At training camp one afternoon, we did an exercise where we
had 20 minutes to pack our packs. We were told we were moving all of our stuff
to go remote camping for an indefinite amount of time. I’ve heard squadmates
since talk about this exercise, wondering what the point of it was. Thinking
that some of the things they did or taught us at training camp were frivolous.
Au contraire.
This scenario pretty much came to life for us on Friday
night. We had been staying in a house for missionaries in Odessa. But early
Saturday morning we packed up in a partially working van and traveled to Chrasnoznamenka,
or Red Flag Village (pronounced beautifully with a ‘w’). This place is
basically Utopia, looking something like what I picture Holland to look like. I
referred to it when we got here as the land flowing with milk and honey. That
was before yesterday when the pastors we are working with brought us fresh
honey, and the neighbor next door brought us milk, still warm from the cow.
In the village, you can walk to the store and pass wild
ducks, cows tied to posts in the front yard, mangy stray dogs, and a chicken
might decide to walk some of the distance with you. We’ve been staying on a
church property. Baby chickens feed on the land. We’ve been trying to catch a
chicken all week, and yesterday, I did.
Last night we shared our stories of how we encountered God
(more aptly, how God encountered us) around the camp fire. Here in Ukraine
instead of making smores, we roast sausages over the fire. The pastor we are
serving shared his testimony of how he came from a background of alcoholism.
His life and family were breaking down in front of him when Christ revealed
Himself to him. Another man shared how he was a captain in the soviet army.
Growing up in school he was taught that God was a fairy tale. These men and others now serve this village.
Here we’ve done manual labor and we’ve taught ‘English Club’
everyday for the kids and young people in the village. They learn English in
school just as we would learn Spanish or French. We play a lot of
volleyball/soccer with them. At
church, one of our guys preached, we shared brief stories of the Lord’s hand in
our lives, and much to my demise I was asked (often) to sing and play the
guitar for them. J
The sole downfall to this experience has been the bathroom.
This is our shower.
It is in the
kitchen, and you sit down to use it. It reminded me of something out of
Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, except that birds and squirrels did not
fly/climb in through the window and sing to me. Worse is the toilet. It is this
hole in the ground.
I am really enjoying our time here. I feel unified with
these believers regardless of the language barrier. We as a team really respect
this pastor and his vision for the village. He and his team have been a
blessing to us. They keep saying we are an answer to their prayers. I hope that
is true. But I can say without doubt that they have definitely been an answer
to ours.
