I don’t even know where to start! The last week has been an
awesome time of transitioning into Race life and getting to know my new family.
We’ve spent a lot of time with this INCREDIBLE Ukrainian woman named Masha. We
randomly met her on our second day here (literally, ran into her on the street
and she gave us a tour of the city center area), and we’ve been hanging out
with her every day since then. I have sooo many things I want to tell you about
her (we’re all a bit obsessed with how amazing she is), that I think I’ll just
write a separate blog all about Masha.
Here’s a pic for now… she’s the one next to me. Then there’s Emily and Lili.
Our official ministry starts on Monday. So exciting! We’ll
be working a youth camp at a park for the surrounding neighborhood kids. Around
80% of these kids live in broken homes. It’s almost always with only one parent
and usually in an environment heavy with alcoholism. That’s the norm around
here… When Soviet occupancy ended, everyone in control of running things just left. Factories were left without any type
of leadership that knew that they were doing. People had to find odd jobs to do, and in this impoverished culture, they would be paid in vodka.
So began the cycle of poverty and alcohol abuse. It’s apparent everywhere you
look. Men stumbling around at 10am. Kids that look maybe 8 years old, chain smoking and left to run wild; usually they start drinking and/or huffing glue at a shockingly young age. A parent will leave the country to find work
that will support their family, but when they find something that satisfies
them, they just don’t come back for their children. The atmosphere of this
place is just dreary. Granted, the weather has been cloudy and colder than normal, but the
faces of most are stony and emotionless. So I’m absolutely ready to play with
the kids here. To give them a time to be in a safe and uplifting environment.
To love on them and share the reason for the hope that I have for them. I think
it’s going to be fabulous.
The past week has been about taking initiative and finding
ministry to do on our own. The language barrier is pretty ridiculous here…
typically in most places people will work with you and be open to other means
of communication. Not so much here. They just shake their head/roll their eyes
and walk off. Not everyone, but most. So a few girls came up with a plan to buy
a bunch of flowers and pass out them out with little notes written in Ukrainian
attached. We had hopes for starting a conversation or two, but really we just
wanted to see a few smiles and a few faces brightened. So we had Masha write
“You are beautiful and God loves you� in Ukrainian and we copied it probably
close to 200 times. We passed them out for a couple hours and felt pretty good
about how it went. Several old ladies teared up and hugged us, while others
gave us weird looks and walked off. Overall we were pleased with the ministry.
Until…
Later that evening we were telling Masha about the day, and
we showed her the notes we made. Apparently the difference between a capital
“R� and a lower case “r� is kind of a big deal. So those notes with a lowercase
“r� said what we intended them to say, while those with a capital “R� said
something like “You are punished and God loves you.� Ooooooops. Initially I was
shocked and appalled, and our entire team stared wide-eyed at one another. SERIOUSLY?!
JUST A CAPITAL LETTER?? Then I burst out laughing so hard (along with several
others)… almost until I cried. Thankfully, the “you are punished� is a literal
translation, so Ukrainians actually wouldn’t understand it. It would just be
nonsense. PTL. Still… it’s kind of ridiculous/hilarious. We came to the
conclusion that our intentions were good and God will take care of the rest. Ohh
silly Americans.
Right now it’s our day off so we’re enjoying some internet
time and skype calls. Speaking of skype… if you have it, then add me. My skype
name is bnc248. I would love to chat. Hopefully I’ll have many more stories to
share after our first week of camp. But for now I’ll leave you with a couple
hilarious moments/facts of Ukrainian culture…
-Apparently there aren’t really people of color in Lutsk,
Ukraine. So two of my lovely teammates are very intriguing to the people here.
One girl asked Rachelle if she likes to sing. Rachelle said “yeah sure.� The
girl smiles widely and says, “OH! Gospel music??� while miming an afro with her
hands…. Bahahaha
-We were told that there are literally 2 other black people
that live in the area and that they are futbol (soccer) players. And yesterday Rachelle and Lili ran into
them at the super market! And took pictures with them! So hilarious.
Here’s Lili with the guys…
-Also, everyone has a mullet. Every man, woman, and child. I’m thinking about getting one as a way of embracing the culture.
This is what we refer to as a “fire mullet”…
And finally… For more pics you should check out my teammates photo blog!
http://logankaynes.theworldrace.org/?filename=photo-blog-lutsk-ukraine-pt-1
