After 56 hours of traveling with a pit stop in Turkey, we
have arrived at Rivne, Ukraine, a city of around one million people. It is full
of people bustling around, going about their everyday life. Amidst all of the
hustle and bustle, I see beautiful and amazing people. The people that we have
had the chance to meet are so hospitable! Our contact Tania has been nothing
short of a blessing! Along with Tania there have been many more wonderful
people like Anna, Sasha, Tania, Dasha, Ena and Taya to name a few. These
wonderful people have made our team feel so comfortable and right at home. They
have showed us around Rivne to show us all the great places to go like the
market and the large grocery store.
They also have helped us learn some phrases in Ukrainian
that are important like (spelled phoenetically) “Toilet” which is “Toylet”, “My
name is Katy” which is “Mayonaise votay Katia”, and “Thank You” which is
“Diyakuyu.” They have such servant hearts and the community that they have to
serve each other is so amazing!
We have been connected with our contact Tania who has been
such a blessing! We have been able to eat at her place and has helped translate
wherever we go, whether it be church or to buy water on the street. Her heart
to serve others shines through her – she is such a vessel for the Lord!
This past week we have been working at a kids camp for
Golgatha Church which had a pirate theme. They correlated different characters
with people in the bible. The general story line was that “Black Beard” was the
captain of the ship, and all of the kids were the pirates on his ship. “Black
Beard” was not a nice captain – he would not feed them and he took their candy. “Archibald” was a good
pirate who eventually was elected captain because he was nice to the kids.
Archibald gave each kid a freedom paper. The kids then had to choose if they
wanted to keep their freedom paper or trade it for candy. Some students sold
their paper but majority of the kids kept it! Then, on the last day, “soldiers”
came to take away the kids that did not have their freedom papers, but
“Archibald” went in their place. It was amazing to see how the kids picked up
on the correlation to the bible! We live in a sinful world, but the children
grasped how through Christ dying on the cross for our sins, we are able to have
our freedom.
The thing that impressed me most, though, was seeing the
hearts of the people working with the kids. There was so many volunteers and
their love for each other and the children spilled over! I was so blessed to be
a part of such an awesome ministry!
So far on the race, sometimes I have to stop myself and just
say, “This is my life!” What a mighty God we serve! It is amazing to me how we
can be miles away and be able to have family here because of our faith in
Christ.
Then, last Saturday we were able to take a day and visit
L’viv, which was a beautiful city! We woke up at 5:45 am to a beautiful
sunrise! We took a train to the city and I even got to use my very first
squatty potty! We were able to see a movie getting filmed while drinking some
tea, take in a chocolate factory, do some sightseeing, and view a beautiful
church. A great day!
This coming week will be filled with preparing for an
English Camp. We will be teaching English to adults aged 16+. We must prepare
lessons and materials to help in this process. The end of this week and the
following week will be filled with teaching English. Alyssa and I will be
teaching the elementary leveled students, which are the Ukrainians that have
never learned any English. We will be using the bible to help teach English! I
can’t wait to see what God is going to do these next couple of weeks!
Many people have asked what my living situation is….I am so
blessed! We are staying in the upstairs of a church at a bible college. We have
bunks, 2 showers, 2 toilets, and amazing hospitality! We primarily ride the bus
or walk around the city. Many mornings when I get up to go running with my
teammate Kelly we see people cleaning the streets. I love it here!!!
I will leave you now with a few of recap videos from Ireland
and some pictures from Ukraine! Thanks for following me on my blog! I am still
in need of financial support. Our 3rd deadline is coming up and I am
still in need of financial support. Thank you for all of your prayers!
