So we finally made it after a 13 hour bus ride!! Defiantly a experience I will never forget. So far the Ukraine Is
Beautiful
Cold
Full Of Friendly People
Has Very Tasty Food
Is about to host the Euro cup (Come on England)
Was a communist country until 1991
Hopeful
and Ready
I have been in the Ukraine for a little over a week now and what a week its been. It has defiantly been a stretch on my comfort zones and that's exactly what I signed up so I don't know why I expected anything different. A little back history to me for you, when I was 10 years old I was diagnosed with dyslexia. So spelling, math, and any kind of patterns in general have always been a struggle for me. So Guess what I get to do every morning this month...... Excel Spreadsheets! So perfect for me right WRONG. Its great though I'm becoming a fan :-) Our afternoons are so incredible though, but before we get into that let me tell you about
OUR CONTACT
IVAN
This guy is legit, I have never met anyone like him. He is pretty much a genius, a father of two wonderful kids, and a loving husband. He can speak over 7 languages, preach like no one business, and loves God. He wants to see change in his community, real everlasting change. I feel privileged to be around him and share in his knowledge. I am a blessed guy!
OUR MINISTRY
MORNINGS MONDAY - FRIDAY
Like I said in the morning Excel! Ivan is in charge of the apologetics library for a Christian University here in Rivne,Ukraine. Which is huge deal because 30 years ago a library like this could not have existed and if it did it would have to have been hidden, crazy stuff. Our responsibility is to organize and categorize the library. Its a long and trying process but a good one. Its teaching my team a lot, how to interact with one another in stressful situations, how to prefer one another, most importantly how to choose joy in every situation. Its a very small room people with lots and lots of books you get the picture :-)
AFTERNOONS MONDAY -FRIDAY
We work in a tiny village that I can not pronounce teaching English and sharing the Gospel to 30 plus kids :-) Its amazing I love the fact that I get to do that. The kids are HUNGRY to learn and to listen to what we have to say. I will never forget when we first arrived to the field where we were going to be doing ESL. There was some tarp looking things on the ground and old rickety wooden poles lying around. We took a moment smiled looked at one another and away we went. Not having a clue but just diving in with some random Ukrainians we had literally just met. The rest is history in the making. ESL is going really well, we even had the kids memorize a scripture yesterday! they loved it. Oh yeah I'm getting really used to using a hole in the ground for my bathroom. Good practice for Africa I guess.
SATURDAYS
Are our day off even though sometimes I fell guilty for having one, it is so needed though. To recuperate, pray, and reflect on the week. Even God had his day of rest, and I am defiantly not any better than big G
SUNDAYS
I love Sundays I always have. We go to church twice on Sundays in the morning and in the evening. Usually they ask us to do some kind of music, and short sermons. Its an incredible day! The church we attend is very different for me. No clapping aloud, the married women have to wear head scarfs, and defiantly no dancing. So that's hard for me, but at the same time the people there are so loving, and love God. At the end of the day that's what matters the most.
EVERY SINGLE EVENING
FEEDBACK! What?.. I hear you asking well
you will just have to read my next blog to find out.
THANK YOU
For taking the time to read this you are awesome and a huge blessing. Much LOVE
P.S. In light of England playing france in just a few week thought I would show my support and get a little patriotic. Terrible song but decent video. Euro 2012 is our year come on England!!
Romania messed me up in such a good way. I have made friends there which I did not know was possible to do in such a short month. We poured into each other it was Chist centered, holy and sooooo good.
For those of you who do not know. This month we worked with a church under a pastor called Cristi Golas. In this we plowed a field and planted seeds for his church, helped build a house for the churchs worship leader, got to do plenty of dramas and music ministry. We also got to do life in Resboyen!
Resboyen is hard and scary place here we taught English, played football with them, and had the chance to speak to them in an open way about Jesus! It blew my mind.
What I really want to say is this
What we do on the race is about relation and how we walk together in ministry, therefore life. I am realising this more and more, we are here for each other. To invest in a way that I have never experienced or been a part of. I have been challenged so freaking much, called into greatness, told about my flaws and strengths multiple times. The thing is though its all LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! and then some more LOVE!
I want to talk about a few people that effected my life this month with the love they showed me.
CRISTI GOLAS
This guy is a man of God! I don't have to say any more than that, but I will. He has three kids and a incredible wife the way he does life with his family first and foremost above ministry it blows my mind.
As a pastor! wow!. How he does ministry is a beautiful thing how he Shepard his flock seriously brought me to tears. It is incredible how he taught me so much without even trying. He was just being
MARIUS and DUTZI CIUCAN
This couple is beautiful! They showed me what people my age can have successful marriages and relationships. They are so giving of there time and love. I had great time beating Marius at ping pong and bowling. I also throughly enjoyed getting my sarcasm on with Dutzi we had a blast. They are trulygreat examples of what I want someday in my marriage.
FLORIN SOARE
The video you will see at the end of my blog is all thanks to him. The fact that he wanted to record us crazy foreigners and put that together is HUGE! I was speechless when I realized what was going on. The fact that he did this was a tremendous blessing. He is a great man of God with a passion for Egypt that God will honour and bless him in.
To Everyone else in Pitesti, Romania
Thank you thank you thank you thank you. I miss you and my life has been changed. Because of who you are and what you give freely every single freaking day. I pray that God will continue to use you and bless you in all you do. I will never forget you and our time together
If you are reading this, then this is what I have for you from Romania.
Chase after the ones you love.
Don't settle for the answer I will be okay. Be lead by the spirit and pull out some roots. Its time for more its time to go deeper. Don't be afraid! God has your back. Thank you for taking the time to read this today, please let me know how I can pray for you.
*p.s. Im still $3,000 short from my FINAL deadline yes thats right $3,000 away from being fully funded and have raised $15,500!!!! Insane we can do this! thank you so much for anyone that has supported me.
HELLO FROM EUROPE!!!! I’m so excited to be here! It’s been a big culture shock coming here from Central America coming to Europe, but it also feels like I’m coming home in certain ways. For those of you who don’t know I’m originally from the UK born and raised. So the weather and food is very much like what I was raised on.
SO WHAT'S NEW!? I have a new TEAM! We are called HEART REFINERY! And they consist of
Missy (Team Leader)
Sammie Jo
Dan
Chase
Amy
Hayden
And Myself
They are all amazing amazing AMAZING people! I will be writing all about them in the upcoming months. We will have the time of our lives, that's pretty much a guarantee.
WHERE AM I?
I am currently living and ministering in the county of Arges, Romania. We live in a very quint government housing project in Pitesti. We minister in multiple cities in the county. It is incredibly beautiful here. So much history and richness about the place.
Romania has only just recently come out of communism so it is still a very dark and oppressed place. The kids fight, drink and smoke, and have very little education. The elderly are stuck in there religious ways every time they pass an Orthodox church they do a crucifix multiple times. Basically Romania desperately needs Jesus.
WHAT'S THE MISSION?
Mister Dan Loghry getting a little crazy! :)
We are working with a incredible Pastor called CristiGolas. He is an incredible man of God doing huge things for the kingdom has an incredible wife and three amazing children. They are all a blessing to everyone around them. They have two boys and one girl reminds me a lot of my child hood being around his kids. Makes me very happy indeed (side note thanks mum and dad for a wonderful childhood).
We are helping Cristi minister on a Sunday morning to his main congregation and then in the afternoon in a community called Resboyen (this means 'war' in Romanian) it’s a very tough community we do church for the kids and we get CRAZY!! And LOUD!! It’s awesome. We also ran a vacation bible school class for the kids most days, the kids went back to school today so we will not be doing that day to day like we were which is sad.
On the other hand we will be handing out sandwiches for the kids everyday so at least we get to see them that way as well as playing soccer most nights with them. My personal fad. We have also been doing manual labor for Christi plowing fields cleaning the different buildings they rent. All in all an incredible first couple of weeks.
HOW CAN I HELP? Pray the people here in Romania need hope, joy, life, and love. Like I said before it is a dark place but that just means the light can shine brighter. I am very excited about my next couple weeks here in Romania it is going to be insane! I will be posting a very special blog this week sometime. Until then my friends stay blessed!
P.S. GANGSTER LIKE PING PONG
Praise report we got to minister to the toughest gangsters in the neighbourhood the other day. It does not seem like grown men would be into ping pong as much as they were but everyone loves it here. So we opened up our little church hall in one of the community and they came in and hung out with us. They had scars and tattoos to the high heavens. We introduced ourselves and Christi got to minister to them and share the gospel!
I have made my $11,000 DEADLINE this means I can continue on to Europe!! Thank you all so so sooooooo much for anyone that has helped me reach this deadline. You are all loved, and I can not tell you how much I appreciate it. GOD IS GOOD
I WILL BE POSTING UPDATES ABOUT TRAVELING TO EUROPE WITH 35 PLUS PEOPLE ASAP
Constant dust, never feeling clean, carrying water up hills, building outhouses, wrestling with the young men at the ministry, singing together, challenging one another, being humbled, having little to non internet as my support deadline approaches, seeing Christ reign in my team mates hearts, and seeing so many smiling faces because of what is happening here. The vision is huge and the people are ready.
My month here in Honduras and working with Zions Gate ministry has been one of the most challenging and best months of my life. Here are a few highlights from my month so far.
LOS PINOS
{FACTS ABOUT LOS PINOS} I will never forget my time in Los Pinos because of the simple fact that the boys Tony has brought onto his property will never have to go back there and live in those conditions. More importantly they can go back and make a HUGE difference. Another memory from Los Pinos I will have is carrying bucket loads of water up a very very steep hill. We had to do this because there is no running water in Los Pinos. People pay around $5 to get a barrel full of water filled up at the bottom of the hill. Then you have to get the water up the hill how you do that is completely up to you. This is very unsanitary, to see the buckets we had to use to get the water up the hill was hard to see. My prayer was that they boil the water before they use it, sadly I was not able to find out if they do or don’t. My Spanish is defiantly not at a conversational level, but it has improved quite a bit.
SOCCER MINISTRY
This was a LOT of fun we were with a local pastor from Los Pinos we basically showed up to the local field and hung out with the kids played a game of soccer with them, and then prayed over there lives and sung worship songs together. It was very interesting to see the gang members up in the hills hanging out just watching us and then come down from the hills to hang out with us. The ladies on my squad played against the local all girls team sadly they did not win but they held there own. I was proud of them all, I tried to coach the best I could from the sidelines. Pretty awesome day all in all
WORKING ON THE PROPERTY
We worked on the property pretty much every day for at least a little part of the day. Most of my time was dedicated to the path below you can see the before and after pics. Zions Gate ministry sits on 15 acres of property with one house with eleven people sleeping in it, and one recreational building. This is where most of us slept and also where we ate. The property used to be a nightclub so the grounds are a mess beer bottles everywhere, overgrown grass, and pretty much nothing attractive to look at. That has changed since my amazing squad has been here. Even though we have only been here a few weeks we have made a big difference. We have paved the way for other squads to truly turn this place into something beautiful.
LIVING WITH THE SQUAD {38 PEOPLE}
This has been a challenge never in my life have I been around so many girls for such a long period of time. In such close quarters. I have heard more girls pee this last week than I have my entire lifetime. One of the joys of having one bathroom for the entire month. At the same time I have learnt so much from these amazing women. I have new insight on what it looks like to be a women of God and truly walk closey with him. It has blessed me tremendously this month to around all the guys on my squad we have had some insane guy time. Just getting real and honest laying it all out there sharing our challenges and celebrations on a deep and personal level. It has been extremely refreshing for me.
FUNDRASING
GOD IS GOOD! He has provided little by little every single day I am so humbled and blessed by everyones support and love that they have sent my way whever that be with a prayer or sending dollars. Truth is I could not have done any of this without you! We are in this together to the finish. We will spread the gospel to eleven different countries and see lives changed for Jesus. I still need $450 to make my next deadline of $11,000. Which is due on the first. If I do not make this then I cannot continue the race and have to head back to the states. I do not belive this is supposed to happen so please consider giving a donation to www.nathanhatton.theworldrace.org p.s. that’s only nine donations of $50!
LASTLY
You are all deeply loved and missed if you are reading this and I do not know you personally I would like to. Please email me you can use the contact page on the side of my blog. The song I posted to go along with this blog is simply my jams currently I listen to it as I work away moving countless rocks to create paths on the property. Until next time GOD BLESS YOU!
I have just come out of a one week internet fast, so I apologize for my lack of presence but it could not be helped.
We arrived in Honduras on a very dark and hopeful Saturday night. I stepped of the bus to be mobbed by 10 Honduran kids eager to say hello and help lift our huge packs of the bus. Honduras is a beautiful country but a very poor and young country. Sixty seven percent of the population is under 30 and minimum wage is ten dollars per DAY. The government is very corrupt and the education system is also corrupt but is gradually changing.
The ministry we are working with this month is called Zions gate. It is run by a great guy called tony. He is from the states and has lived in Honduras for the last five years working in a slum called Los Pinos. He has a huge heart for the street kids in Los Pinos, he currently has around 10 living on the property. These kids get free room and board as long as they are staying off paint thinner and marijuana. The kids help on the property and are getting an education which is much needed as most of them are far behind where they should be at there age.
Our whole squad is together this month that’s 40 plus people working and living in the same space for 30 days sharing one bathroom and two showers, Lucky for me I love them all. We are doing multiple things for ministry this month. We are working on the property creating paths, planting flower beds, and painting walls. This is much needed as they have been on this property for just six months and it was previously a nightclub the property is 15 acres so there is much to be done.
Secondly we are going into Los Pinos and painting family’s homes and sharing the gospel with the kids living on the street. These kids have a pretty intense story and are normally in a constant state of being high using paint thinner. Los Pinos is the hardest and darkest place I have been to on this trip it is a challenge but God is moving in the community.
Thirdly we are doing street evangelism via soccer, face painting, and drama,. Every Saturday we will be going into the community field in Los Pinos turn up and begin playing soccer, face painting, and ministering to the local people living in Los Pinos. This sounds like a simple thing but its so effective as people come from all over to see what is going on and by all people I also mean the gang members. These gang members do not play around they are mostly from the 18 gang which is the second biggest gang in the world. They heavily influence the statistic of Honduras being the murder capitol of the WORLD. Strangely enough it is also according to statistics one of the happiest.
Lastly we are teaching in the local school I had my first taste of that today and boy was it intense the kids are crazy! Not just throwing the occasional paper ball crazy but running around the classroom trying to trip each other up and when the kid is down he gets kicked in the gut by everyone else. As you can imagine I did not put up with that for very long. After we got them settled down it was a great class the kids are hungry to learn English because that means more opportunities later in life. So we taught them animal names and some awesome members of our squad made up an animal song that we sung with the kids.
This month is already such a huge blessing and we are doing such a great thing here, the vision is huge and the people here are ready to see it happen.
*I am currently only $995 away from meeting my next deadline I have 5 days to reach this deadline please support me if you can so I can continue my mission trip to the nine more countries we have left to visit and share the love of Christ with*
Hello Again Loud piercing noises of doors slamming as the kids get ready for school at 5am, the smell of refried beans every day, the constant fact that you have paint on you no matter how hard you scrub, the sound of a Childs laughter all day every day, seeing the children cry as there share there storys and the braking as we cry alongside them. This was El Salvador
I have just finished my second month on the World Race! Its crazy how fast time has gone by you have to fight for your time on the world race. Fight to not let a moment go by to make every second of every day count. To not miss the impact that what you are doing is having, to not miss God. I have been dismantled this first two months of the race, my identity has been rocked! So many things I thought I knew about myself has been shifted. Its GOOD though im about to start a spiritual journey that will challenge me and explode growth in me.
I thought I would share a few highlights to cap off El Salvador
Mi Casa Kids Int. Where do I even begin? This was our ministry site for the month. Here we ate..........yep you guessed it beans beans and more beans haha very tasty though loved it. We sleeped on couches every night for the most part sometimes it was the floor. This also came along with kids being awake very early for school 5:30am every morning to be exact and we were getting to sleep around 11:00pm ish because of ministry. So that was testing but learning patience is a good thing.
Cute story real quick one day I was sick and couldent get out of bed aka the floor where I was sleeping. One of the kids sat next to me and sung over me very cute. Living with the kids every day was such a blessing we got to grow such good relationships with them also had its moments. You can only take so many little dudes jumping all over you everyday haha Good prep for parenting one day I guess.
Ministry We painted a LOT we basically painted two BIG houses whilst we were at Mi Casa Kids. We used our mornings to do this. Then the kids would asend on us! Best part of the day! They would run through the door and give us MASSIVE hugs and ask us all about our day. Well the best they could with broken English, and the same go for us with our broken Spanish. Language barriers are hard but learning is fun. God has had such grace with that. Prett much after that we would help the kids with homework, hang out watch cartoons with them, and pour into there lives.
That looked like praying for them, taking them to the park, teaching them soccer skills, and simply just giving them a hug. I also made Facebook pages for each kid to help raise awareness at Mi Casa Kids. Lindsay Q one of my amazing team members made an incredible video showing life at Mi Casa Kids please see below to watch it.
Adventures We had some GREAT adventures this month El Salvador is a beautiful country. If you ever get the chance GO. One of the amazing things we did this month is taking the kids CAMPING! They have been wanting to go for three year, and we were the lucky group that got to take them CRAZY! They loved it we taught them how to put tents, cook over the fire, and did an insane bible study.
IN CONCLUSION The biggest thing that effected me this month was hearing the Kids storys. Some were sexually abused as, didn’t even know they had brothers and sisters until a few years ago, and hearing one story of how he had to steal food to feed his younger brothers and sisters. He got caught and was battered with a machete he still has the scars to prove it.
Gods love reigns in these kids lives! You would have no clue that these kids when through what they did. I thank God For Bob Mcdonaled he started the orphanage over 20 years ago and so so many kids have been literally saved from a hard, dark, and painful life because of what he has done.
There is always hope after seeing the transformation in these kids I will never forget that ever.
*I am still $1,511 short of reaching my next deadline which has to be in by the end of the month. If it is not then I will be heading home and my journey on the WR will be over. Please help if just 30 people gave $50 I would be able to continue this amazing journey that needs to happen.*
For those of you who don’t know I am currently in need of $2,160 to make my next deadline which is due at the end of the month 04/01/12. If I do not make this goal then I go home! And can no longer continue the race.
Why does that matter to you, I hear you ask. It matters because what we are doing here in these countries matters. What we are doing is needed if thats Showing Christ’s love, building homes, teaching english, or just serving the people of these eleven countries it is needed. I don’t know what I will be doing six months from now on the race but I know, I am called to how ever that looks. If that is staying in a hostel with a bed and shower building a home or camping in a refugee camp surrounded by filth and suffering being a light in the darkness. I am CALLED
These past two months have blessed me and the people around me tremendously. I am changed and will never be the same. I am not going home! So lets do this thing!
All donations are tax deductible so it’s a win for me and for you. I really am living so so simply on the race rice and beans are my new best friend. I am not staying any where fancy, Im just living as simply as we can so we can stay on the field and serve as hard as we can.
If you feel lead to donate $5 or $500 it WILL help and IS needed. If just 45 people gave $50 to this cause we will have met the next deadline. I say WE because this thing is ME and YOU I can not continue without your help and im on the field maybe going and doing what you can not right now. Thats does not mean that you wont one day :)
PSALM 91 SAYS
He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the almighty (who’s power no foe can withstand).
Let me ask you a question what is your secret place? Aka your place of reflection and relaxation. Maybe its in your garden, at church, the local coffee spot, or maybe even the spa? Where ever it is im sure if you don’t visit it every now and then you go crazy right? Well welcome to my second month on the world race!
Before I explain more on that statement let me fill you in. For those of you who don’t know this month me and my team are working a Mi Casa Kids International it’s a children’s home for kids with no mother and father in the mix. The guys and the girls are split up between two large homes directly across the street from one another. There around 28 kids in total and each one of them is truly incredible and a blessing to my life.
A typical day at mi casa looks like this, me and my team get together for prayer around 8am then we pray and have breakfast. Then the painting, powerpoint making, and media creation for Mi Casa begins then we go hard at our tasks until 1:30. Whilst we are doing our tasks the offices for Mi Casa are buzzing with phone calls, food prep, and visitors buying rugs and dried peaches at the house. Then at 1:30m the kids arrive back from school. The noise, fun, and love level in the house increases a hefty amount. Then for the rest of the afternoon we help with homework, and any projects the kids have and maybe even watch some Disney channel together (all in Spanish of course so I carnt understand a word). Then we have dinner around 7am clean up from dinner around 9ish the kids go to bed. Then our team debriefs from the day and normally we get done with that around 10:30am we all pass out and wake up and do it again! I love it!!
The downside is finding my quite place, my alone time, and my refill time. I am learning to find the quite in the madness whever it be the 10 minute break I take from the paint fumes, or in a moment with the kids falling asleep in my arms or just watching some Disney channel. I am also finding I have to PUSH myself a lot harder. To wake up earlier so I can fit it in, to force myself to go to bed earlier. Whatever it takes so I can get filled to pour out.
Proverbs 11:25 says NKJV
The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself. THAT IS MY
PRAYER
In other news I went camping this weekend with 15 kids! It was so amazing we went to a place called Monte Cristo it was truly beautiful. We did a two hour hike to reach a very unique spot we stood in three places at once! It’s the point where El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras meet crazy stuff we were so high defiantly in the clouds it was great though. It was the first time a lot of the kids had ever been outside of the country! And I was a part of it! God did some great things on the trip and is doing great things through me and my team at Mi Casa Kids.
We asked one of the staff members at Mi Casa yesterday what do the kids need she said. They need to feel love, accepted, and as much education possible. I can confidently say we are helping in all of those areas with these kids. When the kids get home from school we give them a big hug and ask about there day, I wrestle with them, let them use my things (which is getting a little out of hand you know how kids are) spend hours with them on there homework, take them out with us when we go places, and try to teach them as much English as we can. In the process they are teaching me a lot of Spanish I love it im a slow learner but im getting there.
This month is drastically different than Antigua Guetemala but its drastically changing things inside of me that needed to be changed and giving me a drastic love for these kids, and for the people of Central America. Crazy to think in two months I will be in Eastern Europe! Completely different food, language, culture, climate, and spiritual atmosphere I say BRING IT!!
p.s. Thank you all for reading this and keeping up with my blogs, im doing this 11 month mission trip for reasons bigger than me. I hope that what God is doing in and through me will bless you and challenge to go to new places, show love where you didn’t think to show it before, and to step outside of your comfort zones its never to late to get a little crazy!
