Debrief in Bucharest…
was amazing! Our entire squad stayed for 5 days at the Happy Hostel. We worshipped, spent time with our teams to debrief our first month together, and received incredible teaching from our coaches and a couple of AIM staff members. It was a time of huge transition for our squad as our three original leaders, Hope, Mac, and Caitlin, headed home, and our new squad leaders took up the mantle of leadership for D squad!
In our free time, Hosanna, Sammie Jo, and I went downtown to play our instruments and sing in the street. We ended up earning 25 Lei (about 8 USD) in the 45 minutes we played… enough to buy ice cream and dinner for some gypsy kids we met in the park! 🙂
50 hours of travel!
The next morning, my team was up at 5 am and headed for the train station with all our belongings. For the next 27 hours, we were on the train from Bucharest to Kiev, Ukraine (yet another stamp in my passport!). We made a new friend in our car, Nick, who gave us a bag of Ukrainian chocolates, helped us find a local store at one of the train stops to get water and snacks, and even traded us his own Ukrainian Hrynva for our dollars since we didn't have the local currency yet.
Me n Robs chilling on the Metro early in the morning on our way to the train station. Photo by Robin Brooks (http://seerobinfly.tumblr.com/)
We had an eight hour "layover" in Kiev, so we set up camp in the McDonalds across from the train station, then five of us ventured out to spend a few hours exploring the city. It was a splendid afternoon. The city is beautiful, with gold-capped churches, lovely parks, and a subway that runs 400 feet under the ground!
Jo Linda, Wes, me, and Nomes in Kiev
Left: Wes, Jo Linda, me, and Naomi in front of a cool structure… Right: Hugh, Jo Linda, me and Wes on the crazy long escalator that leads to the subway
After another overnight train ride, we arrived in Lugansk!
Home sweet home!
We were welcomed by the MacDonald family: Bruce and Pia, Timothy (17), Michael (14), Carianne (10), Toby (8), and Mercy (4), and are living with them this month in their farmhouse! They are from the States but have lived here for the last seven years as missionaries, partnering with local churches by doing eye clinics that bring in people from the community, as well as a variety of other ministries including softball, English camps, and construction projects. I fell in love as soon as I got here! With this family, this country, these people…
First taste of ministry
This morning Hugh, Naomi, and I, along with little Mercy, joined Bruce on the hour-long drive to the town where we were doing an eye clinic (Bruce usually does two to three of these a week, so this will be our main ministry while we are here). The three of us spent the day worshipping in the "waiting room" with church members and patients, improving our non-existent Russian skills, eating and drinking the endless pastries, cookies, sandwiches, coffee and tea, and two-course lunch that the church ladies prepared for us. The hope is that we are able share the love of Jesus with the people who come to these eye clinics to receive free glasses. We look for chances to talk to them, pray for them, and worshp with them, using Bruce or anyone else who is bilingual as a translator 🙂
Today, all I can say is that I was the one who was blessed. Spending hours with our Russian brothers and sisters in worship was incredible… we mingled Russian and English lyrics for some songs, but for one song that I played, the language was universal: Hallelujah. The song simply repeats that one word over and over again and we sang together, hands clapping, voices ringing out with no concern for how we sounded or looked. The church ladies were so enthusiastic, they asked me to play it multiple times, and would continue to sing as long as I kept playing! Our new friends Ivan and Yanna joined in and seeing their hearts of worship blew me away. In the afternoon, Pastor Vitaly, Ivan, Bruce, and the three of us sat in the little sanctuary of the church sharing testimonies with the help of Bruce's translation. I was so encouraged to see the depth of these men and their hearts for the Lord!
Left: Pastor Vitaly played my guitar and sang us worship songs in Russian along with other church members! Right: Anya is one of the eye doctors that Bruce hires to do clinics
At the end of the day, we all gathered in the kitchen to enjoy tea together before our van headed home. We were asked to share, so Bruce translated for me as I told them how much the day had meant to me and thanked them for the time of worship. Pastor Vitaly responded with so much warmth, and prayed blessing over us and our future work. It was an amazing time!
Ivan and Yanna, our new friends, are at the end of the table to the left of Hugh and Naomi
God is blowing my mind yet again! I can't wait to see what this month has in store. I am excited for the new depths that the Lord is bringing my team into as we seek Him together. I am thrilled to already be connecting with this amazing missionary family, and to be learning from Bruce as he freely shares with us and draws us with him into every aspect of what he does. I am stoked that I get the opportunity to worship more this month and that my guitar has already been in and out of its case a half a dozen times in only a couple days 🙂 I am eager to hear the Lord's voice more and more clearly, and to continue to enter into and walk in the freedom He is setting before me!
Our song from this afternoon echoes in my mind and beats on my heart as I sit here on the couch, long past midnight, bursting with the joy that He has laid within me!
Hallelujah!
