Image it with me.
130 Ukrainian believers circle up on the banks of a gently flowing muddy river. They are here to celebrate.
It’s Hot. But we are under the shade of a dozen or so willow trees.
All around us little children run.
Everyone is wearing his or her nicest clothes. Most men are wearing slacks and a tie. Some have on a jacket too. Women are wearing long dresses or long skirts; about half have their head covered with lace the way their mothers had done in the past.
This happens once a year and today is a big deal. 4 young men, probably between 16-22, begin to walk out wearing all white. They walk up to the group and stand as a man begins to speak. Our translator begins to tell us what he is saying.
He holds his bible in the air as he speaks with unction and conviction “This is my bible.” “Do you know why this is my bible?” He asks. “Because I paid the price for it, no one else has a right to it expect for me” Now he turns to the 4 young men dressed in all white. “ You have been bought with for a price, Jesus purchased you” He is close to screaming at this point, you can tell there is real emotion in his voice but the translator talks calmly “No one else has a right to you, not demons, Not your family, not anyone. You are Jesus’s, He bought you.”
Another pastor gets up, He is the pastor of the church that planted the church I am serving at. He recounts the story in Acts 8 of Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch. He spoke for 45 minutes in the hot Ukrainian air as the crowd stood attentive. Our translator leans over and says “This Pastor loves every small detail, our pastor reads the passage and explains it to us in a way I can understand.”
Another man gets up to pray, the translator doesn’t even try to translate.
Now we are walking down to the water.
One pastor wades out into the gentle current, He walks out further than you expect. He prays. One by one at this point the young men walk out 50 yards into the muddy river, and one by one they walk back to the shore baptized brothers.
It meant something to them. It wasn’t a game. It wasn’t something done on a whim. It was thought out, calculated. There lives are now forever changed, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Now that our 2 hour baptism service is over, its time for church. We walk about 15 minutes to the small room where we meet. Its maybe 15×40 and about 40 people are in there waiting for church to begin. We sing, the pastor preaches, We sing again, the pastor preaches again, we sing, we take Communion (what a special time), We sing, I get up and share about the World Race through a translator, Tyler Lee shares his testimony, we sing, 3-4 people get up to share things God is doing in there lives, and then we sing.
Then it was off home for a few hour nap.
Around 6 we met some of the members of the church by a local apple orchard for a cookout. We ended up walking about 10 minutes deep into the orchard to find a clearing.
We sang, roasted sausages over a fire, sang, talked, took pictures, laughed, sang again, and made memories that will last the rest of my life.
I still can’t believe this is real life. Getting to serve along the Church around the world is a dream come true.
