Legacies play a crucial part in funding Mission Without Borders’ work. During the past few years, generous legacies have allowed us to meet some of the greatest needs of children, families and elderly across Eastern Europe.

Young people from the Krupnik community, Bulgaria, have big dreams. Dreams that a legacy could make come true.

“I’ve been wondering what special, God-given talent I have. I decided it could be the thing I enjoy doing most. For me, drawing, making designs for clothes and fashion are what I like. So the School of Textile and Design in Blagoevgrad would be the best place for me when I finish the seventh form, though my parents are not able to support me.” Asen (13)

“Biology is my favourite subject at school. I would really love to become a doctor and help people. Although it is impossible to even think about now, I dream of studying medicine at university after I finish school. If I do my part and study hard, I believe God will help me and use me to heal people’s bodies and souls.” Avgustina (15)

You can help us to fund a youngster’s dreams.

• Please consider including a gift to MWB in your will.

• If you have already made a will, but would still like to leave a legacy to MWB, you can make an addition or change it without re-writing your current will. This addition is called a codicil.

• Or you may want to give a lasting and meaningful donation to remember a loved one.

To talk things over or request our guide to making your will, please contact us now or phone 020 7940 1370.

An inspiring new GIVING ENVELOPE that helps donors to give and simultaneously sign to claim their tax back is now available from Mission Without Borders (MWB).

If you are putting on an event raising funds for MWB, this easy-to-use, pocket-sized envelope is perfect for handing out to people who want to support you. Or if you are telling others in your church about MWB, then place the envelope in the church pews to encourage them to give. Why not ask others in your church to take a three or four envelopes to pass on to friends and family so that they can give too?

And by making sure donors sign the form on the back, you help to give MWB even more: For every £1 given, we can reclaim an extra 25p through Gift Aid.

Ideas for handing out our giving envelopes:

• Running a marathon? Holding a coffee morning? Selling on ebay or at a carboot sale? Give away MWB’s giving envelopes to help us raise funds. Look at our fundraising ideas for an activity that may suit you.
• Book a speaker for your church or group. MWB has staff and volunteers who are passionate about supporting Eastern Europe’s most vulnerable to take steps out of their poverty. We will tell you more about how we work, who we are supporting and how you can help. A speaker will really bring MWB and Eastern Europe – a forgotten part of the world – to life.

Your donation will make a huge difference:

• £15 could provide extra food or clothing for a family in need.
• £30 could provide bedding for two children like Olesya and Artem
• £75 could provide an elderly person with additional wood for heating and cooking
• £120 could provide a family with simple tools to make home repairs.

We have many other ways that you can give.
Or donate now to make a difference today.

Please note: MWB does NOT advise sending cash through the post! If you do encourage others to give donations in these envelopes, please deposit any cash into your own bank account and write a cheque made payable to Mission Without Borders equal to the cash. But remember to send us their signed envelopes so that we can claim the tax back.

Our Autumn Newsletter is now available.  You can read it on-line or contact the office on 020 7940 1370 and we’ll mail a copy to you.

Driving north to Balti, our supporters’ tour visited first a boarding home for children with learning difficulties. The initial sense of uncertainty at being faced by huge 1960s Soviet blocks, was quickly dispelled by the warmth and friendliness of the home’s Director. She oversees 71 children in one of the blocks, which is in the process of being refurbished. It’s a comfortable place and MWB has donated cupboards, beds and doors. Tony and Jan met little Cristina. She was shy for one minute and then opened up to be very chatty, engaged and lively. She was a delight. All three, Tony, Jan and Cristina were clearly enjoying interacting and learning about each other.

Further down the road at the school for deaf children, we were surprised by the wonderfully painted and brightly coloured hallways and classroom/dormitories. There were clearly good relations between all the staff and the 22 children, with either speech or hearing difficulties, who ranged between 3-6 years old. Ten of these little ones stayed at the home during the week, while the others were day pupils. Four-year old Edita met her sponsor Tamsin. It was a delightful time. Edita is a confident little girl, who communicated really well with good signing. She was clearly comfortable in the home with all her friends.

We’ve arrived! Having met up at Heathrow Airport at 4am on Saturday morning, it was good to arrive safe and sound in Chisinau on Saturday afternoon. There are currently 19 of us on the tour - with one final member of the group arriving on Tuesday. Today we’ve rested, attended Church and had a look around Chisinau. On Monday we start the visit with a packed itinerary of visits to see sponsored children and families, special projects and to experience first hand the work of Mission Without Borders for ourselves. It is a very lively and fun group of supporters with many new friendships being established already.

Get our latest news to use in your own magazine.

Receive regular articles to include in your own church magazine or local newsletter – and keep up-to-date with Mission Without Borders’ work across Eastern Europe.

Sign up here and you’ll:
• receive an article ready-made for your own use
• find out about our current projects
• be inspired by people whose lives are changing for the better.

 Albanian church newspaper, ‘Si Jeni’, reaches thousands

By registering now, we’ll send you:
1. A relevant article to fit an A4 page, which you can easily cut down to A5 if necessary. (All articles are supplied as a Word document fully compatible with Word 97-2003.)
2. Photographs related to the article
3. Contact details for further information
4. Additional news items if you want them. 

Outline schedule                                                                               
For Whitsun/the start of summer Bringing children hope and fun at summer camp (available end of March) 

For Harvest A family becomes self-reliant (available end of May)

For the autumn term to the end of the year Giving gifts to make a lasting difference, a Christmas story: Operation Christmas Love (available end of August)

For January 2012 A new year’s reflection (available October)

Contact us now with your email address and the name of your church to receive these articles. 

On Friday we travelled to Kiev in preparation for our return to the UK on Saturday.  We felt sad as we bid farewell to some of our newly found Ukrainian friends.  But it has also been a time for reflection.  We spent some time this afternoon wandering around the tourist souvenir area.  It felt right to share the Eucharist on Friday evening.  The person administering Communion noted that it was possible to live in isolation and not to change, but if we live in the World as a Christian then we will be changed.
We have all been changed by this week.  Some have grown closer to God.  Others have faced up to the emotions of meeting a sponsored child. Everyone has been changed by meeting the Mission’s staff here in the Ukraine.  They are a dedicated group; their eyes seem to shine bright when they talk of their experience of God in their work and lives.  We have all been encouraged by them and challenged by them too.  The Beneficiaries too have been an encouragement to us: it is not a case of the rich helping the poor.  It is about one Christian Brother or Sister helping another.
No Change?  Lots of change! And we are still processing some of those changes on our return home.
On Saturday we visited the Chernobyl Museum here in Kiev.  The disaster 24 years ago has had a huge impact on this country.  It would be wrong to leave Ukraine without acknowledging and trying to understand the impact that Chernobyl has had on Ukraine and will have for many years to come. 
We pray that the readers of this blog will be blessed by our thoughts.  We appreciate the prayers and support that has been extended to us.  We have identified a number of things that we want to change here and many of the people on the tour are looking to raise funds.  If you would like to contribute towards those projects then you can donate here and just drop an email to the Mission’s UK Office to say that you want your donation to go to the “Ukrainian Blog” projects – they range from the Mother & Baby parcels to the provision of improved equipment and facilities to the beneficiary families and homes and to the Mission itself.
Thank you for joining us on our journey.
God Bless!

It seems that we have all worried about coming on the Supporters’ Tour:

• Who else will be there?  Will we get on?
• How will I cope with the experiences?
• Why did I say that I’d come? I don’t do this sort of thing…

But this morning we all arrived at Heathrow. David was joined by Jim, Liz, Terry, Pauline, Sylvia, Rose and Helen.  And off we went…

We’re all seasoned travellers and we all took today’s itinerary in our stride.  The irksome but necessary security at the airport, the gentle boredom of the three hour flight, the “free-style” queuing at immigration, followed by a five hour mini-bus ride to reach Rivne.  A long journey but nothing terribly unusual …

We were travelling, nothing more.

Mykola (the MWB Country Manager) and Volodymyr (our tireless interpreter and guide) couldn’t have been more welcoming.

The outskirts of Kiev were bright and the numerous advertising boards were unusual because of their Cyrillic script.  But still it felt that today was all about travel – something to be endured … until part way through the drive to Rivne.

Volodymyr was explaining about the arrangements for first few days of our Tour.  He explained that he is an Assistant Pastor at a Baptist Church that we will be visiting on Sunday.  Someone asked how his week was split between MWB and being a Pastor.  “Five days for the Mission, One day for my family, One day for the Church and Seven days for God!” was his reply.It was at that point that it stopped being merely travel and became the start of a journey.

Our generous hearted hosts had given up their “one day for the family” to spend 5 hours driving to Kiev and hour waiting for us to negotiate immigration and five hours driving back to Rivne.  They want us to experience the work that MWB does in Ukraine; to feel welcome; and to have the opportunity to come closer to God.

When they call us their Brothers and Sisters in Christ they mean it.  This is a partnership between the Mission’s Supporters and the Mission’s Staff.

When we stopped for dinner this evening, Mykola offered to say Grace.  Obviously we didn’t understand a single word of his Ukrainian prayer but somehow we all understood the true meaning and the blessings that were being heaped upon us.

We’re on a journey.

And it is our responsibility to be open to God’s prompting throughout that journey.  We hope that you will join us via the web site on our journey!

Three schools have donated a stunning £755.59 to support the work of Mission Without Borders.
These primary schools, from different parts of the UK, all set up fun fundraising activities to raise fantastic amounts of money. At Dersingham St George’s Junior School, Kings Lynn, pupils made £101 through their non-uniform day. While at Fleetville Junior School, in St Albans, a core group of seven food-focused pupils organised a cake sale that raised a fabulous £113.11. Last but by no means least, Manby Lodge Infant School, in Weybridge, held a variety of sponsored events over the past year to raise £642.48. Pupils were involved in everything from being silent (in an infants school?) to book-reading challenges to wear-your-own-clothes-to-school days.

Do you have contact with your local school? Are you a school governor? If so, recommend Mission Without Borders as a charity for your school to support.

Are you a teacher? Then the answer to choosing your charity fundraising activities may be here:

• follow the examples of these schools
• contact us for more fun fundaising ideas that will work in school.

And if you lead assemblies, or teach Religious Education, use Mission Without Borders to help your pupils:

• learn from Christianity
• find out how Christians put their faith into action in another part of the world.

Contact Anne Montefiore on 020 7940 1373, or contact us for more information.