There were four children staying at Jeremiah’s Hope for the
majority of the time we were there; they each had their story and were there
for various reasons. We came to know and love them throughout the month and we were
torn apart as they left right before we headed off to Ireland – back to their
orphanages or broken homes. Coming from places of pain and abuse, some of these
kids had some pretty tough exteriors – they wouldn’t let just anybody in since
they had been burned so many times. It’s completely understandable if you think
about it; but that’s why breakthrough is even sweeter when it occurs. (Picture of Aly and I with three of the kids: Nastiya, Vasia, and Kohla)
There was one boy named Vasia who I came to adore by the end of the month. He had
been extremely stand-offish, rude, and disobedient towards the beginning… I
never expected him to warm up to me. But after a few weeks of getting
comfortable with each other and building trust, I had found myself a wonderful little buddy. One of the
coolest realizations I had with him was when I learned that he spoke Spanish!!
Many of these orphans travel to either France or Spain during their summers for
an exchange program and therefore pick up good chunks of the language each
time. Realizing we had a mode of communication was huge and something I was
deeply grateful for. Vasia would simply run up behind me sometimes, latch on,
and give me a huge bear hug; this was always unexpected for this rambunctious little
boy and yet completely welcomed and appreciated. Sometimes he would steal my
water bottle, Bible, and sunglasses and hide them around the camp property,
simply waiting for me to come chase him and find my belongings. Other times he
would just come sit by me and cuddle up, simply longing to be loved. I treasured these moments; it was so
precious to be able to show him a small piece of the infinite LOVE the Father
has for him. (Picture above is Vasia and I on a group trip to KIEV!)
“And I pray that you, being rooted
and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp
how wide and long and high and deep is the LOVE of Christ, and to know this
love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all
the fullness of God.â€� – Ephesians 3:17-19
(This is some of the camp kids with Tracy and I during a mummy toilet-paper wrapping contest! WE WON!! Andre kindly volunteered to become our mummy – the SUPER PAPER BOY! You can’t see it from this angle, but we attached toilet paper on the back of his ensemble as a cape as well. Pretty legit… we were excited about it.) 🙂
This was all happening during the week Jenny and Andrew’s
house kids were at camp, and some of the teens were debating about making
decisions to follow Christ or not. During one of the Bible studies towards the
end of the week, Jenny challenged them with only having a few days left at camp
and that people’s choices and decisions have huge repercussions in life – not
only for them but for those around them as well. As she spoke to these orphans
she asked, “What if your parents had
made different choices – what would your lives look like?â€� People in
Ukraine generally aren’t very direct with these kids and dance around the fact
that they’re orphans, so this question definitely silenced the group and
allowed for some deep contemplation to occur.
That morning during team prayer we had all been asking God
for similar things that Jenny had been challenging these teens with; we had
prayed that they would build their lives on the ROCK of Jesus, receive healing
from past wounds, become a generation on FIRE for the Lord and His purposes in
the world, etc. It was awesome to feel confirmation
in the Spirit with what the Lord was doing in people’s hearts that day.
Jenny translated what she had said to the group and I just smiled and said, “We’ve been praying for that.� She
translated my words to the group and one of the boys who had been thinking
about accepting Christ simply looked up at me with piercing yet gentle eyes; he
was obviously touched by our prayers and almost whispered, “Harisho.� (This means “good� in Russian.) I just smiled back at
him, grateful that our prayers had moved his heart and allowed him to know that
God sees and loves him.
(These are some more of the kids/ teens, along with my teammates, that we had the privilege of working with throughout the week… they were AWESOME!!)
Another one of the teens (I’ll name her L.) and I really
bonded throughout the week; we would always hang out, play “Farkle� together
(an awesome dice game), walk to the pond with one another, and share stories
about life. She was such a sweetheart and I could clearly see the Lord’s LIGHT,
LOVE, and JOY in her. I was asking Jenny about her story after Bible study one
time cause I wanted to learn more, and she continued to tell me that L. had come
from a truly rough past. This girl was one of four children in her family and
almost all of them have been taken by social services at this point (which
means her case is pretty extreme, seeing as how lenient the system is in
Ukraine). QUICK NOTE: The following
information is extremely disturbing, so please read at your own discretion. Jenny
told me that when L.’s mom had her fifth child she decided she didn’t want it,
so in a drunken rage she forced the other four children to take a shovel and
bury the baby alive in the backyard.
I could barely comprehend what Jenny had just said; it was
too horrific for me to believe, let alone process. “No,� I remember saying, “no
way.� Once my brain actually allowed understanding to take place I simply broke
down.
A series of questions then flowed from my mouth as tears
flowed from my eyes. How can you go on
when you hear stories like this, Jenny? How can you get over that and find
peace? How can L. get over that? How is there such joy and light and life in
her now? Why would someone ever do that to a child? I don’t understand.
“The Lord is my LIGHT
and my SALVATION – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the STRONGHOLD of my life –
of whom shall I be afraid? … Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD
will receive me. Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path…â€� –
Psalm 27:1 and 10-11
I knew that the only way this situation was redeemed was
through the healing and freedom of Christ, but I was still in shock that these
things actually happen. I was disturbed and distraught to say the least, but it
just made me want to invest more into L.’s life and LOVE on her as much as
possible.
“Your righteousness
reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is
like you? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, YOU WILL
RESTORE MY LIFE AGAIN; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.
You will increase my honor and COMFORT ME once again.â€� – Psalm 71:19-21
Jenny then told me a story of hope to somehow calm my heart. She said she had another girl in her
house years ago (we’ll name her M.) who was constantly full of woe; she didn’t
understand why she was an orphan or why God had forsaken her. She lived with a
dark cloud over her head in a continual state of depression and pessimism and
refused to believe there could even be a God if this is what her life looked
like. One day on a trip into Kiev she “randomly� ran into one of her long-lost
aunts who told her where her mother was living, and M. instantly wanted to go
there to see her mom.
After a three hour car ride and a few turns in the road, Jenny
and M. arrived at the house, or should I say shack. The living situation they discovered
there was simply horrific; the house looked like it was about to fall down,
layers of dust and dirt caked every surface area visible, and broken bottles of
alcohol covered the ground both inside and out. M. found out she had three
other siblings that she never knew about; she had one brother who was about
fourteen years old whose sole job was to take care of the animals. She had two
other sisters, ages ten and twelve, who had obviously been abused and were being
sold as sexual slaves to the neighbors so their mom could feed her alcohol
addiction. All of the children were clothed in rags and slept outside in a
small barn right next to the cow manure. As Jenny and M. were there, her mom
was bold enough to say that she wanted nothing to do with her kids right in
front of them (which was obviously evident by her actions) and asked if they
would take her back to Kiev with them.
As they drove away in shock, M. finally saw the light. After seeing the conditions she
could have been living under if she had stayed with her mom, she realized that God had a plan for her life (Jeremiah
29:11) and that instead of abandoning her, Jesus
had actually been protecting her this whole time. That mere realization
changed M.’s whole outlook on life; she began to think more positively, she was
actually grateful for her circumstances, and she began to come to know the Lord.
Praise God! God does immeasurably
more than we can ask or imagine… even if we can’t see/ recognize it at the
time. Jenny and Andrew ended up getting social services involved after
witnessing the situation at this home and rescued those two little girls; the
boy had already run away from home by the time they came back in search of a
better life.
“Now to Him who is
able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power
that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever!â€� – Ephesians 3:20-21
Jenny then finished by saying that we need to view life as a
car. There’s a lot of stuff that happens in the past, especially for these
kids; there’s pain, suffering, hurt, and tragedy along every bend of the road.
And yet, that’s in the past – it’s in the rearview mirror. We need to focus on
the huge windshield in front of us – the future – because we can actually do
something about that. Yes, we need to recognize where these kids have come from
and seek healing, reconciliation, and redemption on their behalf… but we also
need to look towards the hope of the FUTURE that God has planned for their
lives. “That’s how I continue on,� Jenny said to me, “I focus on what we can do through Christ.� Praise God for that!
