A Summer Full of Birthday's! Happy Birthday to Karina, Harrison, Isaac, Stephen and Porter!

At the end of the summer we became campers and went to family camp!!

Karina's Adoption Story: Part I

In 1992 Matthew spent the summer in Ukraine with other Christians playing American football against European football teams. The main purpose of this time in Ukraine was to provide opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with other athletes. Bo Bowen was one of my financial and prayer supporters for the trip. That summer in Ukraine helped give me a love for Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and a passion for missions.

In October of 2006, Sheila visited an orphanage in Peru and we began discussing the possibility of adoption.

During the 2007 Missions Conference at First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi, Bo Bowen invited Matthew to join him in Ukraine for an evangelism clinic.

One of the English/Ukrainian translators that assisted in the evangelism clinic in Nadvirna, Ukraine during August of 2007 was Tasha Sobko from Zaporizia, Ukraine. Tasha had worked in children’s camps through her church in her hometown and displayed an enthusiastic and sincere love for God and people during the evangelism clinic. Because of her diligent work and passion for the gospel, Twin Lakes extended her an invitation to come to the United States and serve as part of the Twin Lakes Summer Camp staff.

Also during August 2007, a missionary from Odessa, Ukraine came to Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Jackson and talked about her ministry to orphans. A lady named Grace Marsh heard the missionary’s presentation and decided to begin praying for and communicating with an orphan in Odessa named Karina. Grace felt led to adopt Karina and began the adoption process soon afterward.

In January of 2008, Twin Lakes ran a day camp in Trujillo, Peru at the request of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Peru. Among the 140 children were fifteen orphans and Sheila and I again contemplated adoption.

Twin Lakes Summer Staff Training began on May 26 and on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 Steve Lanier, a pastor from Redeemer PCA, trained the Twin Lakes summer staff in presenting the gospel to campers. After the training session, Steve met Tasha and immediately told her that he wanted her to meet someone: A lady from his church, Grace Marsh, was hosting an orphan from Ukraine for the summer and needed a translator. Tasha was happy to meet Grace and serve as her translator for the girl from Ukraine.

On Friday, June 20 Grace picked up Karina and her guardian, Svetlana, from the airport and brought her to our house to meet Tasha so that Tasha could spend the weekend with them and translate. So, there we were in the living room: Matthew, Sheila, Harrison, Isaac, Noah and Storey Grace along with Grace, Karina, Svetlana and Tasha. Before they left, Grace told us how she had tried to adopt Karina but before the adoption was finalized Ukraine changed their adoption laws and Grace was no longer able to adopt Karina. This was the second time that a family tried and was unable to adopt her.

God had placed an orphan in our living room in need of a family. Sheila and I began to talk and pray about adopting Karina. We realized that God had blessed us with adoption into his family, has given us a loving family here on earth and has always provided for our needs. We believed that God was calling us to take this child and make her our own and in mid July we asked Karina if she would like to be part of our family. She said yes and we began the adoption process. We started this process without the resources to finish but we knew that God wanted us to adopt her and so we began taking one step at a time.

It is now September. Karina is back in her orphanage in Odessa and we continue to work through the adoption process. Our home study is to be complete this week. God has provided everything we have needed every step of the way and we know that he will provide for all that is left. This has been a great lesson of faith for us and it has strengthened our trust as we wait on his provision and timing.

We miss Karina and love her as our own daughter. Today we received a message from Ukraine that Karina loves us “hugely” and is counting down the days for us to come get her.

By God’s grace we are coming soon, Karina.

To be continued…

Twin Lakes Shelters from the Storm

For the past week, Twin Lakes has served as a place of shelter for families fleeing Gustav and served as a home for Salvation Army and utility workers. When storms move inland from the Gulf of Mexico, Twin Lakes opens its doors for those evacuating the coast and for those that are heading to the coast to help those in need. Several hundreds of people came through Twin Lakes along with some big trucks and heavy equipment - the kids enjoyed seeing the trucks rolling into Twin Lakes.

Summer 2008 Update

Wow! God’s blessings never cease to amaze us. At Twin Lakes Summer Camp 1,857 children heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and had an incredible time as they played, spent time with staff and followed the story of Joseph who taught them that “…God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20b

Karina!
The biggest blessing of our summer came in the form of a new daughter! God has led us to adopt Karina. She is 13 years old and lives in an orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine where she has been since the age of six.

We are in the middle of our paperwork and we are asking everyone to please join us in prayer for Karina.

Our prayer requests are that:
1. The remainder of the adoption process will go through smoothly and be finalized.
2. God will provide all the needed funds to pay for the adoption.
3. That Karina will be home by Thanksgiving.

Karina was able to spend part of the summer with us but is now back in her orphanage until the adoption is finalized. You can follow the adoption story as well as other updates on our blog at http://www.storeygraceinperu.blogspot.com/.

Ministry Report
Thank you for your investment in this work in Peru. Currently we have 25% of what we must raise for the first year of ministry. We are thankful for the way God has provided and are thankful that you have joined us. God’s hand is at work in amazing ways in Peru (and all around the world). Over the past few months a new church plant formed as a result of a short term team doing medical work in a poor area outside of Trujillo, the English language institute has grown tremendously—to record levels, many short term teams have come through doing wonderful work and the current missionaries continue to labor intensely to bring the renewing gospel of Jesus Christ to the area through discipleship, pastor training, university ministry, medical missions and more!

As our family continues to raise financial and prayer support, the remainder of 2008 and part of 2009 will be spent at Twin Lakes with some short term work in Peru and Ukraine, studying Spanish and visiting churches that may partner with us. We appreciate your prayers as we learn the Spanish language and as we raise the remaining 75% or our support.

Support Information: Our Contact Information:

Christian Missionary Society 175 B Twin Lakes Road
P.O. Box 53363 Florence, MS 39073
Knoxville, TN 37950-336 601-720-7377
CMS Phone: 865-684-4580 Matthew@twinlakescamp.org

If you would rather receive mission updates through email, please email us: Matthew@twinlakescamp.org.

We love you and thank you for joining us in this mission!
Matthew, Sheila, Karina, Harrison, Isaac, Noah and Storey Grace Nasekos

Summer Camp and Update

God has blessed Twin Lakes with an incredible summer! He has given us a safe, healthy and fun summer. We are so thankful for the way he has taken care of the staff and campers. It is hard to believe there is only one week. It is amazing to see the staff serve and pour themselves out for the campers and it is exciting to see the kids have a blast and to see many children come to know Jesus. Thanks for your prayers for camp!

We recently received our June update and we are at 17.9% of our financial need for the first year when we include what has been given or pledged to be given over the next 12 months. Thank you so much for your investment!

Fundraising Update

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have joined us in our mission to Peru. Yesterday we received a financial update from the CMS office and we have heard from some of you that are planning on contacting CMS. It looks like we are at 9.3% of what we need for the first year. When giving, please let CMS know if the gift is a one time gift, monthly gift or if you are giving when able. We are grateful for your investment in the kingdom. Thanks!