we returned the children's hospital a few days later, Angelica was so happy to see us. We told her more about our faith in God and she said she really wanted to go to the service again! Then she asked if someone from our mission could come every week and do a Sunday school for the kids! Then she asked us if we could go around, right then, and pray for each and every child there. So we did, we went from child to child and prayed over them. We prayed that God would touch their minds and their bodies and we prayed that we would see smiles on their faces and hear laughter coming from their lips.

About a week later we went back with some colouring supplies and slippers for the children. The children came running up to us wanting hugs! One of the little girls came up to me and gave me a big hug and I had a friend take a picture of us. Then Angelica walked up to me and I saw that she had tears in her eyes. She told me that it was the first time she had ever seen that little girl smile.