When we arrived here in Ukraine we were greeted by a sweet, petite Ukrainian woman named Nelia. She helped us get loaded up into a van and we headed off to our host family home.
We pulled up into a large apartment complex with a little playground out front. Two young 20-somethings came out of a door and said “hello” and then grabbed the bags out of our hands and carried them into the house.
The team all looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and then followed them into the house. Nelia then introduced us to our host mom for the month, her older sister, Luba.
Luba does not speak any English so Nelia began to explain that Luba is a mother of 10 (8 of which still living at home) and we will be living with them and doing ministry with them for the next 4 weeks.
Immediately, family member after family member came out to welcome us. Evan, the youngest at 15, Nadia, the “sassy one” at 19, Alexander & Tola, the 23 year old fraternal twins, Pasha, our translator, is 25 and the sweet Luda is 26. (The oldest two are in and out of town with work so we don’t see them too often.)
I knew within the first 10 minutes of being around this family that I would fall in love with every one of them… and I was right.
I have never met a family with such love and selflessness.
Their home is a four bedroom with one bathroom, yes ONE bathroom. They gave up their bedrooms for a month for us to sleep in. The sisters sleep in the living room on the couch and floor, I’m not entirely sure where the brothers are sleeping but they make do somehow.
They live ministry. Every day is a new adventure with them. From visiting and encouraging a widowed grandmother taking care of 5 grandchildren to helping a handicap woman clean up her yard and house to sitting in front of a hospital and chatting and singing with the patients to running a VBS for a local church (that isn’t their own).
Their joy and hearts to serve is not only humbling, it’s contagious.
I kept wondering, “How does a family come to be like this?”
And then last Sunday, some light was shed.
I saw this picture framed and hung up at their home church. I asked Nelia who it was and she answered, “My father”, the two words filled with such admiration and sentiment, “he passed 5 years ago”.
I will never forget the hour-long conversation that followed this question. As Nelia started to share the memories of her father and childhood I began to learn that this family was destined for greatness long before a single grandchild was born.
Allow me to share…
The grandfather, Jacob, and wife Nadeshda were pastors of an underground church starting in 1964, the very church I was standing in last Sunday morning. You can imagine the life Nelia lived as a child having a pastor for a father during Soviet Union times.
She shared with me story after story about her house being raided and searched for anything anti-Soviet: Bibles, hymnbooks, Christmas or Easter cards with Christian greetings… anything. She remembers being 8 years old and not understanding what they were looking for. She was holding onto her favorite doll at the time and she thought it could be what they were wanting. She held it so fearfully tight that one of the officers saw her and ripped it from her hands in suspicion… finding nothing.
Her father was the only one who worked in the household and there were many nights that he wouldn’t come home for dinner. Without hesitation, his wife would head out to the local prison in search for her husband. Jacob had been imprisoned more times for his faith than Nelia could remember.
Nelia then mentions Luba, her older sister, my host mom.
“When Luba was 16 years old she would gather secret Christian publications which had a list of believers in the area that had been arrested including their prison addresses. She would write every one of them letters of encouragement with Scriptures. They couldn’t have Bibles of course in the prisons so this was always a blessing to them. Many of them would come to our house to thank her once they were released”.
Luba herself as a young woman had been imprisoned 3 times for her faith.
Nelia continued to share of her childhood and with every story came a heartfelt smile and a few reminiscent tears.
“Through it all, my father still made it priority to gather all of us kids together every night for a time of prayer and Scripture reading. He would remind us that ‘earth was not our homeland and we are blessed to be suffering for the name of the Lord’.”
Jacob passed 5 years ago leaving behind his wife, 4 sons, 4 daughters and around 35+ grandchildren, (8 of which I mentioned above.)
His passion, heart and legacy still beat throughout this family and church. You can see it in every face and hear it in every word they speak. They are deeply rooted in the understanding of what life is really about.
They have found the Peace that surpasses all understanding.
They have uncovered the Joy that triumphs any pain.
They have experience the Love that transforms a life.
They have Jesus.
And I believe generations to come within their family will find and have Him too.
God bless this family for the selfless lives they lead and their passion for your kingdom to be known. Thank you for crossing our paths and help me to learn ALL I can from them in these few short weeks I have with them.
In your name and for your glory,
Amen
NEILA
NADESHDA
NADIA & LUDA (granddaughters)
Their home church started in 1964.
