Speaking of today... I woke up this morning with a thought that has become all too familiar... 'Where the heck am I this morning?' I looked out my window and saw the Livobareshno Metro station and the Dneiper River...for some of you that's a big clue...for others, no clue at all. I'm on the Left Bank in KIEV, UKRAINE. It is still winter, but the sun was out yesterday and the city is absolutely beautiful. Kay Warren and members of her family and AIDS/HIV Initiative will be here tomorrow for 4 whirlwind days of ministry in Ukraine. Kay will be speaking at Pastor Anatoly Koluzhney's New Life Church for 3 Sunday Services... (Pastor Anatoly was the first Soviet era pastor to receive Rick Warren's 'PD Church Health Award')...following the services Kay will address a women's conference for 800 Christian leaders from around Kiev and visiting the home of one of the AIDS families at New Life. We'll be meeting on Monday with Christian leaders from the Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal and Evangelical communities and discussing their church's approach to the AIDS crisis in Ukraine. If you read Russian you'll love this press release about Kay's visit... http://news.invictory.org/issue16707.html
On Monday night we go by train (photos coming) to the city of Mariopol, Ukraine on the coast of the Azure Sea. We will be meeting with Pasor Ghenady and his congregation Church of Good Changes (one of the great names in church history!) Ghenady is a real champion of orphans and street kids outreach and Kay will be visiting his church's ministries to the drug addicted kids Mariopol. In Kenya the street kids turn to glue and 'changa' (street brew)...in Mariopol they shoot Tramadol and heroin... I'm talking about 10-year-old orphans and runaways. Tramadol is a super strong pain reliever like morphine or oxycontin, but on the mean streets a young boy or girl can easily get high for a few cents or a sexual 'favor'. The results are tragic and widespread...addiction to Tramadol is quick, for many kids it is IMMEDIATE, on their first high. And coming off the drug is a nightmare of pain, sweat, tremors and vomiting. No one...absolutely no one cares for these street kids, but their drug dealers and the Lord Himself. Take a look at a few of the street kids that have come under the care of Pastor Ghenady's 'Pilgrim' homes.
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