October Grad Camp

During this year's summer camp with the orphanage graduates, we felt God calling us to more. The camp went better than anyone could've expected - with new faces (from the states, Sumy, and the orphanage) an excitement grew for holding another camp this October that will include a class of 25 new "graduates" from the Pravdinska orphanage.

 The dates for camp will be October 21st - 24th and as our team works hard on the theme, location, program, etc. we invite you to pray about joining us during this amazing time. We will be spending the weeks up to camp in full preparation mode as well as visiting trade schools throughout the region to invite these amazing kids! Travel dates will most likely occur between the 17th-27th of October. Feel free to email us if you are interested in more information! It is likely to be a time you will never forget!! In the meantime, we greatly appreciate your prayers as we get hard to work on all the various planning!

Update on Roman

It's almost 3am CA time... I'm up because I just got to Skype with Roman and the other boys at the apartment. I'm very happy to report that Roman is doing much better! He got permission to come home for the night and head back to the hospital in the morning for more antibiotic shots.  Most of the swelling is down and he seems to be feeling much better. Praise the Lord! The doctor said it's looking good, but he'll need to keep have the antibiotics and having it cleaned out and watched at least till Monday. Roman said for the first night since it started, last night he could've slept great if it weren't for the crazy guy in his room who was hallucinating about mice and shaking them off of everyone all night. :)

Thanks so much for your continued prayers for Roman as he recovers!

Prayer Needs!

Bogdan, Roman & Natasha at Rom's graduation party

Earlier this week, Mike left Ukraine to head back home. He was sad to leave and the boys were sad to have to say goodbye. Right before he left we were blessed to find out that an amazing Ukrainian couple was willing to move into our team's apartment and live with the boys until we get back! Natasha and Bogdan are involved in a local church, and Bogdan coaches and plays on the floorball team with Roman, Vlad and SP. The boys go back to school on September 1st and life will get back into a little more of a routine. We're so thankful to have Natasha and Bogdan there to help support and take care of the boys and ministry until we get back! Please keep them and Roman, Vova, SP and Vlad in your prayers.

We also have an important prayer request for one of our grad kids, Roman. For the past 5 days or so he's had a weird swelling on his cheek that has been getting worse by the day. He said he hadn't been able to sleep or eat much for a few days. He went to the hospital on Wednesday to get it checked out and the doctors admitted him and had to lance what's either some kind of boil or abscess in his cheek. He's been in a lot of pain, running a temperature and clearly has some kind of infection. They're supposed to go in and try to drain it again today because it didn't go well the first time. Please keep Roman in your prayers! He's hurting, feeling sick, bored out of his mind and will probably be there another 4 or 5 days. Pray that they would be able to kill and keep out infection. Pray that it would go better this second time they lance it today. Pray that the pain would go away and he'd start to feel better. And pray that God would use all the time he has sitting alone in the hospital to speak to Roman and work in his heart. Thanks for your support and prayer!

Trusting and Asking...

If you've been keeping up on the blog lately, you'll know that thus far it's been a pretty exciting summer for us! We've had some huge blessings, some great things we've been able to do and be a part of, and a lot of ways we've been seeing God work and provide for our ministry in Sumy. It has been great to watch Him continually open doors and give us what we need for what He puts in front of us.



We're in a place right now though where, if we're honest about it, we're stretched pretty tight. So tight we are not sure how we will make it through the next month. We have been doing a lot of things on faith and trusting that God will continue to provide. Summer camp, overnights with grad kids, floorball events for the boys in Sumy. Visits with the Shevchenko family and supporting some of their remodeling. Three trips to the dentists with root canals and fillings. Extra expenses with Mike staying in the apartment with the boys. At this point, our general ministry budget is running a bit low with all we've done this summer.



We know that God is and will continue to be working and taking care of our needs and the needs of these kids, but we could use some help. As we wrap up summer, Mike heads home and we have some of our Ukrainian team continuing to run ministry in Sumy while we're gone, we would love to have you join us in support. Any amount, big or small, can help us keep going with all our various ministries in Sumy. PLEASE consider how you might be able to help, repost the blog, share on Facebook, talk to friends, tell your church, have a garage sale, start a prayer chain, or whatever else God may be putting on your heart. Gifts can be sent through PayPal or by mail to PO Box 277, San Lorenzo, CA 94580.



We are so thankful for all of the support we receive in various forms! You are as much a part of this ministry as we are and we couldn't be more grateful for you all!

Dentist Visits

The past couple weeks have been filled with dentist visits. So many of the kids' teeth need so much help and they often end up losing most of their teeth. This is something we want to avoid. Over the past years we have been teaching them how to take good care of their teeth. Yet, so many of them still need so much work and often are in a lot of pain. We have 3 who were in some serious pain and Mike was able to take them to the dentist. While we are so grateful they are no longer in pain, we were not expecting this extra cost. It has affected us being able to make our rent and some of our day to day expenses. We know that God will provide and are excited to see how. We are asking for prayer. If you would like to help financially can click the donate button and give through paypal or send a check to Open Arms Ukraine, PO Box 277, San Lorenzo, CA 94580. Thanks for your prayers and support!

God Provides

As we (Annie, Anika, and Melissa) prepared to go home for two months of fundraising and family time, we were plagued by the ever-pressing question: who is going to take care of everything while we are gone? More specifically, who is going to take care of the kids living in the Open Arms home in Sumy. God has blown us away with his provisions and rather than telling you myself about Mike's heart for these kids, I figured it would be better to hear it from the source himself.

To all,

            My name is Mike Loso and I have been called to serve Open Arms in a time of need. The Lord has opened up so many doors and worked miracles to make this possible. I came to Ukraine with a team of Americans for a summer camp in early July.  Before leaving for the summer camp we spent three days in the open arms apartment getting supplies and devotions ready for camp. In this time, the Lord started to build strong connections between me and the three boys who live here. The boys are Roman, Vova, and Sasha. Vlad is staying here now, so we have an apartment of 4 men and 1 kid, me being the kid of course. Throughout camp our bonds continued to grow and grow. God’s love is so amazing that no language could stop us from relating, connecting, being guys, and having a great time.  These boys are amazing people. I am blessed to be apart of their world. The Lord has given me a heart for children in general, but the connections growing in my heart seamed to be different.

            I believe the Lord has called me to stay with these boys because I know what its like to struggle in life. Be hurt, abandoned, lost, confused, angry, and seeking God's grace in a desperate way. The boys need an example of someone who has fallen in the mud and desperately asked the Lord for help. Annie, Anika, and Melissa are amazing example of Christ. They’re three of the most amazing believers I have even met and have done amazing things in these boys. I am not saying they don’t have examples, the boys need a man to relate to, an example of a man in a home setting. Hard when I called myself a kid earlier.  The boys have limited examples of a Christ fearing man, like Bogdan, their floor ball coach. They don’t have a view of a man’s personal relationship with the Lord on a day-to-day basis. A man they live with and see the growth of the relationship. When the girls told me the boys would be here by themselves when they went home until late September, my heart took a hit. I could see their faces.  Sad, confused, and lost. The boys wouldn’t be totally alone, but still. The girls and boys have established a great support group of believers in Sumy through their churches. The boys have made such great step forward. I felt for them to be left alone in the apartment would only allow the enemy another chance to sneak in and try to disrupt there progress and growth.

The whole camp and the rest of the trip God continued to tug and tug on my heart. I continued to pray and the Lord asked me to stay on one of my walks around the lake three days before I was supposed to leave for America. I will be staying until late August. In America the lord has slowed my life down, or even passed it. I was recently laid off and am living at home. So I really don’t have any attachments at home. I have full support from my family and friends. It’s great to look back and be able to understand the path the lord has you on. The lord has made this easy for me. Once the decision was made, I have not had any fear, doubt, regret, homesickness, or anything besides being in Sumy supporting these boys. That is truly the Lord’s work. This is a great time for my growth in the Lord. I am called here to be a part of these boy’s lives. So the Lord can improve all of our own personal relationship’s with him. That no matter where our journeys take us, the fellowship with our brothers and sisters is truly God’s heart beat. I am blessed to be here and so glad I heard the Lord's call.

Daniel 4:3 How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.

We are so utterly grateful for Mike's willingness to listen to God's voice in his life! It is apparent that God has already used Mike in a huge way with Sasha, Roman, Vova and Vlad - dentist trips, floorball and sharing the truth of God's love and grace. We can't wait to keep sharing all the ways God uses these next weeks in all their lives! At the same time, plane tickets and living costs still exist for Mike and as we trust God to provide, we ask that you would consider partnering us in this time! Prayer, financial support, and encouragement - feel free to send it Mike's way as he walks in obedience! If you would like to give you can click the donate button and give through paypal or send a check to Open Arms Ukraine, PO Box 277, San Lorenzo, CA 94580.

Mike, we can't lie, we kind of think you are awesome!