Well it’s that time again where I update you on what the next month of ministry is going to be like! I can’t believe it is already the beginning of month 5!! My Race is already 1/3 of the way done! But I’m trying not to think of that too much…I want to be in the present: the here and now.
And where is “here” now? This month my team is in Odessa, Ukraine, which lies right on the edge of the Black Sea! It’s quite a different atmosphere compared to the more impoverished Romanian village that we were in last month. Odessa is a young, vibrant city, which attracts tons of tourists every year due to its beaches, historical attractions, and musical performances. My team has already been to the beach a couple times and enjoyed the refreshing waters of the Black Sea (at least I have…my team thinks it’s too cold). We’ve also walked around the downtown numerous times and went to a ballet one night, which we all enjoyed. Life in Odessa has been good to say the least.
I’m very excited for the ministry that we will be doing here in Odessa. In addition to being a tourist city, Odessa is also home to numerous universities and international students. My team is partnering with a campus ministry called CCX (also known as InterVarsity). Work will mostly consist of establishing relationships with students on campus and sharing the Good News with them as well as encouraging the student leaders that are leading Bible studies and doing discipleship with students. I’m really excited for this ministry one, because we get to work with people our own age which doesn’t really happen too much on the Race and two, InterVarsity is similar to the Cru ministry that I was a part of during my 4 years at UW-Madison (On Wisconsin!!). I didn’t think I would miss campus ministry as much as I have since being on the Race. But after 4 months worth of children’s ministry and construction and house visits (all of which I’ve really enjoyed) I do miss just having deep, intellectual conversations with people about faith and how people view the world/life.
So far ministry has looked a little different than what I was expecting. I was envisioning a lot of what I did in college which was hanging out on campus, establishing relationships with students, attending Bible studies, having deep conversation, etc. But because of a weeklong holiday, classes have been canceled and we haven’t gone to campus yet. We have met several students this past week and have begun to hang out with them and develop relationships with them, but we haven’t dove into the spiritual conversations yet (which is okay, but hopefully we will take those opportunities in the future). Mostly we have helped out a couple churches that are renovating their places and offered them some manual labor. It’s been really encouraging as the pastors have been super appreciative and have wanted us to visit their church again.
The international students that we’ve met so far have been awesome! We’ve mostly hung out with two Iraqi guys (Fadi and Ali) and an Indian woman (Suhkvitri). They’ve been super friendly and have showed us a lot of the city. And the coolest thing is that even though they may not have similar beliefs, they still choose to interact with us and come to church with us and just hang out with us. I feel like God has some cool things in store for them this month. And God also introduced us to a Georgian man on the bus to church today who was interested in talking about Christianity and Islam with us. He even wanted to go to church with us next week and hang out afterwards. I’m so excited to see what comes out of these conversations.
Please be praying for the relationships that we’ve been establishing already and for future ones that will come to be. Pray that we will be bold in sharing our faith and just really showing them the love of Christ in everything that we do. Thanks for all your prayers and support! Love you all!
