Ukraine was beautiful. My team (the girls of Yebo) were with one other team of girls smack dab on the coast of the Black Sea just below gorgeous mountains. We woke up every morning to beautiful clouds and skies over the sea and cold weather that wasn’t quite what we expected (let’s be real – we thought it’d be sunny).
Ministry included manual labor during the mornings (raking leaves, pulling weeds, and the like) and teaching English classes during the afternoon. I had the privilege of hanging out with some sweet little nuggets every afternoon who loved to learn. It was a blast teaching them and getting to know our translators a bit, too. We were so thankful to have them because Russian is almost impossible to pick up in a day.
Our off days were Saturdays. We spent them riding the bus to Yalta and walking (or roller blading) on the Promenade and eating sushi. It was awesome. Most Saturdays were warm enough for us to be in shorts or lighter layers, which was wonderful! They have so many quaint restaurants! We also visited many castles & palaces. Yalta is rich with history from Anastasia to Tolstoy to the Yalta Conference in 1945!
Spiritually, Ukraine was taxing. The church we attended was very traditional and there was little translation for the three hour services. This made them seem pointless, though God obviously had us there for a reason. Early on in the month I missed an important event back home that really threw me off. It was hard not to focus on all the changes going on at home and even on what I would be doing after the Race. I spent a lot of time working on my resume, looking for jobs/internships, and praying through all of that with the Lord. He’s definitely given me peace about it, but it’s still hard not knowing.
The manual labor we did seemed unimportant as well, but God really spoke to me in that. We aren’t here to do ministry by comparison – “well he/she isn’t doing as much so I shouldn’t” or “they only told us to do this much so I’m only going to do just enough.” Honestly, we should be looking for ways to go above and beyond what we’re asked. Not only are we here to help them (our contacts) out with different tasks, but we’re here to lift them up as well. We’re all on the same team. We’re here to build each other up. That’s a big deal.
The highlights included night walks in Yalta, that one time Sarah, Natasha and I decided to go to the “beach” and tan and float our ducks, and all of Sarah’s delicious “healthy” meals that left us feeling like we were going to explode with goodness. I never knew I could love a salad so much.
AND I love avocado now. It’s nom.
(And now I’m in Honduras and it’s warm and toasty. I’m in a tank top and shorts. I dig it.)
