St. John the Baptist, Burscough

UK Time: Wednesday 23rd August 2006 22:21 pm
Belarus Time: Thursday 24th August 2006 0:21 am

Wednesday
We were asked to attend a formal meeting at the fire service in which the new ambulance was handed over. We were presented with a beautiful plaque to celebrate a mutual friendship with Borisov. Darren and Ruth were interviewed for TV. We enjoyed a demonstration of fire equipment which involved Val going up in a turntable ladder to the top of building and the ambulance being used to take away as casualty. Work well in spite of the rain. All shelters almost complete. We received help painting from ladies working at the centre and Max a helper from the church. The children had fun with Sylvia and Linda, especially enjoying the squealing balloons and bubbles. We recevied a lovely meal at the Baptist Church during which Pastor Sergei and Val gave their testimony. The church looks beautiful inside.

Tuesday
Enjoyed work at the centre painting and childrens work went well. The painters enjoyed overhearing the chidren's music session - lots of laughter to be heard. The Peterhouse visit was very enjoyable. A small donation was made on behalf of our chruch to fund a small party for the children and a selection of fruit they normally would not have was enjoyed.

UK Time: Monday 21st August 2006 16:53 pm
Belarus Time: Monday 21st August 2006 18:53 pm

***Saturday 19th August 2006*****
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After all the hard work in the week, we had a lie in until 8.30 am. The day was taken up with the picnic which was organised by Vladimir, the Fire Chief. The fire service had prepared a site in the forest by the river and even chopped and planed wood to make a large picnic bench. They were assisted by the Baptist Church and the food spread was fantastic.

This event was spiced up by an Anglo / Belarussian "friendly" football match. Blood was drawn mainly by the Aspinall's but we put this down to them being too old and slow to pull out of tackles!! Eventually England came out winners 3-2 but this was mainly due to the fact that the goals were only 4 foot wide and Matthew (Vlada's friend) filled this gap anyway. It was nice to see Pastor Don who is an American Preacher playing in goal for Belarus. We wondered why all the ladies kept looking at us strangely when we shouted "goalie" but it was only afterwards that we discovered this meant 'naked’ in Belarus!

The meat was cooked on a BBQ and there was an open fire which kept the mossies away! whatever the Belarusian’s can do we can do better and this meant Phil and Dave stripping off 'goalie' to go swimming.

We sang and played lots of games as one family and we had a laugh at the end of the day when it started to rain.
With typical British stoicism, we adapted the parachute into a massive umbrella and continued to 'sing in the rain'. The fellowship shared at this meeting only goes to show the obvious warmth that has developed between all parties involved in the Belarus project in this short time.

Back in Borisov, the evening was spent trying to find somewhere to eat. Some were more successful than others but no names...Simon.
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****Sunday 20th August 2006.*******
As the second group are now on their way, the majority of week one are setting off for the journey home. The five remaining...Barbara, Vlada, Dave, Phil and Matthew all got up at 4.00 am to see them off and they all left to plan. Vlada and Matthew then left for Minsk where they were meeting with old archery friends of Vladas and later to visit children in Osipovitchi who have spent time in England.

Dave and Phil did also travelled to Osipovitchi where they both saw children who they have spent time with in England. They did this with Helena who translates for us and who we all know at St Johns. As they visited several families including Helena's grandparents and uncle, it was a day of six meals...Dave seemed to cope with this better than Phil. Enforced vodka drinking and many toasts featured heavily as well. They saw many interesting customs including hanging maple leaves in the corners of the rooms to mark the passing of 50 days after Easter in which health is brought to the house.

The conversations allowed the opportunity to explain the mission of our church in Belarus and they were all overwhelmed at the support and love St Johns has given.
It can be seen that all the villagers are totally self sufficient and have their own livestock and kitchen gardens which they both live off and sell. Phil and Dave were surprised to see that the keeping of these smallholdings were very much a family affair with all the family travelling to the grand parents on weekends to help tender to cows and gardens etc… perhaps we could all learn something from this in gb.

The offer was made to Phil and Dave to stop overnight at Helena’s uncle’s summer house. They jumped at the chance to use the newly built sauna and washrooms not to mention the more traditional 'hole in the floor' toilet. They point out that they are both ex scouts and are always prepared.
Uncle did not mention that they had to go 'goalie' again and whip each other with soaked oak branches. Supper was freshly caught fish and more vodka!
Phil, Dave, Vlada and Matthew hope to continue their stay meeting up in Minsk. We leave you praying that week two is just as successful and interesting and pray for Barbara who was alone for a short time. She has the job of linking the two weeks and assisting with a smooth handover. We are also aware from phone calls that Fran (Aspinall Snr) is well on his way to Warsaw in the ambulance where he will meet up with Elaine and Darren. Again, we ask for you to pray for god to look over them in their travels as well as the arrival of week two.

Signing off from Belarus week one. Its goodnight from me ......and its spokoinoi notchee from him!!

UK Time: Monday 21st August 2006 9:39 am
Belarus Time: Monday 21st August 2006 11:39 am

Sorry for delay...technical problems and group working very hard...limited time to sort out diary!! Now writing this in an internet cafe in Minsk which appears to be much faster.

Wednesday 16th august 2006.

A day out to Mir but Mark / Duncan / Julie stayed to complete some work, the slackers had a great day out sharing fellowship with members of the Baptist Church and Oleg’s family. Highlights of the day were a wee stop when we had to use a toilet just into the woods, trying top get Dave to behave in the castle, eating a traditional Belarusian meal, visiting Naswitch Cathedral and enjoying a sing song on the bus. Wallace and Grommit songs have now reached Belarus. This was a very long day travelling on the mini bus for about 6 hours in total. We have recommended this be taken out of the schedule for group 2.

A great evening was spent with the Baptist church. Julie gave her testimony as to how she has become a Christian as a result of her participation in last year’s project and the impact it has had on her life. Sue Davies whose husband, Geoff sadly died following his trip to Belarus last year was with us. She bravely told us that she felt she had to see what Geoff had told her and wanted to see some of the work he had completed. There was many tears but the mood was soon uplifted with lots of singing from the five tenors (Mark/Duncan/Phil/Dave & Simon). We sang Amazing Grace and the inevitable 'rum zum zum zum' amongst others. Traditional silver birch juice was swapped with Eccles cakes and Uncle Joes Mint Balls!! A highlight was pastor Sergi's daughter, Nastia singing 'My God is always there'.

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Thursday 17th August 2006
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A day of visits and lots of work.
A group returned to kindergarten 15 and received a very warm welcome. It was nice to see the parachute and other gifts we left last year being used by the children. Our group received pictures of Winston bear. We gave this years gifts kindly given to the fund and these were again gratefully accepted.
The work at shelter 46 continued. We took on a project of completely painting the main front alcove to the shelter to make it more child friendly and appealing especially as the inspection was imminent. Still having problems as the brick work absorbed the paint and we had to totally prime the building first which was time consuming. Tania chose an orange colour which had been especially mixed but when we sampled it on the wall she doubted her choice. Mark/Duncan pulling hair out but very diplomatic and in end stuck with colour.
The kids work continued and Dave/Phil discovered another use for the parachute to put the kids in and use as a swing...lots of joy and laughs!! It was a joy to see the parents collecting the kids and the smiles on their faces. Today was an emotional day as we returned to see Demar who is improving with his speech. The profile that we have given him seems to have led to him receiving a teacher.
The real emotion of this day was visiting 'victors family' were all three of the family are disabled. Phil was shocked to see someone of his age who looked about 20 years older! As a group we felt a need to help this family. Please pray that life will improve for this family.
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Friday 18th August 2006
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Today felt like ground force as we all wanted desperately to complete the painting of the building and the play equipment that we had started. We wanted to complete this as a lot of it was high work using ladders and we felt it better to leave the group next week to complete all the low stuff. Everyone worked really well together and we again received help from the staff and max from the Baptist Church. It was touch and go but we did it and Duncan and John even managed to build five new desks for a classroom. The staff at the centre had been drawing murals by hand and they were amazed at Wendy’s idea of using an acetate and OHP to get Winnie the Pooh and friends added to the walls. Lots of thanks from Alla and Tania for our work with the building an children who made us all gifts. Lots of team photo's etc. the evening was spent with some of the group eating out at Oleg’s mothers and they came back stuffed again!!

UK Time: Thursday 17th August 2006 17:15 pm
Belarus Time: Thursday 17th August 2006 19:15 pm

Tuesday 15th August 2006

Another fantastic day. There is a great sense of community developing this year, with all the different groups coming together. Both the locals and Brits are all working towards achieving the same goals; improving the lot of the children.

The ground work laid last year has meant that we have been well received by local dignitaries. The hostel staff aren't the least bit reserved and are more willing and happy to interact with us. It's been great to see the hostel staff enthusiastically getting stuck in with the painting.

The kids are a real bundle of joy; we're finding it quite tiring, but as we get to know the kids better, it's even more rewarding being here. Phil really enjoyed carrying Dyenis on his shoulders. Dyenis showed his appreciation by dribbling and trumping on Phils' neck and shoulders.

For many of the team the return to "Peters'House" was a very emotional experience, some tears were shed. It was lovely to see Olga (the eldest child) meet us at the front door with the traditional greeting of bread and salt.

We could see both staff and children were genuinely pleased to see and had prepared some pictures of flowers to give to each of us. The buffet was delicious. Vladimir, the town fire chief joined us, while we entertained the children with the Parachute. The children enjoyed it so much they wouldn't let go of the chute at the end of the game.

Seeing the faces of the children means a return visit, later on during the week is a certainty.

10pm, all in the bar - soft drinks only :) and we are the prime slot on the local TV news (2.5 minutes) Winston the Bear once again shared the limelight with Simon "I think all the girls in Belarus are pretty!" the Curate. We were called the English Christians and Simon, along with Pastor Sergei, was able to explain our mission to Belarus.

Please keep all the children in your prayers and say a special prayer for Olga, who God willing, will reach her full potential and put behind her the memories of a difficult childhood.

Photos to follow; we had a slight techical hitch known as P.E.B.C.A.C (Problem Exists Between Computer And Chair)

UK Time: Monday 14th August 2006 17:24 pm
Belarus Time: Monday 14th August 2006 19:24 pm

Monday 14th August 2006





Monday and our first visit to the Disabled Children's Hostel in Borisov. It was fantastic to be received so warmly by all the children and staff.

Once again we got stuck in with the kids. Lots of smiles, laughter and the noise of children enjoying themselves.

The children we encountered have a variety of physical and mental disabilities. Prior to our arrival at the hostel, we weren't fully aware of the extent of their impairements. However, we've adapted our plans and now ( following an impromptu team meeting) have a full week of stimulating and fun actvities ready for the kids.

The local TV station sent a crew along to the hostel. This was to interview Simon and Pastor Sergei; ably assisted by Winston the travelling bear and Vlada our intrepid interpretor!

Once again, Dave worked his magic with the parachute, bubbles and an enthusiatic rendition of The Arum Sum Song, ably accompanied by the children, staff and the rest of us.

As might be expected the original work plans were changed, but we took it all in our stride and just got on with the job in hand.

Tasks for the day included painting a room in the hostel and painting one of the many outside sun shelters. We managed to complete 3/4 of the shelter only another dozen to go!

Duncan "Watch that paint pot!" Aspinall decided to take a foot bath with a can of paint. An eyewitness later reported that Duncan was remarkably restrained in his choice of words at the time.

The HSE are expected out later during the week to inspect the misuse of wobbly ladders - only joking! no broken bones, yet.

We've all had a heart warming and rewarding day. From the smiles of the kids and staff, we weren't the only ones.

Please pray that everything will continue to run relatively smoothly.

God Bless and see you all soon.

UK Time: Sunday 13th August 2006 17:00 pm
Belarus Time: Sunday 13th August 2006 19:00 pm

******Sunday 13th August 2006*******
We have arrived!!!!!!!
A quick recap....
Left Burscough with a great send off. Thanks to all those who couldn't get rid of us fast enough! Our bags are once again fully laden and we give thanks to all those at St Johns who have again given so generously. We thought it would be a headache at the airport but the problems with the security actually benefitted us and we'flew'through without any hitches.

We arrived at our stop off point of Prague ready for a Night of Culture sampling the architecture and local delacacies. Unfortunately we were a little too far out of the City and ended up just having a Chinese in a back street instead!(Dave H thought the portions would be small and had to order 2 meals but they were huge and we all tucked in). Mark and Duncan stayed in the Hotel stating they needed their beauty sleep but we think they were just embarrassed as the lifts could not take their weight!
Got to Belarus safely with all the baggage in tact this year although the Aspinall's had their nightcap (Whisky) confiscated.
Olag gave us a fine reception when we arrived at Minsk on Sunday morning and we were glad to see a bus with a floor in it this year. We got to Hotel and settled in planning the week ahead and sorting out all the gifts and donations. They filled the whole room and June, Julie, Sue Barbara, and Wendy worked very hard to try and put it into some sort of order. Simon, Duncan and Mark all met Sergi, Vladimer, Pasteur Sergi and Oleg updating each other of any progress made through the year.
We are now on Sunday evening and full of expectations and hope of the work ahead of us. Please pray that the week will continue to run smoothly and God will bless all that we say and do.