New Tone

      thank you Jess for writing an update>>>

 

Wrapping up my last few days of ministry is somewhat
surreal. I started this trip almost 11 months ago and to think that I
only have a mere few days left is hard to comprehend. I came into this
month exhausted and with the mentality that I just had to “get through”
it in order to finish. To my surprise, ministry this month has probably
been my most favorite out of ALL of them. Myself along with five other
girls are working alongside Forrest & Darcy Ferdon and their two
adopted Ukranian children. They are a missionary family from the states
who have been here for the last 3 years. I have to give them props for
choosing Lugansk out of all of the places in Ukraine, because it is a
HARD city to live in.

  (The Ferdons kids)

     Lugansk is the capital of mail order brides for Ukraine.
Everywhere you walk in the city, NO ONE smiles and getting yelled at
while walking down the streets is not uncommon.  People drink beer and
liquor at all hours of the day and it is not odd to see men and women
walk to work in the morning with a bottle of brewsky in their hand. ALL
of the women dress to the nines, and if you are not in 3 inch heels,
tight pants, and perfect make up, then you are going to be out of
place. The people of Lugansk seem to be obsessed with image and booze.
If you want to talk about an unreached people group, Lugansk Ukraine
would be at the top of my list.

       

        As much as I do not like the culture of the city, the
ministry here that the Ferdons have is extremely fruitful. They are
doing a lot of work at the MANY orphanages in the area and building
relationships with the orphans. Currently, we are also attending  an
English school every day for about 6-8 hours and helping the students
and teachers. Most of the students are high school and university aged
and they are an absolute blast. We help with everything from grammar to
American history (NOT exactly my strongest subject!). The teachers
always allow students time to ask us questions about America,
politics(those convos can get REAL interesting), religion, and anything
else that they are interested about. Because of the freedom that we
have in these classes, we have each had opportunities to talk about
Jesus and preach the gospel. These conversations have not been forced,
but encouraged by the teachers and students. Outside of class, many of
us have interacted with the students to build relationships with them,
whether it be being invited to their home for a Shichliek(BBQ) or
inviting them over to hang out with us. 

                                                 

       Every Friday night we have a “Coffee Night” at our flat and
invite all of the students to come over to speak English and watch
movies. This past Friday we had over 40 students crammed into our
apartment. The night consisted of teaching them how to make smores(over
a gas stove), listening to different people play the guitar or violin,
and getting to know each other. Many of the people here in Ukraine have
a skewed view of what a “Christian” is. They think that Christianity is
only for their grandparents or that you have to change who you are as a
person to be a Christian. It has been great to show them that we as
Christians are JUST like them. We are WRECKING their view of
Christianity and it is AWESOME.   

(Me with some of the high school aged students at our coffee night)